The Microsoft Wow Blog!

A lot of people these days are becoming more aware of the energy savings to be had by shutting down unused equipment when it’s not in use. And while it’s no problem to shut off the TV and the end of the evening a lot of people have trouble doing the same for the PC. This is mainly because it’s nice to have all your work on your computer right there where you left it when you return in the morning. Of course, this is what “sleep” mode is for – you can save energy without losing your place.

But wouldn’t it be nice if your computer knew when to wake up for you? Well, it can! Using the Task Scheduler (In Vista: Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools\Task Scheduler), you can make your PC wake up at the designated time you want just by having it run a simple task – like say, launching then closing the command prompt window.

For example:

Schedule a task that executes the command cmd.exe with command line arguments [/c “exit”] (without the []) and make sure to set the ‘Wake computer up to execute this task’ in the power options. Schedule the task for when you want your computer to wake up and you will never have to wait on it again.

Source: Channel 10

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

The computing industry that as we know today is changing very fast into one in which everything we need can be accessed online. Microsoft is onboard with this new computing paradigm popularly known as “Cloud Computing” which folks at Redmond more like to call it as “Software + Services”.

For the past several years, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has always emphasized in his various keynotes and speeches on how important a role a Windows PC plays as the center of everyone’s digital life. Sure people have moved beyond the PC with connected devices, and has engage with others online, but the PC was always at the center. When you think about it, putting a PC in the center of our lives.. it makes a lot of sense … but the trend now is changing, people now are more looking for these portable form factors that utilize Internet that work  online in ways that, as it turns out, don’t actually require Windows or traditional PCs.

Now this to me is a very important time for Microsoft, the time when Bill Gates and some of other oldies reign ends at Microsoft. While these people did a lot for us to change about how we perceive computers today and I have tremendous respect for them but now I also think that there is a need for a change, a change that can change Microsoft’s outlook(not Office Outlook) on how they work today.

Microsoft more recently turned towards the outside talent and promoted them to its executive ranks, Ray Ozzie being one of them who filled the big boots of Bill Gates last year as Chief Software Architect with ease. His appointment as CSA Microsoft to me has been one of the best decisions Microsoft took in the period of like say last few years. He’s the real man behind Windows Live and many of the new S+S applications which we are now seeing. This is the guy who has been involved with some of the major computing trends. Its now finally after a period of couple of years that we’re seeing the positive effects of this new blood at Microsoft.

Ozzie is now in charge of setting the future direction for the world’s largest software maker and unlike his predecessor, he has little interest in milking past successes. He is the guy behind Microsoft’s cloud computing efforts and the products and services he’s working on have little do with Windows, Office, or Server. He knows that the world is moving on and he’s trying to move Microsoft with the same pace to this new world. Some people there will go willingly. others will go screaming, while some may simply retire, unable to handle the future Microsoft. Regardless, change is happening and its clearly visible now..

So the result of all this is that you see the birth of Live Mesh. Microsoft’s Software + Services initiative promotes the best of the old (what Microsoft does best) with the best of the new (what Microsoft will do increasingly more frequently in the future).

But at this years WWDC, Apple unveiled a service that allows users to wirelessly sync and access information across multiple devices and has yet again beaten Microsoft in first releasing a complete product out the door of which Microsoft already showcased a Tech. Preview in May. Apple announced replacement to their .Mac in the form of MobileMe, a service which syncs data between PCs, Macs, iPhone & iPod Touch. The service works with Microsoft Outlook on a PC. Mail, Address Book, and iCal on a Mac and Mail, Contacts, and Calendar on the iPhone or iPod Touch. It allows us to access and manage our email, contacts, calendar, photos, and files at me.com.

Here is what Mary-Jo has to say about this:

Apple’s introduction of the successor to .Mac — a k a, MobileMe — raises the question as to what’s taking Microsoft so long to roll out Live Mesh.

There aren’t a whole lot of details yet available on MobileMe, other than that it will allow cloud-based synchronization of data and devices. (And will make use of Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology, which Apple licensed from Microsoft in order to bring push e-mail to the iPhone, creating its “Exchange for the rest of us.”)

While I haven’t tried MobileMe as yet primarily because it isnt available until July 11, I have played quite a lot with Live Mesh ever since it was released to a small group of testers in May and even though its is still in early development phase has already become a central part of my daily computing life.

