Augmented Reality on Bing Maps

PokerStars online TV portal goes live

Almost a year in the making, from initial planning to final delivery, PokerStars.tv 2.0 was finally unleashed on a hungry public this week, raising the bar for online poker experiences the world over.

Those clever folks at Microsoft have done it again! (no, really)

Yes, that's one 'C' word I never thought I'd use to describe the company who brought us Vista, but whilst leaving the office juniors to plot the next thrilling episode of Internet Explorer, Microsoft have been beavering away on something I find genuinely exciting.

Chris Harrison, Dan Morris and Desney Tan, of Microsoft Research have come up with Skinput, a bio-accoustic sensing technology that allows the human skin to act as an input device.

Still in early prototype, an armband detects the subtle differences in sound frequencies caused when tapping various parts of your body to locate the impact, making it possible to determine which button was pressed. Wireless Bluetooth technology is then used to transmit this data to other devices, such as iPods and mobile phones. Absolute genius!

While Apple makes yesterday's technology palatable for the masses, Microsoft seem to be really pushing the boundaries of HCI with experimental technologies like this, Surface and Project Natal.

As a developer and designer whose career has been blighted by Explorer's buggy, downright anarchic interpretation of my work, I find it almost uncomfortable to say it, but maybe Microsoft is onto something here!