buzznovation

Demo 2006...Showtime...16th Demo conference...Tuesday morning...

Beautiful morning here in Phoenix. I have a great seat, second row on the aisle right next to my pal David Geller of WhatCounts! Chris Shipley just hit the stage and is giving her keynote. It will or should be posted later today. Time to listen!

Rise of the individual…is it leaning toward consumer? Chris take is that technology is merging, that it is the rise of tools that allow us to be most productive independent of when and where we are using technology. People no longer asking IT..if they can use technology, rather adapting and adopting technology that they need.

Funny…how what she is talking about echoes what we at ActiveWords are seeing.

Social computing…speaks to challenge of eliminating complexity? or are we in a state of overwhelmed? We need better ways to search…We need to commit ourselves to a better user experience. If we don’t consumer will stop buying/using.

“Simplify Simplify” Henry David Thoreau…or rather “just Simplify”…

(I have seen about 50 people I know…great being here!)

68 products…making computing more accessible, more reliable, safer, but concurrently very sophisticated.

Here are the contenders for the Demo god..

Moo Bella…

First and only company that produces fresh and customized cup of ice cream. Every consumer can become a “Ben or a Jerry”…

Modular in design, all managed by Linux, data bases allow to mix, uses WiFi…

Take ice cream where no ice cream has gone before..

16 great companies…

Blurb, Inc…

Personal publish books with professional quality! Create a commercial quality book…

Blurb book smart application

Travel book blog..Very simple, new word..”blog slurper”

Very cool, very excellent, ability change the look and feel..

Nice web enablement to allow people to contribute to a book!

400,000 non-profits that did cook books last year.

So easy to use that even our “VCs” can do it…

Bones in Motion, Inc.

Do it, view it and share it. GPS chip in the phone…

Detail calorie burn, how she did on each mile of the run. Street, topo and satellite map.

Sharing is very motivational…free web service, BIM…stored in web account.

Nice mashup using Google maps…allows competing with friends in other cities.

One click to to add to your personal blog

Also includes route reviews…pretty cool application, but also for cyclists. Also useful for people who count calories, mobile life style applications. Sprint has allowed BIM active as a location based service. Get Bones in Motion and tell your active friends!

Mp3Car.com

Something to show to AJ…250,000 people with computers in their car, now going mainstream…easy integration and easy sharing.

Street deck enabler.

Meant to replace in car radio..

Touch screen interface! Built Street Deck around gesture.

Not sure if I want a dedicated computer in my car! My theme, two eyes on the road, and two hands on the wheel.

Digislide..

Australian company…need to connect to Cameron Reilly

Smart projection technologies…

Available for all electronic handheld devices..

The Wifi in the room isn’t working and I am trying to share Dave Geller’s EVDO card, so far no luck!

Accomplice Software..

Simple network desktop application..

Doing a skit…

“Partner in time…” basic UI….” need to show them MindManager so that they can build import and export routines.

David Allen connection? Drag and drop implemented..

Allows your team to share the application..todos and notes sync up together. Allows you to re-balance across teams.

Accomplice…partner in time, works on and off line, and syncs with Mobile device…

Using U3..I wonder if they have solved the lock down problem….need to check with them.

Grass Roots Software

Freepath…communicators tool..media available today…

Powerpoint doesn’t play most of content.

Audio and video with full control at your fingertips.

Powerpoint plug in…reduce..time for production…all integrated into Powerpoint. Puts you in control

Uses the metaphor of play list..Need to show this to MindManager guys! All drag and drop enabled…

Nifty stuff…

Freepath play list…

Collective, arrange and present..

I need to get a copy…see how it might work for demoing ActiveWords on-line!

Network streaming…

Tech support application…

Avoids tech support playing puppet master….

Might be a candidate for ActiveWords in their tech support.

Interprise Solutions…

Connectivity, integration and affordability…

Combines desktop and web based integration.

Show these guys our scripting language and Salesforce.com materials..

Also show these guys Outlook agent…

Very robust application, worth looking at….

Tiny Pictures….

When you capture visual notes, you need to share and annotate them.

By end of 2006 more than a billion camera phones on the planet.

Product called “Radar”…making software for regular people with regular phones.

For Java phones? They also have mobile browser product.

Also have a desktop application which ties with your phone.

Sharing experiences not just photos…

Ugobe…

Plio…revolutionary robotic technology.

Whole new era of robotics…Killer toy! Calling for more play…

Very, very cool…I just took some pictures…will need to post them.

