So what a year, both form a technology perspective and personally. Personally I got to complete my Churchill Fellowship and spend 9 weeks travelling around the world. I got to meet some interesting people and saw some interesting sights and project. I have come back with much in the ways of ideas but still looking for the opportunity to actually apply them.
Currently I am the vice president of the WA Churchill Fellowship Association and this year we ran the National Conference which was great. I got to meet and talk with many other Churchill fellows from around Australia. We got some great ideas and looking to a very active year next year 2013. We are holding a number of events; We have decided to separate the Returning Fellows and the presentation night of the new fellows. A cocktail party and finish the year with a Churchill Birthday Bash. We are hoping to generate interests and value to becoming a member of the association and relevance.
Rotary I have accepted to take on the Presidency of the Rotary Club of Heirisson in 2014/15. But first I serve as President elect for a year 2013/14. We have the Duck Race in March and I have taken on the design and graphics.
Musically Enchant Unlimited was looking to close down but a number of the members spoke to me and asked if I could keep things going. So from February 4th we start and are looking to kick off with 10+ singers. I have started to put a program together just having to come up with a name, one is "Broadway to Hollywood" but that is a work in progress. I look like I will have a great support team and looking forward to a great year.
Still in Cornerstone lodge and many will have a chuckle to themselves when they hear that I will be the Chaplin for the ensuing year. The master of the lodge said he was wanting me to take on the role as he considered it a role where someone would network among the members.
So what about the technology were do I think it will go this year. As I indicated last year this was the year of the tablet and it can only get better. The three contenders with operating systems have now come to what I believe is a level playing field, with Windows 8 which Microsoft is considering changing its name. Windows 8 is a 180 degree change in the way you interact with a computer. It took me a very little amount of time to pick up and I really love it. Finally I have got an operating system that is starting to get to the point of working at the speed I am thinking. Its fast, intuitive and works.
Android and Jellybean is great to. For the Nexus 7 I have it too does what I need and want. Apple still continuing along its track. This year for Apple was just evolutionary and no revolutionary changes. Their life cycle has reduced and I don't think that is good. The price people pay for their technology, especially for Apple I don't think people are too happy buying expensive equipment to have it superseded only 6 months later. I am looking forward to see what Apple does this year but there is no indication of anything new on the horizon only further upgrades to existing products. The mini iPad I believe totally missed the point for its size but maybe it was an introduction in to some of the size issues with iPad's. I suspect that we will see a new iPad that is thinner and has more technology under the hood but not much more than that. It is concerning that Apple has return to selling bits and bytes. Steve Jobs would sell the dream and that is what people brought into it was the dream not the bits and bytes.
Windows 8 has had some resistance but from what I have read to date most reviews have either not even use the operating system or only judged it based on a cursory trial. I use all technology and I buy technology to do a job, if it does not do the job I get something else. Windows 8 is a complete revamp, yes a complete change but something that now is starting to work. After a little time with a tablet I liked it so much I put it on my desktop.
The next piece of technology I am really waiting to get my hands on is a device that has been developed by Leapmotion. This device will make using a computer very interesting especially with the new Windows 8 operating system. I have two on order and keenly wait for it to arrive early Jan/Feb.
The other area that will grow will be the mobile phone cross with 7 inch tablet. the 7 inch tablet I believe will develop in the area of screen resolution and the size of the screen within the 7 inch area. The point of these devices is that they fit in your pocket and are the size of a paperback. That is where the iPad mini just totally missed the point being that much bigger than your pocket means you have to carry it in a bag and if you are going to put it in a bag then why not go the full distance and get an iPad. This will become more relevant with the next iPads. I believe that the next iPads will become smaller in thickness, more powerful and higher resolution screens. The screen area will grow and the masking on the screen will reduce. As this happens then the iPad mini will become more irrelevant.
I believe that the Phone and 7 inch tablet will get closer and the next area will be the Bluetooth ear pieces will become more sophisticated so that you can use the phone function on these devices with more ease. Jawbone technology is going to become more prevalent in this area as well. Another area due for more attention is voice recognition. Less visible interaction with devices and voice driven.
The main thing I believe will come in 2013 is a 7 inch Microsoft Tablet, fingers crossed.
Showing posts with label Windows 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows 8. Show all posts
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Day 11 - Microsoft
Boy what a day. I started at 7:30 arriving at the Executive Briefing Centre in the Microsoft Complex. I started with breakfast at 7:45 with both Josh Rice, Sr. Director, Tech Sales WWPS and Alan Merrihew, ITS Govt, WWPS. So from about 8am - 9:30 was a welcome and discussions on some of my findings to date and outlining my research topic. From there both Josh and Alan identified other sources of information which might be of interest and assistance to my project.
We discussed many thing across a wide variety of issues and products. A number of them were very interested especially the MAVIS (Microsoft Audio Visual Indexing Service) this service which is currently available. This service using some software and a SQL database using Microsoft's Azure services will take a video and capture and convert audio to text which is then indexed to positions within the video. This then give you the ability to search the content of a video for a work or parse and select that position within the video so you can review at that point. I saw the possibility within DCP to utilise that service and will be exploring that on my return.
