Entries tagged with technology - Channel 10

SoftKinetic: Bye Bye Wii

MicroMiel — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:15:00 GMT

A little while ago, on the quarterly company meeting, we've had a 'mystery guest' - just like 'we' always do. This time it was a promising startup with a technology that blows away all competition. Meet SoftKinetic, a Belgian company with ideas that will rock your world!

Game developers, game publishers, and game console manufacturers are looking for ways to differentiate in this increasingly competitive marketplace. Transforming the user experience through an immersive, transparent (marker-less) and intuitive interface represents a fantastic opportunity to establish a leadership position in the next generation action, casual, sports and fitness gaming markets. The commercial availability of low-cost 3D depth sensing devices is about to make this revolution possible.

Softkinetic anticipated the availability of such 3D depth sensing cameras and is today the leading provider of 3D gesture recognition solutions for building immersive, transparent and intuitive interfaces and game plays.

Basically this company is using one single infrared camera to capture X, Y and Z coordinates of any moving object. They created an SDK that will allow any input device to be linked to the 3D movements detected by the camera, so that you can control any application with full body movement. The technology they use for that is called "Softkinetic iisu™" and it's the most advanced 3D gesture recognition software platform available today. iisu is compatible with all major 3D depth sensing devices and allows developers to build natural, immersive, transparent and intuitive interfaces for games, interactive marketing, fitness, industrial simulation, education and military applications.

"Bird": demonstration - 3D gesture recognition Softkinetic
by pietergc

Check out their demos on their site and see for yourself how promising this superb technology is. Bye-bye Wii with your battery consuming remotes.

Cellphone Supercomputer

sarahintampa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:10:00 GMT

A new technology from Accenture's research labs, a French company, allows cell phones to transform into thin clients. The technology was demoed last week by showing a cell phone that recorded images of a print of Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" painting. After the camera took video images of the painting, a search of a database on the linked Windows XP computer returned results giving information about the painting as well as info about the the recent film of the same title. This extends the possibility of mobile-based search to include interaction with objects in the real world...when can I get a phone that does that? (via The Raw Feed)

JD and Brian Podcast - Episode 1

brianjo — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:53:00 GMT

JD and I have decided to start our own little podcast to discuss things that are happening in the world of technology. For convenience, I've set this up to be hosted at http://jdandbrian.podshow.com, but it will still have an RSS feed from my Channel 10 blog page.

In this first episode, we introduce ourselves and talk about what we're going to talk about on the show. We're planning to record these on Thursday, and I'll try to have them posted by Friday morning.

Links from today's show:

Microsoft Press Pass Site

TechMeme Discussion of the Microsoft/Yahoo offer

Lance Ulanoff column

New York Amateur Computer Club

JD's Blog

Brian's Blog

I'll set up the subscription links for Zune and iTunes when I get a chance. Please leave a note and let us know what you think and what you might want to hear about.

High Performance Low-Cost 3D Printing Technology

Laura — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:01:00 GMT

3D printing has been around for a while but the prospect of actually having one of these badboys on your desktop were slim to none. The price has always been astronomical. But now, Desktop Factory has created a way to reduce the price and give us all the opportunity to scan and print any 3D object we can imagine. The potential uses for this are countless. In this clip you can learn just what the process is and then, of course, how you can get your very own.

AMAZING OLD TECHNOLOGY

barzych — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:42:00 GMT

Term „amazing technology" usually translates to „latest technology". But it doesn't have to be necessarily this way in all cases. Let me share a story I had experienced recently.
Assoc. Prof. Michael Meadows - my former lecturer and also a Head of Media School at the Griffith University in Australia came over to Europe to do his research. I was pleased by his choice to include Czech media in his work and also about the fact that we could meet again.
Michael's focus was on public media therefore I took him for an excursion to the Czech Television and also to the Czech Radio. Director of one of its stations - Radio Praha (broadcasts in 6 languages) Miroslav Krupicka and also chief editor Gerald Schubert were very well prepared and we'd spend several hours together in the end.
According to the profesor the equipment of all newsrooms, studios and editing rooms were very similar to those ones in Australia but what really grabbed his attention was - apart from excellent language skills of Mr Schubert (native Austrian able to speak six languages including perfect Czech) - a paternoster. This is a unique cyclic elevator and Michael has never seen anything like that before.
Gerald Schubert has found a story written by one of radio's reporters about it for us. You might find the story behind the paternoster amazing as well.

