November 2006 - Posts

Zune info
I don't have a Zune (like Terry does ), but here are some links about it that I'm following: how to subscribe to Podcasts with Zune detailed review from ExtremeTech by somebody who really took the time to understand it. One intriguing part that you don't Read More...
Posted 30 November 06 01:25 by sprague | 1 Comments   
No school today
The early winter ice and snow in the Seattle area has closed the schools. Then Microsoft sent this message to employees: The MICROSOFT Facilities in Puget Sound, including satellite areas (SAMM, Millennium, etc.) will have LIMITED SERVICES due to Snow/Ice Read More...
Posted 28 November 06 09:43 by sprague | 3 Comments   
Great Wall Video
By the way, here's a 6-min video of me, my boss Fil Alleva, and Jon Hamaker (developer lead) climbing around the Great Wall of China, at Mutianyu. The last segment of the video shows how we got down, via a toboggan slide. Video: Great Wall of China Read More...
Posted 19 November 06 04:33 by sprague | 0 Comments   
Great Wall of China
At the end of our busy week, we stopped at the Great Wall for a bit of sightseeing. Lots more happened in China this week, so remind me to write about it when I'm back. Right now I'm headed to the airport. Read More...
Posted 17 November 06 01:33 by sprague | 0 Comments   
Why I won't starve while in China
This big sign is attached to a store right across the street from the Microsoft offices in Beijing: Jon and I want to try going inside sometime before we leave. People say it's not much different from the ones you see all over the U.S. Wal-mart has over Read More...
Posted 14 November 06 03:43 by sprague | 0 Comments   
Inflight crash
I'm safely in Beijing now but what a close call. We had a crash on board. Of the inflight entertainment system, that is. I was in the middle of watching a movie when the system bluescreened! Northwest airlines has these new on-demand video systems built Read More...
Posted 12 November 06 04:45 by sprague | 15 Comments   
Mindcamp Seattle
Argh...Too bad I'm in China this week. I would have loved to attend Seattle Mind camp . Ever since my friend Bill Katz told me about Stanford Bar Camp , I've wanted to go to one of these. Read More...
Posted 12 November 06 04:40 by sprague | 0 Comments   
Innovation Day in Brussels
Microsoft is showing off a bunch of new technologies at Innovation Day this week in Europe. Bill Gates kicked the whole thing off, but our own Miguel Dias is there too, talking about our Language Development Centre in Portugal. We just received a €178,000 Read More...
Posted 10 November 06 03:07 by sprague | 0 Comments   
BMW test drive
I've been on a couple of test drives, so I'm slowly narrowing down my decision on which car to buy. Rob Chambers says I should look at the BMW X5, because it's absolutely loaded with gadgets. But the X5 is an SUV, which is just too big and bulky for what Read More...
Posted 08 November 06 09:07 by sprague | 3 Comments   
Hotel in China
Oh, I forgot to mention. I'm staying at this hotel while in Beijing: http://www.tianhongplaza.com/en/1_introduction.htm It's located not far from the Microsoft offices here: http://research.microsoft.com/asia/aboutus/map/images/map-new.jpg Let me know Read More...
Posted 07 November 06 04:46 by sprague | 0 Comments   
Visiting China
We have so much going on in Beijing that I really need to get out there more often than I do. So I'm going there next week, with Fil and Jon. We want to meet with the TTS team and others who are doing work with us. I'm hoping to see the people from Chinasoft Read More...
Posted 06 November 06 10:03 by sprague | 1 Comments   
New car shopping
I'm not at all a "car guy" -- I just like something that gets me from Point A to Point B with as little hassle as possible. "Point A" is my home, on Mercer Island, and "Point B" is my office, 13 miles away in Redmond. I rarely drive on weekends, because Read More...
Posted 05 November 06 09:00 by sprague | 6 Comments   
We signed off on Vista
The speech team finally signed off on Vista, which means after exhaustive testing we don't know of any issues that stand in the way of our users productively using speech. Of course, we're one of many teams, so this doesn't mean Vista is ready to ship Read More...
Posted 04 November 06 08:56 by sprague | 12 Comments   
IPTV in Switzerland
The whole world is going IP and before long it's going to be everywhere. One of the most important areas is TV: future TV sets will come with an RJ-11 port (Ethernet) instead of the RF/AV ports they have today. One place this is starting is at Swisscom Read More...
Posted 02 November 06 05:46 by sprague | 0 Comments   
New era for Windows CE
The Windows CE team rolled out their CE 6.0 release yesterday, and the big news is that it's now available through a "shared source" program that essentially lets developers. Wow. Several of my friends, including ex-Microsoft ones, have started companies Read More...
Posted 02 November 06 04:02 by sprague | 0 Comments   
more Podcasting ideas
The Wall Street Journal mentions how public radio stations are using podcasts to increase their audiences. I've been a believer for a long time . But this technology is still very young and there's much more to do. Here are some things I want in a podcast Read More...
Posted 01 November 06 04:01 by sprague | 4 Comments   

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