The Web and Microsoft : silverlight

So I have to be honest...

klevereblog — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:43:00 GMT

I have been a huge fan of watching the Summer Olympics on nbcolympics.com. Today, however, I found my first frustration with the site. My friend and Georgia Tech classmate Angelo Taylor was running in the Final of the Men's 400 Meter Hurdle so last night I set up a phone alert to remind me of the event. The alert was received on my mobile phone 30 minutes prior to the event as promised. I also assumed that this meant that I would be able to watch the event live online. Too my chagrin I found that I could only view the live results, which in itself is an oxymoron. All is well though as Angelo brought home the gold medal once again (he was also the 2000 Olympic Champion)

Technorati Tags: olympics,angelo taylor,silverlight,microsoft,nbc

del.icio.us Tags: olympics,angelo taylor,silverlight,microsoft,nbc

A different kind of Microsoft

klevereblog — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:38:49 GMT

I came across a New York Times article from February that talks about mashups and Microsoft's Popfly. It talks about John Montgomery and his team that develops Popfly and how they somewhat break the Microsoft Mold. It refers to Microsoft as a company known for building Shrink Wrap products that require large development teams. The article goes so far to say that the Popfly team would be more suited for Silicon Valley. Popfly appears to be a product of a more traditionally web-centric company.

If you have never tried Popfly you should check it out. It allows you to create you Web mashups using Web based services, as the article puts it, like Lego blocks. Here's a quick example below. Sort of a variation on the Mole Game. This one I did for fun pulls photos from Flickr and then integrates them into the game. Remember this was just for fun.

If it is not showing on the page you can access it here: My Mash-up

Cool Site: Addictive Little Silverlight Game

klevereblog — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:03:00 GMT

This is one of those games that you start playing and just can't stop.

http://www.miniclip.com/games/zombomatic/en/

Microsoft agrees to License Flash for Windows Mobile

klevereblog — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:46:00 GMT

Very interesting that we just made this announcement but we just announced licensing of Flash Lite for Windows Mobile. I'm not sure how this will affect Silvelight Mobile but it does show that we are responded to what the consumer wants by adding Flash.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080317/microsoft_adobe.html?.v=3

What are you thoughts? Will Flash on Windows Mobile give more credence to other plug-ins such as Silverlight Mobile?

Silverlight Mac

klevereblog — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:14:00 GMT

I was captured during the SXSW Interactive Festival with my Macbook. Notice the Silverlight sticker.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiveinchpixie/2318188646/

More from SXSW: My Hotel is Haunted

klevereblog — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:44:00 GMT

While at South By Southwest I found out that the hotel I was staying in was apparently haunted. I typically don't believe in this type of stuff but I definately had a few strange experiences even before I heard the ghost stories.

I'd been traveling all day and was pretty hungry. I checked into the hotel at around 7 pm it was cold in Austin (mid 30's) so when I walked into my room I turned off the ceiling fan and the A/C which were both blaring. I grabbed a bag of chips from the mini bar to hold me over until dinner. I'd eaten about half of them and placed the bag on the bed while I unpacked, when suddenly I heard this shreeking noise. I first thought this was on TV but then ruled that out. I turned and looked at the bed and the bag of chips were moving. Ghost? I don't know.

The next night I'd turned off the ceiling fan and about 30 minutes or so later it was spinning again. Apparently my Hotel The Driskill is one of the most haunted hotels in American.

http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=23097

My Blog Re-Branded

klevereblog — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:44:00 GMT

I'm rebranded my blog to reflect my interest in the Web and its underlying technologies. I still spend a lot of time speaking to hosters but my interest spend across a wide range of technologies and industries. I have a new found love for online media and streaming. This week I'm at South by Southwest speaking to developers, designers, film makers and even some musicians about Silverlight. It's really exciting to have conversations with people as passionate about the potential of the Web as I am.

Catch me speaking in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday

klevereblog — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:02:00 GMT

I will be in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday presenting to hosters. I will be presenting IIS 7 as well as on Silverlight and some of the new streaming media options in IIS. If you don't think that Bit Rate Throttling and Playlist can be exciting think again.

Even Ice Cube Thinks Silverlight is Cool

klevereblog — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:41:00 GMT

Michael Scherotter a developer evangelists on my team recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Ice Cube and his team on a new venture known as UVNTV an online source for Hip Hop related content. Actually a really cool site check it out here http://uvntv.com/. You'll also see long time Ice Cube friend and business partner DJ Pooh (You might remember him from the Friday Films).

One of my favorite games growing up...And in Silverlight too!!!

klevereblog — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:19:00 GMT

When I was young I loved playing Simon. I think it contibuted to me becoming musically inclined (i've played drums and percussion sense I was 11. Check out this Silverlight sample. You can play Simon if you're ever bored.

http://www.vertigo.com/downloads/Simon/

Silverlight is launched, Is a web-based Windows client closer than we think???

klevereblog — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:59:00 GMT

So we finally released Silverlight 1.0 and I have to say I am really starting to get excited about its potential. We have several partners on board that are doing some cool things with Silverlight. Many of them are media companies who are doing online video content. We have also partnered with Home Shop Network to deliver HSN TV online. By far the coolest thing that I have seen at www.silverlight.net howeve might be a virtual Windows Vista Demo done completely in Silverlight. Check it out here http://www.windowsvista.si/main.htm . It sort of begs the question how far awa could a web based windows client be. Keep in mind the above demo is only a simulation but the potential is there an its sort of exciting just to think about.

Mashups and More Mashups

klevereblog — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:13:00 GMT

There's a guy on my team who always talks about mashups in most cases describing scenario where software + services combine to create something really cool. One really cool example of this is the new interactive maps on Weather.com. Weather.com has combined there weather service with Microsoft Virtual Earth. It essentially takes a traditional weather map and uses Virtual Earth to allow users to drill down and move around. The weather systems are super imposed over the map and include cloud cover and radar. A perfect example how an existing service like Virtual Earth "mashed" with something else in order to create something much better. Check it out here.

http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interactive/?from=wxcenter_maps

Speaking of mashups check out www.popfly.ms. It is an online toolkit for creating your own mashups. Want to track your friends locations on a map using pictures from flickr. How about taking pictures from the flickr service and them super imposing them over a cold interactive photosphere. Popfly is really easy to use, you should really check it out.