Microsoft live labs introduces Pivot visual search
Microsoft's Live Labs division demonstrated a new technology called Pivot today at PDC 2009.
Microsoft Technical Fellow Gary Flake revealed Pivot as a standalone application based on Microsoft's established Seadragon and Deep Zoom technologies. The application highlights a new way of searching using a series of linked data. In the session Flake demonstrated Pivot several times and explained that the architecture is simple and based on existing web technologies. The application is a .NET client which uses Seadragon and Deep Zoom collections. Microsoft's trident layout engine (MSHTML) or better known as Internet Explorer is also used in the application.
Pivot functions over HTTP and all the communication works based on how the web is today. In most cases the content is nothing more than files being served by web servers. The interface is impressive and the result is going from many things in a search down to a few things thanks to filtering and being able to see clear patterns amongst that data. Pivots main feature is "collections", they combine large groups of similar items on the Internet, so you can view the relationships between individual pieces of information in a new way. By visualizing hidden patterns, Pivot allows users to interact with thousands of pieces of data in a unique way.
Pivot is available as a limited technical preview at getpivot.com.
Neowin has 10 invite codes that are good for 100 installs in total
Check out the video below:
... Read on »
Microsoft gives away Tablet PCs to PDC attendees
On day two of PDC09, Windows and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky took the stage and announced that all of the PDC09 attendees (full conference attendees only) will be receiving a free Acer Aspire 1420P Convertible Tablet PC.
The free give away was to show Microsoft's gratitude towards all of the PDC attendees and the support that developers have given Microsoft during the Windows 7 release.
The Acer Aspire 1420P Convertible Tablet PC comes with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit edition, with an Intel Celeron CPU @ 1.2Ghz, 2GB of memory (supporting up to 8GB), and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, 3G Mobile Broadband, 250GB HDD, all on a 11.6" screen (1366x768 Resolution).
The guys over at windowsteamblog.com were able to get exclusive hands on of the free Acer PDC laptop:
... Read on »
Silverlight 4 beta now available
Microsoft have just announced Silverlight 4 beta today at PDC09, that is available for download today. Silverlight 4 promises to enhance the overall user experience, improving speed, performance and rendering for browsers.
Silverlight 4 was demonstrated today with some practical applications that are able to take pictures and modify the image in real-time, using a web-based service. The service lets you take a picture of yourself and modify it in real-time to adjust your appearance, and even change the colour of your shirt.
Microsoft released some statistics on Silverlight 3, being installed on 33% of all computers and mobile phones during summer 2009. Silverlight 3 is now installed on approximately 45% of all computers and mobile devices around the world today.
Silverlight was also demonstrated with Microsoft's own search engine, Bing, where it was able to split the image into a puzzle and scatter the image around. This application was also used with a YouTube video, being able to scatter the page and still being able to play the video in real-time.
A new desktop Facebook application using Silverlight was demonstrated using a drag and drop feature for images, including folder groups. The application demonstrated smooth scrolling through images and comments without any interruption.
Silverlight also showed off a video on-demand video third-party video application that allows the user to rewind, fast-forward and even pause live or recorded TV, all using your browser. Microsoft also showed off a demo of a football game that allowed multiple camera angles, even available for a live broadcast.
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Microsoft demos Internet Explorer 9
Microsoft today demonstrated an early, three week old, build of Internet Explorer 9 at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference 2009.
IE 9 will take advantage of the power of the GPU for all page rendering and developers can exploit this using CSS, DHTML and javascript. In just three weeks Microsoft believes performance has increased for IE9 resulting in smoother rendering and improved performance. Interoperability and standards support is increasing and features such as rounded corner CSS support will be built in. A new JS engine will also be built into Internet Explorer 9.
Microsoft offered no time lines or indications as to when a build of Internet Explorer 9 will be available publicly. Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows and Windows Live Division, mentioned that Microsoft had only begun working on Internet Explorer 9 three weeks ago, according to our sources the latest internal build is labelled 7658.0.091116-1745.
Microsoft's Channel 9 team have posted three demo videos, check them out below.
... Read on »
PDC 2009 Live Blog Day 2 - Steven Sinofsky & Scott Guthrie
Neowin is live at PDC 2009 for the second and final day of live keynotes.
