I did a brown bag talk about what’s new in Windows 8 today. Here are the slides.

Key

• Competitive Advantage
• Competitive Disadvantage

My hard drive hard drive was starting to die. I don’t like the idea that the device I count on to store my data is not reliable.

I decided to try something new this time: a solid-state drive (SSD). I bought an 250GB Intel Solid-State Drive 510.

Here is my Experience Index before installing the SSD.

Here is my Experience Index after installing the SSD.

It has been almost 6 months since my last new smart phone (an HTC Evo).

That means one thing: time to jump ship and get a new phone.

I was very happy with my Evo. But the gadget lover in me and my reputation as being a “Microsoft shill” required me to get a Windows Phone (WP).

For a good review of WP, see Paul Thurrott .

I picked up a Samsung Focus that runs on AT&T. I chose the Samsung Focus because it is super thin/light and has no keyboard. I have changed my view on smart phones and keyboards. I once thought a keyboard was a requirement. Now I tolerate the on screen keyboard in exchange for a thin phone that fits better in my pocket. The Super AMOLED display looks amazing, too.

My favorite features in Windows Phone:

• The UI. It is beautiful and feels "next generation.” It makes the iPhone and Android UI’s look dated in comparison. I love to study new UI’s and this phone is loaded with them.
• Zune. I used a Zune HD for music before, but now I use my phone instead. Since I use the Zune Pass, I can access almost any song I want without worrying about purchasing. I like how I can use Shazam to discover a new song and immediately add it to my collection via Zune.
• Wireless Media Syncing. I *never* plug my phone into my computer, yet the phone always has the same media content as my computer (and vice versa when I add music to my phone). How? I setup wireless syncing. As soon as my phone detects my home Wi-Fi network, it automagically connects to my computer and synchronizes:
• Music
• Videos (Movies and TV shows)
• Pictures
• Podcasts
• Xbox Live Games. I love getting achievement points on my Xbox 360, and now I can get more via my phone. I’m definitely going to be playing more video games on this phone than I did on Android. Right now I’m playing ilomilo and Flight Control
• Developer Tools. Here is another area where Android and iPhone look really dated. The free toolset (Visual Studio 2010 Express, XNA Game Studio, Expression Blend) make building beautiful apps easy and fun.

Here are some neat changes to how phones normally work

Quick access to camera

What do you normally do when you want to take a picture with your phone:

• Turn on phone
• Unlock phone
• Find camera icon and launch
• Take picture if moment hasn’t passed

To take a picture with Windows Phone:

• Press and hold the camera button (all Windows Phones have a camera button) to turn on the phone and enter camera app (phone remains locked, but camera is usable)
• Press the camera button a second time to take a picture

Fast startup and shutdown

33 seconds to startup.

8 seconds to shutdown.

Status Area

Most phones lose the top line for status (battery, signal strength, GPS, time, etc.)

Windows phone only shows you the status that is relevant to what you are doing. On the home screen, the only thing you can see the time. Press the time and all the other status information drop down. The icons are overlaid on top of the home screen so you do not lose any screen real estate. The battery only shows when the battery is low or is charging. The network strength only shows when you have no signal. It is a nice touch that simplifies the UI.

Automagically Stores Pictures/Notes in the Cloud

As soon as I take a picture, Windows Phone will upload the picture to a private folder on my SkyDrive (like a disk drive you can access from any web browser). Same is true when you take notes in OneNote (which I’m starting to really like.) I started typing my notes for this post in OneNote on the phone and now I’m looking at them via the web version of OneNote on my PC.

Animation

*Everything* is animated in the Windows Phone UI. It looks cool, but it also leads your eye to what you should be looking at and gives you and idea of where you came from. The animation makes using Windows Phone more entertaining than other phones.

Final Thoughts

I lost a lot of features (wireless hotspot, video conferencing, large app catalog) moving to Windows Phone. Did I make the right decision? Yes. The UI, Zune access, and games are worth it. I really like this phone.

Pixar’s walking teapot is always the best swag of SIGGRAPH. Every year it is a different theme. This year is Mr. Potato Head in honor of Toy Story 3.

Why a teapot? Because it has become the standard model for showing off computer rendering techniques.

The line to get the teapots was ridiculous this year. They give out a batch each of the 3 exhibit days. I stood in line on the first day and they ran out by the time I got close.

The next day, I got in line over an hour early, and I was still several blocks from the start of the line. I did get one, though.

