The Platform and the Hardman : Fun

Nissan unveils 370Z in 'Need for Speed Undercover' - USATODAY.com

Matthew Hardman — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:45:23 GMT

I am excited about this one, being an avid owner of a Nissan 350Z Fairlady Roadster, its exciting to see that the next Nissan Z is having its coming out, in a video game of all places. Ever since I heard about the 370Z I have wanted one, at least this way my wife wont be too upset if I fork out the price of an XBOX360 game to get one... albeit virtually!

The 370Z in Need for Speed Undercover

The 370Z in real life

Nissan unveils 370Z in 'Need for Speed Undercover' - USATODAY.com

I’d be lying if I wasn’t excited about this! Gears of War 2 Launch Trailer

Matthew Hardman — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:12:46 GMT

Cant wait to get this home and on the XBOX360, I need a thrilling game after finishing the awesome DeadSpace! If you are in to horror action games that have you on the edge of your seat, forget the rest, get yourself Deadspace, I have never had so much fun being scared out of my wits.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/deadspace/

Live Mesh Advertising Campaign

Matthew Hardman — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:37:13 GMT

Just came across this cool promo clip for Live Mesh, which really hits an emotional edge, sharing memories anywhere and on anything.

Some of the things I thought were cool:

* Photos being synchronized with the digital photo frame

* Sync being used in the car

* XBOX Sync

Pretty cool in a connected world!

I love Windows Live Photo Gallery

Matthew Hardman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:42:48 GMT

Just got back from my honeymoon and stitched this view together, its from the top of the Acropolis in Athens over looking the city. Windows Live Photo Gallery helped me to stitch it together.

Obviously my exposure needs a little work, but the technology to make this happen is amazing!

Windows Media Center Sandbox - Screencast: Creating A Simple Media Center Application

Matthew Hardman — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:58:54 GMT

Just wanted to point you all to two great screencasts on how you can develop applications on Windows Media Center. Personally I love Windows Media Center, it is the center of my entire home entertainment experience, it is networked and streamed all around my house. My wife at first was not interested, but now she cant live without it.

I think this is a great platform for consumer focused applications, and would love to see what the general public can come up with on this platform. Check it out at the following link.

Windows Media Center Sandbox - Screencast: Creating A Simple Media Center Application

Want to go to Macau on Microsoft's expense?

Matthew Hardman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:00:10 GMT

A colleague made me aware of this competition that they have launched around "Software + Services". All you need to do is to record yourself and friends delivering the "Software + Services" story based on the article located here as a guide. An explanation about the competition about the author himself...

If your video is chosen then you and a friend can find themselves jetting off to Macau to stay at the recently opened Venetian Resort.

The resort is pretty sweet, I went to visit it myself when I took the family over for a vacation, very classy...

Jump on over to the site http://www.bringitalltogether.asia/ now to enter!!

SearchMe Visual Search

Matthew Hardman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:44:38 GMT

http://beta.searchme.com

Here is a nice spin on Search Engine technology, focusing on the representing the results rendered in a scrolling representation rather than just a textual summary.

Tried searching on one of my favourite anime series DragonBall Z, and got some great results from the query.

Yes I am a grown man that still watches cartoons, hey young at heart!! I cant wait for DragonBallZ Burst Limit to come out for the Xbox360, trailer below, its in Japanese, but I love it, been playing the demo all evening.

Popfly Game Creator

Matthew Hardman — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:19:57 GMT

Ok, so I admit it, I can play games, but am pretty lame at creating them...

Here is my first attempt ever!

This is built using Popfly Game Creator, its not new news by any means, but if you have not seen this then check it out, its very cool for anyone who wants to try their hand at games development for the very first time.

This took me about 20 mins to get up and running... fun fun fun!!

Singapore Community Launch 2008

Matthew Hardman — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:43:16 GMT

Home - Community Launch 2008

On the 17th of May, the Singapore Professional's .NET user group, the Singapore Windows User Group and Singapore SQL Server user group are coming together to have their own community launch of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

I love these launches because you get the opportunity to chat to people who are really passionate about these products and how they are using it in so many innovative ways. This year the agenda is getting better and bigger,

Agenda

Time	Details			Location
8.30am - 9.00am	Registration and Door Gifts Handouts			Auditorium
9.00am - 9.30am	Opening Gambit and Heroes Highlights (5 mins) Opening Keynotes (20Mins) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 UGs represented - Current Scorecard and Future plans (Windows, SGDotNet, SQL) By Pom, Dennis & Alvin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Community Heroes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Community Members with Perfect Score for "You Certify, We Pay" program - Receive their prizes from MSL			Auditorium
9.45am - 10.45am	IT Pro Track 1 (WIN+SQL) Pom - Show casing SQL 2008 on Windows 2008 Clustering Code: IT1-1	Dev Track 1 (VS) Hammad - Programming WCF Code: DEV2-1	Special Track 1 (24 pax) Edwin - Linq to SQL Code: ST3-1	Auditorium 22CF12 22CF15
10.45am - 11.00am	Coffee Break 1			Respective Level
11.00am - 12.00pm	IT Pro Track 2 (WIN) Sarbjit Singh Gill (Pending Topic) Code: IT1-2	Dev Track 2 (VS) Andre John - Silverlight and Unit Testing Code: DEV2-2	Special Track 2 (24 pax) David - Using Spatial Data Types in SQL 2008 Code: ST3-2	Auditorium 22CF12 22CF15
12.00pm - 1.00pm	Lunch Break (Lunch is provided)			Respective Level
1.00pm - 2.00pm	IT Pro Track 3 (WIN) Code: IT1-3	Dev Track 3 (VS) Wee Hyong - A developer's Guide on using data mining DEV-2-3	Special Track 3 (24pax) Eugene - Windows Essentials Server Solutions Code: ST3-3	Auditorium 22CF12 22CF15
2.10pm - 2.40pm	MS Press: The Next Generation Certifications by: Yugesh / Sukhdev (MSL)			Auditorium
2.40pm - 3.40pm	DEV & IT Pro Combine Database Security & Compliance			Auditorium
3.40pm - 3.50pm	Coffee Break 2			Level 21
3.50pm - 4.30pm	Closing and Coffee Break Closing Speaker: Matthew Hardman Provide a view at security and looking forward			Auditorium

This year with tracks focusing on both development and IT professionals there is plenty of content for everyone, so get in fast and get in early.

Once again I have the honour of delivering the closing session and handing out prizes, this is always a lot of fun, as nearly everyone walks away with a prize.

So register now at Home - Community Launch 2008 , the leads have done an amazing amount of work to get this happening and I congratulate them on their efforts and passion.

Winplay - Winplay - Guitar Hero 3 Mobile (One-time Purchase)

Matthew Hardman — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:01:07 GMT

Totally non-work related, although it does involve Windows Mobile... Guitar Hero III for Windows Mobile. THIS IS AWESOME!!! I love the Guitar Hero series and am constantly playing it at home, my wife is also a big fan and is one of the only games she will consistently play, well that and Puzzle Fighter, apparently Halo 3 doesn't excite her... don't know what's wrong with her!!!

Anyway, this is going to be an awesome way to spend the bus ride home!!!

Winplay - Winplay - Guitar Hero 3 Mobile (One-time Purchase)