Adam Kinney posts tagged with 'mix08'

Interviewed at MIX, audio now available

Adam Kinney — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:21:00 GMT

In case you haven't heard, we meaning Microsoft threw a little party in Vegas this month called MIX. You should really come visit MIX sometime maybe next year, say around March 18-20th in 2009?

We like to have 72 hour conversations and talk about all the things we have going on for the web. This year we announced Silverlight 2 Beta 1.

Man I was excited, and maybe after listening to these two interviews a bit overly excited. On Wednesday I received two emails within 20 minutes of each other notifying me that my interviews had been posted.

First, I was interviewed by Erik Mork from the Sparkling Client podcast. Sparkling Client is podcast they have recently started, but judging by the production quality and the content, I feel they are off to a good start. My interview is available as Show 6: interview with Adam Kinney of Microsoft.

Erik and Monica do nice job leading into the content and my favorite interviewee-caught-in-the-headlights quote is when I say "algorithms to be figured out". Other than algorithms we discuss Silverlight 2 and the direction that we are headed with it.

The goal of Sparkling Client is to be concise 15-minute podcast that entertains as well as informs their audience about Silverlight and the rich web to come. You can find more shows on their site SparklingClient.com.

The Thirsty Developer is another podcast that I interviewed for at MIX. Dave Bost and Larry Clarkin two Microsoft evangelists from the Midwest produce this show which has a nice "hanging out in Chicago" feel.

Dave interviewed me about Silverlight 2 and we cover what it is and what some of the great new features are.

I listened to this one and found a few errors that I should clear up.

Templates - when discussing styling and skinning, I meant to discuss templates but ended up discussing the ContentPresenter and its ability to composite arbitrary controls. This is not changing the template of the control but rather changing the content. Jose Fajardo has an interesting post covering skinning and styling which is a bit more accurate.
Installation - I just wanted to strengthen the point that the installation process is still as customizable as before in 1.0. Hard Rock has a nice custom screen and FaceOut does too and they include a timer to start the application as soon as Silverlight is installed. Kudos for the timer!

It was a very fun process to be a part of and I thank both parties for their kind words.

NBC Olympics Silverlight - site preview review

Adam Kinney — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:55:00 GMT

PC World published a great article on the Olympics website last Friday which, before going into feature and technical details, begins with this:

How would you like to be handed this IT project: create a website that will present 2,200 hours of live, interactive video, plus integrated broadcast coverage. The site will have huge spikes of traffic, and operate under worldwide scrutiny, so it has to be designed for performance. It has to be done in the next 150 days; no schedule extensions are possible. And it must deliver a brilliant user experience.

If you look at the content, the scalability needs, the experience and the feature set the NBC Olympics application really looks like one to keep an eye on. Instead of pointing you to the demo (1:17:25 - 1:26:30) given during the first keynote at MIX08 again, I thought I'd show a few screenshots.

Detail View

This is the default view when you choose a video to watch. Big high-quality video showing commentary, stats and player information. A nice clean look with plenty of other videos to choose form on the side.

Large View

This is the large view of the video which provides that 10ft experience (well maybe 3ft if you're still at your desk). Includes overlaying interactive menu and stats display.

If you compare this screenshot and the previous one you may notice that they are showing off the same LeBron dunk. As part of the demo, after the dunk happened in the detail view, they flipped to full screen and then rewound the live video to watch the dunk again in a larger view. We used to just have VCR-like controls on the web, very happy to now see DVR-like controls is becoming the new standard.

Share with a Friend

After an alert pops on his screen he switches from basketball to gymnastics. Knowing his wife wouldn't want to miss it he clicks the Share button and away an email goes, likely with link to the live video so they can watch together. Olympics and the social web meet and become friends.

Sports Browser

With 34 different sports going on at the same time this results in 2200 different hours of video and many many choices of what to watch. That's what the Sports browser is for. Although I'm not quite sure what data points are used to construct the graph it looks interesting.

Large View with Picture in Picture

Much better than toggling between the "Last" button on your remote to monitor to channels is the Picture in Picture feature. I'm guessing along with DVR-like controls this will become another future standard feature, because sometimes you just need to watch more than one video stream to be happy.

The Control Room

And finally the ultimate screen for the arm-chair director, the Control Room. Choose your sport, choose your view and enjoy the bliss of being able to watch more Olympic coverage than ever before.