Based on the certificate of authenticity, they give out 1,500/day.

Here is a nice video clip showing how long the line was.

The bags at Comic-Con are ginourmous. Bags were bigger than some of the attendees.

Big ad for the sci-fi movie Skyline.

Patrick Duffy: Man from Atlantis/Bobby from Dallas.

The cast from The Guild…missing one very important member…

…my nerd crush Felicia Day. She’s so cute!

My buddy Trey asked me to get his book Ramayana: Divine Loophole autographed by the author/artist Sanjay Patel (has worked for Pixar for 13 years). Sanjay was very nice and spent time making each autograph a unique work of art.

Gil Gerard from Buck Rogers talking to the original Boomer from Battlestar Galatica.

Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi!

Then I saw a large orange windup fish…

I knew exactly what this was for…Rango! I asked the girl working at the booth, “This is for Rango, right?” And she gave me a puzzled look. “This is for Mr. Timms.”

Ok, whatever. I know what is going on. They had Mr. Timms shirts and I wanted one. To get one, you get three ping pong balls. Throw them into Mr. Timms mouth and the balls will come out one of 4 tubes that determine what prize you get: a shirt, a windup Mr. Timms, a pen with a floating Mr. Timms, or a Mr. Timms coin holder. Get all three balls in and you get to pick your prize.

I said, “Ok, I’m ready.” The girl replied, “Then you need to go to the end of the line against the wall.”

There was a line about a block long for Mr. Timms! I spoke to people in the line…nobody knew about the connection to Mr. Timms and Rango. The little girl behind me was jumping up and down because she was so excited about Mr. Timms. Amazing.

While we were waiting in line, a guy told us that he is introducing Mr. Timms to America and how amazing Mr. Timms is.

When I finally got to try my luck with the ping pong balls, I got 2 of 3 in…no shirt! I said “I have to have a shirt!” They said I would have to wait in line again. I said, “I will stand in line all day…I’m not leaving until I get a shirt.”

I guess it helps being loud, because when I got back in line, someone from the booth came to talk to me. She saw that I worked at ILM (I had an Iron Man crew shirt on). She said I wasn’t the first person from ILM that was determined to get a shirt. Rather than make me wait in line all day, she said she would see what she could do.

I said, “While you are seeing what you can do…”large” would be nice!”

She came back and announced, “I’m giving out a shirt to a random winner in line…and it goes to…*YOU* sir!” Very cool! I got my shirt!

Not sure what she was supposed to be…but it works.

I am a huge LOST fan…so I had to get my picture with a cast member: Nadia.

Seeing bare ass gets my attention…I didn’t know who she was at the time. It’s Cammy White from the video game Street Fighter.

Nvidia had a setup where you could get your picture taken with some World of Warcraft girls in 3D. I think seeing the picture in 3D was supposed to be the draw…but I doubt anybody cared about the 3D.

I wanted to get was a TRON shirt. I asked at the TRON booth if they had any. They said the shirts they were wearing were the only TRON shirts available, and were exclusively provided by a vendor on the show floor. I picked one up on my way out.

While walking back to my hotel…guess who I ran into? The Old Spice Guy!

Comic-con was a blast. For me, two days was the perfect amount of time. Any more and I would have OD’ed. It was a good time…would definitely go again.

It is amazing how many costumed cute girls there are at Comic-Con. It may be the best people watching ever.

Fox promoted the October 26th Alien Anthology Blu-ray release with a working(?) hibernation chamber from the Nostromo (from the original Alien).

Lucasfilm had 30 slave Leia’s on display…always a crowd favorite.

Ran into my pal Mary Franklin at the booth…the only time I see her now because she is always traveling.

Impressive Iron Man costume…not so impressive Black Widow.

Big ads are everywhere around the convention center. Movie Battle:Los Angeles and video game Red Faction: Armageddon below.

Scott Pilgram vs. the World

To get into Flynn’s Arcade, you had to wait in line for a ticket…

Yes! Got a ticket!

…which lets you wait in line to get in.

Once inside, I was given a bunch of token with logos from various TRON video games.

I figured you would use the tokens to play the games in the arcade…nope. All the games were on free play (and super easy mode). The vending machine was giving out free Cokes, too.

The place was loaded with games from the early 80’s…

I got first place on Ms Pac-Man.

There were a few “Space Paranoid” games (from the original TRON). Play Space Paranoid online here.

There were some Xbox 360’s, PS3’s and Wii’s showing off upcoming TRON: Legacy video games.

