OpsanBlog

Windows Phone 7 Series Tablet Concept Video

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:20:00 GMT

Engadget gives us an interesting view of a Windows Phone 7 Series concept device as a tablet in “Windows Phone 7 tablet concept is just a big iPhone (video)”.

Actually, I like the way the stand doubles as a keyboard .. pretty useful media consumption device:

Tablet Concept - running Windows Phone 7 Series from umang on Vimeo.

Not @MIX10? Tune in to Channel 9 Live

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:47:00 GMT

Not everyone can make it to MIX10 in person, so Channel 9 is coming to the rescue by broadcasting LIVE from http://live.visitmix.com (this is the same URL as the keynotes).

Join the keynotes on stage, starting at 9am March 15th and 16th with the live stream beginning immediately after each day until 5:30pm.

The Channel 9 team will be tuned in to Twitter, so post your questions and comments as tweets to @ch9live (you have to follow them to tweet).

Thanks to Nic Fillingham for the Channel 9 Live broadcast schedule in: “Channel 9 Live at MIX10 – Who, What, Why, when and How?”.

Microsoft Live Labs Pivot

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:05:00 GMT

This is a way cool technology I saw at this year’s TED .. running atop SeaDragon, it’s an amazing new way to visually explore data.

When exploring the web, we tend to treat our interaction as separate activities .. we search for results and answers, we browse to similar information and we receive recommendations as we move about. Each step is typically discrete: that is, we move from one page to another, drilling in and clicking the ‘back’ button to re-acquire our original context.

:: whew ::

It is easier to watch than it is to describe:

Pivot focuses on the intersection of our web activities, allowing us to manage our desire for information into a unified experience.

Check out the TED video.

Learn more and Download Pivot from Live Labs.

Are you MIX-ing it up in Las Vegas?

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:04:00 GMT

If you aren’t, you should be! MIX10 is your opportunity to speak with us in the design, mobile and web context .. and our opportunity to share with you all the tools we provide to make it so.

Ready to register? Please visit the Registration page.

Not going? Going, but want the early bits as they happen?

Follow MIX10 on Twitter
MIX10 on Facebook
Peruse the MIX10 Sessions
Like your content in your reader? Connect to the MIX10 RSS Feed and get your updates in real time.

We are planning lots of live content online, so be sure to tune in.

TED Talk on Autism

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:02:00 GMT

Temple Grandin at TED this year, posted on YouTube: “The world needs all kinds of minds”:

More TED Talks.

Conan Tweets!

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:01:00 GMT

His first tweet:

Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me.

That scamp. Is there a band?

Follow Conan O’Brien on Twitter.

Check out his farewell to NBC in “Conan is all class”.

Windows Phone 7 Series Previewed at MWC

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:16:00 GMT

We just previewed Windows Phone 7 Series (a mouthful) at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. I’d give you the hands-on story, but I don’t have one yet .. for now, here’s a spiffy YouTube video:

Very smooth interface .. 4x4 screens that let you keep the information you want the most right at your fingertips.

In the news:

Gizmodo: “Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now” (great screenshots of the interface).
Engadget: “Windows Phone 7 Series is official, and Microsoft is playing to win”.
Microsoft News Center: “Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series”

Want more? Sign up for a backstage pass for updates and availability.

The new phones will be available holiday season 2010.

It’s a “Moonbow”

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:23:00 GMT

Thanks to an OffBeatMammal for sharing “Where Are The Moonicorns?: Moonbow Picture” from the Geekologie blog. Check out the photo:

This looks like a rainbow .. but it’s not. Captured in long-exposure photography, the camera picks up differences in color the eye would miss in dim light.

How to NOT spend $2.5 MILLION on a Super Bowl Ad ..

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:24:00 GMT

.. and get lots of exposure anyway. Here’s how ManCrunch (a gay dating site) did it:

Produce a slightly shiny, slightly kitschy, slightly provocative commercial about subject content that makes the network uncomfortable.
Offer the going rate of $2.5 million for your spot in the commercial line-up.
Get rejected: Not shiny enough? Too provocative? Whatever.
Let the story hit the interwebs.

Just look at all the money they saved. But what did they get?