RFID and Sushi...a natural fit

Laura — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:30:00 GMT

RFID is here, RFID is now, we are at the gates of mass adoption with Microsoft leading the charge making this viable and useful for a large audience. James Allard, co-founder of Blue C sushi used his business smarts and his creative talent to blend two of my favorite things: technology and sushi! This is clearly an indication that the RFID technology is mature and ready for primetime.

Previous Coverage

Check out the video of the guy who surgically implanted an RFID in his hand.

Ultimate Ears: In Action

Laura — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:07:00 GMT

Ultimate Ears personal monitors brings you music the way it was meant to be heard. Used by musicians across the globe its unbelievable the superior sound quality that these tiny little devise can bring you. With so much technology packed into a tiny little punch I decided I had to see how it was done. Check out my visit to their lab to see the technicians in action, and then check out my first report on Ultimate Ears to learn more.

Eyebeam.org 10th Anniversary Celebration Party

Laura — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Eyebeam is the center for technology and arts. They recruit artists to become residents in their studio space and spend their time creating brilliant works of art. They are constantly having events and gallery showings which are both educational and inspiring. Recently they celebrated their 10th anniversary by throwing a huge party and since I never like to miss a party...I headed on over and brought my camera so I could share it all with you. Enjoy.

Also- check out my previous coverage to learn more about The Eyebeam Studios.

Extending and coordinating care with Unified Communication: The next wave is here

bcrounse — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:43:00 GMT

Ten years ago I co-founded a company with the aim to provide web-based medical information, secure messaging and virtual visits between patients and their personal physicians. Working in partnership with Microsoft we developed technology that was well ahead of its time, and also well ahead of the market's ability to absorb it. Quite honestly, the technology was also a bit too complex, too expensive, and too hard to use. But that was then.

Roll forward ten years. The technology has matured. Governments and payors around the world are looking for ways to provide health information and medical services more efficiently. Shortages and mal-distributions of qualified medical professionals, aging populations, and the increasing burden of chronic disease are creating a perfect storm in healthcare. A medical model that is solely dependent on physicians providing care to patients one-on-one, in city center clinics or hospitals, doesn't scale anymore and certainly isn't sustainable.

Earlier this year I posted a Blog on Unified Communications: The Next Big Thing in Healthcare. If you didn't read it then, please read it now to become better grounded on what I'm about to share.

Envision a world where modalities for both synchronous and asynchronous communication begin to merge on the desktop, or even on your Smartphone. Imagine being able to schedule a virtual consultation with a colleague or colleagues as easily as you schedule an appointment in Outlook today.

Picture yourself using rich audio and video to enhance the communication and collaboration. Think about how you could share applications on your desktop, work together on documents, or extend presentations in a lecture hall to hundreds or thousands of your colleagues wherever they might be.

What about patients? Depending on your specialty this may be more or less relevant. However, I don't think there is a clinician out there who wouldn't benefit from incorporating Unified Communications into their practice work-flow. UC opens up amazing possibilities for virtual visits, follow-up visits, medication checks, home care, wound checks, chronic disease management, mental health, nurse call centers, patient education, and more. As governments and other payors around the world begin to understand the economics and value proposition of extending care with this now-commoditzed technology, healthcare services will go through a remarkable transformation.

With Microsoft Unified Communications, and the newest versions of Microsoft Office, Office Communicator and Office Live Meeting, all of this is not only possible; it is easy, intuitive and downright spectacular.

