May 2007 - Posts

Google Gears

Going offline with Google Gears

The Gears team believes in the open web and the simple technologies it is built on, and we didn't want to change that. So Gears is an incremental improvement to the web as it is today. It adds just enough to AJAX to make current web applications work offline.

Gears is still in beta, but it's a big step. I love Google Reader, many of my readers do to.

So visit the Google Gears developer page to join the mailing list, submit feature requests, file bugs, and of course send patches.

Interview about Google Gears

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

The Bill and Steve Show

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs together again. Two of the luckiest guys in the world who were in the right place at the right time - Steve Jobs.

The videos from the D conference are here.

Bill confirms that he isn't Fake Steve.

Best quote from Real Steve let's go out and invent tomorrow
and from Bill, I don't think ether of us has anything to complain about.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Aloha Mahalo

Mahalo Launches With Human-Crafted Search Results

Jason Calacanis has just launched a people-powered search engine reminiscent of Yahoo back in the day before the almighty algorithm.

I checked-out the Technology category and quickly noticed there were few technologists listed.

I've known Jason for a few years, so he should know I'm here to help.

Dan Appleman recently put together a great search site for Dot Net developers, I say great because he indexes my blog as a authoritative source.
Essentially Dan's SearchDotNet filters Google search to offer you the best result for what your looking for.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Windows Live Writer Beta 2



Windows Live Writer is a WYSIWYG editor that can publish to Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Moveable Type, Community Server, and other weblog services.

Beta 2 is now available for you to DOWNLOAD NOW

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Surface Computing

Surface Computing Comes to Life

The Human Touch

Microsoft Surface puts people in control of their experiences with technology, making everyday tasks entertaining, enjoyable and efficient. Imagine ordering a beverage during a meal with just the tap of a finger. Imagine quickly browsing through music and dragging favorite songs onto a personal playlist by moving a finger across the screen. Imagine creating and sending a personal postcard of vacation pictures instantly to friends and family, without ever touching a keyboard.

First Look: Microsoft Surfacing Computing!

Fascinating development, how long before this technology trickles down to portable and mobile devices? I'd love to just wave at a Tablet PC to bring up a browser or check email and tap to delete spam.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

3D NYC

Live Search Maps launches photo-realistic 3-D imagery of New York City

Microsoft Live Search Maps will today begin offering three-dimensional, photo-realistic views of New York City with perspectives only birds have ever seen.

I feel like a Blimp Caption moving over the 3D terrain but as New York City is constantly changing this map will need to be upgraded often. The first upgrade should be to streaming Siliverlight with all the benefits of XMAL.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

The Windows CLR

Microsoft postpones PDC

I predicted last night that the tabloid tech press would run like chicken little with this story.
Sanjay Parthasarathy runs the Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, the vacuum created by his silence will be filled by harmful speculation.
 
Let's focus on the future of the Microsoft platform, I learned enough at the MEDC to know that we're moving to managed code. At MIX07 we learned that the CLR and managed code will now run in the browser, so clearly the next logical step is to have the CLR run inside Windows.
 
Anyone who thinks that managed code is not fast enough for Windows wasn't at the Intel Developer conference back in March. We have dual core processors on our laptops today, in a year we'll have quad core and soon after eight core.
 
Multi-core, multi-threaded managed code is our developer platform destiny.
 
Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

PDC Slips

PDC Update

We are currently in the process of rescheduling this fall’s Professional Developer Conference. As the PDC is the definitive developer event focused on the future of the Microsoft platform, we try to align it to be in front of major platform milestones. By this fall, however, upcoming platform technologies including Windows Server 2008, SQL Server codenamed “Katmai,” Visual Studio codenamed “Orcas” and Silverlight will already be in developers’ hands and approaching launch, which is where we’ll focus our developer engagement in the near term. We will update this site when we have a new date for the PDC that is better timed with the next wave of platform technologies.

Join Paul and Thousands of Developers at Tech·Ed 2007. Register Now.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Acropolis in Orlando

Acropolis isn't a new attraction at Disney World, the Acropolis Client Framework makes it easy to build flexible and powerful Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation WPF applications.

At TechEd in Orlando you'll find three sessions devoted to Acropolis;

DEV13-TLC - Windows .NET Client: “Acropolis” Client Application Framework

DEV318 - Windows .NET Client: Building Rich Client UI with the “Acropolis” Framework

DEV302 - Windows .NET Client: Introducing the “Acropolis” Client Application Framework

Join Thousands of Developers at Tech·Ed 2007. Register Now.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Microsoft Platform and Tools Roadmap

                        Thom Robbins, Director of .NET Platform Product Management, outlines Microsoft's platform and tools roadmap, including a discussion of .NET 3.0 in the market, as well as the upcoming frameworks and tools, .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio "Orcas."
 
