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	<title>AllThingsD &#187; Photosynth</title>
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		<title>Microsoft Cranks Out Two More iPhone Apps: Kinectimals and SkyDrive</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20111213/microsoft-cranks-out-two-more-iphone-apps-kinectimals-and-skydrive/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20111213/microsoft-cranks-out-two-more-iphone-apps-kinectimals-and-skydrive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:58:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ina Fried</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iOS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kinectimals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OneNote]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photosynth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SkyDrive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows Phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows Phone 7]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://allthingsd.com/?p=153388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Redmond has released four iOS apps this week alone in a sign it is not placing all its mobile eggs in the Windows Phone basket.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Microsoft is turning out to be quite the iOS developer.</p>
<p><a href="http://allthingsd.com/files/2011/12/Kinectimals-for-iPhone.png"><img src="http://allthingsd.com/files/2011/12/Kinectimals-for-iPhone-380x253.png" alt="" title="Kinectimals for iPhone" width="380" height="253" class="alignright size-Medium380 wp-image-153397" /></a></p>
<p>Earlier this month, the company released an Xbox Live app for the iPhone. On Monday, the company <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111212/microsoft-releases-more-mobile-apps-for-other-peoples-devices/">announced OneNote for the iPad and Lync for the iPhone</a>. Today, Redmond announced iPhone versions of both <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kinectimals/id482365195?mt=8">Kinectimals</a> and its SkyDrive online storage service.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s on top of an existing stable of apps that includes <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bing-for-ipad/id418435837?mt=8">Bing</a>, <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20110420/a-panorama-of-new-apps-arrive-for-taking-360-degree-images-on-the-iphone/">Photosynth</a> and Windows Live Messenger.</p>
<p>While most of Microsoft&#8217;s iOS apps are free connections to existing services, the company is charging $2.99 for Kinectimals.</p>
<p>As I noted earlier this week, Microsoft has long faced the challenge of wanting to support its own mobile operating system, while also acknowledging that it is not the epicenter of the phone universe. The company still reserves some of its most extensive work for Windows Phone, which offers mobile versions of the full Office suite as well as a deeper Xbox Live connection than is possible on the iPhone.</p>
<p>Google has taken a similar approach, doing <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111121/google-makes-the-ipad-even-more-compelling-than-android-tablets-with-new-search-app/">significant work for iOS</a> alongside its Android efforts.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>A Panorama of New Apps Arrive for Taking 360-degree Images on the iPhone</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20110420/a-panorama-of-new-apps-arrive-for-taking-360-degree-images-on-the-iphone/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20110420/a-panorama-of-new-apps-arrive-for-taking-360-degree-images-on-the-iphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:58:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ina Fried</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Everscape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iPhone apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Occipital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[panoramas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photosynth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smartphones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uscapeit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=6576</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft and Boston-based Everyscape are the latest companies to offer iPhone apps that create a single immersive, 360-degree image based video or still images captured on the phone.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While there are many apps that let one take fun photos with the iPhone, and even some good ones for flat panoramas, the field has been fairly narrow for apps that can capture a complete 360-degree view of things.</p>
<p>That is all changing this week. On Monday, Microsoft announced a Photosynth app for the iPhone that lets users snap multiple still images in rapid succession. Meanwhile, Boston-based Everyscape plans to announce later on Wednesday a free iPhone app called <a href="http://www.uscapeit.com/">Uscapeit</a> that builds an immersive view from video clips taken in a particular manner.</p>
<p>Such photography, says Everyscape CEO Jim Schoonmaker, lets someone experience what it was like to be somewhere as opposed to just see a glimpse of the scene.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a much more emotive sense of content,&#8221; Schoonmaker said.</p>
<p>The new iPhone apps join Occipital, which pioneered the category with <a href="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20110124/occipital-uses-its-360-degree-view-sees-microsoft-in-its-rear-view-mirror/">its 360 Panorama app for capturing panoramic views</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/files/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-19-at-10.32.25-PM.png"><img src="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/files/2011/04/Screen-shot-2011-04-19-at-10.32.25-PM-211x300.png" alt="" title="Screen shot 2011-04-19 at 10.32.25 PM" width="200" height="284" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6601" /></a></p>
