[caption id=“attachment_11372” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Image Credit: modmyi.com”][/caption] Microsoft, StarHub and the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), announced last week the first series of commercial trials of “Super Wi-Fi” with six other new partners. Super Wifi actually taps on unused television broadcast frequency bands. These low-frequency bands are able to travel longer distances and penetrate more obstacles, which can translate to better coverage, lower power consumption, and reduced network costs. What is Super WIFI Governments create rules designating how radio frequencies can be used and, over the years, have assigned radio and television stations to certain blocks or “channels” of frequency in the spectrum. Limitations in transmission technology and the high costs to cover rural populations have led to gaps in the TV broadcasting bands. For decades, the hiss of “white noise” was familiar to anyone tuning a television from one channel to another — traversing the empty “white spaces” between TV broadcast frequencies. This situation remains today. While some white spaces in the TV band are dedicated for uses such as radio-frequency telescopes, other spaces lie vacant. On the other hand, the radio spectrum used by mobile phones and other wireless communications devices is becoming overpopulated. Growth in demand for applications, such as TV streaming, internet access, voice calling, music services and video downloads, are overloading the spectrum used by wireless communications devices. TV white spaces (TVWS) enable organisations to look at under-utilized spectrum currently used primarily for broadcast services, to be used for broadband more cheaply (up to 1/10 the price) and for longer distances (up to 4x). Just as the title of this email suggests, it enables data to flow without the need for line of sight, to areas where WiFi cannot connect today. This space is currently unregulated by policy and through this SWSPG, Singapore is paving the way regionally & globally to develop exciting commercial opportunities to evolve through close collaboration with IDA. The three projects introduced will explore how this new technology, also known as TV White Spaces (TVWS), can supplement existing wireless infrastructure and maximise spectrum efficiency, in order to benefit consumers and businesses, and introduce a new class of wireless connectivity to Singapore. Key Benefits of Super Wifi StarHub is piloting the use of the technology to provide better offshore communication to the many ships that anchor near Changi, while Power Automation, a joint venture between Singapore Power and Siemens, is deploying it in smart grid solutions in National University of Singapore’s University Town. The explosive growth of wireless data traffic in recent years (just think about all the smartphones you see on the MRT!) has been putting severe strain on current mobile and Wi-Fi network infrastructure, necessitating better management of radio frequency spectrum through policy and technology innovations like TVWS.

With the Windows Server 2012 goes RTM on 4th Sep, we also had our first IT Camp on Windows Server 2012 in Singapore. IT Camp is a global event by Microsoft to help IT Pros to learn and experience new technologies from Microsoft. It was a great first IT Camp on Windows Server 2012. At the Camp, there is very few slides. All we do is hands-on with the VMs and Whiteboarding about how Windows Server 2012 works. There were many good discussions. If you have not signed up for IT Camp, You can still register through: http://weshipcode.com/it-camps-series-is-back/ Looking forward to see you there! If you want to try on your own, download Windows Server 2012 RTM at http://aka.ms/winsrv2012

Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo, is an exclusive event catered to game developers and those interested in game development. Halfbrick, one of the world’s most successful indie game studios with more than 100 million downloads for acclaimed game Fruit Ninja, will be sharing about their game development strategies, best practices, marketing tactics and much more in this 2 day event. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should attend! ...

