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Bing and Winter Olympics

Sarah Perez — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:04:00 GMT

Microsoft is again partnering with NBC Universal to deliver live Olympics coverage. On the NBCOlympics.com website, over 400 hours of live competition will be made available for all 15 of the Winter Olympics sports. In addition, you’ll have access to 1000 hours of full-event replays, recaps, montages, commentator analysis, and athlete-specific clips.

As with the previous Olympics games, the video will be streamed in HD via Microsoft Silverlight technology and will feature DVR-like controls for pausing and rewinding the live coverage.

Other new features include Silverlight Enhanced HD photo galleries on NBCOlympics.com where you can zoom in and out of your favorite images and a social “Olympic Pulse” page that will feature athlete and expert tweets and blog posts.

This year, however, Bing is getting in on the action too. You can visually explore Vancouver through Bing’s interactive StreetSide Maps, the Bing homepage will feature Olympic-related images, Bing Visual Search will add an “Olympic Athletes” category, and new Instant Answers will be added daily on popular athletes, sporting events and medal counts. In addition, Bing has exclusive rights to index all the Winter Games videos.

Although the games haven’t started yet, you can visit NBCOlympics.com for related news, images, and videos.

Use Your Zune Remote to Control Windows Media Center

Sarah Perez — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:04:00 GMT

Did you know you can Zune wireless remote to control your Windows Media Center PC? Although not designed for this purpose, a simple registry hack is all the stands in the way of turning your Zune remote into one that controls Media Center, too.

Recently posted to LifeHacker, this tip is worth sharing:

Open the registry. Scroll down toComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
Find the REG_DWORD named CodeSetNum0 and change the value to Zero.
Reboot the PC and enjoy.

By default, Windows listens to channel 1 and the Zune remote is channel 8. This hack works by setting the ID to 0 which allows Windows to listen to all the IR ID’s. It’s been tested in Windows 7 and not in other versions, but there’s no reason to believe that it wouldn’t work in those, too. Let us know if you try it!

Sony Ericsson Aspen: First to Run Windows Mobile 6.5.3

Sarah Perez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:09:00 GMT

Sony Ericsson has just announced their brand new “Aspen” phone, the first Windows Mobile device running the new Windows Mobile 6.5.3 mobile operating system. The phone is the latest in the company’s eco-friendly “GreenHeart” line, which means it’s made from recycled materials, features energy-efficient chargers, offers a power-saving mode, and uses wateborne paint.

Designed for enterprise users and heavy texters, the phone has a full QWERTY keypad and includes Microsoft Office Mobile, Outlook Mobile, and a PDF reader.

As for what’s new with WiMo 6.5.3? The OS now offers improved support for capacitive-touch screens and multi-touch support, better navigation, horizontal scroll, and better touch controls so you can use the device without a stylus. You also drag and drop applications on the homescreen. There are other bug fixes and general improvements in the OS, too – ZDNet has a full feature list here.

FarmVille Comes to MSN

Sarah Perez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:08:00 GMT

One of the top games to ever appear on Facebook, FarmVille, is launching outside of the social network. Through a new partnership with Microsoft, Zynga (the creators of FarmVille) will bring their popular game to MSN Games, a destination site for casual gamers. This will be the first time the game launches outside of social networking sites in general, save for its own site at FarmVille.com.

Gamers who play the new MSN Games edition of FarmVille will be able to authenticate using Facebook Connect technology, which allows you to forgo creating a username and password. Instead, gamers will use their Facebook ID to login and play.

Since last June, FarmVille has grown to over 76 million users on Facebook alone and with its launch on MSN, the game is on track to bring in millions more. MSN Games currently has tens of millions of players on its site every month.

As to why someone would login on MSN Games instead of Facebook to play? Perhaps they’re just casual gamers unaware of the thousands of gaming apps on Facebook? Nah, it’s probably because Facebook is blocked at their workplace.