Four years ago I was listening to Thom Robbins on MSDN webcasts, then he became Microsoft's Developer Evangelist for the New England Region where he originated the Code Camp concept.
 
I was lucky to be in Atlantic City NJ as Thom gave this Keynote at the Microsoft Health & Life Sciences Developer Conference
 
Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Silverlight Roadmap

Silverlight 1.1 Developer Roadmap

It's always nice to know where you're going and this is going to be an exciting adventure.

Full-Size Map (Right-click and Save)

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

MSDN Goes ASPX

I've just noticed the new look Microsoft Developer Network, their now running on ASP.Net and that's as good as it gets! 

Congratulations Scott Guthrie and the entire ASP.Net Team, they've made their mark as we watch all of Microsoft.com go default.aspx.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

ScottGu's List

May 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, Silverlight, WPF and .NET

There's a human aggregator on the loose in Seattle, linking to usefully blog posts on the technologies we all want to know more about.


Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

The HP Garage


The HP Garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard first started in 1938 is now California Historic Landmark No. 976 — Birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Origins, a documentary video, takes a look back on the founders and the values behind the viral business model that seeded generations of Silicon Valley start-ups.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

New Tablet PC's

When I first met Michael Dell at the XPS Launch in NYC someone asked him about the Tablet PC, he said niche, niche, niche, well it looks as though the Latitude Tablet PC has found it's niche.

The Panasonic Toughbook has been the first Tablet PC to have it's own TV commercial, three years after they launched.

You gotta see the HP2710p Notebook PC.
Productivity with a twist. A new ultra-thin convertible tablet with an innovative design redefines what you can do on the go. watch a video from the HP Mobility Summit

I'm looking forward to the first Tablet PC incorporating the Centrino Pro, running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 with 4gigs of RAM and a GPU that supports DirectX 10 with Shader 4.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Popfly

Microsoft releases neat mashup tool

Popfly is the fun, easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications. Popfly consists of two parts:

1 Popfly Creator is a set of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups.

2 Popfly Space is an online community of creators where you can host, share, rate, comment and even remix creations from other Popfly users.

Silverlight is shining bright.
Now Rory has a Popfly video up on Channel9

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Microsoft Online Advertising

Microsoft to Acquire aQuantive, Inc.

Microsoft just announced they are acquiring aQuantive, Inc., for $66.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6 billion.

The advertising industry is evolving and growing at an incredible pace, moving increasingly toward online and IP-served platforms, which dramatically increases the importance of software for this industry. .Today’s announcement represents the next step in the evolution of our ad network from our initial investment in MSN, to the broader Microsoft network including Xbox Live, Windows Live and Office Live, and now to the full capacity of the Internet. Microsoft is intensely committed to creating a thriving advertising business and to partnering closely with all key constituencies in this industry to help maximize the digital advertising opportunity for all. - Steve Ballmer

This acquisition into digital media, aQuantive is the parent of Atlas, DRIVEpm and Avenue A | Razorfish doesn't say much about Steve's confidence in the Online Services Group.

I spoke to Steve Berkowitz, the VP of Microsoft's Online Services Group several weeks ago in New York about placing ads from Microsoft on community blogs, he said we want to do it right and we're not ready yet.

$66.50 a share for aQuantive when they were at $35.87 just yesterday! $6 billion is twice the price Google paid for DoubleClick and is by far the largest acquisition in Microsoft's short history.

Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Search.Imagine Goes Live

Search.Imagine has gone live check-it out and compare your results to you know hoogle.


Are you an expert? Join our team of experts careers@avanade.com

Get Siiverlight

Yesterday at Streaming Media in NYC I had a great personal Silverlight demo from Sean Alexander himself, so many new tools - see all the Silverlight Resources, and get something started!
Tip/Trick: Supporting Full Screen Mode with Silverlight

Are you an expert?   Join our team of experts  careers@avanade.com

Search Something

Universal search: The best answer is still the best answer

Search is about discovery, I want to learn something I don't know.
 
I don't want to be lead to a company that wants to sell me something to satisfy a need I didn't know I had.
 
It's a thirst for knowledge that can only be quenched by learning something about the why that's always in the way.