David Strome's Blog : Cool Stuff

Live Search Mobile

dstrome — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:13:49 GMT

I ran across a nifty little utility for my cell phone over the weekend: Live Search Mobile. It’s a small application that you can install on Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices that

provides a slick front-end to the Live Search service. When you open the app, it tries to determine your location automatically. For me its consistently located me to within a block or two without having to turn on GPS. You can then select from a bunch of different options – Movies, Gas Prices, Traffic, etc. Clicking on an icon brings up search results based on your location. I find the movies really useful given that we practically live in movie theatres. Clicking on Movies opens up a page that has two tabs, one that lists the theatres in your area, the other that shows all of the movies playing. I use the theatre tab which lets me browse through each location and pick what movie i want to see. Show times, length, rating and reviews are all shown.

While you’re in the context of a particular entry you can perform a location based search on that entry. So, for example you can choose a movie theatre to go to and then search for restaurants around that location to find a place to go for dinner. Nifty.

In addition to the options on the main page, you can also click on Categories to view several dozen different categories from Restaurants to Arts and Entertainment and Fitness. As with movies, you can drill down into the details of each entry and perform related searches, bring up phone numbers, or get directions from your location to the place you want to go via turn-by-turn GPS (and grab traffic info while you’re at it).

If you don’t want to navigate through menus to find what you want, you can also click on Speak and say what you’re looking for. The client has surprisingly good voice recognition. Most of the time it goes immediately to a search for the term I want but if it needs to it’ll display a list of possible choices to choose from.

Live Search for Windows Mobile is available in the US, the UK, France and Italy. If you don’t have a supported device or you aren’t in a location that is currently covered by Live Search Mobile, you can always use the mobile version of the online Live Search service at http://m.live.com.

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Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

dstrome — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:40:03 GMT

Oh man, did I ever do a lot of umm, 'testing' today with the new Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. I've spent a few hours bouncing around to many web sites seeing how Beta 2 handles the various designs, coding styles, etc. If you used Beta 1, you probably used that 'IE7 rendering' button nearly instantly. Beta 2 handles sites MUCH better now. So far I haven't run into any problems with rendering, all of the various elements work properly, etc. A couple of things I like right off the bat:

color-coded tabs - I'm a tab junkie. I have a dozen tabs open at any one time. Beta 2 groups them together now using color to indicate which tabs are related to each other, and also places them together. This is really nice if I'm researching something and don't have to deal with reading each tab to figure out if I'm in the right place.
accelerators - These are pretty nifty. Highlight some text, and a little blue arrow appears. When you click on the arrow you are given choices of several tasks to perform using the highlighted text: search the web, open a map, look up a definition, etc. I use the defaults right now but fully expect 3rd parties to load this up to provide easy access to all sorts of stuff (hint hint Facebook).
InPrivate browsing - This is a pretty interesting idea. I honestly probably won't use it much but I do think it'll be extremely useful if I'm using a friend's computer or a public terminal. It lets you browse without storing history, cookies, temporary Internet files, etc, on the computer. No footprint remains of your session.
suggested sites - OK so I've been using this 'world wide web' thing since 1993, around the time the first popular graphical browser, Mosaic, was released (I still have a place in my heart for Lynx). Yet I can never think of interesting stuff to look at online. I bounce around a few sites but that's about it. Suggested sites will hopefully open my web world a bit. If you enable it, it looks at the sites you visit and suggest sites that might be interesting to you. I'm going to watch this over time and see exactly how good it is at finding interesting sites. Hopefully in the process I'll find some new favorite sites.
address bar - To make it easier to see if you've been sent to a site that isn't legit, the address bar now makes the domain name of the web site stand out better. If you don't recognize the site, leave. Also, if you click on down arrow on the right of the bar, the list now includes recently visited sites, favorites, favorites and feeds. I always forget about my favorites so I really like this.

There are lots of other features but I haven't played with them yet. To see what the IE team says about the new beta, go to the IE team blog. There are also a bunch of videos that have been produced to show off IE8. To see them, go to the IE8 videos page.If you want to go and install beta 2 right now (you know you want to), go to the IE8 web site. Unlike Beta 1, Beta 2 is a version that the general public, rather than developers, should feel comfortable installing.

