SplaTT's Blog

Microsoft TechNet podcasts

These podcasts, media-casts or "TechNet Briefings Audio Presentations" as they are calling them, are essentially recordings of Microsoft TechNet presentations and events being delivered over RSS...which is exactly what "podcasting" is...podcasing isn't a genre...podcasting is a technology...

New Media Center keyboard coming

And whats so good about it??? How about an infrared wireless range of 30 feet...nice :)

ADDITION: Check out the press release with hi-res photo adn the product site (not much on it yet though)(

Tech.Ed Australia 2005 flair

SteveB in Sydney

I attended a "Microsoft Australia Partner Briefing" today in Sydney where the main speaker was Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer. Not having seen SteveB live before, a few things stuck out.

• Steve is loud.
• Steve loves repeating phrases. The whole "developer, developer, developer" thing from a few years ago is exactly how he is on stage.
• Steve is one of the most passionate poeple I have ever seen.

And thats what so good about him. He was interesting throughout his entire presentation, he worked the audience really well and he was passionate about what he spoke about. The Q&A session was interesting and when one of the guys I know, Arthur Spanos from WDG, asked why Microsoft are working on search products when Google have done so well...Steve Ballmer went into overdrive.

He got up from the stool he was sitting on, strode over to the end of the stage near where Artie was sitting, and became an evangelist on why Microsoft develops products and why, in the end, they will beat Google. He went through three specific topics on the whole search thing.

Number one...Innovation in the search space is far from over. He said that Google have done some good work, but that Microsoft have only just gotten started.

Number two...He spoke about how sometime its good to not be in first place when a battle starts and how he, and Microsoft, love a good fight. An even, fair and nice fight...but a fight none the less.

Number three...The last thing he mentioned was that web search was only part of the equation. The MSN Desktop Search tool is the best tool in the market and that they were working to make it better. He talked about how important search was in the enterpise space and that Microsoft had a lot of expereince to offer in that area.

I agree with big fella on this one. Being involved in the MSN Search Champs progam and having seen some of the stuff they are working on, and also how passionate the team are about winning the search battle, i have no doubt that given time (and not a lot of time) they will win...or at least take a leading share in the space.

Here is my crappy, out of focus shot of SteveB on stage.

Of interest...he also mentioned that the beta release of the next version Office will happen before the end of this year. With beta versions of Office and Longhorn on my machine at the same time...its going to hate me ;)

Longhorn, RSS and IE7

Announced at Gnomedex...but you can check out this video at Channel 9 that covers some of the detail about Longhorn, RSS and IE7.

Nice...

ADDITIONS:

• IE Blog
• MSDN pages on the format extensions
• The whole licensing of their RSS extensions under a creative commons license is a huge deal as well.
• The shoe photo
• *** Longhorn Team RSS Blog *** (new)

Sydney MEDC 2005

I only got to sit in on one session (the always interesting and entertaining Dr Neil Roodyn and his mapping session), as I spent the rest of the day talking to some great old frinds and some great people in general about podcasting, mobile technology and a heap of stuff.

Its always worthwhle attending these events for the sheer value they offer and also for the chance to meet some great like-minded individuals. i seriously can't wait for Tech.Ed 2005 on the Gold Coast at the end of August...its gong to big BIG ;)

Mappoint in Outlook

With all the mapping joy being announced over the past 6 months form a mumber of players, most people either don't know or have forgotten that MS have been doing stuff in the mapping field (both desktop and web based) for a long long time. And it shows with their integration between these two great applications. Simple...yet elegant.

Channel 9 PDC site

They also have two competitons where you can win a trip to the event..."Code'n my way 2 the PDC" and "Blog'n my way 2 the PDC".

You can also pick up some PDC buttons (or "flair" as they are calling it) like the ones below to put on your site if you want.

The big question is, can i get to PDC this year??? hmmm??

Halo...the movie...

This is bound to happen...you just "know" that a Halo movie would be huge (and bring in lots of cash)...prety well everyone i know would go and see it...

Tabbed browsing in IE...the real thing

One of the benefita of being invited to attend Search Champs v2, was that we all got to not only see and comment on some of the ideas that the MSN team are working on, but also got to personally try some of the beta solutions that they have had in development...and one of those betas was the MSN Search Toolbar with the tabbed browsing built in.

And let me tell you...its a nice experience. You have been able to get 3rd party add-ons for IE to give you tabbed browsers for a while now, but it doesn't beat having the real thing running from the company that built the browser. Obviously playing with the beta release was (as always with the things in beta) buggy to say the least, but it was still a nice experience.

I know that some of you are saying..."but FireFox has had tabs for ages...Microsoft are just copying them and are shit"...well i say..."grow up". It was plainly obvious to all that Microsoft were going to develop and release some more interim stuff for IE before IE 7 is released...they had no choice did they?? They fixed some security bugs amongst other things, and have built what in my opinion is the best search toolbar on the market. Trust me, go and download it and try it....the browser bar is nice, but the desktop search bar is brilliant.

Nice job MSN guys and gals....well done.

To keep up with what the MSN Search team is working on, don't forget to check out the MSN Search weblog as well.

Latest start.com launched

I've been keeping an eye on this and played with start.com/1 and start.com/2 since they launched them and they have been pretty good so far...start.com/3 or start.com/myw3b as they are calling this version is pretty nice as well.

They also have a start.com blog over at MSN Spaces, though they haven't updated it in a while so it doesn't mention the launch of the latest version.

Microsoft MEDC 2005 Australia is on this month

Last years event was pretty good and this years promises to be just the same if not better. Topics covered in the sessions will include:

• Windows Mobile software for Pocket PC and Smartphone
• Visual Studio 2005
• Windows Mobile 5.0
• Windows CE 5.0
• Windows XP Embedded
• .NET Compact Framework 2.0
• SQL Mobile2005
• MapPoint

Its free to register so you may as well go...

I'll either be in Seattle for Gnomedex 5.0 or at MEDC 2005 in Sydney...it depends on a lot of things...

I'm on Channel 9...

Well...one of the interviews has gone up and its pretty cool. Robert chatted with Amanda Silver, who is a Program Manager on the Visual Basic team, and she showed us part of her presentation for the next TechEd.

Amanda is typical of a lot of the people i meet whenever i am visiting the Microsoft Redmond campus...actually, she is typical of a lot of people i meet who work for Microsoft fullstop...she is really passionate about what she does and wouldn't want to be doing anything different. And it really comes through every time Robert interviews her for Channel 9.

