Entries tagged with microsoft - Channel 10

Microsoft Research: A look at tomorrow's health solutions today - part II

Laura — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:15:00 GMT

In this special two-part video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Bill Crounse, MD, visits with researchers at Microsoft Research. Each program reviews three promising areas of research that may one day lead to solutions with a direct or indirect application to health and healthcare. Viewers will gain insight to advanced ideas and technologies now in the labs at Microsoft Research long before they find their way into future products, solutions, or applications.

HIV Research, Visualization

One of the enduring challenges in HIV vaccine design is the remarkable rate of viral mutation and adaptation, which limits the immune system’s ability to mount a lasting, effective response. The HIV group at Microsoft Research is developing models of evolution that allow researchers to identify and visualize the complex, yet encouragingly consistent, patterns of adaptation that suggest novel vaccine strategies.

http://research.microsoft.com/research/eScience/

•David Heckerman, M.D. Ph.D.

Senior Directior, eScience Research Group

•Jonathan Carlson

Researcher

DynaVis Data Visualization

DynaVis is an information visualization toolkit that provides several extensions to business (or perhaps even clinical) charting, including animated transitions between data and between different views of data. The animated transitions help users stay in context when complex changes occur, making it easier for them to perform their tasks.

http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/trans/tg/&toc=comp/trans/tg/2007/06/v6toc.xml&DOI=10.1109/TVCG.2007.70539

http://research.microsoft.com/vibe/projects/dynavis.aspx

•George Robertson, Ph.D.

Principal Researcher

Muscle-Computer Interface

Microsoft researcher Desney Tan and his team are working to create interfaces called muscle-computer interfaces, or MuCIs. that sense gestural input directly from muscle activity. This research may one day lead to new modalities for computer screen navigation and data input.

http://research.microsoft.com/cue/MuCI/.

http://research.microsoft.com/~desney
http://research.microsoft.com/cue

•Scott Saponas

Intern

PhotoSynth- Learn how to do it

Laura — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:48:00 GMT

We all love taking digital photos but with Photosynth you can take them to the next level.

I'm sure you've all heard of this amazing new application that allows you to digitally stitch your pics together to create new 3D panoramic environments. In this piece you'll learn exactly how to make the most of Microsoft's new toy for photogs and then check out this video to see the behind the scenes action of how it was made.

And then go here for a bit of it's history.

Microsoft Research: A look at tomorrow’s health solutions today: Part I

Laura — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:23:00 GMT

A special thanks to Dr. Eric Horvitz, MSR Area Manager, for his assistance in the production of this program.

Part 1

Situated Interaction

The Situated Interaction project at Microsoft Research aims to enable a new generation of interactive systems that can reason about their surroundings and embed interaction deeply into the natural flow of everyday tasks, activities, and collaborations. As an initial sample challenge in this space, researchers are currently developing a situated conversational agent that can act as a Microsoft front-desk receptionist (for example, make shuttle reservations, register visitors, and provide campus information). The system integrates a large number of artificial intelligence technologies—such as speech recognition and language understanding, face detection and tracking, intention recognition, engagement, and behavioral modeling—in a conversational framework that allows it to engage in mixed-initiative, natural language interaction with one participant or multiple participants.

http://msrweb/adapt/SituatedInteraction

•Dan Bohus, Ph.D.

Researcher

Gaze Tracking

Eye-tracking technology can be used to understand how people interact with information—for instance, search results and Web pages and perform other information processing tasks. This information can then be used to design new ways of interacting with computers in which the machine recognizes what people look at and better understands what they pay attention to in order to respond accordingly.

http://research.microsoft.com/~cutrell/

Cutrell, E., and Z. Guan. 2007. “What are you looking for? An eye-tracking study of information usage in Web search.” In Proceedings of CHI'07, Human Factors in Computing Systems (San Jose, CA), ACM Press, 407-416.

Guan, Z., and E. Cutrell. 2007. “An eye-tracking study of the effect of target rank on Web search.” In Proceedings of CHI'07, Human Factors in Computing Systems (San Jose, CA), ACM Press, 417-420.

•Ed Cutrell, Ph.D.

Researcher

Big Top

“FourBySix” is a large, 4-foot by 6-foot (standing height) surface computer that Microsoft researchers recently prototyped to explore productivity scenarios and applications involving small groups of users meeting face to face. For example, one use would be to support groups of designers who are combining and reviewing images, allowing them to sketch new designs in a collaborative setting.

•Andy Wilson, Ph.D.