Merlion Lets You Run Desktop Apps on Mobile Phones

Sarah Perez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:07:00 GMT

I just came across an interesting Microsoft Research Project called Merlion which lets you run desktop applications on a mobile phone. The way the system works is that it allows a mobile phone user (on any mobile OS) access to a remote server running some sort of remote desktop software like VNC. Then, without any modifications to the desktop app itself, the user can interact with the original application from their mobile phone using a specially created mobile interface.

End users can create their own Merlion-enabled apps themselves, too, using the Merlion Designer. With this tool, you select the visual portion of the original app you want available on your mobile device and then create an alternative layout designed with your phone’s dimensions in mind. Once the new interface has been created, the Merlion runtime is used to access the desktop app on the server via the new mobile GUI.

In addition, Merlion can increase productivity by automating repetitive actions like logging in or tasks that require multiple interactions. It also can make applications available across different mobile form factors and can allow applications that work on different OS platforms to operate in concert.

Merlion’s ability to create alternative interfaces to applications works for web-based applications, too. Also, it’s not limited to smartphones alone. It could be used to create apps that run on platforms that weren’t originally intended to run apps. For example, Merlion works on basic “feature phones” and handheld gaming devices like the Nintendo DS which supports Wi-Fi.

Pictured is an example of a modified version of the Windows Calculator app, redesigned using Merlin for use on Windows Mobile phone. More screenshots and other details about this project are available in the whitepaper here.

An FTP App Designed with Windows 7 in Mind

Sarah Perez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:06:00 GMT

I’ve been using FileZilla for my FTP needs in the past, but the features built into this new FTP program have me interested in taking a deeper look. The (uncreatively named) “Windows 7 FTP Application” was recently featured on the Life Rocks 2.0 blog where a couple of its specialized Windows 7 features were mentioned. Intrigued, I went directly to the program’s page over on the CodeProject site, where it states that the goal of the new software is to create a fully functional FTP program that uses “the new functions found in Windows 7.”

Specifically, the software implemented the Windows 7 libraries feature within the program for easy access to your most common file stores. It also provides a login form, download form, and upload form created using Aero technology. And as you upload and download files to and from a remote site, the progress of those file transfers is shown using the thumbnail previews in the new Windows 7 taskbar. Instead of seeing a small thumbnail of the open window, for example, this FTP program actually displays a dialog box complete with informational text including file name, save path, and status as well as a progress bar.

The new FTP program is available for download along with its source code from here.

Huddle Wins Award at Microsoft's SocialFest

Sarah Perez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:06:00 GMT

Seven Microsoft BizSpark companies were invited to Microsoft’s campus recently to spend time with SharePoint team members in order to better learn how they could integrate their particular service with the Microsoft business software. SharePoint, which provides companies with intranet sites, hosted file stores, online collaboration tools, process management functions, intranet search, and more, is often incorrectly positioned against these “software-as-a-service” type companies in an either/or scenario, as if you would have to pick one model or the other when looking for business collaboration technologies. In reality, there are plenty of companies that allow their software to layer on top of SharePoint to provide more advanced features or specialized functionality.

Among the companies who visited Microsoft at this “SocialFest” event, as it was called, were Cortex Intelligence, a data mining and sentiment analysis company, Calinda Software, an email message mapping tool, Confer, a communications platform for microblogging, status updates, and chat, Leverage Software, an email organization technology, Liaise, an email data extraction tool, and Loqu8, a data lookup tool.

However, the winner of the top prize was Huddle, a collaboration platform for file sharing and online meetings. Their creative entry into the competition was a technology that allows separate SharePoints from different companies to integrate with each other and collaborate even though each SharePoint site was behind a separate firewall. The content between both sites are synchronized while maintaining auditing, compliance, and identity management functions. Genius!

Image Credit: Huddle

New Sidewinder Keyboard Solves Ghosting Problem

Sarah Perez — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:41:00 GMT

“Ghosting” is a problem which refers to the inability of most keyboards to read more than two key presses at once. Because of the way keyboards are designed – with a stack of plastic sheets to create a grid of wires underneath – pressing more than a couple of keys the same time leads problems in the keyboard’s ability to know what other keys were pressed. Only the first two are reported and the others become “ghosts.” (See a more thorough explanation of this over on TechFlash).