Lets look at what these two services offer and how do they compare against each other?

First up lets see what Live Mesh offers?

You dont often see Microsoft getting credit for something they introduce first in the market. Live Mesh truly is a game changer for Microsoft as far as their online services are concerned and its in a league of its own. It is currently only open to a small group of private testers. It offers free 5GB cloud storage to synchronize and store data in the cloud. The best thing about Live Mesh is that it integrates extremely well into Windows shell which allows us to synchronize our files and folders between various devices but the catch is that it also has an option which keeps the file in cloud making it available whenever and wherever you want. The service also promises to support Mac’s and Windows Mobile (iPhone anyone?) phones to sync files within multiple platforms. Remote Desktop is also a great addition that enables us to remotely access our computers within our Mesh network from anywhere around the world. Live Mesh also includes a cloud storage component, called Live Desktop. It is an online service that allows synchronized folders to be accessible via a website and it looks extremely similar to Windows Explorer found in Windows OS. One of the bigger benefits of Live Mesh would be when later this year, an API would be release which would allow us to build app’s that would run online under Live Desktop environment.

All an all, Live Mesh works great for a service which is currently only available as a technology preview and so I have great expectations from this promising service which will be released later this year.

Now lets see what MobileMe has to offer?

MobileMe gives you access to 20GB of space in the cloud for a fee of $99/year. You can upload photos or documents. You can share your calendar across multiple platforms. You also get email service which can be used with Microsoft Outlook.

So MobileMe is basically a simple way to keep everything up to date. You can have the same data everywhere i.e. your computer, web and your phone and is always up to date. Apple’s idea behind this is that when something changes in one place, it will automatically change in all of the others. In essence, it will “push” the changes across your devices.

Besides all this, MobileMe also offers web versions to the native client applications found in Mac like iCal, iLife and Mail. This is where the main difference lies between Live Mesh and MobileMe. MobileMe offers beautiful looking web versions of the native applications in Mac whereas on the other hand Live Mesh offers synchronization with remote computing and Live desktop capabilities. It is also worthy to note that Microsoft already offers web based Mail and Calendar through their Windows Live platform but ofcoarse they dont collaborate or work as well as what Apple showcased at this years WWDC.

MobileMe stores all your email, contacts, and calendars on an online server - or “cloud” - and pushes them down to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. When you make a change on one device, the cloud updates the others. Push happens automatically, instantly, and continuously. You don’t have to wait for it or remember to do anything - such as docking your iPhone and syncing manually - to stay up to date.

Do everything you need to do on every device you own. MobileMe works with Mail, Address Book, and iCal on a Mac; Microsoft Outlook on a PC with Windows XP or Vista; and the built-in applications on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Check your email, change your calendar, edit your contacts, and more at me.com. Accessible anywhere, me.com is an ad-free suite of web applications — Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Gallery, and iDisk — that are elegant and easy to use. You can drag and drop, click and drag, use keyboard shortcuts, and even switch between applications with a single click. Me.com is such a great web experience, it seems as if you’re using desktop software.

This subscription-based service will be available on July 11. It’s priced at $99 per year with 20 GB of storage.

Both the services differ from each other in many areas as stated above but they do have same idea behind i.e. to synchronize user data so that they dont have to worry about updating multiple devices all the time.

In my opinion Live Mesh has more potential because the platform is open for others to develop on Live Desktop once the API is released later this year.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Live Maps team has updated maps of Beijing just in time for the upcoming summer Olympic games at Beijing.

Here is the full list of updates courtesy LiveSide:  

• Real-time Traffic in Beijing
• Send-to-Mobile for free for local search and transit routing result
• Transitdata refresh for existing 11 cities including 3 new subway in Beijing (No.10, Airport and Olympic).
• Expandedcoverage from 11 to 31 cities.
• Geocoding and Local Search
• Datarefresh for existing 114 cities including Olympic Venues.
• Support city and county name geocoding for areas outside of 114-city coverage.
• Olympicquery relevance improvement
• Local search category refinement
• Maprefresh for 10 existing major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou etc.
• Expandedtile coverage for 30 more cities, totally 289 cities now.

Too bad they didnt add support for Birds Eye View which in my opinion is the best feature of Live Maps and the one which really differentiate it from Google Earth/Maps.

