This week, Microsoft announced the latest update to their smart phone OS called Windows Phone 7 Series.

What I like:

• Beautiful, unique user interface
• A task-based interface instead of application-based
• For example, a contact will contain standard contact information, plus that person’s facebook status updates
• Integration with social networks
• Unlimited music access via Zune Pass
• Xbox Live integration (can get achievement points via games on your phone)
• Strict hardware requirements
• Resolution
• 3 hardware buttons (back, start, search)
• GPS
• Capacitance Multi-touch screen

I’ll be watching this phone closely…I like what I see so far.

Check out this video to see Windows Phone 7 Series in action.

I kept track of all the changes I made after I did a clean install of Windows 7.

1. Install Microsoft Security Essentials
• Virus software works without getting in the way
2. Move the recycle bin to taskbar.
• Gives you a completely clean desktop
• The recycle bin is always visible and can be used to drag and drop files you don’t want
3. Pin Sticky Notes to the taskbar
4. Pin Snipping Tool to taskbar
5. Change “Shutdown” button to “Restart”: Right-click Start->properties->Start Menu->Power button action: [Restart]
6. Switch taskbar to “combine when full”: Right-click Start->properties->Taskbar->Taskbar buttons: [Combine when taskbar is full]
• More obvious if an application is active or not (big == active)
• Active applications include text description
• Active applications are 3 times larger than non-active: easier hit target
• Progress bars (shown in taskbar when downloading files or installing software, for example) have more space and are more meaningful
7. Install Windows Live Essentials: Live Writer (updating blogs), Photo Gallery, and Movie Maker
8. Install Zune Software
9. Set power option to high performance (for my desktop): Start->Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Power Options->High Performance
10. Install Adobe Flash
11. Set up black screen saver: Start->Control Panel->Appearance and Personalization->Personalization: Change screen saver->
• [Blank]
• Wait [10] minutes
• [X] On resume, display logon screen
12. Setup daily backup: Start->Control Panel->System and Security: Back up your computer
• Every day at 2 a.m.
• Only backup my home directory
13. Turn on check boxes for selection: Explorer->Organize->Folder and search options->View->[X] Use check boxes to select items
• You can select multiple files using the mouse-only (without this, you must hold down the shift or ctrl keys)
14. Turn on Zune toolbar: Right-click Start->Properties->Toolbars->[X] Zune
• When Zune is minimized, it shows as a mini-player in the taskbar
15. Change pictures folder to:
• Detail view: right click file area->View->Details
• Set columns to Name, Size, Date, Date Modified: right click column heading to modify
16. Install Visual Studio C# 2008 Express Edition and Visual Studio C++ 2008 Express Edition
17. Install Windows 7 SDK
• Contains *lots* of helpful sample code
18. Change account picture to match Facebook profile picture: Start->Control Panel->User Accounts and Family Safety->User Accounts->Change your picture
19. Install Maya 8 Unlimited
• 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects software
20. Install Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) Production Premium
• Contains…
• Photoshop (image editing)
• Illustrator (vector editing)
• Premier Pro (video editing)
• Soundbooth (sound editing)
• After Effects (video compositing)
21. Install Quicken Deluxe 2009
• Finance software
22. Closing Internet Explorer closes all open tabs: IE->Tools->Internet Options->General->Tabs->Settings->[ ] Warn me when closing multiple tabs

*Now* I am ready to go!

There are multiple ways to do 3D in movie theaters. My favorite is RealD because of the image quality and the potential of getting normal sunglasses that work in a theater. I saw Avatar in both RealD and Dolby 3D and could not tell a difference…both looked great.

Here’s a table to help keep it straight:

Company

IMAX 3D uses either linear polarization (which means you *cannot* tilt your head), or LCD shutter glasses, depending on theater.

My biggest issues are…

1. Letting you tilt your head during a movie
2. Headaches from LCD shutter glasses

For now, I’m avoiding XpandD and IMAX 3D for 3D movies.

Much of this info is from this article.

Just got out of a screening of “Up in the Air.”

My take: Hits close to home. Thoroughly enjoyable. Must-see.

Just got out of a screening of Paranormal Activity.

*This* is the movie to see to get your scary movie fix for Halloween. This movie really got me…and the main reason is that it all seems so real.

Highly recommended!

Windows/DOS has had a *bad* command shell for a long time…but that is about to change with the October 22nd release of Windows 7.

Windows 7 ships with PowerShell 2.0…and it is *really* good.