Third law of all life forms..ability to adapt to environment…

Zingee…

Peer sharing system, fully secured…

Mick..who I met on line the other day on line…

Three ways Zingee makes sharing really easy….

Sharing via E-Mail, via Skype, via Blogs..

By sharing on blog…

Secure, simple and free…

GarageBand.com

Find new music based on the music that I really enjoy…

GPal..

Create smart playlists

Share my tastes

Share my playlists…

Playlist grows as my music collection grows…

This idea is growing on me…in terms of allowing me to find music that relates to music that I tend to listen to.

Multiverse Network

Opens up the world of massively mult-player on line gaming. (mmog for short…)

3–D…virtual worlds..

Change the economics of creating the mmog games…

Showing off the tools used to create the games.

Two months into the launch, they have 2,200 developers that have registered…

Show off to ARS…

Tools and technologies are just the enablers..

Advertising revenue and transactions…

Cnet Channel

Etailing…

Intelligent cross-sell, priced on pay for performance basis.

GuardID Systems

Biggerboat…

Entertainment search engine..

Vertical ad market for the entertainment industry..

Nice idea of search in context, i.e. context is entertainment….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile Platforms Division Partner Briefing...day 2, afternoon session...

MPD Demo Hour, Katherine Heller…

Time to kick back, and watch the demo…very smart, and literate woman presenter.

Showing off Vista user account control changes…

Great talk…

The rest of the afternoon, I have been doing all kinds of networking and pitching of ActiveWords! So much for blogging, which there is software to sell and relationships to build!

 

Mobile Platforms Division Partner Briefing...day 2, morning session...

I got here a few minutes late, lost my glasses along the way, and had to deal with stuff on the East Coast. One of the remarkable things about Microsoft is there ability to roll out what seems like an endless stream of smart people who know how to talk about their technologies.

The first presentation this morning is..

The Future and Lifestyle PCs, Arnie Lund, Ken Hardy. I didn’t catch the intro, but am assuming that Arnie Lund is the speaker and he is walking us through the evolution of Lifestyle PC’s.

Interesting discussion of the notion of connection, i.e. combining self expression and intimacy as it relates to technology devices.

The unfortunate aspect of the presentation is that there was no attention given to the needs of older people.

Next up is Ken Hardy…., test is how to avoid back pack territory, and problem with stuff that doesn’t do well in converged devices.

Simplified Convergence…

Custom UI that offers 2–3 scenarios

Scenarios are tightly integrated…

Simply personal

People places and things…(oh my…)

Windows…is…like getting married by a judge at city hall..

Intimate personal detail buried behind generic infrastructure..

Surface personal info..

A personalized shell invests the Windows experience..

Personal data surfaced, infrastructure hidden..

Customized for specific users and their lifestyle..

Personal Object Mode

People, places, things are first class objects

Understood throughout the system

Real schema, sophisticated searching

Standard dialogs…

Impersonal relationships…

Computers feel impersonal..

People have to figure out what they are about..

Awareness feels personal…awareness makes the computer feel personal (paying attention to little things….)

Device and system awareness

Location awareness..

Optimize schedule

Find nearby or central locations.

Application awareness

Device profiles…

Both these guys need to talk to David Allen… and both need to think hard about who has the greatest amount of discretionary time and money, i.e. people over 50.

Frank Gochinski…Mobilizing Applications

Technology trends…

The desktop is starting to become marginalized

Mobile computing devices are proliferating

Notebooks become smaller and more personal

Crucial standards are coming together

The next wave-portable computing with pervasive mobility..

Mobile PC Decisions for Customer

Form Factor

Slate vs. notebook

Grab-and-Go undocking

Integrated Wireless

Longer Battery Life

Software tuned to the device

Anywhere access to information is critical

UI Design is critical on smaller devices

Software Services mechanism..

Feeding the mobile frenzy

Carry-everywhere form factor

Full Desktop functionality

Rich, natural interaction

All-day battery life

Always-connected/always on

Affordable

MPD API Features Support

Ink and pen integration

Take handwritten notes and fill out forms in ink.

Annotate documents directly with Ink.

Browse the web naturally with the Pen.

Mobile aware

Power and Network aware

Off-line/Online support

Display Awareness

Multiple Input Methods

Keyboard, mouse, voice, pen or even touch of a finger

Handwriting Recognition

Convert the user’s handwriting to typed text.

Mobile Computing Activities

Communicating

Retrieving/

Mobility Spans Business and Consumer..

Windows Vista Opportunities

You want to ride this wave..

