Xbox Live's Major Nelson : Technology

IE 8 Now available

Major Nelson — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:01:00 GMT

If you use Internet Explorer for your web browsing needs, you may be interested to know that a final, release version of IE8 is now available for download*. For security and stability, it’s always best to run the latest release version of your preferred browser. If you’re already running Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera or any the other browsers out there, maybe it’s time to check to see if you’re on their latest released bits (as we say in the software industry.)

*Windows Vista and Windows XP users only. If you’re running the Windows 7 Beta, read the special message on the IE8 site.

Going to the Inauguration next week? If so we need your help

Major Nelson — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:01:00 GMT

I have mentioned Photosynth in the past, but now it’s time to get the community involved. If you are going to attend the US Presidential inauguration next week in Washington D.C., head over to CNN.com to see how you can help create a Presidential style Photosynth. I am sure a few of you may go, so this is your chance for you to capture the moment for the rest of us to enjoy. Head here to read (and see) more on Photosynth or read more on the team blog. Dust off the camera and good luck.

e is a PC

Major Nelson — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:01:41 GMT

If you listened to my show last week, you know that e is working on building a PC. (Yes, e is a PC.) While LIVE is still being worked on, I thought I’d post his list for you to take a look at and give him your opinion.

A few explanatory notes:

This will be primarily a gaming PC but will also be used for other tasks as well. It doesn't need to be the fastest possible as I like the bang-for-the-buck available if you're not quite bleeding-edge.
It'll be hooked up to the big TV in my living room. It doesn't need to be silent since the room also contains a DVR, dogs, cats, etc. - but it can't be unusually loud.
I don't want or need RAID - everything will get backed up to my WHS.

Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi AP

CPU: Intel Core2 Quad Q9400

RAM: 4GB DDR3-1333

Video: Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB

HD: WD Caviar Black 1TB

Case: Antec Fusion Remote Max

PS: Enermax Pro82+

Your thoughts? Post here or drop a mail to e@xbox.com

PopFly game creator beta released

Major Nelson — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:12:42 GMT

The Alpha came out in May, but the team just shipped the beta version with some new features for your game making fun.

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend (if you’re not coming to PAX) why not kick out a game?

Note: You’ll need Silverlight which you may already have from watching the Olympics last week.

Flying the UltraCam (or how Virtual Earth gets those images)

Major Nelson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:52:36 GMT

Behind The Maps - Flying the UltraCam

Mark Brown on the Virtual Earth team has an interesting post and video (above) that give you a behind the scenes look at the UltraCam and the process involved in getting those high resolution images (Bird’s Eye View) that are used in Virtual Earth. If you are a geek who likes maps (like me) you may enjoy this.

Update: If you don’t want to install Silverlight to see the video, here are versions in other flavors:

iPod (MP4)
Zune
PSP
WMV

Popfly Game creator (make your own game!)

Major Nelson — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:33:30 GMT

The Popfly team have launched a new site where (if you have Silverlight installed) you can create your own game with the aptly named Popfly Game Creator. Using simple tools you can create a browser based game from a set of pre-defined templates. If you can drag yourself away from Iron Man or GTA, why not try to create your own fun?

Note: The tool is in an Alpha state, so YMMV.

Are you in to robotics?

Major Nelson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:46:00 GMT

I mean, after all who doesn’t like robots? If they flip your switch, then RoboChamps is for you. It is a Microsoft sponsored contest where you get free simulated robots and simulated environments to compete against one another to win real robots. Check out the 10.net video above to see the connection to gaming. If you had a bot, how would you use it in your gaming ?

I even had to create a new tag on the blog to properly handle this post.

Edit: If you don’t want to install Silverlight to view the video, you can download various versions here. Click ‘Downloads’ and choose your favorite flavor.

Live Maps update

Major Nelson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:39:00 GMT

The folks over at LIVE Maps pushed out a pretty significant update yesterday, including an option to export to various GPS formats. The team outlines the changes on their blog.

Foldershare update

Major Nelson — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:51:37 GMT

I made a Twitter about this, but it’s worth mentioning that if you use FolderShare, they have an update available for both Mac and PC.

Full details on the Foldershare blog

Surface Demo (Boston area)

Major Nelson — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:43:23 GMT

If you are interested in Surface and you live in the Boston area, head over to the Sheraton Boston Hotel (39 Dalton Street) tomorrow (November 10th) from 10am to 3pm. The surface team will have three Surface for you to ~~play around with~~ test. Not sure if you want to go? Head over to the Surface site and watch the vidoes, then I’ll bet you want to head down and get your own hands on time with it. This event is free and open to the public.

[Via the Surface blog]

[Sheraton Boston Hotel website]

If you decide to go down, please come back and post your Surface thoughts.

Introducing WindowsLive.com

Major Nelson — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:36:00 GMT

This is your one stop install point for many of the Windows Live services. Hit WindowsLive.com for one download that will install the final versions of Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer and more. Plus you can customize the install to only install exactly what you want.

[Download here]

Xbox Friends Watch - a Sidebar Gadget using Silverlight

Major Nelson — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:08:49 GMT

Adam Kinney, a developer here at Microsoft, has authored a Vista Gadget thet allows you to keep tabs of some of your Xbox Live friends list. If you have Vista and you have Silverlight installed, this gadget will help you keep track some of your friends. Note: This gadget won’t actually read your friends list, you have to manually enter the friends you want to track into this gadget.

What would you say to leaders of services at Microsoft ?

Major Nelson — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:41:00 GMT

As you know, I work on the Xbox LIVE product team (the men and women that actually build and maintain the LIVE service) and I frequently talk to other parts of the company about their services and what they are building. From Windows Live Search, Expo, Hotmail, Spaces, Office Live, Frontbridge, and Live.com (to name a few) the company has quite the assortment of software + services.

Early next week I am attending a small internal meeting where many of the key service decision makers (like Ray Ozzie) from across the company are going to get together and have an open discussion about our service offerings, compare practices, and talk strategy. What do you think we don't 'get'? I know Google may be better in some areas, but what makes them better? What makes us not as good?

If you had ten minutes with the CTO of Microsoft, what kind of advice would you offer? What questions would you ask? During the two day meeting, I'll be sharing some of the comments here with the attendees to let them know what the community thinks of the companies offerings and strategy. So go ahead and be honest, I’m listening and I’ll share it with the right people next week.

Edit: Some folks missued the point here …thing BIGGER then Xbox or Xbox LIVE.

Channel 9 beta video

Major Nelson — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:13:00 GMT

Channel 9 is working on an update to their site, and they just posted the below video, based on the Halo TV ads that have been running:

Head on over to Channel 9, where Duncan has more details about the update to the site.

Edit: Sorry, the guys over there only posted in in Silverlight. I just noticed that. I’ll search for a Flash version.

Edit: Here is the flash version

Windows Live SkyDrive (Beta)

Major Nelson — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:21:53 GMT

Need a place to store your stuff ‘in the cloud’ ? Sign up for the Windows Live SkyDrive Beta that was just opened to the public. This will give you 500 MB of storage that you can access anytime, from anywhere you have a PC. It could come in handy if you are on the run or traveling all the time. It has the option to store files available to everyone, just friends or only yourself.

Details on the SkyDrive team blog

Edit: Yes, it works with the Mac. I took some screen shots of me using SkyDrive on my Mac in both Safari and Firefox and shared them here.

Photosynth Update (See the Space Shuttle)

Major Nelson — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:34:00 GMT

I mentioned Photosynth last year, but the team has added a new Space Shuttle collection that may be worth checking out if your enjoy the technology.

Note: You’ll need the (sorry...Windows only) download to view the collection.