Publicity. Lots of it. Cannot swing a dead cat on the video sites without running across this. Note that we’ve seen guys kiss on super bowl commercials before .. remember the Snickers ad from 2007?
Impressions. Lots of them, and well before the game. 207,000 on YouTube so far and thousands more scattered around the video sites.
News. Bing gives us these answers to the search.

Super Bowl XLIII had an estimated 98.7 million viewers, per KiwiPulse (“Super Bowl XLIII Commercials 2009: Final”). It remains to be seen how many of those viewers saw any of the ads, and if they’d see this one.

Folks get nuts about these commercials. They talk about them for weeks prior, ensure they’re in their seats at the appropriate (and publicized time) to see them during the game and then go to aggregation sites to watch the line-up of what they’ve missed. That rate them, trash them, discuss them at the water cooler and espresso bars for days.

It’s bigger than this though. Is this a hoax, or very clever marketing? I’m guessing the latter, and I applaud the chaps who put it together.

We’ve seen eHarmony and Match.com ads on the television .. these sites position themselves more as ‘relationship’ (versus ‘hookup’) sites. I cannot tell from the limited information thus far, where ManCrunch site on that scale.

I suspect we’ll all know more in the coming weeks. Will be fun to watch. Thanks to Jessi for the referral.

Internet Explorer Patch: If you didn’t get it through Windows Update ..

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:01:00 GMT

.. and you should have (I did), apply this critical security patch. Select your operating system and browser version. The patch checks to see if it has been applied and advises you whether to proceed.

The cumulative security update resolves seven privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The most severe made the news and could allow an attacker to control your system.

If you use Microsoft Windows Update (embedded in Vista and Windows 7; URL is for older operating systems) on a regular basis, or have automatic updates enabled, you should have the patch .. but it doesn't hurt to check.

‘Titanic’ Sunk .. by ‘Avatar’

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:52:00 GMT

The King of the World, James Cameron has done it again: helming the world’s biggest movie (by box office): ‘Avatar’ just replaced ‘Titanic’ in this honor.

Thanks to MSNBC for “‘Avatar’ sinks ‘Titanic’ as world's biggest movie”.

Conan is all class

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:34:00 GMT

IQ and Cholesterol, Part 6

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:48:00 GMT

The latest numbers, and some comparisons from the last tests (15 months prior):

Weight: 185 (0)
Cholesterol: 197 (+13)
HDL: 47 (-6)
LDL: 122 (+12)
Systolic: 102 (-8)
Diastolic: 62 (-8)
Sleeping Pulse: 48 (-2)
Resting Pulse: 52 (-8)
Aerobic Pulse (185 pounds burning 1050 cal/hour): 126 (-9)

I've posted these over time:

IQ and Cholesterol Level
IQ and Cholesterol Level, part Deux
IQ and Cholesterol, Part 3
IQ and Cholesterol, Parts 4 and 5 (the last one was tricky; I’d pleaded to go off Lipitor as I’d made such good progress .. no dice).

I need to do some dietary review .. the cholesterol numbers are all going the wrong way. Other stuff is good though .. will test again in July.

Still Bing-ing?

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:32:00 GMT

Why yes, yes you are. Lots of you, in fact. And why not? The quality of results is superb, and decisions are better than questions.

According to recent ComScore report, not only are the searches increasing, but the rate at which they’re increasing is increasing.

Some nice analysis from TechCrunch: “Bing Is Growing Faster Than Ever, Keeps Gaining Search Market Share”.

Verizon and Data Plan Pricing Changes

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:40:00 GMT

Seems like only yesterday, that I posted “In the “I’m not surprised” realm .. Verizon and Data Plan Pricing Changes”, calling out some changes Verizon may have been considering in the mobile data realm, thanks to the AT&T ‘education’ with data-heavy iPhone devices.

Oh. It was yesterday.

For the record: I’m not psychic (or psycho, for that matter), but Unstrung posts a great analysis of Verizon’s plans in “Verizon Mandates 3G Data Plans” calling out such fun facts as (quotes from the article):

all new 3G "multimedia" phone users will have to purchase mandatory data plans with their contracts
the mandatory data plan starts Jan. 18 -- and it's mandatory whether the customer uses it or not
The minimum spend is $9.99 for a 25-megabyte-per-month package and $29.99 for an "unlimited" one, which is actually capped at 5 GBytes a month. The previous $19.99 data package option for 3G multimedia phones has been dropped

On data versus voice, the article quotes:

Regular readers of Unstrung will recall that top Verizon Wireless executives have been saying for a couple of years that unlimited data is an unsustainable model for wireless carriers looking to make data -- rather than voice -- their cash cow in the future.

