Jan 15
This started out as a not for myself, but since it was so useful, I thought I’d pass it on. I’ve been finding some really neat new features that slipped in on the Zune 4.0 or even the 3.0 update that I missed.
http://forums.zune.net/513727/ShowPost.aspx
John just let me know that he’s just re-launched his TechNet radio program today with an interview with Deborah Lovell – AITP president.
You can find his relaunch show at http://edge.technet.com/Media/TechNet-Radio-Community-Corner-with-John-Weston-Episode-1/ and keep an eye out for follow up shows at http://blogs.technet.com/jweston/default.aspx
In the spirit of completeness, I wanted to make a few comments about my other session I submitted for SxSWi- “Smart for Who?” This session really came out of looking around my office and working spaces and really noting not only how connected all those “impulse electronics” and “entertainment devices” have become, but how little most people consider what their full capabilities and purposes are. As we’ve seen in the history of PC’s the best capabilities have come with networking and larger connectivity between systems, but that increase has also been paced by an increase in vulnerability and exposure to those connections being done with malice.
So as we connect more and more devices that we use every day not only to each other, but to the internet at large, we need to be aware of what’s going on between those. PVR’s often report back not just what shows you watched, but how many times you rewound that halftime commercial or act. The old days of “tracing a call” have become a Hollywood gimmick – the number is available even before the connection is made, and the call itself can be real time transcribed to text. Your printer is network connected, and most embed unique numbers in ever item printed, your security system knows when you’re home and when you’re gone. And they’re all able to talk with each other.
This session will be about how much control we have over this – how much is black helicopters and how much is actual productivity enhancement and personal customization that I WANT to be done. Do I want my bedside alarm clock to check my schedule and know that it doesn’t have to wake me quite so early tomorrow morning because my first meeting got cancelled overnight? Do I want the world to know I’ve put my house on power save mode because I’m going to be in Chicago for a couple of days? The Yin and Yang of connectivity is that Identity, Privacy, and Security are key – and we’re having to find new ways of making those concepts easy enough that you don’t have to read another 300 page manual just to use your new remote control or VOIP phone!
If this sounds like something you would be interesting in hearing about, either at SxSWi or in the community after SxSW – please “Thumbs Up” my session either above on the link or below!
I can’t let St Louis get too far ahead of us! Looks like I need to get more involved in the Austin Hacker Space movement!
Looks like their first meeting is next week.
SharePoint Joel (http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=0cd1a63d%2D183c%2D4fc2%2D8320%2Dba5369008acb&ID=243) has a very nice summary of the current state of Office 2010 and SharePoint discussion points that are covered by and released from the current NDA’s. If you’re looking to blog or present on the new features – take a quick read through the post above.
I want! http://nevver.tumblr.com/post/128929601/realtime-3d-airtraffic-fubiz Of course I mean the display hardware mostly. The controls seem like they could be refined a bit more.
It’s been up a couple of days, but I just saw a tweet fly past about it. If you check out session CI011 on the session track (https://www.mspartnerconference.com/public/sessionlist.aspx?keyword=CI011) you’ll see that there’s some great information about the Infrastructure strategy behind Microsoft’s cloud computing. We expected to see a good bit about that, but there’s also a nice little spot in the end of the session description – “and the Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit for Enterprises (available Q4 CY 2009) that enables building the foundation for a Private cloud.”
Hmmm, I need to try a lot harder to get to the conference – it isn’t that far away!
While I’m looking at my Micro Framework notes, I wanted to push this one out as well. over at CodePlex (http://mftoolkit.codeplex.com) you can find Michael’s toolkit for networking Micro Framework boards. To get your interest, let me just quote directly from the latest release notes:
Oh, did I mention there’s XBee support in there too? OK, I’ll stop typing because you’ve already clicked over and are downloading the toolkit!
Pavel sent this to me a while ago, but I haven’t been keeping up. You know those super expensive universal all in one programmable remotes? Well he put together one all on his own, the great part is that he can can keep adding to it or tie it into other systems to work. On his post below he shows how to take a simple IR LED and a Micro Framework board and create his own multisystem IR remote. But once you do that, you’ve got the basis for LOTS of other stuff – add an RF transceiver and you’ve got a bridge/extender. Add an IR photocell and you’ve got a learning remote. Take advantage of the networking capability, and you’ve got a house controller that doesn’t have to be hard wired in any particular location…
Oh, and did I mention that Servos work off the same concept of pulse modulation? No, I don’t have to, you’ve already figured that out!
http://bansky.net/blog/2009/04/microframework-device-controlled-via-tv-remote/
Jun 25
Some of you may have already seen the Hohm site – but if you haven’t you can take a look over at www.microsoft-hohm.com (and sign up while you’re there.) I’d also recommend taking a look and possibly subscribing to the team blog – http://blog.microsoft-hohm.com.
So why the blog post? Well lots of people saw what Hohm is about – letting you know your energy usage and allowing you to plan and optimize what you’re using (which is pretty critical as I type this and look at my weather station readings – 107.32F right now.) This helps us survive the bills and the weather and our power grid survive the demand load that summers generate with record breaking heat and expanded populations in the hotter parts of the country.
But there was something in the announcement that I don’t know that a lot of people caught. That was this line in the release – “… if you are a customer of a Hohm-partnered utility company you can choose to automatically upload your energy usage data into the application in the near future.” Hmmm. Now that’s interesting. I was hoping for something like this eventually, but it sounds like the feedback loop of our “Smart Power Grid” efforts are actually starting to come about in the real world! Now that’s progress!
BTW, why did I put this also under Robotics? Because that feedback loop that’s starting to happen is exactly what mobile robots have to do all the time. Not just send instructions on power consumption, but monitor usage, monitor needs, prioritize, and then manage that consumption to goal. Lots of crossover opportunities.
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