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October 2004 - Posts

Friday, October 29, 2004 2:55 PM

Head up display - Laser directly into your eye... hmmm...

Check this out, on the engadget site.Looks like some science nerds at the University of Washington’s Human Interface Technology Laboratory have hooked up a screenless heads-up display they call the virtual retinal display (VRD), which, unpleasurable as
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 2:51 PM

Windows XP SP2 - What is that application ?

If you've installed Windows XP SP2 you've probably noticed security popups when you run certain applications (Instant Messenger, ActiveSync and others) - this morning when I booted my laptop I got a security message about an application called backweb-8876480.exe
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 1:32 PM

12:01am November 9th - Where will you be ?

Halo2 is set to take the world by storm on November 9th - those fabulous EB-Games folks are going to have their stores open at the stroke of Midnight on November 9th (Here's the list of stores) so folks can pick up their copies of Halo2 and be back home
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 10:37 AM

Bad Weather in the UK...

ok, how do you fancy being on this train ? This from Yahoo news, bad weather battering the UK - reminds me of the bad storms along the south coast of the UK probably about 12 years ago now, I turned up to work to find most of the roof missing from the
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 7:28 AM

WE-DIG November Meeting - November 3rd - Mobility.

Check out the agenda for November's WE-DIG (Windows Embedded-Developer Interest Group) This months meeting focuses on Mobility, we will have devices, demos, pizza, and discussion, what more could you want ! November 3rd 6:00 Meeting Opens6:15 Open Mike
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 6:50 AM

Talking of Robots.

In my last post I mentioned the Microsoft Robotics club, you may have seen the "tour" of the club on MSDN Channel 9 some time ago - so I was wondering how many people that read this blog are doing anything with robotics, what type of processor (8/16/32)
posted by mikehall | 4 Comments
Friday, October 29, 2004 6:44 AM

Windows XP Embedded - Deploy Images to H/D

If you're working with Windows XP Embedded (or a Windows CE device that boots from H/D) then you may have been struggling with how to image the hard drive - I have a couple of small reference boards (ICOP and AMD) that both have 128MB RAM can boot from
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Thursday, October 28, 2004 11:07 AM

Anyone interested in working as a Microsoft Partner Manager working for ARM INC ?

I received the an e-mail this morning from someone working at ARM - ARM are looking to recruit a Microsoft Partner Manager working for ARM INC - job spec can be found on ARM's web site here.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 5:37 PM

Linux - Get the Facts

Steve Ballmer sent out an executive e-mail today that discusses a number of independent analyst reports and customer case studies that compare the cost of deployment and maintenance of Windows vs. Linux and UNIX.Some of the studies were commissioned by
posted by mikehall | 21 Comments
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 9:54 AM

New Generation of handheld video/game players...

I've just seen an article on Engadget about the Playstation Portable (PSP) - IMVHO the device looks pretty darn cool (photo below) - it looks like the PSP will retail for around $200. As for battery life, Sony has gone on record to promise “between four
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Monday, October 25, 2004 8:50 PM

Robotics Programming Framework.

I received an e-mail from one of the guys attending the Embedded RFP in Cambridge (remember that?), the mail describes an initiative to develop a programming framework for robots using a managed programming language (C# or VB.NET) - Take a look at
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Monday, October 25, 2004 9:29 AM

More thoughts on PC Upgrade.

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 on an HP 864 PC - Media Center 2005 is awesome, each release of the Media Center software is better than the last, the 2005 release really is the best yet, really well thought out UI, all the most commonly
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Friday, October 22, 2004 11:01 PM

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - WinTV-PVR 250

I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and had some problems with my existing Tuner Card - so I replaced the existing card with a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 card - The Media Center has been working reasonably well, but once in a while the Cable
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Friday, October 22, 2004 10:01 AM

Consumer Electronics too Complicated ?

MetaFacts have run a survey of over 32,000 PC and non-PC users, it seems that most users think consumer electronics are too complicated for the average user to operate - what do you think ?- Mike
posted by mikehall | 8 Comments
Friday, October 22, 2004 9:46 AM

Talking of sports...