So if you are planning to go to Beijing for this years Olympics, make sure you take a portable device such as Windows Mobile to keep you up to date with all the cool site seeing and live traffic updates with the help of Live Search Maps on one of the most busiest city I have ever been to.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Yesterday I received an email from 360desktop announcing their long awaited beta release. I fired up my download manager and downloaded the small file.

In case you are wondering what 360desktop is?

More room for everything you like to do
360desktop transforms your desktop into a panoramic workspace - with more space for everything. Slide around your new workspace quickly and easily between all your open applications, windows and widgets - it’ll spin you out.

Easily make desktop widgets from your favorite parts of the web
See something that you like online? You can now clip it and put it right on the desktop: any part of any webpage or grab your favorite web widgets, RSS feeds, games, videos - whatever you like - it’s totally up to you!

An endless selection of stunning 360-degree wallpaper
Bring your desktop to life, with an endless selection of stunning 360-degree wallpaper. Incredible web enabled 360s, that can be inspiring, entertaining , branded, useful or just plain fun - whatever your interest, work or play.

And what’s coming next …

Create your own interactive 360s
Think of the desktop as an “interactive canvas”. Create simple 360s from your favorite images, photos, or online albums such as Flickr, or transform the desktop into a multimedia mash-up, with web content integrated into the photo background.

Share your creations and favorite 360s everywhere
Share your favorite 360s and your own creations with your friends. Publish any 360 as a web widget that you can embed within MySpace, Facebook and your other blogs and social networks.

At first, I was very excited as I have been waiting for it for so long but once I tried it, I immediately wanted to uninstall it. Why? I had this impression from initial screenshots on the site that 360desktop would be about getting full 3d control over your desktop in which you could move the desktop in all directions smoothly with some cool effects. but it wasnt the case, all 360desktop does is that it pointlessly scrolls your desktop horizontally, moreover you cant even set your own wallpaper. In beta, we have only 2 wallpapers to choose from which kind of sucks in my opinion.

Verdict:
360desktop has disappointed me. It might be useful for those with small monitors who want more horizontal space but does an average Joe really need horizontal space in this age when widescreen monitors are so common? Plus the inability to customize the desktop with a wallpaper of our choice doesnt make it worth it.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Are you looking to share with your friends what you are running on your computer? or do you want to know what software does your friends run or which one do they use the most? Look no further than Wakoopa!

Wakoopa is a social networking site that monitors the software’s which run on the members computer.

The Wakoopa service has a small application that runs in the background on a user’s computer. The application gathers the information about open software and games, and then publishes the information to their profile on Wakoopa’s web site.

Wakoopa also allows you to share your software usage and your opinions about software. Recently they have also started a widgets section through which you can share your usage with your friends on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space, Live Spaces, Orkut, and more in the form of Badges, Signatures and Cards.

Wakoopa is the perfect place for people to discover software online. When you sign up, you also install a small tracker that keeps tabs on what software you use. This creates an online profile for you to share with the world, and also gives you updates and recommendations on what your friends and others are using.

How does it work? 5 simple steps:

1. Sign up
   … and install our small tracker application on your PC or Mac. This tracks what software you use, without being too much of a burden.
2. Get tracked
   Every 15 minutes a list of what software you’re running is sent to your online profile.
3. Share it
   Tell your friends about your profile or put a Wakoopa widget on your website or blog.
4. Get updated
   When we notice there’s news about software you like, we’ll let you know. Recommendations, reviews, versions, etcetera: it’s there for you.
5. Find cool stuff
   If you ever want to find certain cool applications for the right job in the right category, just browse our database! We’ve got it all. 

Want to know what I run the most? or what I have used recently? Check out my profile on Wakoopa here http://wakoopa.com/taimurasad

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

A couple of days ago, I received a mail from Microsoft Connect which confirmed me as a private tester for Microsoft SQL Server Data Services. While I am still exploring this new service, I just thought of guiding all those interested in this service in order to help you get started with SQL Server Data Services a.k.a SSDS but first up, what is SSDS?

At this years MIX, Microsoft unveiled SQL Server Data Services as a direct competitor to Amazon SimpleDB. SQL Server Data Services  is a web-facing utility-based service designed for businesses and developers that need scalable, highly available, secure and easily programmable on-demand data storage with robust database query capabilities. The platform is built upon existing Microsoft SQL Server relational database technologies. So basically it’s a cloud-based repository service that will offer APIs that enable storage in the cloud.

