Photosynth and Seadragon offer a glimpse at the next great UI

Download

How do I download the videos?

• To download, right click the file type you would like and pick “Save target as…” or “Save link as…”

Why should I download videos from Channel9?

• It's an easy way to save the videos you like locally.
• You can save the videos in order to watch them offline.
• If all you want is to hear the audio, you can download the MP3!

Which version should I choose?

• If you want to view the video on your PC, Xbox or Media Center, download the High Quality WMV file (this is the highest quality version we have available).
• If you'd like a lower bitrate version, to reduce the download time or cost, then choose the Medium Quality WMV file.
• If you have a Zune, WP7, iPhone, iPad, or iPod device, choose the low or medium MP4 file.
• If you just want to hear the audio of the video, choose the MP3 file.

Right click “Save as…”

• High Quality WMV (PC, Xbox, MCE)
• Mid Quality WMV (Lo-band, Mobile)
• MP4 (iPod, Zune HD)
• WMV (WMV Video)

If you’ve seen Minority Report and watched with glee as Tom Cruise effortlessly navigates piles of media with lightning speed using only his hands, you’ll immediately recognize Seadragon. Blaise Aguera y Arcas and the team at Windows Live Labs have created an engine for managing large collections of images effortlessly. Through their own special brand of hot sauce, the team has been able to build software that loads only the pieces of large images that it needs at any moment in time. This breakthrough allows the user to experience their collections of images instantly. By adding Photosynth to the recipe, the team is able to stitch images together and determine the three dimensional space where pictures were taken.

When the power of Seadragon and Photosynth are combined with images from many different sources, the potential applications become very exciting. Fusing the photos of a particular location taken by multiple people, geo-data can be learned as opposed to manually entered. Now if only we could merge these technologies with some gloves with glowing fingers…