On the 5th Sep, at 10pm Singapore time, Nokia and Microsoft co-hosted a press event for the new Nokia Lumia Devices and Windows Phone 8 Operating System. Making a debut in striking color, the opening video showcased a blown up schematic of the Lumia 920. With a huge 4.5 inch curved glass screen similar to Lumia 800, Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Pureview Camera and a battery with great capability at 2000mAh. Moving along the PureView technology has to be the single most greatest feature in the Lumia 920 (Well, I really love photography, so this is very interesting to me). When you take pictures with smartphones, there are great challenges when doing so in low lit conditions. The result is motion blur and shaky images. Of course there are algorithms to correct blurred images and flashlight to counter these challenges, but the quality is often diminished from flat pictures that are washed out from direct flash photography. The best alternative would be to carry a DSLR or powerful compact camera specialized for night shots. Then again, the best camera is always the one you have. Instead of pushing the ISO or simply increase the exposure after the picture is taking, hardware innovation is being done on the Lumia 920. The Lumia 920 solves these issues with PureView technology. While the Lumia 920 does not have 41mp super-sampling found in its previous generation of phone, it has a different set of hardware. There is build-in hardware image stabilizer into the phone itself. This is not a typical digital image stabilizer algorithm, but similar technology found in DSLR image stabilizing lenses. The Lumia 920 uses “floating lens” method to increase the amount of light captured onto the image sensor. Oh did I mention that it spots a Carl Zeiss Lens at f/2.0 aperture? :) As the picture above, the floating lens technology not only works for picture taking, but for videos as well. The 2nd functionality coming from PureView technology would be high dynamic range. Taking pictures or videos in backlit conditions often results in under exposed subjects. In the teaser video below, you can see the image stabilizer and HDR algorithm from PureView technology working pretty well. Moving forward to software , there are major improvements in key applications in Nokia’s exclusive bundle. Offline maps will be available in Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. These would not be just cached map images or tiles, but stored locally onto the phone itself. The Nokia Transport improvement would include walking distances between stations. Announcing a new addition to the Nokia application suite, Nokia City Lens provides an augmented reality view of your surrounds for places of interest. The usefulness of Nokia City Lens proves itself first with it’s integrated into Nokia Maps as a very first. What about the screen? Beneath the Curved Glass, the PureMotion HD+ display boost a highest screen refresh rate (at time of post) compared to any other phones in market now. There will be lesser flickering and sharper fonts for reading. Above the display, the glass is polarized to reduce the effect of glare under direct sun to give a better, contrast-y viewing experience on the Lumia 920. With so much new electronic parts and circuitry, won’t the Lumia 920 be a power consuming beast? Spotting a power efficient Snapdragon S4 and a high capacity battery rated at 2000mAh, the Lumia 920 promise to be ready to cater to everyday usage. Moreover, charging will be less of a hassle with wireless charging (qi - industry standard wireless charging) capabilities built into the Lumia 920 Nokia aims to start the ball rolling with the introduction of wireless charging technology equipped in the Lumia 920. The Coffee Bean and Virgin Atlantic in select countries will offer wireless charging station base on the “qi” wireless charging standards. Back to my favourite topic of Photography, Windows Phone 8 offer “Lenses” capability. Think of them as interchangeable SLR lens, but applications that takes over the viewfinder instead. With different applications, they are able to make use of the camera in different manner in a innovative way. Example Photosynth allows the user to take and view photos in a 3D environment. Blink allows users to take multiple photos of an identical scene, for the purpose of removing unwanted objects or passerby for the picture perfect framing. ...

I’ve been a fan of The XX since they released their first album last 2009. Young artists, their songs are just a great escape from the usual regurgitated pop songs out there. Yesterday, the Internet Explorer blog posted their new collaboration with The XX. Creating a simple and beautiful HTML 5 site, The XX’s new album, Co-Exist, can be streamed for free from the plug-in free site. From here you can view how many people are sharing their new album all over the world, a testament to the global outreach of the world wide web. I love how The XX is embracing the web and streaming their album for free. You can still buy their album in different forms, (MP3, CD, LP) but I know streaming their album for free won’t affect their sales any one bit. And yes, I did pre-order the album ;) If this is your first time hearing about The XX, share with us what you think. You’ll only hear a song for the first time once so make sure you embrace the moment. Listen and share their album at coexist.thexx.info/

 Microsoft is embarking on its most ambitious product revamp in history. We’re launching or updating Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio 2012, and Office in the next few months. That’s just on the software side. We’re also looking at Surface, Xbox SmartGlass, and other Microsoft hardware. We’re even revamping our online services like Outlook.com and Office 365. It’s time to get in-sync with all that’s going on. To kick start this next wave here in Singapore, we’re inviting all partners to join us in our Mega Partner Briefing happening next week at MAX Atria@Singapore EXPO, 12 Sept, 8:45am - 5:30pm. It’s gonna be packed with visionary speeches, market trend updates, technology and product innovations, deep dives, and much, much more. The afternoon breakout sessions are gonna be very interesting. There are 2 tracks dedicated to developers: ISV & SI Deep Dive and Cloud Deep Dive. Register Now! I’ll see you there.

