After 5 years of TechEd abstinence it’s time to visit the conference again. This years TechEd will be held in Berlin which is quite nice since traveling will be reduced to a minimum. Since the session schedule is already available I’ve already filled my calendar for TechEd week.
Okay it’s impressive to see that so many interesting sessions can be held in one week’ – the bad thing is that I need do decide which to go and which to watch on video later.
On later notice: Since I will be there it would be a great opportunity to meet. Let me know if you are there and want to meet.
Sascha von Gawom ist heute auf der GamesCon in Köln unterwegs. Er twittert von dort sodass auf diese Weise der ein oder andere Einblick gewonnen werden kann.
Source: http://twitter.com/gawom
Turns out that we’re actually doing business there – great news that is!
Source: http://www.next-conference.com/next09/
Photosynth is publicly available and it’s time to give it a try and play with the technology. Before starting you should be aware of some facts about the public photosynth technology-preview:
- all synths are uploaded and only available online (broadband needed)
- all synths are public, everyone can access them
- the synther tool runs only on Windows
- you’ll need a Live ID
When everything is checked you can go and upload up to 20 Gbytes of image data – my test synth takes up 200 Mbytes of the available space – so you have plenty of space to play with.
To start just install the photosynth application to view – and click “create” on the website. After the obligatory login you immediately can upload your pictures. Give it a name, ssome tags and a license and select your pictures.
Your pictures should show the same scene from different perspectives – photosynth is all about matching perspectives. After clicking on “Synth” the process starts.
And after a surprisingly short period of time your synth is done. Click on “View Synth” and you’re taken back to the website and you can browse your synth. That’s it – easy!
Source 1: my first photosynth
Source 2: Photosynth is open for the public
Source 3: create a synth
Since last year FeM is recording and live streaming the annual Formula Student Event in Germany:
“Screeching tires, smouldering heads and impressive technical innovations – welcome to the Formula Student Germany 2008!
Join the Brunel Race at our stand. As a virtual race driver you’ll be able to win the Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. The fastest driver gets the chance to win 2 tickets for the Formula 1 Event at Nürburgring 2009.”
If you don’t know what Formula Student is…you may want to read this:
“Students build a single seat formula racecar with which they can compete against teams from all over the world. The competition is not won solely by the team with the fastest car, but rather by the team with the best overall package of construction, performance, and financial and sales planning.
Formula Student challenges the team members to go the extra step in their education by incorporating into it intensive experience in building and manufacturing as well as considering the economic aspects of the automotive industry. Teams take on the assumption that they are a manufacturer developing a prototype to be evaluated for production. The target audience is the non-professional Weekend-Racer, for which the racecar must show very good driving characteristics such as acceleration, braking and handling. It should be offered at a very reasonable cost and be reliable and dependable. Additionally, the car’’s market value increases through other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and the use of readily available, standard purchase components.
The challenge the teams face is to compose a complete package consisting of a well constructed racecar and a sales plan that best matches these given criteria. The decision is made by a jury of experts from the motorsport, automotive and supplier industries. The jury will judge every team’s car and sales plan based on construction, cost planning and sales presentation. The rest of the judging will be done out on the track, where the students demonstrate in a number of performance tests how well their self-built racecars fare in their true environment.”
Starting this friday there will be a livestream available (Flash and Windows Media). Great stuff!
Source 1: Livestream
Source 2: http://formulastudent.tv/
Source 3: http://www.formulastudent.de
Das wunderbare Leipziger Team tritt nun bald wieder mit dem .NET Open Space 2008 in Erscheinung:
“Die besten Gespräche hat man fern ab von einer festgelegten Agenda, bei einem Kaffee und beim “du”. Dort gibt es keine Rollenaufteilung in Sprecher / Zuhörer und die Themen finden sich vor Ort ganz von selbst. Das ist die Idee vom .NET Open Space. Hier sind alle gleich. Auch die Organisatoren halten sich im Hintergrund und moderieren nur ab und an etwas. Die Verantwortlichen der Themenfelder sorgen mit Einladungen für Teilnehmer darin.
.NET Open Space besteht derzeit aus den drei parallelen Themenfeldern:
- ALT.NET
- Mobile Computing
- Soft Skills”
Eine Agenda gibt es nicht, dafür aber einen Zeitplan:
Source: http://netopenspace.de/
I am once again pleased to present the official Trailer for this years FIWAK. FIWAK is the annual outdoor-conference presented by FeM e.V.. This year these lectures are planned (german only):
- Openstreetmap-Workshop von Markus Brückner und Dominik Tritscher
- Technische Grundlagen DVB-T von Sebastian Schwarz
- Opensource Videobearbeitung von Florian Raschke
- FeM-Geschichte von Mario Holbe
- Vereinsinterne Kommunikation von Michael Bock
- Tanzworkshop mit Udo Pescheck
- Bewerbungstraining mit MLP
- Whiteboard-Technologien von Smart Systems
FIWAK takes place from 20. to 22. June 2008 in the forest around Elgersburg – a small town near Ilmenau. But now watch the trailer:
Source 1: FIWAK Homepage
Once again it’s time for the annual forest-lan-partyesk-camp organized and held by FeM e.V..
