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Look What's Cooking At Microsoft Labs

stinkymountain writes "Writer John Brandon spent two days at Microsoft Research Labs in Redmond and got an inside look at some pretty interesting projects under development, including a robotic receptionist, a new type of touch screen for people with fat fingers, and an electronic table that allows multiple people to collaborate in real time. Brandon also talks about some of these research projects on this NPR podcast."

20 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. electronic table by owlnation · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does the electronic table come with an autoeject for the chairs around it?

  2. uh oh by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they get a patent on using a touchscreen with fat, cheetos-covered fingers, linux is doomed!

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    1. Re:uh oh by up2ng · · Score: 4, Funny

      I once worked where we had to wear environmental hazard suits,

      Took a job cleaning a White Castle bathroom, didja ?

      --
      Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on fire.
  3. gentlemen by nimbius · · Score: 2, Funny

    start your chair jokes.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:gentlemen by hack++slash · · Score: 3, Funny

      These two chairs walked into a bar ....

      *shrug* I got nothing.

      --
      To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
  4. Killer bride by Andr+T. · · Score: 4, Funny

    The robotic receptionist - which will be used at Microsoft headquarters, likely next year - will help Microsoft visitors find shuttles to get around campus. The receptionist can even identify visitors based on what they are wearing and provide information on shuttle routes using GPS tracking data.

    Robotic voice:

    - You're wearing a ...yellow ... Linux ... T-shirt. You have a ... Hattori Hanzo ... sword. You must be here to... kill... Bill. Please take the next shuttle on your right.

    --

    Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

  5. An Opportunity for More Bload by charleste · · Score: 2, Funny

    IMHO - and I'm no longer in an MS shop - is that OSLO and VS2010 both add up to HuYOOGE code bloat if prior MS tools are any indication. What MS needs to do, since they're obviously trying to automagic stuff more and more, is to sort out including their whole freaking library in the binaries by default.

  6. Interesting stuff by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I especially enjoyed the video of Dr. Bunson Honeydew's research. I felt a bit sorry for his research assistant, though - that poor guy gets all the scut jobs.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  7. Re:History by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

    And then even the great ones are subjected to MS Marketing, which means they'll die a slow and agonizing death while their retarded younger brother gets pushed into the spotlight.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  8. "Office Space" cure for fat fingers... by Vexler · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's called the "Jump-To-Conclusion Mat".

  9. Re:Robotic Receptionist? Old News... by ratnerstar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, you haven't truly sexually harassed anyone until you've sexually harassed a robot receptionist.

    --
    Just because you sold your soul to the devil that needn't make you a teetotaler. --The Devil and Daniel Webster
  10. a robosecretary can com in handy by OglinTatas · · Score: 3, Funny
  11. Re:Eagle 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Right up until it BSODs...

  12. Summary by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Funny
    For those who are too lazy, the projects can be summarized in a few words: Big ass
    • Codename: Eagle 1
      Looks like something that we see in spy movies where a Command Center has access to all the topographical maps and information that it needs in an instant but for disaster recovery and planning. Looks promising. Like all collaborative efforts, success will depend on how well the individual components work well together (databases, etc). Big ass collaboration
    • Codename: Surface
      Kiosk technology. Not really intended for home users. At $12,500 each (with discounts), I see this more as a novelty more than practical. Big ass table
    • Code name: Pictionaire
      I'm not exactly sure what this is. It appears to be the software that Surface runs so I don't think it counts as a separate project. Software for big ass table.
    • Codename: Touch Wall
      An interactive semi-transparent monitor ala Minority Report. The main difference was the interaction in Minority report was with holograms and this is a hard surface. Big ass touchscreen wall monitor.
    • Codename: Paris/Social Streams
      News aggregator that is focused more on relationships and content than search terms. Might be useful for data mining. Big ass aggregator
    • Codename: LucidTouch
      Extends touch surfaces on mobile by allowing users to reach behind the screen so that your fat fingers don't block what you are trying to select. This however doesn't solve the compromise of portability of mobile devices with the need for larger screens. Touch surface for your big ass fingers.
    • Codename: OSLO
      Extends software development from sharing code to data models as well. Big ass application development modeling
    • Codename: Visual Studio 2010
      Well this uses OSLO and is the next version of Visual Studio so putting it into its own project is a bit of a stretch. Big ass IDE.
    • Codename: BlueTrack
      New MS mice will allow to be used on rougher surfaces like tile and wood than before by increasing the sampling rate of the laser among other advances . New laser mice with big ass oversampling
    • Codename: Robotic Receptionist
      I think this is software but a virtual receptionist that can interact with and track visitors. Big ass big brother.

    Did I miss any big asses?

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  13. Re:If I Had to Guess ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm surprised you didn't try the "they're cooking up FUD" joke...

    Mm, this fud tastes good!

  14. With Voice Recognition? by mangu · · Score: 4, Funny

    You:
    -Im here to visit my dear mom who works here

    Robotic voice:
    -You are here to ... dear aunt ... lets set ... so double ... the killer ... delete ... select all
     

  15. Receptionist? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2, Funny

    including a robotic receptionist

    For proprietary, trade-secret reasons, MS needed to develop a workforce that doesn't need chairs. Microsoft spokeswoman C. DeFenestra refused comment.

  16. Re:No need to apologize by Kagura · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sorry in advance, but I actually liked the ribbon on the new MS Office.

  17. Re:Robotic Receptionist? Old News... by Ihmhi · · Score: 2, Funny

    I found something with a G on it, but it's a black wire hooked up to the power unit.

  18. Re:Photosynth rocks!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    unfortunately, i can't try it out, cause it doesn't support LINUX... go figure.