Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’

  • 29 Aug

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Apple’s Change in Software Development – MacOS 10.6

    0

    The first release of software products mainly starts slim and easy. But developers try to add functionality to make a 2.0 version of this product, and sell it again. Why should new versions of software products always have to be better in case of functionality than their predecessor version? Will customers also appreciate new software, which is “only” better under the hood, in terms of architecture, speed? I think costumers will not use software that is big, inertial, and complicated to use. David Pouge tries to point out this issue with his newest video at the New York Times Technology rubric:

    This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

    Pouge denotes that Apple will try to go a different way with MacOS Snow Leopard now. I think the main goal with this version of MacOS is to gain a modern, slim and stable version of their operating system to work on for later releases. Under the motto it is better to make one step back and have the opportunity to make a giant leap forward.

    In my opinion also Microsoft should consider to clean up their software products to get durable solutions. Windows 7 seems going this way – to be a well-engineered version of vista, but they still have a big focus on adding new functionality.

  • 25 Aug

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Create a 3-dimensional Environment with your Photos

    0

    We explore our surroundings, with every technology we have. From text to audio to maps to photos. Now there is a new technology freely available to represent place – Photosynth. Photosynth comes from Microsoft and you can build up your own 3d environment with your digital camera and the Photosynth software.

    This is how it works:

    1. You make a lot of photos of your surrounding with as many overlapping as possible. Walk around and change zoom and angle.
    2. Go to http://www.photosynth.net and download and install the software plugin in your web browser.
    3. The software automatically compares all your photos and finds out how they go together and uploads them to the web.
    4. The result is a 3d virtual representation which can be seen by anyone via the Internet.

    The optimistic overall goal of the developers is to create a 3d photo-realistic representation of the whole world.

    You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

    Still there are some limitations and drawbacks:

    • Creating a good Photosync takes patience and practice.
    • Every spot in the environment has to be included in at least three photos.
    • No Mac version until now.
    • You cannot create a private version of your composed photos.
    • Alternative Quicktime VR (available for years).

    [via David Pogue, NYT]

  • 14 Aug

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Water Quality of European Bathing Sites on a Map

    0

    The European Environment Agency (EEA) launched the Eye on Earth – Water Watch campaign for Europe. The idea is that everyone gets information about bathing site all over Europe.

    Through the new portal users can rate beaches and share their comments with others. So it is easy to get an overview about the cleanness of a beach. From the technological site EEA is working together with Microsoft using their Virtual Earth platform to visualize geographic information. Everyone can monitor beach water quality along the coasts and of lakes and report quality concerns.

    Water quality of the Wörthersee. Click on the image for larger view.

    Official introduction on the homepage of the EEA:

    Every year, millions of Europeans spend their summer vacations by coastal or inland waters. The quality of the bathing water at their destination can be a key factor in deciding where to go. Now with Eye on Earth, holidaymakers will not only be able to check the latest information available on the water quality at their possible destinations, but also read comments posted by others who have already been there.
    “Bathing water information is only a first step in our collaboration with Microsoft. We will gradually expand this two-way communication platform to include other environmental information, such as biodiversity and air quality”, said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA.
    The bathing water application retrieves information from more than 21,000 monitoring points across Europe. For all these bathing sites, the portal presents information from recent years. For some countries, including Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Portugal and Slovakia, the portal also displays the latest 2008 rating available.
    Eye on Earth allows users to zoom in on a given section of the coast or riverbank, both in street map or bird’s eye viewing formats. A ‘traffic-light’ evaluation (red, amber, green) of water quality based on scientific monitoring methods is supported by similar ratings reflecting the experiences of people who have visited the bathing site.
    As part of the five-year partnership announced last May, the EEA and Microsoft will continue to develop the Eye on Earth portal by adding new sets of environmental information.
    Link: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/heading-for-your-favourite-beach-is-the-bathing-water-clean

  • 03 Jun

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Graz and Vienna in 3D

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    Yesterday the first news came up that Graz and Vienna are now available in 3D. Virtual Earth was enhanced with the datasets of these cities.

    The 3D information is derived from areal photographs recored in different angles.

    Written and Submitted at CUAS, using their Network Infrastructure.

