Thursday, December 6, 2007

Volta - a new way of programming...

 

Volta is a new lab project by Microsoft that lets developers build solutions in an intermediary project without having to worry about what runs on the server or client.  At any time, you can instruct part of the app to run in different tiers based on the end-state desired.

Its an interesting project and be downloaded here as an add-in to VS 2008:

http://labs.live.com/volta/

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Sync My Ride!!!


 

I'd be curious to see how well this works.  Its good to see that MS as got this working with a variety of devices - music devices and phones.  The MS Voice Command on the Windows Mobile devices work great without any training.

 

S.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Samsung SSD...very cool

Samsung has these new SSD drives that replace Hard Drives.  SSD's have no moving parts and are much smaller and faster...

 

check out this video that compares them:  http://www.samsungssd.com/video/ssd.html

 

limted to 64GB of space...but i can see how they can really reduce the size of your notebook.

 

s.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

My home network

I know some of you have been asking about my home network so i thought i'd share with you the topology i have at home.  It's really my part time job keeping the network going amongst my users :)    Especially my little girl who calls me for assistance when she can't get online and play webkinz or nickjr!

image

Our central Media center does all the recording.  Its running Vista Home Premium and feeding our Xbox 360 and other media center recorded TV.  It also manages all of our central pictures, video and music storage that feeds the rest of the house.

I also have a Maxtor NAT drive that hosts our DVD library...beat swapping out the kiddie DVD's...no more sticky fingers on the Disk...and its all available at our fingertips via the Vista Media Center "My DVD Library" (hidden feature in Vista).  It also shares our Printer.

Access to Live and Recorded TV from my Xbox 360 in our kitchen works very well.  I originally used the Xbox360 wireless G adapter but found it to get choppy about 20% of the time...I couldnt figure out what was causing the interference...I assume its potentially a neighbor.  I had it wired last week and its been perfect since.

I picked up a wireless N router too (WRT350N linksys).  I never had issues with Linksys before but this one is questionable.  It works for a few weeks then the network comes to a complete halt and i loose internet connectivity.  After a hard-reset on the router, i have setup the router again to get it all working again... Big pain.  however, it provides great access for video feeds to my other Dining Room media center pc for video and tv.  The "N" speed and distance is great.  I just wish it was more stable. 

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

MS ShareView - free alternative to WebEx

A great tool to have a WebEx or LiveMeeting style conference for FREE with up to 15 participants is the new ShareView Live tool.

 


 

Works really well and i've tested with a mix of Vista and Windows XP users.

 

Have fun presenting!

 

S.

Monday, June 11, 2007

.net 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5? How does it fit?

Such a common question asked.  I think the confusion of it comes because on major version updates, Microsoft has typically replaced the former version with the newer one.  WIth the .NET framework, they have just added to it, betwee, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5.  Its a strange pattern MS is setting, however, it makes it great for compatibility of your apps on each new release. 

 

Here is a blog that nicely shows it in a picture format:


 


 

Monday, May 28, 2007

CoStar Group and Accruent Forming Technology and Marketing Partnership

Here is anohter great technology partnership we have just announced.  With the rich real estate data Costar provides, Accruent customers can really see the big picture as it related to their RPM (real esate performance management) data, and makes products like our Accruent Visualization ligth up...

 

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Pitney Bowes MapInfo Enters Strategic Alliance with Accruent

Pitney Bowes MapInfo, the leading global provider of location intelligence, today announced a strategic alliance with Accruent, Inc., the leading provider of real estate performance management (RPM) solutions, that delivers retail and financial services organizations a comprehensive solution for identifying the most profitable locations and accelerating new store openings.

Retailers and financial service companies are under tremendous pressure to quickly secure optimal real estate site locations and stay ahead of their competitors, says Mark Friedman, chief executive officer, Accruent, Inc. By combining the site selection expertise of Pitney Bowes MapInfo with Accruents RPM solutions, organizations can accurately forecast sales potential and pinpoint the best areas for growth, as well as speed up the approval, construction and opening of new stores, saving considerable time and controlling costs.