[caption id=“attachment_11239” align=“alignnone” width=“610” caption=“Play classic Atari games are immortalized now on Atari Arcade”][/caption] Forty years ago, Atari revolutionized entertainment and jumpstarted the gaming industry by releasing its first arcade game – Pong. Besides Pong, you may also remember other classical Atari games such as Missile Command, Lunar Lander and Centipede. Last week, the Internet Explorer team announced the launch of Atari Arcade, a new partnership between Microsoft and Atari to bring all of these nostalgic games to the web through the power of HTML5. Games like Pong, Asteroids, Super Breakout and Yars’ Revenge – all reimagined with HTML5 and new multi-player capabilities – come to life on a Windows 8 touch device and IE10. Of course, it also works great in IE9, or on any other modern browser. Bonus: You’ll be able to play against your Facebook friends. The games are free and, yes, they’re just as addictive as you remember. “What you really want to be able to do is have a series of games that you think, ‘Gee, I’ve got 10 minutes before I need to pick up the kids from school, and of course, an hour later, the kids are waiting on the curb,’ ” says Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in a behind-the-scenes video about the new project, below. Developers, game on! For developers, the team has created an opportunity to build your own games for the Atari Arcade platform. An Atari software development kit is available in the developer behind the scenes section of the site, along with new and updated versions of JavaScript libraries (Create.js, Easel.js, Sound.js) and new tutorials for building HTML5 games. All code is available on our IE GitHub repo here. Check it out!