<p>Each app takes a somewhat different approach and has its pros and cons as far as ease of use and quality.</p>
<p>Occipital&#8217;s approach is perhaps the easiest, allowing users to slowly pan around as they see on screen what they have captured and what remains. The downside is that this can lead to seams as well as some repeats of anything that is moving in the image.</p>
<p>Photosynth works by letting a user take multiple still images that can be stitched together to create the panorama. Unlike a Photosynth made on the desktop, however, users can see what it is they are capturing and how well it is overlapping with what they already have. Also, Photosynth can capture almost all the area around a camera, meaning you can see not only all the way around, but also up and down, provided you take the time to get all the necessary shots.</p>
<p>Uscapeit, meanwhile, builds its image off of a video clip that is uploaded to a cloud-based server system that renders the panorama. The downside is that the user can&#8217;t tell how well (or if at all) their image is coming out until they get the results several minutes later. There were several occasions when I learned only belatedly that my images hadn&#8217;t uploaded at all.</p>
<p>They also vary in the ways in which one can share the captured image. Occipital makes it easy to tweet or e-mail a link, but has yet to integrate Facebook sharing, which is included in both the other new entrants.</p>
<p>Microsoft has been telegraphing its plans to enter the area for awhile, having shown last year <a href="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20101216/more-on-bings-new-iphone-app/">a plan for integrating panoramas</a> into the Bing iPhone app. </p>
<p>Everyscape, meanwhile, has been at this for eight or nine years. In the past, it focused on certifying professional photographers to shoot the footage needed to scape the interiors of restaurants, hotels and other spots. The company already has several city dining guides using those professionally made images.</p>
<p>However, the company has long aimed to get the technology in more hands, Schoonmaker said. Over time, the company wants to expand to Android phones and even allow those with just a camcorder to upload their footage via the Web. That, Schoonmaker said, should allow its technology to reach far wider than approaches that rely on smartphones.</p>
<p>&#8220;We want to get to hundreds of millions,&#8221; Schoonmaker said. &#8220;That&#8217;s really when big things happen. I don&#8217;t know how many iPhones there are in India or parts of Africa.&#8221;</p>
<p>To get a sense for each of the apps, here are shots I did of the old school Taco Bell in Palo Alto using both <a href="http://occip.it/pt4n2mn8">Occipital</a> and <a href="http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=84f3f149-010b-4b54-8f63-b07eac93646a">Photosynth</a>. Sadly, my Uscapeit version there didn&#8217;t turn out, but the company has several good examples of what it can do on its Web site.</p>
<p>While time will tell which approach and results people appreciate most, the early winner here is Apple, whose iPhone now has several options in a category of photography in which most of its rivals don&#8217;t have a single program.</p>
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		<title>Bing's iPhone App Is Getting New Features (But Windows Phone 7 Owners Will Have to Wait)</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20101216/more-on-bings-new-iphone-app/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20101216/more-on-bings-new-iphone-app/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ina Fried</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[app]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bing iPhone app]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bing Summit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blaise Agueras y Arcas]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[iPhone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[maps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[operating system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[options]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[panoramic]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=993</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft is adding a lot of things to its mobile Bing app--on the iPhone, that is. Windows Phone 7 users will have to wait until at least the next operating system update.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Although it was hard to see with <a href="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20101215/microsoft-shares-its-new-years-resolutions-for-bing/">all the demo glitches at the Bing Summit</a> on Wednesday, Microsoft actually has a bunch of interesting updates coming to its iPhone app.</p>
<p>One feature, in particular, caught my eye. It&#8217;s the ability to take panoramic pictures just by waving the phone (and its built-in camera) around a bit. The result is a multidimensional <a href="http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080820/microsoft-live-labs-creates-web-synth-for-3-d-photo-tour/">Photosynth</a>. People will be able to create panoramas for their own use or to share with friends, but Microsoft is also hoping that people will share them publicly and that some of them can be used to expand Bing Maps&#8217; close-up capabilities. </p>
<p><img src="http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/files/2010/12/bing-image-recognition.jpg" alt="" title="bing image recognition" width="172" height="230" class="alignright size-full wp-image-998" /></p>
<p>Microsoft is also updating the Bing app with improved street-level photography options when using maps on the phone. Another new feature will allow the app to use the camera to capture and then read text, using any of the words it recognizes as the basis for a query. Also interesting is the ability to set the app to take action&#8211;such as check-in to a location-based service&#8211;when you reach a specified location.</p>