Researcher

Sphere multi-touch computing

Laura — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Just when you thought the Surface was the coolest thing since sliced bread... enter the Sphere! This product is still in proto-type mode but even at this stage, you can't help but be impressed. At the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit I grabbed some one on one time with Hrvoje Benko, the lead on this project and found out all the details. It's just so cool, enjoy.

Bill Gates on Channel 9

Larry — 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.

Next-Gen PC Design

Larry — 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?

MS Auto update

Laura — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:58:00 GMT

Bill Gates predicted a computer in every home and on every desk....and now it seems he can go ahead and add "in every vehicle". We did some great coverage of MS Auto at CES and I stopped by for another chat with Velle to see what's new- and when we can have it!

Windows Home Server PP1 RC available to the public.

EnglishBloke — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:08:00 GMT

Microsoft have released a publically downloadable RC of PowerPack 1 for Windows Home Server.

You can grab it right now from the link at the end of this blog post.

Windows Power Pack one is stuffed full of cool features and enhancements heavily influenced by community requests and feedback.

PowerPack 1 also fixes the 'corruption bug' in Windows Home Server which affected a small set of Windows Home Server users saving to Windows Home Servers with multiple drive configurations.

This public release candidate follows the Windows Home Server teams die hard approach to taking customer feedback very seriously and the team looks forward to any and all feedback from the community regarding this release candidate.

Amongst the features included in the release are:

The ability to run Home Server Connector on x64 Vista.
Backup of the home server Shared Folders.
Remote Access improvements.
Improved Power Consumption.
Support for Chinese and Japanese Languages.

I personally have been running PP1 for a while now and I can honestly say I love it. I have had basically no issues at all. I've never experienced the corruption bug with PP1 and I run 12 drives on my WHS and save from many applications directly onto the shares. Performance has also never been better. I saw a nice CPU drop on my WHS with PP1 and haven't seen any errors in my event log for a long time :)

I think the WHS Team should be very proud of this release. It very much follows the quality of the original product. I think we've got some amazing things still to come from this team, and if the quality of PP1 is anything to go by, I think we're all going to be very happy.

Download WHS PowerPack 1 Release Candidate from Microsoft Connect

Read more details on the Windows Home Server Team Blog

Goooooooool!! Microsoft meets the Brasilian National Soccer Team

Laura — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:12:00 GMT

Our home town of Seattle was fortunate enough to host a friendly soccer (futbol) game between Brasil's national team and Canada's national team. With David Beckham inspiring a new passion for Soccer in America, this was huge. Not only that, but apparently Microsoft has a HUGE Brasilian community. I decided to invade it....watch.

Microspotting

sarahintampa — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Frankarr recently wrote on his blog "I cant believe I haven't written about Microspotting before." Well, I can't believe I haven't heard about Microspotting before! The site is a blog maintained by Ariel, a freelance writer and author, who also works at Microsoft. She describes herself as "the person you thought would never work at MSFT." But after getting laid off from a Web 2.0 startup in 2007, she interviewed for a job at Microsoft and was surprised how well the job fit in with her schedule. She writes:

Did it matter that I could only work three days a week because I was busy with my book and other projects? Nope! Would I get the same famous MSFT benefits as a 40-hour/week employee? Pretty much! Did it matter that I have pink hair and am prone to accidentally cussing in team meetings? Nope! What about the fact that I don’t like working before 10am? No problem!

As she began working there, she realized that she had many misconceptions about the company. It wasn't all boring and corporate after all. She started meeting smart and inspiring people, so she decided to start a blog which profiles them. That blog is Microspotting.

Some recent entries include interviews like the following:

Definitely a great read. Subscribed!

[Check out Jeff Sandquist on Microspotting. :) - Larry]

A Tour of Microsoft MediaRoom

Laura — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:14:00 GMT

I've always been a huge advocate of making the most of your television watching experience. It looks as though the folks over at Microsoft MediaRoom agree with me. MediaRoom is more than Microsoft IPTV with a brand-new name, as it adds new features like personal media sharing, enhanced picture-in-picture capabilities, and a new multimedia application environment. The Mediaroom software platform is licensed directly to the world’s leading broadband service providers so they can deliver you, the consumer, the best TV and entertainment experience.

And the winner is.....

Laura — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:20:00 GMT

This is what we've all been waiting for: The winner of the World Cup Demo.

Entry one

Entry two

Entry three

The art of the Demo: Part 3

Laura — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:25:00 GMT

Introducing people to new and exciting ways to use Microsoft products is one of the perks of working for this company- but it's also a challenge. You have to be pretty creative in order to catch peoples attention. That's why we created the "World Cup Demo Competition". Microsoft employees from all over the world were asked to perform a demonstration of Windows Vista applications and really WOW their audiences. The best demo'er wins ten grand! This video is the second of the three finalists, take a look and give your feedback. Click here to see the first finalist and here to see the second.