It’s the 5th FIWAK (FemImWaldAußerKontrolle) taking place from 20th to 22nd June 2008 in the Forest (Freilichtbühne) near Elgersburg/Germany.
You can still sign up if you like to come and watch the lectures and camp with the people there. If you like to get an more detailed impression of the last FIWAK just take a look here.
Source 1: everything about FIWAK on this blog.
Source 2: FIWAK Einschreibesystem
Next tuesday it’s once again MacWorld-time – Apple will kick off it’s developer conference with a keynote and the guys of bits-und-so are going to meet and live-stream their comments and thoughts.
The agenda of this years STC is online. You can take a look here.
Source: http://www.studentconference.de/Agenda.aspx
“Das Datum steht fest: Unsere STC 2008 findet am 15.05.2008 statt!
Wir laden Dich herzlich nach Berlin ein und freuen uns auf einen tollen Tag mit Dir! Es erwartet Dich eine tolle Location, spannende Vorträge und Austausch mit Microsoft-Experten und –Ansprechpartnern, so dass Du ganz im Sinne des Networkings Deiner Karriere auf die Beine helfen kannst.
Zudem hast Du hier die Chance mit zu verfolgen, welches Imagine Cup Team im Software Design die deutsche Fahne beim internationalen Finale in Paris vertreten wird. Der Imagine Cup ist der weltweit größte Technologiewettbewerb für Schüler und Studierende – alle Infos zum Wettbewerb findest Du unter www.imaginecup.info.”
Stattfinden wird die STC dieses Jahr in der Kalkscheune in Berlin.
Source 1: http://www.studentconference.de
Source 2: STC 2007
Source 3: http://www.kalkscheune.de/
I told you, I would write about the things I am working on for the past months. And last week TechFest 2008 took place in Redmond/WA at Microsoft. Almost the whole team I am working with was there – I haven’t spoken to anybody yet personally but it seems to have gone well:
“Microsoft Research’s TechFest is an annual event that brings researchers from Microsoft’s labs around the world to Redmond to share their latest work with the product teams. Attendees will experience some of the freshest, most innovative technologies emerging from Microsoft’s research efforts. The event provides a forum in which product teams and researchers can discuss the incredible work occurring in the labs, thereby encouraging effective technology transfer into Microsoft products.”
fast forward to minute 24…one of the interesting bits starts right there!
Source 1: http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/research/events/TechFest2008/TF08Keynote.wmv
Source 2: http://research.microsoft.com/techfest/
Source 3: http://www.schrankmonster.de/PermaLink,guid,cf5f2c46-60d2-4bb6-b58b-c50f5f3ce4d8.aspx
MIX08 just started and you can now watch the keynote on-demand…just follow the link:
“The Next Web Now
Now in its third year, MIX is an intimate opportunity for cutting-edge technical, creative and business strategists to engage Microsoft in a conversation about the future of the web. Come explore the latest wave of opportunities and help redefine the boundaries between: content and commerce, PC and TV, Windows and the Web. “
Source: http://www.visitmix.com/blogs/Joshua/Day-1-Keynote/
Since two of my colleagues wrote about their work at Microsoft Research I wanted to write at least something about it…just like Andreas said:
“One reason I recently don’t blog too much is the fact that I am a bit restricted in what I can tell. Being involved in some exciting projects, the confidentiality of these projects does not allow much publicity.”
So really the only thing I can write about is that I am honored to work with these great people and being part of the process of creating great software.
So – for now I am on my way back to Cambridge – the next article will be written from there…
Of course I will write about all the things when I am allowed to do so…
Source 1: Martin Calsyn
Source 2: Andreas Heil
Source 3: http://research.microsoft.com/ero/
Unfortunately I only had the time to get into the last day of the ready.for.takeoff Launch Conference for Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008. It took place in Frankfurt/Main in Germany from the 19th to 21st February 2008 and it surely was a great event.
Besides the real great tracks there’s this little thing every participant got:
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/germany/aktionen/ready-for-take-off/default.aspx
Damn there’s quite a lack of decent food in UK…that’s all I got:
In the next hours I will be on the plane to UK for my one week stay in Cambridge… what I am doing there and everything else when I’m there…
Ahzf took some pictures… coooooool:
Source: blog.ahzf.de
Everybody needs more than one job these days and so does FeM. One team at the Chaos Communication Camp 07 and one at the Hockenheimring, recording and live streaming the events.