Some of my colleagues are confused by the game of Cricket, so I decided it was time to explain this simple game to them... here's the explanation.You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and
posted by mikehall | 8 Comments
Thursday, October 21, 2004 4:07 PM

Red Sock fan spotted at ARM Developers Conference...

posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Thursday, October 21, 2004 9:45 AM

MSN Messenger 6 - Plug in

One of the TSG (Tech Support Guys) working at the ARM Devcon has a plug in for MSN Messenger that provides a number of coolio enhancements to the MSN Messenger IM client - go check it out... (note that this is not a Microsoft product).- Mike 
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Thursday, October 21, 2004 9:37 AM

Red Sox - World Series...

I flew into San Jose last night and headed over to the Santa Clara convention center to check out the hands on labs for the Windows Embedded Summit that's running at the ARM Developers Conference today - the bar at the hotel was full of people watching
posted by mikehall | 10 Comments
Thursday, October 21, 2004 8:27 AM

Swatch SPOT

Swatch has now started shipping SPOT watches bringing the era of Dick Tracy wristwatch radios one step closer. As usual Swatch are producing some cool looking watches... Here's the story on MSNBC- Mike 
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 21, 2004 8:20 AM

Consiparcy Theory: Technology - Great Advances or Big Brother ?

I was reading some articles in Time Magazine on the flight from Seattle to San Jose about the American Elections, it's amazing to see how both sides are using technology to build monster databases that provide intelligence on potential voters, this includes
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 11:56 AM

CETK Test Fest - Tools and Managed Code.

Today is turning out to be a busy day - the morning got started with a presentation on Application Verifier, creating custom CETK tests, device drivers, and Win32 applications - one of the questions that came out of the discussion was whether Application
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 9:55 AM

Pocket PC Network Programming Book.

Steve Makofsky has written a book on Pocket PC Network Programming, if you are writing applications that need to connect with other devices then this would seem to be a pretty useful book (I've not read it, but have a copy on the way, so will read and
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:26 AM

Interview with Martin Taylor - Microsoft's Linux Expert.

vnunet.com is running an interview with Martin Taylor, Microsoft's Linux Expert - this is discussing desktop/server technologies, but still makes for an interesting read.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Monday, October 18, 2004 10:42 AM

Intelligent Devices ? - TV calls for help...

From ABC News - A Toshiba TV set that was malfuntioning called for help by transmitting on the international distress frequency - the first the owner knew of the problem was then Air Force rescue, Police and other authorities turned up at his front
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Monday, October 18, 2004 9:37 AM

Pocket PC Robot - Walking.

Joseph Wu has been busy working on his Pocket PC Robot - It looks like the robot has a limp, that's because one leg is using digital servos and the other leg is using analog servos. So only one leg can hold the weight of whole body.Joseph is planning
posted by mikehall | 11 Comments
Sunday, October 17, 2004 2:50 PM

You know you've been coding too long when...

I've just been up to Google, take a look at the snapshot of the page below, I had to do a double take - first time I looked below the "Google Search" button I was convinced this said (bool)
posted by mikehall | 7 Comments
Friday, October 15, 2004 9:50 PM

Watch Bill Gates unveil Windows XP Media Center 2005

There's a pretty cool video of Bill unveiling not only Windows XP Media Center 2005 but a range of media services and devices. The Media Extender box and Media Extender for XBOX look pretty interesting... Click the image below to see the video. - Mik
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Friday, October 15, 2004 5:20 PM

Word Processor for Windows CE ?

Windows CE 5.0 ships with Office (and PDF) file viewers, but what about creating content on a Windows CE based device - Pocket PC devices ship with "Pocket" versions of office applications - if you're a device developer and want to give your customers
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Friday, October 15, 2004 11:58 AM

Scott Horn doing Karaoke.

So, here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for, Scott Horn, Director of Marketing for the Mobile and Embedded Devices Group (MED) singing (after a fashion) "If you think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart.CAUTION: This content is for Adult Audiences only...Click
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Friday, October 15, 2004 8:05 AM

Windows XP Media Center Edition - Concept.