  • 11 Apr

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Virtual Earth 6.1 – the most important improvements

    0

    Today Microsoft has updated their Webmapping service Virtual Earth to version 6.1. In this actual version lots of new functions were integrated. Now the service should be working also on Safari and Internet Explorer 8 Beta. New photographies are integrated and the 3D function is improved. Additional useres can generated their own maps and share them with other internet users.

    A shot summery of important changes:

    • 3D
      • More realistic due improved textures and 3d Trees.
      • Improved Representation of Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Dallas, TX; und Denver. Another 250 cities should follow shortly, hopefully also Vienna.
      • Make your own 3D routes with 15 to 30 fps.
      • Improved Support of Birds-Eye
    • Birds-Eye
      • Hybrid-View with Birds-Eye to view street names.
    • Platform Browser Support: Support of Safari 3 und IE 8.0.
    • Collections: Upload your personal map on Virtual Earth and publish it on Virtual Earth Collections. For this use MapCruncher from MS research, which you can download here. An Example: Crunch sample including Seattle Transit
    • New Routing functionality
      • Walking-Direction
      • Routing considering traffic. Using ClearFlow-Technology to integrate traffic information from traffic.com. Example: SeaTac to UW
    • Improved Language Support for Walking-Routes/Routes in 15 Languages including: German, English, French, Spanish, Portugese and Italian.
    • Geocoding: The new reverse Geocoding-Support enables to convert Longitude and Latitude into an Adress.
    • Improved Search: New data from Zagat and Yep included, two sources for restaurants. Example: Reviews of Papa John’s in Redmond
    • SDK-Update: New functions for developers with the SDK.

    [via winfuture.de]

    Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

  • 04 Apr

    Posted by
    joesonic


    Category

    Euro 2008 enables Vienna in 3D

    0

    Microsofts Virtual Earth recently has updated their image data. Now all austrian host cities of the Euro 2008 tournament can be viewed in high relolution bird’s eye view (e.g. Klagenfurt, Innsbruck). But this is no real 3D city model. For the next update (maybe mid of April) it is planned to make Vienna available in 3D. The software company Microsoft wants to integrate the location of the Euro 2008 finale as 3D city model in their online mapping platform Virtual Earth. Vienna will then be the first city in central europe availabe in 3D.

    [via derStandard]

    Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

  • 17 Mar

    Posted by
    admin


    Category

    Vexcel Imaging

    2

    The ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) has recently shown an documentation about Vexcel Imaging Graz, and their technology to make areal photographs and calculate altitude for designing 3D city models. Vexcel was aquired by Microsoft and their technology is used by Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Service. You can see the clip here, but unfortunately the language is German.

    You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

    Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

  • 29 Feb

    Posted by
    admin


    Category

    Microsoft’s Birds Eye view in Austria

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    ve.png

     Recently a 35.13 terabyte data update in Virtual Earth happend. Some Austrian Cities like:

    • Innsbruck
    • Klagenfurt
    • Linz
    • Salzburg
    • St. Pölten
    • Villach
    • Wels

    were also affected. They can be seen now in high resolution. With the “Bird’s Eye View” these Austrian cities can be seen whith an angle of about 45 degrees, where streets, house claddings, trees and parks can be identified. The user can change the viewpoint and the selected area can be seen from all cardinal points.

    Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

  • 10 Feb

    Posted by
    admin


    Category

    Microhoo

    0

    All news sites are now full with Microsofts offer for Yahoo. Personally I’m not so affected by this, because I’m not using many services from Yahoo. But I think flickr and del.icio.us are really great services from Yahoo and should remain as they are. But there are a lot of people that really don’t like the idea that Yahoo will be soon Microsoft, as you can see on the picture.

    Flickr Resistance Against Microsoft Takeover

    And Yahoo is still waiting with an official statement accept or defeat the offer. Interesting fact is that the amount of money the bit exceed Microsofts current liquit fund. This would be the first time for Microsoft that they have to contract a dept. I personally think that Microsoft has to enhance there offer in order to take over Yahoo. We will see what will happen in the near future.

    Written and submitted from Home, using my 802.11g WiFi network.

  • 08 Jan

    Posted by
    admin


    Category

    Bill’s Last Day

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    Watch this video to see Bill Gates last day. This film was shown on his last Keynote at CES 2008.