Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Prototype

Demo: Prototype implementation of the W3C Device Orientation API

Olivier Bloch — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:40:41 GMT

The Internet Explorer and Microsoft Open Technologies Inc. teams released a prototype implementation of the W3C DeviceOrientation Event Specification draft on HTML5Labs.com. This specification defines new DOM events that provide information about the physical orientation and motion of a device. Such APIs will let web developers easily deliver advanced web user experiences leveraging modern devices sensors

In the video you will see the demo game that is provided in the prototype in action on a Windows 8 tablet.

A tour through the features and concept of SketchFlow

Adam Kinney — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:21:00 GMT

Simon Guest walks through the features and expected workflow of SketchFlow, a prototyping tool for WPF or Silverlight applications originally shown at MIX09.

TechFest: Back of Device Touch Input

Laura Foy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:27:00 GMT

This demo explores how to add pointing input capabilities to very small screen devices. On first sight, touch-screens seem to allow for particular compactness, because they integrate input and screen into the same physical space. The opposite is true, however, because the users fingers occlude contents and prevent precision. Microsoft Research Redmond has created a 2.4 inch prototype that allows a back-of-device interface. This clip explains how and why it works.

HP Gives Sneak Peek of Firefly Gaming Laptop

Sarah Perez — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:43:00 GMT

Netbooks may be all the rage right now, but there’s nothing that makes us drool quite like a new gaming laptop. Although HP is making its official debut at CES, we recently got a sneak peek at their new Voodoo Firefly prototype laptop. One of the laptop’s unique features is a 4.3” secondary screen beneath the main 17” 1920x1200 screen. You can drag any window to the smaller display, which is perfect for keeping an eye on your email or surfing the web during game downtime. The multi-touch trackpad on the Firefly is located on the right-hand side of the keyboard – great for right-handed folks, but lefties will be disappointed with that choice.

Of course, this machine is designed for gaming, so the specs don’t disappoint. Firefly features a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a pair of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs running in CrossFire mode, and a 7,200 rpm 250GB hard drive. The Firefly spec sheet said the machine is capable of overclocking, too. For audio, the laptop uses Creative’s X-Fi audio technology, which features Dolby sound and support for 5.1 surround sound speaker sets.

One of the most innovative features is Firefly’s night vision webcam – a first for notebook computers. In low light/no light conditions, the cam switches over to infrared mode automatically.

Unfortunately, Firefly is only a concept PC, so who knows if and when it will come to market. At the very least, though, we hope to see some of its features incorporated into new notebooks in the future.

You can read the full Firefly review on LaptopMag.

Microsoft’s Tablet PC Prototype

Sarah Perez — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:01:00 GMT

Want to see the tablet PC of the future? I just came across a video where Microsoft’s Jonathan Cluts demonstrates a prototype of new tablet PC technology, designed with the needs of today’s college students in mind. In the video, Cluts, the Director of Strategic Prototyping, is demonstrating how a medical student could access and use the technology to better view parts of the human anatomy. This tablet prototype is also being shown off by Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer, on a tour of U.S. universities this week. Although there are no immediate plans to turn this prototype into a deliverable product at this time, it’s definitely cool technology worth checking out:

ARCast.TV - Christoph Schittko on the Innovation Framework

Bob Familiar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:46:00 GMT

No matter if you're a developer or an architect, innovation is much more than just writing code for new features. How do you come up with innovative ideas that make your application more competitive and make you stand out as a recognized thought leader? Innovation works best when architects and developers understand how to guide and participate in the process around it and what infrastructure is required to support it. Bob Familiar interviews Christoph Schittko on how successful innovators like Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay and others implement to build innovation into a company's culture, e.g., brainstorming for new ideas internally or with the user community, planning and executing regular events such as hackdays to create new ideas and prototypes, how to test out viability of ideas through rapid iterations, learning fast through feedback and through failure if necessary to move forward to bring innovations into products.

Microsoft’s Center for Information Work

JD Lewin — Mon, 07 May 2007 18:23:00 GMT

Only at a company this large can you stumble upon extremely cool stuff that would’ve remained entirely off your radar. The Center for Information Work (MSCIW) appears to be a swanky work area concept that includes workspace, hardware, and software concepts for the future of electronic productivity. Killer prototypes around information clusters, mobile workers, and contextual navigation are all drool worthy, though obviously not ready for prime time. Rest assured now that we’ve found out about this little oasis, we won’t rest until we can get a thorough tour of this companies own private Tomorrowland.