<p>Since the demos didn&#8217;t work so well for reporters on Wednesday, I offered Microsoft&#8217;s Blaise Agueras y Arcas a do-over and he was kind enough to give a demo for Mobilized and answer a few questions (see video below).</p>
<p>Although Microsoft didn&#8217;t outline it at the search event, the company is <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2010/12/14/bing-for-mobile-updates-launch-today.aspx">also making a series of updates to its Android app</a>.</p>
<p>One side effect of the coming updates (which Agueras y Arcas said is coming very soon) is that it will actually further the gap between the iPhone and Windows Phone 7. That&#8217;s because Bing is not an app on Windows Phone 7, but an integrated part of the operating system. That means that the new Bing features won&#8217;t show up until the next OS update, at the earliest.</p>
<p>Microsoft, though, can ill-afford to cede the iPhone search market to Google. The Bing app, it notes, has been downloaded 5.5 million times, while the company has also finally managed to make Bing a search option in the browser.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s an issue that is likely to crop up repeatedly for Microsoft, unless it does something like create a separate Bing app for Windows Phone in addition to the built-in search capabilities, something that Microsoft officials held out as a possibility, though nothing is in the works at the moment.</p>
<p>Here is the video of Agueras y Arcas demoing the new features for Mobilized:</p>
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		<title>Microsoft: Want to Learn About Our Secret Tablet? Read Engadget.</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20100323/microsoft-want-to-learn-about-our-secret-tablet-read-engadget/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20100323/microsoft-want-to-learn-about-our-secret-tablet-read-engadget/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:58:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Kafka</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enterprise]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Courier digital journal]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=17699</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Want to get the latest news on "Courier," Microsoft's rumored-but-not-confirmed answer to Apple's iPad? Microsoft doesn't want to talk about it. But Redmond does have a suggestion for you: Read the gadget blogs.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/files/2010/03/engadget-courier.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-17701" title="engadget courier" src="http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/files/2010/03/engadget-courier-275x208.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="189" /></a>Want to get the latest news on &#8220;Courier,&#8221; Microsoft&#8217;s rumored-but-not-confirmed answer to Apple&#8217;s iPad? Microsoft doesn&#8217;t want to talk about it. But Redmond does have a suggestion for you: Read the gadget blogs.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the advice offered via the company&#8217;s <a href="http://microsoftjobsblog.com/">JobsBlog,</a> an HR site aimed at Microsoft (MSFT) job seekers. It comes in a <a href="http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/microsoft-innovation-number-one/">post</a> touting Microsoft&#8217;s overall awesomeness and the fact that the company is &#8220;constantly pioneering the future of technology.&#8221;</p>
<p>From the post (thanks to <a href="http://twitter.com/josephtartakoff/status/10934729523">Joseph Tartakoff</a> for spotting):</p>
<blockquote class="memo"><p>Do you already know everything about Project Natal and the Cloud? Is Blaise Aguera y Arcas&#8217; jaw-dropping TED talk on augmented-reality Bing Maps and Photosynth last month&#8217;s news? Then check out some of the online chatter surrounding new releases of Window Phone 7 series handsets, Internet Explorer 9 and the upcoming Courier digital journal.</p></blockquote>
<p>The blog hyperlinks &#8220;Courier digital journal&#8221; to this <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/microsofts-courier-digital-journal-exclusive-pictures-and-de/">Engadget post</a> offering &#8220;exclusive pictures and details&#8221; about the device. There&#8217;s a video too, which you can see at the bottom of this post. Looks pretty cool.</p>
<p>Is it the real thing? Device companies and gadget blogs play a weird game about new product releases, and the rules change depending on the company. Apple (AAPL), notably, gives out almost no information to any outlet about what it&#8217;s up to, right up until the release of whatever it&#8217;s working on. Other companies beg the blogs to promote their stuff. And a middle tier of companies promote their stuff via surreptitious &#8220;leaks&#8221; they&#8217;re happy to see published.</p>
<p>So maybe this is Microsoft&#8217;s way of putting its seal of approval on something it can&#8217;t officially approve. On the other hand, we should note that the company&#8217;s job site is written by a <a href="http://microsoftjobsblog.com/about/">group of Microsoft recruiters</a>, who may not be fully looped in to the company&#8217;s device plans and/or communications strategy.</p>
<p>Maybe we&#8217;ll find out. I&#8217;ve asked the company for comment and will let you know if it has anything to say.</p>
<p>UPDATE: That was quick. Microsoft is sticking with its long-running &#8220;no comment&#8221; stance.</p>
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		<title>Liveblogging Bing Demo: No Donuts, Unlikely to Pay for De-Indexing Google, but Cool New Maps</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20091202/liveblogging-bing-new-features-demo-no-donuts/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20091202/liveblogging-bing-new-features-demo-no-donuts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kara Swisher</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=21284</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[BoomTown is awaiting a passel of Microsoft execs, who will be talking about a range of new features for Bing.

