- Posted by christhi on July 10, 2009
No use rehashing what the silverlight team and blog have already kind provided for us but if you haven't heard Silverlight 3 and Expression 3 with Sketchflow have been release as of 12:30am CST today! To get started go to
http://silverlight.net/getstarted/ from here you can download an evaluation of Expression 3 and even get Sketchflow. For those since Mix who have been dying to see play with Sketchflow here is your chance. Enjoy.
- Posted by christhi on July 7, 2009
Today, July 7th, at 12PM CT, 1PM ET – We are broadcasting the Michael Jackson memorial, live in HD from the Staples Center in Los Angeles using IIS Smooth Streaming and Silverlight to the world. This is the same technology (IIS Smooth Streaming and Silverlight) that was used to bring you the Olympics.
http://inmusic.ca/news_and_features/Michael_Jackson is the link to the page where the embedded player experience and is the URL you should share and use.
- Posted by christhi on June 3, 2009
One of the best quotes we got during Internet Week while hosting the Microsoft Experience in New York City and our reception party was "you can tell this is a party thrown by a new yorker and doesn't seem like a Microsoft party" which we took as a serious compliment. We didn't want to throw a run of the mill corporate party but wanted it to truly seem like a art exhibit deliving digital art with a mix of technology such as surface, touchsmarts, etc. The party was a hit in fact the quote I just mentioned came from Mark Cuban himself. Yes he graced his presence at our party, seemed to enjoy himself, and was really a great guy (very friendly and unpretentious).
Here is to a great week of demos and New York vibe.
- Posted by christhi on May 28, 2009
Are you a blogger, press, or simply interested in seeing some of Microsoft’s latest technologies such as Windows 7, IE8, Silverlight 3, Surface, and much more. Come visit me at 414 W 14th Street in New York City starting June 1st. I can help arrange discussions with top local agencies, hardware partners, and of course Microsoft evangelists to review these technologies with you in a open forum.
If you are a local startup in New York come get signed up for the BizSpark program (www.microsoft.com/bizspark) on the spot from one of our evangelists. BizSpark will provide qualified startups with free software, support, and visibility for 3 years.
As a venue for thought leadership, the Microsoft Experience space can host at least one presentation, speaking panel, or activity per day of Internet Week. Sample topics and activities are:
· Designing Multi-Touch Experiences for the Web and Desktop
· How Technology Enables Art and How Art Influences Technology – Artist and Partner Panel
· Coming of Digital Age: What is Your Agency’s Mix of Traditional vs Digital? – Partner Panel
· In-Game Advertising Presented by Massive and Microsoft Advertising
· Silverlight 3: Ready for Prime Time
· Surface is a Big Table with Big Experiences - Partner Pane
· Opening Night Reception
· Weekend Evening Reception and XBOX 360 Rock Band or Gaming Competition
· Webby Awards Pre-Event Reception
- Posted by christhi on May 11, 2009
with pixel shaders in silverlight 3 effects such as blurs and drop shadows are literally one line of xaml markup – no code required. More advanced effects can also be applied by writing your own pixel shader or leveraging the already converted WPF Pixel shade library for SL which can be found at http://wpffx.codeplex.com/
<Page
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="300"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<StackPanel Margin="8" Grid.Column="0">
<TextBlock Text="This text should be blurry" FontSize="20">
<TextBlock.Effect>
<BlurEffect />
</TextBlock.Effect>
</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Text="Shadow on Text" FontSize="20">
<TextBlock.Effect>
<DropShadowEffect ShadowDepth="5" />
</TextBlock.Effect>
</TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Margin="8" Grid.Column="1" Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Ellipse Height="100" Width="200" Fill="Blue" Margin="10 0 0 0">
<Ellipse.Effect>
<DropShadowEffect ShadowDepth="10" />
</Ellipse.Effect>
</Ellipse>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Page>
- Posted by christhi on April 16, 2009
For those who didn’t make it to Mix 2009 or those who want to get a short “elevator pitch” version of the what sketchflow is and does I put together this screencast for you. In it I review the top features in sketchflow as announced at Mix. Sketchflow is currently not part of the blend 3 preview so hopefully this will help provide a closer look at what you can expect from this really cool rapid prototyping tool. As you can see you can now produce prototypes that won’t require interpreting what the designer had intended nor wasting work as now you can move from thought to sketch to production level detail in one tool much without writing one line of code!
- Posted by christhi on April 8, 2009
if you are looking to build office applications in Silverlight such as an mail client, word processing, et al check out http://divelements.co.uk/silverlight/. Yes the following screen shot is actually running in a browser using Silverlight. Very nice. Add Silverlight 3 to the mix and you can run both in browser and OOB in offline scenarios and go so dynamically given the new network awareness APIs in SL3.