I heard there were going to be clues inside to something special. I noticed many of the neon signs were partially lit so I took many photos just in case I needed to recall which letters were lit. They did an excellent job of decorating this place (which is only temporary…completely cleared out after Comic-Con).

One video game wasn’t playable…

The TRON game eventually slid over to reveal a walkway to Flynn’s lab.

And a digitizer…facing the desk? Seems like that might be a problem.

Here is the digitizer in action.

After the gun fired off, we walked down a hallway to enter the world of TRON - The “End of Line” Club. It was amazing…best moment of Comic-Con.

A bunch of videos of the bar to help capture the moment

• Walking from Flynn’s lab to “End of Line” club
• TRON Trailer playing in the club
• High quality version of trailer played in club
• Walking around the club

The music by Daft Punk was so powerful. I’m definitely picking up the soundtrack as soon as it comes out (heard November).

A light cycle suit mannequin on display.

The real/live TRON girl was stunning. She actually lit up!

I had to get a photo with her.

How do you cap an experience like that?

Watch the late night screening of “Mega Piranha” hosted by 80’s pop princess Tiffany and my geek crush Felicia Day.

Mega Piranha is a mockbuster by The Asylum of the upcoming movie Piranha 3-D. It was bad, and not “so-bad-it-is-funny-bad”…just sleep-inducing bad.

I am not into comic books, so I was not sure how much there would be that interested me.

I arrived on Friday morning. On my way to the convention center, I noticed all the gas lamps in the Gaslamp Quarter were decorated with TRON posters for the new movie.

I am a big fan of TRON. If there was one thing I wanted to see at Comic-Con, it would be anything TRON related.

And look what I happen to walk past on the way to the convention center…

Flynn’s Arcade!

I asked the people in line what was happening. “Press event.” Dang! I really wanted to see what was inside.

I continued to the convention center and saw the “Black Beauty” from the upcoming movie “The Green Hornet.”

Once inside, I saw a huge “recognizer” from a distance. First stop: find out what is going on with TRON. There were were a couple dressed up in TRON garb working the booth.

They were giving away a light cycle toy if you waited in line. I decided to pass on that one due to line length.

There are going to be a TON of product tie-ins with this movie. Some of the products were on display. I may have to get the Xbox 360 controller.

They also had the Lightcycle from last year’s Comic-Con on display.

I asked about access to Flynn’s Arcade. I was told Flynn’s Arcade would be open to the public after lunch. You could get tickets later in the day at the booth, or just go to the Flynn’s Arcade directly.

Some neat new Star Wars Lego kits coming out.

Slave 1 with frozen Han Solo

TIE Defender

Imperial Shuttle

I stopped by the Xbox 360 setup at the Hard Rock Hotel so I could try out Kinect.

I tried out “Dance Central” in front of a group of people. It was fun, but you can’t help but feel like a big dork…especially as you learn the moves. I’m definitely getting this when it comes out.

Here is a clip I took of a guy playing Dance Central. There is a kid that is running around and it doesn’t mess up the tracking.

The other game that really stood out was LIMBO. It looks like no other game I’ve seen. I picked it up as soon as I got home and have already finished it. Read my review here.

Next up: Heading to Flynn’s Arcade.

LIMBO is a new game for Xbox 360.

This is a special game. It reminds me of the original Prince of Persia in terms of the fluid animation and puzzles.

What I liked:

• Unique look
• Looks as if the game was filmed with an old black and white camera
• Impressive puzzles
• Great sound and effects
• Dark theme
• Not 3D for a change

Check out this video to see what LIMBO looks like.

I really enjoyed this one.

Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

iTunes: Hello, I'm iTunes.

Zune: And I'm Zune.

iTunes: I think somebody stole my wallet!

Zune: How could that happen?

iTunes: Someone must have hacked my account.

Zune: You should call someone immediately!

iTunes: I wish! There is no support phone number for iTunes.

Zune: So what are you supposed to do?

iTunes: Email.

Zune: This is urgent! How quickly will they respond to email?

iTunes: Within 48 hours. You know how it is.

Zune: Actually, I don’t.

iTunes: Oh, you get a better response than an email back in 48 hours?

Zune: I can contact support via phone 7 days a week, from 6am until 10pm.

iTunes: Well you better contact them now!

Zune: I’ll be fine.

iTunes: Don’t be a hero, Zune! iTunes has been hacked!

