Microsoft Project Code Named “Velocity”

"Velocity" is a distributed in-memory application cache platform for developing scalable, high-performance applications. "Velocity" can be used to cache any common language runtime (CLR) object and provides access through simple APIs. The key aspects of "Velocity" are distributed cache performance, scalability, and availability.

Overview:

Microsoft project code named "Velocity" provides a highly scalable in-memory application cache for all kinds of data. By using cache, you can significantly improve application performance by avoiding unnecessary calls to the data source. Distributed cache enables your application to match increasing demand with increasing throughput by using a cache cluster that automatically manages the complexities of load balancing. When you use "Velocity," you can retrieve data by using keys or other identifiers, named "tags." "Velocity" supports optimistic and pessimistic concurrency models, high availability, and a variety of cache configurations. “Velocity” includes an ASP.NET session provider object that enables you to store ASP.NET session objects in the distributed cache without having to write to databases, which increases the performance and scalability of ASP.NET applications.


For community technology preview 3 (CTP3), Microsoft project code named "Velocity" offers several enhancements and a new API. The enhancements include a cache notifications feature, performance improvements, security enhancements, and new cluster management options. There are also updates to the installation program. Perhaps the most material change for the "Velocity" administrator is that your options for editing the cluster configuration settings have been decoupled from your options for storing the cluster configuration settings. For more information, see the What’s New for CTP3 topic in the product documentation.

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Nesting PC Virtual Tablet' Concept

 
'nesting pc virtual tablet' by sono mocci


a concept by japanese-born, italy-based designer sono mocci, 'nesting pc virtual tablet' is a combination tablet and data visualization 
interface with automatic battery charging and data syncing. phones, memory cards, CDs, USB ports, and I/O cables can be plugged 
directly into the device, where they will show up as images on the touchscreen for easy manipulation and access. the design was shortlisted 
from over 1000 concepts in our recent designboom competition 'a life with future computing', organized in collaboration with FUJITSU.

the 13-inch concept tablet features a dedicated dock for mobile phones. when inserted, a visualization of the phone onscreen 
works in the same manner as would the device itself, permitting dialing, calling, texting, and other use. the loading of disk media 
or flash drives offers a similar intuitive functionality. integrated charging eliminates the need for AC or outlet-specific adapters 
for these kinds of devices.



closer view of the phone, which can be used normally when docked in the tablet



view of the tablet's dedicated ports




closer view of the hybrid virtual-physical machine in use



white version






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FEZ Ultimate Kit

This is a great product for .Net Micro framework developers.

Description

GHI also provides a complete and free project ebook  for the kit.

Already own a FEZ Panda or FEZ Domino? Or want to use the internet with Arduino or its derivatives?

Consider the FEZ Internet of Things Kit.

The FEZ Ultimate Kit Includes:

• Internet of Things Kit
• 38Khz Infrared Receiver E- Block
• IRLED Transmitter E- Block
• Light Sensor E- Block
• Thermometer E- Block
• Piezo (Speaker) E- Block
• Variable Resistor (POT) Horizontal E- Block
• Button E- Block
• LED- Green E- Block
• LED- Red E- Block
• LED- Yellow E- Block
• Serial-to-USB E- Block
• Remote Control
• Ethernet Cable
• FEZ Panda II
• FEZ Touch

 This is a library provided by the community to add controls to FEZ Touch (watch the video) http://code.tinyclr.com/project/328/fez-touch-ui-controls/

Related products

FEZ Internet of Things Kit

This unique kit provides internet connectivity to FEZ processor boards.

FEZ Panda II

72Mhz .NETMF powered board with Micro SD, many of IOs and a lot of exclusive features

FEZ Touch

2.4 inch color touch screen display with 240x320 resolution.

WiFi-Ethernet Bridge

Go wireless with the same Ethernet port with this easy to configure Ethernet to WiFi Wireless bridge.

Related categories

3-Pin E-Block

Simple sensors for your next project with open source drivers.

Shield

Shields allow you to expand your hardware to create cool projects.

Google Plus

Visit https://plus.google.com/

A quick look at the first pieces of the project.

Sharing is a huge part of the web, a part that we think could be a lot simpler. That's why we've been working on adding a few new things to Google: To make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with them in the real world. We hope that you like what we've cooked up so far. And stay tuned, because there's more to come.

