Head over to silverlight.live.com to create yourself a Silverlight Streaming account key and begin uploading your Silverlight applications and media. Silverlight Streaming allows you to upload up to 4GB of media content, with videos of up to ten minutes in length. The storage is "in the cloud" and files are globally cached.

Here's a rough and raw walkthrough of how you can use it:

• Grab yourself the trial edition of Expression Media Encoder;
• Take a video and encode it - make sure you go to the Output tab and choose a player template;
• At the end of the encode process, you should have a directory that contains the media file, some XAML and JavaScript files and any thumbnails that you've specified through the Markers tool-window.
• You'll need to remove any .html, .aspx, .media, .csproj or .config files from the output directory. You won't need these for the Silverlight Streaming service.
• Then you'll want to add a manifest that describes the Silverlight application; for a default player from Expression Media Encoder (I used the Glassy theme), you can use the following manifest:

<SilverlightApp>
   <loadFunction>StartWithParent</loadFunction>
   <jsOrder>
      <js>MicrosoftAjax.js</js>
      <js>PreviewMedia.js</js>
      <js>EmePlayer.js</js>
      <js>player.js</js>
      <js>startPlayer.js</js>
   </jsOrder>
</SilverlightApp>

• Save the manifest as manifest.xml and add it to the directory.
• Now simply zip all the files up (make sure they're in the root of the zip file).
• From silverlight.live.com, go to the Manage Applications tab and upload the application.
• From here, Silverlight Streaming will guide you through the remaining steps, providing you with the JavaScript and HTML code you'll need to add to your page to access the streamed content.

Check out the WPF Momentum video I posted a short while ago to see an example deployed in action.

Download a free trial version here...

For the last few months, I've been featuring a portfolio of great WPF applications that have shipped since we launched WPF.

We turned some of those, plus a bunch of new ones, into a keynote "anthem" video that Ray Ozzie just showed. I thought I'd upload it to the Silverlight Streaming service for ease of distribution and so that you see all those cool WPF applications one more time.

Check it out here...

To coincide with the launch of the Silverlight 1.0 Beta, my team has been working hard on a great series of intermediate-level screencasts on Silverlight that are just hitting the wires now. Each video is about five minutes in length, and covers a "how to" topic. 

• Using Silverlight Brushes for Color, Gradient and Video
• Using the Silverlight Downloader Object
• Basic Keyboard Input with Silverlight
• Adding Ink Support to a Silverlight-based Application
• 2D Geometries in Silverlight
• Building Video Overlays with Silverlight
• Creating a Video Scrubbing Control with Silverlight
• Using Silverlight for Full Screen Experiences
• Silverlight Event Handling with JavaScript
• Animating and Clipping Video with Silverlight
• Creating Vector Art for Silverlight with Expression Blend
• Animating Vector Art for Silverlight with Expression Blend Part I
• Animating Vector Art for Silverlight with Expression Blend Part II
• Animating Raster Art for Silverlight with Expression Blend
• Using Expression Blend to Control Silverlight Media Playback
• Delivering Parameterized Silverlight Content with ASP.NET
• Delivering Parameterized Silverlight Content with PHP
• Delivering Parameterized Silverlight Content with Java
• Using AJAX to Dynamically Update Silverlight Content
• Creating a Video Playlist with Silverlight and ASP.NET
• Overlaying HTML and Silverlight Content
• Real-Time Data Update with Silverlight and Web Services

There's a couple more that I'll add when the embargo lifts on their respective topics; but check these out!

Our flagship conference for web designers and developers, MIX, starts today in Las Vegas. This event is unlike any other Microsoft conference, with a fascinating mix of internal and external speakers even including a few that are openly hostile towards Microsoft! I know not everyone gets as frothed up about events like this as the blogosphere would have you believe. Neverthelesss, we're using this conference to make a number of major announcements: starting in less than ninety minutes...

If you're attending, welcome: hope to catch up with many of you in the corridors and lounges at the venue. If you're not attending, the visitmix.com site will put you in the front seat with on-site video blogging, live keynote streaming and other sessions posted throughout the conference.

What I really want to highlight, however, is three beautiful mash-up applications, written on the WPF platform, that demonstrate all the attributes for which we hope this conference will be known: great design, social networking and advanced technology.

• First off is mixMe from Thirteen23. This application is so well designed that it approaches a work of art, and if it doesn't put Thirteen23 firmly on the map as one of the most advanced practitioners of WPF, I don't know what will. From the dramatic opening transition to the 3D Flickr carousel to the most usable agenda builder I've ever seen, this application is a fantastic example of what WPF is capable of. Check this out regardless of whether you're attending the conference or not - you'll love it!
• Secondly, the Vertigo guys (from Friday's Family.Show fame) have put together a great little Twitter viewer - you can use this to sign up for the MIX07 feed if you really want to hear the low-level whisperings and chatter around the conference (mostly revolving around who is going to the restroom when and who is hanging around waiting where). They've got some other amazing little sample applications on their labs page - check them out.
• Lastly, our very own Karsten Januszewski has built the ultimate mash-up application that brings Flickr, Twitter and Facebook together into a single visualization. This will be doing the rounds at the event - it's loaded as a screensaver on most of the machines around the venue, and he'll be putting it up for public download at some point.

Make sure you check these applications out - and stay tuned to this blog - I'll be posting news and information as fast as I can type!