Zune: iTunes…but not Zune.

Source: http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/07/04/app-store-hacked/

Like it does every year, ILM took out a two page ad thanking its employee’s in the July issue of Cinefex magazine.

To skip to the good stuff (my credit), go to the right page, 1st column, 25th down. For some reason, almost everybody in Research & Development has a middle initial listed…weird.

Left page…

Right page…

Here is the concept: You put garbage in a trash can. Then someone goes through the trash and sorts it into recycling and landfill.

• No confusion over what goes where…only one trash can.
• Everybody recycles…you can’t opt out.

Unfortunately, it does not do composting.

More info here.

One year ago I bought a Palm Pre. I *love* the Palm Pre. My biggest issue with the Pre is a lack of new products (still no follow-on announced) and the lost developer momentum.

Android, on the other hand, is doing very well in those departments.

What I like:

• Voice search – just press and hold the search button on the bottom right, then say what you are looking for and the phone gives you the Google search results for what you just said. I’m shocked how accurate it is, especially considering there is no voice training involved. This is definitely easier/quicker than typing and it has already changed how I use a smart phone.
• Similarly, the on screen keyboard has an option to let you speak instead of type. I’ve used it for a few text messages and find it useful. I’m curious if I’ll use this more than the actual keyboard for txt messages…if it saves me keystrokes, then I will.
• Google Maps has Street View! Maps is a killer app for mobile phones…and having access to Street View makes it even more so. I really like how you can rotate your body in order to spin around in Street View.
• Google Scoreboard app: This app tracks your favorite teams, and tells you what time they are playing (in *your* time zone), where they are on TV/radio, and can notify you with score updates at start/end of game, or after every quarter, or score. It works great, it is free, and it has no ads.
• EVO uses the same Micro USB port that the Pre uses, so I don’t need new charging cables for home/work/car.
• Facebook app…written by Facebook. Automatically populates your phone’s contact list with information (email, phone numbers, address, etc) and profile pics.
• Twitter app…written by Twitter. Like the Facebook app, the Twitter app integrates with Android so that any contacts you have that don’t have pictures associated with them can get their profile pics from Twitter. App has fun cloud/bird animations that give it a unique look and feel.
• Foursquare app…written by Foursquare. Unlike the Pre version, this actually works well.
• Gmail. The Android version of Gmail is is more full featured than the Pre mail program (supports labels, collapsing conversations to a single message).
• Animated wallpaper.
• Shazam. Ever hear a song and wonder who sings it? Shazam can listen to just a few seconds of a song and tell you what it is. This *is* magical software.
• Phone kickstand. You can see a metal bar on the back on the phone in the image above. That metal bar extends so you can place your phone in landscape mode on a table for easy viewing. Useful when you use your phone as an alarm clock, watching movies, or a mini computer. Just add a wireless keyboard and you have a *very* portable computer, except the screen may be too small for heavy usage. Which brings me to…
• HDMI out. The phone can output to a TV via an HDMI cable (video/sound). If you want a much bigger display than the already ginormous 4.3 inch screen…just plug it into your TV!
• Mobile hotspot. You can use the EVO as a Wi-Fi access point for up to 8 devices! Finally…I can connect my laptop to the internet via my phone. My Pre could not do that (but my old Windows Mobile 6 Palm Treo could).
• Web browser. I found that more web pages load correctly on the EVO than they did on my Pre.
• I haven’t really thought about the performance of this phone, mostly because I haven’t had to wait for anything. I guess that means 1 GHz Snapdragon processor is fast.
• Android has a lot of momentum now, I only expect it to grow. It is nice to have a phone that developers are targeting instead of being an afterthought. There are a ton of apps to play with…much more than what is available for the Pre.
• Big 4.3” screen makes everything better: more details visible on maps, on screen keyboard has large buttons even in portrait mode, video more enjoyable to watch.
• HTC’s custom software is actually useful and not crap ware like I was expecting. I like the home screen big clock, weather, alarms, timer, and stopwatch. You can turn on a low light clock that stays on at all times if you want to use your phone as an alarm clock. The pinch to zoom for access to the 7 home screens is very fast/useful.
• Front facing camera for video chats. Not sure when I’ll use this, but it is nice to know I can.
• HD video recording at 720p.
• 8MP camera with 2 LED flashes.
• Supports 32 GB microSD card.
• Adobe Flash! It isn’t here on this Android release (2.1), but it should be when 2.2 come out…which won’t be long.

