The Future of Homes

     I have thought about this and you probably have too if you are in to movies like Iron Man or Star Trek. It makes you think about what homes and buildings will be like in the future. I've watched all the videos of Microsoft's insane, futuristic technology inside of homes and buildings. A big inspiration coming from Kinect, where virtual touchscreens and many other things are now possible. Illumiroom, Light Space, and all that cool Microsoft stuff are all pretty interesting and also thanks to Microsoft Research (MSR).
     PFSK is doing there part in the future of homes. Here is a cool one, an interactive mirror. I don't think it is that helpful for the ladies but this mirror can display a lot more important stuff than your looks!

Microsoft Imagine Cup 2013 Winners

     Very interesting thing about one of the most well known tech competitions. Students from all over the world test there creativity and problem solving. Very interesting stuff here I must say! The winners were announced at St. Petersburg, Russia.  Four fellows from the UK won the Innovation division for their work on soundSYNK, a mobile app that can connect a virtually unlimited number of devices like Windows Phone 8, iOS and Android.

Network Speed Test



Overview
    
 I've been told a picture is worth a thousand words. Well out of the two screen shots I took (both look about the same) of Microsoft Research's Windows 8 Network Speed test it really is a tell all. App looks good, has some good information, and does what it implies.

Functionality

Wow this is probably my shortest app review ever! App loads up fast because its a light app. It launches into a screen little chrome all content perfect MDL usage. Simple as shown you click start and it tests your internet connection which it advises not to do over a metered connection. Results were accurate I felt the ping was off but that's me and speedtest.net little bout. Anyway It showcases previous tests some were done while I was doing a lot thus the low scores. No sharing which made me sad but then it didn't advertise it.

Design

Not much too say. Clean simple UI design much to my liking. Considering it was a home grown app I expected something that had something like this. Not a fan of the scrolling bar at the bottom, but that is a minor niggle.

5/5 Very few apps get this rating and this deserves it because it delivers what it says it does no more no less. Good app I recommend. No slideshow because wasn't much of a point it would be redundant.

The History of Microsoft Research

     Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research division of Microsoft. MSR consists of more than 1,100 highly recognized experts in various subjects such as computer science, mathematics, and physics. MSR was created in 1991 to develop computer science ideas and integrate them into Microsoft products - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Research. Microsoft Research has laboratories around the world and also collaborates with other research centers including Barcelona Supercomputing Center and  Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here is a quick video about finding a cool way to see Microsoft Research's history through there website http://microsoft.com/research. You can swipe through the timeline and view the history interactively. Enjoy the timeline when you visit http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/about/timeline/ and it also looks like Windows Phone style!