Here are some of the custom demos and utilities I built while part of the Developer and Platform Group at Microsoft.

Ireland’s Call for Guitar Hero

Use the Guitar Hero X-Plorer Controller to play Ireland’s Call, a.k.a. “The Rugby Song”.

Technologies: XNA (for PC and XBox 360)
More information: Demo, source code and jamming guide here.

A Wii Flock of Boids

Use the Nintendo Wii Wireless Controller to control a flock of butterflies, and help a tightrope-walking creature keep his balance.

Technologies: XNA (for PC and XBox 360)
More information: About the demo and Connecting your Wii Controller to XNA.

Mosaic Art Website

Mosaic Art Website

Without writing a single line of custom Javascript, ASP.NET AJAX lets us build a cross-platform, cross-browser website with partial page updates, and a streamlined Administrator interface behind it.

Technologies: ASP.NET AJAX, Flickr.NET
Demonstrated at: ApacheCon Europe, IT@Cork Conference on Web 2.0
More information: Demo site is currently online here.

Little Syncr

Little Syncr

Synchronizes metadata for photos (titles, descriptions, privacy information, tags) between local images and online photo sharing site Flickr.

Technologies: Windows Forms, Flickr.NET
More information: Download available here.

NLarge - Screen Magnifier for technical presentations

NLarge

NLarge is a little utility for technical presentations. It magnifies the screen through a smooth animation, and allows you to pan and zoom around the magnified screen. You can annotate the magnified image using the mouse or a Tablet PC pen.

NLarge runs from your system tray, and is triggered by a hotkey (Alt-1).

Technologies: Windows Presentation Foundation (.NET 3.0)

More information: Download and source code available on CodePlex. Direct download of most recent release here.

Launch of Windows Vista, 2007 Office System and Exchange 2007

A recording of the demos from the December ‘06 launch is currently not available. I’m trying to find it and make it available.

This was a particularly engaging and elaborate set of four custom demos that integrated multiple clients and 3 servers (Sharepoint 2007, Exchange 2007, and a streaming server for a custom WPF app).

The themes for the four parts of the demo were:

  • Simplify how people work together
  • Help protect and manage content
  • Find information and improve business insight
  • Reduce IT costs and improve manageability

Additional Information: Follow-up links.

Page last updated: Nov 16th, 2008