For gamers, ghosting can be a major problem. Previous attempts at solving the issue have resulted in anti-ghosting keyboards from Razer and Logitech which have allowed between 5 and 10 simultaneous key presses. However, the new Microsoft SideWinder X4 gaming keyboard is the first to offer an all-over anti-ghosting solution.

With this new device, you can press up to 26 keys at the same time. That may be a bit of overkill, actually. I don’t know of any games that require you to push that many buttons at once, but gamers will certainly appreciate the possibility.

The new keyboard is due out in March of this year and will sell for $59.99.

State of the Union Gets Synthed

Sarah Perez — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:40:00 GMT

MSNBC is hosting a cool photosynth of President Obama’s State of the Union address over on their website. The 3D photo, created using Microsoft Photosynth technology, lets you zoom around the House of Representatives where speech took place on Wednesday January 27th. If you’ve never had the opportunity to visit the Capital building in person, this is a great way to explore the chambers up close. In fact, you can probably get closer viewing the synth than you could actually get in person, especially considering how deep you can zoom in on architectural elements like the clock above the presidential podium, for example.

You can also put this particular synth in “slideshow” mode to see time-lapsed photos of the speech in progress. Just click the play button at the top-right.

Foursquare Comes to Windows Mobile

Sarah Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:29:00 GMT

The popular location-based mobile social networking game Foursquare is finally going to make its Windows Mobile debut. A new third-party application from Anand Iyer called WinMoSquare is now under development. Using Foursquare APIs, .NET, and a special GPS driver, the new app can automatically locate your position and check you in. You can also add locations and find your friends, but due to limitations in Foursquare’s API, you can’t yet see the leaderboard or add new friends on the fly.

The mobile app is currently in beta testing and works on touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 only. If you want to try it out you can either email the developer (see the app annoucement here) or fill in the webform available at http://touchality.com/WinMoSquare.

Pretty Glass Gadgets for Windows 7

Sarah Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Thanks to Into Windows, I just discovered a pretty glass gadget collection for Windows 7. Gadgets, in case you don’t know, are desktop widgets that can connect to the internet to display updated information like weather or news or connect to your computer itself to deliver stats on your PC’s resources like CPU and memory usage.

But being a bit of a desktop purist myself, I’ll admit that I’ve limited my gadgets to only two so far – one for weather and one for RSS feeds. I also limit the number of desktop icons displayed too. (And thanks to Windows 7’s superbar, the taskbar turned application launcher at the bottom of the screen, this is easier than ever).

My main complaint with gadgets is the precious screen real estate they take up – I didn’t want to cover up my beautiful wallpaper! But with this new glass gadget collection, the desktop background shines through the gadgets themselves. Gorgeous! Now I can have my gadgets and my background too.

You can download the whole pack containing all 14 glass gadgets here via the Into Windows website. The gadgets are hosted on the DeviantART community site where you can also see a preview of the gadgets in action.

(Image credit: Into Windows)

Get Grammy Info via Bing

Sarah Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Did you miss the recent Grammy awards? Yeah, me too. Our TV was monopolized by the other big event going on that night – the American football spectacular known as the Pro Bowl. But both you and I can get caught up with what we missed thanks to new features in Bing.

Via Bing Video, you can get caught up on the highlights from the 52nd annual Grammy Awards in HD. Be sure to check the related videos below, too, for more from the big show. And for instant answers on burning questions (like who won Album of the Year – gasp! Taylor Swift!), a quick Bing search gives you the short and sweet answer. If you’re interested in more Grammy news, links from the Instant Answer take you over to MSN’s coverage of the event where you can catch more photos, highlights, and gossip.

