Larry Larsen

Come join the fun at Imagine Cup 2008

Larry Larsen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:19:00 GMT

We wanted to let you know that most of the Channel 10 team is here in Paris helping Channel 8 cover Imagine Cup 2008. Nic is here with Max and I, Benjamin Gauthey is here as a photography judge, and our own Laura Foy is the captain of the short film category. Even Channel 9's own Charles Torre is here as a software judge. And poor Tina? Well, someone had to stay back and answer the phones. (cue violins)

We've got plenty in the queue for Channel 10 while we're gone, but once you're done here, jump on over to Channel 8 and check out the World's Premiere Technology Competition. (photo by Ambika Singh)

Obama Deep Zoom

Larry Larsen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Donavon West, a regular on Channel 9 and also the man behind HomeServerHacks.com, has created a gigapixel Deep Zoom from Obama supporter thumbnails - 12,000 to be exact, spread across a 10,000 x 10,000 pixel photo of Barack Obama. Some of the images are higher res than others (higher res images seem to stand out a little more than the others even at a distance), check out the high res photo on his left eye.

See more at DeepZoomObama.com

Bill Gates on Channel 9

Larry Larsen — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:08:00 GMT

Bill Gates and Charles Torre got together at TechEd to talk about his transition into the future and the changes in his goals as he goes from driving Microsoft to driving the Gates Foundation.

This is a good opportunity to see some of the gears turning behind decisions like putting Ray Ozzie in the CSA seat, how we address competitors, increasing agility while growing, and what developers should be paying attention to this decade and next.

You can see the Channel 9 thread here.

Print Your Own Camera

Larry Larsen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:45:00 GMT

The folks at Corbis are hosting a number of pinhole cameras that you can print out and construct in your spare time. You'll want to use some thick paper if you take this on, and probably use some black (electrical or duct) tape on the inside to seal the film from light.

Check the FAQ for more details.

Zune 4/8 Case Roundup

Larry Larsen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:40:00 GMT

Over on Channel 8, Max has gotten hold of some of Cesar's cases out of the Zune group. He takes a look at them along with some pros and cons on each. Also making an appearance is arm-model Laura Foy.

Next-Gen PC Design

Larry Larsen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:06:00 GMT

The Next-Gen PC design competition has been judged and at the top of the stack of very nice entries is this multi-user, multi-interface Napkin PC by Avery Holleman. You can see the rest of the submissions here, last years winners can be found here.

Let us know what you think, which ones do you really like/dislike?

The Microsoft 216 Megapixel Camera

Larry Larsen — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:41:00 GMT

Did you know that Microsoft makes a 216 Megapixel camera? I didn't know either until I read it on Mark Brown's Virtual Earth blog, but it turns out that this is the photobeastie behind the orthogonal imagery on Virtual Earth. The UltraCams are also used to create the 3D models you see on Virtual Earth through photogrammetric processing.

The UltraCam snaps an impressive 14,430 x 9,420 pixel image using 13 CCD's, sending them through 14 CPU's. The camera captures data at 3Gbits/sec, which led them to use two Infiniband cables rather than 14 firewire cables. Look for more info in a future episode of ShutterSpeed.

Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Larry Larsen — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:13:00 GMT

The cat's out of the bag now, Windows 7 is going to have Multi-touch support. A transcript from All Things Digital is here, there are two highlight videos here and here. Check out The Windows Vista Blog, also check out Engadget, Mary Jo for an I told you so, the latest from TechCrunch, and the bad boys of technology; Gizmodo.

Mary Jo says she doesn't want touch on her Windows notebook. I'd like to hear what you think. I'm really looking forward to it. I can't tell you how many times I've used World Wide Telescope, DeepZoom, or Live Maps on a portable and wished I could interact with the content in a more natural way.

Latest Updates to SkyDrive are Live

Larry Larsen — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:52:00 GMT

The Windows Live SkyDrive team blog gives us the latest on new updates to SkyDrive that launched today. SkyDrive is now available in 24 additional locations, with support for a total of 62 countries. You can now leave comments on any SkyDrive file. You can add captions to photos, there is a click control to quickly move through files in the folder, and the photo previews are larger.

MSN Toolbar, Now with Silverlight Goodness

Larry Larsen — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:03:00 GMT

The new MSN Toolbar is out, and it now has a new crunchy Silverlight center. Features include starting a search from anywhere, adding RSS feeds to your Live.com page with a single click, and one-click access to maps for all the addresses on the page you're viewing.