Today's keynote is with Steven Sinofsky, Scott Guthrie & Kurt DelBene. We are expecting some vision into Microsoft's IE9 plans and Silverlight 4 plans.
We've teamed up with a number of well known Microsoft bloggers to blog the keynote. The live blogging will include Ed Bott, Kip Kniskern, Long Zheng, Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, Rafael Rivera and myself Tom Warren.
Last year this proved a success with thousands of you joining in, commenting on the Windows 7 announcements.
Once again we will all contribute to a single Coveritlive live blog so you'll be able to read all of us live from Neowin and and the other bloggers web sites. The different opinions/commentary each of us will provide should make it an interesting read.
A live stream will be available on the Microsoft PDC site. Today's keynote kicks off at 8:30am PDT (see other time zones).
... Read on »
Inside a Windows Azure server container
With the up and coming release of the cloud computing, Windows Azure, the method used to house all the servers is to contain everything inside a shipping container like structure, which can be installed and running within a 24-hour period.
Neowin got an inside look on how exactly these server shipping containers look and operate, here at PDC09.
Each shipping container holds around 1,800 to 2,500 Dell servers, running 7.5 miles of piping, all of which can be climate controlled and monitored to keep an optimum temperature inside the containers at all times.
The server containers are trucked into a warehouse, where they are stacked two containers high, to optimize space, and installed within a single day, rather than months, compared to previous methods of setting up a data center.
... Read on »
Neowin hands on: Seesmic for Windows
Neowin met with Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur today at Microsoft's Professional Developers conference.
Loic gave us a great walk through of the recently announced Seesmic for Windows WPF application that is launching later today. Seesmic is a social networking application primarily used to access Twitter and Facebook. The application took just four months to develop in comparison to six months for the Adobe Air application. Seesmic is also planning a Silverlight version for next year which will be cross platform. Microsoft is due to detail Silverlight 4 enhancements and it's clear that Seesmic and Microsoft have been working closely on these recent announcements and will continue to do so in future.
According to Loic "Microsoft has provided great support to help us get started on the Microsoft platform. I would just like to thank the team who has been working with us to make it possible for us to deliver a product in such a short period of time."
We took a hands on look at the application before its availability. The build will be available today and will be updated regularly over the coming weeks. Currently it is one of the first to support Twitter lists and Facebook support is coming "in a few weeks" according to Loic. There will also be an add-ons section for Seesmic allowing third party developers to extend the capabilites of Seesmic for Windows. Seesmic for Windows is also one of the first mainstream Windows Presentation Foundation applications for Windows.
If you are interested in downloading Seesmic for Windows then please register your interest at Seesmic where the application preview will be available later today.
Neowin reporter Andrew Lyle contributed to this report... Read on »
Windows 7 touch comes to life at PDC 2009
All week long, Neowin is live at PDC09 and we found some interesting demos of the future of multi-touch screens. We found an interesting new multi-touch screen that allows you to paint using a paint brush.
The quick demo illustrates the possibilities of the new software and hardware combined for the future.
The first video shows how artists might be able to make a drawing using ArtRage:
Another multi-touch display that was previewed was a copy of an application available at the Hard Rock Café, but on a much smaller scale. The real size display is an 18' x 4' wall display that allows multiple interactions. There will also be other smaller scale models available around the country at more Hard Rock Cafés.
The video shows how easy shopping and customizing is using multi-touch and basic search functions:
There was also an Augmented Reality demonstration available this year at PDC. The game was based on the user wearing a pair of glasses and holding a board, where you need to balance a ball through a maze.
... Read on »
PDC 2009 Live Blog Day 1 - Ray Ozzie & Bob Muglia
Neowin is live at PDC 2009 for the first day of two live keynotes.
Today's keynote is with Ray Ozzie & Bob Muglia.
We've teamed up with a number of well known Microsoft bloggers to blog the Day 1 and Day 2 keynotes. The live blogging will include Ed Bott, Kip Kniskern, Long Zheng, Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, Rafael Rivera and myself Tom Warren.
Last year this proved a success with thousands of you joining in, commenting on the Windows 7 announcements.
Once again we will all contribute to a single Coveritlive liveblog so you'll be able to read all of us live from Neowin and and the other bloggers web sites. The different opinions/commentary each of us will provide should make it an interesting read.
A live stream will be available on the Microsoft PDC site. Today's keynote kicks off at 8:30am PDT (see other time zones).
