Mana Bar opening March 20, free games, free drinks
If there’s one sure fire way to make sure the launch of your bar is a massive success, its to give away free drinks, free gaming and prizes. The official grand opening of Australia’s first video game bar – The Mana Bar, is happening on Saturday, 20th March.
If your anywhere near 420 Brunswick st, Fortitude Valley, QLD, then get your ass to the event and experience what’s sure to be one hell of an awesome night. As a Victorian, I’m very jealous right now.
More @ http://manabar.com.au
Happy Birthday from Windows Live
As someone who lives in the Microsoft world, I like hundreds of millions of others, have Live Mail accounts. Part of my Live ID profile information is my birth date. It turns out my birthday is 2 days away and today I received ‘Happy Birthday from Windows Live’ email. A nice touch (with some marketing built in).
Not sure how long Microsoft has been doing this, but since signing up to hotmail in 2001, this is the first time I remember getting an email like this.
They were however beat by Boost Juice by a few days, which offer a free Boost Juice on member’s birthdays.
Mobile World Congress: Microsoft keynote tomorrow morning
At 1am AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time) Microsoft will take the stage at Mobile World Congress for their keynote. Amidst a number of other companies keynoting Microsoft’s is highly anticipated, set to announce Windows Mobile 7.
After being heavily criticised for an incomplete, unpolished 6.5 release, the Windows Mobile team need to have an impressive release for Windows Mobile to be seen as a serious competitor in today’s smart phone market. Also the conditions and pricing of the developer deal needs to change to incentivise developers back to the Windows Mobile platform.
It’s expected Microsoft will integrate Zune in Windows Phones to compete with the iTunes on the iPhone. There’s also rumours online that we’ll see the introduction of My Phone 2. There’s been a lot of stories around today that WinMo7 won’t support Flash out of the box, but may ad it in the months to come. This seems to come from a single source, so we’ll have to wait till tomorrow’s keynote for official confirmation. I hope they at least have some kind of flash support, even if it’s Flash Lite.
I’m also seriously hoping for some new, innovative user experiences from Microsoft. Copying the competition isn’t enough to gain the attention of the smart phone market, they need to leapfrog the competition. The HTC HD2 is currently the best Windows Mobile device.. will we see a new introduction tomorrow that’ll take that crown ?
Microsoft do a great job (Apple, take note) of streaming their events live online, so head over to http://microsoft.com if your stupid like me and are getting up at 1am to watch live. Microsoft’s mobile site will also have all the details post-event – http://microsoft.com/windowsmobile
The event will also be live blogged by one of Australia’s best Microsoft bloggers – Long Zheng from iStartedSomething.com in collaboration with Tom Warren from Neowin.net.
The best of CES 2010
With CES all wrapped up, I took a chance to outline the trends and more interesting announcements from the biggest electronics conference of the year.
Big CES Themes
With thousands of products announced and/or released during CES, popular trends quickly emerged. These were:
HDTVs – It seems every manufacturer under the sun has jumped on the 3D bandwagon, introducing 3D into their 2010 lineup. Unfortunately they’re all competing to have the best implementation, so not all are using the same technology. Some opt for the more expensive, better active shutter glasses, others going for the cheaper polarised 3D.
As TV’s grow to enormous sizes, even the best looking 1080p starts look average. The solution is the next iteration of quality – 4k, twice the horizontal and twice the vertical pixel count of 1080. Existing 1080p owners don’t need to stress, 4k content is few and far between.
Slate PCs – Announced in Microsoft’s keynote, the term Slate PCs were everywhere. Slates are effectively tablets that have been around for years, minus the physical keyboard, plus a capacitive touchscreen. This means no more stylus, an on-screen keyboard and they now run Windows 7. Implementations ranged from decent to terribly unresponsive. Despite many manufacturers giving this a shot, it seems the market is still prime for Apple to own with a fantastic user experience. That is of course if the iSlate exists at all.
Netbooks – With new processors, even better battery life should arrive in the next generation netbooks. There’s been a crucial update in resolution, now getting up to 1366×768. Many manufacturers are also experimenting with different industrial design, ultimately providing more options for consumer preferences.
