larrylarsen

Countdown to PDC09: Big Brains Descend Upon PDC and Teach Us How to Dream

Larry Larsen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:34:00 GMT

Charles Torre joins us today to discuss the Technical Leaders series to be held at PDC. For the first time ever, you’ll get to participate in a perfect storm of intelligence, imagination, knowledge, and vision as we bring together Microsoft’s Technical Fellows for the Technical Leaders sessions at PDC09. These are the big brains that develop and drive technical strategies for Microsoft and the industry; if you want to be inspired, this is a series you won’t want to miss. Browse Technical Leaders sessions.

NBC Winter Olympics on Silverlight

Larry Larsen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:08:00 GMT

NBC and Microsoft are getting the band back together for a full Silverlight experience around the 2010 Winter Olympics. You'll have DVR control of the video, including rewind, sharing, and saving clips. There will be a Facebook Connect feature to allow you to socialize the insanity (or coolness, depending on your POV) of skiing with a rifle.

The site will also include Deep Zoom photo galleries so you can enjoy each flake of snow individually. More details to come as we get closer to the event. Related article from TechCrunch.

Multitouch Fingerpaint in 30 Lines of PowerShell Script

Larry Larsen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:32:00 GMT

Join James Brundage, Software Tester from the PowerShell Team, as he walks through how to write a multitouch finger paint in ~30 lines of Windows PowerShell script using WPK (WPF PowerShell Kit). You can download WPK and this example as part of the PowerShell Pack. (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerShellPack) .

Monkey == TRUE

Larry Larsen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:30:00 GMT

This week, Thomas Lewis (a.k.a. The Spider King) co-hosts with the always loveable Mike Swanson to talk about From The Labs which will debut at PDC09. It kicks off with Mike talking about the $300 discount (you have already registered haven’t you?) and how INETA is “bringing it” with Birds of a Feather (known as BOFs) which are opportunities for attendees to present topics of interest to them in an open way at PDC09. Then Mike and Thomas get brutal talking about From the Labs, a track that focuses on projects and prototypes that are incubated from various Labs around Microsoft (Live Labs, DevLabs). Of course, Mike and Thomas make computer science history declaring that Monkey are immutable.

Countdown to PDC09: This is Your Brain on Puzzles

Larry Larsen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:02:00 GMT

In this episode, Mike talks with Kenny Young, an architect on the Expression Blend team, and Josh Benaloh, a senior cryptographer in Microsoft Research about the puzzles they plan to inflict on our PDC09 attendees. These are the guys who have been providing the puzzles that we’ve been tweeting recently, and they brought their own Hard Hat Challenge. Mike also reminds everyone about the caption contest at www.nxtgenug.net for a free PDC09 pass, and talks briefly about the Visual Studio Documentary to be shown at the event, including a Q&A panel after the show.

Where the Multitouch Devices Are

Larry Larsen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:33:00 GMT

Windows 7 is out and if you're like me you want to know where the new multitouch hardware is. Well here's a running list of all the hardware I know of so far.

When it comes to multitouch methods, capacitive is going to give you the best results and most touch points. Optical is going to be the runner-up and round out the bigger monitors, and resistive is going to be last IMHO.

Make	Model	Platform	Form Factor	Technology
Acer	Aspire AS5738PG	Notebook	Clamshell	Capacitive
Acer	Aspire Z5610	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Asus	Eee PC T91	Netbook	Netbook	Resistive
Dell	SX2210T 21.5” Monitor	Monitor		Optical
Dell	Studio One 19	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Dell	Latitude XT2	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
Fujitsu	Lifebook T4310	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
Fujitsu	Lifebook T4410	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
Fujitsu	LifeBook 5010	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
Fujitsu	DeskPower F Series	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Gateway	Gateway One ZX4800	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
HP	HP 21.5” Compaq L2105tm	Monitor		Optical
HP	HP 42” LD4200tm	Monitor		Optical
HP	TouchSmart 600t	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
HP	TouchSmart 300z	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
HP	TouchSmart TX2	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
HP	TouchSmart dx9100	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Lenovo	ThinkPad X200	Notebook	Tablet	Capacitive
Lenovo	ThinkPad T400	Notebook	Clamshell	Capacitive
Medion	X9613	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Sony	VAIO L	Desktop	All-in-One	Optical
Toshiba	Satellite U505	Notebook	Clamshell	Capacitive
Toshiba	Satellite M505	Notebook	Clamshell	Capacitive

Windows 7 is Here!