If your are a developer, or work with Microsoft, or just like to see how people can be passionate about the organisation they work for and the work they do, check out more of Channel 9. Robert has made sure there are RSS feeds for every bit of it that you woud want to RSS feeds for ;)

I actually subscribe to the RSS feed that contains the video segments on my Windows Media Center with Doppler, and watch it instead of crappy commercial TV on the big screen in my lounge room.

But then again...i'm a geek^* :)

(^* 1.9MB MP3 from the MC Chris remix site)

Off to the US of A

Its all good...see you on the flip-side... :)

The inkernet opens at channel 9

I remember playing around with an application that let me post "ink" entries to this blog during the middle of last year and thought that was soooo cool...and i haven't used it since :)

Note to self...use Tablet PC functionality more...seems a pity to waste the beautiful Toshiba M200...

Working EPG for Windows Media Center in Australia

The EPG functionality rocks...this is the "killer" component that the Media Center is lacking in Australia, and with the help of the above mentioned threads from the Australian XP Media Center Community website, its now a reality in my lounge room.

A huge thanks to Mark for pointing it out, to Ben Pettit for putting together the "oh so simple instructions", to specks90 (who ever you are) for providing the changes required for the Sydney setup and the people over at The Green Button and the Australian XP Media Center Community for finding ways around the bizarre reasoning that stopped the EPG being available in the first place.

I have said it before...and i will say it again...the Windows XP Media Center is an amazing tool that has changed how i live in my loungeroom, and whoever is stopping the "real/official" EPG from being released by Microsoft needs to be dragged aside and {insert favoured form of punishment here}.

MSN Messenger 7 is out of beta

I have been using the beta for ages now, but the final release does appear to have some new bits in it, so check out this page for a list of features.

I can't wait to try out the new video and audio structure...hopefully it wil be better than it has been. The Messenger backend has always "just" handled audio and video and never really done it well. They may have got it right this time as Microsoft have been doing a lot of work on the enterprise and business side of things with the as yet to released Communicator product.

The other interesting feature is the tight integration with MSN Search...the shared search feature is an interesting one...nice touch..and i'm starting to see its uses after only playing with it for a few hours.

Well done guys...

PS. I'll be doing a marketing/communications blog post about the new messenger over at the Principius blog later today.

TechEd video 3 from Rory and Scott

Here are my posts about the 1st and 2nd videos.

MSN Search Champs V2 announced and guess who has been invited?

MSN's Search Champs V2 program was officially announced over at the msnsearch weblog over a week ago...so i guess i can talk about this now.

For those that don't know and are asking the question..."What is Search Champs?"

"One of the most successful programs was Search Champs, which included about 30 of the world's most influential technology enthusiasts from the field of search. Invited to Microsoft in October, they were given a special in-depth preview of the beta release and encouraged to provide detailed input on how MSN could improve the service, both in the initial release and beyond. " Quote from MSN Search Launch press release in February of 2005.

If your interested in what happened at Search Champs V1, check out Robin Good's report.

And the good news is that I have been invited to become a member of "Search Champs V2" which kicks off in Redmond this April. The team over at Microsoft and MSN have done a fair bit of work over the last 12 months and it will be interesting to see exactly what they have up their sleave and will be showing us at the Search Champs V2 event.

Now...where do i sit on the search engine fence???

I do actually use MSN Search...I use it as much as i use Google...the way i like to keep an eye on the serach engines is to run the same queries through them..well..most of the time. To be honest Google has had a fair share of preference from me as its results have been "more correct for me", but that has been changing...v e r y  s l o w l y.

I love the MSN desktop search...i tried Googles for about a week then switched it off, while the MSN bar has been on my desktop since it was released. But...I did use to run both the Google and MSN bar in Internet Explorer...(you can never have enough pop-up blockers ;) and i only recently removed the Google bar in favour of the MSN bar.

The other stuff i really like is some of the new XML feed (RSS and ATOM) integration the MSN guys have been releasing as well. A great example of that is some of the updates that myMSN has had over the last 12 months and also with some of the "MSN Sandbox" stuff they have let out like start.com/1 and start.com/1. The two start.com sites seem to be getting updated as well with new features (check out their MSN Spaces site)...sort of like a really early alpha release for us all to play with.

I am really looking forward to being a part of Search Champs V2 and have to thank the team for inviting me. The opportunity to see what is being worked on for the future releases, and to be a part of a (no doubt) great group of poeple and help to shape its direction in even a miniscule way will be a great expereince.

Seattle and Redmond...here i come :)

Addendum: Sean Carver from the MSN team has sent through some more details including the invitee list....and Robin Good has worked up a blog post with most peoples details

The Microsoft Visitor Center and Museum re-opens

Check out the press release and the centers website for more info.

Now..when will i be in Redmond next??? Stay tuned for that answer ;)

Another TechEd video from Rory and Scott

And don't worry...unlike the first video they did that i mentioned in an earlier post, this one isn't shot in a Microsoft bathroom.

TechEd toilet humour

It look likes a "Part 1" as well...that means more to come...

Convergence 2005 video

Do yourself a favour and go and watch it...

Check out the Microsoft t-shirt cannon...

Right at the beginning, they come and and throw schwag in to the audience...but those rooms at the San Diego Convention Center are damn big...so they bring out the t-shirt cannon... :)

You have to see this thing...it should become compulsory at all conferences...

iPods at Microsoft....are they spreading like a virus???

Here's a little excerpt from the article...

The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's corporate campus. "This irks the management team no end," said the source.

Hmm...it just sounds a little strange to me...you would think that this would have got out to the blogosphere before it got to wired....

A letter from Bill Gates...not actually to me though...

Windows focus...error....bug...or sloppy coding????

This has actually been annoying me more and more lately...and i remeber at least a few occasions that it has manged to stuff up a document i have been working on or accidentally caused me to misplace a file in the save process...

So join the "Don't steal my focus" initiative and help the desktop become a safer place....

Sorry....alright...I didn't think it would take so long to get here....

Microsoft Map Point initially looks really useful. However, once you delve deeper you realize that it is ever so slightly flawed...