I will be liveblogging, but I must say, I wish there were donuts.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2009/12/donut_flash_drives2.jpg"><img src="http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2009/12/donut_flash_drives2-250x269.jpg" alt="donut_flash_drives2" title="donut_flash_drives2" width="250" height="269" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-21308" /></a></p>
<p>Earlier today, BoomTown posted about a visit this morning from a <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091202/bing-keeps-up-the-new-features-rollouts-boomtown-will-liveblog-a-microsoft-showcase-at-10-am/">passel of top Microsoft search execs</a> rolling into downtown San Francisco to show off even more new features for Bing.</p>
<p>I am here, but the donuts are not. Um, Google always has organic donuts!</p>
<p>In any case, the lineup included: Satya Nadella, SVP for research and development for the Online Services Division; Harry Shum, a corporate VP who is leading core search development; and Brian MacDonald, corporate VP for Core Search Program Management.</p>
<p>As I previously wrote:</p>
<p>&#8220;The rolling-stone-gathers-no-moss team at the software giant&#8211;which has been seeing some<a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20091111/bing-back-with-a-bang"> promising progress in its quest to raise its search market share</a> with its snappy new service&#8211;<a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091111/bing-keeps-the-changes-coming-but-will-it-work">has announced an ongoing series of features</a> since <a href="http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090701/microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-the-full-d7-session-badda-bing">Bing was launched earlier this year</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s 10:07 am PT and I await new wisdom from Microsoft (MSFT).</p>
<p><strong>10:10 am:</strong> Nadella, the point man on Bing technology, begins.</p>
<p>He kicks off the show with some stats and a main point: Microsoft&#8217;s search share has, as his first slide reads: &#8220;Still a long way to go.&#8221;</p>
<p>At 9.9 percent versus Google&#8217;s (GOOG) share of more than 70 percent, Nadella is correct. But that is up from eight percent in a short time, so not bad.</p>
<p>Unique monthly visitors are also up from 71.7 million to 83.3 million. And perception, which was low, is now 48 percent.</p>
<p>In other words, more consumers seem to know what Bing is.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were Microsoft, I would declare victory and quit now!</p>
<p><strong>10:19 am:</strong> A demo dude arrives to show &#8220;task&#8221; pages, which cluster around intent of searchers.</p>
<p>These are cool, and he&#8217;s showing a John Mayer page, which includes concerts and more. I hate <em>that</em> whiny singing dude, demo dude. He was mean to Jennifer Aniston, so he is dead to me.</p>
<p>Phew, the demo dude moves on to Miami. I love Miami. Trying to gauge intent, there is a slideshow available, better weather (rainy but 82 degrees!) and flight info. Plus no John Mayer!</p>
<p>Next, demo dude does movies. He shows times for the freaky &#8220;Paranormal Activity&#8221; and then offers hi-def trailers. Demo dude&#8217;s wife wants him to see it. I advise against it, unless he wants to be looking under the bed for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>Now the cheeky Softies, showing off how good Bing&#8217;s info is about Apple, (AAPL); display financial info and even the customer service number. I contemplate ordering a Mac.</p>
<p>This is followed by moves through universities and diseases (with related drug cards).</p>
<p><strong>10:30 am:</strong> The demo dude moves on to an early look-see of Bing&#8217;s its upcoming Facebook deployment, using its already-announced Visual Search.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s apparently going to be very easy to be a stalker on Bing!</p>
<p>On to Twitter, with access to tweets in a variety of ways, from the most tweeted to most popular. Ashton Kutcher pops up like an inevitable Twitter weed, of course.</p>
<p>Nadella comes back and explains that this is being done to &#8220;browse to your intent.&#8221;</p>
<p>And now it is time for a mobile search update.</p>
<p>Guess what? Intent and search completion in a mobile context is time-sensitive! Who knew?</p>
<p>Actually, I did know and so did the whole world. Here is my typical mobile search: &#8220;Where the *&#038;%# is that restaurant/kid party/gas station?&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>10:38 am:</strong> A new demo dude (let&#8217;s call him demo dude #2) is showing off the recent mobile app for Bing, which came out a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>Lots of maps, although he says, &#8220;it&#8217;s more than just finding something on a map.&#8221;</p>
<p>Demo dude #2 types a &#8220;T,&#8221; which stands for AT&#038;T, and stock info pops up.</p>
<p>He talks into the phone now for weather in Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft has its HQ. Cold and rainy! Which is a shocker for the Seattle area this time of year.</p>