Boxee box – A combination of slick D-Link hardware featuring the new Nvidia Tegra 2 graphics, and boxee’s software. This is just one example (probably the best) hardware box to get online video content to your HDTV. Boxee also made the beta of their software public. Get it yourself from http://boxee.tv
Smarter cars – Having a standard iPod dock is so yesterday. One display was Ford’s latest edition of Sync. Built on Microsoft Automotive technology (running on Windows Embedded), you can now plug-in a supported 3G wireless dongle and create a Wi-Fi hotspot on wheels. This allows your passengers to use the internet connection from their laptop, smart phone etc. Add this to Voice commands, GPS, smarter cruise controls and our cars are about to get a whole lot smarter.
Microsoft Keynote
CES began with a keynote from Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer. His presentation ran through a lot of information, most of which we’d heard before. Here’s a summary anyway.
- Windows 7 is fastest selling OS ever.
- Xbox 360 now sold 39 million consoles, 500 million games
- Announced Game Room (old school games, cross platform)
- Natal release date – December 2010
- Halo 3: Reach trailer shown (Some rubbish about IP rights meant this wasn’t shown on the live stream)
- No mention of Home Server
- No mention of Windows Mobile 6.5.3 or 7
Slate PC’s from HP and others
http://www.winandmac.com/news/microsoft-new-slate-pc-revealed-its-running-windows-7/
Noteworthy
As well as trends, there was a bunch of interesting products announced. These aren’t necessarily the best, but ones I thought you’ll find interesting.
Lenovo’s U1, Laptop + Slate.
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/04/lenovos-u1-is-a-netbook-with-removable-tablet/
Intel announce Widi, stream desktop to HDTV
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/intel-announces-widi-hd-wireless-display-technology/
Panasonic 152" 4k Plasma TV
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/panasonics-152-inch-plasma-dwarfs-all-who-stand-in-its-way/
Microsoft Arc Keyboard
http://www.everythingusb.com/microsoft-arc-keyboard-18300.html
ATI Eyefitinty, allows gaming across multiple monitors, Nvidia: coming soon
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/ostendo-multiple-crvd-display-games-on/
Concepts
Not everything at CES will end up making it to market, or if they do it may be 2-3 years away from being production ready.
Samsung see-through laptop display
http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/samsung-presents-worlds-first-and-largest-transparent-oled-laptop-at-ces/
Vizio 21:9 HDTV
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/vizio-ces-concept-designs-show-a-future-of-ultrawidescreen-ultr/
Special mention to TWiT Live and their fantastic coverage during CES. I watched it for hours and got a real sense of being there, despite living on the other side of the world. My biggest issue was how much data it was using, turns out a 1Mbps video stream uses quite a bit per hour. With our caps in Australia, I really wish our ISPs would unmeter some of this type of content.
2010 CES Microsoft Keynote info launched early
Despite the keynote just getting underway (after a power issue), the webpage covering a lot of the content has already been published – http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2010/jan10/01-06CESKeynote.mspx
Check out all the details below.
LAS VEGAS – Jan. 6, 2010 – The Consumer Electronics Association kicked off the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) tonight with a pre-show opening keynote by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Entertainment & Devices President Robbie Bach.
Over 110,000 manufacturers, content providers, corporate buyers, engineers and media people converge each year in Las Vegas to identify the latest trends in consumer technology. More than 2,500 exhibitors show off their gadgets and technologies — from e-readers and 3-D televisions to free-standing solar panel systems.
During his keynote Ballmer highlighted the unprecedented innovation in the consumer electronics industry during 2009. Despite the economic turmoil the industry continued to deliver exciting new products and services at pace and, in Ballmer’s view, is set up for continued success.
Consumers Choosing Microsoft
2009 was a big year for Microsoft according to Ballmer, and he was optimistic about the opportunities to continue the success in 2010. From Windows 7 and Bing to Xbox LIVE, Microsoft has rolled out products that have won praise from reviewers and strong acceptance from consumers, and the company has a pipeline of exciting new products planned for 2010.
Ballmer highlighted recent success, starting with the latest sales numbers on Windows 7, and showcased some of the innovative new hardware manufacturers continue to roll out.
Windows 7
•Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling operating system in history. PC sales jumped nearly 50 percent the week Windows 7 launched.
•On Black Friday, retailers sold 63 percent more PCs than they did the year before.
