Today’s CES Keynote presentation by Steve Ballmer really got me excited about where technology is headed. It was the second time Steve Ballmer was taking the stage to deliver the traditional Microsoft CES Keynote Address since Bill Gates stepped down from the role. Although things started slightly late due to a power outage, once the show was in full swing, I was glued to my seat.

Slate Devices

Traditional PC’s have been the ugly boxes you hide in a corner somewhere, and don’t want to display to people on purpose.  Over the years cases have gotten better, sizes have gotten smaller, lights have been added, but overall they have stayed the same.  Microsoft tried to push the envelope years ago with Tablet PC’s, but the hardware just wasn’t there yet. It looks like in 2010, Slate Devices are going to come fast and furious.  Check out this beautiful demonstration of HP’s Windows 7 powered Slate Device that was shown today:

In fact, Microsoft next month is planning on unveiling its own slate device, the Microsoft Courier.  The reason I love these devices is they have all the power of Windows 7, in a smaller form.  If I could carry around a mobile device, and a Slate PC that ran Windows 7, I probably wouldn’t need a laptop.  Check out the Microsoft Courier in this video:

Microsoft Project Natal

The reason I am so pumped about Project Natal is because it’s a total game changer.  It will forever change the way we interact with computers.  This means the way we interact with our Televisions, our games, movies, even telephones.  Everything is about to change.  If you listened closely to Robbie Bach, he explained that Microsoft literally hired rocket scientists to develop Natal, and they have been working on this for nearly 10 years.  I can’t even begin to explain how many ripple effects this kind of innovation and technology is going to have on technology.  Combine Natal with touch computing, the speak recognition research Microsoft has been doing for years, and all the devices that run Microsoft software in your life, and you have an extremely powerful game changing, life altering ecosystem of technology at your fingertips.  Check out this video of Project Natal in action:

Natal leaves everything else out there in the dust.  Sure there will be clones that come out after Natal’s launch, but nothing will be as unique as Natal and work as well.  What the iPhone did for mobile devices, Project Natal will do for interaction and user interfaces.  It will leave every company out there trying to either partner with Microsoft to make games for the XBOX 360, or use Natal’s patented technologies embedded on their televisions, blue-ray players, or other devices that want to kill remotes.

These were the two big announcements of the Microsoft CES Keynote this year and what got me extremely excited as a software developer and technology professional. I can’t wait to see the kind of tools we are going to be using to develop the software and the games that will be played and used on these new devices, and manipulated with these new Natural User Interface technologies.

Things have been super busy at Anvil Digital so all I’ve had time for is twitter these days.  If you don’t follow me yet, make sure you add me http://www.twitter.com/miguelcarrasco as I will more than likely save blog posts for deep discussions and thoughts over the next year.

That said, if you are a Winnipeg Software Developer or IT Pro, make sure you sign up for Tech Days 2009.  Time is almost up to sign up for this insane show packed with real world deep dive content!  I will be presenting on Expression Blend 3.0, the world best user interface design application on the market.  Don’t believe me? come check it out! With forty 200+ level sessions, Tech Days is the learning conference on both current technologies and new products like Windows 7, Exchange 2010 and much more.

Expression Blend for Developers

Not a designer? Overwhelmed by Expression Blend? Not a problem! We’ll show you how to use Expression Blend to create advanced and polished user interfaces for business applications, consumer applications, multimedia projects, games or anything in between. We’ll cover features of Expression Blend from a developer’s perspective and show how it works in tandem with Visual Studio throughout the development process. You’ll learn how to create professional-looking user interfaces and visual elements – even if you don’t think of yourself as an interface designer.

I use twitter a lot these days (follow me here), which is why I haven’t been blogging as much these days.  I was on the lookout for some cool new Twitter clients and ran into Sobees.  For those that haven’t heard of it yet, its made up of a couple of different cutting edge technologies and really provides an amazingly slick user experience.

Taking a look at the Silverlight application, there are a ton of awesome features that I loved.  As a software developer I was very impressed with the re-sizing ability, the way they work with Azure, and the integration between twitter and the technologies.

You can then of course install the Silverlight 3.0 application on your desktop, which leverages the Silverlight Out-of-Browser to accomplish this. And if that’s not enough, of course you can go to the Sobees.com web site and has them to download a WPF version of the application.

As you can see, the install process is really cool and easy.  Within seconds you will have an application on your desktop that gives you complete control of the user experience.

Anyway, I don’t want to be too long winded, but make sure you check out the site and try out Sobees.  You will love it.

Working on a Software Development project and stuck trying to nail down exactly what you are building with the resources you have?  Working with a client and trying to get them to pay for services, and keep getting “That’s too much money.” or “I’d like to get all that done, by December, but I only want to pay for one resource, not four.”.

This happens a lot in our world.  I’m not sure why.  It doesn’t seem to happen in other situations.  But what if it did!  And why does this happen in software development every day!  Check out this awesome video on Client Vendor Relationships.

Leo Laporte and Mike Arrington were talking about the Palm Pre on Twit.tv when Michael Arrington and Leo Laporte when at it.  Michael was asking Leo Laporte whether or not he actually paid for it, and Leo got extremely upset.  Anyway watch the video for yourself.  I warn you it’ gets a little rough.

Personally I know first hand that when you get your ethics questioned, you say things you might regret later.  However getting your ethics questioned is not fun, and really shouldn’t happen if you’ve proven yourself time and time again.  Leo is one of those people that has never given a good review of anything if he hasn’t meant it. 

He is one of my favourite tech personalities and a childhood hero like Mr. Rogers and Mr. Dress Up! He got a free Palm Pre to try for 7 days, and will probably go buy a new one anyway.  Palm was smart and gave him one for a few days because they knew he might not be able to get one in time for his internet show.  That’s all.