Circles

You share different things with different people. But sharing the right things with the right people shouldn't be a hassle. Circles makes it easy to put your friends from Saturday night in one circle, your parents in another and your boss in a circle all on his own – just like in real life.

Sparks

Remember when your Grandpa used to cut articles out of the paper and send them to you? That was nice. That's kind of what Sparks does: It looks for videos and articles that it thinks you'll like, so that when you're free there's always something to watch, read and share. Grandpa would approve.

Hangouts

Bumping into friends while you're out and about is one of the best parts of going out and about. With Hangouts, the unplanned meet-up comes to the web for the first time. Let your mates know that you're hanging out and see who drops by for a face-to-face-to-face chat. Until we perfect teleportation, it's the next best thing.

Solar Sinter Solar-powered 3D Printer

Where would we be without the world's graduate art projects? In the case of Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter, we might never have seen the day when a solar-powered 3D printer would turn Saharan sand into a perfectly suitable glass bowl. Well, lucky for us (we suppose) we live in a world overflowing with MA students, and awash in their often confusing, sometimes inspiring projects. Solar Sinter, now on display at the Royal College of Art, falls into the latter category, taking the Earth's natural elements, and turning them into functioning pieces of a burgeoning technology. Solar Sinter uses the sun's rays in place of a laser and sand in place of resin, in a process that is perhaps more visually stunning than the results. See for yourself in the video after the break. 

Source: Engadgets

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor for iOS

Withings users not satisfied with only being able to share their weight with the world can now add blood pressure and heart rate to the mix. This iPhone-connected blood pressure monitor made its first appearance at CES, but you'll finally be able to order one of your own today. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, the $129 accessory costs three to four times as much as off-the-shelf blood pressure monitors, but integrates well if you're looking to pair it with your Withings scale for a complete vitals management solution. Results can be sent to health sites like Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault, or directly to your doctor. Care to see how it works? Join us past the break for a hands-on look at the monitor, including a video comparison with the in-store vitals machine at our neighborhood Kmart.

Update: Withings wrote in to let us know that the blood pressure readings in the video below were likely inflated because we were talking, though we do appreciate the concern you've already expressed in the comments.


Source: Engadgets

Comcast Cable Show Features 1Gbps Cable Modem Speed

As promised, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts treated Cable Show 2011 attendees to a quick demo of the company's latest and greatest tech earlier today. The presentation consisted of the new Xfinity TV platform with all its cloud processing and internet content from Facebook and others, as well as a speed test running on a Comcast cable modem that broke through the 1Gbps speed barrier on the production network. There's no word on when home users might see such speeds but the company promised to "keep up the pace as the internet continues to evolve" -- let's hope that extends to the increasingly restrictive 250GB bandwidth cap. The demo of new DVR software also went off without a hitch, appearing to run smoothly and showing off a vision of "cloud processing" that speeds up search, personalization and recommendations in the program guide by handling them at the head end instead of on the box itself. We're still waiting to get our hands on the RF remote and see if the experience is just as smooth ourselves, but for now you can get a taste in the 17 minute video embedded above.
Source: Enadgets

Kinect for Windows SDK Beta

Microsoft's been talking up its forthcoming Kinect for Windows SDK for quite a while now, and it looks like developers might soon finally be able to get their hands on it. According to WinRumors, Microsoft will roll out the beta version of the SDK during a special event on Channel 9 at 9:30 AM Pacific time (12:30 Eastern) tomorrow -- something that's now been backed up somewhat by the Channel 9 website itself, which is simply promising a "special Kinect focused event tomorrow." WinRumors is also reporting that the President of Microsoft Spain said during an appearance at a conference today that the beta SDK would be available "this week." So, it certainly seems like things are lining up for a release -- it's just a shame that "Kinect applications" doesn't have the same ring as Kinect hacks.


Soruce: Engadgets

Father's Day

A Dad is a person
who is loving and kind,
And often he knows
what you have on your mind.
He’s someone who listens,
suggests, and defends.
A dad can be one
of your very best friends!
He’s proud of your triumphs,
but when things go wrong,
A dad can be patient
and helpful and strong
In all that you do,
a dad’s love plays a part.
There’s always a place for him
deep in your heart.
And each year that passes,
you’re even more glad,
More grateful and proud
just to call him your dad!
Thank you, Dad…
for listening and caring,
for giving and sharing,
but, especially, for just being you!

