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New video : Inside Microsoft's house of the future

New video from the BBC with a tour in Microsoft’s house of the future:

Microsoft invited BBC News to take a first look at its revamped Space of the Future at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The facility is used to portray what the firm thinks life might be like five to 10 years in the future

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All Common Craft Videos - Now Unbranded

You’ve probably seen them dozens of times, the Common Craft videos explaining an “IT Solution” or other overly complex thing in a very easy way … I am not sure but I think Common Craft was one of the first in making these type of videos and quite succesfull with it.

Now they have made their video library avialable with all videos unbranded. You can easily find the video your need :

Now more than ever, we see our membership service and video library as a utility, something professionals use to do their jobs more effectively.  And we’re always looking for ways to improve that experience. That’s why, based on member feedback, we’ve made changes to nearly every video in the library.

What Changed?

Common Craft videos are now “unbranded”, meaning that they no longer display Common Craft logos, titles, or the tagline “Explained by Common Craft” in the videos, aside from a small copyright endnote.

Why?

Our videos are used in classrooms, on organization websites and inside companies.  In these situations, the content is what matters - the explanations. By removing the branding, we can provide videos that focus more tightly on the educational content and the needs of our members.

Source: All Common Craft Videos - Now Unbranded

Jane McGonigal: Gaming kan een betere wereld vormen en Gartner Group stelt The Technology Game voor

Een inspirerende TEDtalk van Jane McGonigal, een game designer. Zij stelt dat games zoals World of Warcraft geven de speler de middelen werelden te redden en de drijfveer om de gewoontes van helden te leren. Maar wat als we deze kracht van gamers konden gebruiken om echte problemen op te lossen?

Gartner Group neemt de ideeën van o.a. Jane McGonigal nog een stapje verder en lanceert het idee dat we moeten stoppen met het "IT game" en dat het hoog tijd wordt voor "The Technology game" :

The IT game is a stalemate, time to define a new Technology Game CIOs and IT leaders are masters of the IT game. Executives play the IT game so long as it was the only game in town and it suited their needs. If you want to control IT cost, quality, services, enablement and control, then you are playing an IT game that worked for more than 30 years. But the IT game is not a classic game like Monopoly or Clue. It cannot pass the test of time.

•It is time to change the IT game.

•It is time to define a new game.

•It is time to define a Technology game.

The current IT game is a stalemate characterized by flat budgets, fights over shadow IT, concerns over control all based on a zero sum assumption that business wins require IT to lose. Consider the growth of business-initiated technologies, shadow IT, and consumerization. All represent alternative games to the IT status quo. Right now those activities and actions indicate demand for a new game. So perhaps it is up to the CIO to give them exactly that a new game.This post outlines some thoughts on the shape of the technology game and your comments are welcome and necessary to define the future.

Bron : Gartner.com

TedTalk: Kevin Slavin: How algorithms shape our world

Kevin Slavin argues that we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. In this riveting talk from TEDGlobal, he shows how these complex computer programs determine: espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. And he warns that we are writing code we can't understand, with implications we can't control.

 

Source: TED.com

Microsoft Surface

Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company’s 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface represents a unique vision for the seamless expression of entertainment and creativity. Extensive investment in industrial design and real user experience includes the following highlights:

• Software takes center stage: Surface sports a full-sized USB port and a 16:9 aspect ratio – the industry standard for HD. It has edges angled at 22 degrees, a natural position for the PC at rest or in active use, letting the hardware fade into the background and the software stand out.

• VaporMg: The casing of Surface is created using a unique approach called VaporMg (pronounced Vapor-Mag), a combination of material selection and process to mold metal and deposit particles that creates a finish akin to a luxury watch. Starting with magnesium, parts can be molded as thin as .65 mm, thinner than the typical credit card, to create a product that is thin, light and rigid/strong.

• Integrated Kickstand: The unique VaporMg approach also enables a built-in kickstand that lets you transition Surface from active use to passive consumption – watching a movie or even using the HD front- or rear-facing video cameras. The kickstand is there when needed, and disappears when not in use, with no extra weight or thickness.

