App Development Success

Last night I made a guest appearance on the AppBizDev podcast to talk about some of the work I have been doing to help developers around the world build better software.
It has been a while since I have talked about the work I am doing and it was a lot of fun.
We discussed the way developers can do improve the applications they are delivering as well as improve their business model around the apps they have already delivered.
We also discussed some of the other work I am doing and the great work that nsquared has been shipping in the last few years.
Of course we talked about digitables and shared screen experiences.

Listen to the podcast here 

My question to Satya Nadella at Build

While I cannot be in San Francisco at the Microsoft Build conference this week, I still managed to virtually attend and ask Satya a question in the keynote.

My question was 'what is the vision for Microsoft?', I mentioned that when I started working with Microsoft over 20 years ago the vision was the bold ambition to put a computer on every desk. I was hoping for an equally bold vision statement from the new CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella.

Saya's answer was good, in that I believe it is true. Microsoft is targeted on becoming a significant player in the 'mobile and cloud first' world of technology. However I would say that Microsoft has in many ways already achieved this and is not reaching high enough with this vision. A company like Microsoft has the potential to deliver world changing technology. Technology that fundamentally can shift the way people interact.
Am I satisfied with Satya's answer?
Yes, to the extent that it indicates that Microsoft wants to position itself safely in the space where every large technology business wants to be. It is a low risk answer, which I am sure is considered well by the stock market and shareholders.
At the same time I really wish we could see a company like Microsoft take on the challenge of a far greater aspiration. Very few companies in the world have the ability to achieve the big high risk goals that the world needs in order to move forward and see as much change in the next 30 years as we have seen in the last 30 years. I hope Microsoft can shift it's thinking to pick a bigger goal in the next few years.

MVP Award

I was excited this morning to receive an email notifying me that I had been re-awarded as a Kinect for Windows Microsoft MVP.

I love the fact that Microsoft appreciates the work that people like myself do to help others use and understand the technology.

I am looking forward to many more years of relationship building with Microsoft and developers around the world.

Second Gen Kinect for Windows

Fellow Kinect for Windows MVP,  Tom Kerkhove, has written up a really great blog post on the second generation Kinect for Windows device.
While a few of us have had access to this device and the development kit for a few months now, it is still a preproduction solution so things might change.
It is clearly a big step forward for the device and the capabilities of the new device will bring the reality of vision based technology into more peoples lives.

Face Tracking with Kinect for Windows

The Kinect for Windows development team in Redmond have just posted an excellent article on Face Tracking, along with a bunch of code samples for managed code developers.

MSDN has had an article on Face Tracking for a while now. The code is all native C++, which possibly makes it appear a bit harder than many developers would like.

Providing another managed code introduction can only be a good thing to help .NET developers get started with building a face tracking application with Kinect for Windows.

Just to be clear this is about face tracking and not face recognition.
Face tracking will enable an application to identify the direction a head is facing and match some facial expressions, such as happy (turned up mouth) or sad (lips turned downwards).

Read the article here
Mysteries of Kinect for Windows Face Tracking output explained

Leading Difficult Conversations

We all need to have conversations, every so often, that can make us feel uncomfortable. Yet without these conversations it is hard to maintain interactions with colleagues and business partners.
Learning how to have these difficult conversations is a skill.
A good friend, Lydia Kan, is leading a workshop in Brisbane, QLD in a couple of weeks to help you understand better how to approach these conversations.
If you have the time and are in Brisbane I recommend you attend Lydia's workshop.

Find out more and sign up here
https://www.psychology.org.au/Events/EventView.aspx?EventID=13485

Kinect for Windows expands its developer preview program

The new Kinect for Windows 2 device that I received as part of the alpha kit last month is a big step forward form the previous Kinect for Windows device. The resolution is far better and the opportunity for multiple user applications seems to be better. My favourite feature is the possibly the lest expected, the fact that the device has a standard thread for mounting on a tripod.

Kinect for Windows 2 device

The Kinect team is now expanding the availability of these device in the new year and accepting submissions from developers interested in trialling the new device.
The announcement is on the Kinect for Windows team blog here

If you are interested you will need to get your submission in before the end of January 2014.