Here's a general overview video about IE8

Power Pack 1 available for Windows Home Server

dstrome — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:52:00 GMT

The Windows Home Server team released Power Pack 1 today. It's been a long road for the Home Server team and I have to imagine, a pretty big learning experience. We always want to release the best software we can but being part of the beta audience for Home Server within the company, I could see the true commitment and devotion to making this the best release possible. That team deserves a huge congratulations for a job really well done. And now we get to enjoy the results :)

If you want to install Power Pack 1 right away (and why wouldn't you?), head over to the Microsoft Download Center and grab yourself a copy. Follow the instructions to install it. If you want to wait (but you don't want to, do you?), PP1 will be installed on your server via Windows Update in August. Either way, once you install it you'll have all of benefit from all this stuff:

Windows Vista 64bit support
Shared folder backup to hard disks (more below on this one)
Connector software auto-update (really helpful if you have more than a couple clients)
Segment Remote Access users (allow some to access computers only, some to access shared folders only, both, etc)
Drag and drop file uploads and download multiple files more easily in Remote Access
Improved power management
A fix for the data corruption problem
Lots of other improvements

I've been running PP1 for quite a while and it's been rock-solid on my server. Aside from the 64bit support I've used all of the features listed above and they've made life a lot more simple. I actually used Home Server to transfer data more securely to and from my tax guy this year - it was simple enough for him to log in, see only the things he should see, get the data and transfer. Nice!

Something I've wanted since Home Server was released was a local backup. I've been using Jungle Disk to back up my shared folder data to the Amazon S3 service, which is nice, but I only really want to use that in the event of a catastrophic failure. It'd be much simpler (and faster) to be able to restore from a local copy of the data. Power Pack 1 lets you install a hard disk (external disks are better in my opinion) and indicate that it's a back up drive. You can then select the shared folders you want to back up and back them up to the drive. If you use an external drive, you can then dismount and remove the drive and store it in a safe place. I know some people at work use multiple backup disks and keep a disk 'offsite' (usually by taking a disk to work). This way they always have a safe copy of the data, including a copy not in the same location. Right now I just have a single 250GB external disk that I back up to regularly and use the Jungle Disk backups as an insurance policy if the house burns down. I didn't get this kind of data redundancy even at my last job. After all, family pictures are more important than budget files, right? :)

Head on over to the Windows Home Server blog for the official announcement and be sure to get a copy of Power Pack 1.

Surface in Las Vegas

dstrome — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:22:09 GMT

I might have to go back to Vegas again :) Harrah's in Las Vegas just launched Microsoft Surface in the iBar at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. They've added several apps to the Surface that are really tailored for social interaction in the bar. From the video below you can see examples of the various games and apps you'll be able to use when you sit down for a drink at the Surface. One of the most interesting things is something called Flirt. At first I thought it was just some kind of marketing thing but Flirt actually lets you bring someone up on your Surface using cameras located around the bar, chat with the people you see, send them photos, and more. It'll be interesting to see how people react to that!

If you're not going to be in Vegas anytime soon and want to play with a Surface, wander on over to Surface-equipped AT&T store.

Exchange Demo Day

dstrome — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:24:55 GMT

I can't wait for Exchange 14 to hit the streets. The Exchange team recently held a demo day where we all got together to see all the new features being packed into the next release of Exchange. That weekend I got Exchange 14 up and running on my home network handling my personal email.

Demo days are events we hold every few months in Exchange where people from each of the teams get up in front of close to 500 of their peers and demo their features. It's a mass migration from building 34 to Kodiak in building 33 driven mainly by the general anticipation of seeing what everyone else has been working on for months. And free food and lattes. New features are great but when we're in there for four hours - we combined the demo day with an all hands meeting - free stuff rocks. I really like these days because it's pretty rare that the entire team gets into one room and the management gives a really good overview of the state of the business. I get to see people I haven't been able to talk to in a while too...and I get free food.