Microsoft has commisioned "One & Co" to produce concepts for how Media Center PC's might look in the future. [click the image for a larger view]Here's the story on News.com - I'm now running Windows XP Media Center 2005 on my home media center
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Friday, October 15, 2004 6:41 AM

W4D.com - Overview of MSN TV2 STB

If you have family or friends that don't have a PC (shame on them!) but want to be able to browse the web, do e-mail, basically have an entry level computing device that's connected to your TV and gives internet access then MSN TV2 is the device for them...
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 14, 2004 10:02 AM

Holy Old Laptop Multimon Batman !

I've been reading Charlie Kindels blog, keeping up to date with his home server projects (boy, CEJ sure does have a ton of data for a home user).My "dev" PC has three monitors hooked up, excellent for coding, debugging, etc... - but I also use a Tablet
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Thursday, October 14, 2004 9:32 AM

jkOnTheRun - Discussion of Tablet PC

Take a look at this Tablet PC article from jkOnTheRun - the article discusses why OEM's should consider creating a small form factor Tablet PC device - this does raise an interesting question, where do Tablet PC's and Pocket PC's cross over - is
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 1:35 PM

Employee Giving Campaign - and Scott Horn, Karaoke.

Microsoft Corporation has held an Employee Giving Campaign in each of the past 21 years. In the fall, Microsoft encourages employees to contribute to a cause they care about, and then matches their donation, dollar-for-dollar up to $12,000 each year,
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 9:21 AM

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - Launched.

Windows XP Media Center 2005 is all over the news today - check out some of the stories news.com - Sony, HP, Toshiba, Dell, and others are all launching their latest PC's running Windows XP Media Center 2005 news.com - photo's from the launch, including
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Monday, October 11, 2004 9:17 PM

Halo 2: Gone Gold ! - Roll on November 9th !

from the Bungie Web Site - They said it couldn't be done! Actually, they didn't say that, but if they had, we'd have proved them all (the fake people who didn't say anything) wrong! Halo 2 has gone gold. We finished every line of code, every pixel
posted by mikehall | 6 Comments
Monday, October 11, 2004 9:04 AM

Media Center PC 2005 - Extender - Bathroom?

found this on Steve Makofsky's WebLog - a Media Center Extender for the bathroomHow very cool is that! - I may have to build one of these...- Mike
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Sunday, October 10, 2004 5:47 PM

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

GamePC.com have a write up and screen shots of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 - looks pretty cool.Having the functionality of a Media Center PC based on Windows XP Embedded would be kinda cool, a device that boots directly into the Media Center
posted by mikehall | 3 Comments
Sunday, October 10, 2004 3:53 PM

Weekend, what weekend... (or, Laptop H/D Meltdown)

So, how does this start... oh yes, a call to the IT helpdesk mid-week Me - "Hi, my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC Hard Drive is making very loud knocking sounds"Helpdesk - "We will send a Tech over to take a look" (or have a listen!)A few of your earth minutes
posted by mikehall | 8 Comments
Friday, October 08, 2004 12:44 PM

MSR Cambridge - Sensecam.

Yet another interesting video from MSR Cambridge - this is an interview with Lindsay Williams - Lindsay has some interesting history, go check out the video.- Mike
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Thursday, October 07, 2004 5:02 PM

Teriyaki and Star Wars...

Today I had lunch at a teriyaki place just behind building 118, I was amazed to see Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker sitting on the table next to me, Obi-Wan (being a Jedi) was very adapt with using chopsticks, Luke appeared to be struggling somewhat
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Thursday, October 07, 2004 4:48 PM

Tweet, Ping, Bleep...

I must have a meeting in 15 minutes, my smartphone has just tweeted, my SPOT watch has just bleeped, and Outlook has just played a WAV file and thrown a meeting request up on the screen - wouldn't it be great for all my devices to 'vote' on who's going
posted by mikehall | 5 Comments
Thursday, October 07, 2004 3:24 PM

Robots, Robots everywhere...

