Microsoft Research Part I

This year at PDC Microsoft Research was here in force. I have seen them at PDC before, I'm sure of it, Although they tell me it was just a smattering. This year they had a section of the Expo Hall, The Wednesday Morning key note was done completely by MSR. Here are some of the highlights for me.

SecondLight

This is a very cool surface project. The demonstration showed images being projected onto a surface. Where the presenter could rearrange, and resize them, using multiple touch technologies. Then it got cool. Holding a piece of tracing paper above the surface showed a second projection coming through. This image was text that explained the first image. The whole thing is done by alternating between two separate projections onto a surface that can alternate at the same time between transparent and opaque.When the surface is opaque the first image is projected onto it. When it's transparent the second image passes through and can be seen only when a second surface is introduced.

AutoCollage

At the Expo hall there was a booth where a chap showed me some software that was available from MSR right now called AutoCollage. This software will take a folder of images and meld them together as a collage for you, taking the attributes of the image into account. This is one I made after downloading a trial version.

AutoCollage_Images

Deep Intellisense:

Deep intelisense is a tool that helps you find information about a piece of code. It's a quick reverse chronological reference of everything and everyone that have touched this code. Including work items, change sets, Share Point documents. It's used internally at MS but is not ready for external release.

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