Use it as a hosted service or bring it into your enterprise. Do live interactive programs or record them for on-demand viewing later. There isn't a medical school, hospital, clinic, or physician's office that couldn't benefit from the mind-bending possibilities this technology unleashes. Get ready for a new day in healthcare.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

EyeBeam - Art and Technology Center

Laura — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:20:00 GMT

This is an artists dream. Imagine a place where technology meets art, and then imagine a place where you get paid to collaborate those crafts. Welcome to Eyebeam.

A Strategy in the Raw

nhodge — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:08:00 GMT

For the first time in four years, I get up in the morning with a spring in my step. Finding what you are passionate about: getting a job that matches this passion; then having the scope to experiment doesn't pop up daily. I am, at heart, a storyteller.

Unless you create your own company, start it from nothing, build the 'widget' and keep driving - ultimate freedom is rare. Even the Scoble is finding startups have process.

Working in Microsoft Australia, not Redmond, I don't have access to all the internal stuff that Larry, Tina and Laura get to see. No breaking news stories from me.

What I do get to see are the real people in Australia, doing strange and amazing things in their lives with technology. And I just love hearing and retelling their stories. At heart, we all love stories. Movies, jokes, anecdotes, gossip: they all tell stories. Inside the story is wrapped a kernal of learning or insight. That "gotcha" moment.

Therefore, the content I can contribute are the stories of geeks, power-users, the hard workers behind the scenes and the thought-leaders in Australia. The mantra of "The Geek Stories"; tell the story.

We are in the middle of a lifestyle revolution accelerated by packets of digital bits. The stories that need to be told are where people are using technology to capture memories, and/or connect to others. Telling stories.

Being at Microsoft, obviously I am going be looking for stories that have some connection to our technology. Sometimes these connections will be tenuous. Other times, they will be overt. Ultimately someone has to pay the bills, and noone is free from the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

I think these technology areas include: social networking writ large(blogging, 'casting, IM'ing, wiki'ing, uses in learning), video/ photography/ audio, fun stuff (games, immersive online environments) and gadgetry. Each of these areas either capture or connect.

There is an intersection of various Microsoft-branded things that enhance these technology areas. I suppose a part of my job is to help connect the stories with the technologies.

All the MBA waffle aside, I am more than happy to be directed by you, the audience.

Internode Games Network is known as the premier network for gamers in Australia. More than your average ISP, Internode invests in keeping the pipes open for gamers in Australia

On my recent trip to Adelaide, I managed to score an interview with Glenn and Kingsley from Internode. Yes, they seem a bit reserved as its about 10am. Gamers hit their peak at 10pm.

If you want to see "what is on the inside" and the humming of servers zoom to about 9min30secs into the video you will see Kinglsey showing a small part of the Internode datacenter. This is a secret location, somewhere in Adelaide.

Thanks to Glenn Butcher and Kingsley 'UgLyPuNk' Foreman for sharing their passion for gaming on camera, and more importantly: for supporting the gamers in Australia.

The Geek Stories: Imagine Cup 2004 Retro

nhodge — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 05:47:00 GMT

With the Imagine Cup 2007 underway, you sometimes wonder what happened to previous winners. Are they living in the south of France serving drinks to movie stars?

The members of the winning 2004 Imagine Cup team, France, now live and work in Sydney. Where else would top-notch .Net developer want to live and play?

Bernard Oh, from the local Microsoft Evangelism team, found the two guys in a respected Australian .Net developer, Readify.

Francois Beaussier and Aymeric Gauratapelli explain how they participated in, and ultimately won, the 2004 Imagine Cup in Brazil. Along the way, they tell their Geek Story, and get Bernard to admit a deep dark geek story from his early years.

Flashback: Media Center gets better and better

Tina — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:47:00 GMT

Jason Seuss sits down with Channel 10 and gives us all the info on the new announcements for Media Center. Media Center has matured a lot in the last year, now we can use digital inputs and extenders like an Xbox 360 to access your Media Center content.

Update: The downloadable versions are live. Bon Appetit!

Technology on the Water : The Seattle Boat show

Laura — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:35:00 GMT

The boat show is so much more than enormous yachts and sexy speed boats. I went there to see how technology has improved boating and what new gadgets and toys are available on the water. After watching this piece you'll never get lost, never be in the dark, and never be without TV or internet....and more.