Product Reviews are a series of blog posts where Spiffy writers test out various awesome and cool products and give your a first hand experience of using them! Being the result of a famous Microsoft research project, the Microsoft Touch Mouse has been put onto shelves for more than one year. Its distinctive design and multi-touch capabilities have successfully differentiated it from other mice. Recently, Microsoft has also confirmed its plan to provide further support for Touch Mouse on its forthcoming Windows 8 platform. Being so highly anticipated, would Microsoft Touch Mouse manage to retain its distinctiveness on Windows 8? Is Microsoft Touch Mouse really the one peripheral that could make a difference on both operating systems? Read on to find out. Look and feel Microsoft Touch Mouse is just eye-catching. The curved design and colour scheme makes you believe that the mouse has been crafted out of one piece of plastic. It is relatively longer than normal mice, leaving more space for you to rest your palm on. There is no obvious left/right button on Touch Mouse, rather, the front surface, which occupies more than half of the entire mouse, is meant for touch input. A matrix of dots and crosses known as “capacitive touch-sensing electrodes” can be found on the touch-input surface so that you could easily tell whether you have performed a gesture on the right place. The curved surface is frosted to create the necessary resistance for easier gesture performing. It also feels more stylish when the surface is not as polished or reflective. The bottom is largely dominated by white colour, which sort of destroys the unity design. Other than the battery cover in the middle, one transceiver slot can be also found at the bottom of Touch Mouse. The inclusion of this transceiver slot increases the portability of the mouse and decreases the chance of losing the transceiver. Ergonomics With a longer body, Microsoft Touch Mouse provides alternative ways of holding the mouse. You could either choose to fully rest your fingers on the surface (thanks to the large touch-input area) or to put half of your palm comfortably on the body of Touch Mouse. Whichever position you are holding the mouse, the curved surface would fit your palm nicely (provided that everything is in static state), creating the comfort that could hardly be enjoyed for a smaller-sized portable mouse. However, using a gesture-recognition touch mouse is a tremendously different experience compared with using a traditional mouse. Since you need to move your palm position from time to time when performing gestures, it still feels a bit tiring after using Touch Mouse for a long period of time. An all-new ergonomics design specifically for touch-enabled mice might be needed to solve the problem. Bluetrack Microsoft Touch Mouse does a good job recognizing various gestures on top and it does an equally satisfactory job recognizing the surface underneath. The blue laser emitted for tracking the movement of Touch Mouse is using an advanced Microsoft technology called BlueTrack. It provides accurate and sensitive tracking performance on theoretically any non-reflective surface. In real-life cases, Touch Mouse works pretty reliably on most surfaces – wooden tables, plastic surfaces and marble platforms. It is also usable on carpets and bedsheets, provided that you would like to use a mouse at those places. With Microsoft Touch Mouse, you can safely throw away any of those old-fashioned mouse pads. Gestures for Windows 7 After the supporting software (called “IntelliPoint”) is installed, Microsoft Touch Mouse can then be truly called as a “Touch” mouse. Four different gestures can be detected and this is when the magic begins. One finger gesture: The absence of a scrolling wheel would not bother you much as you can scroll up and down with one finger thanks to the one-finger gesture. In fact, one-finger gesture serves more than a scrolling wheel and it operates in a way pretty much the same as a touchpad. Flicking left or right will roll the page to the left or right as you would expect. With a quick swipe of your finger on the touch surface, you could scroll the page quickly in any of the four directions. A simple tap would stop the scrolling as you would normally experience on a touch screen device. Two finger gesture: Finding it too troublesome dealing with multiple windows? Microsoft Touch Mouse makes it easier by recognizing several unique two-finger gestures. Pushing two fingers forward will maximize the current window whereby pulling them backwards will minimize the window. If you are a fan of multi-tasking, you would find yourself frequently sliding two fingers to the side. This gesture will move the window-of-focus to the left or right side of the screen as you desire, which is essentially equivalent to the hotkey combo of Win + Left/Right. Three finger gesture: Power users would usually encounter a problem if too many applications are running at the same time – switching between applications becomes really painful as more than one set of Alt + Tab might be required before the desired window floats to the surface. Touch Mouse offers you a quick way to oversee all active applications by pushing three fingers forward. Snapshots of windows are nicely arranged on the screen so you could easily pick application you want. If you would like to return to the desktop from the jungle of various applications, drawing three fingers backwards would do the job. Thumb gesture: Our thumbs are normally left unused when using a mouse (save for some gaming mice). But the designers of Microsoft Touch Mouse have found a place where your lack-of-exercise thumbs could indeed enhance your productivity. There is, however, only one simple gesture for thumb – sweeping up and down for forward and backward navigation. This gesture has specialized function in different applications, for example, in picture viewer it means next/preview photo and in web browser it operates like page navigation. Working with Windows 8 With the brand new Windows 8 just around the corner, Microsoft has also released its future plan to support Microsoft Touch Mouse on the freshly baked new operating system. After installing the supporting software called “Mouse and Keyboard Centre”, you are ready to use multi-finger gestures on Touch Mouse. On Windows 8, Touch Mouse still recognizes all gestures that can be found on Windows 7 (scrolling, forward/backward and app management) and it offers more customization for app-specific controls. Under the “app-specific settings” sector, you can specify the commands you would like to perform when clicking on certain buttons inside certain applications. For example, you can customize your right button with zoom-in functional such that when clicking on it inside Internet Explorer the webpage can be enlarged. Upon the official launch of Windows 8, Touch Mouse will receive more functions in Windows 8 Modern UI mode (which used to be called “Metro”) and become even more powerful. Some detailed gestures would include: two-finger left swiping to show Windows Charm bar, two-finger right swiping to switch between apps, two-finger forward sliding to show app commands and three-finger swiping to zoom in/out of app list. The addition of these gestures will definitely make users feel more at home when interacting with Windows 8 using mice and keyboards. Wrap up Microsoft Touch Mouse is a remarkable milestone in Microsoft’s hardware product line. Other than its distinctive design (which definitely will help you win some eye balls), the innovation of migrating a touchpad onto the mouse surface opens a new window for human-computer interfacing. However, as a pilot product in a new category, Microsoft Touch Mouse is definitely not without flaws. A few issues should be resolved before a perfect touch mouse can be built. In the case of Touch Mouse, one major issue that I found could affect usability is with its ergonomics design. But Microsoft Touch Mouse has definitely gotten it right in the key features with its first attempt. With even better support on Windows 8, Touch Mouse can deliver greater performance as its potential getting further utilized. Microsoft Touch Mouse might have just set the tune for future mouse design and we do look forward to more innovative products from the category of touch-enabled mouse. Previous Product Review Posts: Product Review: $7 Fish Eye Lens from eBay

1. Try and Learn about Windows Server 2012 Download and try out Windows Server 2012 Building your own lab environment is the best way to REALLY learn new technology! To prepare you with the ability to build your own lab, you can download the Windows Server 2012 installation bits here for FREE! Learn about Windows Server 2012 through FREE online learning portal Microsoft Virtual Academy - MVA is a learning experience focusing on Microsoft Technologies. You will learn how to cloud optimize your IT with Windows Server 2012 and how to take advantage of the skills and investment you have already made in building a familiar and consistent platform ...

[caption id=“attachment_11076” align=“aligncenter” width=“580” caption=“Register now for Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo (Cost: $50 for both sessions)”][/caption] Microsoft and E27 are proud to present Fruit Ninja Developer Dojo. When it comes to developing world famous games, no one knows better than the masters at Halfbrick. The senseis are here to show you the way of the ninja for casual game development in the exclusive networking session and workshop. ...