The art of the demo: Part 2

Laura — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:48:00 GMT

The art of the Demo : Part 1

Laura — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:09:00 GMT

Introducing people to new and exciting ways to use Microsoft products is one of the perks of working for this company- but it's also a challenge. You have to be pretty creative in order to catch peoples attention. That's why we created the "World Cup Demo Competition". Microsoft employees from all over the world were asked to perform a demonstration of Windows Vista applications and really WOW their audiences. The best demo'er wins ten grand! This video is the first of the three finalists, take a look and give your feedback. I'll post all three and then announce the winner on Wednesday.

Guitar Hero @ your Mobile!

jukkaw — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:29:00 GMT

Do you have a Windows Mobile phone? Are you ready to Rock???

Now it's time to Rock with your Mobile. Magmic Games will take mobility to the new level!

Get you're own http://www.winplay.com/game/GuitarHeroMobile.

Guitar Hero® is now available on mobile! Rock out anytime, anywhere with this rhythm-based, three button game that stays true to the original.
Rock out anytime, anywhere with this rhythm-based, three button game that stays true to the original. Open with 15 jamming tracks, all taken from the Guitar Hero console series.
· Grow your set list with 3 new songs monthly*
· Play through 3 venues each with 4 set songs and an encore
· Shred as your favorite characters on four authentic Gibson guitars, in three killer venues
· Unlock guitars, earn achievements and break records
· Hit the right notes to drive the crowd wild with star power!

The initial game comes with these 15 tracks from some of rock’s greatest acts:

(1) Santana - Black Magic Woman
(2) Wolfmother - Woman
(3) AFI - Miss Murder
(4) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss
(5) Alice Cooper - School's Out
(6) Pat Benatar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
(7) Van Halen - You Really Got Me
(8) KISS - Strutter
(9) Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
(10) Stone Temple Pilots - Trippin on A Hole
(11) Matchbook Romance - Monsters
(12) Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
(13) Black Sabbath - Paranoid
(14) The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
(15) Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane

Mobile health update: Devices and solutions for healthcare professionals-part 1

Laura — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Among the attributes of information technology solutions designed for healthcare professionals, mobility is high on the list. Doctors, nurses, and other clinicians are always on the move, and the IT solutions they use must move with them. Fortunately, there is now a wide selection of very capable devices and applications to meet the needs of highly mobile medical professionals.

In this special two-part video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Dr. Crounse and his guests review some of the options. The first program takes a look at four popular mobile devices running Windows Mobile 6. The second program reviews a useful application from IQMax that provides mobile access to patient lists, lab reports, x-ray results, and more wherever that information is needed. Other useful functions include charge capture and real-time dictation of chart notes, discharge summaries, and documents using a smartphone.

The Lost Tape: Behind The Scenes at CES 2008

Nic — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:20:00 GMT

Whilst moving from Singapore to the USA last month I stumbled upon a lost MiniDV tape that we shot at CES 2008 back in January,.. lo and behold,.. the tape contained some never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes footage of the Microsoft CES 2008 booth! Score!

So what does (did?) it take to put together and run the Microsoft CES 2008 booth? 378 two way radios*, 4,201 Xbox 360's*, 57,000 LCD displays*, 3.6 million miles of cable*, two giant robots** and one guy playing Halo 3***.

* numbers may not be accurate, ** may not exist, *** actually there were two guys

Viscosity- The Modern Art Generator

Laura — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:27:00 GMT

Who says geeks and art don't go hand in hand? Well, certainly not the judges at this years South by SouthWest Festival. Microsoft employee, Jeff Weir, created Viscosity - an online abstract art application- and it won the Best Art award at this years SXSW. It's fun, it's beautiful and it's free. Hear from the man himself in this clip and then go play with it and start creating.

Silverlight Rehab - You're not alone

Tina — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Trying Silverlight can lead to an addiction. We know this. But you're not alone. Whether you're a Developer, Designer or just a web junkie...there's people out there just like you. Don't be afraid to come forward. Share your story with us. It's okay. In a unique move, we decided to allow cameras into one of our Silverlight Rehab meetings. Brace yourself it's not easy to watch.

An Inconvenient Ride

Laura — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:07:00 GMT

Earth Day is almost upon us and it's time to ramp up our Green efforts. Microsoft is no exception to that rule- and as such the Live Search team has decided to sponsor An Inconvenient Ride. This is a 23 day long bicyicle journey across the country in order to spread the message about the state of our environment and help alert people as to how they can help. And the kicker is- the bicyclists are all kids! It really is an amazing program- I spoke with the Seattle team (who take off this Sunday March 30) about their mission and found it inspiring to see how much these kids really care. Watch this clip and then get involved!