Another area of discussion was with big data issues and what Microsoft was doing in that space. I was surprise to find that Microsoft is working with an open source solution called Hadoop. They are committed to broadening the accessibility and usage of Hadoop to users, developers and IT professionals. Hadoop distribution for Windows offers ease of use by simplifying the acquisition, installation and configuration experience. Developers are able to install and deploy Hadoop in hours instead of days.
With the relentless growth of data which we face at DCP which is growing at an alarming rate. At the same time the complexity of that data and with unstructured data such as Word and PDF files, images, videos and potentially geo-spatial data in future. Microsoft's experience with where they analyse over 100 petabytes of data in the delivery of their search results in Bing. They are able to help companies in this space.
The next issue with big data is the visualisation of that data for this we spoke about ChromeZoom a product developed by Microsoft Research. Another area of discussion was the use of big data analysis of BOTs and work in the area of virus and trojan detection. This was work being doing by the Microsoft Digital Crime Unit. Another topic was the work being done with the Kinect and Autism, this is relevant to the work that my wife does in teaching autistic kids at school. There is a good video of the work they are doing with Microsoft's Kinect. The second is a video with respect to the work they are doing with physio.
After the discussions we then went ahead with the program of the day. The next session was on the work that Microsoft Research was doing and how the research program worked within the Microsoft corporate environment. This presentation was lead by Behrooz Chitsaz, Director IP Strategy, Behrooz has been with Microsoft for 20 years and his presentation was very interesting. I am looking forward to the copy of the slide deck to review what we covered. Today was a very intensive day and very exciting with so much information. The slide decks will be useful to remember some of the details. Behrooz went over some of the points initially raised by Josh and Alan. One of those is work that have been done on contact lenses that work as a heads up display and can be used as a medical device to check on sugar levels in the systems.
After this I had a break for coffee before Jeff Fong the Principal UX Design Lead and Creative Director for Windows Phone Jeff presented the story of windows journey from the start through to the work that went behind the new interface design which is incorporated in the new mobile phone interface and Windows 8. It was most enjoyable to be talking with someone who was so passionate about their work. The new metro style is not a style guide to how to build the interfaces but a set of principles which are lead by Jeff and being adopted across Microsoft. I have use the new Windows 8 Preview and enjoyed the user experience and looking forward to the release of Windows 8. Which I did not get any other indication other than what is in the press that it should be sometime before the end of the year. :)
After Jeff I then went to see the Microsoft Future Home. I then meet Jackie Giuliano who greeted me at a door in another corridor. Out side this door was a motor scooter which was being charged. It was electric but looked exactly like it petrol counter part. After giving me an outline of what I was about to see he then lead me into the next room. This room look to be the front of a house. Bit by bit Jackie lead me through the house explaining and showing me examples of some of the things we could expect with a house in the next 5-10 years. You can see a little of what I saw with the video on youtube.
After this I had lunch with Alan and then Arjmand Samuel, SR Research PM presented their work in the tool set used to develop phone applications on the phone. This is currently available for download and there is considerable amount of information at the Touch Develop Website. Some of the things discussed and shown were under NDA so I am unable to discuss what I saw. Other than what I saw looks exciting for the future of true mobile development. When Windows 8 is released then I will be able to discuss in more details.
After another break I then went to the Envisioning Labs where I meet Karla Clark who took me through the labs to see some of the possibilities for the future. The video here shows some of the prototypes that I saw in these labs of what Microsoft believes we will be using in the not to distant future.
After the presentation in the Envisioning labs I then return to the room where I started to have a presentation by Ken Malit, Systems Solutions Specialist with the Microsoft Surface Version 2 technology. Ken when through a presentation about the work that Microsoft has been involved with since 1997. This was a major improvement over version 1. To get a better sense of what I am talking about check out this demo video. The following video is made up with the demonstration of the possibilities of surface technology, alternative realities being used in the not to distant future.
After my session with Ken I then headed off from the Executive Briefing Centre to have a presentation by David Vey to see a demonstration of the Microsoft Global Security Operations Center (GSOC). David meet me at the door and then took me into the center to present information about the GSOC's around the world and how he with the use of all out of the box software is able to manager and communicate with all people and locations to both manage the security of their property and people but also their continuity of business. During the demonstration he made calls to check on communication in locations in London and India. Within seconds he had both verbal responses and video conferencing over the net work and via Lynx. Behind him was a which wall which looked to be a white board work area. He then proceeded to the entrance of the room flicked a switch and the glass area became transparent showing the GSOC there in Redmond.
All up today was very informative and quite exciting to be at the Head Office of Microsoft. Tomorrow I am hoping to visit the Usability Labs and then a little more sight seeing before heading off to Austin, Texas on Wednesday morning.
