Microsoft scores 120,000 USDA users in massive cloud win

microsoft online services usda
Microsoft (and just about every other big computing company) is bullish on the cloud, and the Redmond company announced a massive migration win yesterday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be moving around 120,000 users to Microsoft Online Services.

It's a nice feather in the cap of Microsoft, which only earlier this month received its Authorization to Operate from the Fed. Microsoft V.P. Curt Kolcun believes the USDA deal will get the ball rolling, saying "Nearly every federal agency trusts their productivity needs to Microsoft Office, Exchange, and SharePoint today." He continued, "From a momentum perspective, I think this announcement is going to be a phenomenal catalyst to drive more interest from the federal CIO community to think about moving their full messaging suite applications to the cloud with Microsoft."

... And so the battle for the cloud continues. Your move, Google!

Microsoft scores 120,000 USDA users in massive cloud win originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/09/microsoft-scores-120-000-usda-users-in-massive-cloud-win/

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Quadrocopter plays the piano, wishes us a happy and complacent holiday (video)

Our worst frienemies, the quadrocopters, have decided to act cute for the holidays and play us a merry little jingle. Yes, the guys and gals behind the Flying Machine Arena have put together an airborne robot sophisticated enough to lay down a few seasonal notes on a Yamaha electronic keyboard. And we're still sitting around debating inconsequential topics like net neutrality -- all of human civilization is at stake here, people! Be a good citizen and watch the video after the break to scout out any weak points to this most imminent threat to humanity's survival.

Continue reading Quadrocopter plays the piano, wishes us a happy and complacent holiday (video)

Quadrocopter plays the piano, wishes us a happy and complacent holiday (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7rx2-ohAC00/

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Microsoft's Hotmail Active Views -- a vetted interactive email solution

activeviews
Email as we know it is a fairly static beast; you get text, and maybe some links and images, but that's about it. After all, allowing email to run code within your email client or browser could be mighty risky.

On the other hand, there's lots to be gained by "interactive email." Imagine receiving a form, which you can fill-in right from within an email message; or getting a search widget that you can use right from within the message to get the exact content you're interested in.

That's what Microsoft's new Active Views for Hotmail tries to do. Microsoft has taken a bunch of enterprise partners, starting with Orbitz and Monster.com, and allowed them to run code right from within your email. Since the partners (and email content) are carefully vetted by Microsoft, potential security concerns are kept to a minimum allowing users to enjoy the power of interactive forms and search widgets without the danger of hidden malicious code.

As the platform grows, more and more enterprises will be able to send interactive email. However, being a Hotmail-only prospect (at least for now), and since it's mainly useful for large advertisers, it is uncertain whether Interactive Views will gain much traction. Still, it's an interesting experiment. Just in case you're still at a loss as to what Active Views actually is, Microsoft's kindly made a video explaining the whole thing, which we've included after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft's Hotmail Active Views -- a vetted interactive email solution

Microsoft's Hotmail Active Views -- a vetted interactive email solution originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/17/microsofts-hotmail-active-views-a-vetted-interactive-email-s/

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'Trilobite' compound eye puts a Paleozoic spin on mobile camera design

Extinct marine arthropods make for great design references -- just ask Andreas Brückner. The Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering researcher has taken a cue from the trilobite in creating a 1.4mm thin "cluster eye" camera to take 221 images at 39 pixels per side to form a 700 x 550 (0.38 megapixel) composite. At this point, it's also capable of recording 13 frames per second for video, and with a size like that, if they can bump up the specs it could pave way for smaller camera components in mobile phones. Not anytime soon, of course, as it's still in the research state (and it's just one of many camera research projects out there). The next step for Brückner and company is shrinking the aforementioned design to 1mm thin (and up the video to 30fps), as well as 1.5mm variant with one megapixel resolution.

'Trilobite' compound eye puts a Paleozoic spin on mobile camera design originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/22/trilobite-compound-eye-puts-a-paleozoic-spin-on-mobile-camera/

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Usher Most Admires Justin Bieber's 'Excitement And Innocence'

Bieber's mentor tells MTV News the teen sensation has 'so much more in store for the future.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Tim Kash


Usher and Justin Bieber at the 2010 AMAs
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

With so much accomplished in 2010, Justin Bieber has certainly set the bar high for 2011. But the teen singer is already gearing up for next year. Bieber will not only release his much-anticipated 3-D flick, "Never Say Never", but he has also teased that he'd like to release an album of all-new material sometime later next year.

His mentor, Usher, thinks that at this point, the sky's the limit.

"As far as music and entertainment, that's the beginning," Usher told MTV News at Sunday's AMAs, where Bieber performed and took home four awards.