Safe and secure mobile computing

Deliver Windows Vista enabled apps…

475 million PCs in first 24 months

Upgrade-able install base-200 million PCs

Widows/Vista Office 12 spark Enterprise refresh cycle..

Call to Action…

Evaluate your applications mobile abilities

Review the Mobil APIs within the new Windows SDK

Take advantage of rich Windows Vista frameworks in your applications

Take advantage of the marketing opportunities

Handango, DevX, Windows Marketplace

Contribute to Microsoft Development Center

Be a part of the excitement

 Wrap up…very intense discussion about EVDO, etc. and the relationship to Vista and carriers…

Michele McKelvey …is showing a bunch of ink apps and development tools…

 

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Mobile Platforms Division Partner Briefing..day 1, afternoon session...

The briefing has been divided into two tracks…coding and marketing..

I am in the marketing session.., no sense wasting a seat on the coding part, there was probably a point in time, when I would have liked to have been current and smart in that area, they are no longer using punch cards, hence , no reason….

Taking us through the different benefits that relate to being a Premier Partner…

Just had some great conversation with the tablet team regarding opportunity with everyone having skin in the game!

New acronym… SSP, i.e. “Solution Sales Professional”…

More presentations…much more listening…Right now watching a great demo on handwriting recognition by Jay Pittman of Microsoft

One very nice idea is a ink recognition tool that allows you to report back when your writing is not recognize so that it can build…

Just had a discussion about a problem that ActiveWords already solves, i.e. text substitution anytime, any where, etc. Two of the people in the audience pointed it out to the speaker. Nice!

Hilton Locke….Test Engineer..Vista OS Compatibility… good presentation on testing, how to get your apps testing for Vista Compatibility.

Shawn Van Ness…Ink in a Windows Presentation Foundation…very technical talk about Ink.. but very clever and very powerful..

Mobile Platforms Division Partner Briefing..day 1, morning session....

Early Wednesday, two cups of coffee later, I am in Redmond after 3 days in Las Vegas at the CHA, which is a whole different story. My quick trip was with the ZoomAlbum team, where I pitched their product to hundreds of women…I seemed to have a 100% close rate with the women that I talked to.

Now back to reality….

As anyone who knows ActiveWords knows, we have been getting all kinds of traction in the Tablet space. I am sitting in a room with about 150 people all interested in the Tablet space and program.

My friend Frank Gochinski is doing the intro.

Bill Mitchell…

Painting the opportunity..Windows for Mobile Growth..

Fastest growing PC Space…17% average growth..

22% of teens thing that desktop PCs will disappear.

Greatest need for software innovation…power mgmt, user interaction, lifestyle applications…

If you think of opportunity space, goal is larger niche, going to 80–90 million units of which, OEMs in Vista time frame work, all of the Microsoft Vista SKUs…will include Tablet functionality. Entry of brand new space…Lifestyle mobiles, new category, new space, new concept.  Aggregate of devices, etc.

Comparing desktop versus the mobility space.

Big emphasis on Lifestyle Ultra-Mobile idea. What I call the “ipodization” of computers, i.e. people will own 2–3 devices that do different things.

Tablet momentum growing…

Great mainstream notebooks with tablet as a feature.

Price premium diminishing

Broader Retail availability

Recently added touch support

Great slide showing all the devices that are available…

10 million units per year by 2008…

Vista…natural input investments

Flickts input gestures

pen/shell integration

Tip auto-complete

Hand writing personalization

Ink Watson

Touch screen support

Stefan Wick…Avalon, Windows Presentation Foundation…

Use to create 3–model of postcard..two dimensional inking surface..very clever demo…new mark-up language..no complicated mark up…not sure how I would use this, but great tool for clever people.

Todd Landstad…Ink Analysis Demo..new API, next generation API…in Vista SDK…

Tree based results…all the info you need about hand written content…combine all into one single API..how can it produce better inking applications. How do you share notes with other people. Allows you send to word…In Vista SDK…only the tip of the iceberg.

Bill Mitchell….

Why we should be excited about Vista…tag line…”Confident, clear and connected”

Confident…security and my machine does what I want it to…

Hot start, faster time to use, ideally better battery life/security.

Clear…Windows..Side Bar..

Connected

Connectivity/synchronization/presentation experience/collaboration..

2.5–3 g…trend…always connected..

Aux display…now called Side Show..embedded display on back of laptop..lot of opportunities..

Dan Polivy…Windows Sideshow team..