Quality Mapping of the Day

1. Go to http://mappoint.msn.com/DirectionsFind.aspx
2. In the Start section, select " Norway " from the listbox and enter "Haugesund" into the "City" field
3. In the End section, select " Norway " from the listbox and enter " Trondheim " into the "City" field
4. Click on "Get Directions" ...
5. Smile..or snigger...or laugh out loud...your choice :)

Try this with both "Quickest" and "Shortest" route selected...

DOH...i wonder how long its takes for them to fix it??? And more importantly if any more of these..um...mis-calculations exist???

Bill Gates keynote at CES...and another year begins...

i know what is top of mind for most people in the tech industry...sorry Bill... ;)

So i sat down in front of my Windows Media Center yesterday and watched the Bill Gates keynote live on my TV...it wasn't actually on TV (maybe one day), but going full screen with Windows Media Player on a TV makes it lot nicer to watch than on my Tablet PC. SO what did Bill have to say this year??? Well...i typed up some notes which are bloew...but if i were you i would also check out the transcript and the video as well.

My notes from the Bill Gates CES 2005 Keynote
INTRO

MSN Desktop Search...be afraid Google....be very afraid....

Make sure you grab this thing when it launches (i think it will be available here in the morning) and check out the video's at Channel 9 when they are available...le me say it again,...this new search tool is amazing...

Well done search team...and thanx for the sneak peak Robert...two of the best video's from Channel 9 yet... ;)

Wave 11... a sneak peak...

Check out the images over at ieXbeta for a quick look at the future...it seems that Neowin got the scoop, but Microsoft asked to have the images removed...

Looks nice....cute...but nice... ;)

SPOT Watch going to Europe...

Check out this article at PPCW.net which mentions that the SPOT watch is finally destined to leave Northern America's shores for the first time...hey....what about Australia??? :(

MSN Spaces blogs open up outside of Japan

So i went and checked the site i created a few weeks ago (in Japanese), called SplaTTSpace, about half an hour ago and it was still in Japanese...i just checked it a few minutes ago..and its in English..woo hoo...

Along with MSN Spaces, they have also announced the official MSN Messenger 7 beta and some cool integration with Hotmail...well done guys...well done...

More info available on the Microsoft press release

New DVD logging tool for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

If you like the sound of the above tools and own a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 computer, then My Movies is the application for you. I have been running an older version of this on my new HP Media Center and it is fantastic...and i can't wait to load the new version up onto my Media Center in the next day or two.

With the Media Center now being available outside of the US, we can no doubt expect more and more apps like this to start appearing....bring them on... :)

Oh yeah...an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) in Australia would be pretty cool as well...(shh...keep an eye on the Altech website in the next couple of weeks)

A glimpse at possible new features for MSN Direct devices...

My favourites (they are all great) out of the list of possibilities are: Traffic info (based on the routes you travel :), Promotional Games, To-Do Lists, Outlook Tasks, USB connectivity with your watch (RSS feed uploads and larger Outlook synchronising are some of the options mentioned) and the ability to play multi-player games with other nearby SPOT Watch users...oh yeah...the idea of close range interaction with other SPOT devices is something the MSN Direct team hinted at when i met some of then in February...very cool....

As I have mentioned before, I can't wait till they announce the availability of the service in markets outside of the US and Canada...especially Australia...

The Zentith Key Chain...anyone know anything about this thing??

From this blown up image you can make out the following: a mobile phone reception type icon in the top right hand corner (hmmm...SPOT devices don't have these), calendar, email, contact list, mobile operator name (??), calendar / email / SMS alerts and a button to access "programs"....

Whatever it is, it looks very cool for a key chain...damn...i think i can hear the gadget monster whispering to me..."I MUST HAVE ONE!!!"

Microsoft Design Site

Like him, i have never run across nor seen a link to this interesting site anywhere...and it has some great info on it....its nice when you run across hidden gems like this on a blog...and who says blogs are a waste of time...

MSN Spaces...the other Google killer????

Will the quiet continue??? I get the impression that with the beta release of MSN Messenger 7 coming up soon, the launch of Hotmail Wave 10 on the 17th of November, the sneak peak at the MSN Toolbar Suite and the odd Wallop account being handed out (yes...i have one thanx to Robert Scoble), we should be hearing some official news about MSN Spaces sooner rather than later. The term "Spaces" is also starting to appear in the MSN support pages on various sites around the world...check out this cached copy from the MSN Search beta

Well...to prepare for it, i had a bit of a play with MSN Spaces and have set up a site called "SplaTT's Space". It would have been so much easier if it was in English or if i could read japanese though ;)

Check out the Google and MSN Search results to see just how little this service has been spoken about. One of the interesting thing that comes out of some of the sites you visit is that most of them are saying that you will be post a blog post from with MSN Messenger 7....hmm....

MSN Toolbar Suite...coming soon...

The screenshots look pretty good, and if the whole suite is anywhere near as good as the original Lookout product, I for one can't wait to try it out....

Microsoft in Macedonia

I suppose its a bit strange paying for software when its not even in your langauge...but have no fear...it looks like Microsoft is working on a Macedonian version of Windows...I wonder if that will make it easier for my mum to pick up this computer stuff??? Then again...she already has two working computers in the house and plays a mean hand of solitaire...not only that, but one of them is even connected up to the internet...

Picture that...my mum on the internet. :) It sure is a long way from me being told to spend more time outside as a kid and to get off that computer. And lets not go into the hassle of being a teenager in the early to mid eighties and explaining to you parents why you are dialling into BBS's...then again, my parents did let me set up my own BBS for some of my friends to dial into...the times and the technology have sure changed a lot...

New MSN Search beta site goes live

Like me...a lot of people have got used to the results that Google has been giving back on search terms for the past couple of years...and that is all about to change...

Here is an example...here are the results if you do a search for "Australian Blogging Conference" on both the MSN Search beta and Google sites. Yes...they both come up with relevant links, but as on a number of other search terms that "work" on Google, the MSN Search beta site seems to ignore my blog postings...hmm....throw in an extra search term, like say.."splatt"...to narrow it down even more and the MSN Search beta results still ignore nearly all of my blog postings...

Now, i'm not saying the MSN Search beta site is wrong and Google is right...i'm sure both of the algorithms are correct as far as both parties are concerned...its just that i have gotten used to Google's results and the MSN results are different...time to learn a whole new way to optimise my site for search engines if i want relevant results to show up in the MSN search tool... :(

Update: Just found an interesting article on the MSN Search beta site launch at the Seattle PI web site

Microsoft Australia Recruitment Blog

Add it to the other Microsoft recruitment related blogs run by Microsoft staff like Zoe and Gretchen's "JobsBlog" and Heather's "Marketing at Microsoft" blog and it provides another great window into the hiring process and thinking at the most influential company in the technology world.

