The day has finally come. Kinect is officially coming to Windows! On 9th Jan 2012, during CES Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft would ship Kinect for Windows on February 1st and yesterday, version 1.0 of the commercial SDK and runtime were made available for download. Also, the distribution partners in twelve launch countries are starting to ship Kinect for Windows hardware, with suggested retail price $249. Kinect has changed the way people play games and experience entertainment. Now, Kinect for Windows offers the potential to transform how people interact with computers and Windows-embedded devices in multiple industries, including education, healthcare, retail, transportation, and beyond. Kinect shows the promise of Natural User Interface (NUI) and the role Microsoft plays as a thought-leader and technical innovator in this exciting space. Since the last beta, the updated SDK has picked up a number of new features including support for up to four Kinects being used simultaneously and near mode for monitoring motion from just 40cm away. See the complete product features here. Looking for great on content on how to build apps for Kinect? Visit Channel 9 where we have updated quick starts and open source projects. Get Started - Kinect for Windows Quickstart Series ...

Recently I have received some demand of building HTML5 mobile app on Windows Phone Mango. Hence, I think it is a good chance to introduce PhoneGap this HTML5 mobile framework, which has full suports for Windows Phone Mango. If you are using PhoneGap this kind of framework, you are building a hybrid application. What is a hybrid application? It is an application that runs with browser components, but could be able to utilize the phone functionality (such as camera, geolocation, notification and etc). Hybrid application is downloadable through marketplace as well. To the end user, there is no difference from hybrid and native application. But for our developers, it is a huge different. If developer wants to build native application for all different platform, he needs to use C# for Windows Phone, Objective-C for iPhone and Java for Android. However, if developer building hybrid application, he only needs to take care of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Question: Why should we consider HTML5 mobile? If you are a developer targeting on multiple platform (Wp7, iOS, Android), using standard technology (HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript) is a very cost-effective choice for you. Question: How does this compare to native application? Hybrid application utilized the power of browser rendering engine. However, native application will be able to utilize the graphic APIs of the operating system. Hence, hybrid application couldn’t achieve game-quality graphics. Moreover, take windows phone platform as a sample. Application Bar is a very useful control developer usually uses for layering their applications. For hybrid application, since its just HTMl and CSS, you need to figure out the layout yourself by coding. Even there will be templates in the future, it is just mimicking the control and it won’t be as convenient as using native SDK. Please check PhoneGap on Windows Phone Tips series (5 Tips in the end of this article) for mimicking native control, such as Live tiles, Deep linking, handling orientation. Here is all the references: PhoneGap Get Start Guide for WP:Start Guide | GetStart video 1 | GetStart video2 PhoneGap API Reference: Reference PhoneGap official Wiki: Wiki Useful tutorials: ...

Starting Feb 1st, all Windows Phone owners can enjoy five new self-titled Must Have Games announced by Microsoft. These great line-ups will be released across February, with one title each per week and prices ranging from $2.99 - $4.99. Complete with Xbox LIVE Achievements, leaderboards and more, Must Have Games brings more great games to Xbox LIVE for Windows Phone. Game line-up includes: ...

HTML5Plase.us : “Use the new and shiny responsibly.” HTML5Please is a newly launched website that enables developer to look up HTML5 & CSS3 features to know if they are ready for use in your actual project. This reference site represent the collective knowledge of developers who have been deep in the HTML5 trenches, to be exact, created as a community project by the people behind HTML5 Boilerplate, Modernizr and CSS3 Please!. HTML5Please provides comprehensive & straightforward guidance for each element and property, with colored flags and information regarding browser support, including for IE10+, IE9, IE8, IE7, and non-IE browsers. It also helps you out with recommendations for polyfills and implementation so you can decide if and how to put each of these features to use. An integrated filter enables you to rapidly refine your search to just the features you’re interested in. You can read more the making of HTML5Please here. Other resources: http://caniuse.com/ – Compatibility tables for support of HTML5, CSS3, SVG and more in desktop and mobile browsers. http://modernizr.com – Open-source JavaScript library that gives you the power of feature detection to help you build the next generation of HTML5 and CSS3-powered websites. http://haz.io/ – gives a quick overview of your browser’s support for recent technologies in the world of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. http://mobilehtml5.org/ – Learn more about HTML5 compatibility on mobile and tablet browsers [wiki] Cross-browser Polyfills

Here we’ve compiled great amount of resources on Private Cloud. Learn from the basic on how the private cloud can help your business and your IT Pro career, using these useful links ranging from virtual event, MVA courses, videos to screencast. Upcoming Event on 19 Jan 2012 : “Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud” MVA (Microsoft Virtual Academy) Courses : Planning, Building and Managing a Private Cloud Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – Management Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – The Platform Microsoft Private Cloud Infrastructure Enhancing Your Business and Career with the Private Cloud TechNet Radio (Videos) : ...

