Fascinating research projects presented at Microsoft’s TechFest 2010

When brains at Microsoft Research Labs are at work, we can  definitely expect some path breaking techno developments. Techfest 2010 at Redmond witnessed many such demos on various projects. Lets have a look at some of them:

1. The Translating phone and The Transcriptor: Transcriptor generates a live transcript of the coversation we have over a call on a PC based communicator. The scripts are merged in email as well for searching.

The Translator is a wonderful concept that takes away the about the difference of language we might have over an important client call or anything like that. The translator translates the speech of the person on the other side of the phone to the language you want at real time. This 2-way translator also generates a live translated transcript. Find out more about the project @ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/transcriptor/default.aspx

2. Project Gustav: Project Gustav is a creative endeavor of Microsoft to make digital painting a perfect realistic experience. It is a realistic painting system prototype that simulates natural, real-world painting environment.

For a better knowhow of the project visit the official page on Project Gustav.

3. Skinput: Skinput is a technology that favors the skin of our body to be used as an input device. Various signals like location of finger taps are collected by sensors worn as armbands. To know more about the Skinput check out http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gustav/default.aspx

4. Mobile Surface: It aims at making any surface around you as a touch interface surface by linking together a mobile device, camera and a projector. It allows you to project an image on any surface and interact with it even without touching the image.

Click on http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/mobilesurface/default.aspx for more information.

An altogether new world of technologies. Exciting!! Isn’t it?? Lets wait and watch how these project finally turn out. Till then keep reading and commenting.

Now Listen to Blogs and Articles as MP3

Are you hard-pressed with time and that is the reason you find sometimes difficult to be updated with the latest articles, news snippets and blog posts? To make reading simple, here is a latest innovation that will help you to convert your text article to audio file. Amazing isn’t it? Additionally it can happen in just few simple steps. Just read on…

Carryout Text is the latest FREE web service that will help you convert your simple text file into an audio file.This software is simple to use and is available with no additional cost.

Instead of spending time by reading an article, you can convert that particular text file into a MP3 format and listen to it while working out in the treadmill.

So, the greatest advantage of Carryout Text is to get more things done in less time.

How to use this software application?

In the Carryout Text website do a copy and paste of the selected article and finally click on the submit to process button. This will help you get the MP3 file. All you need to do is download it into MP3 player or iPod and tune into the latest buzz, news and views. Remember to download the created audio MP3 files because CarryoutText does Not keep them stored for long time. Automatically these files will be removed the next day after creation.

Isn’t it cool guys !  Dont forget to CLICK HERE to get my updates….

World around Twitter – sending multiple DMs

Direct messages (DM) are like private tweets that can be sent to one Twitter user at a time and also only to those users who are following you. It is quite similar to sending emails. Once a direct message is sent, it will not be available for public viewing, the tweet pops up in the Tweet user inbox. The sender can see that in the sent items.

However, the bigggest limitation of sending DMs through twitter is that tweets are restricted to only single user. Additionally, Twitter does not allow to send direct messages to people who don’t follow you.

But now you can send direct messages to multiple users with TweetGuru MultiDM web service/application.

To send direct messages to multiple users, you can log in to TweetGuru.com using your Twitter account details. TweetGuru is nothing but an application based on twitter. Grant access to Tweetguru to connect to your Twitter account. Again, TweetGuru is fully compatible with your mobile browsers as well.

Aha ! From your iPhone or Blackberry, you can send replies for the birthday wishes that you have received with Direct Messages. But, here again there is a limitation and that is the multiple DMs can be sent to not more than 12 users at a time.

Go ahead and begin sending DMs now to more than one tweet user…. for over enthusiastic Twitter users, you can try ScreenTweet.com for a range of image, video based tweeting !

BumpTop: The desktop environment re-defined

Bored of the same stereotype ikons and their arrangement on your desktop? Here is a new 3D, intuitive, physics enabled desktop interface that gives you an experience that you haven’t had before.  BumpTop makes your desktop look and feel like a real desk where in you can pile up the files, flip through them like you do on your desk. It can be downloaded to Windows XP, Vista and Mac. It comes with wonderful multi-touch feature in Windows 7.