Regardless of who said it: I think they’re right, and for some reasons like the following:

physics (not management, not the market) will test bandwidth capacity in an ever-growing mobile market .. it is unlikely that wireless carriers can deploy enough antennas to serve the mobile phone population over the long term .. even in sparsely-populated regions, I’m guessing accountants will hold sway over antenna construction crews.
extremely valuable BI referenced in “ATT Data Capacity Challenges” has demonstrated that a small number of data-hungry users can impact an entire infrastructure .. for today, it’s AT&T .. tomorrow, the world!

Change is good .. for the (smart shopping) consumer, and those with two-year contracts. Read the fine print, examine your personal use cases (voice versus data) and make your decisions carefully before signing a new contract.

Why is Quicktime a manual install on FaceBook?

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:39:00 GMT

That is, you have to visit their home page and click through a bunch of stuff.

Better than it was: thankfully, you don’t need to download iTunes to get Quicktime (however, there was a time).

Lame.

Apple doods: sort this out. It’s a big pond.

In the “I’m not surprised” realm .. Verizon and Data Plan Pricing Changes

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:05:00 GMT

AT&T took on the iPhone with some RSGs making intelligent guesses with regard to data plan usage. The result? They were mostly right. However, News referenced in “ATT Data Capacity Challenges” and “Friday’s “Operation Chokehold” .. for shame” (links within the articles) suggest they (understandably) underestimated demand. How would anyone predict such a behemoth?

That aside, other carriers (including Verizon) have collected massive amounts of data on usage (and PR) challenges experienced by AT&T.

Why, you might ask? I think the iPhone arrived at the same time the third wave (of social technology) did. The iPhone (and, for that matter, smartphones, in general) gave users, looking only for their experience a means to access their data, in their time frame. “Information Snacking”, anyone?

Back to the facts (only because I’m usually way to early to declare myself as “right”): CNET: “Verizon looks for more revenue in wireless data”.

Social Networking: The “Third Wave” Explained

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:42:00 GMT

I’ve been quoting this (a bunch) of late and promised to write a post. This puts me into dangerous territory .. I am wearing a fireproof suit.

This is as best that I can explain Social Networking technology adoption (purely from observations) at the 200,000-foot level.

The first wave included geeks, techies and an enlightened mouthpiece or three (I’m in the third batch, with smatterings of the first two).

The second wave included the ‘cool kids’: folks who could use ‘it’, base (or extend) their careers on ‘it’ and famous folks (celebrities and celebutards), politicians and social lights with great PR staffs. Enlightened mouthpieces were here as well, riding the wave and advising.

The third wave (here’s the pain .. for them, and for us) includes:

Your mom.
Your dad.
Your non-technical friends.
Your butcher, your baker and your candlestick maker.
Your bartender (the guy / gal with the Acer netbook from CostCo). Keep these kids close: they know the WiFi codes at your watering hole.
The rest of your kids (your hipsters adopted in the second wave).
Most everyone else.

How did these waves behave?

The first wave was paranoid .. but for technical reasons. These folks wanted to play in the new sandbox, but were careful of what they said, posted, shared, etc. Without this group, we’d never have worked out the bugs.
The second wave was paranoid .. but for PR reasons. They accepted the system had flaws, and chose to share only what they wanted to appear .. in carefully-worded statements (with the exception of the celebutards, who posted not-so-carefully-worded statements themselves .. PR handlers hate the iPhone).
The third wave appears to have no clue. Pictures of crazy activities (silly hats and drunken poses), posts of “I’m on vacation this week and I love it” (meaning their house .. the address of which they shared somewhere, is unoccupied), “I’m eating a bagel for breakfast”, and the like.

Apply this to Twitter and Facebook (both of whom who reached heights in roughly the same timeframe), but not so much to MySpace .. they reached the second wave early, but did not go as mainstream, for any number of reasons. Windows Live? In the game, and with huge worldwide numbers, but not exactly critical mass in cocktail conversation.

What do you think?