- Posted by christhi on March 31, 2009
For those not taking Expression Blend serious you will now have to take another look at Blend as SketchFlow (just announced by Mix last week) now provides the ability to create rapid prototypes along with the documentation. You can rapidly create a storyboard of screens while adding notes in the process and the tool automatically provides the transitions. No code needs to be written to create a fully functionaly prototype! You are even given a set of controls that actually look like they have been drawn by hand to simulate an actual white board session. Everything you build in SketchFlow is a usable artifact in blend as user controls in XAML and code are created for you behind the scenes. This is extremely powerful as your designers can now design without worrying about code wireup yet you are able to pass on content designers generate, in the overall process, during the "buildout" transition. You can even import your exisiting visual comps from Photoshop into SketchFlow and it will convert the raster image into a vector (even leveraging the layers you have setup). I'll be blogging about sketchflow and how it fits into your overall application lifecycle management discipline in future posts. For more on where this fits into the lifecycle you can catch my session from Mix online at:
http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/c02f
- Posted by christhi on March 12, 2009
Want to see a Microsoft Surface and "Touchwall" live along with some great UX demonstations? This is a call out to anyone interested in Natural User Interfaces (NUI).
@ S X S W 03 * 16 * 09
Microsoft is hosting the finale of its national design challenge, PhizzPop, at SxSW on Monday night, March 16th. You have a special opportunity to attend our exclusive pre-event: Sensorium: Exploring the digital universe with next-generation touch, web, and client interfaces. As traditional methods for targeting customers become less effective, organizations seek to reach their customers with increasingly compelling experiences on the Web, desktop, and devices. These experiences range from taking advantage of advancements in Natural User Interface, to utilizing the best of the Web – from RIA to Web Services. The emergence of the Natural User Interface (NUI) is considered by many to be a key milestone in the evolution of human-machine interaction. While its cousin GUI has been widely heralded as one of the prime movers and shakers in bringing computing to the mainstream, NUI is presenting the world with vast new opportunities in making technology more friendly, accessible, and impactful in everyday life. As this market explodes, interactive design and development is being challenged to deliver entirely new classes of interactions with technology. Come and see firsthand how breakthrough computing hardware coupled with software and Web services can fuse the digital universe together with human potential. This event will feature live demonstrations of a number of key components of Microsoft’s next generation experiences - from NUI demonstrations with Microsoft Surface, to web and desktop demos utilizing Live Services. You will also see Microsoft’s long-term vision of how this technology will interact with the digitally powered environment of tomorrow. We are also offering the opportunity for you to experiment with it yourself and pose questions to subject matter experts. This event is a special invitation-only event at SXSW. If you would like to learn more about how this technology can benefit both you and your customers, please use the link below to secure your seat today. Those attending may also attend our PhizzPop Finale event occurring immediately following this event. To learn more about PhizzPop, click here. Register Here Date: March 16, 2009Time: 5:30 pm- 7:00 pm Pangaea - 409 Colorado StreetAustin, TX 78701512.472.8882
- Posted by christhi on February 26, 2009
Why is it is ready
1. Large Screen. Look it is much easier to communicate with a larger screen. Nuff said.
2. Excellent User Experience and Interaction Design. Much easier on the those non-technical users: read reduced training and increased productivity.
3. GPS and Mapping. It just works and as good as any car-based GPS I've used minus voice.
4. 10’s of thousands of downloadable applications many of which can be used for business such as Microsoft Tag, Jaadu Remote Desktop, etc.
5. Exchange Support. Not perfect but its there.
6. Web Surfing. See points 1 & 2.
7. Wi-Fi Support. No more lugging laptops to coffee shops.
8. Social Networking easier for the traveler. I no longer have to be at my desk to tweet or blog.
9. MobileMe support for those without Exchange.
10. International Language Support.
Why it is NOT
1. Ease of typing – lack of tactile keyboard.
2. Battery Life. 4 hours! Come on.
3. Apple Store is not really made for business applications – restricted application approval impedes production as well as limits enterprise mobile management solutions.
4. iPhone Application Development is not agile enough. Managed code please.
5. Limited Calendar Features – Such as meeting creation. Sort of hard to create calendar events when you can’t invite anyone from your organization
6. Lack of Enterprise Volume Pricing. Still too expensive for most orgs, especially these days.
7. Lack of Central Administration Tools. See Windows Mobile.
8. No cut and paste. Can live without this but it would be nice.
9. Security: Lack of Remote Kill Option. Apple come on.
10. Native Popular Office Application Support such as Powerpoint without converters such as Acoolsoft PPT to MPEG-4 or iClickr (http://www.senstic.com/iphone/iClickr/iClickr.aspx). Too much of a headache.