Nikon has released an updated version of their RAW (NEF) Codec for Vista that resolves an issue that caused it to suddenly stop working last week. Apparently the problem had something to do with an expired certificate. The new Codec is still labeled version 1.01. However, if you uninstall the...

Quite an interesting article in the Microsoft PhotoBlog: Program Manager Jordan Schwartz describes 3 Technologies that will change Photography . The three he cites are Mini Projectors, Liquid Lenses and GPS. And it's worth the link just for the mad-cool photo of the Mini Projector. This would also be...

Big - We're talking GIGApixels of data (3.7 gigpixels in this image thumbnailed here) Wide - Wide enough - like 150 degrees - that presenting the "right" projection of part of the image is non-trivial Deep - So deep that high dynamic range comes into play - over 100x variation - as you zoom and pan around...

Moose as far as the eye can see.

The TechReady conference is off to a great start. I've shaken off the jetlag and am overwhelmed by the smorgasbord of sessions. Here's a photo of Steve Ballmer firing us up during this morning's keynote. He's still got it!! TechReady is an internal technical readiness conference, so despite my...

Irish band Republic of Loose played The Village in Dublin last night for Microsoft Ireland's Vista launch party. It was a sold-out free gig that's part of the Experience Wow Vista fanfare here in Ireland. I came armed with my camera and there's a set of photos up on Flickr now . If you haven't...

Two nice new downloads for photographers made me re-think my photo-processing pipeline today. Nikon has released their RAW (NEF) Codec for Vista . Follow the link to download it, or open Vista's Windows Photo Gallery and it will automatically check for updates and prompt you. You'll get Vista Live...

In the spirit of five things you didn't know about me comes thing #6 you were blissfully unaware of: #6: I spent a summer north of the arctic circle, in Tromsø, northern Norway and #6a: I was up there again last week! Here's stuff from my trip along the themes of this blog: .NET and AI: ...

I'm watching the Bill Gates CES keynote today. For me, the coolest announcement is the Microsoft Home Server . Automated backup of all your home PC data, connectivity to other PCs, Zune, XBox, and also remote connectivity without complexity. I created a similar home server setup myself using a...

The Photosynth Team describes a "hidden" switch that activates Autoplay on a Photosynth collection , triggering Photosynth to automatically advance through the images in a tour that will take you through every photo in the set. Rob La Gesse, in the comments of the Photosynth blog, describes a VB6...

The first Photosynth technology preview has hit the web! Today, you can visit the Photosynth site to explore four different collections of photos in 3D space. Back in August, the Photosynth team announced their work at the SIGGRAPH 2006 conference, along with a lot of amazing Microsoft research into...

I uploaded my first set of Tech Ed Europe photos to my Flickr account in this Photoset . I also created a "Tech Ed Europe 2006" group pool on Flickr. Please feel free to add your own photos taken at the conference to that group. The shot to the right features three of the usual suspects from the...

There's a fresh wealth of design ideas in this month's Where Design Comes From newsletter . My favorite piece is Jonathan Yuen's design portfolio , which he's delicately sketched with ink and innovation. Interacting is a joy and gives a satisfying sense of discovery. Frame the frog, for...

I haven't updated Little Syncr in a while. Little Syncr is my application that synchronizes metadata between local image files and photos on Flickr . Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions: Will you update it again? Yes - I just need to find the time! :) Little Syncr throws...

I completed my first four open-water scuba dives over the weekend near Sandycove, just south of Dublin. Those 4 were the training dives for the PADI Open-Water scuba diving course. So now I'm a qualified diver (of sorts!). The scenery close to shore included a few fish, some crabs, loads of vegetation...

Have you heard of the Windows Media Photo specification? Neither had I, until today! Windows Media Photo is an image file format that is optimized for digital photography. To quote the whitepaper , Windows Media Photo: "... employs a new, state-of-the-art compression algorithm... [that]offers...

I use Flickr to host my photos online. I use Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 Library to manage my photo collection locally. I want to be able to edit the titles, descriptions and tags of my online images, using a rich interface, even when I'm offline. Little Syncr This is my little application that...

At long last, I've posted the photos of some of the many participants who tried out the Mind Balance brain-computer interface at the Dublin launch event. I previously chronicled the story of the resurrection of Cerebus, our wireless brain-computer interface, prior to the launch event. Many participants...

This is ludicrously cool: researchers at Stanford have developed a camera that lets you focus after you shoot . It's certainly a research idea at this point: from what I understand, the result is a relatively low-resolution image. But what a disruptive and intriguing idea! You're effectively trading...

"Do you think we can get it working again?" I asked Scott, as he opened up the Marsellus Wallace briefcase to reveal the bits of a disassembled brain-computer interface. Here we were on a Saturday morning, in Gary's stunning office space overlooking Saint Stephen's Green in the heart of Dublin...

In this week's MSDN Flash Ireland editorial, I reflected on Steve Ballmer's visit to Dublin and looked toward our next focus: the November launch events. I've been eagerly awaiting the official photos from the SteveB visit. Here are a few half-decent photos here I took of the various SteveB events...

I'm down to Waterford tonight to talk about SQL Server 2005 at the local INDA usergroup . If you're down in the southeast, come on out and I look forward to seeing you at Dooley's Hotel. Just a bit of personal interest to round out my blog for today. Gamasutra (a site devoted to the art and science...

The internet is abuzz with news from the early proceedings here at the PDC in Los Angeles. Keep up with all the announcements at the MSDN PDC site . I posted my first set of PDC photos up at my MSN Space . Most of the shots are from the 2 keynotes. I thought it may be nice for some of you to put faces...

I've been distracted from my attempts to finish my wrap-up to last week's TechEd Europe, and in the interim, Marcus has been very eloquent , and Clare called out my favourite moment from the latter half of the week: Senior VP and CTO David Vaskevitch , in his keynote, observing that we tend to overestimate...

I’m an avid photographer, but you wouldn’t know it from my photographic record of late. Part of my excuse for the recent drought (apart from boring excuses like starting a new job) is being spoiled last summer in Canada with borrowing my Dad’s Nikon D70 , a digital SLR that takes my own trusty but aging...