<p>Demo dude #2 does movies and sports, showing a lot of what is on the Web. This is not much different than many mobile apps, but it works nicely.</p>
<p>Nadella seems to be promising an iPhone app soon too, noting that Microsoft will have them for all platforms, but he does not say it outright.</p>
<p><strong>10:47 am:</strong> Now, Nadella is onto spatial search, which I like to call &#8220;oooh-that&#8217;s-pretty search.&#8221;</p>
<p>Therefore, we need a third demo dude. Demo dude #3 has a beard!</p>
<p>But he has a real new feature! A new mapping technology, powered by Microsoft&#8217;s Silverlight video technology, in beta within minutes. <a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/explore">You can see it in action here</a>.</p>
<p>It includes a Google competitor that has been called &#8220;streetside&#8221; before, with several new twists, which demo dude #3 is calling a &#8220;mash-in&#8221; (compared to a mashup, which is done a lot with Google by third-party folks).</p>
<p>The demo appears very seamless in comparison, using 3-D modeling and photorealism by integrating its <a href="http://photosynth.net/">Photosynth</a> research work.</p>
<p>He shows a cool look at a museum and then the French American International School in San Francisco.</p>
<p>In this demo, demo dude #3 was looking at restaurants, which shows reviews and also the whole scene around it, including info on the parking garage you can see.</p>
<p>There is now a Map App gallery, most of which made by Microsoft right now.</p>
<p><strong>11:07 am:</strong> A Twitter dude is brought up to show how the microblogger is part of this new mapping stuff from Microsoft, which he calls an &#8220;ecosystem.&#8221;</p>
<p>Using new geolocating tools on the microblogging service, it shows all kinds of geospatial information of tweets.</p>
<p>Twitter recently signed a data-mining deal with Microsoft, as well as Google.</p>
<p>So, it looks like Microsoft and Google are really going to be duking it out in the online mapping of everyone&#8217;s lives. And I look forward to this fight and the eventuality that they will want to map my every move. Bing it on!</p>
<p><strong>11:10 am:</strong> Nadella wraps up, essentially trying to keep differentiating Bing from Google.</p>
<p>&#8220;We do hundreds of experiments a day,&#8221; he says, releasing as many features as possible.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a good stance for a lesser competitor to have: Bing, We Try Harder!</p>
<p>Big words for Microsoft: Intent versus query. Whole page versus blue links. Minimizing time versus task completing. Search hit-or-miss versus dialog.</p>
<p><strong>11:16 am:</strong> Q&#038;A!</p>
<p>A question about human versus technology in perfecting this intent goal.</p>
<p>MacDonald and Nadella note that humans are important, but Bing is built around the big computing systems that do this automatically.</p>
<p>Will the structured page be indexable? Meaning Google? No real answer! But I would love to see Microsoft go all Rupert Murdoch on the search giant!</p>
<p>Then comes a question about premium or &#8220;non-Google&#8221; content. Nadella avoids the question and instead focuses on the &#8220;scaffolding&#8221; the data.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not as focused on getting exclusive content,&#8221; he says flatly. Uh-oh, publishers! As I reported, Microsoft is not forking over the dough.</p>
<p>MacDonald also tries to stress that Google wants folks off its site and onto the query result and that Bing is focusing on delivering that result right.</p>
<p>Everything is not a command line, declares MacDonald.</p>
<p>On a question of openness and the need to use Microsoft Silverlight technology for some of the rich visual mapping, versus Ajax, Nadella points out the service is too small not to be. Good point!</p>
<p>But Microsoft execs, who often shove their tech right down consumers&#8217; throats, are nearly apologetic about having to use Silverlight (except they add, of course, that it is better!).</p>
<p>Nadella gets another question about paying to de-index Google.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no real intent here that is focused on getting a whole bunch of content that is de-indexed from Google,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Some more questions about Bing monetization (it had better make money!) and global share.</p>
<p>Since Google is cleaning the clocks of everyone even worse abroad, Bing is focusing on the U.S.</p>
<p>I ask about how the Yahoo (YHOO) deal is going. &#8220;Well!&#8221;</p>
<p>And while Yahoo seems to be losing some search share to Microsoft, Nadella said his company would provide any &#8220;core&#8221; technology Yahoo wants to use given that Microsoft will be providing the search platform.</p>
<p>It would have been nice if Yahoo search had done this itself, of course, but Nadella said Yahoo could use the mapping and even task pages.</p>