A couple of days ago I posted an image of Joseph Wu's Pocket PC Robot, there was a TON of interest in this device, so it's only natural that I follow this up with another couple of examples of Microsoft 'hobbyist' robot projects, this time running Windows
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 07, 2004 2:55 PM

Windows CE "Get Embedded" - "Macallan" (Windows CE 5.0)

This months Windows CE "Get Embedded" article is now live on the web (somewhat later than expected, I've been busier than Mr Busy of Busyland running the Busytown parade), anyhow, this month we [finally] take a look at Windows CE 5.0, there's a ton of
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 07, 2004 2:34 PM

Head up display - portable media, game play ?

Ok, so how's this for an interesting idea... Mitsubishi are working on a wearable head up display, the name for this device is the "Scopo", the initial plans for this device are for the industrial control market, but may also be positioned for personal
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 1:57 PM

WE-DIG, Meeting Wednesday October 6th, Microsoft Campus, Building 34, 6:30pm

Don't forget that tomorrow evening (Wednesday October 6th) is the WE-DIG meeting, on Microsoft Campus, Building 34, starting at 6:30pm - topic for the evening is Windows XP Embedded - bring along your questions and issues, several members of the Windows
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 1:55 PM

Geek Meet @ Crossroads - Tonight 7pm

If you're in the Seattle/Redmond/Bellevue area then come along to the Crossroads shopping mall (food court) on 156th this evening at 7pm, Robert Scoble and others will be there for a Geek Meet - I'm hoping to scoot along to see what happens...- Mike
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 1:44 PM

Joseph Wu - Pocket PC Robot.

Joseph Wu, a software development engineer in the WDM team has been building a robot based on a Pocket PC.- here's an outline of the project from Joseph.I watched a lot of Japanese cartoons when I was a kid so I always wanted to make an android. 
posted by mikehall | 10 Comments
Tuesday, October 05, 2004 10:16 AM

The future of Windows XP Media Center Edition - Intel Announces the EPC.

I've had a Media Center PC for just over a year now, this is running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 (thanks to the Windows XP SP2 update), I initially intended to use the Media Center PC as both a Media Center and a general purpose PC, during the
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Monday, October 04, 2004 10:10 AM

Got the Jitters this morning...

After reading Charlie Kindel's Blog on home servers I decided to read further down the blog to see if there were any other interesting posts - I noticed that Charlie frequents "Jitters" coffee houses rather than Starbucks (I couldn't find a web page for
posted by mikehall | 1 Comments
Monday, October 04, 2004 9:56 AM

Halo2 - Release Date Nov 9th - How close is the game ?

Halo 2 is perhaps one of the most anticipated game releases this century (ok, so we're only 4 years into the century, but you know what I mean!) - November 9th is the scheduled release date, but how ready is the game ? - take a look at this interview
posted by mikehall | 7 Comments
Monday, October 04, 2004 9:54 AM

Giant Bugs Spotted at Mt St Helens...

Where's it going to end? - not only is Mt St Helens getting ready to erupt, but Giant Bugs are now swarming the area - see the image below from the Mt St Helens Volcano Cam...- Mike 
posted by mikehall | 9 Comments
Sunday, October 03, 2004 9:44 PM

Windows XP Embedded SP2 Tech Preview - Go get it!

Windows XP Embedded SP2 Tech PreviewWindows XP Embedded SP2 Tech Preview is available for you to download and start playing...There are several enhancements to Windows XP Embedded SP2, including....NET Framework 1.1Bluetooth SupportHibernate once, resume
posted by mikehall | 2 Comments
Saturday, October 02, 2004 10:02 PM

Volcano Research goes High-Tech

With Mt St Helens getting ready to blow it's top it's interesting to see the progression in Volcano and Quake (no, not the game!) technology - this News.com article compares the technologies being used to monitor earthquakes and volcanos - it's interesting
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 02, 2004 9:23 PM

Home Servers & Storage...

Charlie Kindel's Blog is running a series of articles on home servers and storage - Charlie is an interesting guy, I first met Charlie at the 1994 OLE Developers Conference in London, Charlie had a pretty interesting description of exactly how
posted by mikehall | 0 Comments