Larry Larsen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:31:00 GMT

Windows 7 is finally here along with several surprises. If you're in Japan, you can try the 7 layer Whopper (though I suggest you add a rider to your health insurance first). You can get a cup of coffee at the Windows Cafe in Paris. If you're in Scottsdale you can check out our first store, if you're not in Scottsdale you can check it out online. There are some special one day offers at the 7 Days of Windows 7 page.

See more at the Windows Team Blog.

Microsoft's Online Store Now Selling Windows 7 PCs

Sarah Perez — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:02:00 GMT

Coinciding with today’s launch of Windows 7, the Microsoft Online Store has added several new products to its lineup, the most notable of which is PCs! Although Microsoft itself is not a computer manufacturer, it’s nice to be able to go to one location to browse through all the different desktops, laptops, and netbooks which are currently available – and running the new OS, of course.

In addition to the PCs category, the online store has also added select 3rd party software, accessories, and gaming products, including a lot of the top selling Xbox 360 titles, reports Trevin Chow, the Senior Lead Program Manager for Microsoft Store.

The store has also been given a revamped interface designed to simplify navigation. The new site offers a re-designed categorization, navigation, and filtering system that aims to help you find the products you need more quickly.

These additions and changes have been added thanks to numerous usability studies and direct customer feedback about what they would like to see in the store – data which has been collected since the store’s launch in November of last year.

After visiting the new store, you’re invited to provide feedback by sending a tweet to Trevin with your thoughts.

Quick UI with WPK in Windows PowerShell

Larry Larsen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:38:00 GMT

Join James Brundage, PowerShell Tester, as he demonstrates how to Write quick user interfaces with WPK. This video should help people get started writing rich WPF user interfaces in PowerShell script. WPK is available as part of the PowerShellPack, which is available on the Windows 7 resource kit CD and on CodeGallery (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerShellPack) .

Continue your video tour of Windows PowerShell V2 via MSDN Channel9 and TechNET Edge. Find reusable scripts and techniques at the PowerShell Script-Center. Subscribe to the RSS feed at the Team Blog for the latest Windows PowerShell information. Get the demo scripts.

Countdown to PDC09: Coding4Fun Meets PDC

Larry Larsen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:06:00 GMT

Clint Rutkas joins just Ritzy this week (Mike wasn’t allowed out of his PDC09 keynote cage), to discuss some of the fun we’ll be bringing to LA! The Coding4Fun apps will be on display, including one serving up drinks (really!!). Clint and his crew will be in the Big Room at PDC, showing off their latest innovations that combine both interesting technologies and entertaining hobbies . . . not everything one codes has to be for the man! And speaking of ‘the man’, or rather ‘the guy’….what did the Channel 9 guy say to the MCP guy? No it’s not a joke, it’s a chance to win a FREE pass to PDC09! Provide your winning caption by Oct 23.

HP TouchSmart TX2 Multitouch Laptop

Larry Larsen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:24:00 GMT

I stopped by HP's Smart Home to see the refreshed TouchSmart TX2 Tablet/Laptop. The HP TouchSmart TX2 laptop has been my main (work) PC now for several months and it's easily the most versatile laptop I've ever had. It's a laptop, it's a Tablet PC, it's got multitouch, Dual Core, removable Lightscribe DVD burner, removable remote control, thumbprint reader, even dual headphone jacks. Best of all, the starting price of $700 (the previous TX2 has been on sale for less) it's more what you would expect to pay for a tricked-out netbook. But with Dual Core and 8GB of DDR3 RAM possible, it will run circles around a netbook. For those who think they won't use multitouch, this is a great way to dip your toes in the water, but be prepared to intuitively smudge the screen of every other laptop you use thereafter. You can also see my video on the consumer TouchSmart and business TouchSmart.