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		<title>Digital Overload at Inauguration?</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20090120/digital-overload-at-inauguration/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20090120/digital-overload-at-inauguration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:20:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Marisa Taylor</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=7769</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With inauguration excitement hitting a fever pitch inside the Beltway, news outlets are calling on the Average Joes (and maybe a few Joe Plumbers) attending the festivities to seize the moment and capture the Obama revelry for the rest of the world to see.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>With inauguration excitement hitting a fever pitch inside the Beltway, news outlets are calling on the Average Joes (and maybe a few Joe Plumbers) attending the festivities to seize the moment and capture the Obama revelry for the rest of the world to see.</p>
<p>Most notably, citizen journalism meets photo technology in a partnership between Microsoft and CNN called The Moment. Using in Microsoft&#8217;s (MSFT) Photosynth technology, attendees of Obama&#8217;s swearing in are asked to shoot photographs of the moment he takes oath and send them to CNN, where they will all be compiled along with CNN&#8217;s professional images to create a 3D photographic reconstruction of the very second Obama becomes President. Owners of digital cameras are urged to take three photos of the event–one wide angle shot, one mid-zoom shot, and one full-zoom shot–and the CNN site reads, &#8220;We&#8217;ll capture the most detailed experience of a single moment ever.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/01/20/digital-overload-at-inauguration/">Read the rest of this post</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>One Way to Turn a Mac  Into a PC Just Got Better</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20081001/one-way-to-turn-a-mac-into-a-pc-just-got-better/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20081001/one-way-to-turn-a-mac-into-a-pc-just-got-better/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:46:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Walt Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20081001/one-way-to-turn-a-mac-into-a-pc-just-got-better/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are two common methods for running Microsoft Windows and Windows programs on an Apple Macintosh, and one of those methods just got better and easier. The first approach uses a feature called Boot Camp that comes free on every new Mac.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are two common methods for running Microsoft Windows and Windows programs on an Apple Macintosh, and one of those methods just got better and easier.</p>
<p>The first approach uses a feature called Boot Camp that comes free on every new Mac. Using Boot Camp, the entire Mac is turned into a Windows PC, with the full capabilities and speed of a standard Windows machine. No trace of the Mac operating system is left running. The downside is that you can&#8217;t run Windows and Mac programs side by side.</p>
<p>The second approach uses one of two third-party programs to create a virtual Windows PC inside your Mac. This faux Windows machine runs at normal speeds and can operate simultaneously with the Mac&#8217;s own operating system. Programs native to each operating system can run side by side. The downside is that, because Windows doesn&#8217;t get complete control of the computer&#8217;s hardware, it isn&#8217;t quite as fast as in Boot Camp, and a few of its functions, like 3D graphics, don&#8217;t work as well.</p>
<p>This latter method is enabled by two excellent, closely matched $80 programs: Parallels, from a Swiss-based company of the same name, and Fusion, from <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=VMW'>VMWare</a>, a U.S. company. It is Fusion that just got better, because VMWare just issued version 2.0 of the product with lots of new features, some of which let it catch up to the older Parallels and some of which push it ahead.</p>
<p><div class="video-wsj"><embed src="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/microPlayer.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoGUID={1830711738}&playerid=4001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://m.wsj.net/video-players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/" name="microflashPlayer" width="320" height="240" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed><br />[ See post to watch video ]</div></p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been testing Fusion 2.0 for a couple of weeks on two different Macs, and using it to run both Windows XP and Windows Vista. My verdict is that while you won&#8217;t go wrong with Parallels, Fusion edges it out as the better product.</p>
<p>The new Fusion 2.0 is a free upgrade for owners of version 1.0. It can be obtained at <a href="http://vmware.com/mac" rel="external">vmware.com/mac</a> and at various retailers.</p>