Happy Father's Day 2011

Knocking down barriers to knowledge - Google Search by Image and Voice

As much as technology has advanced, there are still many barriers between you and the answers you’re looking for—whether you’re juggling a clunky mobile keyboard or waiting for a website to load. Today we held a media event in San Francisco where we talked about some of the latest things we’re doing to tackle these barriers on mobile, announced that we’re bringing our speech recognition and computer vision technology to the desktop, and took the next step for Google Instant—Instant Pages.

The thirst for knowledge doesn’t stop when you step away from your computer, it continues on your mobile device. In the past two years, mobile search traffic has grown five-fold. Mobile search today is growing at a comparable pace to Google in the early years.

Here you can see that mobile search traffic growth over the past three years (the red line) is comparable to overall Google search traffic growth over the same duration (the blue line) but earlier in our history.

One of the technologies driving this growth is speech recognition. With Voice Search, you don’t have to type on a tiny touchscreen. You can just speak your query and the answer is on the way. We’ve invested tremendous energy into improving the quality of our recognition technology—for example, today we teach our English Voice Search system using 230 billion words from real queries so that we can accurately recognize the phrases people are likely to say. As the quality has increased, so has usage: in the past year alone, Voice Search traffic has grown six-fold, and every single day people speak more than two years worth of voice to our system.

We first offered speech recognition on mobile search, but you should have that power no matter where you are. You should never have to stop and ask yourself, “Can I speak for this?”—it should be ubiquitous and intuitive. So we've added speech recognition into search on desktop for Chrome users. If you’re using Chrome, you’ll start to see a little microphone in every Google search box. Simply click the microphone, and you can speak your search. This can be particularly useful for hard-to-spell searches like [bolognese sauce] or complex searches like [translate to spanish where can I buy a hamburger]. Voice Search on desktop is rolling out now on google.com in English, but in the meantime you can check it out in our video:



Searching with speech recognition started first on mobile, and so did searching with computer vision. Google Goggles has enabled you to search by snapping a photo on your mobile phone since 2009, and today we’re introducing Search by Image on desktop. Next to the microphone on images.google.com, you’ll also see a little camera for the new Search by Image feature. If you click the camera, you can upload any picture or plug in an image URL from the web and ask Google to figure out what it is. Try it out when digging through old vacation photos and trying to identify landmarks—the search [mountain path] probably isn’t going to tell you where you were, but computer vision may just do the trick. Search by Image is rolling out now globally in 40 languages. We’re also releasing Chrome and Firefox extensions that enable you to search any image on the web by right-clicking.



Whether you type, speak or upload a photo, once you’ve indicated what you’re looking for the next step in your search is to sift through the results and pick one. To make this faster, last year we introduced Google Instant, which gives you search results while you type. We estimated Google Instant saves you between two and five seconds on typical searches. But once you’ve picked a result, you click, and then wait again for the page to load—for an average of about five seconds.

We want to help you save some of that time as well, so today we took the next step for Google Instant: Instant Pages. Instant Pages can get the top search result ready in the background while you’re choosing which link to click, saving you yet another two to five seconds on typical searches. Let’s say you’re searching for information about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, so you search for [dc folklife festival]. As you scan the results deciding which one to choose, Google is already prerendering the top search result for you. That way when you click, the page loads instantly.



Instant Pages will prerender results when we’re confident you’re going to click them. The good news is that we’ve been working for years to develop our relevance technology, and we can fairly accurately predict when to prerender. To use Instant Pages, you’ll want to get our next beta release of Chrome, which includes prerendering (for the adventurous, you can try Instant Pages today with the developer version). It’s one more step towards an even faster web.

To learn more about today’s news, visit our new Inside Search website atwww.google.com/insidesearch. There you’ll find a recording of the event (when it’s ready), answers to common questions and links to other blog posts about today’s news on the Mobile blog and Inside Search blog. The Inside Search website is our new one-stop shop for Google search tips, games, features and an under-the-hood look at our technology, so there’s plenty for you to explore.

We’re far from the dream of truly instantaneous access to knowledge, but we’re on our way to help you realize that dream.



Source: Google Blog