For more on the MSN toolbar, check out Max's Channel 8 demo of the toolbar with Stefan Weitz.

And of course you can download the toolbar here.

LEGO Indiana Jones Demo Available

Larry Larsen — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:49:00 GMT

The LEGO Star Wars video games are one of my personal favorites. The inventive title is also great for kids too, because a lightsaber that breaks a few lego bricks apart is much easier to pass by parents than the alternative. Now there's a new LEGO game based on Indiana Jones and the only place to get the game demo (on any platform) before the movie comes out is at GamesForWindows.com.

The full game has 60+ playable characters and plenty of familiar scenes. The PC game also supports widescreen and Xbox 360 control (for Windows).

CSI: NY Fights Crime with Virtual Earth

Larry Larsen — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:20:00 GMT

Mark Brown's Virtual Earth Blog points out that MS has completed the trifecta of crime fighting with an appearance on CSI:NY. The detectives start by zooming in from space, where crime is relatively low, right into a custom 3D model, where evidently crime is somewhat higher. To see it for yourself (as well as some UI elements I hope never make it into Virtual Earth), jump on over to CBS and slide it up to 36:40.

DeepZooming into (US) Tax Dollars

Larry Larsen — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:25:00 GMT

DeepZoom really shines in showing a large amount of information. To get a sense of this, check out Jess Bachman's Death and Taxes poster. This ginormous infographic shows you where much of the US Federal budget will go in 2009. By using a mouse with a scrollwheel, you can fluidly move in and out of the graphic, digging around through branches and departments of the government.

Jess stopped by recently and told us about how it started, how long it takes to make, his 800-layer Photoshop file, and his Martha Stewart appearance. You can explore the poster in Silverlight here and get the print poster at WallStats.com.

Popfly Game Creator: Meet the Team, Make a Game

Larry Larsen — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:14:00 GMT

For more on Popfly Game Creator don't miss This Week on Channel 9. Jacqueline Russel, Lead Project Manager for Popfly, talks about Popfly Game Creator and Adam Nathan from the Popfly team goes over building a 2D side scroller.

I played around with it this morning and it's really simple - so if you're not a dev, don't worry about it - give it a try. There is a function to upload pictures to Popfly, but I was referencing photos I uploaded to Skydrive with no problem. Remember, if you use PNGs for your images you can have transparent backgrounds.

Photosynth Solves Crimes the Cool Way

Larry Larsen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:20:00 GMT

If like many of us, you can't get enough Photosynth in your daily digital diet, make sure you check out CSI: NY tonight because Microsoft's Photosynth is going to make an appearance. The story is that a counselor is murdered at a prom and all the camera phone photos are fed into Photosynth where a 3D world is constructed for investigators to wander through as they solve the mystery.

Apparently CSI characters are going to be showing up with Tablet PCs and UMPCs in an effort to go paperless. Now, the sidebar on the USA Today story is a little confusing. It mentions HD View as being "still in the labs". In fact, you can play with HD View today. And don't forget PhotoZoom, which already lets you experience large pictures easily.

Free Windows Mobile Remote Admin App

Larry Larsen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:43:00 GMT

This is a cool little freeware app for your Windows Mobile phone that will let you connect with your desktop machine to your phone to control it using a window and your keyboard and mouse. You can also capture the phone screen, drag and drop files to your phone, and connect over IP (although I haven't got that one working yet on my phone.) I can confirm that even the mouse scrollwheel works on phone apps, though it doesn't appear to pass-through video display.

But this is a great little utility for doing lots of text entry on your phone, to see the phone more clearly on your computer (you can view x 200-300%), or to troubleshoot phone problems by remoting into the computer connected to it.

(Thanks, Loke)

Do you really get Live Mesh?

Larry Larsen — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:52:00 GMT

An "Elevator Pitch" is the art of being able to explain your product in the time it takes to ride up an elevator with someone. In the world of 30 second ad spots and 160 character limits, brevity has become a necessity.

But how do you explain something as utterly complex as Live Mesh in that short of time? Well, you don't really, which is why there are some who think Live Mesh is a souped up FolderShare or 'just another service'. Live Mesh is a platform, one that spans devices and operating systems. To really get a sense of what Live Mesh is, you should watch this incredible video Charles Torre shot with Ori Amiga, Group PM of the Live Developer Platform. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, at least watch the second half.