<p>Like Boot Camp and Parallels, Fusion requires you to obtain and install a fresh, boxed, full version of Windows on your Mac. But once you&#8217;ve done that, your Mac becomes two computers in one. If you need to run programs that are available only on Windows, you can do so with ease.</p>
<p>For instance, as I write this column on a MacBook pro laptop, using a Macintosh word processor, I am using Fusion 2.0 to simultaneously run Google&#8217;s new Chrome browser, which is so far available for Windows only. I can switch between the two with a couple of keystrokes and copy text from one to the other.</p>
<p>Like Parallels, Fusion allows you to run Windows programs in one of three ways. You can see the entire Windows desktop, with Windows programs running within it, inside its own window on your Mac. Or, using a feature called &#8220;Unity,&#8221; each Windows program can float free, as if it were just another Mac program, with the Windows desktop invisible. If you minimize a Windows program, it disappears into an icon in the Mac&#8217;s Dock, just as Mac programs do.</p>
<p>Finally, you can devote the entire screen to the Windows desktop and hide the Mac operating system entirely.</p>
<p>Parallels can also do these things. Both programs can now also &#8220;mirror&#8221; your most common Windows and Mac file folders so that, for instance, all of the files in your Mac&#8217;s Pictures folder also appear in the My Pictures folder in Windows XP. This is a new addition to Fusion, as is the ability to take multiple &#8220;snapshots&#8221; of your Windows virtual machine, so if something goes wrong, you can roll back to a previous state when things were stable.</p>
<p>But Fusion has some other features Parallels lacks. For example, it allows you to automatically take those protective snapshots at timed intervals. It also permits you to completely customize keyboard commands so that the same common key combinations work in both Windows and Mac programs. It allows the faux Windows machine to take full advantage of multiple monitors, if you have them.</p>
<p>Fusion also uses a more modern and capable version of the proprietary 3-D graphics system in Windows, called DirectX. That means some Windows-only games and other programs that won&#8217;t work in Parallels will work in Fusion. I successfully tested two such programs, both from Microsoft: Worldwide Telescope and Photosynth.</p>
<p>And, in my experience, Fusion is a bit faster than Parallels. Both programs put a strain on your Mac when performing major tasks, like starting up or shutting down Windows. But Fusion seems to affect the Mac less. And, unlike Parallels, it can make Windows quicker by optionally assigning it control of the multiple &#8220;cores&#8221; in most modern processor chips.</p>
<p>Fusion also offers a one-year free subscription to Windows security software, while Parallels offers only a six-month subscription.</p>
<p>However, Fusion has its limits. Like Parallels, it cannot run the 3-D visual effects in Windows Vista. And, in my tests, it wouldn&#8217;t allow Windows running on one of my Macs to use the printer that was configured on the Mac, although that feature did work on my other test Mac.</p>
<p>In my view, Fusion is now the better choice for running Windows on a Mac virtually.</p>
<p>Find all of Walt Mossberg&#8217;s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://www.walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">walt.allthingsd.com</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Write to</strong> Walt Mossberg at
<link linkend="i7-SB122290772098996487" type="EXTERNAL">mossberg@wsj.com</link></p>
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		<title>Microsoft Live Labs  Creates Web 'Synth'  For 3-D Photo Tour</title>
		<link>http://allthingsd.com/20080820/microsoft-live-labs-creates-web-synth-for-3-d-photo-tour/</link>
		<comments>http://allthingsd.com/20080820/microsoft-live-labs-creates-web-synth-for-3-d-photo-tour/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:02:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator> Walter S. Mossberg</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Microsoft Live Labs' Photosynth turns multiple photos of a site into a 3-D scene you can virtually "walk" through on the Web. The service is a dramatic new way to use your photos and to share them with others, writes Walter S. Mossberg.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Microsoft is a little like the General Motors of technology. The software giant is, of course, much more successful, financially and in market share, than the troubled auto maker. But, as at GM (GM), <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=msft'>Microsoft</a>&#8216;s (MSFT) very size &#8212; over 90,000 employees &#8212; and its bureaucratic structure often make the company seem more stolid and less innovative than smaller, nimbler rivals like <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=goog'>Google</a> (GOOG) and <a href='http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&#038;symbol=aapl'>Apple</a> (AAPL).</p>