Out of many, few features are:

Instant Organization: You can toss the file on to printer to print them, to recycle bin to delete it or pile up the icons into a stack. Flip through them like a book or organize them into a grid. It is fun to see different icons bump into each other. It automatically filters the documents as we type the name and then piles them up. Much like your own room you can pin up, rotate the photographs. Multi-selection cannot get easier; you just need to make a circle around the files you need to select.

Social Networking: For all the social Networking lovers if you need to change your pic on the various sites like facebook, twitter, you just have to drop in your icon on the facebook and twitter icons on your desktop.

Check out the BumpTop site for more details on these features and download it to have fun with this desktop interferace.

A Digital gift in this digital age- Digital photo frame

Kodak photo films are passé and gone are the days when people took effort for developing the photos, storing them in album and taking them out to show them to friends and relatives. With the advent of digital camera, clicking photos in multitude of poses with no additional cost has transformed each individual with the ability to click to a photographer. Conventional cameras were dependent on many mechanical and chemical processes before a photograph is printed, but digital camera is entirely an electronic device and nothing can happen without electricity.

Today, things have also changed as how the photos are displayed. To relive moments digitally and emotionally, digital photo frame has taken the centre stage. It is one of the most wonderful ways to display your cherished moments in life.

With digital photo frame you need not take print out of photos to show them to your near and dear ones. Instead, you can directly transfer the selected photos from your digital camera memory card into the digital photo frame or download them via e-mail. Digital photo frame is another challenging technological innovation, a device that contains a LCD screen with high resolution picture clarity and memory cards besides add on features such as remote control, MP3 player and even light sensors. Some digital photo frames are available with touchscreen option and even built-in speakers.

In simple language, digital photo frame is nothing but a picture frame that helps to display the digital photos without a computer. It’s a portable device and the photographs can be better stored and organized. Digital photo frames are extremely simple to operate and provides with clear images. Photographs are displayed in a slide show and one can enjoy it sitting snugly in the comfort of one’s home.

This product cost anywhere between Rs3000 and Rs15000 and this price range depends on the internal memory and other add-on features.

Though it’s a great gift choice, nonetheless, digital photo frames are not being seen in large numbers at home and office. The reasons are far too many. One factor being its look and feel. Traditional photo frames seem to have a personal touch with its shape, size and color whereas as you go and buy a digital photo frame its just a box. Another thing is that people wants to keep their photos spread out in homes while digital photo frames being expensive, affordability is a major factor.

But with technology growing in leaps and bounds, digital photo frames will soon come in a big way and wider acceptance.

Some of the digital photo frames manufactured by various companies are:

• Kodak EasyShare W1020 Wireless Digital Frame:

The Kodak EasyShare has a 10-inch screen with 800×480 resolution is a perfect gift and it has 512 MB of storage. With Internet connectivity, you can receive latest weather updates and news as well.

• Sony 8-inch digital photo frame (DPF-D80):

The Sony DPF-D80 has an 800×480 screen resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Its bright and vivid screen is a welcome change compared to most other digital photo frames that use the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.

• HP 8-inch Digital Picture Frame:

The HP DF820 stands out for its matte bezel frame that hides all the controls and looks like actual picture frames. It has an 8-inch LCD screen and comes with additional mattes so you can change the appearance wherever you wish.

• Pandigital Pan Touch:

Pandigital Pan Touch PAN1002W02T 10.4-Inch Digital Picture Frame gives you plenty of options such as changing the brightness, contrast and color of the images, something few others digital picture frames do. It plays AVI video and has a headphone jack for audio as well.

• Viewsonic DPG807 8-inch Digital Photo Frame:

The Viewsonic DPG807 has a black frame that makes the images stand out. It has an 800×600 screen and is both PC and Mac compatible. Relatively small but sleek and gorgeous, it makes a beautiful gift. It supports video and has calendar and date functions.

Just check on the previews and reviews before you make a purchase.

Happy viewing with a digital photo frame.

Some Hot Technology trends of 2010

As the economy is recovering, technology holds the key for business expansion. In these days it is difficult to predict future as market economy is volatile, consumer demand is erratic and unpredictable while innovation is reaching new heights.