Read the rest here:

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Core CLR open soruce - MIX


 

Its nice to see MS using more of their stack to open source and more importantly allowing developers target OS' and browsers other then MS/IE.

 

A bit of MIX envy here...I'm looking foward to seeing the new WPF demo's they have pulled together. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

"I'm Initiative"


 

MS has announced a new campain that will donate a portion of the ads viewed in live messenger to a charity of your choice.  Check out the above link to particiapte.  Its free and easy.

Wonderful! How does it work?


  1. Use Messenger 8.1
  2. Add the i'm emoticon to your display name by entering the code of the cause you would like to support (hint: I suggest adding it at the end of your name so you still appear in the correct alphabetic order in your contacts list)
  3. Send and receive IMs
  4. A portion of the advertising revenue generated by your usage of Messenger will be donated to your cause. So the more IMs you send and receive the more money will be donated to your cause.

What are the i'm emoticon  codes and causes?

Friday, February 23, 2007

Accruent RPM - IT Jungle Interview

I recently did an interview with Alex Woodie @ IT Jungle / WindowsObserver discussing the Real Estate Performance Management space and Accruent's role in it.  We also discussed our next generation software and technologies we are using such as Vista WPF/WCF.

 

Check it out here:


S.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Accruent Visualization on Microsoft Vista Cafe

Our next generation visualization application going live with our customers in May has now been featured on the Windows Vista Cafe site...a site dedicated to Innovators building with Vista Technologies

 

We will be making the application available as a free demo download shortly!  Check out site for details on this...In the mean time, check out the interactive demo here:

 


 

Cheers

S.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

News alert - Accruent at the NRF


 

Come see me present some of our next generation technology and business solutions at the show tommorow!  I'll post details here tomorrow about what we showed.

 

 

Saturday, January 13, 2007

MINI Cooper and RFID?

I was wondering when RFID would find its way out of "tracking goods" and being used for other things...

 

Heres a funny one BMW came up with to add a "look at me" touch for their MINI drivers...

 


 

S.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Accruent Positioned in Leaders Quadrant in Magic Quadrant for IWMS, 2006

Whoo, hoo....

 

Accruent Positioned in Leaders Quadrant in Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems, 2006



 


Accruent Positioned in Leaders Quadrant in Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems, 2006



Evaluation Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute



STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accruent, Inc., the leading provider of Real Estate Performance Management solutions, today announced that it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant in the Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems, 20061 report.


We believe our position in Gartners leaders quadrant is the result of successful partnerships with our customers to deliver enterprise-level software to manage and integrate corporate real estate information, said Mark Friedman, CEO of Accruent. We serve users who are challenged to manage real estate from a financial, legal, design, project management, and services perspective. Accruent will continue to deliver impactful and easy-to-use solutions that integrate these very diverse perspectives and disciplines.


According to the Gartner report, the market drivers for Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) include cost efficiency, globalization, and an increasing interest in an integrated approach to facilities and real estate management. Additionally, compliance requirements, especially in the context of Section 404 of the SOX act of 2002, compel executive management to acquire IWMSs to improve financial transparency and maintain auditable data, particularly related to lease transactions.


The collaborative, web-based Accruent Real Estate Performance Management solution effectively manages all real estate lifecycle processes, including identifying, opening, and maintaining stores, branches, corporate offices, and facilities. The companys solutions enable customers to securely manage mission-critical information in an integrated central data repository, empowering decision makers with reliable real-time information and analytics, while providing a solid foundation for achieving SOX and other regulatory compliance. The Accruent suite allows organizations with significant real estate portfolios to manage complex lease structures, thus reducing capital and operational expenditures and providing significant ongoing savings.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

NRF - The "Big Show"

I'll be presenting at the NRF show again this year.  We'll have a bootha the show as well as a kisok and theater time with Microsoft.  I'll be offically presenting in the Microsoft Theater at 10:45am on Tuesday Jan. 16th.  We'll be showing our cool visualization app and presenting a whole new app too!.  Its very very cool.