•According to NPD, the 2009 holiday season saw greater than 50 percent year-over-year growth for Windows PC sales.
Current and future hardware shown on stage included:
•A new touch-enabled slate PC from HP
•The Sony VAIO L all-in-one laptop built for HD entertainment and multimedia content creation, and including a 24-inch touchscreen
•The Lenovo A300, one of the thinnest PCs yet at just 18mm, but with a 21.5-inch HD widescreen LED display
Bing
Bing saw big progress in 2009. Ballmer confirmed that in the few months following its introduction in June, Bing had added 11 million new users and grown market share.
In addition, Ballmer announced that Microsoft and HP are teaming up on search and portal experiences. Bing will be the default search engine, and MSN the default homepage on HP PCs in 42 countries.
Xbox and Xbox LIVE
Ballmer looked back at 2009 and confirmed that Xbox and Xbox LIVE set new records:
•There are now over 39 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world, and more than 500 million games have been sold.
•Between Christmas and New Years Day, Xbox LIVE experienced its busiest week ever, adding a new member every second and a record of more than 2.2 million concurrent members online.
•Nearly 10 million people have logged into Xbox LIVE’s nongaming applications — Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm, Sky, Canal and Zune — using their Xbox as a way to stay connected to friends and family.
•Xbox LIVE membership is now an active community of over 20 million people.
Windows Phones
Following the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 in October, Ballmer announced the upcoming exclusive availability of the HTC HD2 in partnership with T-Mobile USA, Inc. and HTC. Like other Widows phones on the market, the HD2 offers great customer experiences through an easy-to-use interface, extensive browsing capabilities and access to valuable services.
Delivering on the Connected Entertainment Vision
Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division President Robbie Bach followed Ballmer on stage and outlined the company’s strategy of connecting the personal computer, mobile devices, television and the Internet.
In an interview before CES, Bach discussed the potential of technology to change the entertainment experience. “We’ve reached a point with technology where it’s very feasible to listen to or watch whatever you want, whenever you want, whether on your smartphone, laptop or a connected TV in the comfort of your living room,” he said. “That concept of greater control is compelling to many people. It’s all about tying together these disparate technologies into a digital entertainment experience that’s consistent, easy to use and relevant to consumers’ needs.”
Mediaroom 2.0
As part of Microsoft’s digital entertainment strategy, Microsoft announced Microsoft Mediaroom 2.0, the next version of its Internet Protocol Television solution for service providers such as AT&T U-verse. Mediaroom 2.0 gives service providers the ability to offer their subscribers features such as these:
•The ability to stream live and on-demand content to the TV but also devices such as PCs and phones
•The same on-demand experience on the PC with Windows Media Center in Windows 7
Xbox Gaming and “Project Natal”
Xbox plays a multifaceted role in Microsoft’s digital entertainment strategy from gaming to changing the face of social entertainment, and Bach highlighted exciting plans for 2010:
•An lineup of what promises to be blockbuster exclusive games including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, Crackdown 2, Mass Effect 2, Alan Wake, and Fable 3
•The release of what will likely be the biggest game of the year, Halo Reach, continuing the Halo saga
•The new Game Room on Xbox LIVE, which will be the place to relive the glory days of arcade games, with over 1000 games being released throughout the next three years.
Then Bach gave a behind-the-scenes look at the work behind “Project Natal,” the controller-free gaming experience that tracks movement of the body and facial expressions, and even responds to your voice.
Scheduled to be available in holiday season 2010, “Project Natal” is only the most recent example of Microsoft’s work creating natural user interfaces. Other examples include Microsoft Surface, Windows Touch and Ford SYNC, the voice-controlled, in-car communications and entertainment system that Microsoft jointly developed with Ford.
Tech.Ed Australia 2009 [video]
While at Tech.Ed last week, I took a bunch of photos and videos. What better way to show that off, than an Animoto video.
Feel free to share it around, especially with other Tech.Ed attendees.
Tech.Ed Australia 09 Keynote Photosynth
Check out this Photosynth, taken by multiple cameras at this years Microsoft Tech.Ed Keynote. If your an attendee, see if you can find yourself.
As an added bonus, there’s also a competition to find hidden object in the synth. For more information check out MSTechEd.