17 days of 34 sports which results in 2200 hours of video, shown live and then made available as video on-demand, it will be even harder than catching up with the 50 hours of MIX content I downloaded.

Catching up with Silverlight 2

Adam Kinney — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:24:00 GMT

Starting last week on March 5th after Silverlight 2 Beta 1 was announced, a lot has been said about Silverlight 2. Presentations have been given, demos have been shown, bits have been released, tutorials have been posted and many conversations have been had. As an attempt to catalog some of the more interesting and useful content, I'm posting my list of highlights since SL2B1 day.

Overview

In the unlikely event you haven't found where yet, you can grab the runtime and tools for Silverlight 2 Beta 1 on Silverlight.net.

Other links to help you get started include:

Building Rich Internet Applications using Silverlight 2 - MIX session presented by Joe Stegmen and Mike Harsh, Part 1, Part 2
A Whirlwind Tour - Jesse Liberty's introduction to Silverlight 2
Fundamentals Lab - This lab explores the fundamental tools and features that underpin any Silverlight application.
Breaking Changes in Silverlight 2 - This topic discusses the changes made to the Silverlight runtime and Silverlight tools between the Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 Alpha September Refresh and the MIX 2008 release.
Packaging and Application Startup - Pete Brown explores the new application model, read Part 1 and Part 2
Dynamic Animation Lab - This is a simple lawn mowing simulation that exposes different techniques of leveraging the managed Animation API in Silverlight 2.

Demos

Hard Rock Memorabilia - One of the most talked about demos at MIX08, welcome Deep Zoom!
Pulse at SXSW - mashes up twitter, del.icio.us, Technorati and flickr in a very visual and useful way
AOL email client - a full email client written in Silverlight 2
NBC Olympics - can be seen in the first keynote at MIX08 around 1:17:00, an interview with Perkins Miller is also available
TextGlow - read Word 2007 documents online with Silverlight 2
Silverlight.net Community Gallery - controls demo, RSS reader, SOAP Weather Widget and more
Tunnel Trouble - a new Silverlight-based game from Terralever
WeatherBug - designed for Silverlight Mobile, you can test the app running on the web.

Controls

Control Demo Page - see the controls in action
Source code and Unit Tests for controls - download the code
Creating Rich Dynamic User interfaces with Silverlight 2 - MIX session presented by Karen Corby
Controls Tutorial - Another Jesse Liberty tutorial
ListBox and ScrollViewer FAQs - all you ever wanted to know about them and more
File Upload Component - Wilco Bauwer builds a File upload and control and shares the source
User Controls Lab - Building Reusable Controls in Silverlight 2
Using the Silverlight 2 Canvas - a screencast by Jesse Liberty
Using Silverlight 2 Grids and Stack Panels - another great screencast by Jesse Liberty
Styling Controls - another tutorial by Jesse Liberty (he's been very busy)

Deep Zoom

Applications = Designers + Developers - MIX session presented by Celso Gomes and Kirupa Chinnathambi , Deep Zoom heatured in the second part
Hard Rock: Behind the Music with Deep Zoom - MIX Session presented by Scott Stanfield
First Attempt with MultiScaleImage - Mike Taulty shows how to implement control over Deep Zoom, followed by an update
Deep Zoom Demo - Mike Ormond shares Deep Zoom code and then adds mouse wheel support in part 2
Deep Zoom Composer Preview
Deep Zoom Composer Preview - User Guide

Mobile

Mobile Devices and Microsoft Silverlight - MIX session presented by Amit Chopra and David Kline
Using Microsoft Silverlight for Creating Rich Mobile User Experiences - MIX session presented by Giorgio Sardo
Brad Becker interview - about the recent announcement about Silverlight Mobile.
WeatherBug demo
MIXr demo
Silverlight for Mobile primer session at MIX08 - my notes from the first mobile session at MIX

Dynamic Language Runtime

Microsoft Silverlight and Dynamic Languages - MIX session presented by John Lam and Jimmy Schementi
Hello World! demo - demo from MIX session
Managed JScript and flickr -demo from MIX session
Integrating Silverlight and ASP.NET MVC - demo from MIX session
Iron Python - Jimmy Schementi's MSDN article
Iron Python and the DLR - Bill Chiles's MSDN Article
John Lam on Ruby, Ruby, Ruby - Open Space session at MIX08

Moonlight

Exploring Moonlight : Novell's Implementation of Silverlight on Linux - MIX session presented by Miguel de Icaza
Pre-Mix 08: Moonlight Updates
Channel9 works with Moonlight!