<p>This contrast has appeared sharper in recent years, as Microsoft&#8217;s Windows Vista operating system received a tepid critical response compared with Apple&#8217;s Leopard platform and as the company&#8217;s Live Web search service has slipped further behind Google&#8217;s. In addition, Microsoft&#8217;s cellphone software, Windows Mobile, looks old and creaky compared with Apple&#8217;s sleek iPhone and Google&#8217;s forthcoming Android mobile operating system.</p>
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<p>But innovation does exist at Microsoft&#8217;s sprawling Redmond, Wash., campus. For instance, last year&#8217;s daring and radical redesign of Microsoft Office has been a critical and commercial success.</p>
<p>Now, there&#8217;s a sort of guerrilla team inside Microsoft designed to churn out innovative products more often and more rapidly. Called Live Labs, the unit is a small operation that aims to turn technology theories into real, Web-based products relatively quickly. It has only about 125 employees, and even that modest number is broken up into smaller teams tackling specific projects.</p>
<p>This week, Microsoft Live Labs is releasing its first broad consumer Web service, called Photosynth. This service turns multiple photos of a scene or site &#8212; say, an art gallery or a building &#8212; into a 3-D scene you can virtually &#8220;walk&#8221; through on the Web.</p>
<p>Unlike a simple 2-D panorama, which many photo programs can create from several pictures, a Photosynth creation, called a &#8220;synth,&#8221; is a virtual 3-D environment. It gives you the feeling you are in the middle of a room looking around, or circumnavigating a building or object. You can travel through a scene both laterally and vertically, and zoom in to see detailed, higher-resolution views of objects inside the synth, such as paintings on a wall.</p>
<p>For instance, you don&#8217;t just see a long, flat picture of Stonehenge or the Grand Canal in Venice. You are made to feel you are there, moving through these places, looking up at the sky or down at the ground, and pausing to examine more closely a particular stone, boat or building.</p>
<p>Such 3-D walk-through images have been around for awhile; they are used on some real-estate Web sites, for example, to show houses virtually. But Photosynth allows anyone to create them using any standard digital camera, and even using pictures you already possess that weren&#8217;t created with Photosynth in mind. You could even use photos of the same site taken by several people. The software will analyze the pictures, figure out which ones overlap and in what order, and then turn those shots that match up into a 3-D synth.</p>
<p>Photosynth, based on technology Microsoft acquired in 2006, is entirely free, and it&#8217;s entirely based on the Web, at <a href="http://photosynth.net" rel="external">photosynth.net</a> (where it will be launched at midnight EST Thursday). At that site you can view not only your own synths, but the synths created by every other Photosynth user.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been testing this service for about a week, and while it has its flaws, I believe that Photosynth offers a dramatic new way to use your photos and to share them with others.</p>
<p>Photosynth works within a Web browser, using a small plug-in you install. Currently, it works only in Windows, using Microsoft&#8217;s own Internet Explorer browser or its rival, Firefox. A Macintosh version is in the works, but for now, you can&#8217;t even view others&#8217; synths in the Mac operating system.</p>
<p>When Photosynth works right, the results are wonderfully satisfying. But it takes some skill to get a set of photos the service can match up well, a quality Microsoft calls being &#8220;synthy.&#8221; Ideally, portions of each slice of a 3-D scene should show up in at least three photos, with 50% overlap between them. After you upload your pictures and Photosynth does its best to make them into a 3-D scene, the service assigns them a percentage number that indicates how synthy they were.</p>
<p>In my tests, I tried both collections of photos I already possessed and some I snapped with Photosynth in mind. My pictures of a piazza in Verona, Italy, were only 38% synthy, while ones I took of a hotel room specifically for Photosynth use were 73% synthy.</p>
<p>One gripe I had was that Photosynth doesn&#8217;t tell you how synthy your pictures are until after you have uploaded them and waited until the system merges them, a process that can take a long time over a slow Internet connection. It would be much better if the service could tell you in advance how synthy the pictures are. Another objection is that Photosynth has no privacy settings. All your synths are open to viewing by everyone who uses the service.</p>
<p>But, overall, Photosynth is an impressive new way to view and share photos, and an encouraging sign that innovation and creativity still live in Redmond.</p>
<p><em>Find all of Walt Mossberg&#8217;s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, <a href="http://walt.allthingsd.com" rel="external">walt.allthingsd.com</a>. Email him at <a href="mailto:mossberg@wsj.com" rel="external">mossberg@wsj.com</a>.</em></p>
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