Watch this clip for more info about helping the environment.

List of All the Microsoft Facebook Groups

sarahintampa — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:54:00 GMT

I recently saw a post on Jason Langridge's blog about the Windows Mobile Fan group on Facebook, which got me thinking, I wonder how many Microsoft Facebook groups are there? Quite a few, as it turns out. I couldn't find anyone else who had put together a list of all the groups, so I figured I would. Little did I know how many groups there were. Kind of an overwhelming task, so instead, I bring you the highlights:

Groups of People

Windows Mobile Fans

Friends of the Blue Monster - "change the world, or go home!"

Microsoft Student Group - perfect for readers of Channel 8!

Young Microsoft Employees -Social/networking group for Microsoft employees & contractors under 30

Microsoft Alumni

Microsoft interns - group for all current and past interns

i work for Microsoft DPE Division & I'm Lovin It

Groups for Products

MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 2005 - This group is intended to provide help and support for SQL related questions.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM - A place for Dynamic CRM groups, pros, users and friends to chat about the world of CRM.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 - Group for programmers who use Visual Studio and want to share experiences with others.

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Microsoft .NET group

Microsoft Dynamics (CRM,GP,NAV,AX)

Microsoft Dynamics (Great Plains)

I love Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets!! (yes, seriously)

Fans of Microsoft Exchange Server & Microsoft Exchange 2007

I Run Microsoft Vista

Official Microsoft Office Users Group

Microsoft Zune - Official facebook group for the ZUNESCENE community and friends

Microsoft Surface Group - for fans of Surface

Microsoft Business Solutions

Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook - for discussion about the book

Microsoft Forefront

Groups for Certifications/Programs

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Group

Microsoft MVPs

Microsoft Certified Professionals

Hey! There's two of these: Microsoft Student Partners & Microsoft Student Partners

Microsoft in Education

MCAD - Microsoft Certified Application Developer

Groups for Events

Microsoft TechDays 2008

Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008

MIX08

Even Channel 8 Has A Group

Microsoft Channel 8

Congrats to Live Labs' Jeff Weir

Larry — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:29:00 GMT

Jeff Weir is a UX Designer in Microsoft's Live Labs. Between free alcohol, parties, more alcohol, more parties, and a general lack of sleep, Jeff managed to win the South by Southwest (SXSW) Web Award in the Art category. Jeff's application, Viscosity, is a modern art generator.

Viscosity kind of reminds me of some of Shirley Shor's work that was featured on Celebrity Apprentice last week. While I looked at Shirley's vastly expensive framed LCD panel playing through moving artwork, I thought to myself "Hey, I could make that with an old Tablet PC... well, except for the moving art part." Well, now I think I'll just frame a spare Tablet PC and direct it to Jeff's Viscosity watch page. Very cool. Congrats Jeff.

Microsoft Issues New Product Principles: The Ozzie Effect

Jesse — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:28:00 GMT

Microsoft this morning announced four guiding principles for it's major products, including Vista, Office, and SQL Server. Ensuring open connections, data portability, enhanced support for industry standards, and open engagement with the industry have all been listed as prioritied for current and future versions of the company's products.

As what a few of us here at C10 view as the first major impact of Ray Ozzie taking the helm, we will begin to see increased industry and community engagement from Microsoft; more APIs and documentation will be made available without licensing fees. There is also an Open Source Interoperability Initiative created as part of today's announcement, which is designed to further the conversations between Microsoft and the open source community.

(...to Expand Interoperability - MS PressPass)

DreamSpark: Students + Free Software = happily ever after

ambikas — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:55:00 GMT

Its a good day to be a student. Well, maybe its always a good day to be a student, but today Microsoft is making it a free day too.

Free you say? Free i say. And its not just chump change either. On the contrary.. how do you feel about Visual Studio 2008? How about a copy of Windows Server 2003. Oh wait.. did i mention the entire Microsoft Expression Studio? aaanddd, drumroll please... the XNA Game Studio 2.0 software and a one year subscription to XNA Game Studio Creator's club?!

Today Microsoft launched DreamSpark in 10 different countries including Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S - and more countries will be added to the list soon. Basically the program allows students to download software for free, just by virtue of their student-ness.

For full information, check out https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/ and watch Max Zuckerman's interview with Bill Gates. There's also specific details on the student verification process and how to get the free stuff you need.

Wahoo!