Physics

Farseer Physics Engine - an open source physics engine for Silverlight 2
Polygon Demo - Andy Beaulieu's recent demo using Farseer
Heads Will Roll demo - Chris Cavanagh updates his sample, click "move platforms" to make the wheels/heads go flying

Networking and Data

Networking and Data Lab - In this hands-on lab, you will look at using a variety of remote data sources and communication techniques to retrieve data for a Silverlight application.
Working with Data and Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight 2 - MIX Session presented by Eugene Osovetsky
Sockets Sample
Data Binding Tutorial - A Jesse Liberty tutorial

Browser Integration

Browser Integration Lab - In this hands-on lab, you will look at the places where DHTML and Silverlight meet.
Calling JavaScript functions - Tim Heuer tutorial

Tools

Silverlight Blueprint for Sharepoint - This is the answer to "how do you use Silverlight in Sharepoint?", Micheal Lehman has an interview live on Ch9
PhotoZoom - Want a Deep Zoom Album of your own? try this site. Look for the "processing" notification when attempting to view your albums, the site is rather busy right now
BlogEngine.NET Silverlight Extension - I would expect to see more of these start cropping up
Programmer Utilities - Jesse Liberty's suggested "other" tools
Telerik Controls - There are lot of cool examples under the Online demos section. Very cool to see the Animations framework in there.
ImageGear for Silverlight

Fountains of Information

Scott Guthrie - great tutorials and source of breaking news
Tim Sneath - next best place for breaking news and clarity of information
Jesse Liberty - The Silverlight Developers best friend
John Lam - Dynamic Language Runtime
Jose Fajardo - User Experience and Design
Andy Beaulieu - games and physics
Sparkling Client - a podcast about Silverlight and other RIA technologies.
Code Trip - driving around the west coast, check to see if they're coming to your neighborhood

Silverlight for Mobile primer session at MIX08

Adam Kinney — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:40:00 GMT

One of the bigger announcements at MIX this year is Silverlight for Mobile Devices. I had heard it was coming, but I wasn't able to spend any time looking into it before the conference. So once I saw that there was a new session announced called "Mobile Devices and Microsoft Silverlight: A Primer on the New Technology" (we need permalinks for each session) I made sure to make my way to Delfino 4003 to attend.

Amit Chopra and David Kline presented an overview of the product roadmap as well as some application design guidelines. You could definitely tell that they are enjoying the development of the product as Amit showed off mobile games he had made for his kids and David said flat out this was the most fun he had in awhile.

The different scenarios they are hoping to address include News and Media, DataSnacking (like checking the weather with WeatherBug), Retail and Social Networking (I want a new twitter UI on my phone).

Their goal is to release a CTP of version 1 by Q2CY08. Version 1's technical details include:

Parity with Silverlight 1.0
Runs in IE Mobile as a browser plug-in
Runs on Windows Mobile 6 Standard and Professional
JavaScript Support
Possible Device Specific Media Stack

The media playback is an interesting feature to implement. Currently they do not ship with any codecs and make full use of those installed on the device. The positive side is that the codecs on the device are most likely optimized for that device and will perform well. The issue they are still looking into is how well the same media will play within those different devices using different codecs. This is an area they are still finalizing.

One the real benefits that I see is that as a developer you are using the same set of tools and code whether you are creating Silverlight 1.0 apps for the web or for mobile. Visual Studio and Expression Blend are the tools and Visual Studio also includes an emulator, for convenience and those of you like me who are still running Windows Mobile 5. Apparently the browser model in Windows Mobile 5 is not near as extensive as Windows Mobile 6, so it would be a lot for work to back port it to 5. That's ok, I'd like a new phone anyways.

The other big announcement regarding Silverlight Mobile is that it will also run on the Nokia platform. This is very cool, keeping Silverlight true to form by being cross-platform.

So when does it become real?

The team is planning to ship a CTP of version 1 in the 2nd quarter of 08 and then RTM the 4th quarter of 08. Along with the RTM of version 1, they are planning to release a CTP of version 2 which will match Silverlight 2 including the managed runtime.

