Darren Straight's Blog

For those of you who have been reading my Blog for a while now you might remember that back in November 2005 I blogged about how us Managed Beta testers of Windows Live Mail would be getting some cool Windows Live Mail Frisbees for helping out in the Managed Windows Live Mail Beta.

Well some of us Managed Beta Testers including me never got our Frisbees, and it wasn’t until recently that the Windows Live Mail Team found this out after I spoke to a Windows Live Mail Team Member about not receiving them, seems the Windows Live Mail Team had thought this problem of people not receiving them was sorted ages ago.

It didn’t take long after that to find out that others had not received theirs yet either.

But hey I just received mine today, and I’m not complaining about the wait after all it’s a great Windows Live Mail Frisbee and after all I don’t Beta Test for gifts but instead because I enjoy Beta Testing for Microsoft and making new friends in the Newsgroups.

That doesn’t mean I won’t say thank you for the gift though, so a big thank you goes to the whole of the Windows Live Mail Team for the gift and for making this Beta very enjoyable so far, it will be sad when this beta ends yet it will be a great accomplishment for Microsoft when Windows Live Mail goes Live, plus what’s great is I’ll know I helped launch it!

Photosynth is an amazing new technology from Microsoft Live Labs that will change the way you think about digital photos forever.

Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space.

With Photosynth you can:

• walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle;
• seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph even if it’s gigapixels in size;
• see where pictures were taken in relation to one another;
• find similar photos to the one you’re currently viewing;
• explore a custom tour or see where you’ve been; or
• send a collection to a friend.

For futher information and to view a demonstration video visit the Photosynth web site.

According to the BBC, The large James Bond stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire used for the filming of Casino Royale has been destroyed by a blazing fire, at least eight fire engines tackled the blaze at the set, but none of it is thought to be salvageable.

Read more about this on BBC News Website.

You’ll be happy to know that I’ve just Upgraded this blog from WordPress 2.0.3 to WordPress 2.0.4, which should hopefuly fix over 50 bugs that apparently laid in wordpress:

WordPress 2.0.4, the latest stable release in our Duke series, is available for immediate download. This release contains several important security fixes, so it’s highly recommended for all users. We’ve also rolled in a number of bug fixes (over 50!), so it’s a pretty solid release across the board.

Upgrading is fairly simple, just overwrite your old files with the latest from the download. If you’d like more thorough instructions, the Codex is always the best spot.

Since this is a security release, if you have any friends with blogs make sure to remind them to upgrade and lend a hand if they’re not too savvy. We’re all in this together.

Via: WordPress

The Windows Live Spaces Team needs a Gadget Evangelist, read below for more information of what it consists of and what you need to do to apply if you think you have the qualities needed:

Are you the kind of person that looks at a website and says “they should add this feature, I could do that”? Well, we may have just the job for you!
 
We are looking for a Gadget Evangelist to help us spin up hundreds of thousands of innovative and cool Gadgets built by enthusiasts and partners that can be used on Windows Live Spaces, Vista, Live.com and other sites. These Gadgets will be accessible by millions of Windows Live Spaces users from Alaska to Antarctica (yes we have a user in Antarctica!) and act as mini applications to enhance Windows Live Spaces. The developers get fame and glory as they see their Gadgets appear on peoples sites. Talk about job satisfaction!
 
So how do you know you’re a fit. Do you blog? Can you use the Gadgets SDK at http://dev.live.com to build Gadgets? Are you creative? If the answer to all of these is yes, you may be the person we are looking for.
 
You will be responsible for building and seeding some high profile Gadgets on Windows Live Spaces, maintaining a dialogue with the developer enthusiast community to help them build and promote Gadgets and working with the marketing teams to promote Gadgets. You would work closely with the rockstar product team and the crazy marketing teams to bring the generation of flexibility to Windows Live Spaces.
 
Think you can do it? Send us a resume, link to your blog and a couple of Gadgets you have created. You can write to wlsjobs@microsoft.com.
 
We are waiting to hear from you!

Via: The Space Craft

Microsoft’s Zune project is now starting to ripple through the rest of the industry. Here’s what RealNetworks Chief Executive Rob Glaser had to say on his company’s quarterly conference call yesterday:

“Apple’s success with the iPod and iTunes has raised a fundamental question: Is this going to be an industry based on proprietary vertical platforms, each from a single company, like the video-game console business, or is the industry going to be based on interoperable platforms that separate hardware and software, like the PC and CD and DVD players?

“This issue got even more focused last week, when Microsoft in effect announced that it’s flipping its strategy, from the latter to the former, i.e. from horizontal to vertical. As one of only three companies in the PC space with end-to-end media distribution technology, we think about this topic quite a lot. Indeed, we’ve been saying for a while that taking Rhapsody music subscription services to the next level requires great end-to-end solutions that enable consumers to enjoy music wherever they want — at home, at work and on the go.