Its great to see a company that size, allowing its staff to open up the communications channel...and Will was right...Frank did play a part in getting it going... :)

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 rocks.....part 1

Yep...i did it...i went out and bought myself a HP m1199a (link to m1188a) Windows Media Center Edition 2005 PC...and it was is no doubt one of the most life changing devices i will probably have in my lounge room for a long time to come.

Lets start of with the simple fact of having a PC (and a high powered one at that) plugged into your TV opens up so many possibilities for changing the way you interact with things. I'll admit, i'm one of those geeks that when i get home from work (or geekdinnering, or playing xbox with friends and sitting around waiting for Halo 2 to launch) and sit in my lounge room, i fire up my TabletPC, which automatically connects to my WiFi set up, and it just sits next to me on the couch. Every now and then i pick it up, read some blogs in my aggregator (NewGator), listen to some podcasts / audioblogs, watch some video, spend some time on IRC in the #joiito IRC room and i even use it to check something that i might have just seen on the TV and i'll admit, that even with a Media Center PC hooked upto my TV, i will no doubt still fire up the TabletPC. The Media Center is good, but you just can't spend time on IRC trying to type on and read from your TV screen...well...when i get a plasma or LCD TV with a better screen resolution that might change ;)

While i love my TabletPC, the Media Center is just so much more well suited to doing all of the stuff i just mentioned. Lets me go into some detail on some of the sections of the Media Center...

"Play DVD"
Just like any other DVD player...except...its a computer plugged into my TV with all of the benfits of that...but they really should add a "My DVD Collection" section. Some thing like this add-on i found would be perfect.

"Online Spotlight"
Allright...this is like having access to a number of channels normally viewed from a PC on your desktop...MovieLink, Napster, MSN Music, msntv, NPR, AOL music, ESPN, Reuters, Kodak, etc...

"My Videos"
Being a tech loving geek in my personal life and at work, i spend a lot of time watching product launches, videos of conference sessions and similar things to keep up to date on what is going on out in the big wide world. Watching a one hour product launch or conference video on my TabletPC screen (and i admit that my Toshiba M200 has a great screen) is just a right royal pain. While the form factor is fantastic, you end up realising that is fine for watching short videos but anything longer than 10 minutes and its just becomes a little to much. Now take that some video and playing it though your TV and you audio through a kick-ass sound system is a much better way to watch and listen to this stuff. Its just so much closer to the "TV" experience that we are used to.

"My Pictures"
The world of digital camera's has meant that my hardrive is full of images that i often don't look at more than once. Now take those images, and have them cycle through in a slideshow mode while you are listening to your favourite music...much better. The HP m1199a, like most of the 2005 Media Center's, has a bunch of memory card slots on the front panel. Get it. I take the memory card out of my camera...walk over to the Media Center PC...put the card in the corrosponding slot...and it allows me to easliy copy my images from the card to my harddrive...easy as pie...

"My TV"
What more can i say..."pausing live free-to-air television"...wow. You have to remember that the concept of PVR's is still new in Australia...we never got the Tivo here. 30 minutes worth of time shifting at the press of button. While i am talking about the My TV setup...the only real downside of the Media Center in Australia..and this is a biggy...is that we do not have an agreed system (by the broadcasters) for creating an EPG (Electronic Program Guide). can i make it clearer other than saying..."not having a program guide SUCKS". You loose all the cool TV based functionality other than timeshifting and recording to your hardrive. Just remember that when you want to record something at the moment that is hapening in the future, you need to set your recording session up like a VCR. Its all manual...grrrr...

"My Music"
All my music media is now in one place...my audio CD's are now going into the cupboard. Take note...all of my audio is synced between my Media Center, my TabletPC, my iPod, my PocketPC...everything...one place to manage all of it...how cool is that??? More on audio later...but here is a teaser ...the My Music section of my Media Center, when combined with Doppler is a huge addition to how i listen to "podcasts"...

"Radio"
I have yet to really play with this as i need to go and tune all the FM stations in that i want...hmm...time consuming...

"Extras"
Being a HP, the Media Center has a couple of HP specific apps put into it like; HP Image Zone, HP Tunes (HP version of itunes), create CD/DVD (nice) and maybe some more things i haven't seen yet.

"Messenger" integration
So there i am watching a TV show, when all of a sudden an IM from one of my friends pops up on top of the show i am watching....how cool is that???

This thing is just so cool...i'm glad that the "gadget monster" won this battle :)

ADDITION: Hey guys and gals...if you post a comment looking for a free / cracked key to Media Center I won't publish it anymore. For all the benefits the Windows XP Media Center Edition gives you, its really not that expensive. Sorry.

Windows Media Center 2005..should i or shouldn't I???

As i said, i don't actually buy on impulse, i have this internal struggle that often goes on for days on whether or not a really need a particual gadget, and when the Media Center i am looking at is going to cost me between $2,500 and $3,000 AUS...believe me...it's a struggle.

But in the end i often give in to the one i call the "gadget monster". You should have seen the battle between myself and the "gadget monster" that went on for four days to decide if i should have bought the Sony Aibo i bought on my last trip to San Fransisco. "The Battle of the Aibo" would be worthy of having songs being written about it by bards with lutes. It would both enthrall and terrify all who listened to the tale of woe.

Well..."The Battle of the Media Center" has been raging for three long days and nights, and i am finally admitting defeat. So I will shortly leave the stronghold that is my office, go out into the dangerous wilderness that is the electronics superstore in my local shopping mall and return with a HP m1199a Windows Media Center PC.

Ohh the shame of defeat....but damn...will i have a blast playing with my new toy :) Expect a lot of posts on it in the next couple of days. Here is a link to the HP m1188a, which is the model below the one i am getting. Essentially the same, but the m1199a has 1Gig of RAM and a better video card....damn that "gadget monster"...will he never be defeated???

Hapy Birthday Bill Gates...

I woder if Bill has something like a wishlist at Amazon?? I wonder what would be on it??

Too many watches....not enough service coverage :(

More "MSN Direct (SPOT) watches are going to be announced any day now, and no one outside of the US or Canada can access the service...c'mon guys...how hard can it be to organise coverage deals with DirectBand access???