You may ask what “Formula Student” is…:
“Students build a single seat formula racecar with which they can compete against teams from all over the world. The competition is not won solely by the team with the fastest car, but rather by the team with the best overall package of construction, performance, and financial and sales planning.
Formula Student challenges the team members to go the extra step in their education by incorporating into it intensive experience in building and manufacturing as well as considering the economic aspects of the automotive industry. Teams take on the assumption that they are a manufacturer developing a prototype to be evaluated for production. The target audience is the non-professional Weekend-Racer, for which the racecar must show very good driving characteristics such as acceleration, braking and handling. It should be offered at a very reasonable cost and be reliable and dependable. Additionally, the car’’s market value increases through other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and the use of readily available, standard purchase components.
The challenge the teams face is to compose a complete package consisting of a well constructed racecar and a sales plan that best matches these given criteria. The decision is made by a jury of experts from the motorsport, automotive and supplier industries. The jury will judge every team’s car and sales plan based on construction, cost planning and sales presentation. The rest of the judging will be done out on the track, where the students demonstrate in a number of performance tests how well their self-built racecars fare in their true environment.”
Overview map of the event
As soon as the Live-Streams are available I will keep you updated…
Source 1: http://www.formulastudent.de
Die Koch Media GmbH sucht ab sofort Studenten und interessierte für Testvorführungen neuer Video- und Computerspiele:
“Wenn Sie bereit wären, natürlich gegen eine kleine Gegenleistung, die Entwicklung eines neuen Spiels (plattformunabhängig) zu verfolgen und zu beeinflußen und dies auch mehrmals in den kommenden Monaten machen würden, melden Sie sich bitte unter der Telefon-Nummer: 
089-24245196.”
Source: http://www.kochmedia.de
As ususal here’s the schematic overview of the things behind the curtain:
Source: http://www.implementierungsdetail.de/index.php?n=Main.TeamStreaming
Once again FeM is recording and live streaming a Chaos Computer Club event. The Chaos Communication Camp starts today and you can watch everything live:
“The Chaos Communication Camp is an international, five-day open-air event for hackers and associated life-forms. The Camp features two conference tracks with interesting lectures, a workshop-track and over 30 villages providing workshops and gettogethers covering a specific topic.”
Chaos Communication Camp 2007
The International Hacker Open Air Gathering
8|9|10|11|12th August 2007
Finowfurt near Berlin, Germany (Old Europe)
“You can participate! Bring your tent and join our villages. The Camp has everything you need: power, internet, food and fun. The 100.000 square meter areal features enough space to camp, cozy places to hang out and a nice pool and lake to swim and do nautic experiments.”
There are two lecture halls called “foo” and “bar”:
Live Stream (WMV) “foo”
Live Stream (WMV) “bar”
Of course like at every CCC event you can grab an up-to-date schedule called “Fahrplan” here. The only thing I did not mention yet is the FeM-Village Wiki page…oh well..done 
Source 1: http://www.fem.tu-ilmenau.de
Source 2: http://events.ccc.de/camp/2007/Streams
Source 3: http://events.ccc.de/camp/2007/Fahrplan/
Source 4: http://events.ccc.de/camp/2007/FeM_Village
Oh well. Just after the 43 thousand Euro pile-of-metal arrived some of our office-technicians just thought: It’s tea time, we got a new toy, would that blend?
So they got the tea set and the digital camera out:
We don’t just think of our new hardware as the core equipment of a enormous network. We think of it… well… in a different way.
Source: http://www.fem.tu-ilmenau.de
FeM is in need of a decent conferencing system for years now. And it seems that there’s something really cool showing up in the next days. As of now Microsoft is going to put it’s Roundtable on sale.
“Microsoft RoundTable is a very cool videoconferencing system featuring 360° panoramic views powered by its 5 built-in cameras.”
“The RoundTable actually installs two USB camera devices. The first is the Active Speaker which uses the RoundTable’s 6 microphones to locate where in the room the active speaker is and then focus one of the 5 cameras onto that person. I suspect it may actually use 2 cameras to focus on a person, since it always appears that the speaker is “centered” which probably would require at least 2 camera images and then the images are “spliced” together, processed, and then transmitted over the USB cable. The second USB camera device is the panoramic camera which combines the 5 camera images into a single panoramic image.”
Source: Roundtable Review
Today I had a talk about IP-TV in our local research network – a project I am involved in the past year. And since I did some of the legal and coding work (YAPS) I was the one who wanted to talk about it the most…
First here’s the slidedeck:
The talk was recorded and you can watch it as soon as the post-production team has finished working on it – I’ll keep you posted.
Source: Slidedeck as PDF
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