“Having said that, we think this is a case where our technology competitors — in this case, specifically Microsoft — have literally thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Indeed, Microsoft’s decision to join Apple in the vertical camp provides us a great opportunity to partner with a number of other companies who make excellent hardware and who are open to integrating it tightly with our Rhapsody software platform. Later this year, we plan to deliver consumer products and services that prove that a world-class, end-to-end music solution can be delivered without one company doing everything. And we plan to work with our partners to market those services aggressively and creatively to consumers.”

And during Microsoft’s meeting with financial analysts yesterday, Robbie Bach, Entertainment & Devices president, was asked how Zune would affect Microsoft’s existing device partners. Here’s what he said:

“Well, really, our approach, I think, is actually pretty straightforward. PlaysForSure continues as it is today. Windows continues to be a great media platform for people to work on. We’re going to continue to support that. We’re going to encourage people to continue working with PlaysForSure and the interfaces that interact with Media Player and all the technologies that are in the core platform of Windows, which is, in fact, what the Zune team will do as well. They’ll work with those same interfaces and produce their own product.

“So in some ways it’s similar to what we did in the Xbox world. When we came out with Xbox, which was a console, some people said, ‘Well, gosh, that’s going to compete with gaming on Windows.’ In fact, what we did was we continued to work with the Windows gaming environment and worked with Xbox, and over time those two things actually ended up working together to help build a better gaming platform for us overall. So we’re going to keep working with our partners on those fronts and hope that, between what we do on PlaysForSure and what we do with Zune, we can scale the Windows ecosystem to be the leader in that space.”

So that’s what they have to say, but what’s opinion, let me know!

Via: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

In a meeting that will go down in internet history, the United States government last night conceded that it can no longer expect to maintain its position as the ultimate authority over the internet.

Having been the internet’s instigator and, since 1998, its voluntary taskmaster, the US government finally agreed to transition its control over not-for-profit internet overseeing organisation ICANN, making the organisation a more international body.

However, assistant commerce secretary John Kneuer, the US official in charge of such matters, also made clear that the US was still determined to keep control of the net’s root zone file – at least in the medium-term.

Read the full article here.

Microsoft issued yet another Windows heads up on Wednesday in a briefing with PC Magazine. This one is for a suite of Windows Live products slated to be available sometime in August. The suite includes Windows Live Toolbar, which actually became available this week, Windows Live Safety Updates, and Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft’s version of MySpace.

One of the most notable inclussions with this New Windows Live Suite other than Windows Live Spaces will be Windows Live Safety Updates which will include the newly named Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner which was previously named Windows Live Safety Center Beta.

“Our approach is different from the Wild Wild West model that others have followed to this point,” said Moz Hussain, group product manager for Windows Live. “Our social networking will instead be built around your trusted circle of contacts or those contacts of others you trust.”

Hussain and Larry Grothaus, lead product manager for Windows Live, were unable to give PC Magazine a release date for the new applications, but they estimate they will be ready within the next few weeks.

Microsoft is challenging developers worldwide to create conversational robots, or ‘Bots’, for MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. The most original, useful robots collect $40,000 in total prizes.

And now you can win loads more cool prizes when you enter the UK competition that runs alongside the global competition.

Bots are software programs that you can add to MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. If you add a robot to your contact list, it can chat, give you customer service support, perform searches, make suggestions, play games and more. So the Microsoft Developer Technology Team is looking for the best new robot ideas for Messenger.

To help you get the links, resources and news that will help you build world-beating Bots and win big in the international competition, take a look at the UK competition site, www.britbot.co.uk, and find out more about the global competition at www.robotinvaders.com.

Also as an additional incentive, the first 50 Bot designers to sign up at www.britbot.co.uk with a Bot that’s been accepted into the global competition will get a free £20 Firebox.com voucher – to spend on anything they like.

The robots are invading! Play your part in building the invasion force and ensure you’re in line to get your hands on those great prizes.

The Facet Technology Mobile360 Van used for taking photos for Micrsoft’s Street-Side Technology Preview of Windows Live Local Beta has once again been spotted on the road but this time it wasn’t actually spotted in the Street-Site Imagery found at:

http://preview.local.live.com/

But instead by kimopupule a Flickr user who spotted this black (normally white) Windows Live Local Van while driving, he says his first words when seeing it were literally “wtf!?”.

If you or anybody else has seen this or any other Windows Live Local Van’s on the road please let me know where and when you saw it, and if possible please provide a photo, who knows you may just appear in one of the next Windows Live Local Previews!