220 x 176 Smartphone type display in the lid of the computer…work when computer is turned off. Calendar on lid of computer..

Teaser for cool prototypes…write gadget that will appear on devices.

Bill Mitchell…Ideal Lifestyle Ultra-Mobile PCs are:

Writing Sideshow gadgets, great new opportunity space..

Ultramobile PCs…

Wearable/conveniently carry-able

All day battery life..12 hr on time

$500 MSRP

Always-on

Always-connected, built in 3g..radio

Instant use..

Top Design Characteristics:

1. Portability

2. Usability

3. Usefulness

4. Afford ability

5. Vitality..battery life

6. Compatibility

7. Connectivity

8. Desirability

Ultra-Mobiles = = small but much more…

Ultramobile PCs..

Usability

• Fast access to task-not just fast suspend/resume
• Convenient access to task-no fine motor skills required

Windows UI

Affordability

$500 SRP target config

Trade-offs to hit price:

• Size/weight
• Battery life
• Features
• Performance

 What kinds of companies represent “Lifestyle” 

Showing great examples of throwing “Lifestyle” pc in gym bag…..

Can’t do a lot because hardware substrate doesn’t exist…

All Windows all the time…

Arin Goldbert…ISV Architect..

 Concept…UI very limited..

With Lifestyle pc you can go a lot farther..

Using the same data feed that is available..freely available public API for data..free for non-commercial use. Showing us, just to show it can be done. Lifestyle application. Something that you can do, that goes way beyond…

Bill Mitchell…

Think about the cross applications scenarios…

Summary:

Opportunity space is growing, lots more sockets for your software

Bunch of opportunities to hang software

Touch

WPF

Sideshow

Stay tuned for big new category

Ultra-Mobile PCs.

(NDA discussion only for now…)

Q&A…

Need to take a hard look at ActiveWords on a touch device..

Goal is to put your application on as many machines/platforms as possible..

Robert Williams…Director, Microsoft Mobile Platforms Division Business Development..

Fill in the eco-system..

Mobile technologies used in more places..

At home

At work

On the move..

Many more mobile computing devices with much more “on time” used by more people in more locations…

Addressing the pain points, thinking up new scenarios…

Vista time frame…detailed SKU strategy…not ready to reveal..

More hardware coming..

New M400 coming from Toshiba…shipping next week….

Not backing off on Slates…make tablet PC ubiquitous…

Have to focus on the message, tablet is feature set of all mobile PCs…

Addressing the Barriers..

New Opportunities

Resistive touch..

Better for lower price opportunities

More opportunities in the vertical market..

 Open up Tablet to system builder channel

Improved tablet enabled notebooks launching between now and Vista

Kinesis designs at Windows Vista time frame.

Lifestyle PC Opportunities

Generation 1 Lifestyle and Ultramobile PCs launching over the next 12 months.

Include Tablet PC features.

Haiku vision realized in 2008…

Not commercially available..

Working with hardware vendors for Lifestyle PC…

 What’s been done to push tablets..

Had to succeed at retail.

combination of strategic and volume.

expose features to the general public.

People do their market research at Fry’s.

“Start something noteworthy”…

Tablet PC Packs…

Ian LeGrow…Mobile and Tablet PC Features in Windows Vista..

Why Mobility is Important

Mobile PC Value…

Use in more places…

Tablet wherever you can only dedicate one hand.

Tablet enables users to use Windows I more scenarios..

 Mobile Taxonomy..

Very much about mainstream mobility..trying to drive better experience..

Basic flicks, mapped to the panning..

Snipper…

1/3 of people in the room have installed the Vista build….

Biggest problem of hand writing recognition is testing…real challenge in personalization is that you don’t want people to regress. Now he is showing nice tool that allows you to report handwriting recognition errors, and allows you to share with Microsoft. Same reporting mechanism as Watson..

I need to get the slides, and will point to them, lots of good stuff.

Toby Zelinski ….program manager for Mobility Center..in Vista…

Single place to access settings..

Presentation setting…

Monitor discovery setting..

Vista Power Management…

Goals..

Blocked Shutdown Resolver..intelligence behind covers…

New battery meter and new UI experience…

Question….what about charging…time to full charge, support in terms of time to full charge left to OEM…

Battery will change state when you are fully charged…

Dan Polivy…Windows Sideshow Gadgets… in lid or embedded display

Showing a very cool display device that locks into case, and when unlocked becomes iPod type MP3 device..

Media center remote control….but you need very small eyes to use it…

Lunch Time….