Aside from the obvious benefits to having one, I can think of 101 ways to use the service that could be promoted to service providers and marketing companies....surely that is one way to subsidise the creation of coverage deals in countries outside of the US and Canada???

Swatch enter the MSN Direct (SPOT) watch market

I bought an Abacus Round version when i was in the US in February of this year, and feel in love with the whole MSN Direct and SPOT technology concept straight away. I was even lucky enough to have Robert Scoble organise a meeting with some of the SPOT team for me when i was at the Microsoft Redmond campus in late February. The discussion was under NDA..and it was pretty cool to see where they are taking this longterm...hopefully ;)

The only thing that annoys the hell out of me is that i pretty well wear the watch every day, and i am constantly telling people about what it can do and they get all excited...but then they ask me to show them how it works and of course the MSN Direct part of the watch doesn't work in Australia...i would even be happy if i could get it to go into some sort of demo mode....anybody know how to get it to do that by chance??? Or maybe we could just get the service switched on for me to demo to people....hmm...didn't think so...damn...

PS. a good site for MSN Direct / SPOT watch info is SpotStop.com...SPOTDev looks pretty cool as well.

MSN Messenger 7.0 beta sign-up site

I have to admit to running the leaked version of MSN Messenger 7 when it appeared...but they did get a work around to pull it out of circulation pretty quickly..they did a version check which quickly forced you to replace with 6.2...clever little puppies.. :)

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 and Portable Media Center....finally in Australia

The Windows Portable Media Center has also been released out here...well..the Creative Zen version has at least, but it doesn't have a price anywhere near it...

All of this along with all the new Windows Media Player 10 stuff, makes for a busy week...When did it all happen..the Windows Experience launch was held this morning in the US and they have put up a nice flash site for everything they are talking about....ahhh....integration of all my gadgets...

Only problem now is too many gadgets to buy :(

:)

New MSN Music Store coming to Australia...maybe....

Court TV Video actually come up with a page and works, but nineMSN music comes up with an "Error contacting Service" message...I wonder if the credits i have on the current nineMSN / OD2 music service (which appears to be not working at the moment) will get carried over to the new service??? I hope so...

ADDITION: I was right...checked the service just now through MP10 and its up and working. They also appear to have a radio and video channel setup and it still looks like it is powered by OD2 in the background. About to try my old login and see if credits have been transfered to the new system....and...it works fine..all my old credits are in the system. They do need to do something about the navigating around artists and albums...not the smartest system in the world. Yes its simple, but not really intuitive. Anyway....lots to look at and discover. :)

It seems a lot has been going on in the MSN music world...check out the transcript of BillG's presentation today.

New Microsoft website

Here's a blog posting on Photo Matt that discusses it.

Canberra Tech.Ed images

One of my designers showed me some holiday snaps of his using a slideshow tool called SimpleViewer. I downloaded it and the Admin tools someone has made and its pretty cool...

Tech.Ed Day 1 wrap-up (Wed 4 Aug 2004)

After the keynote i attended Steve Lombardi's MapPoint session which was a great place as any to launch the Australian MapPoint Web Service. Dr Neil Roodyn demo'd a great application using the MapPoint Web Service and a Tablet PC....really cool use of the available technology.

After lunch, i then attended a session by Shauna Kelly a Microsoft MVP, on some of the automation functionality available in MS Word 2004.

The session on Architecture by Harry Pierson, titled "Metropolis: Envisioning the Service-Oriented Enterprise", was fascinating. It was all about understanding the similarities between the growth of cities and the changing IT landscape.

After the Architecture session, I essentially hung around the exhibition hall and caught up with Frank Arrigo, Dr Neil and a number of other people...the exhibition hall was a great place to catch up with some fascinating people and get some good networking in. Frank and the rest of his team also had a lounge set up specifically for people who were members of the MSDN Connection program. The lounge was complete with comfy chairs, its own coffee machine, a fridge with Red Bull and an XBox hooked up to a widescreen plasma... :) They also had an RFID reader setup, that scanned your MSDN Connection members card, queried the members database and then puched up a personalised welcome message onto a laptop screen....cool...very similar to the RFID setup we had at the Joi Ito IRC group session at the O'Reilly Emerging Tech Conference in San Diego earlier this year.

After spending some time at the "Ask the Experts" dinner in the exhibition hall, a few of us headed on up into Canberra's Civic Centre and King O'Malley's Irish Pub for the first Australian GeekDinner. More on the GeekDinner soon.

MSN Web Messenger

As its a beta program, you may not be able to log in all the time because it has limited connections available....

OK guys...i don't have a problem with you all using my site to try and work out how to get around schools that are trying to block your use of MSN Messenger...good luck to you all...but i will be killing/editing all comments that have swearing or foul language in them.

Certain words are included in "filters" that IT departments put into the machines that allow peple to access web sites at work and at home. If the machines pick up those words, the site is not allowed through...therefore poeple can not view this site.

Thats the way it goes...sorry.

:) SplaTT

Tech.Ed Day 0 wrap-up (Tue 3 Aug 2004)

After a quick look at the exhibitors and a visit to my hotel room to freshen up, it was of to the MapPoint Dinner (photos) at the Hyatt Hotel that i was invited to. The MapPoint dinner was put on by Steve Lombardi (from the Redmond Microsoft MapPoint team) and it was great to finally meet him. I was meant to catch up with Steve on my trip to the Redmond campus in February but missed him by a couple of days...nealry six months later, and a number of emails, we finally catch up :) Frank Arrigo and Dr Neil Roodyn were there and it was great to catch up with them again in person and also to have the opportunity to meet up with a lot of people who are really into MapPoint, mapping technology and its uses.

A few of the people i met at the MapPoint dinner (total of around 20 people...give or take) included: Chris and James from multimap.com, Laurie from MapData Sciences, David from Dejai, Steve from Connected Innovation (he's also a Microsoft Regional Director) and a heap of other Microsoft and non-Microsoft people.

After the dinner wound up, a few of us kicked on at the Canberra Casino (drinking and not betting for me) and caught up with Marco and Karl. The night ended at around 2am on Wednesday morning....

TechEd Australia 2004 day 1.....

When i'm back at the hotel i'll post up notes on the sessions i attended as well as doing an update to the moblog...