International Robotics brings you technologies for the new Millenium.

Laura — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:16:00 GMT

In today's uncertain economy, and more competitive markets, IRI has quadrupled its efforts to supply an even greater volume of trendsetting products to assist industry leaders in more effectively capturing the attention and respect of today's more complex business, consumer and media audiences. So what does all that mean to you? Well it means that I'm about to show you some REALLY fun toys and dance with the Robot from Rocky IV.
Check back on Monday for part II

PhotoBlitz Digital Photo Frames at CES

Tina — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:21:00 GMT

I stopped by the Matsunichi booth to check out the photoblitz digital photo frames. We've all made a pit stop at Brookstone to check out their digital photo frames but I'm looking for something a little more elite. I love the idea of taking the photos that would normally be laying on my computer and displaying them more appropriately in my house someplace. The photoblitz digital picture frames come with a nice sleek wood design and a resolution of over 600 x 800. We also chatted about wireless capabilities. But I won't ruin that surprise for you.

Motorola comes to CES fully stacked!

Laura — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:47:00 GMT

I wrangle one of the Motorola heads to give us the scoop on the new Motoriser Z6 phone, the active blue tooth stereo headset, and new set top boxes from their home division. Can you say pretty? I think you can.

John Herrington the astronaut talks to us about space!

Tina — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:21:00 GMT

To me being a pilot is one of those really impressive jobs. But being an astronaut is well, the coolest thing ever. I had a chance to speak to astronaut John Herrington who has traveled to space and spent time in the international space station. He will be flying the winner of the vanishing point game to space. We talked about life in space and a little anti-gravity. Here's what he has to say.

The Vanishing Point Game Starts Here and Now!

Tina — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:20:00 GMT

Last night at 6:30pm and about half way through your typical bellagio fountain show...the water shut down. Five seconds later the water launched up into a wall and a woman appeared. Here is your clue for the vanishing point game! The winner gets a trip to space...yes, space!

Find more clues here on the Vanishing Point wiki.

*Downloadable files coming soon*

A day in the life of CES!

Tina — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:23:00 GMT

After all the build-up and anticipation CES is finally happening. This morning it was get up and start shooting. With the camera obviously the other type of shooting is bad. My camera woman and I walked over to Bally's and took the monorail to the convention center where acquiring your badge is not an easy thing to do. After two shuttles, four wrong turns and three espresso shots we were in. And it is pretty in there. It's only been a few hours so I've barely seen anything, although I'm digging the older couple who are doing laps outside the las vegas convention center with their segway. Bill Gates kicked things off with last nights keynote and as expected the technology is getting bigger and bigger. Intel is helping to support some pretty cool health and fitness software. And they had bikes with plasmas that showed virtual tracks and maps where you could ride with friends from anywhere around the world. I also made a quick stop at COBRA where they have a nifty little device that gives you notice when one of those annoying picture ticket red light corner things is coming up. I say that much better in the actual interview with those guys. So much more to see. Oh yea, and of course I gotta drop by the sports book and toss a hundred on OHIO STATE! Down with the Gators! Go Buckeyes!!!!

Windows Home Server will live in your closet, simplify your life

Jesse — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:31:00 GMT

A show of hands: Who here among us is storing all of their important data (media and otherwise) in a safe location where it’s constantly accessible, as well as backed up to prevent loss? Not a lot of hands here at the 10 HQ, and probably not many of the rest of you. Well thanks to CJ Saretto and the Windows Home Server team, that sort of digital responsibility is now much easier to live up to.

As a small, headless box that lives on your network and in your closet, a Windows Home Server can quickly grow the pool of storage from which all of your shared files for each of your users lives. The backup engine in Windows Home Server also silently backs up the entirety of each machine connected to it every night. And because the data is always online, using the built-in remote access abilities, you’ll also be able to access your data from any machine on the planet.

Update 1:Check out Charlie Kindel's blog for even more information.

Update 2: Our sister site, Channel 9 has more coverage of Home Server that goes even deeper into the product.