PowerShell 2.0 features:

• Unlimited output buffer (command prompt had 300 lines by default, and a max of 9999)
• Easy text selection (command prompt could only do “screen space” selection, which made selecting multi-line text virtually impossible…no more!)
• Aliases for standard Unix shell commands (pwd, cp, man, rm, rmdir, mv, ls, cat, grep, ps, kill, tee, clear)
• Aliases for standard cmd.exe commands (cd, cls, copy, help, del, rmdir, rename, dir, type, find, findstr, tlist)
• Support for paths with either forward or backward slashes
• Support for network resources *without* mapping a drive (i.e. can do this: cd \\share\mypics)
• All commands follow a consistent verb-noun naming convention (get-childitem, write-output, etc.) which makes the commands self descriptive and easy to learn
• Can use standard file system commands (cd, dir, rm, cp, etc.) on…
• The Registry
• Environment Variables
• Variables
• Aliases
• User supplied custom data
• Command and parameter tab completion
• Really good documentation, with examples via get-help (or help/man)
• Script debugger with support for breakpoints, stepping, call stack, and hover over variables to see values
• Commands are chained together via *objects* instead of text. Nice example of this powerful feature here.
• Can output your results in rich text format to out-gridview. I *love* this feature. Read about it here.
• Supported on Linux/Mac via Pash

Here is a nice table that compares all the different shells and their features. PowerShell comes out as the most advanced shell.

Windows 7 marks the first time Windows has had a better default shell than Linux or Mac.

Other Linux advantages that are no more with Windows 7:

• Windows 7 has support for symbolic links (actually added in Vista).
• Excellent free C++ compiler via Visual C++ Express

This is impressive. C3 Technologies creates 3D cities. To do Stockholm took less than 3 days!

Check out the intro video on the home page.

Here is a demo of Las Vegas.

Video is here.

This put a smile on my face. Well done Microsoft!

Meanwhile, in the Matrix…

“Mac’s don’t crash”

“You can’t get a virus on a Mac”

What exactly is Apple advertising here? Have they actually used their own products?

Time to take the red pill, Apple.

The conclusion: things aren’t good.

There were approximately 12,000 attendees…less than half of last year in LA and the smallest turnout since 1980 in Seattle.

My first SIGGRAPH was in ‘97, which was also the best attended at nearly 50,000.

Jon Peddie Research has a nice chart with the attendance numbers…

Full article is here.

I use this one all the time…and it makes me mad when I go back to Vista and can’t use it.

What I like:

• Don’t have to aim remote (uses RF to talk to Nevo Connect, which is connected to my devices via IR Emitters)
• Can use remote in any room
• No number pad (those keys are wasted on me)
• Almost everything can be done via 31 hard buttons
• Four hard buttons that use the remote’s screen for labeling
• One-handed operation
• Voltage sensor for devices that do not have discreet on/off codes (like the PS3)
• Completely customizable color, 320x240 touch screen
• NevoStudio Pro 2.0 - really good/easy software for programming
• You can get the screens to look *exactly* like you want. For example, I just took an image from the manual for my PS3 controller and made that a screen. Then I placed hotspots on the buttons that mapped to the actual IR remote output for a PS3 (via IR2BT).

What I don’t like:

• Has to be charged approximately every three days
• Software only runs on 32 bit Vista (not 64 bit Windows 7, which is what I normally run)
• You get obsessed wanting to customize the screens to look perfect…and you are never finished
• Resistive screen doesn’t work well with fingers (fingernails work better)

I bought the Nevo Q50 Remote, Nevo Connect, and NevoStudio Pro 2.0 software for about $550 on eBay from a merchant called “jdm-cafe.” Normally, you buy this remote from a home theater installer that will do all the programming for you…but what fun is that? I think this remote is more than a $1000 if you buy it from an installer.

I bought a voltage sensor (for my PS3) and 6 IR emitters from Remote Shoppe for about $140.

To figure out when my PS3 is powered on, I connected the voltage sensor to the power lines on a USB cable I plugged into the PS3. I learned about this technique for detecting the power state of a PS3 here.

I’m really happy with how slick this setup works. *NOW*, everything just works. Press the “PS3” button and…

• TV turns on
• TV switches to HDMI for PS3
• Receiver turns on
• Receiver switches to PS3 digital audio
• PS3 powers on (if it isn’t already on)
• Remote switches to PS3 control, with volume keys controlling the receiver

And when I’m done, I press “Power Down System”…

• TV turns off
• Receiver turns off
• PS3 is sent a macro for turning off (if it is currently on)

Mmmmmmm…home theater nirvana! This makes me *really* happy. :)

I spent some time searching for a list of the “new generation” 3D movies (movies made for RealD or Dolby 3D). I never found a comprehensive list, so I made my own.

If you have any additions or corrections…please post in the comments and I will update this list.

