items tagged with Microsoft

Microsoft, HP and Best Buy are fighting back against those ubiquitous Apple ads. Check out this new commercial which started airing last night. Apparently, Lauren doesn't want to pay the Apple tax for her next 17-inch laptop...

Neon lights. Lady Gaga. No Doubt. To my right, electric drums, bass, guitar; musical instruments from Rockband 3 send notes to my ear while I nervously stare at five (obviously experienced) dancers on a small stage to my left. They’re playing a Kinect game developed by Harmonix called Dance Central.

TechZulu chief Efren Toscano looks at me and says I’m next. No. HELL no.

Yes. After seeing the guy on the stage in front of me play the same game, botching up beats but still having a good time,  I yield.

The MTV and Harmonix rep on stage gives me a quick run through the tutorial, guiding me through my first Kinect game. Hold my right arm straight out to my side. Move it up or down to select a menu item. Swipe to finalize my decision. I select a song: No Doubt’s “Hella Good.”

Before I give my impression, let me say that I have been a big skeptic of the Kinect. First, the name. I liked Natal (at least when I thought it was prounced na-tal, not nay-tul). Second, looking back at the console peripherals like the Power Glove of the Eye Toy, add-ons always seemed like unnecessary gimmicks. A “cool-but-so-what” feeling.

Then, I played Dance Central. The game wasn’t perfect, but it gave me hope for the technology. It was slightly delayed in tracking my movements, barely noticeable. This would not be the case with other Kinect games, which I will discuss in a later post, but at the time I was very impressed. The motion control system, with its touted 14 points of tracking, did follow my every move. After a few minutes of playing Dance Central, my heart raced. It was a good workout. Endorphines flowed and I was psyched for the Kinect. If there is any application for this peripheral it’s to get my sedate rear moving.

My final verdict on the Kinect? Do I love it? Hate it? A little of both. Look for my next post where I give you a rundown on the competitive fun (or not) of Joyride and Kinect Adventures.

Checkout some of my Dance Central moves in action:

Here is my video reaction about the Kinect after playing Dance Central :

While at the PDC Underground TechZulu’s Geoffrey Emery got a chance to talk with Scott Hanselman about what it takes to grow and maintain a large audience. Scott’s blog is currently generating around 35,000 feed subscribers and he has a diverse amount of content including podcasts, tutorials, multi subject blog posts. One of my favorite parts of this interview is when Scott brings up the point about not posting bile. I really like this statement and the keeping the web positive not that this means that you need to not be critical but there is definitely ways you can state things that allow you stay positive and relevant. Scott continues to lay down some great knowledge by bringing up the point of saving key strokes. If you think that the email would serve to help more then just the person then make it a blog post. I couldn’t agree this statement more. Get the information out there and let the search engines index it that way when someone needs it today or two years from now it will be there. All this and more in a great interview.

Scotts Blog - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/

AT&T chooses Microsoft PlayReady content access and protection technology to enable next-generation entertainment services across its mobile and in-home offerings.

As part of this collaboration, Microsoft intends to add support for PlayReady into its Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV software platform, enabling access to PlayReady-based content through AT&T U-verse TV set-top boxes.

“We’re committed to offering compelling entertainment experiences across a wide variety of platforms and devices,” said Brian Shay, senior vice president of Converged Services, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “PlayReady will help us give customers broader access to compelling content.”

“AT&T’s vision of converged entertainment services is something we share, and our collaboration on the use of PlayReady technology for content access and protection represents a significant milestone toward the future of integrated entertainment across multiple screens,” said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the TV, Video and Music Business Group at Microsoft. “Through the power of software such as PlayReady and Mediaroom, AT&T will bring its customers an exciting new range of services and content.”

PlayReady is designed to enable digital entertainment services across devices and software applications, with a specific focus on meeting the needs of mobile and network operators, service providers and device manufacturers. PlayReady supports a broad range of business models that can be applied to almost any type of digital content and a wide range of formats. PlayReady also provides features such as service domains and embedded licenses specifically designed to make it easy for consumers to enjoy content on all their registered devices without the need of an active connection.

* AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

There is also some really cool work going on around the iphone and Uverse. Stay Tuned

About Billy
Billy Hollis authored many of the earliest books on .NET, and has been working with WPF and Silverlight for over three years. He is a regular speaker at conferences such as Tech·Ed, PDC, VSLive, and DevConnections, and his two sessions at Tech·Ed 2009 were both rated in the top twenty sessions for the conference overall. He has a consulting practice in Nashville, TN, focusing on healthcare applications, advanced rule-driven architectures, and advanced user interface prototyping and development. He also offers introductory and advanced training classes on WPF and Silverlight. He is the author of a forthcoming book on WPF.

Stuff Billy recommends you check out this summer:

• WPF videos
• Silverlight videos
• LINQ
• Azure
• Jesse Liberty's Silverlight Blog
• Beatrice Costa on Silverlight and WPF
• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
• .NET Rocks TV
• Developers Intro to XAML – Part 1
• Developers Intro to XAML – Part 2
• MSDN Blogs
• Billy's blog: http://www.dotnetmasters.com/