Technology today will touch your lives digitally some way or the other tomorrow.

Here is just a sneak peek into some tech trends that is expected to create an upheaval in the last year of the first decade of the 21^st century.

Semantic Web

In no time you will find an extension of WWW in the form of Semantic Web. The obvious question that is making rounds is what is semantic web? Internet with a mind of its own is Semantic web. For example if you wish to buy a smart phone, all you do now is Google  your search and you are given top 10 or 20 products with the reviews, price comparisons and flipsides. It is only after reading them that you reach a decision. But with semantic web, the best deal will be presented in front of you by finding and combining data. To achieve this, Metadata will be used and soon tools will be available that will transform the Web into indexed database. The latest buzzwords in the world of semantic web today is Resource Description Format (RDF), data interchange formats such as XML, RDF, Turtle and RDF schema coupled with Web Ontology language. So, World Wide Web will soon take over your life completely.

Cloud Computing

Soon there will be a paradigm shift for business houses as Cloud Computing will rule as the most efficient IT model in the business sector. Computing resources will no longer be in-house; instead it will be used on demand enabling businesses to be more agile and flexible. Businesses will be benefitted as the cost will be greatly reduced. Comanies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM are all putting their strenths to encash this emerging area. Check out for Microsoft’s Azure Cloud computing services to taste this concept.

4G phone

There is writing on the wall that mobile technology is geared up for many innovations in the coming days. The word G holds special significance in the world of communication.  From 2G in the 90’s where a switch to text messaging and digital format is made to 3G ushering a new wave of faster communication and transmission of data, innovation will not get stopped here. People today are at the threshold of 4G and 2010 will see lot many launches of 4G phones worldwide and you can expect much enhanced versions from current say Apple 3GS.

3D television

Interesting changes will soon catch your attention even when you sit in front of the idiot box. The paramount question is how? Well, did you watch James Cameron’s latest magnanimous $300 billion budget movie Avatar? Yes, I am talking about wearing goggles and feeling the depth of the movie in the Cineplex. Whether Yes or No, don’t get surprised if you soon find that television landscape is walking towards a path of change and soon there will be launch of 3D televisions and you get option of depth as well to choose.

Mobile Banking

The entire financial gamut is looking forward for a change in the coming year. The reason is simple. With advancement in mobile technology, banking is expected to reach out to the masses from depositing funds in the account to creating a fixed deposit through just few text messages.

Augmented Reality

It is the new age reality and tomorrow will be better viewed, seen and heard with Augmented Reality. Soon you will have a device powered by AR that will take a snapshot of the person you are talking to, will process the image and present you with all information by checking out profiles at LinkedIn or Facebook. A huge potential is just waiting to herald a new change.

Enterprise social networking

Tomorrow’s business models will be largely dominated by collaboration. The way business is conducted will undergo a dramatic change soon. Earlier e-mail paved a new era and tomorrow enterprise version of Facebook, Wikis and Twitter will be the competitive method of communication. Business deals will get closed faster, decision making process will be accelerated, consumers will receive quicker resolution and employees will get more empowered.

Social gaming

Don’t you hear too often these days that your friend, colleague or brother has recently bought half a dozen chickens, two tractors and some cows? Yes, am speaking of Farmville by Zynga that has driven a large crowd to Facebook. Its not only Farmville, large section is also hooked on Mafia Wars. You will be also be amazed to know that by the last quarter of 2009, Second Life, another popular social gaming has almost 16 million users. Whether you a mingler or loner, social gaming is the best way to stay connected and social gaming is here to stay and more changes are on its way.

So, overall it will be an exciting year ahead in 2010 and we will revisit the Hot Technology Trends of 2010 to validate how much and how many of such trends can really create an impact to the technology domain.

Keep reading and also don’t forget to Subscribe to RSS Feed to catch my updates regularly.

The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that the US consumer electronics market is in a state of recovery and should exceed $166 Billion in 2010.

pic courtesy: Permuto

How amazingly we are moving with time and getting used to the innovations. Keep reading !