As you can imagine, demo day is pretty interesting. For presenters, imagine walking up to the front of a huge, packed, auditorium, two massive screens on either side of the podium, projecting your demo machine's screen - running code that was checked into the product a few hours ago. And asking it to work perfectly :) Oh, and the VP is watching it all. No pressure. For the audience, it's a combination of getting to see amazing new features mixed with a nervous anticipation. Will it work or will it go down in flames? :)

I wish I could tell you everything we saw. The team has done an amazing job and I personally think that what we have in store for you in Exchange 14 is on par with what we gave you in Exchange 2007. Although if you can't wait until we release, why not take a look over at the exCHANGE your Career web site and come work with us? :)

WorldWide Telescope Beta Released

dstrome — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:05:50 GMT

Microsoft Research released a beta version of WorldWide Telescope last night. This is the amazing program I talked about recently that lets you explore the sky like never before. Take a look at a couple of screen shots I've taken:

Binary star system

Supernova remnant cross-faded midway between a color sky survey and X-ray

I've spent far too much time over the past while playing with this. Do yourself a favor and head over to the WorldWide Telescope web site and click on Experience It to try out the beta. You'll love it!

Microsoft Surface at AT&T Retail Stores

dstrome — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:03:16 GMT

On Thursday Microsoft and AT&T launched Microsoft Surface at five of AT&T's retail stores in four cities across the US: New York, Atlanta, San Antonio and San Francisco. The deployments at the AT&T stores enable you to view wireless coverage maps, view phone information, compare phones with each other and more, just by placing the devices on the Surface. If you want to experience Surface, make your way on over to the following AT&T retail stores and give it a whirl:

New York
381 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10017

350 Park Ave
New York, NY 10022

Atlanta
3429 Lenox Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30326

San Antonio
13127 San Pedro Ave
San Antonio, TX 78216

San Francisco
1206 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066

Check out the following stories and videos about the AT&T Surface launch:

Microsoft Surface Arrives at AT&T Stores
Microsoft Surface Makes Its Real-World Debut
Hands on with AT&T's Version of the Surface Table from Microsoft
Microsoft Surface Hits Stores
Multi-Grope: Interacting with Microsoft Surface at the AT&T Store

I really hope that an AT&T in Seattle gets Surface in the near future :) I've played with Surface a bit on the units we've placed in buildings around the campus but it'll be really fun to go out and see one actually implemented, doing what they're meant to do. It'll also be great to see people's reactions to this new way of computing.

Really Cool New Toy

dstrome — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:55:29 GMT

It was my birthday last week (Happy Birthday to meee) and my wife got me a few things...some books, a Sirius radio setup for my car (channel 14 kicks butt) and...a little RC helicopter! Everyone who knows me knows I'm a complete gadget freak so naturally I was on the ceiling happy. Ripped the box open, tried to plug in batteries and got the thing going. So cool!! The cat HATES it but that just means I love it more :) Check out the video and the go do yourself a favor and pick yourself up one. They're a complete blast!

Now I just have to take it to work and buzz my boss and fly it around the atrium :)

WorldWide Telescope Part 2

dstrome — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:43:37 GMT

Robert Scoble posted his interview with Curtis Wong from Microsoft Research. The interview includes a demo of the phenomenal WorldWide Telescope project. You can view the video here: http://www.fastcompany.tv/video/exclusive-first-look-worldwide-telescope.

Spring can't come fast enough.

WorldWide Telescope

dstrome — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:23:12 GMT

On Wednesday, Microsoft Research announced a new product called WorldWide Telescope (let's call it WWT). Imagine exploring images from the best telescopes across the globe and in space, calling up related data, stories and statistics on objects that you want to know more about. Zoom in until a galaxy fills up your screen in high resolution or create a tour that takes you through the Big Dipper. Seamlessly pan across the sky and search for objects you would never see in a city or see constellations that you can't see from your hemisphere. And do it all for free :)

I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on WWT when it gets released later this Spring. I've always loved looking up at the stars but haven't been able to because I live in such a light-polluted city. Admittedly it won't be like sitting on our deck at my dad's home back in Canada where we can take the whole night sky in. But I will be able to explore the sky like I never could have before. I'll never be able to get to the big telescopes of the world or be able to afford running all over just to look at the sky. But now I will be able to look at the images they produce. And all the data that's available about them. And the stories of the people who've researched them. And so will you. And elementary and high schools, colleges and universities around the world. It's incredible!

Today, a video of the announcement of WWT was released with a small preview of the imagery it contains. Visit the WorldWide Telescope site for more information about the project and some videos from those who've seen it or will be impacted by it. As Curtis Wong mentions in the video, the project is an extension of Jim Gray's work and it is dedicated to him. Jim went missing January 28th, 2007 and worked for Microsoft Research.

Be sure to try out WWT when it's released.