Recently we asked few times if should company virtualize Windows 7 Guest OS or stay on Windows XP. The answer is straight forward, go for Win7. Reason being - better VM/logical processor support. If you have Hyper-V with Win7 as guest OS, the VM/logical processor ratio is 12:1. With other guest OS, the ratio is only 8:1. You can scale out more and have better density. Most people are familiar with VMs/core concept. VMs/core implies only physical core support. Logical processors can be either physical or multi threaded cores. As an example, Intels Westmere processors support 6 cores. With multi threading support, you actually have 12 logical processors. This means that on just one of these Westmere processors, we can scale up to 144 VMs! Then comes the licensing question. What is the best general licensing model to virtualize so many VMs. The best way to go for most cases is to purchase Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Datacenter edition. The Datacenter edition gives unlimited VMs per processor licensing. It is a very cost effective way for most cases. Let’s be honest that density and VM/logical processor will always increase, you want to have the flexibility to scale up. To know more about licensing on Microsoft Products, the best place to get the information is to visit http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/licensing/

The definition, business value, and technology benefits of the “the cloud” have been hotly debated in recent months. Most agree that cloud computing can accelerate innovation, reduce costs, and increase business agility in the market. In 2012, cloud computing will transition from hype and discussion, to part of every enterprise’s reality, and IT is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation and help business reap the benefits of cloud computing. Join us for a virtual event designed to help you explore your cloud options. It’s your chance to interact with Microsoft experts and with IT leaders like yourself, who have been putting cloud technology to work in their own organizations. You’ll be among the first to hear the latest private cloud news from Microsoft Transforming IT with Microsoft Private Cloud Thursday,January 1__9, 2012, 11:00 A.M-1:00 P.M. Singapore Time Here’s what we have planned: •Hear from other senior IT professionals about how cloud computing can help you gain maximum competitive advantage with minimal risk. •Learn about Microsoft cloud offerings, including private, public, and hybrid cloud models. • Experience Microsoft private cloud solutions through the Microsoft Technology Center Microsoft Executive Panelists: Satya Nadella President, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Brad Anderson Corporate Vice President, Management and Security Division, Microsoft Antoine Aguado Senior Director, Private Cloud and Server, M&O Microsoft Asia Pacific ...

The curiously cute green monster - Om Nom is now om-line with 25 levels for free at http://www.cuttherope.ie/! Created by ZeptoLap, Om Nom is built entirely using HTML5. You can use your mouse to manipulate ropes, airbags and bubbles to feed him candy, and collect stars along the way for more points. With the launch of IE9, there have been many wonderful opportunities partnering with developers to stretch the limits of HTML5. A lot of the resulting experiences not only showcase the beauty of the web, but demonstrate how fast, interactive and rich the web is becoming, enabled by platforms such as IE9 and Windows 7. Check out Pirates Love Daisies, Disney Tron, and The World’s Biggest Pacman to see a few great examples of what’s to come for the web we all use and love every day. To get a sense for how the developers at Pixel Lab and ZeptoLab teamed up to turn one of the world’s most popular applications into a web experience, check out the behind the scene technical tear-down in the game. The guys have put together a short video talking about how they took Om Nom online - check it out: Now, remember to pin Cut The Rope to your Windows 7 taskbar as IE9 takes on the look and feel of the game and unlocks unique levels not found in any previous versions of Cut the Rope, giving you a full Om Nom candy eating experience. ...

This is Microsoft’s last keynote for Consumer Electronics show(CES). And keynote started with a Microsoft history video at CES. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdIfSDwfTqA[/youtube] If you missed the keynote, you still could watch it here. Here are some of the recaps for today’s CES Keynote. 1. Windows Phone with cooler devices Nokia announces its biggest yet thinnest Windows Phone to date with the Nokia Lumia 900, its first phone to support high-speed LTE data transfers. The Nokia Lumia 900 allows data downloads up to 50Mbps on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Here is the video for more detail. During the Keynote, Steve also demonstrated HTC Titan II. The HTC Titan II is basically an HTC Titan with LTE for AT&T and a 16 megapixel camera with backside illuminated sensor, f/2.6 AF lens and dual LED flash. You can see more details via Engadget as well. 2. Better PC runs Windows A video was played with various PC laptop updates. - SONY VAIO Z with Jaw Dropping Picture at 1080p, 15 hours of fun with attachable sheet battery - Asus Zenbook UX21 - Acer Aspire S3 with 1/2" inch thin (Acer announced new Aspire S5 - the thinnest laptop in the world) - Toshiba Portege Z830 - World Thinnest 13" Laptop - DELL XPS 14Z - LENOVO IDEAPAD U300S - SAMSUNG Series 9 - HP Envy Spectre - Cool Ultrabook with a Gorilla Glass Cover - More 3. Windows 8, Windows Store and Cut the rope Moreover, Windows 8 beta is coming end of Feb, according to Chief Marketing Officer of Microsoft. Meanwhile, Windows Store will be available to 231 markets worldwide. Windows Store was showed and we see how Cut the Rope this game in HTML5 and run well on Windows 8. Meanwhile, we’re excited to announce a new experience on the web – a HTML5 version of the popular Cut the Rope game is now available online for free! And Visit www.cuttherope.ie to play with it! 4. Kinect and Two way interactive TV. More, Kinect with PC! Microsoft demonstrated how Kids could experience Sesame Street – going from watching the show to jumping into Elmo’s world with Kinect-enabled two-way TV. Also Microsoft announced a new partnership with NewsCorp to bring new apps for Xbox LIVE that will feature content from their leading broadcast, news and Web properties, including Fox Broadcasting, Fox News Channel, IGN Entertainment and The Wall Street Journal. Even better, starting February 1, 2012: you could use the Power of Kinect for Windows to Change the World. Here is the official announcement from Kinect team. Again, if you missed the show, you could watch it here. Enjoy CES!

The first meet up for Singapore Geek Girls is held in Jan 7th, 2012 at Group Therapy Coffee, with more than 35 geek girls showed up. As one of them, I am very happy to see I am no longer the minority in a techinical meet up. So what’s geek girls about? As said, girls are unique and definitely the minority in Technology world. They look at techonology from a different angle compared to guys. By having this new network, we are hoping girls could get more connected and share more information. Or even better, we could go to techinical conference or workshop together. ...