HP Touchsmart 9100 Multitouch Business PC

Larry Larsen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:14:00 GMT

When I heard Microsoft's Brion Taylor would be visiting the HP Smart Home to see the new TouchSmart hardware, I grabbed a camera and tagged along. This hardware refresh has some significant improvements including better multitouch detection, ambient light, Blu-Ray, TV Tuners and HP software. For consumers, there is the 20" TouchSmart 300 at $899, and the 23" TouchSmart 600 ($1049) (see that video here). The 600 has the best options for a more robust processor, different TV Tuners. Both have HDMI inputs on the side for your Xbox 1080p gaming goodness. For business users there is the TouchSmart 9100 ($1299), with DVI output instead of HDMI. There is also a refreshed TouchSmart TX2 laptop, you can see a video on that here.

These launch with Windows 7 starting October 22nd with the TouchSmart 300 launching on November 1.

A Look at HP TouchSmart 300 and 600

Larry Larsen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:09:00 GMT

When I heard Microsoft's Brion Taylor would be visiting the HP Smart Home to see the new TouchSmart hardware, I grabbed a camera and tagged along. This hardware refresh has some significant improvements including better multitouch detection, ambient light, Blu-Ray, TV Tuners and HP software. For consumers, there is the 20" TouchSmart 300 at $899, and the 23" TouchSmart 600 ($1049). The 600 has the best options for a more robust processor, different TV Tuners. Both have HDMI inputs on the side for your Xbox 1080p gaming goodness. For business users there is the TouchSmart 9100 ($1299), with DVI output instead of HDMI (see that video here). There is also a refreshed TouchSmart TX2 laptop, you can see a video on that here.

These launch with Windows 7 starting October 22nd with the TouchSmart 300 launching on November 1.

A Look at VPlay on Microsoft Surface

Larry Larsen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:19:00 GMT

Stuart Taylor is a researcher at MSR Cambridge and in his spare time he likes to mix bits as a VJ. He created an application called VPlay that allows him to mix video on a Surface like you would records on a DJ turntable. He stopped by the Channel 9 studio on his way to dinner last week and took a few minutes to show us how VPlay works.

You can see more about the project here.

Countdown to PDC09: Da Cloud! Da Cloud!

Larry Larsen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:31:00 GMT

Meet the owner of the PDC cloud services track, James Conard. Yep, it’s true, general availability of Azure will be announced at PDC (buy a datacenter in the cloud, if you will) but don’t think that’s all we’ve got up our sleeves! The Windows Azure Platform has come a long way in the last year since it was first announced at PDC last year, and we have a lot of progress to talk about, plus new innovations that we’ll unveil at PDC this year – listen to James as he drops hints as to what those announcements will be. And speaking of hints, don’t forget, Mike’s last HardHat Challenge remains unsolved. He drops another clue in this show, so listen carefully!

This May Be Your Next Mouse

Larry Larsen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:53:00 GMT

Today at the User Interface Software and Technology Conference, Microsoft will show five new mouse prototypes that combine normal mousing with multitouch controls. Here is a video that gives you a brief introduction to each of the controls. I'll be meeting with this team when they get back, what questions do you have about these new mice? Which one is your most/least favorite?

Upcoming SQL PASS Summit: SQL

Larry Larsen — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:25:00 GMT

Join thousands of SQL Server & BI professionals at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle from Nov. 2-5 for the largest SQL Server conference in the world! PASS Summit offers 168 technical sessions presented by SQL Server experts, one-on-one time with Microsoft’s SQL Server engineering team, free troubleshooting & design architecture guidance from Microsoft consultants, keynotes from Microsoft’s senior executives and much more!

Senior Data Platform Technology Specialist Buck Woody stopped by the Channel 9 studio to talk to Julie Strauss, Program Manager in SQL Server Engineering Team, and Herain Oberio, Group Product Manager, about upcoming sessions you won’t want to miss this year’s PASS Summit conference.