My TechEd Australia Moblog photos

Pre-TechEd audioblog

TechEd bloggers Australia and New Zealand

I also hear that there may be a geekdinner being organised for TechEd Australia...stay tuned for more news....(more news: check out my next post for more info)

New MSN search site and a preview of MSNBot

The preview engine seems to be giving better results, but they are different when you compare to Googles results for the same word. Search for "splatt" on the preview engine and the first mention of me is at the 36th spot and its a link to the channel9 site. Search with the current MSN search site and this blog comes in 4th spot..search on Google and the blog comes in 4th as well....i wonder if MSNBot is either placing less releavance on blogs or it just has not got around to indexing .au sites in a big way yet...hmmmm

Photos of BillG

It will be interesting to see how many bloggers (other than Frank ;) were at the event...from what i understand it was mostly ISV's and journo's....

Bill Gates visits Oz...

It appears that he is catchng up with John Howard and is doing a joint press conference with him as well as announcing the launch of Microsoft's community assistance program dubbed "Unlimited Potential" (US site), which is all about providing access to computer technology, education and training to people of all ages or circumsances.

The program has been put together with a number of groups, including; the Smith Family, the Australian Seniors Computing Clubs, WorkVentures and the Inspire Foundation (love their Beanbag Net Centre project).

Sounds like a bit of politicing is being done on all sides....but does this mean that BillG is a Howard supporter....and if so what does that mean for us technophiles in a possble election year???

News articles:
news.com.au
AustralianIT

new toys.....part 1: i-mate Pocket PC Phone Edition

Toy 1 : The i-mate Pocket PC Phone Edition PDA which is running Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003. Now this is one pretty cool device...i haven't owned a PDA / Pocket PC since mid 2000 when i bought a HP Jordana and the MS guys have taken the OS ahead in leaps and bounds.

First up, the i-mate handles video like a dream...I loaded a 45MB WMV file onto it and the Pocket PC version of Windows Media Player managed to play it without skipping a beat...no lag...no syncing issues...nothing....

Using it to play audio files and music has got to be one of the most used applications on it...I went out and got a 512MB SD storage card so i could load up extra files, so now i can listen to WebTalkGuys mp3 files whenever i feel like it....I've loaded up some mp3 and wma music files as well and it sounds pretty good through a good set of headphones....but unless i can get a 10-20 GIG SD storage card for it (i wish..) i guess i'll be using my iPod until i decide to move onto a Windows powered device....

It has a nice and simple cut down version of Outlook on it....which i am still trying to hook up to our Exchange Server at work (the object here is to get rid of the blackberry)...but it is pretty simple to get it set up and working with POP3 email addresses....the contact book also works pretty well and it deals with with all the fields that i can throw at it from Outlook on my TabletPC which is what it is syncing with...

It has basic versions of Word and Excel on it....no PowerPoint viewer but you can always hope...this is something i thought was really missing in the OS that was on my Jordana and I really thought they would have added it in by now...guess i will just have to buy a copy of CNetX's Pocket SlideShow which is a pretty cool little powerpoint viewer...now if i go and buy a the i-mate backpack for it, which has a type II Compact Flash card slot, a VGA out connector as well as an extra battery, i will be able to run client presentations from it on video projectors...thats cool... :)

Microsoft Pocket Reader is pretty good if you have any books in that particular format...but you can also load up acrobat as well...

The phone part of the i-mate integrates nicely with the other applications....dial directly from you contacts list....recieve and compose SMS and MMS messages....fire up the GPRS connection and surf the web with Pocket IE....or even load up MSN Messenger...I love it when i am IM'ing people and you then tell them you aren't in your office or near you computer and you are using Messenger on a portable device...

I have also loaded up a few other Microsoft and third party apps onto the i-mate as well...i mentioned earlier that i was running Pocket SlieShow to view PowerPoint files in, but i have also loaded up a few more "fun"...err..."business critical" applications as well....PocketChat (IRC client)....Pocket Adobe Acrobat....Pocket PC Expense (hint: check out the other PocketPC Power Toys like remote display)....If Pocket Streets was available in Australia i would have that on the i-mate as well...

I have also included some media grabbers on it for a bit of fun and time killing....m-Vision and Microsoft Plus! Sync and Go for Pocket PC. To round it off, three important pieces of software....Symantec Anti-Virus for Handhelds, and Spb Pocket Plus which is a great tool and one of the things you must buy if you have a PocketPC...the last software package....an RSS reader of course...FurryGoats's (love the name) PocketFeed.

I have also bought some "hardware" add-ons as well...as i mentioned ealrier, i picked up a ScanDisk 512MB SD storage card and i also got a ScanDisk 802.11b SD WiFi card for thiose moments when i can access the net without those crazy GPRS data charges....

The best little bit of hardware and software i bought i will cover in detail in one of my next posts...CoPilot Live PocketPC 4 which comes complete with a great little gadget...the Entac BTGPS (BlueTooth GPS) unit....more on this later...

To wrap it up, I would have to say that the i-mate is a great addition to my gadget bag and the MS guys have built a great little platform for the PDA with Pocket PC 2003...I hope the devices just keep rolling into market...i can't wait until they release PocketPC 2003 Second Edition or until i can lay my hands on either a Motorola MPx220 SmartPhone or the "oh so to die for" MPx....

Gates on blogging

The word is out.....blogging is big news...or so it appears. You know that things are about to change when Bill Gates mentions a technology in one of his speeches, which is exactly what he did at the Microsoft CEO Summit on the 20th of May (and...he even used a screenshot from Channel Nine).

Everbody from the Seattle PI to ITNews in Australia has picked up on it...

Took them a while to notice the whole internet browser thing and look where that has gone.....lets see where Bill's little mention takes us...

Huge xbox announcements at E3

First up....EA Sorts and Microsoft have ended whatever was going on that was stopping EA Sports titles being available on XBOX Live.....up unti now, the "network enabled" games had only been available on the Sony PlayStation....

Second...a release date for Halo 2.....November the 9th.....they also realesed a new video showing some amazing game play...

Third....and the biggest news of all.....they announced the coming launch of a "VIDEO CHAT" capability to be released in Japan for trial purposes.....this is huge news....the obvious jump to adding video chat has been a long time coming and will revolutionise the use of the XBOX and change the perception of gaming consoles for ever......at the current price of an XBOX, the costs of an ADSL connectiona and a USB webcam.....i'll be buying one for my mum....