Forks, WA on Radar

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:25:00 GMT

I find it amusing that KOMO-TV (our local ABC affiliate) sees fit to include Forks, Washington (the fictitious adopted home town of Bella Swann, for the uninitiated) in their KOMO News Doppler Radar.

Of course, the Forks Chamber of Commerce has embraced the Twilight set .. so, why not a metropolitan television station that’s 140 miles away?

Actually: I can forgive KOMO for that; their radar does great work in showing weather patterns along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and on the Washington coastline. This was just a fun observation (I’m looking to recover certain joys in the new year).

So .. an DIY ‘terrorist’ plays with a lap-based chemistry set ..

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:45:00 GMT

.. and TSA won’t allow electronics on airplanes?

If electronics were an issue on planes, they’d have been banned long ago. Remember the laptop that caught fire a few years back? Caused by a cracked Li-Ion battery (exposed to oxygen, Lithium isn’t too friendly), it is far more dangerous than powders and liquids in the amounts that pass through security.

Anyhow, it’s still in the rumor phase (Happy Holidaze, TSA wonks .. bet this is interrupting your turkey dinners) .. let’s hope that sensible heads prevail.

Great argument for just carrying a book, per TechCrunch: “TSA To Save Print Media? No Electronics On International Flights? What A Joke.”

Friday’s “Operation Chokehold” .. for shame

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:35:00 GMT

If you participate, shame on you. Get a life. Your desire to participate in a protest at the expense of vital services is tantamount to terrorism.

I don’t consider the viewing of a YouTube video or streaming Internet radio (get an FM chip and support your local radio station, willya?) to be a vital service. For those of us need to stay connected; relying on SMS or email alerts to live their lives (think about a wage slave (like me) who needs to know their child is ill at school). Potential affect on 911 services, for that matter .. such behavior is reprehensible.

Now that I have your attention .. what is “Operation Chokehold”, you might ask? In the news:

On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. The idea is we'll create a digital flash mob. We're calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!

This is from the Gizmodo post: “Operation Chokehold A Plan to Destroy ATT This Friday”.

I’m not keen on bad service as the next guy, but let’s look at the map (okay, the Verizon map from their TV commercials, if you must): when it comes right down to it, data services only really suck in areas like LA, San Francisco and NYC. According to customer reports, the service is already at (or near) its knees in these markets. Big meetings of techies also suffer bad data service (our company meeting, for example). So:

Why must this be a nationwide effort? If it sucks where you live, why try to kill it even more? If it doesn’t, why bother?
Who is really learning what from this exercise? That the service is bad? That you’re mad at your carrier?
Do you think that a cell carrier can expand their network by this Friday to accommodate spoiled brats with data-hungry iPhones?
Do you think some folks need to unplug this month? It is the holidaze, after all.

AT&T offers (read: charges) an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) data plan with a two-year commitment for iPhone users. Bully. They should. They made the decision to take all the risk (note that other carriers are sitting back and watching .. although bids, negotiation and contracts have something to do with it) on a popular consumer device. Note that this is a device that had no reliable reference / track record as to potential data usage .. usage that might cause service-level-agreement (SLA) challenges. Beyond failing SLAs, the risks include garnering press like this (disclaimer: I post, therefore, I am):

OpsanBlog: “iPhone: The Hummer of Cell Phones?” and “ATT Data Capacity Challenges”.
Fake Steve Jobs (aka Daniel Lyons): “Operation Chokehold”.
Yahoo Tech Blog: “AT&T condemns "Operation Chokehold" as "irresponsible," "pointless"”.
CultOfMac: “AT&T Responds to Fake Steve’s Operation Chokehold”

Kids: one-price AYCE exists in food services. Think buffets in Las Vegas; but check out your home town (Granny’s Buffet and such). Use cases herein are far more predictable than a discovery-based, subscription model (what is the next-coolest application I simply MUST have on my mobile device .. for two days, give or take). Note that there isn’t a one-price AYCE for gasoline or electrical power.

So, please; resist the urge to drain your battery life in something this silly and irresponsible.

ATT Data Capacity Challenges

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:16:00 GMT

I’ve been keeping an eye on the data usage woes currently felt by AT&T. Most of these are blamed on high usage by iPhone users .. here’s a “whoa” quote:

“Just 3 percent of ‘smart’ phone users are consuming 40 percent of the network capacity ..”

