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Microsoft Max

Microsoft Max is a Picasa type application that uses WinFX, the graphics library foundation of the next version of Windows. The animation effects kick ass!

Family Pictures

I've started scanning my family's picture albums. Here they are:

Old Pictures
1975	Spring 1976
Parc Safari, 1976	Summer 1976
Christmas 1976
1978 Summer	1978 Spain
August 1977	August 1979
Fall 1979	Halloween 1979
Simpson's Party 1979	Simpson's Shower 1979
August 1980	Fall 1980
1980-10 Fort Lauderdale	1980-11 Candiac
1980-11 Passover	1980-12 Christmas
July 1981 - Candiac	1981-04 Easter at Simpsons
1981-09 September

Some locations seen through Google Earth

My home seen through Google Earth.

My parents home in Candiac, a suburb of Montreal.

Google Talk 2.0

Google's own instant messenger. For now, it's not that interesting compared to other clients like MSN Messenger. There's a couple of cool things, like interoperability with any Jabber clients, stacked discussion windows and integration with Google Desktop's sidebar as seen here:

An interesting rumour that could make Google Talk a killer app, is that it could index vocal conversation, to make them searchable like any other content.

Learning to play the flute

I decided to learn how to play the flute. It's a bit late to start, but better late than never. I love movie music and I always wished I could play those themes myself.

At first, I wanted to play the oboe, as it is an important instrument for my favorite composer: Ennio Morricone. I was a bit put off though when I found out how expensive a student oboe was, and how difficult it is to play even for experienced players.

So I picked the flute after speaking with my uncle, who's a musician. It's easier, less expensive and I realized that just as the oboe, it's a prevalent instrument in most of my favorite music.

Here's how I sound playing Au Clair de la Lune, on my first week. Later on, it'll be fun to look back and see my progress.

Google Desktop 2.0

Google Desktop 2.0 is out. The side bar with RSS feeds, and many other neat widgets are also a really nice addition.

Royale desktop theme

Microsoft has released the Royale desktop theme used in Windows XP Media Center edition. Works perfectly with Home and Pro versions of Windows XP.

Using Longhorn's Avalon for Medusa

Instead of spending time trying to optimize my custom thumbnail control used for Medusa, I've started playing with Longhorn's Avalon SDK to do it instead. So far, without touching any code, I've been able to re-create the thumbnail view entirely using XAML with XamlPad (seen above). XAML and Avalon is new to me, but so far it rocks! Took me a while to figure out that a TextFlow panel was the type of panel I needed, but it works perfectly and already renders much more efficiently than my WinForms control.

Another use I will have of Avalon is to create animated effects or 3D effects. I'll try to use it in my details view to show the selected DVD tilted and animate it full screen when we click on it to view the cover only.

LCD Keyboard

A Russian design company has a few concept pictures of a keyboard where every key is a little LCD screen. The uses for this are amazing:

• Keys change depending on selected applications. For example, when in Photoshop, each key match a command icon. When in Quake, the arrow keys are on WASD keys. When in Warcraft, the number keys show the assigned spell or ability.
  
• Shows any keyboard language layout you can imagine.
• Each key shows only one symbol. Holding shift, or control, updates everything if there are alternate commands.
• Games can use it as an interactive puzzle. For example, you enter an Alien ship and must figure out how to unlock their system. Except you need to figure out how to use that Alien keyboard on your own keyboard!
• When the computer is idle, or even behind the symbols, various effects could display equalizer bars, or other soothing effects like clouds. Themable keyboards!

Of course for this to work, not only must cost be reasonable, but it must be a standard that any manufacturer can make. If only one company produces these, nobody will support it.