Today, I have blue hair

Adam Kinney — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:56:00 GMT

Something I've always wanted to do is dye my hair blue, so that's what I did this weekend. Not just spray from a can, but a full on stain of the hair and consequently the scalp.

Although in the picture I look as if I'm questioning the idea, I'm actually very happy about it. I just like the composition of that pic the best. You can see a few more pictures posted on Flickr.

Why would I do this?

First, I blame Nightcrawler. He was one of my favorite super heroes from my comic reading days and he was naturally rocking the blue hair along with blue skin (I have no interest in doing that, btw...). So that's where the idea came from.

From there the idea baked forever always in the subconscious. With the build up of excitement towards MIX08, I often had discussions that ended with "Let's meet up at MIX". The issue was many of these discussions were text based with Internet or email only contacts.

So how could I ensure I would meet up with these people in the Halls of MIX?

There you have it, the idea came to the forefront of consciousness and became the answer.

I should be easy to find now, I don't think there will be a whole lot of blue hair there. At least not at the conference, I imagine there's plenty in Vegas (just depends on where you go...and what you pay for).

And there might be a small link to the fact that my current focus is on Silverlight which has a very blue logo.

Maybe not, that might be too cheesy...

Either way, I'm definitely "super-mixcited" to go to MIX!

See ya there, I'll be the one with blue hair.

Silverlight News in my Side Bar

Adam Kinney — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:21:00 GMT

No, not my Vista SideBar, at least not yet...I've added a simple script to my site to show the latest from Silverlight News in my blog's side bar. Since each twit is formatted the same way, I was able to grab the URL and text from each post and mash them together in a simple anchor tag.

If you would like to add the Silverlight News feed to your blog, download the script and add this code to your site:

 <div id="slNews_div"><h2><a href="http://twitter.com/silverlightnews">Silverlight News</a></h2><ul id="slNews_list"><li></li></ul></div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="slNewsTwitter.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/silverlightnews.json?callback=slNewsCallback&count=5"></script>

The html is completely configurable and CSS-friendly. Just make sure you don't change the id of the unordered list element and it will continue to work.

While I was messing around with my blog, I also added the MIX08 section in the side bar. I've seen so many "I'm going to MIX posts, are you?" I thought I'd participate. I did modify the original vector ball just a bit, though.

I've also updated my About page which now covers more accurately what I am working on and what I'm into right now. Overall, I think this is just the beginning. 2008 is going to be a great year.

ReStyle contest now taking submissions

Adam Kinney — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:16:00 GMT

The ReStyle submission form is now ready to take contest entries. If you visit the page you will be asked for your EvNet credentials. What are those? They are what you use to comment with on Channel 10 or MIX Online. And if you don't have a SignIn there should be a nice registration button there for you to click and setup your account.

The image to the right was my very attractive test ReStyle while making sure the submission tool worked properly. I think its classy, with its big typography and hand illustrations.

Ian Muir has already submitted a text only ReStyle called Bare. Like the gray it shows off how you can completely wipe the page of any images, but maintain the same clickable regions.

So how did we do that?

Although this is not the most compliant way you would set up your HTML, this works well for the specific purpose of the contest. Let's dissect the MIX logo used in the upper left of the default theme.

Here's the HTML used:

<div id="logo"> <a href="http://visitmix.com/2008/default.aspx"><span class="reStyle">MIX 08</span> <img src="images/reStyleMe.gif" alt="MIX08" /> </a> </div>

And the CSS:

#logo{ float:left; margin-top:6px; margin-left:30px; background-image:url('images/mixLogo.png'); background-repeat:no-repeat; } #logo img { width:183px; height:100px; }

.reStyle { display:none }

The advantages of this code for this contest include:

div element provides the ultimate positioning and layout functionality
a element of course provides the link we need
span provides alternate text if we choose not to use images
img provides the actual clickable surface. reStyleMe.gif is a blank gif, so it provides no visual. That comes the image set to the back ground of the div, which you can easily change in CSS.

Taking advantage of this flexibility is the gray sample ReStyle with the following CSS:

#logo{ float:left; margin:0; margin-left:30px; padding-top:20px; height:40px; } #logo .reStyle { font-weight:bold; font-size:xx-large; text-decoration:none; color:#666; } #logo .reStyle:hover { text-decoration:underline; color:#000; } #logo img { display:none; }

This effectively hides the clickable image and styles the text to look like any other link on the page.