More on SSDS from Microsoft’s FAQ:

Will SSDS support everything in SQL Server?
SSDS will initially only expose a small subset of what is in SQL Server. Microsoft says it plans to extend the capabilities of SSDS over time with such features as binary large object columns, full text search, and richer data types.

How will developers and customers use SSDS?
It is designed to let developers rapidly run on-demand applications, while end users will be able to query and modify any amount data. SSDS will support REST and SOAP interfaces, which are designed to work with any Internet-development toolkit. XML is the primary interface.

What might SSDS be used for?
Data archival, reference data such as catalogs, business functions such as HR services (ie. healthcare records management), and Web facing applications including social networking and picture sharing.

So how do you get started? The SSDS program as of now is only open to a small group of private testers but the number of testers are increasing rapidly on daily basis as the service approaches a public beta soon.

To use SQL Server Data Services (SSDS), you first need to sign up for the service and acquire a user name and password. For this private beta release, you go to http://www.microsoft.com/sql/dataservices/default.mspx and register your request for the free beta. Invitations are sent via e-mail. Each invitee receives an invitation id. Once you have received your invitation, you go to https://beta.mssds.com/public/Default.aspx, provide your invitation id, and then obtain the necessary credentials to access the data service. After you obtain credentials, you can programmatically create and query flexible entities.

SSDS is a Web 2.0 friendly data service. It supports both SOAP and REST interfaces. As a result, developers can use almost any language or development environment that supports these interfaces. Queries are made using a LINQ syntax from C#. To develop applications with Visual Studio, you will need version 2005 or later. Visual Studio 2008 is the preferred development environment for use with SQL Server Data Services.

Several samples are provided in various languages including C#, Java and Ruby. The C# samples are authored in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment. One of the samples which I am using to learn program this service is this one posted in MSDN forums by Mike Amundsen. The demo has two parts: a SSDS Proxy server built in C# and a web client done in Ajax. I’ll highly recommend to try out this app to those interested!

I will follow up with my example using SOAP or REST interfaces to develop applications with SQL Server Data Services in C# here at my blog very soon. Might come up with a Webcast too if I get a good response. So do let me know that whether you guys prefer a step by step tutorial or a Webcast session? Last but not the least, dont forget to sign up to get your hands on this service as soon as possible!

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

The rumored Xbox 360 Spring Update might not have hit yet, but we know something big is in the works for the console's dashboard.

How big? Well besides the gi-normous list of rumored updates we posted about back in May we're now hearing from a number of sources that the Live dashboard is going to be getting a second interface option, one that will use the yet-to-be announced motion controller to navigate.

This new user interface, we've been told, will recreate the increasingly cluttered dashboard "blade" system in a 3D environment that will be something more akin to the Minority Report than a filing cabinet. The motion controls will allow users to sort of slide through the different levels of this floating menu system.

Sounds like a fantastic idea, if it can be implemented correctly.

Source: Kotaku

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Videos on YouTube are like hapiness and money ("if you can't buy hapiness, then you don't know where to shop"): you can find anything on YouTube and if you can't find it, then you don't know how to search.
Some people mention, that tilt sensor of HTC Touch Diamond is a feature that can sway many people to buy this phone, but another amazing advancement of this phone, is YouTube stand-alone application that is included in HTC Touch Diamond and that offers even high-quality watching meaning the image sharper than in iPhone because it uses full 640x480 pixels (and iPhone has only 320x480 pixels = 2 times less):

Once you open the YouTube application you see the following welcome screen (we publish screen shots here one-to-one, i.e. in original resolution as they appear in HTC Touch Diamond):

However we don't recommend trying out videos on the welcome screen as many of them are spoofs and does not include topics that they claim to cover.
What we can recommend is searching for author of given video:

... or searching for some specific topic:

In any case we recommend using high resolution in settings:

... but obviously if you are on cellular network and not WiFi and you must see something quickly, then lower resolution ("fast download") is also OK.
In case you give your phone to somebody to use, don't forget to clear history of your YouTube watching in order to avoid embarassment:

You can also bookmark some videos in case you would like to watch them again for some reason or if you would like to show them off to somebody.

