Microsoft poised to unveil WorldWide Telescope?
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Google Sky beware Redmond's all-seeing galactic eye On 27 February, Microsoft will use the TED Conference in Monterey, California, to launch its "WorldWide Telescope" - a downloadable Google Sky-busting app allowing users to "pan around the nighttime sky and zoom as far in to any one area as the data will allow".â¦
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Long-planned escape from beige boxes Analysis Microsoft's announcement of Surface Computing, basically a PC built into a coffee table, might indeed represent a new paradigm in computing technology, but for Microsoft it's just another attempt at getting its software out from the beige boxes under our desks to somewhere, anywhere, else.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will work with 3D design and visualization software developer Dassault SystÃ¨mes, to add a new dimension to its Virtual Earth mapping and satellite imagery service, the companies announced Tuesday. Through this partnership, Microsoft will be able to invite users of Virtual Earth to contribute their own 3D models of buildings featured on the maps, much as Google already does with the "3D Warehouse" layer in its Google Earth software and the free modeling tool Google SketchUp, now at version 6. To encourage development of models for inclusion in Virtual Earth, Dassault SystÃ¨mes has built an online community, 3dvia.com, around consumer uses of its and other companies' 3D modeling tools. The community began life as Teapotters.com, a creative project set up by a group of Dassault employees, but opened its doors as 3Dvia.com As a demonstration of what's possible, Dassault SystÃ¨mes is offering a free 3D model of a much sought-after electronic gadget -- not partner Microsoft's Zune music player, but the iPhone to be launched by Apple on Friday. The iPhone model can be viewed using the 3D Life Player browser plug-in from VirtoolsÂ of Paris and, if you catch the angle just right, offers an unexpected view of the inside of the gadget. Dassault SystÃ¨mes also announced partnerships with two French companies, RealvizÂ of Sophia Antipolis and Allegorithmic of Clermont Ferrand, to make their technology available to members of the 3dvia.com community. Allegorithmic will allow community members to use its procedural textures to decorate their models. Procedural textures are patterns of shading created according to a series of rules or algorithms to resemble real-world surfaces such as rock, foliage or sheet metal. They are often used to render more realistic scenery in video games without the need for storing voluminous image files. Realviz makes software used by film makers and game developers to create photorealistic 3D images. One of its applications, VTour, can be used to construct three-dimensional models of scenes from a single photograph. Dassault SystÃ¨mes will integrate VTour with 3dvia, allowing users to combine their 3D models with 3D backdrops created from photographs. Dassault SystÃ¨mes also plans a business side to the 3dvia community, called SupplierSource, to help designers find manufacturers for their products. The SupplierSource site, which the company said will appear at http://www.suppliersource.3dvia.com/, is not yet live.
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One of the world's most powerful telescopes will begin spying on the universe on Friday, using its 34-foot wide mirror to search for planets similar to our own from a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands.
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Never shy about arriving late, Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - research) is expected to launch a new version of its search service Thursday as the software titan seeks a stronger spot in that lucrative corner of Internet advertising.
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A troubled, 20-year journey to create the world&#39;s most powerful optical telescope is nearing an end, with astronomers hoping to begin using the instrument to look for heavenly breakthroughs early next year.
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Microsoft is planning to ship its next major version of Windows--known internally as version "7"--within roughly three years, CNET News.com has learned.
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European astronomers plan to build an optical telescope that is four times bigger than any other in existence.
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PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- Astronomers will present new findings from NASA&#39;s Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope at a listen-and-logon news briefing, Thursday at 10 am Pacific time (1 pm Eastern time).
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Blog: Microsoft's Photosynth technology for stitching 2D images into a 3D realm will illustrate the How We Built Britain Web site.
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PPARC -- British astronomers are celebrating a world first that could revolutionise the future of astronomy. They have just begun a project to operate a global network of the world's biggest robotic telescopes, dubbed 'RoboNet-1.0' which will be controlled by intelligent software to provide rapid observations of sudden changes in astronomical objects, such as violent Gamma Ray Bursts, or 24-hour surveillance of interesting phenomena...
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Microsoft&#39;s MSN division is expected to announce a test version of its long-awaited desktop-search software this morning in a conference call with reporters.
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The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project, a public-private venture to build a telescope to detect dark matter and dark energy, says it received gifts from Microsoft veterans Charles Simonyi and Bill Gates.
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When scientists are looking into space, the more they can see, the easier it is to piece together the puzzle of the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope's mirror blanks have now been constructed.
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A Russian mobile-phone operator is the latest service provider to team with Microsoft to offer Windows-based PCs on a subscription basis through the company&#39;s Unlimited Potential program.A partnership with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), unveiled Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, is similar to ones that Microsoft already has in place in Mexico and Brazil as part of a plan to bring affordable technology to developing countries.Through the partnership, Microsoft in June will deliver PCs running Windows Vista that offer built-in mobile broadband access to customers on a subscription basis, rather than requiring customers to pay for them outright. The two companies also are working on a road map to introduce new mobile communications services that can be accessed on those PCs but did not specifically say what those new services will be.Both the PCs and services will be offered to about 85 million MTS customers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Belarus as part of the MTS Connect program, the companies said.The MTS deal is similar to one that Microsoft has with service providers TelMex in Mexico and Telefonica in Brazil to offer low-cost PCs through the Subscription Computing Program, which preceded Unlimited Potential. Eventually, that program became part of Unlimited Potential, through which Microsoft works with community leaders in countries where technology has not yet had a significant impact on businesses and communities.Unlimited Potential is directly related to&#160;Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates&#39; idea of &quot;creative capitalism,&quot;&#160;which suggests that companies worldwide work with governments and nonprofits to find ways to be charitable and solve the problems of the poorest people without sacrificing their own business needs. Gates recently outlined this idea in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Analysts and observers have suggested another reason why Microsoft is interested in working with emerging markets on technology efforts: The fight against Linux, which is proving a less expensive and easier-to-access option for people in countries with scant access to technology. Indeed, Unlimited Potential and creative capitalism combine both altruism and business interests, and Microsoft executives have acknowledged the need to foster education and business development to get software like Windows and Office in the hands of people who wouldn&#39;t typically be able to afford it.
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Microsoft finally gives us a date for the release of its Longhorn operating system, but the failure to deliver on a highly touted feature raises questions about the company's future. -washingtonpost.com
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The Microsoft rival plans to announce the software at its Lotusphere conference to be held next week.