"There's so much more in store for the future, or at least there's a ton of things we can do and will, and with the support of his fans who will continue to just grow and grow and grow."

At 16, Bieber has accomplished what few manage with many more years in the music business, but Usher said he wants to ensure that Bieber doesn't stop enjoying it all as his popularity continues to grow and his schedule gets busier.

Asked what he admires most about Justin, Usher said, "His excitement and innocence in it. And I don't mean that in a light way because I think that he's absolutely enjoying every moment of it, as any young man his age would, but in a different way because [of] the hard work that has gone in and led to the dream that has become a reality. And every time you have an opportunity do something incredible, I tell him to do his best and be conscious that what you're doing today should last forever and eternity."

What did you think of Justin's AMA performance on Sunday? Tell us in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652855/20101122/bieber_justin.jhtml

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Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot

Pirates Love Daisies
If you took a specific subsection of plants -- daisies -- and headed down to the Popular Archetypes store to exchange your zombies for pirates, you'd be about 90% of the way to making a tower defense game called Pirates Love Daisies. It's that last 10%, however -- a little flash of brilliance with a soupcon of quirkiness -- that makes the game. In this case, it's HTML5; Plants Love Daisies is one of the most accomplished HTML-CSS-and-JavaScript games to date. With a truly excellent interface, it plays like a mature, latter-generation Flash game, but it retains the svelte efficiency of HTML, with barely a blip on the CPU graph.

If you've never played a tower defense game, now's your chance. Pirates Love Daisies is easy to play, family-friendly, and features a tutorial that walks you through the mechanics of the game. The visual style is nothing short of beautiful (but cute), and the soundscape is excellent. The point, though, is that Pirates Love Daisies is written in HTML5 -- and when you realize those scudding clouds, buzzing flies and droplets of rain are all being rendered by the browser, your mind blows.

That's not to say the game is without issues, though; despite looking the best in Internet Explorer 9 beta 2, it crashed multiple times (see screenshot after the break), and Firefox 4 beta 7 didn't even get past the loading screen. Firefox 4 also had significantly degraded audio, for some reason. Chrome 9 worked just fine, but seemed to use more resources than IE9.

Continue reading Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot

Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/17/pirates-love-daises-is-an-html5-homage-to-plants-vs-zombies-mad/

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AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, even screencasting to the Apple TV (video)

AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, and even screencasting to the Apple TV (video)If you've run out of things to do with your Apple TV and have been using it as a hockey puck now that the lakes are getting solid, you'd better go dig it out of the snowbank. Following up on her iOS AirPlay hacks, Erica Sadun has released an alpha version of a tool called AirFlick which enables the playback of any 'ol media files on an Apple TV. That's demonstrated in a video below. Things aren't perfect yet but already others are having a field day with the tool, the folks at TUAW figuring out how to not only stream whole DVDs to an Apple TV but their entire desktop image too by simply providing a VLC screen:// URL into the player. The quality looks a little iffy and, as you can see in the video below, it's not entirely error-free. But, if you have the smallest little bit of patience, it's sure worth a shot, eh?

Continue reading AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, even screencasting to the Apple TV (video)

AirFlick allows streaming of arbitrary media, DVDs, even screencasting to the Apple TV (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/3Q3lYoavfMI/

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3-DD Book: It's Not Porn, It's Technology (Kind Of) [3D]

Haven't noticed that we're running a 3D theme-week? Maybe this book will make you pay attention. Aptly titled 3-DD, this 86-page book comes with a pair of anaglyph glasses for viewing...well, I'll let you work it out. [3-DD via Uncrate] More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/iwoRFORHlPk/3+dd-book-its-not-porn-its-technology-kind-of

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Tonight is a Total Lunar Eclipse ? SkySafari iOS App Makes Sure you won?t Miss it

Tonight the winter solstice and total lunar eclipse will overlap for the first time in 458 years. To help make sure that you don’t miss this once in a lifetime event, MIT grad whiz kid Tim DeBenedictis is offering the award-winning SkySafari Lite app for free. SkySafari is an easy-to-use planetarium app that helps you [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2010/12/20/tomorrow-is-a-total-lunar-eclipse-skysafari-ios-app-makes-sure-you-wont-miss-it/

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MyComics for iPad is Handsome, Minimal Comic Reader

It’s been a while since any worthy comic-book viewers have come along for the iPad, but myComics is most definitely worth a look. The gold-standard for a long time has been ComicZeal, with its huge feature list. Unfortunately, ComicZeal still suffers from a horrible page-turn feel (very important in a comic reader) and an equally [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/12/mycomics-for-ipad-is-handsome-minimal-comic-reader/

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