Signing off - 11:49pm 21st May
We discussed many thing across a wide variety of issues and products. A number of them were very interested especially the MAVIS (Microsoft Audio Visual Indexing Service) this service which is currently available. This service using some software and a SQL database using Microsoft's Azure services will take a video and capture and convert audio to text which is then indexed to positions within the video. This then give you the ability to search the content of a video for a work or parse and select that position within the video so you can review at that point. I saw the possibility within DCP to utilise that service and will be exploring that on my return.
Another area of discussion was with big data issues and what Microsoft was doing in that space. I was surprise to find that Microsoft is working with an open source solution called Hadoop. They are committed to broadening the accessibility and usage of Hadoop to users, developers and IT professionals. Hadoop distribution for Windows offers ease of use by simplifying the acquisition, installation and configuration experience. Developers are able to install and deploy Hadoop in hours instead of days.
With the relentless growth of data which we face at DCP which is growing at an alarming rate. At the same time the complexity of that data and with unstructured data such as Word and PDF files, images, videos and potentially geo-spatial data in future. Microsoft's experience with where they analyse over 100 petabytes of data in the delivery of their search results in Bing. They are able to help companies in this space.
The next issue with big data is the visualisation of that data for this we spoke about ChromeZoom a product developed by Microsoft Research. Another area of discussion was the use of big data analysis of BOTs and work in the area of virus and trojan detection. This was work being doing by the Microsoft Digital Crime Unit. Another topic was the work being done with the Kinect and Autism, this is relevant to the work that my wife does in teaching autistic kids at school. There is a good video of the work they are doing with Microsoft's Kinect. The second is a video with respect to the work they are doing with physio.
After the discussions we then went ahead with the program of the day. The next session was on the work that Microsoft Research was doing and how the research program worked within the Microsoft corporate environment. This presentation was lead by Behrooz Chitsaz, Director IP Strategy, Behrooz has been with Microsoft for 20 years and his presentation was very interesting. I am looking forward to the copy of the slide deck to review what we covered. Today was a very intensive day and very exciting with so much information. The slide decks will be useful to remember some of the details. Behrooz went over some of the points initially raised by Josh and Alan. One of those is work that have been done on contact lenses that work as a heads up display and can be used as a medical device to check on sugar levels in the systems.
After this I had a break for coffee before Jeff Fong the Principal UX Design Lead and Creative Director for Windows Phone Jeff presented the story of windows journey from the start through to the work that went behind the new interface design which is incorporated in the new mobile phone interface and Windows 8. It was most enjoyable to be talking with someone who was so passionate about their work. The new metro style is not a style guide to how to build the interfaces but a set of principles which are lead by Jeff and being adopted across Microsoft. I have use the new Windows 8 Preview and enjoyed the user experience and looking forward to the release of Windows 8. Which I did not get any other indication other than what is in the press that it should be sometime before the end of the year. :)
After Jeff I then went to see the Microsoft Future Home. I then meet Jackie Giuliano who greeted me at a door in another corridor. Out side this door was a motor scooter which was being charged. It was electric but looked exactly like it petrol counter part. After giving me an outline of what I was about to see he then lead me into the next room. This room look to be the front of a house. Bit by bit Jackie lead me through the house explaining and showing me examples of some of the things we could expect with a house in the next 5-10 years. You can see a little of what I saw with the video on youtube.
After this I had lunch with Alan and then Arjmand Samuel, SR Research PM presented their work in the tool set used to develop phone applications on the phone. This is currently available for download and there is considerable amount of information at the Touch Develop Website. Some of the things discussed and shown were under NDA so I am unable to discuss what I saw. Other than what I saw looks exciting for the future of true mobile development. When Windows 8 is released then I will be able to discuss in more details.
After another break I then went to the Envisioning Labs where I meet Karla Clark who took me through the labs to see some of the possibilities for the future. The video here shows some of the prototypes that I saw in these labs of what Microsoft believes we will be using in the not to distant future.
After the presentation in the Envisioning labs I then return to the room where I started to have a presentation by Ken Malit, Systems Solutions Specialist with the Microsoft Surface Version 2 technology. Ken when through a presentation about the work that Microsoft has been involved with since 1997. This was a major improvement over version 1. To get a better sense of what I am talking about check out this demo video. The following video is made up with the demonstration of the possibilities of surface technology, alternative realities being used in the not to distant future.
After my session with Ken I then headed off from the Executive Briefing Centre to have a presentation by David Vey to see a demonstration of the Microsoft Global Security Operations Center (GSOC). David meet me at the door and then took me into the center to present information about the GSOC's around the world and how he with the use of all out of the box software is able to manager and communicate with all people and locations to both manage the security of their property and people but also their continuity of business. During the demonstration he made calls to check on communication in locations in London and India. Within seconds he had both verbal responses and video conferencing over the net work and via Lynx. Behind him was a which wall which looked to be a white board work area. He then proceeded to the entrance of the room flicked a switch and the glass area became transparent showing the GSOC there in Redmond.
All up today was very informative and quite exciting to be at the Head Office of Microsoft. Tomorrow I am hoping to visit the Usability Labs and then a little more sight seeing before heading off to Austin, Texas on Wednesday morning.
Signing off - 11:49pm 21st May
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