And let us know if you have any questions we can help answer.

Clean Computing: Cheap Cable Wrap

Larry Larsen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:59:00 GMT

Alright, I might be a little bit of a neat freak. One thing that really distracts me is seeing a pile of wires everywhere when I'm at my computer. A good video tip was posted on MetaCafe my Marek080580 that shows you how to manage your cables with an old CD spindle. Nice tip, the only thing I would suggest is using a half height (50 count) spindle rather than the top hat sized. Guess it depends on how much cabling you have to organize. Good idea, but I think I'm going to stick with velcro strips.

But I decided to make a tag for 'clean computing', which is going to be my term for having a tidy setup. Check out the tag to see some examples and give us your best tips for a neat workspace.

Live Maps and Virtual Earth 3D Keep Getting Better

Larry Larsen — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:18:00 GMT

The Live Maps / Virtual Earth team must have gotten the last shipment of Mountain Dew Gamer Fuel and are putting it to good use pumping out tons of great new features. Jump over to the Virtual Earth Blog for a full recap, or over to ars technica for a hands on look, or just go to http://maps.live.com to use it.

Some of the cool new features include improved 3D views with higher resolution textures, the ability to export to your GPS, the ability to make your own 3D models with 3DVIA (just right click where you want a building), street/other labels in birds eye view, and 1-click directions.

One of my favorite new features is the mash-up features, check out this view of Giants Stadium with a seating data overlay. Also check out this view of the Seattle Transit System.

Those alone make for a significant update, but there's much more. You can now share your custom map content with other people, you can browse to a location and subscribe to a geo-location via RSS, there are tour enhancements, high-def movie output, and direction/traffic enhancements. Great stuff!

Update: Max on Channel 8 has a video, check it out.

Microsoft's IT Probot

Larry Larsen — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Don't miss this Technet Edge video on the new IT Probot out of Microsoft Research. It is the a core commitment to have one of these in every datacenter.

I'll let you in on a little secret, the IT Probot was a program that got off the ground after several failed attempts to retrofit Conan O'Brien's Pimpbot to do maintenance work in datacenters.

My favorite part of IT Probot; finally a robot with front side PCI slots.

eHome Expo - Superna

Larry Larsen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:45:00 GMT

Superna is a company that makes solutions to connect all your different systems together. They have a software layer that will connect your XP Media Center, Vista Media Center, home automation, and touch panels from various third parties.

Oded Vardi from Superna spent a few minutes telling me about their whole home system and walks us through Superna's ControlWare.

eHome Expo - Cutting Edge PCs

Larry Larsen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:32:00 GMT

While in Orlando at the Electronic Home Expo, I got a chance to visit with John Oliver from Cutting Edge PC's. Cutting Edge makes some really nice high end Media Center machines with features like Whole House Control and integration with VideoGiant.

Win A Digital Home Makeover

Larry Larsen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:09:00 GMT

Now I know all of you Channel 10 viewers are absolute power users who know how to keep their bits and bytes under your every control. But just in case there's someone out there who needs help getting it all sorted out, the Media Center team is running a contest for the chance to win a complete Digital Home Makeover.

So put together a two-minute video showing how sad, pathetic, and disjointed your connected lifestyle is and you might just be looking at up to $10,000 in flat screen, extenders, and invisible tubes to move your 1's and 0's from A to B.

Task Market: Freelancing + Outsourcing

Larry Larsen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:46:00 GMT

Microsoft recently released a tech preview of Task Market, a site for freelancers to connect with people and businesses who need short term skilled tech labor. They have tried to make it as easy for businesses to post jobs as it is for freelancers to find them. The ability to get paid through PayPal makes payment hassle-free for everyone.

They are looking for feedback on what works and what can be improved, so if you're a freelancer, check it out and give them your feedback.

eHome Expo - Autonomic Controls

Larry Larsen — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:37:00 GMT

While in Orlando for the Electronic Home Expo, I talked to Michael De Nigris from Autonomic Controls. They have a very cool system for Media Center that includes some very innovative solutions. For starters, they can take a 7.1 sound card (which is technically 8 channels) and split it into 4 individual stereo zones that they can send throughout your house.

They also have a solution for using a UMPC (or TabletPC, or laptop) as an uber remote control for your Media Center. Very cool.