So I returned from our global sales conference in Orlando a few weeks ago, MGX (Microsoft Global eXchange, no convoluted acronyms for the sake of coolness here). There were lots of cool demos of upcoming technology, but I think the thing that grabbed everyone's attention the most was Photosynth. This software basically lets you take a bunch of photos of some object, and stitch them together into a fully interactive 3D model. Obviously the potential for something like this is incredible; imagine if all the images in the world were woven together to create a 3D virtual image of the entire planet? Mapping and aerial photos seem a little tame now :-)

Another thing that really blew me away was the awesome demo of Windows Vista by Jim Allchin, showing off all sorts of cool stuff I never even knew was there. Of course we're still a while away from the retail release of Vista, so while we're all drumming our fingers waiting for that here's another machinima video:

I can't take credit for this one, instead that goes to my friend Richard Coleman who has clearly spent far too much time playing The Sims :-) Thanks Rich.