Hopefully the HTML that we've set for the contest will allow for some great creativity for the contest. I'm looking forward to seeing what turns up next in the ReStyle Gallery.

MIX08 ReStyle on Surface - Illustration

Adam Kinney — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:39:00 GMT

Yesterday I posted about the MIX08 ReStyle contest and I also happened to see my pal Ernie Booth who recently moved to the Surface team. Upon reflecting on the day's events, I started thinking about what it might be like to do a "restyle" using the Surface as a graphic design workspace.

DISCLAIMER: No text that follows should be taken in any form as a prediction about the direction of Microsoft or any of its products. This is just me playing pretend, so bear with me.

The image below started as sketch on the whiteboard which was then quickly reformed, painted and "Saved for Web & Devices..." within Photoshop.

The actions portrayed in the image show the left hand pressing down as an anchor gesture for the image, the middle and index finger are distorting the image so as to make way for the important shamrock drawing.

The right hand is holding some digital pen, which can be used as the main cursor as well as an alternate click to bring up the circular context menu.

The arms are only see through as a gratuitous effect, no need to waste time deciphering the meaning.

Maybe we'll have something like this by 2010 or 2011. It would make up for not having jet packs yet.

ReStyle contest on the MIX08 site

Adam Kinney — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Since MIX06, I have been involved with the development of the MIX site one way or another. This year is no different, I'm just a sucker for conferences about the web, design and Microsoft technologies like, hmm let's see, Silverlight (among others).

Today we've re-launched the ReStyle contest (formerly known as REMIX) by modifying the HTML to be more restyling friendly and providing a Starter Kit with the default and a sample theme. The sample theme is simply titled "gray", because that's what it does. It just grays everything out and removes images providing some technical suggestions on how you might redesign the site yourself. You can see the gray theme live on the MIX08 site.

Why would anyone want to spend the time redesigning a site using only CSS and the images they can create? Besides being educational and fun, there are also prizes.

The designers of the top three entries judged to be the best will receive:

(3) Each winner will receive a trip to attend the MIX08 Conference in Las Vegas, NV, March 5-7, 2008. Trip includes entrance into the MIX08 Conference, 3 night standard hotel accommodations, and a $1000 cash travel allowance .

- official contest rules

There it is, the big prize to work towards. A free trip to MIX08!

Now there is no time to waste. MIX08 is in 55 days and the contest is over on Feb 1st. You need to get cracking on a redesign, if you expect to win your way to MIX.

And if you want to hang out with other hopefuls, for the next 3 weeks, join the ReStyling the MIX site Facebook group. Right now, I'm the only member, and I'm "hopeful" others will show up to the party.

To get the latest news about MIX08 and the ReStyle contest, follow the News blog.

MIX08 wallpaper

Adam Kinney — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:26:00 GMT

I noticed on the new MIX08 site, that they maintained that they kept the fun MIXTIFY page from last year. This is the place where you can get all the shiny blog bling, grab the poster and ponder what your entry for Show Off should be, but there is no wallpaper. A tragedy, I say.

But I'm willing to help out. I don't want you to suffer in your pre-conference excitement.

I grabbed the pixels from the poster and moved them around in Photoshop. I had to stretch the wall to the left to move from a vertical to horizontal orientation. Complete the left edge of the desk. Throw in more of the cable cords. And then justify the shadows across the board, which I based off the flare on the orange clock.

Enjoy!

1280x1024 | 1600x1200 | 1900x1080 | 1920x1200

MIX08 - Registration is now open!

Adam Kinney — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:49:00 GMT

Based on the fact that you are reading my blog, I'm guessing you have an interest in Silverlight. If only there was some sort of grand conference where you could hope to learn more about Silverlight and its future. Although content, news, plans and other details are still in process, Microsoft MIX08 is most likely the conference that will fill your need for more knowledge.

MIX08 is a two-and-a-half day conference aimed at professionals in the consumer Web space – Web developers, designers and advertising professionals -- to come together to explore new ways to build next generation Web experiences with Microsoft’s platform and continue to explore how to build more interactive and responsive experiences that take full advantage of the capabilities of the web.
I've had the opportunity to attend both previous conferences, MIX 06 and MIX07, and MIX has taken the place as my new favorite conference series. The vibe is very loose and creative and the blend of attendees leaves industry insight oozing in the hallways.

I'm really looking forward to MIX08 and I hope to see you there. You can register today on the conference registration page.