Register today at http://summit2009.sqlpass.org/

Upcoming SQL PASS Summit: Azure

Larry Larsen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:13:00 GMT

Senior Data Platform Technology Specialist Buck Woody stopped by the Channel 9 studio to talk to Michael Rys, Principal Program Manager in SQL Server Engineering Team (Azure), and Liam Cavanagh, Senior Program Manager, about upcoming sessions you won’t want to miss this year’s PASS Summit conference.

Dare to Dream Different - Second Place Winner Deon Schaffer

Larry Larsen — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:13:00 GMT

Dare to Dream Different was a contest held to see what cool ideas people could come up with using a standard hardware reference board using .NET Micro Framework. During the final judging, I got together with the finalists and talked to them about the projects they submitted.

Second Place winner Deon Schaffer shows us his very fragarent system that controls aroma therapy in a home both locally and remotely.

Countdown to PDC09: The Client Track Unplugged

Larry Larsen — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:02:00 GMT

Did you really think we were going to have a PDC without a boatload of new Windows content? Puhleeeeeze! Meet Tim Sneath, the manager of the Client track, who is guiding and overseeing sessions to make sure we really get in there and make your brain hurt, as the PDC likes to do. And while we’re at it, why not throw in a whole other day of Windows 7 training with the recently announced developer boot camp that will happen on November 16 at the PDC. Whether you are going to the full conference or not, you can attend this day long training for . . . wait for it, wait for it . . . FREE!

Dare to Dream Different - Second Prize Winner Slava Vassiliev

Larry Larsen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:26:00 GMT

Dare to Dream Different was a contest held to see what cool ideas people could come up with using a standard hardware reference board using .NET Micro Framework. During the final judging, I got together with the finalists and talked to them about the projects they submitted.

In this video, second place winner Slava Vassiliev, who speaks a little more English than I speak Russian, shows us his system for tracking health statistics from remote devices and interfaces with HealthVault.

Dare to Dream Different - Finalist Gudmund Aasgaard

Larry Larsen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:40:00 GMT

Dare to Dream Different was a contest held to see what cool ideas people could come up with using a standard hardware reference board using .NET Micro Framework. During the final judging, I got together with the finalists and talked to them about the projects they submitted.

In this video, we meet Gudmund Aasgaard from Norway who created a device to remotely control large animals using a system of dynamic fences. Gudmund was one of two finalists in the contest.

The Labs of Microsoft Hardware 6 of 6

Larry Larsen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:30:00 GMT

You may have heard that Microsoft recently expanded the campus a little, one of the teams that had grown out of their space was Microsoft Hardware. The hardware team invited me over to see The Labs of Microsoft Hardware and check out the process behind creating and testing products like the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 and the Lifecam Cinema HD.

We end our look at the Labs of Microsoft Hardware by looking at one of the coolest rooms I've ever been in. It is the anechoic chamber in the Audio Lab. Now, I knew going in that this was going to be a quiet room. But I had no idea just how quiet. Even when you have the best soundproofing on your head, you're still subjected to vibrations through your entire body. This room is even vibration-proof. The results are almost scary, leaving you with a feeling that you've just disconnected from the world.

Countdown to PDC09: Office, SharePoint, Free Win7 Boot Camp, and Turtles

Larry Larsen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:32:00 GMT

Developers scoffing at Office and SharePoint? Not anymore they don’t! Steve Fox, the productivity track owner for Office, SharePoint, CRM and Unified Communications, talks to us about what kind of IW dev content we’ll have on these technologies at PDC, and what to expect that is different from the other events featuring these same products. We also announce the FREE Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp that will be held on November 16 at PDC, and Mike gives another hint to the last Hard Hat Challenge which remains unsolved: turtle!

The Labs of Microsoft Hardware 5 of 6

Larry Larsen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:12:00 GMT

You may have heard that Microsoft recently expanded the campus a little, one of the teams that had grown out of their space was Microsoft Hardware. The hardware team invited me over to see The Labs of Microsoft Hardware and check out the process behind creating and testing products like the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 and the Lifecam Cinema HD.

Today we look at the Reliability Lab, where more devastation is rained upon Microsoft products than at a WWDC parking lot. Cables are pulled, stains are applied, even a fake Sun is cast upon our plastic, all in an effort to give you products that can take abuse with the best of them.

See all previous videos here.