Ouch.

Back in September, I posted “iPhone: The Hummer of Cell Phones?”, referencing a New York Times article from when the problem was starting to gain some notoriety. The current five-gigabyte monthly cap on data usage isn’t doing much to quell usage of high-volume customers.

One culprit: always on, constantly streaming internet radio. Another: videos (apparently lots and lots of videos).

One way to stem the tide: better (read: near-real time) consumption reporting, helping users to see when they’re getting to the limit. Problematic for an ‘unlimited’ data plan, at best (requires re-writing the plan). An FM chip wouldn’t hurt either (does the iPhone have an FM chip? My HTC Fuze and HTC Tilt 2 devices do).

In the news:

MSNBC: “AT&T: Tighter control of cell data usage ahead”.
MSN MoneyCentral: “AT&T may have to limit iPhone users”.
Breitbart: “AT&T: Tighter control of cell data usage ahead”.

Far from over. Stay tuned.

Must find hosting for OpsanBlog

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:42:00 GMT

I tinkered with WordPress over the holiday weekend .. was fun, but to no avail. The import from my antiquated .Text (0.9) foiled my aspirations.

I need:

A place to host this blog.
A means to export a fair bit of prior content (comments are not as important as the articles themselves .. happy to take on the task of moving the comments manually). Suggests BlogtML .. but I don’t have a (some) click converter.
“Expected” functionality:

Ability to control / approve / remove comments en masse.
Ability to place adverts for those who like to click on them.
Editing offline, via email or Windows Live Writer.

Suggestions, comments, connections?

Thanks in advance.

Windows Azure at PDC09

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:59:00 GMT

As announced at PDC09, Windows Azure is a core component of our “three screens and a cloud” strategy. We released a Community Technology Preview only a year ago (at PDC08) for early adopters.

It’s been a busy year: our teams have engaged with customers, partners and developers, listening, learning and reshaping the Azure offering to go live.

During the PDC09 day 1 keynote featuring Ray Ozzie and Bob Muglia, we announced a phased roll-out plan for Window Azure with initial customer billing going into effect on February 1, 2010. We highlighted several customers already going live on the platform, including:

Lokad delivers sales, demand and call volume forecasts for more than 300 customers ranging from small e-commerce companies to multinational retailers. Advanced forecasting tools and models required significantly more computing power than the company had available, so Lokad implemented their software-plus-services forecasting application on the Windows Azure platform and as a result, reduced IT maintenance costs compared to traditional approaches while delivering more powerful and accurate forecasts to its customers. Happy to add that Lokad is a BizSpark One company. Review the case study.
Kelly Blue Book is a premier provider of vehicle pricing information to consumers, automotive dealers, governments, finance and insurance industries. Already deployed on the .NET platform, the company decided to host and manage the Web site using a software-plus-services model. The company implemented the Windows Azure platform, easily transferring their code base into the cloud and reduced capital expenditures for new hardware and use IT resources more strategically. Review the case study.

Windows Azure is designed as a cloud OS for the future, yet made familiar for our current tool set, thus making it easy to extend developer skills and current code bases into the cloud.

We’ve a number of case studies for you to review on the “Windows Azure Platform - Case Studies” .. many more to come!

In the news:

Progress Announcements at PDC09

Michael Coates - Microsoft Pragmatic Evangelist — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:40:00 GMT

In previous years, PDC has been a ‘futures’ conference .. what’s next, what will be hot, what can you play with and provide feedback, etc.

PDC09 was a bit different. REAL products, REAL platforms (not to mention REAL tablet / laptops to the attendees). Lots of progress announced at this year .. we’ve made tremendous progress since the last PDC. We see:

Tremendous ongoing success of Xbox Live.
Recent successes of Bing.
Our online business productivity services.

There’s more:

We will be releasing Office Web Applications (now in beta).
Windows Azure has taken center stage at this PDC; has only been a year since we announced the platform .. and we announced pricing (starting in January 2010) this year. We even introduced companies on the stage at PDC who are going live on Azure.
Powered by Azure, we are continuing to deliver on our strategy of providing compelling multi-screen experiences, and enabling skill and investment leverage for users, developers and IT.

There’s more (there always is). Stay tuned.