What I don’t like/miss:

• Keyboard. I still prefer the confidence of typing with actual keys.
• Notifications. They are handled *perfectly* on the Pre. Android needs some work. Android email notification only says you have a new message. Pre tells you who sent it and the message subject. Notifications on the Pre could be selectively deleted. So far, I’ve only been able to delete all notifications at once with Android.
• Task management. Pre has this done right, too. On the Pre, you press the “home” button and you instantly see small “cards” representing all the running applications. You swipe an app up to send it off the screen and kill it. You can rearrange the order of running apps. You can use the swipe left/right gesture to quickly move between running apps without going to a home screen/task switcher dialog (like pressing/releasing Alt-tab). With Android, I don’t see a way to kill an app (Android is supposed to manage this for you). Android appears to only support switching between 6 apps via a dialog that comes up when you press and hold the “home” button. It’s not terrible…but not as slick as the Pre.
• The Pre uses a universal swipe to the left or right to delete an item (like a mail message or a notification). Once you learn this, you expect you can do it anywhere…which is true on the Pre. Android doesn’t support the swipe to delete gesture…but I wish it did.
• The Pre has the touchstone charger that lets you charge your phone by simply laying it on a “puck”…wireless charging. If you get a call, you lift the phone off the puck and the call is automatically answered, just like the way a traditional phone works. Also if you start a speaker phone conversation while on the the puck, lifting the phone off the puck will switch speaker phone off. EVO just plugs into a micro USB cable. :(
• The battery life is about the same as what I was getting with the Pre…I have to charge a minimum of once a day, or more if I really use the phone. I keep it plugged in overnight and have a charger at work as well. It’s not a step back from the Pre, but I’d like to get back to the days when a cell phone only needed charging once a week.
• On the Pre, you can slide your launch icons where ever you want. If an icon is already in the location, it will slide out of the way to a new location allowing for easy insertions. Android, on the other hand, won’t let you do this. You must first make an empty space before you can drag an icon to a location. Not a big deal…but not as slick as the Pre.

After using the EVO for a weekend and getting used to Android…I’m hooked. The EVO isn’t perfect and I do miss some of some of Pre’s niceties. Overall, the good almost makes you forget the bad.

I would recommend the EVO and Android to anyone.

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The past weekend I stayed at Vegas’ latest super casino: CityCenter. The hotel we stayed at in CityCenter is called “Aria.”

CityCenter is made up of 5 towers and a mall called “Crystals.” The 5 towers are:

1. Aria: hotel and casino
2. Vdara: hotel and condo
3. Mandarin Oriental: hotel and condo
4. Harmon: hotel
5. Veer: condo

Aria’s rooms are the best Vegas rooms I have ever been in. First of all, the key card to open the door works by being close to the door…no need to insert it in a slot. That means you can just leave the card in your wallet and wave your wallet in front of the door to open it.

When you walk in for the first time, the room is completely dark with the curtains drawn. The lights thoughout the room slowly ramp up to full brightness as the curtains automatically pull back to reveal an amazing view. Then the HDTV turns on with your name written on the screen. There are two remotes: a standard remote and a touch screen that stays by your bed. Both remotes use RF instead of IF, so you don’t have to aim them. The remotes lets you control:

• TV
• Music
• All the lights
• The curtains
• Alarm clock
• Temperature
• Privacy indicator outside your door

It is very slick.

The room has audio/video inputs so you can easily hook your laptop/mp3 player to the TV. Two powered USB ports allows you to charge your devices without using an AC adapter…nice!

Here are some pics of our room on 54th floor…

View outside our room…

The sports betting area of Aria is amazing. It has the best/biggest HDTV I have seen (actually, two) if you take the one at Cowboy Stadium out of consideration. First drink is on the house here! I would *definitely* come back just to watch a basketball/football game here. Here is some video to give you an idea how big (and bright!) the screens are.

The next smaller TV’s are ~60”…and they look great, too.

Overall, I’m impressed with Aria. It is very different from typical Vegas casinos…but I enjoyed the change. The food was great, but our service at The Buffet and Cafe Vettro were sub-par. For example, I finished my meal and left The Buffet and never got the Diet Coke that I requested *twice* (the first request was before I went to get my first plate of food).

I still enjoyed my stay and would go again. It is an amazing structure and worth checking out.

Some photos from around Aria…

Mandarin Hotel @ CityCenter…

Crystals Mall at CityCenter…