ExoPC: A Beautiful and Functional Tablet Computer

Sarah Perez — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:08:00 GMT

The ExoPC is starting to get noticed around the web as an attractive blend of both tablet computers and netbooks. This 8.9” multi-touch slate offers the touchscreen goodness of tablet computing with the guts of Windows 7 underneath. According to site jkontherun.com, the ExoPC includes an Atom N270 at 1.6GHz, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 32GB SSD, Wi-Fi, optional 3G, Bluetooth, three USB ports, and 1.3 megapixel webcam. But most importantly, the PC supports Flash – still a critical component for viewing most web-based videos including those found on social sharing sites like YouTube, news sites like CNN, and online TV portals like Hulu.

In addition, the version of Windows on the ExoPC is Windows 7 Professional which means it also offers support for native inking.

With its user-replaceable battery and $599 price point, this new tablet computer available in March will be an attractive choice for those who are looking for the convenience of a thin slate without having to give up on the features they expect to have on their portable computers.

Windows Azure Goes Live

Sarah Perez — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:07:00 GMT

Windows Azure, the cloud computing infrastructure that’s been in beta testing for over a year, has now gone live for all. The Azure platform moves Windows development efforts to the web, allowing programmers to utilize their existing skills to build cloud-based applications. In other words, if a developer knows Visual Studio for example, he or she is ready to build for the cloud. In addition, Azure’s open platform supports standards like SOAP, REST, and XML, which allows for non-Windows developers to utilize the Azure platform as well.

While a lot of focus is on how Azure’s “OS as service” compares to other cloud computing platforms put out by Microsoft competitors, another aspect to Azure computing is often left unmentioned: its ability to migrate business applications running behind the firewall to the web. With Azure’s AppFabric, I.T. can take the apps currently running on Windows 2008 Server and make them web-enabled. Additionally, Microsoft SQL Azure creates a fully relational database in the cloud.

Those interested in learning more about Azure can do so now via the Azure Platform website here: microsoft.com/windowsazure.

Grab Screenshots with Screenpresso

Sarah Perez — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:07:00 GMT

A recent post on Download Squad featured a nifty little .NET application for grabbing screenshots called Screenpresso. If you’re looking for a slightly more robust tool than the included Snipping Tool that comes with Windows 7, this program is worth a look. It reminds me a bit of Jing, the program I’ve been using for screen grabs as it also lets you configure where files are saved and offers a “history” feature where you can quickly retrieve past screenshots. However, this app lets you do a few more things than Jing does. For example, you can grab screenshots of the entire web page even if it doesn’t fit on the screen, resize multiple images at once, add effects like drop shadows and rounded corners, and more. It even works as a portable application. But my favorite feature? Integration with Twitpic for sharing photos on Twitter. Screenpresso is available now as a free download and will soon offer a paid version too.

Nike Launches Silverlight-Powered Air Jordan Mosiac

Sarah Perez — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:51:00 GMT

I seem to never tire of seeking out and playing with the online photo mosaics built using Silverlight deep-zoom technology. The latest one to cross my radar is Nike’s “Air Jordan” mosaic called Mosaic 23/25. The homepage of this new site is a photo of Jordan – in the air, of course – has been created by thousands of user-submitted photos of themselves in their Air Jordan shoes. As with any Silverlight-powered deep zoomable interface, you can click or use the controls to move in and out and around the image to see all its various elements. However, this site goes a bit further and adds in multitouch capabilities too. If you’re accessing the site from a Windows 7 PC with multitouch, you can use the touchscreen to navigate through the photos instead.

The Windows Azure platform hosts the whole thing, too, allowing it to responds to increased traffic loads as need be and scale out as new photos are constantly uploaded. Then, every 10 minutes, a new mosaic is generated using all the photos submitted, including the recent uploads.

To see the site in action, go here.

Bing's Latest Addition: In-Depth Finance Pages

Sarah Perez — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:51:00 GMT

It seems like every day now there’s another new Bing feature. This time, it’s the addition of Finance Pages which are detailed informational pages that provide key metrics on public stocks and funds on the U.S. market. Now when you search for a stock symbol on Bing, you’ll be shown an Instant Answer providing the at-a-glance info you’ve come to expect from Bing. This answer shows basic data about the stock’s current position, range, volume, etc. alongside a chart of the stock’s performance. And when you click on “Investor Data” (the tab at the top left under the Bing logo), you’ll be taken to a new page with detailed metrics and analyst coverage. More links on the left guide you to similar stocks and other from the same industry.

