It’s taken us years and years to finally shed those annoyingly-curved CRT monitors and TVs, but Microsoft apparently feels that we should not only return to curved displays, but one that features a full 360 degrees of imagery. This week they unveiled their Sphere prototype which works just like the company’s Surface technology, but applied to a spherical interface and display. The technology and hardware needed to run the Sphere is a bit more advanced than what Surface uses, since it has to warp the images and the interface so that it looks correct when projected onto a dome, and as a result Sphere won’t be moving past the research project phase anytime soon. And as gimmicky as it might seem, there are some cool applications that come to mind like an interactive globe (as demo’d in the video) or a better way to watch and interact with 360 degree videos and panoramas.
So the Parker Whittle character has been IMing for 29 straight days, helping Microsoft raise awareness to its I’M Initiative. Nearly $1.7M has been raised since March 2008, from people doing what they already do with alarming levels of obsession: chat passionately about what they did last evening.
It’s not too late for you to help. All you have to do is keep doing what you do… only with Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail instead. Find out how here.
And finally, before it’s completely over, you should check out the always entertaining I’m Talkathon blog. Here.
Just a quick post to let you guys know that the I’m Talkathon is still going strong. They’re up to day 18 now, and with the number of comments I’m seeing on the posts (one had over 100!), I’m guessing people are IM-ing for charity hard and good. You would not usually see me talking about something like this in this fashion, but for once I’m genuinely excited about a campaign on the site for completely humanitarian reasons.
To recap, Microsoft will be donating money to several charities (including UNICEF, the American Red Cross and the National AIDS Funds, among others) simply for using Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Hotmail.
What’s more, the I’M Talkathon blog-writer guy, Parker, is actually really engaging.
So, if you can spare a click, you should check out the site.
So yeah, I know, this concerns a paid campaign by Microsoft. But, you guys should know I was not specifically asked to talk about it here at all. It’s not part of the deal. It just happens that this campaign is a little different, and really sort of interesting. If you visit the I’m Talkathon page, you’ll notice the blog is getting some traction, with some articles getting over 70 comments. The reason (IMHO), is that it actually has some solid production values. The videos the guys are making are really funny, and the entire thing is playing out like some sort of bloggy soap.
It turns out that the business behind it is as follows: if you IM with Windows Live Messenger (”IM”… “I’M”… get it?) or Windows Live Hotmail in a specific fashion (more here [link to video]), Microsoft will be giving to the charities we mentioned in our previous article. The more you use them, the more they give. What with Bill Gates leaving the company today and seemingly moving into full time philanthropy… this campaign sort of makes sense. Sure, in the end they’re trying to get you to use Microsoft products, but at least they’re giving back in the process.
Next up, I’m going to try and hunt down that Parker’s hair stylist. That ‘do is rockin…
Well this is fun. Just want to let y’all know I’ll be doing a series of posts from the road, as Microsoft is promoting the idea of creating content while mobile. The pic you see above? That’s the little corner of a coffee table on which I sometimes work, when I’m at a friends’ place. (Yes, I do work, even though you don’t see my articles much these days). It’s taken by my trusty cellphone. And yup, that’s my “office” on that map right there.
I’ll try to keep these short, interesting and hopefully on topic.
It’s been a long time since Microsoft made any Sidewinder gaming peripherals, or any gaming peripherals in house at all. The Microsoft Habu Mouse and the Microsoft Reclusa keyboard were both designed by Razer.
Today Microsoft is rolling out their latest mouse, and the first gaming peripheral designed from the ground up at Microsoft. The SideWinder gaming mouse is being shown off today at the Games Convention in Leipzig.
Microsoft says the SideWinder mouse was designed for meeting a gamers needs, and they packed it with some interesting and useful features. A hot key allows one-touch browsing of Windows Vista Game Explorer and Quick Turn, which is a macro that allows gamers to check their perimeter from wherever they are in the game.
Related Tags: Innovation, Microsoft
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By David Ponce