Another nice touch of this YouTube application is ability to send YouTube videos over MMS or email - just by tapping on the email icon.
By tapping on "i" icon on the right side of the list of videos (in search box, history or favorites) user can get see additional info about given video including longer textual descriptions, some "related videos" and some "more from the same author" vidoes.
Improvement suggestions for HTC for this YouTube application (although we are not sure whether they are more towards Google/YouTube than HTC):

• search results when one enters name of the author to the search box should be sorted in chronological order, i.e. recently uploaded on the top
• some caching mechanism would be useful, i.e. this YouTube application should not connect to the Internet automatically on the start-up and users should be able to watch vidoes from the cache - without connection to the Internet
• users should be able to tap on the icon of the author to see all vidoes of given author and it should be possible to have "more..." link near "related videos" and "more videos fromt he same author"

Conclusion: YouTube application of HTC Touch Diamond is much better than m.youtube.com (mobile version of YouTube) because it offers ability to view YouTube videos in a much more comfortable way and with high resolution that takes full advantage of the VGA display of HTC Touch Diamond. In other words: YouTube video watching on HTC Touch Diamond offers higher quality of videos than iPhone. Obviously the number of features is still not the same as in the case of YouTube usage on a desktop computer, but with few improvements (see list of suggestions below) this application could be perfect.
All in all HTC has taken a very good, excellent, decision to include YouTube application in HTC Touch Diamond! Many people are sitting for hours and doing nothing but just watching videos on YouTube. One can find on YouTube a lot of material on all topics, so having this application makes a huge difference!

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Last week I reviewed MSN Toolbar which is built using Silverlight technology. Today morning I noticed a slight change in the toolbar as it got updated automatically. The toolbar now features local weather forecast which in my opinion is a very nice touch and adds more value to the toolbar. The Windows Live search portion has also been updated. Previously we could only search for Web, Images, Video, News, Maps & Local from the toolbar but now more options have been added so now we can also search for Products, QnA and xRank.

You can see your local weather forecast on the right corner of the toolbar.

Clicking on weather pops up a nice looking window which shows the forecast in detail.

The new MSN Toolbar version is 3.0.270.0 and the Application version is 3.0.0426.0.
Download MSN Toolbar from http://toolbar.msn.com

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

We have already covered about the legacy of Bill Gates here but I just thought I should add something about the man who I idolized for the larger part of my not so long life.

So here’s is to the man who changed the way I interact with computers!

For many, Bill Gates and his company Microsoft would more be remembered for the evil-doings and monopolization which led to their domination on desktop PCs but for me Bill Gates is a business man in a true sense of word. He truly knew the art of doing business. He broadened the company’s range of products,  and then pushed it so aggressively that it led to the the domination and success of his products. Bill Gates predicted “a computer in every home and on every desk”….and today its indeed in every home & on every desk and over 90% of those run Windows. So for me Gates will be remembered as one of the best-known business men and one of the best entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

And Now June 27, 2008 marks the End of an Era that was as Bill Gates has transitioned out of day-to-day role in the company which he co-founded with his friends Paul Allen & Steve Ballmer to spend more time on his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But Gates will still remain Microsoft’s chairman and will be involved in select projects based on direction from Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and the leadership team. Microsoft will continue to be led by a deep leadership team, led by CEO Steve Ballmer, Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie. With guys like Ray Ozzie at helm, Microsoft to me is in safe hands!

Here are some of the videos from farewell event of Bill Gates held at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Do check them out!

Employees Welcome Gates (00:22)
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introduces Chairman Bill Gates at the Employee Town Hall. June 27, 2008
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Gates - Starting Microsoft (00:17)
Bill Gates describes how he and co-founder Paul Allen started Microsoft with the dream that software would be important one day.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Microsoft Vision (00:21)
CEO Steve Ballmer describes Bill’s vision of a computer on every desk and in every home.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Gates - Microsoft Leadership (00:51)
Gates describes the opportunities ahead for Microsoft’s leadership.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Microsoft Culture (00:37)
Steve Ballmer talks about how Bill Gates has instilled a culture of intensity, tenacity and passion at Microsoft.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

Ballmer - Changing the World (01:14)
Steve Ballmer thanks Bill Gates for the opportunities Microsoft employees have to change the world and realize their true potential.
Download: Zune-quality (.wmv) | Broadcast-quality (.mpeg)

I am thankful to Gates for his contribution to personal computing and I wish him all the best and is excitedly looking forward to the Post-Gates era at Microsoft Corporation.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)