The Bing Search team notes in a blog post about the new feature that this is only the first revision of the Stocks and Funds pages – more info and functionality will arrive in future versions.

How to Access SharePoint from an iPhone

Sarah Perez — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:51:00 GMT

Mobile blogger Jason Langridge recently uncovered a gem of an application over on the iTunes App Store. Although not an officially supported Microsoft app, a company called Spyk Software has created iShare (iTunes link), an application for accessing SharePoint from an iPhone or iPod Touch.

According to the app’s description, iShare lets you browse and search through all your company files from your iPhone, including documents, lists, announcements, and meetings. You can search all of SharePoint, open and read documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe, PNG/GIF/JPG), create, update, and delete list items, view and edit document metadata, and more.

The $9.99 app supports SharePoint Server 2007 and works with Office 2007, Windows SharePoint Services, and SharePoint Online. If your company hasn’t exposed SharePoint to the internet, you can first connect to your company using the iPhone’s built in VPN client then launch the app.

Zune Update: What's New?

Sarah Perez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:08:00 GMT

The recent Zune system maintenance brought a few new features to the Zune software. For starters, The Digital Lifestyle blog noticed the software supports Windows 7 libraries after the update to 4.2. Now the “Monitored Folders” section under the software’s settings adds the Windows 7 Library locations in the list of folders to watch. This includes the Libraries for Music, Videos, and Photos. You can also choose which locations should be the defaults for saving content. Also new is a Podcast library for syncing podcasts via Homegroup settings.

While the Zune Insider blog notes that this update focuses on maintenance of the Zune service, commenters over on Engadget have discovered AVI files are now supported, too. Others are reporting the software seems snappier than before.

If you haven’t recently used the Zune software, do so now and you’ll be prompted to install the update. You’ll need to do this in order to continue to use the Zune service.

Silverlight Client for Facebook Launches

Sarah Perez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:08:00 GMT

At the end of the most recent PDC conference, Scott Guthrie demonstrated the power of Silverlight 4 technology using a special Facebook application. At the time, the application was known only as a demo app and not as a downloadable client, but today that has changed. The Microsoft Silverlight 4 Beta Client for Facebook has just been released as a developer preview. However, in order to run this app, you’ll need to have Silverlight 4 installed – the developer build. Unlike software loosely dubbed “beta,” this app isn’t really meant for general public consumption just yet. It’s meant to offer devs a real sample of what’s possible with the new Silverlight software.

However, developer or not, those interested in running the Facebook app will have access to all sorts of Facebook features, including status updates, photos, links, pages, video, friends, events, your inbox, and more. And all of it beautifully rendered in Silverlight. You can even use your PC’s webcam to take photos or video which can be uploaded using the app for posting to Facebook.

The app is now available for download here on the Silverlight samples website.

(via Tim Heuer)

Pictionaire, a new Multitouch Table from Microsoft Research

Sarah Perez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:07:00 GMT

A joint project from Microsoft Research and the University of California brings us another touchscreen, mutitouch table-top computing experience. Like a larger version of Surface, the Pictionaire, as it’s called, is also operated via human touch using gestures made on the table’s surface. However, unlike Surface, the camera used features a higher resolution - and it’s positioned above the computer’s screen, via a mount on the ceiling. With this setup, the camera can “see” the items placed on the table and when the item is removed, it can be replaced with a digital version. For example, if you place a keyboard on the table, the Pictionaire will pull up a text-entry box. If you place a sketchbook on the table, a digital version of the page soon appears. You can even do this process in reverse – the Pictionaire can project a digitized image onto the real life object, like the digital sketchpad image projected onto a piece of paper so you can trace it back onto the physical page.

To see the Pictionaire in action, check out the videos posted over on Slashgear. The Pictionaire will be demonstrated at the Computer Supported Cooperative Work conference in Savannah, Georgia, next month.