• Touch Cover: The 3 mm Touch Cover represents a step forward in human-computer interface. Using a unique pressure-sensitive technology, Touch Cover senses keystrokes as gestures, enabling you to touch type significantly faster than with an on-screen keyboard. It will be available in a selection of vibrant colors. Touch Cover clicks into Surface via a built-in magnetic connector, forming a natural spine like you find on a book, and works as a protective cover. You can also click in a 5 mm-thin Type Cover that adds moving keys for a more traditional typing feel.

MOre info :

- Microsoft Announces Surface: New Family of PCs for Windows

- www.surface.com

Microsoft Future Vision Videos all in 1 list

I use the Microsoft Future Vision videos quite a lot in presentations and over the years Microsoft has produced a number of them. They are always very well received as they paint not only a futuristic, but in many cases also a realistic picture of how we work and play in the future. I can’t wait

A large number of Future Vision (and related) videos are now on Youtube so I put them in a list for you :

A wearable Surface Computer … Wow

TED is a super resource to hear, see and experience the vision of tomorrow.

Check out this TED Talk : Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the "Sixth Sense," game-changing wearable tech

The technology is just commodity stuff and this could be build at the price of a normal smartphone.You can do stuff like simply project a dialpad on your hand and start dialling a phone number .. awesome !

This puts mobile computing in a totally new perspective …

 

History of the Internet

Very cool video about the history of the Internet :

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

G-Speak spatial operating environment

Very cool stuff. Even your breakdancing skills will come in handy …

Oblong Industries is the developer of the g-speak spatial operating environment.

The SOE's combination of gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels brings the first major step in computer interface since 1984; starting today, g-speak will fundamentally change the way people use machines at work, in the living room, in conference rooms, in vehicles. The g-speak platform is a complete application development and execution environment that redresses the dire constriction of human intent imposed by traditional GUIs. Its idiom of spatial immediacy and information responsive to real-world geometry enables a necessary new kind of work: data-intensive, embodied, real-time, predicated on universal human expertise.

Source: http://oblong.com/

Very cool : Sprint: Plug into Now

This is a very cool site, developed by Sprint. It is sort of the ultimate widgets combined providing a realtime view on what’s happening : NOW …

Kudos to Ben ;-)

Twitter cleaning up the mess

As I am very curious, I always look into who’s inviting me at Twitter (“I can’t be this popular ?”)

Today I noticed a status on Twitter I’d not seen before :

Good to see the process has started on Twitter to remove the Spam tweeters …

Shutdown Day – May 3rd

I haven't read anything about this yet. While checking my feeds I saw Steve's post on this.

A whole day without a PC ...  it's a saterday, so that should help ... I do wonder how many people can/do/will ... I'm in ...

The clock is ticking towards Shutdown Day and if I can turn off my computer for a day I’m sure you can :)

Shutdown Day is a Global Internet Experiment whose purpose is to get people to think about how their lives have changed with the increasing use of the home computer, and whether or not any good things are being lost because of this.

The idea of Shutdown Day project is simple - just shutdown your computer for one whole day of the year and involve yourself in some other activities: outdoors, nature, sports, fun stuff with friends and family - whatever, just to remind yourself that there still exists a world outside your monitor screen.

So why not join me, Jeremy, Frank and a few others? Find out more

Shutdown Day – May 3rd

Mission Statements of Tech Companies & Sites

Nice comprehensive overview of mission statements :

Some of the 25 statements listed below are from the official website of the company, while others were found from second hand sources; some are official mission statements, others are parts taken from company overviews or the introduction to a site’s About page, as not all companies or sites define their mission clearly. ...

Check source for details

Source: Mission Statements of Tech Companies & Sites
Philipp Lenssen
Date Published: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:50:41 GMT

Nederlands internetgebruik hoogste van Europa

Van de Nederlanders van vijftien jaar of ouder maakt 83 procent tenminste eens per maand gebruik van internet. Dat is veruit het hoogste percentage in Europa.

Nederlands internetgebruik hoogste van Europa

Tech Support in the Middle Ages

Very funny, especially because it is also in Swedish Norwegian :-)

Ruim vijf miljoen breedbandaansluitingen in Nederland

Wow, bijna 71% van alle huishoudens beschikt over een breedband verbinding ...