... Read on »
Neowin at PDC 2009
Neowin will be covering Microsoft's 2009 Professional Developers Conference (PDC) live from Los Angeles this week.
We've teamed up with a number of well known Microsoft bloggers to blog the Day 1 and Day 2 keynotes. The live blogging will include Ed Bott, Kip Kniskern, Long Zheng, Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, Rafael Rivera and myself Tom Warren.
Last year this proved a success with thousands of you joining in, commenting on the Windows 7 announcements.
Once again we will all contribute to a single Coveritlive liveblog so you'll be able to read all of us live from Neowin and and the other bloggers web sites. The different opinions/commentary each of us will provide should make it an interesting read.
The link to read the live blog will be embedded to a news article on the days. Our PDC coverage will include all the latest on Office 2010, Office Web Apps, Windows Azure and cloud computing.
Coverage of the following keynotes:
- Tuesday, November 17 8:30am - 10:30am (PDT) See other time zones
Keynote Day 1 - Wednesday, November 18 8:30am - 10:30am (PDT) See other time zones
Keynote Day 2
... Read on »
PDC 2008 Roundup
Microsoft's PDC conference finished late last week. In case you didn't manage to follow us daily or wanted an overview of the weeks news, I have put together a list of the best things to check out from our PDC.
Firstly is Windows 7 itself, Microsoft unveiled the new client OS on PDC Day 2 to great excitement from the crowds at PDC. Neowin was one of the first to post a full UI overview of Windows 7 and you can get the low down by visiting our "Introducing the Windows 7 UI" news post.
Next up we checked out a session that demonstrated how Microsoft tests their ideas in usability labs. A design concept for jump lists was shown which is the current jump lists in Windows 7 PDC build 6801.
Each day we liveblogged the various keynotes with the "all star bloggers", day 1 can be found here which features Windows Azure, day 2 can be found here which focussed on Windows 7 and the final day focussed on Microsoft research can be found here. The Microsoft research keynote was also streamed live on Qik, this can be found in the day 3 live blog.
During the week we also visited various Microsoft booths and sessions to get some great Windows 7 demos which can be found here and here. We also visited every single Microsoft Surface unit at the PDC and recorded all the various applications installed, you can view the footage here.
PDC 2009 was announced for November 17-20, we will be there live just like this year so stay tuned for further details this time next year. See you then!... Read on »
Winner of PDC HDD
I'm proud to announce the lucky winner of our PDC 2008 HDD packed with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and various SDKs is Tsumana.
For those interested in how we picked the winner, I asked a friend to pick a number between 1 and 513 and he came up with 383 which was Tsumana's comment.
Congratulations Tsumana! I will be contacting you shortly to arrange shipping to your country.
If you missed our PDC coverage please check out our PDC section.... Read on »
Windows 7 Touch development
So it's the last day of PDC today and yesterday I got the chance to speak to Andrew Whiddett, Vice President of Interactive Technology, regarding his companies development for the Microsoft Surface and Windows 7 Touch platforms.
Whiddett kindly demonstrated his application for us and explained how it responds to the users touch. The application displays a library of pictures and can be linked to the Surface computer to pull images onto the big screen.
... Read on »
Use the Windows Ribbon
Microsoft wants you to use the Ribbon in your applications. In a session today at PDC, Microsoft outlined Ribbon development and urged developers to include it in their applications.
Use la ribbon!
Windows Ribbon for Vista will be available next year for use within
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Microsoft Surfaces at PDC
Microsoft has tons of surface units across PDC, at partner booths, lounges and even their own little surface spot on the main floor.
Microsoft has also been handing out the beta Surface SDK to those who participate in the hands on labs.
At PDC we were set a challenge to visit all of them with a special card and pick up photo images from each surface unit. The prize was a surface t-shirt. We thought that whilst we were visiting each of them why not record the different applications on the surface units as they varied per unit. Rafael helped out with the recordings.
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Direct 2D and DirectWrite Demos
Kam Vedbrat, formerely a Windows UX guy, just demonstrated some great new features in Direct 2D and DirectWrite for smoothing fonts. Kam also demonstrated the new Gabriola font included in Windows 7.
DirectWrite:
Direct2D:
Look how good txt is when it's moving rapidly:
... Read on »