Dr. Neil's Notes 9

Show 9

Greetings
Still in the USA
Last week in Silicon Valley
The buzz is coming back

Web 2.0 what does it mean - Tricky is getting his head around it
http://trickybusiness.blogspot.com/

Coming up MEDC USA and MEDC Australia
http://www.microsoft.com/australia/msdn/training/medc2006.aspx
www.medc2006.com

Happy coding!

Dr. Neil's Notes 8 - special edition

Show 8

Greetings from Seattle, Washington
A special edition with Jim & Michele McCarthy - raw and unedited
http://mccarthy-tech.com/

ViaVirtualEarth

eXtreme .NET

Jim's voice navigation system - was it Madge?

Happy coding!

Dr. Neil's Notes 7

Show 7

Greetings from Seattle, Washington
Weekend in New York
Sync Center Web Cast
UMPC
CTIA Mobile.com
ViaVirtualEarth team members in Seattle
Virtual Earth Commercial use
Live.com
MEDC Melbourne Australia, May 25th
Happy coding!

Playing with a UMPC

This weekend I have been playing with a UMPC ;)
It is a pre-production unit that was lent to me for the weekend. It takes a bit of getting accustomed to a touch screen. I am used to the screen only reacting to my stylus. After an hour with the UMPC I went back to my Sahara slate and found myself trying to use my finger to interact with the machine. Touch is a very intuitive way to interact with a user interface.
I feel there a number of exciting opportunities for the UMPC. I would like one as a coffee table device at home. I can see it would be useful as quick note taking device and have been using it for IM. If the battery lasted a bit longer (getting just over 2 hours on this one) I would like it as a portable media player. The sync story needs to be better, if all my email and contacts could easily (without me having to do anything) sync between my desktop and my UMPC then I would get one as a diary / organiser.

I would recommend getting one with 512MB of RAM, or more. I see some of the offerings out there are shipping entry level units with 256MB and 30GB hard drives. WTF!
I can’t see the point, the device will be unusable for much more than web browsing. I expect many sold with this configuration will lead to disappointment.
The minimum spec should be 512MB RAM and 40GB hard drive. My iPOD has a 60GB drive and is nearly full, and that is just music, podcasts and photos.
I will probably get one this year to play with. I would like to cut some code for the device. I have a couple of ideas rattling around in my head.

What no PodCast?

Sorry I am at the end of the world here in Seattle, where things go a little slower. I am so used to living in the future in Sydney!
It has been a really busy week, members of the ViaVirtualEarth team have been in Seattle. It has been a week packed out with meetings. A true Aussie would say "I'm flat out like a lizard drinkin' "
Tricky has been hanging out with me and getting his head around some cool new technology.
The Poly9 boys have also been in town. It has been a week of mashup madness!