Volgens onderzoek van Telecompaper is het aantal breedbandaansluitingen in Nederland inmiddels de 5 miljoen gepasseerd. Waren het er op 31 december 2005 nog 'maar' 4,15 miljoen, precies een jaar later stond de teller op 5,04 miljoen. Dat betekent dat inmiddels 70,8 procent van alle huishoudens in Nederland via breedband internet.

Link to Ruim vijf miljoen breedbandaansluitingen in Nederland

PCM Digitaal : Einde oefening

Ik ben al jaren een grote fan van Zinio, het bedrijf dat een groot aantal (inter)nationale tijdschriften in elektronische vorm aanbiedt ... Niet iedereen is fan blijkbaar .. ik kreeg vanochtend een emailtje van Personal Computer Magazine :

Beste abonnee van PCM Digitaal,

Na twee jaar PCM in digitale vorm aan te bieden, hebben we moeten besluiten hier met ingang van 2007 mee te stoppen. De belangstelling voor een dergelijke uitgave van PCM is te gering om het op deze manier voort te zetten. Het eventueel nog resterende abonnementsgeld zal aan u worden gerestitueerd.

Navigatie-systeem met buddy-lijst

Leuke toepassing. Ik heb al eerder concepten als de "buddy finder" gezien. Een mooie oplossing waarin men GPS / Location Based Services en andere informatie combineert. Het probleem is nog altijd hoe de Location Based Services worden ingevuld ...

Stel: u zit in de auto en wil eigenlijk wel heel graag weten waar uw vrienden zich op dat moment bevinden. Als u een TomTom Go-navigatie heeft, is dat voortaan geen probleem meer.

[Via Computer Idee Nieuws]

This is a Fully-Managed Computer; Believe IT!

I guess Michael starts redecorating his house :-)

This is amazing. A full managed computer in a standard LAN jack. Jack PC is a patented technology offering a fully managed computer neatly integrated into a standard LAN jack. The unique concept of “computer in-the-wall” unfolds important advantages to enterprise IT and network managers.

Look at - Jack PC

[Via Michael's Blog]

Paul Allen Web site takes visitors to early computing

Along with Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen honed his programming skills in the 1960s on Digital Equipment Corp. computers. Monday, Allen launched a Web site devoted to those computers and the pioneers who created them.

The site, www.PDPplanet.com, "fulfills my hope that the achievements of early computer engineers aren't lost to time," Allen said in a statement.

About two years in the making, the site features 16 photos of early DEC computers, chronicles the 17-month restoration to working condition of a disused DECsystem-1090, explains the history of Allen's mainframe and minicomputer collection, and offers links to other groups and sites devoted to early computers. ....

Source : Seattlepi

Intel vernieuwt merk op CES 2006

Intel gaat dinsdag op de CES 2006 een nieuw logo en een nieuwe marketingcampagne lanceren. De campagne benadrukt dat het accent niet meer alleen op computers, maar op het bredere gebied van consumentenelectronica ligt. Een nieuw logo en de nieuwe slogan "Intel. Leap ahead" moeten dit duidelijk maken.

[Via Personal Computer Magazine RSS]

Flatscreens worden aantrekkelijker qua prijs

GrandMasterView is een bedrijfje van ondermeer Adam Curry dat zich bezig houdt met de verkoop van Flatscreens. Het gaat hierbij niet om Plasma - of LCD schermen, maar om een projectie scherm. Je hebt hier dus ook een projector / beamer voor nodig. Dit betekent overigens ook dat je een tuner nodig hebt, bijvoorbeeld een videorecorder of satellietontvanger.

Op de weblog van Adam Curry kwam ik een post tegen waarin hij aankondigd dat ze vanaf morgen (zaterdag 8 mei) met een advertentiecampage gaan beginnen :
"Zaterdag begint onze eerste landelijke reklame campagne voor de GrandMasterView flatscreens. Erg spannend voor ons. We adverteren op radio (veronica natuurlijk!), TV, in Wannahaves en 2 zaterdagen in de telegraaf in 1/1 pagina in de tv-weekeinde bijlage. Hier alvast een sneak peek in pdf. "

De prijzen zijn wel aardig; een bundel (scherm en projector) vanaf zo'n 1395 Euro. Hopelijk dalen de prijzen nog verder de komende tijd.