Simple Plan's latest rocks! Watch it here...along with a lot of their previous releases.

In other music news, Blink-182 is on hiatus. What does that mean for you? Absolutely nothing, unless you're a big fan.

After that musical start, here's some interesting stuff. Did you know that you could turn any Internet-connected PC running Windows ME or higher, into a slide show terminal?

Too much technobabble? Here's how it translates into a non-tech lifestyle. Got family and friends who you would like to send pictures to? And do they have a PC that can get online with? And would you like 'em to see your latest pictures / blog posts / online "stuff"?

If you're sorta saying "Yes, yes, yes" to everything, but think you can achieve the needed results via email - think again. Email's great, but email servers and mailboxes can overload easily. In addition, it still needs some user interaction. By the time you're done reading this, you'll know of a way to send your pictures straight to the desktop background of the computer screens you want to reach, with no user interaction whatsoever. When they boot up, they'll see what you want them to see - just like that. When they get online, they'll get the new stuff - again, without doing a thing.

Seems too simple and beautifully functional to be true and free, right? Well, you can thank me later. I'll slip you my address and wishlist.

Alright, here's what you will need:

• An Internet location that you control FTP access to
• Some degree of patience in understanding the practical physics behind the 'Active Desktop' functionality built into Windows
• A computer for a test run. The test won't kill the computer, I promise.

Here's what you do - consider this the test run:

1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop background
2. Select Properties
3. Select 'Web' or 'Desktop' and then 'Web', depending on which OS you've got
4. Create a 'New' Active Desktop object
5. Enter the URL of your online photogallery or online photo [More about this in a minute]
6. Click 'Apply'
7. You're done. Reposition the Active Desktop object on your desktop if you'd like

What you've just created is an Active Desktop object. An Active Desktop object can be anything that can be served up online and is friendly with the average Windows OS. Meaning, pictures in common formats and HTML files and common media files will work just fine. Anything esoteric, perhaps like a Macromedia Flash presentation and the sort, may be cause for hiccups.

Why you've created it is - to be able to create a sorta "window" on the desktop, that will contain only what you point it to, and one that will update either on a certain schedule that you define and/or whenever you click "Synchronize".

Lets assume you've created an Active Desktop object with the address of this blog, i.e. http://whatsup.sujeet.net

What you will see is a window that contains this Web page, but it won't be a regular browser window on your desktop. It'll be sorta seamlessly integrated into your desktop background, and you could resize and reposition this window anyway you like. The "Synchronize" feature will essentially just check for newer versions of the content of that window, i.e. new posts on this blog.

Got that lightbulb going off yet? If you had a Web location like some free Tripod space or the sort, you could upload an image to your Webspace and use the URL of that image as the "location" of the Active Desktop object instead. So, whenever you replace the image, the Active Desktop object will retrieve the new one in place of the old one, without requiring any user interaction. The only user interaction that could be possibly required is the 'Synchronize' button, and if you set a schedule for auto-synchronization, you could automate that step as well.

I know, I know - this is still within the realms of supergeekspeak. If your eyes glazed over a while ago, I don't blame you. I guess there's a reason why this hasn't already been done and discussed to death online - but that doesn't mean you can't try. Its benefits are obvious - one can have one's latest picture as the desktop background on the computer screens of one's family and friends without needing them to actively download anything, or to use email and then set the picture as their wallpaper. They turn the computer on, get online to do whatever they do, and their Active Desktop silently updates itself with your latest image.

I'm fairly excited about this! Active Desktop has been around for a while, and hasn't been the subject of any serious security controversy so far. That tells me that using Active Desktop won't poke any additional holes in the overall security posture of the average computer.

If posting your latest mugshot or shutterwork on a computer screen doesn't get you interested, here's a few other applications:

• One can get a weather feed as an Active Desktop object straight from one of the bazillion weather sites on the Internet, without having to wade through pop-ups and spyware that one is often subjected to when one visits a weather site; or without having to install the "Weatherbug". I don't have anything against the "Weatherbug" since I've never installed it. I'm just skeptical and curious about freeware with a fundamental need to connect to the Internet periodically / continously. Without a packet sniffer monitoring the contents of the outbound feed, I imagine I would always be drumming my fingers about "What is it sending out?" all the while
• Anything that has a URL can now be viewed as a part of your desktop background. This could be anything from a stock quote feed to a department store catalog. Anything that has a static URL (but preferably dynamic content) can be an excellent candidate for an Active Desktop object
• Active Desktop doesn't necessarily have to fetch something from the Internet. You could set it up to fetch from your computer or from the Intranet as well. I haven't envisioned any actual need / use of this, but I'm sure some will turn up eventually. Perhaps a basketball league scoreboard on the office Intranet?

I'll bet even Microsoft didn't think of that sales pitch for the Active Desktop when it rolled it out! Oh, well - email me if you need details.

Its ironic how this post was titled "Shut up, shut up, shut up", isn't it? I can imagine you could be thinking the exact same thing right now. I've been known to elicit that reaction several times (a day)..