The hunt for the perfect computer headset

Friday, February 03, 2012 - 8:42 AM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/ZIA4Rn_tiPw/
Before the last couple of weeks, it’s hard to believe I used to hate headsets. Since then, my desk has been covered from anything between three and six headsets at a time supplied by the good folks at Sennheiser and Plantronics. Comparing six different headsets at a time wasn’t easy and I owe many thanks [...]

Geek-girl Felicia Day kicks off inaugural Microsoft Advertising Story Awards

Thursday, February 02, 2012 - 3:20 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/DeTd6jXurCg/
Today Microsoft kicked off the first Microsoft Advertising Story Awards contest to find the world’s most innovative digital marketer with the chance to win a trip to the Oscars-of-the-advertising-world, Cannes Lions 2012. The contest specifies “entries will be judged on how effectively your campaign plan uses Microsoft Advertising solutions”. Essentially, this is a promotion to [...]

Microsoft supports Imagine Cup 2011 student projects with $75,000 grants

Friday, January 27, 2012 - 5:24 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/esdVdsbgWVw/
Even though winning the Imagine Cup 2008 worldwide finals was already a life changing experience for me, I only wish something like this had existed back then. No doubts it would have had a big effect on taking ideas to market. Today at the World Economic Forums in Davos, Microsoft announced the first ever four [...]

Razorfish raises the bar for Microsoft-based connected retail experience

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - 4:41 AM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/K5e4-l0FIA0/
The last time I wrote about some of the cool work the creative agency Razorfish were doing on the Microsoft platform – specifically Surface, they were owned by Microsoft. Even though they’ve since been sold by Microsoft, it appears they still have a soft spot for Microsoft platforms. Yesterday, Razorfish announced a beta version of [...]

“Cicada 3301″ cryptographic puzzle game played out on 4chan & reddit: best job hire in disguise?

Friday, January 20, 2012 - 4:32 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/iHGPGqtcz6o/
What does the Caesar Cipher, a picture of a duck, Mayan numbers, King Arthur, 2143909608, 845145127.com, GPS coordinates in Warsaw, Paris, Seattle, Seoul, Arizona, California, New Orleans, Miami, Hawaii and Sydney have in common? They’re all pieces of an online cryptographic puzzle game that began earlier this January. It all began with a seemingly generic [...]

Skype hiring both C# and HTML5 devs for Windows 8 Metro app

Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 3:01 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/Ej7vfCy4RlM/
It looks like if you can’t make your mind up about building a Windows 8 Metro-style application using either C# or HTML5, Skype seems to think you should just hire to build for both and let them fight it out. In either case, Skype seems to be readying a Windows 8 app for launch day. [...]

Channel9′s Visual Studio Achievements now available

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 5:05 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/xl27Jw98vFo/
A couple of years ago I approached Rafael Rivera with an idea – bringing XBOX Live-style achievements to the Windows platform. There could be achievements for Windows itself – learning keyboard shortcuts like CTRL+SHIFT+ESC for task manager or even BSOD misfortunes. It would have also extended third-party applications to easily integrate achievements for all sorts [...]

Behind the Microsoft CES 2012 video wall

Monday, January 16, 2012 - 1:42 PM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/1fgrmBEE6ZY/
Like Moore’s law, there should also be a law that determines the rate at which display screens at trade shows grow. For it’s last year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft flaunted a video wall at its booth that stretched a respectable 70 feet (21 meters) long. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to [...]

Win one of two Microsoft Touch Mouse & Microsoft LifeCam Studio

Monday, January 16, 2012 - 6:22 AM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/GYXlwCEOBJo/
There’s nothing better to kick off a new year with some great hardware freebies from Microsoft Australia. In collaboration with several tech sites including this one, they are running a promotion to give away 2 (two) Microsoft Touch wireless mouse. And because I’m so nice and generous, they’re also throwing in an extra Microsoft LifeCam [...]

A surprise package was left at the door

Friday, January 13, 2012 - 4:07 AM von http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/istartedsomething/~3/CFZbylT-adI/
Cut the Rope candy! Come to think of it, how cool would it be if there was a leaderboard and the top X number of players got these. Om nom nom nom.