2005

1. Chicken Little
2. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D

2006

1. The Ant Bully
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (reissued annually)
3. Monster House

2007

1. Meet the Robinsons
2. Beowulf

2008

1. U2 3D
2. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
3. Journey to the Center of the Earth
4. Bolt
5. Fly Me to the Moon

2009

1. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
2. My Bloody Valentine 3-D
3. G-Force
4. Up
5. Coraline
6. Final Destination 4
7. Monsters vs. Aliens
8. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
9. Avatar
10. A Christmas Carol
11. Toy Story
12. Toy Story 2
13. Michael Jackson: This Is It
14. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
15. X Games 3D: The Movie

2010

1. How to Train Your Dragon
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Shrek Forever After
4. Oobermind
5. Toy Story 3
6. Beauty and the Beast
7. Tron Legacy
8. Rapunzel
9. The Gate
10. Resident Evil: Afterlife
11. The Hole
12. Piranha 3D
13. Humpty Dumpty

2011

1. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
2. Tintin 2
3. Frankenweenie
4. Battle Angel
5. Cars 2
6. The Bear and the Bow
7. Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom
8. The Guardians
9. Happy Feet 2 in 3D
10. Rio

2012 and Beyond

1. Monsters, Inc. 2
2. Truckers
3. Super Secret Ghost Project
4. Madagascar 3
5. Crood Awakening
6. Tintin 3
7. Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre Killer
8. Newt
9. King of the Elves
10. Star Wars
11. Empire Strikes Back
12. Return of the Jedi
13. The Phantom Menace
14. Attack of the Clones
15. Revenge of the Sith

Stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) was big at SIGGRAPH this year and left me thoroughly impressed. For me, it was the biggest news of SIGGRAPH 2009.

What is S-3D? S-3D creates the illusion of depth, like you would see with a View-Master. Instead of a single image, each eye has a unique perspective of the image.

Why is S-3D hot all the sudden?

• Digital projectors are common in theaters now (TI’s DLP and Sony’s SXRD)
• It is easy to place a filter system in front of digital projectors that allows each eye to see a different image with special glasses.
• The 3D presentation of a movie makes more money than the 2D presentation. For example, The 3D presentations of Polar Express made 14 times more money than 2D presentations, per screen.

Hollywood has taken notice of the increased revenue, and it shows. There is a surge in the number of 3D movies coming out.

There are many ways you can see S-3D. Two technologies that standout as the best:

• RealD
• Dolby 3D.

RealD has most of the market currently. I don’t have any stats, but I believe I heard in the SIGGRAPH panel that over 1,000 theaters are RealD-capable now and they have more than 90% of the market for 3D cinema. To use RealD, theaters need a special silver screen to reflect more light and keep the light polarized. They also need a RealD filter device in front of the projector to polarize frames for the left eye and right eye. The glasses are cheap to produce and can be recycled or replaced.

Dolby 3D uses color filters instead of polarizing light. Each eye can only see certain colors, but amazingly appears as a full color image. Dolby 3D uses a standard white screen. A big advantage is there is no special screen to buy and thus 2D movies are not impacted by a theater’s move to 3D-capable. I’m not sure how a 2D movie looks on RealD’s silver screen, but I’ve been told it does look different than using a standard white screen. The Dolby 3D glasses are not cheap like the RealD glasses, and theaters must be careful not to lose the glasses.

I’ve seen both RealD and Dolby3D and I can’t pick a winner…both look really good.

Movies are obvious candidates for S-3D…but I saw other forms of entertainment that *really* shine in 3D. In the SIGGRAPH panel, I watched a demo reel from 3ality Digital that showed scenes from an NFL game, an NBA game, and a U2 concert. Seeing a live event in 3D is *very* compelling.

Two scenes stood out in my head:

1. A running back trying to break through a wall of linemen and eventually forced out of bounds and into the 3D camera made the entire audience react as the running back kept getting closer to us. We had the same reaction as if we were standing there preparing to get hit.
2. Watching the kicker kickoff. Seeing the ball from the opposite end zone is nearly impossible with the sea of people in the background…but in 3D, the ball popped out in front and was very clear, even though it was very small.

I can’t wait for movie theaters to start hosting NFL/NBA games in 3D…I’ll definitely shell out some cash to see that.

I’m a believer in 3D for movie theaters…I’ll definitely go see every movie in 3D that I can.

But what about in your home?

That is getting very interesting very quickly.

JVC had a 46 inch LCD on display at SIGGRAPH that uses the same technique as RealD…and it looked really good. The bad news: You lose half your resolution because each frame contains the left and right images instead of just a single image. That means you *cannot* do 1080p currently in 3D.

However, HDMI 1.4 fixes this with its “3D over HDMI” feature.

Panasonic should have a 3D-capable set by next year. Sony has not made a 3D  announcement yet, but was very active in the SIGGRAPH panel…so you can draw your own conclusions.

So you get a Blu-ray player and TV that supports HDMI 1.4…what about 3D content? There is *no* standard for 3D yet…so anything you buy now may be worthless when a standard is decided.

My advice for 3D in the home: wait. It is coming, but it looks like it is still a few years away.

As soon as 3D for the home is standardized…I’m jumping in…I’m hooked on this stuff.

The SIGGRAPH panel left some good websites to follow for information on this topic:

• Meant To Be Seen – mtbs3d.com
• The S-3D Gaming Alliance – s3gda.com