Microsoft axes Digital Image Suite
248608
Blog: The software maker quietly dumps its consumer photo-editing program, noting that elements of the technology did make their way into Windows Vista.
281104
Microsoft Corp. will drop a much-touted new technology for organising and storing data when it releases the next version of its Windows operating system as expected in 2006.
641498
Microsoft last week faced accusations of short-changing its Software Assurance customers following its decision to strip core features from the next major Windows client operating system, codenamed Longhorn.
196257
As part of an update to Office 2003, Microsoft is cutting off the feature, which it says can save time, but risks exposing confidential information.
566313
Microsoft yesterday took the wraps off a new set-top box aimed at tying together the living room, the PC, and the company&#39;s MSN network and content.
670985
(InfoWorld) - MicrosoftÂ is working on a variety of innovative photo projects, ranging from experiments with its 3D maps offering to massive panoramic photos that users can zoom into for details. Developers who work in the company's research arm showed off the technologies on Tuesday during the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit in Redmond, Washington. HD View is one photo project that definitely has the "wow" factor. The technology allows users to combine hundreds of photos to create one massive picture that users can zoom in on to see clear details. In one example, a panoramic photo of the city of Seattle includes 800 images, each 8 megapixals in size, stitched together to create a 3.6 billion-pixel image. On a computer screen, it looks just like a panoramic photo. So, what's the point of combining so many photos? The massive file includes incredible detail. Michael Cohen, a researcher at Microsoft working on the project, zoomed in to the roof of a building where a clay owl peers around a corner. With the picture zoomed out, a viewer doesn't even see a pin prick in the spot where the owl sits. Another large photo of a mountain in Canada looks like a standard nature snapshot. But Cohen zoomed in to discover that climbers are scaling the rock wall. After finding the first climber, he followed the climbing ropes up to find the second one above him on the wall. When the photo is zoomed out, it's hard to imagine there might be climbers on the wall. Microsoft offers the tool to build HD View photos for free on its Web site. Creating an HD View panorama image, however, isn't for just anyone. Such images are quite large and may require special cameras. Another Microsoft project, unveiled last year and built in collaboration with the University of Washington, collects images of a site such as Rome's Trevi fountain from public photo-sharing Web pages such as Flickr. The Photo Tourism technology combines the photos into a 3D image so users can look at the object from any view. The idea was to take advantage of the potentially billions of images that are online, said Noah Snavely, a researcher at the University of Washington who works on the project with Microsoft researchers. Microsoft also demonstrated at the summit some experiments with Virtual Earth. Eyal Ofek, a Microsoft researcher, demonstrated a 3D map of San Francisco that is made up of 10 million images, including 50,000 aerial photographs as well as pictures taken at street level. All the photos are stitched together so a user can navigate from a bird's-eye view seamlessly down to street level. The view is different from the street view capability in Google Maps, which doesn't combine the street-level pictures with aerial shots. About 800 workers are developing projects at Microsoft Research. Some technologies they develop may become commercial Microsoft products, and others could be sold to other companies. The summit, which ended Tuesday, was an opportunity for Microsoft and its partners in academia to show off some of their projects.
82265
We won't call it a racket, but megapixels are no longer an accurate gauge of a camera's quality. By SeÃ¡n Captain from Wired Test.
168960
Microsoft has announced the availability of Digital Image Suite 10 which is a combination of Microsoft Digital Image Library 10 and Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10. The software giant positions the suite as an easy-to-use solution for organizing, editing, sharing and safekeeping digital photos.
356486
Security flaw involving JPEG files affects at least a dozen Microsoft software applications and operating systems.
425895
Microsoft is getting rid of the PlaysForSure brand used to identify digital media devices and services that are compatible with one another, and rolling the requirements into its Certified for Vista program.
183359
Software giant is taking the covers off its security intelligence.  About time.
445891
Sony is the last of the four big record labels that have abandoned digital rights management software that limits how many times copies can be made of digital music.
372526
A service designed to help Windows users download Microsoft's updates and install them in a faster manner was ordered shut down by Microsoft, in a cease and desist letter to the service's proprietors.
489664
Microsoft is aiming to offer a higher-quality alternative to JPEG, saying Thursday that it planned to standardize its HD Photo graphics format. The new format is said to offer better quality, less data loss, and advanced functionality.
480836
High-end camera maker is ditching a medium-format hybrid camera that could shoot with either film or a digital sensor.
373660
Microsoft removed the File*Send to*Microsoft Office Powerpoint feature in Word 2007.
92510
Eastman Kodak Co., the world&#39;s biggest photographic company, said it will cut almost 900 jobs as it reorganizes its European business to concentrate on the digital market as demand for traditional film wanes.