You can keep upto date on new info at the XBOX E3 site...they also have some guys blogging live from the show using Windows based Smartphones.....lots of pictures and videos to keep you enthralled for hours....

Microsoft XP Media Center in Australia...finally

By then end of this year you should be able to buy either an Acer, a HP or a Toshiba produced Media Center PC...if they also release the media center extender's into the market, it should provide a huge push in the market for home entertainment systems and home automation products....about time...

c|net has a good article on the recent announcement which i initially found over at Frank Arrigo's site where he mentions that Microsoft will be showing of the media center device at this weekends Sydney Home Show....guess i know what i am doing on the weekend....

VB @ the movies

MSN Messenger 6.2

Playing in the MSN sandbox...

Currently available in the sandbox are links to the beta versions of Newsbot, the the MSN Toolbar, 3º, Microsoft Reseach's Netscan and TerraServer...

Lots of cool things to play with...

MDC last session

A few interesting questions got asked about Location Based Services, the next version of the Windows Mobile OS, some one asking for clarification on the use of flash based memory in the next hardware release and a number of other things.

The whole day was full of interesting sessions and it was great to have Microsoft show interest in the dev community out of the US and send out some key staff to present to us. Should be more of it...and from the attendance today I'm sure they would get good crowds...

The showbag included a 60-day trial of Visul Studio.net 2003 Pro edition, an ASP.net resource kit, a Windows Mobile Developers resource kit and a .NET Compact Framework starter kit....no Visual Studio 2005 (they will be sending them out to attendees and no free phone (you can always hope/dream).....

PS.It would have been nuice to have seen the "Great Office Moments" video with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer that was shown at MDC in San Francisco....maybe next tme....oh yeah...I also got to have a quick look at the Motorola MPx smart phone....very nice....

MDC - Advanced Windows Mobile Development

Nick randolph then took us through building an application while having to develop your own controls...

As is always the case, this late in the day people start to drift off, but it was god to see most of the crowd hang around till the end

MDC Australia photos

James hints for mobile app dev

I'll get some links up later on some of the stuff he talked about as well as links to the days speakers slides which will be up in about a week...he thinks (no promises ;)

Building mobile apps with ASP.NET at MDC

The spent a fair bit of the session showing how the Mobile controls in ASP.NET 1 and ASP.NET 2 automatically provide the capability of generating multiple device views from the one set of code....you essentialy develop the code and it automatically detects the correct way to display it in WAP 1.1, xhtml or any other "rich" type display...very nice...

The sessions after lunch have just started, and we are sitting in Track A, whch is all about mobile devices....James Pratt is talking so i better stop typing and start listening...

Sitting in the MDC session

The opening keynote by Mark Spain was interesting and was memorable for the line, "You guys just open the box and the partying begins" (reference to developeres and techy people not reading manuals and the ease of use of Windows Mobile Devices). His keynote was broken up by James Pratt creating the "MDC blogging" tool live on stage (just like they did at MDC San Francisco) as well as a great demo on SQL and Visual Studio 2005.....nice...The morning session was finshed up with a quick panel of Microsoft Redmond guys answering a few question..

I'm sitting in the next session which is about building mobile apps with asp.net mobile controls..more later..

Microsoft Mobile Developers Conference comes to Sydney

The Australian 2004 Microsoft Mobile Developers Conference is on at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel in Sydney tomorrow (Tuesday 20th April).

Ok....it won't be as good as attending the real MDC which was held in San Francisco last month, but its better than nothing. And some of the speakers should be OK...Mark Spain, the Director of the Mobile Devices division is out here from MS head ofice in Redmond, and so is James Pratt.

Dr Neil Roodyn will be giving the closing keynote about some new technologies that MS are working.....i have a feeling some of the stuff he will be taking about i saw on my trip to Microsoft in February... ;)

May even get to a meet a few of the Australian Microsoft bloggers as i see Frank Arrigo will be in attendance as well....all in all it sounds like it should be an interesting event....

I wonder if they will have WiFi at the conference???? It has to start happening at conferences in Australia soon you would think....if it is...i may even post here if i hear anything interesting....if not on this blog, at least on the moblog.

Update: Ok....now that was quick....i posted a question about WiFi at the conference....and then Frank Arrigo posts about their being WiFi at the conference.....thats what i call customer service :)

windows remixed...

This is one of the funniest things i have seen (and heard) in a long time...and its all done with SNDREC32.EXE...

channel 9 is alive....

Dave Winer talks at Microsoft on weblogs

The MURL Seminar Series has some great tech video sessions available for your perusal....and what else would you expect from the combined talents of Carnegie-Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microsoft Research, Stanford University, the University of Washington and PARC.....

Lots of stuff to watch to fill in any spare time you may have...

SPOT watch mini site and video....

It looks like it had some stuff on the site about new channels that they were not supposed to be talking about...oooops....but luckily the team over at SpotStop.com managed to grab some screenshots before the site was changed back to its intended version.

The sports channel we knew about, but some of the other channels have got some of the pundits starting to sit up and take notice...current traffic conditions, a dining guide, a movie finder and daily diversions (horoscopes, lottery results, word and quotes of the day, born on this day and this day in history)....

They also have a copy of "Secret Agent Man"..the Microsoft video promoting MSN Direct featuring Spike Lee.

ProjectLonghorn.com ?????? or is it Channel 9???

Andrew Watt didn't think it was funny, but I found this humorous.  Check out ProjectLonghorn.com, truly registered by Microsoft.

Channel 9 is the Public Broadcasting Station in Seattle.

Scoble's hard at work :)

Is Russell changing his tune???

by the way...the nice looking phone on the left is the Motorola MPx100 and you can find a nice short write-up on it at InfoSync World...

heres a small out-take about its capabilities.."Furthermore the Smartphone sports an integrated MP3 player, and instant messaging capabilities through MSN Messenger. The MPx100 also allows for photo album storage and features embedded Multi-Media Messaging Service (MMS) capability for sending and receiving photos, wallpapers, icons and more. Available accessories will include a Bluetooth Stereo Headset, a GPS Bluetooth receiver and a Wi-Fi adapter.".......ooooo......lots of nice toys....

The Nokia 9500 Communicator also has a lot of the same functionality as the MPx 100, but it is in a much larger format and aimed at the Enterprise market.

bye Microsoft...till we meet again....

I learnt heaps about new applications and web services and started the groundwork on some great opportunities to merge some of what their doing with some of the things we want to do for our clients. I can't wait to present some of the stuff I saw to staff back home and to some of our clients.

