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WIRED.com featured a great article last week on the Internet of things and it’s well worth a read if you haven’t done so already. Bill Wasik gave a thorough explanation of how we’ve reached the point where many of our devices have the capability of being connected, and it’s opened...

One of the things I like about Richard Banks is that he's either involved in or comes across some of the most unique applications of technology. A great example of this is the work he's part of at Microsoft Research Cambridge around exploring the design implications of slow technology. Below are a couple...

In yet another example of the Kinect effect , frog design took a couple of Microsoft Kinect for Windows sensors, a handful of devices and some light fixtures to explore the possibilities of room-sized computing. It’s a bit like the Microsoft Envisioning Center , though I like the name of their...

Last time I talked about smart cities it was based on a trip back to London , which has a dated infrastructure and growing demands from new development. It's a challenge shared by many cities that are looking for a way forward to improve the quality of life of its citizens, but are held back by technical...

One theme that really stood out today is the use of 3-D—typically to scan physical objects and transform them into three-dimensional models on your computer. So one project that really stands out—both literally and figuratively—is the 3-D display with haptic feedback that Mike Sinclair...

In Silicon Valley Wednesday night, Microsoft hosted a panel discussion with execs from Facebook, Netflix and a few other companies. The topic was making big data easier to use for small businesses and start-ups. Doug Crets shared some highlights on the Official Microsoft Blog yesterday, along with this...

This is a guest post from Stefan Weitz , Director of Search at Microsoft Those who follow my many digital personas know I travel – a lot. That has many implications on my life, like how much stuff I want to lug around. Being constantly on the go means the time I have to actually live my life...

If you read my CES trip report a couple weeks ago then you might recall my comment about Ford’s work in helping consumers optimize when they use electricity—a program they call MyEnergi Lifestyle . Since returning from Vegas I’ve stumbled across a few articles here and there that really...

  My Nike Flyknit shoes arrived last week and they’re ready for a run out – but to be honest, I’m a bit of a fair weather runner and the rain has set in here in Seattle. Just in time though, Nike+ Kinect Training is available on Xbox. This is no game…no, no...

In this month’s issue of Wired Magazine, editor Chris Anderson puts the spotlight on the burgeoning population of drones, but not those in the skies over Afghanistan or Iraq. The drones Chris is talking about are being built and created by hobbyists like himself, all around the world. There’s...

I was about to write a post that used CES as the backdrop to look at what’s next for technology but Sarah Rotman Epps from Forrester has already done a terrific job of covering much of what I had planned to with her post Beyond Tablets: The Next Five Computing Form Factors - so I’ll riff...

Our Holodesk video was a hit so I here's another video from our Microsoft Research team in Cambridge of some similarly cool Kinect related work. A project titled Augmented Projectors shows the potential to augment environments with digital graphics – this becomes particularly interesting when...

A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down for a chat with Dr. Abel Sanchez , Executive Director at MIT’s Geospatial Data Center, to talk about the Internet of Things and its impact on the emergence of intelligent systems . We met at the recent Windows Embedded Executive Summit here in Seattle...

I had my first US college football experience last week and it was quite an experience. Now I understand all the excitement around virtual tailgate parties in Avatar Kinect . Back in my native UK the football (sorry, soccer) season is underway and in New Zealand the Rugby World Cup is reaching it’s...

I’ve talked about the Internet of Things several times here on Next at Microsoft, noting that more and more of the objects in our lives are becoming connected to the Internet and becoming “intelligent”. This intelligence will bring with it a number of things – technology that...

Anyone who’s spent much time on this site knows that the Internet of Things is one of my favorite topics. I suppose it’s because it speaks to how we can use technology to redefine what’s possible. And while a lot of the talk has been pretty general, a few people here are working on...

Those are Engadget's words , not mine as this Microsoft Research project was shown at SIGGRAPH this week. KinectFusion takes live depth data from a moving Kinect sensor and in real-time creates high-quality 3D models. The possibilities are huge – you can scan a whole room and its contents within...

Last week I profiled Sheridan Martin Small – an amazing creative mind within our Xbox incubation group. In doing so, I mentioned a project called The Printing Dress – a collaboration between Sheridan and Asta Roseway of Microsoft Research. The video above, courtesy of Electricfoxy , does...

In our series on “things” being connected to the net, I thought it’d be interesting to ponder on what makes a city digital? PSFK posed this question last week following the unveiling of NYC’s Digital Plan by Mayor Bloomberg and Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne. They had...

Whenever talk turns to the internet of things, the home of the future is one of the first examples to come up. We could probably each think of at least a half-a-dozen ideas of how to make our homes more comfortable with technology. For better or worse, one of the first to see the light of day was the...

I’ve been presenting this slide a lot lately to explain some of the key areas Microsoft is focused on from a technology trends point of view. The slide doesn’t pretend to be all encompassing and focuses on tech trends (not social or macroeconomic). After a few iterations, a few trends such...

I managed to bag an Arc Touch Mouse (above) a few days after arriving in Redmond – much to the annoyance of my colleagues – and it’s become the main rodent I use. It lightweight and small yet retains a good feel and has a rather excellent haptic strip instead of a scroll wheel. That’s...

A clickcable world is getting closer. It’s been a busy week for my friends over in Microsoft Tag – a few days ago they showed us how Tag is being used to make your food more interactive. Check out the Meyer Natural Beef below which is sporting a Tag. Scan the tag with the free Microsoft...

I stumbled across this Mark Lukas video and realised I've seen technology that can make this happen - recently in fact. Andy Wilson from Microsoft Research showed a technology called Lightspace at the UIST conference last month. The technology combines surface computing and augmented reality...