February, 2008

Today I went to a Job Fair at Brice's school to tell his 2nd grade class what it's like working for Microsoft.

I wasn't the only parent there, but the number's were against us - 28 2nd graders to 14 adults.

We sat around the side of the classroom and the kids went around from group to group in twos - so I had to repeat my spiel over and over again. By the end I had it down pat.

I introduced myself, told them my name and where I worked - every single one had of them heard of Microsoft. Some of the kids had parents who worked there, or *had* worked there in the past.

I then tried to explain my job.

Rather than saying I work in DPE, where we do Evangelism and try to win hearts and minds,  blah blah blah ... I used an analogy.

I said I was like their teacher. And that I helped people learn about stuff. And that I worked with people all over the world.

They seemed to grok that.

It was time for the kids to ask questions, and they had been briefed by their teacher to ask good questions.

One little girl asked if I had seen the Eiffel Tower. My immediate response *would* have been no, but I *can* program in Eiffel, but I realized that would have been lost on one so young.

Another kid asked if I make ipods - I had to say no, but I did tell him that the zune is cool too

But the most common question was, "do I have fun" and to that it was always "yes".

I gave them some stickers, including one of Tech.Frank - and they  agreed it did look like me!

As I was preparing to head out to the school, I did a tweet about the upcoming adventure and I got a wonderful email from Alfred Thompson full of Microsoft campus stats.

I used them in my talk and I will share them here.

• 18,573 Average number of customers served in cafeterias daily
• 2637 slices of pizza consumed per day
• 7,464,456 cans of soda consumed per year
• 7,899,660 cans of juice consumed per year
• 3,520,536 cartons of milk consumed per year
• 2300 passengers ride the MS shuttles everyday
• 10,500 phone calls come into the Microsoft switchboard everyday

I left the kids with a little Microsoft branded tchotchke, which I have since found out caused a great deal of distraction for the rest of the day

Yes! Hearts and Minds!!

I wonder what the kids will tell their parents at home tonight??

** Update ** A photo of the aformentioned tchotchke - or more commonly known as a Jelly Yo-Yo

The details about the panel I'm hosting at MIX08 is up

Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?

Speaker(s): Frank Arrigo (Microsoft), Bryan Biniak (CEO Jacked), Tim Kendall (Facebook), Loic Le Meur (CEO Seesmic), Chris Saad (CEO Faraday Media)

Audience(s): Business

Session Type: Panel

While Web 2.0 and beyond sites, built on the family of technologies that encompass it, are undeniably cool, the question remains: How can one make money off it? Join us as well known Web 2.0 firms debate the revenue model in this brave new world.

I'm really excited about the panel, as we have a great cross section of companies - Facebook, Seesmic, Jacked and I was able to sneak an aussie onto the panel, Chris Saad who is a man of many initiatives : FaradayMedia.com, Particls.com, Engagd.com,  Media2.0Workgroup.org, APML.org  and DataPortability.org

See you in Vegas!

I picked up the 8gb version of SanDisk Sansa®TakeTV™ PC to TV Video Player and I must say I am impressed.

It is a memory stick which has a little cradle that plugs into a tv. It has a remote control which pops out to drive the thing.

There is a related service called Fanfare where you can purchase / download TV Shows.

This thing just works.

Feature List

• Connects to any PC:
  • USB 2.0 compliant
  • Works with Mac, Linux, Windows Vista and Windows XP
• Connects to any standard TV – Supported AV Outputs:
  • Composite Video
  • Analog Stereo
  • S-Video
• Remote control—for use in the comfort of your living room
• Compact convenient and lightweight:
• Supports MPEG-4 – DivX and xVid
• Supports NTSC and PAL color systems
• Resolution of up to 720x576 (D1) at a bitrate of up to 7Mbps.
• 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios and a range of viewing modes
• DivX (Home Theater profile) certified 
• DivX DRM compliant
• Standard replaceable remote control battery

Gizmodo has a nice collection of reviews

Chris Saad, panelist from my upcoming MIX08 Panel : Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?, has launched a little competition to design the new DataPortability Logo.

This week a company sent a Cease and Desist claiming that the DataPortability logo was too similar to their own logo.

And no, it wasn't the Visual Studio team, as you can see the Visual Studio logo is colorful

This is the "OLD" DataPortability Logo - note the subtle shading to highlight the D and P

Here's my attempt

Actually, I think it's a non starter ;)

Hey Chris - maybe you can unveil the winning logo at MIX08?

I've got a panel at Mix08 and since Mix08 is only a week away, I had better get my act together and do some prep work.

The panel details again:

Web 2.0 and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality?

Wednesday, March 5 4:30 PM - 5:45 PM, Delfino 4101A

Speaker(s): Frank Arrigo (Microsoft), Bryan Biniak (CEO Jacked), Tim Kendall (Facebook), Loic Le Meur (CEO Seesmic), Chris Saad (CEO Faraday Media)

Audience(s): Business

Session Type: Panel

While Web 2.0 and beyond sites, built on the family of technologies that encompass it, are undeniably cool, the question remains: How can one make money off it? Join us as well known Web 2.0 firms debate the revenue model in this brave new world.

To get myself into the mood, I will host a Q&A session with the panel moderator - me

Q: So how will you run this?

A: As a moderator, my job will be to fire off the questions and let my panel of experts have their say. I just need to make sure the conversation flows.

Q: What questions will you ask?

A: I thought I would collect some questions here on my blog first. Then I will kick off the session with some questions from the audience. Make the attendees work I say!

Q: What are you looking forward to?

A: Apart from the winning  logo for Chris' DataPortability Logo Competition I am really keen to hear from all of the panelists and I hope my questions can stir a great conversation.

Q: Is this your first time in Las Vegas?

A: Why yes it is. I am really looking forward to it - but I do remember what happened when Homer and Ned made the trip, so I had better be careful.

Q: Thank you - see you in Vegas

A: Thank you - it was my pleasure

So, if you are heading down to Mix08, don't forget to checkout the Schedule Builder and add PNL05 to your schedule.

I got an email over the weekend from someone who wanted to know *HOW* to go about developing games for Xbox.

I found a great resource on Xbox.com

Xbox Developer Programs

We have created several programs to support the efforts of publishers, developers, tool makers, and hardware vendors who want to bring their ideas to life on the Xbox® and Xbox 360™ video game consoles.
Follow the links below to learn about our programs for:

• Development Resources
• Xbox Registered Content Creators
• Xbox 360 Tools and Middleware
• Developing for Xbox Live® Arcade
• Building Casual Games

The Casual Games stuff looks great - I like the tag line: "Playtime, Anytime", and speaking of "Playtime, Anytime", behold the Arrigo Gamercard

 

Thanks to John Mullinax for pointing out to me the winner of the BillG - signed Guitar Hero guitar at ODC 2008

It was Aussie Certified Trainer and Consultant, Clayton James

Way to go Clayton!! Here's the experience in his own words - What a week in Silicon Valley

The signed guitar heads downunder!

Now Clayton, I think you're going to need to hook up with Scott "MossyBlog" Barnes and challenge him to a game of Guitar Hero!!