I feel invigorated about the space, and excited about the opportunities we will have to do some amazing ground breaking work....

Thanx to everyone at Microsoft who took the time to allow me a glimpse into their fascinating world....

(oh yeah...phone camera photos of the campus can be found here)

etech - Catalyzing Collective Action on the Net (keynote)

Let me start this blog by saying that Marc�s keynote was without a doubt the best keynote of etech.

He raised an interesting point right upfront by stating that society, at some point, created a scale at which one end was �socializing� and at the other end was the idea of �getting work done�, and never the two shall meet. With the uptake of technology and the shifting of social behavior to include connected digital mediums, work and socializing are much closer to being tightly integrated than ever before.

He then ran through a list of books that have influenced sociological, both online and offline, thinking up to now; The Evolution of Co-operation, Governing the Commons, a book by Irving Goffman (didn�t get the title), The Hidden Dimension, Social Network Analysis, Visual Explanations, Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Communities in Cyberspace (which he was a co-editor on). He also spoke about an article or a book called �The value of reputation on eBay: A controlled experiment�

He spoke about how online aggregations resemble voluntary associations far more than groups, and then ran through some points by Ostrum;

OneNote and its development...

As a user of OneNote on my TabletPC, i have to give credit to the guys for creating a great app, and his blog provides an interesting window into the process and issues that come up with developing a 1.0 application.

I always wondered why they created OneNote when the Journal application is so similar, his explanation covers the logic well....While Journal is specific to the Tablet, OneNote is an application that can be used not only on a TabletPC but also on a standard desktop or laptop. Come to think of it...i was using OneNote on my IBM laptop before i got my Toshiba Tablet and it was still a great app to use.

If only i could blog directly from it.......then again...my handwriting is no where near as neat as it should be.. ;)

corporate blogs and conversations...

I think that the point he raises about companies "having a conversation with customers" is spot on....it doesn't matter if the conversation is on a blog, a web site, or whatever.....The Cluetrain Manifesto was right all along...if only more people understood the whole of idea of "markets as conversations" ...

I realise that i've been sounding a bit pro-Microsoft these days, and believe me, my friends are letting me know it, but i think they are one of the first to accept some of what cluetrain talks about and to understand its wider implications....i haven't coded seriously in ages, but i'm spending a lot of time reading the blogs over at blogs.msdn.com trying to get a grasp on what MS is working on next....and having someone like Robert Scoble blogging his heart out (hmm... he's taking a break this week...damn), is doing wonders for Microsofts perception in the tech and IT world (it doesn't matter if you agree with him or not), and its probably creating some good PR for them while he's at it. All of this information that i'm discovering and reading is helping me to do my job better and its not coming from the PR agency, but from the coalface itself...and the fact that i can converse with the people who are telling me these things at the same time is amazing...

All the blogs that sprung up around Microsofts PDC late last year, and the one that has appeared for the MDC in March, are all providing somewhere for a conversation to take place....sure its between coders and coders and not companies and people/consumers/cutomers (no insult meant to coders....they are people too) but it has to start somewhere....

microsoft play catch up with google

More info at blink.nu

winzip in outlook....

Microsoft and Mars

The cool thing is, is that they have put together a demo using some of NASA's material from Mars....good article explaining it over at Blink.nu

Mail Enabling SharePoint Document Libraries

you call that an OS???? when i was i kid.....

This Russian site has posted up a few images of Windows 1.03.... the memories (good and bad) are flooding back....

a tale of two time pieces....

spot watch
microsoft finally announced the availability of their spot watches initially announced at comdex in 2002, which utilise the msn direct service at ces the other day

the ability to get news, weather, sports, stocks and travel info (to name a few) along with messages from ms messenger and sync'ing your watch with your outlook calendar is a pretty amazing step forward in portable connected devices...

now i know everything i have just mentioned i can get on my mobile phone, but until my mobile phone is sitting on my wrist and i can access all this information with only one or two button presses and it automatically changes its time based on where i am at that particualr moment (as long as i'm in the US...obviously)....the spot based watch is a jump in the right direction..

the guys over at Mobitopia and a number of other places are giving the spot watches and the msn direct service a bit of a bagging at the moment, but i think given a bit of time, the issues they have with the service not initially being what it was promised to be will be just a case of launch time bugs...saying that it will flop because all the services it has are primarily available via SMS i don't think stands up.

in australia we have had sms up and running for a while longer than the US and though it is hugely popular i don't find that myself or any of my friends (or anyone i know for that matter) use sms to get weather reports or any of the other services that you can, or will be able to get with spot/msn direct. i think the primary reason comes down to the percieved cost of sms, because even though you are paying for the msn direct services, because its a monthly (or yearly) fee and more to the point, because it comes straight to your watch, the perception will be different....but think it also goes beyond perception...

your average person just does not know (or care) how to set their mobile phone to receive additional info...if you can't do it via a wap or gprs connection....go to your service providers web site, find the right page, work out the individual prices, send an sms message to subscribe, wait for an answer, send an sms message to confirm subscription...and if your lucky, the info will come through....travelling to another state??....lets go through the process again...travelling overseas???...does you provider even work properly....all inall, to much of a hassle even for me....

the biggest issue that i agree with everybody on is the time between needing to charge the battery in the watch....then again...i charge my mobile phone, my bluetooth headset, my blackberry, my tabletpc, my ipod, my gps, my digital camera...who says i can't get used to charging my watch...i don't exactly wear it for up to 6-8 hours a day when i'm in bed which is when i charge everything else....

mars standard time
a small master watch maker Garo Anserlian of Executive Jewelers tool an unbelivebale order from NASA JPL staff who are involved on the Mars Rover "Spirit" crew to create a watch which lost 39 minutes a day (the martian day is 24 hours and 39 minutes long) so that they could be synchronised with the rover while it is operational on Mars...

as it turns out, Cory Doctorow (of "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" and "A place so foreign and 8 more" fame) is about to release another book called "Eastern Standard Tribe" about a group of people bound together by a sleep schedule based on the east coast of the US....

either way...gotta get me a watch when i am in the US for etech (or maybe two ;) along with Cory's new book.....

the butterfly returns.....microsoft do make some good ads...

Where is Steve??

I'd love to know whats going on at MS....the last 12 months has seen some amazing products come out of redmond....way to go guys, my faith is restored....