Microsoft Technology Center - New York

D&D on Microsoft Surface …

2009-11-02T14:28:00Z

SurfaceScapes is a proof-of-concept platform being developed by students at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) for playing tabletop role-playing games. Heir prototype was developed around playing D&D. Watch the video and notice how well tuned the user experience is to the tabletop format and to the gameplay. Players can use the elements of the physical game they love while leveraging technology to change the more labor intensive aspects (like creating the environments using...(read more)

TechNet: 77 Windows 7 Tips

2009-10-12T14:01:44Z

On TechNet, Keith Ward has posted 77 Windows 7 Tips . A few cool ones that are new to me: Shift to and from Explorer and CommandPrompt . The classic Windows power toy Open Command Prompt Here is now an integral part of Windows 7 Explorer. Hold down the shift key then right-click a folder to add this option to the property menu. While you're in a command prompt, if you want to open an Explorer window with the focus of the window on the current directory, enter start. RoboCopyCopyCopy . The always-useful...(read more)

Web Application Toolkits Available

2009-09-25T19:39:52Z

Seven Web Application Toolkits are available for download at the MSDN Code Gallery . These toolkits are aim to provide web developers with resources (such as project templates, controls, code samples, and documentation) in a consistent packaged format that can be consumed and put to use in a very short time so that they can evaluate the technology and determine if it's the right solution for their problem. An introduction to the toolkits is available on Channel 9 , and the kits are available for...(read more)

Slides from Jason Beres Silverlight talk

2009-09-21T17:16:00Z

Jason Beres has posted his slides from a talk he gave at the NY MYC: http://blogs.infragistics.com/blogs/jason_beres/archive/2009/09/16/silverlight-slides-and-code.aspx...(read more)

Thrive Community offers new Technical Skills as Well as Career Skills

2009-09-16T16:49:37Z

Microsoft's new Thrive Community offers a place to learn new skills, look for new job opportunities, and connect with your peers. The web development track of the site has comprehensive list of resources in some of the newest and hottest Microsoft technologies. The Community area has a selected set of blogs, podcasts, and a user group finder. The Job finder uses SimplyHired to find available positions in your area. "Introducing Thrive for Developers - We've heard from lots of developers that times...(read more)

ASP.Net MVC Firestarter Event in NYC Oct. 3, 2009

2009-09-16T16:38:49Z

From the site : In March 2009, Microsoft added a new option for developing web applications on the .NET platform: the ASP.NET MVC Framework 1.0. You've probably heard quite a bit of buzz in the Microsoft web development community about it. But perhaps you haven't had a chance to take a deeper look at it yet. Then we have an event for you! We will be hosting a full-day ASP.NET MVC Firestarter event live from New York and online to take you from 0-300 level in a day. At the ASP.NET MVC Firestarter,...(read more)

MSR Doloto download available

2009-09-16T16:29:25Z

Doloto is a Microsoft Research project that has the goal of making Web 2.0 apps faster. "The goal of the project is to make Web 2.0 applications run faster," Livshits says. "This is a whole new area, as far as software development and how to optimize these applications. The reason why people move to the Web 2.0 model of development is because code is running on the user's machine, which means responsiveness is increased. You don't have to go to the server every time you need something done. But as...(read more)

Interesting Posts at InfoQ

2009-09-11T17:24:55Z

A few interesting posts caught my attention at InfoQ today: .NETZ – Compression and Packing for .NET Libraries " From the beginning, the .NET runtime had a decent packaging system based on a collection of assemblies. While far better than loose script files or collections of class files, it is not as convenient as statically linked executables or executable JARs. Vasian Cepa's .NETZ gives developers the ability to compress .NET assemblies and pack them into a single executable file… " Enterprise...(read more)

ReadWriteWeb: Microsoft Launches Tools For Teachers

2009-09-04T17:15:27Z

The article talks about the Math Worksheet Generator that's built on top of Microsoft's Math Engine. This tool help teachers devise new match problems for their students: " Microsoft's Education Labs launched a new project this afternoon and it's better on trees and the environment. The group just announced a new Math Worksheet Generator where teachers can generate math problems and email them in paperless Word format to their students. In addition to Math Worksheet Generator, the group also announced...(read more)

MSResearch: WorldWide Telescope’s New Frontier

2009-09-04T17:06:39Z

News about the latest WW Telescope release : "Examine astronomical data in unprecedented detail. Take a Web tour of the universe. Explore the heavens in 3-D. WorldWide Telescope keeps expanding its horizons. On Aug. 17, the External Research division of Microsoft Research made public Aphelion, the latest release of WorldWide Telescope, the widely acclaimed, Windows-based application, launched in May 2008, that enables users to use their computers as a virtual telescope, gathering imagery from the...(read more)

VentureBeat: Speech, touchscreen — been there, done that. What’s the user interface of tomorrow?

2009-09-04T17:02:25Z

Interesting article by Microsoft Research's Mary Czerwinski on the new ways that we might interface with computers in the future: Muscle Interfaces, Tongue-based interaction, Bionic Contact Lenses, etc. " The idea is that by freeing people from keyboard-based interaction, we won't just make it easier to work with computers, but we'll enable brand new experiences that aren't possible today… " " The bionic contact lens project allows contact lenses to continuously perform blood tests on an individual...(read more)

NYT: A Hired Gun for Microsoft, in Pursuit of Google

2009-09-01T17:40:39Z

A very interesting article at the New York Times by Miguel Helft about Qi Lu , the President of Microsoft's Online Services Division [ Wikipedia ]: "Qi Lu knows as well as anyone just how difficult it is to take on Google. For nearly a decade, Mr. Lu played a leading role in building Yahoo's Internet search and advertising technologies. The effort was so important that Yahoo backed it with billions of dollars …" " … Mr. Lu said he was not underestimating the challenge. But over time, he said, Microsoft...(read more)

Customer Development Methodology

2009-08-31T06:50:00Z

Nigel Eccles, co-founder and CEO of Hubdub Ltd, guest blogs about the 'Customer Development Methodology' developed by Steve Blank, and outlined in his book ' The Four Steps to the Epiphany' at TechCrunch - Europe. Nigel discusses how he applied this to two recent start-up projects. TechCrunch - Europe: The long lost formula for start-up success. No, really...(read more)

NYT: Scents and the City

2009-08-31T06:46:00Z

If you'll be visiting the New York MTC, or New York City in the not too distant future you might find this olfactory guide to the city either useful or entertaining: NYT: Scents and the City :-)...(read more)

Recent SharePoint News - August 31, 2009

2009-08-31T06:42:00Z

· Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog: SharePoint 2010 Partner Training for SharePoint 2007 Partners! “ SharePoint 2007 Partners: You’ve heard the buzz about SharePoint 2010 and seen the sneak peeks. Now learn how you can get ready to start building with and deploying SharePoint 2010! SharePoint 2010 Ignite is a 5 day instructor-led training program for SharePoint 2007 partner developers and implementers coming soon to a city or virtually to a PC near you! … Want to know more about Ignite and explore...(read more)