Photosynth and Seadragon offer a glimpse at the next great UI

Jesse — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:30:00 GMT

If you’ve seen Minority Report and watched with glee as Tom Cruise effortlessly navigates piles of media with lightning speed using only his hands, you’ll immediately recognize Seadragon. Blaise Aguera y Arcas and the team at Windows Live Labs have created an engine for managing large collections of images effortlessly. Through their own special brand of hot sauce, the team has been able to build software that loads only the pieces of large images that it needs at any moment in time. This breakthrough allows the user to experience their collections of images instantly. By adding Photosynth to the recipe, the team is able to stitch images together and determine the three dimensional space where pictures were taken.

When the power of Seadragon and Photosynth are combined with images from many different sources, the potential applications become very exciting. Fusing the photos of a particular location taken by multiple people, geo-data can be learned as opposed to manually entered. Now if only we could merge these technologies with some gloves with glowing fingers…

The UMPC Media Experience takes one fat leap forward!

Jesse — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 02:29:50 GMT

The application launcher that came with the first UMPCs last year was quick and easy to use, but once you made your choice the user interface became decidedly less, “fat-finger-friendly.” Thankfully people like Jeremy White and Emily Rimas on the UMPC development team have been hard at work at extending the comfort of using your fingers to move around the device.

The media experience on a UMPC has improved dramatically. Listening to music, displaying photo slideshows, and watching videos are all now extremely fat-finger-friendly. The scroll bars, window buttons, and general navigation are also easier to manipulate sans stylus. In addition, the team worked with the kids who build Microsoft Reader in order to make reading digital books easier. Not only is the UMPC grown into a more capable media device, but now it runs Vista too!

After the FREDDIES: 5 Trends that will Shake the World (of healthcare)

bcrounse — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 19:30:00 GMT

I'm back from the FREDDIE Awards in New York City. I had a wonderful time at the event which was held at the Cipriani on E42nd Street. It was a star-studded evening and a chance to catch up with a few of my colleagues from the world of television, including CNN anchor Paula Zahn who I used to work with at ABC Network News on "The Health Show".

Thursday morning I'll be delivering the opening keynote address for a regional conference put on by MultiCare at the Convention Center in Tacoma, Washington. The conference, sponsored by Microsoft, is "Emerging Trends in Health Care Technology". My keynote will focus on "5 Healthcare Trends that will Shake the World and Reshape Your Business". Those trends include greater personal responsibility for healthcare costs; the retailization of medicine; commoditization of medical services and providers; information everywhere; and globalization of healthcare services including Internet based tele-medicine, home monitoring services and medical tourism.

On another note, I received an email from my colleague Dr. Joseph Kvedar at Partners Healthcare. Dr. Kvedar is a leading tele-medicine expert. Under the heading of What's New from the Connected Health Initiative, Dr. Kvedar shares this thought:

A Metric for Connected Health Success? "One of the most memorable moments from the Connected Health Symposium occurred during a panel I lead on the voice of the patient. Each panelist, in a spontaneous way, told of experiences with the health care system that were not patient friendly. Perhaps the most dramatic story was told by Gene Sacco, whose 20 year old son, dying of cancer at the time, spent 12 hours waiting in a doctor’s office only to be told that the test he was there to discuss was inconclusive and that they would need to visit again in a week after a better imaging study. After hearing this and other similar studies, John Henderson, a network theorist from the Boston University School of Management, proclaimed that a new metric for health care should be considered – Return on Time Invested (ROTI). This was an a-ha moment for me, and I think others in the session."

What do you think? Read more of Dr. Joseph Kvedar’s discussion and post your own comments on the topic.

If you happen to attend the MultiCare conference, please stop by and say "hello".

On Sunday, my wife and I travel to Las Vegas where I am pleased to keynote for the NextGen User's Conference at the Bellagio. NextGen is one of our very good partners in the ambulatory EMR space, and I look forward to spending time with their executives and users. Wish me luck at the tables :)

Bill Crounse, MD Healthcare Industry Director Microsoft