Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Disney Innoventions Dream Home

Microsoft has collaborated with Disney and put together the ”Innoventions Dream Home” which opened its doors in June 2008. The cool thing about it is that you can easily get that kind of technology into your homes today - such as the Windows Media Center, some Xbox 360’s, Surface, the Zune, Digital frames all integrated together. There are a few new toys still not available in the market, but you get an idea of what’s coming.

Girls will love the virtual mirror - which I have seen somewhere on the web a few years back as an idea for some shops. The guys will love everything else! I think the Virtual Wall is exciting, and the kitchen looks like a great place to be! I am already planning a few changes to do around here, though not as far as the dream home has taken it, some natural light is always good!

Laura Foy, from Microsoft’s Channel 10, takes us on a great tour inside the house, check out the video:

Disney Innoventions Dream Home

If you do not have Silverlight, and you’re too stubborn to install it, you can grab the video in other formats from: http://on10.net/blogs/laura/Disney-Innoventions-Dream-Home/

(4) Comments | Filed under: Microsoft |

Sunday, October 19, 2008

A Microsoft Student Partner Experience

Back in my college daze, I was invited to join Microsoft’s rather interesting program for students and become a Microsoft Student Partner.

In this program, MSPs are basically Microsoft’s ambassadors in different countries. The program’s goal is to encourage and sponsor students who are enthusiastic about technology. So, you really don’t have to be a Computer Science student or an engineer to be a part of this program.

As a MSP, you are given activities to execute in your area, such as giving seminars on a Microsoft technology you are passionate about. Of course, Microsoft provides you with the material required and a few giveaways. You do not get paid to do this, but there are a few promised benefits:

Welcome Kit
Certificate of Recognition
Invitation to local Microsoft Events
Microsoft Recruiting Opportunities
Promotion for most active ADE
Microsoft Internship Opportunities
Exposed to Latest technology trainings
Expense Budget on activity basis
MSDN Premium Subscriptions
Continuous Reward System

Let’s just say, getting all benefits depends on who your Academic Developer Evangelist (ADE) is and how quick and responsible he/she is. I was assigned to Lana Khalaf, who is the Gulf ADE and working with her was an experience itself. Sometimes your ADE is very cooperative but even they face trouble getting things from Microsoft Corp. Of course I dealt with other MS Employees in our region that were very helpful and supportive. A special shout out goes to MS Office in Bahrain!

Several months after my graduation, I was assigned to become the first MSP Lead in the Gulf area. This has exposed me to a much higher level of the MSP program. I got to administer the Student Partner’s website and was able to reach out to the few MSPs in the Gulf region. I was also planning the Gulf’s first Student Summit which will be held in early November this year.

I have left the program as life has had a few different turns for me.

I love talking to students about the new technologies and then being able to hear out their ideas and questions. This program made it easier for me to do that. For other MSPs that I have met, it just made it difficult because their teachers and Deans were not Microsoft fans. Meeting other MSPs online also was one of the highlights of the program for me. We were able to discuss our problems and our achievements. We also go off topic and talk about other technologies such as the latest Ubuntu distro, installing Windows on Mac or even talk about how cool Leopard is! So, it’s not limited to Microsoft only! I loved how in my sessions I can talk freely about competitors’ products and even recommend them whenever I feel so.

One of the perks of being a MSP is that you get to know about the cool things coming out before they do. Usually, our hangout is the student-partners forum and MSDN Channel 8; a website dedicated to students. I prefer the latter because it was our window to Redmond and the forum, in my opinion, was horribly designed and maintained. It is being upgraded now, so everything is going to change, which is exciting for MSPs. My favorite way to communicate with MSPs is through MSN Messenger.

Now, the downside of the program is that sometimes you do not get what you want, or you may get your materials later than expected which can cause problems. I was upset in many situations about some delays but I guess that’s a part of life. Also, MSPs from different regions get rewarded differently which can cause a few problems. In the gulf region, there aren’t any sessions for MSPs to attend for free as it is one of the benefits. So, they just select the MSP in our region with the highest number of activities reported back and send him/her to TechEd Conference.

I was invited to Microsoft Corp in Redmond to attend a special 2 day conference with 14 other MSP leads. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend as it was bad timing, but you can see how cool it could get being an MSP.

I very much recommend this program to any student who is very active and enjoys extra curricula activities in the IT field. It’s very fun and challenging. Even with the pros and cons, students interested in IT in general are bound to receive a great deal of experience from this program.

(4) Comments | Filed under: Microsoft |

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Zamzar, an online file converter

The image explains it all!

I used to have a converter installed for almost everything until this site came up. Zamzar does it all: image, document, music, and video file type conversion… There is also an “other” category for converting archived files (zip, rar, etc..). I still have to test it thoroughly, but I am pleased with the service so far!

Link: http://zamzar.com

(3) Comments | Filed under: Tech |

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Silverback for Usability Testing

Usability testing is very crucial but not many seem to care for it. When a software or a website is developed, it should be simple enough for anyone to use without really having to use the help reference, but not too simple to make the user feel stupid. This is where Silverback comes in! It is a great application that makes it very easy to perform usability tests. I have been trying it out for a couple of months now and its pretty cool.

It runs on Mac OS only and has great features including: capture screen activity and video/audio recording of the participant’s reactions.

Cost: $50.

(3) Comments | Filed under: Reviews |

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Imagine Cup 2008

So, recently, I recieved great news about being nominated to attend Imagine Cup finale in Paris and cover the event for Microsoft’s Channel 8. I didn’t want to announce anything until I got updates. I wasn’t their final choice, but boy it was wonderful being nominated. Getting that oppurtunity means you get to interview awesome people and talk to the anxious teams that want to WIN!

What is Imagine Cup?

Imagine Cup is an annual competition that Microsoft came up with years back. Any student above the age of 16 from anywhere around the world can join simply by signing up at the website (imaginecup.com). There are various categories to choose from: Software Development, Game Development, Embedded Dvelopment, Interface Design, Web Design, Photography, Short Film and the IT Challenge. You do not have to be an IT student and the most important rule is to stick to the theme and use Microsoft technology to come up with your solution. The key to win is to come up with something innovative!

This year, the theme is: “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment”.