(via New Scientist)

Bill Gates Appears on The Daily Show

Sarah Perez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:07:00 GMT

In case you missed it, Bill Gates recently appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This is his second time on the program – the last being three years ago when he showed up to promote Vista. Now he’s promoting something else entirely – the humanitarian work he’s doing with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, specifically the problems faced by the educational system in the U.S.

Of course, this being the Daily Show, there were several humorous moments, too including remarks about “robots that can love,” iPod versus Zune jokes, and my personal favorite, a joke about Twitter. Referencing Gates’ move to join the popular micro-blogging network, Stewart asked, “When you Twitter do you have to type or can you just think it and have it just appear on computers?” Gates said he still had to type.

You can watch the interview yourself here on Comedy Central’s website.

Get the Windows Experience Pack

Sarah Perez — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:02:00 GMT

Have you tried the new Windows Experience Pack yet? Released just last week this free software download lets Windows users customize their PC with new backgrounds, screensavers, and other features for Windows Live Messenger.

Designed primarily for Live Messenger users, this program offers additional personalization options including display pictures, emoticons, and Messenger scenes. You can then coordinate your Messenger avatar with your Windows 7 theme as the Experience Pack lets you create a desktop background featuring your personalized avatar against a “destination” background – like the beach, the mountains, an African safari, a hiking trial, etc.

The avatars are created using a combination of your own photo and a cartoon figure for a mashed creation a bit like those in the famous “Elf Youself” holiday animations.

While this download may seem a little silly to some of us more, err, mature users, you can bet that the kids will get a kick out of it. So go ahead and post this link to their Facebook wall: http://experience.windows.com.

Documentary Featuring Bill Gates Scores at Sundance

Sarah Perez — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Bill Gates has been in the public eye a lot as of late. First he rejoined Facebook and created a Twitter account, then he launched a new blog (The Gates Notes) and just this past weekend, he showed up at the Sundance Film Festival to help promote a documentary which he was featured in. According to BoomTown, the film “Waiting for Superman” is about the crisis in public education, something that ties in nicely with Gates’ most recent work in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And not only did he attend the screening, he also took questions afterwards and even appeared at some Sundance events.

The film itself did well at Sundance, too. It scored a distribution deal – the first at the festival - via Paramount Vantage, a unit of the Viacom movie studio.

So is this the new Bill Gates: twitterer, blogger, movie star? Hey, if it helps him with the charitable work he’s been focused on through the Foundation, I’m all for it.

(Image Credit: Peter Kramer / Associated Press)

Hard Rock in Vegas Gets Microsoft Surface and Touchscreen Rock Wall

Sarah Perez — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:13:00 GMT

Microsoft Surface is in the spotlight again. Some of you may have seen it in use during the E! network’s annual Red Carpet special at the Golden Globes this past weekend. At this event, fashion expert Jay Manuel used the tabletop computing platform during his “play-by-play” analysis of the stars’ designer duds, notes a post on the Surface blog. However, an even more interesting use of the technology comes from the recent installation in Las Vegas.

A Microsoft Surface machine has been installed in Vegas’s Hard Rock Cafe where a combination of Microsoft technologies that also includes Silverlight, SharePoint, and Windows are used in combination to present the company’s online collection of rock memorabilia to diners. Even cooler, the Cafe features something called the “Rock Wall,” an 18-foot-wide, 4-foot-tall touchscreen showcase of the Hard Rock’s treasures just like those found on Memorabilia website here.

This unique, customized experience lets Cafe diners interact with the rock history showcase on the giant glass screen while waiting for a table. They can also interact with the collection using a Microsoft Surface computer to zoom in and out of the memorabilia. The collection, which includes things like handwritten lyrics by John Lennon and Michael Jackson’s sequined glove, consistently draws a crowd eager to play with the Microsoft technology.

In addition to the Rock Wall and Surface computer, the Cafe’s customers can also interact with the memorabilia collection using 19” touchscreens installed in the restaurant’s booths.