So in my first ever experiment with Photosynth, you can join the MSPs on their presentation training at Microsoft Campus in Reading! This is only 29% synthy, so I’ll try and get a better one tomorrow.

Those of you who keep up with gadget news will probably remember hearing about Microsoft’s challenge to that ever-so popular MP3 player back when it was launched. Sadly, we’ve never been able to get a taste of the Zune over here in the UK as it remains firmly for the American market only. So naturally, when I was in Seattle, I bought one.

Lets skip over the standard features. I’ve very briefly shown the thing playing music and videos in the short clip below. I want to show you all some of the features that I think makes the Zune stand out from the crowd.

Zune Software

The first thing you’re aware of is that it’s not iTunes. You don’t have the standard controls-at-top, nav-at-left interface, you don’t have the metallic look and feel, and you don’t have the iTunes store. But then again, it’s not iTunes - it’s a refreshing break from the standard left-nav top-controls interfaces that we’ve just started being able to get away from (thank you Office Ribbon) and, while things are all in different places than I’m used to, all of the features I use (and don’t use) are here in the Zune software.

Zune’s tagline of ‘Welcome to the Social’ is played out through all facets of the software - I can even change the background of the main screen. I can browse through my device and my collection really easily and graphically (and the interface feels like it’d be great on a tablet or multi-touch OS). This also kind of leads on to…

‘The Social’

If you ask Joe Average what he doesn’t like about iTunes or the iPod, the whole DRM thing is likely to be somewhere on the list. Using an iPod can be, at times, a little like saying “This is my music, you can’t see it, touch it, smell it. Don’t even look at me.” Well, the Zune approaches this a little differently. It’s not a file sharing device my any means, and you’re not about to be able to steal other people’s music. You can, however, show people what you’re listening to, what you like, and share snippets of the songs you listen to the most. All wirelessly - device to device, or via the internet. Ladies and gentlemen, my Zune card:

You may notice that there’s an interactive version of this at the side of my blog, showing what I’ve been listening to and what my last played song was etc. A little like an Xbox Live Gamercard, this gives me the chance to show off my (somewhat embarrasing at times) music tastes and connect with others. For example, while we were in Seattle, Dominic also bought a Zune. He’s in my friends list, and so from either my Zune, the Zune software, or www.zune.net I can see what he’s been listening to, play snippets of those songs he likes the most, and send him a message telling him how much I like ‘Death Cab for Cutie‘.

Walkthrough

Other Features

I like podcasts, and I was worried that the Zune wouldn’t handle them like their namesake does. I’m glad I was wrong.

Podcasts are laid out very visually and comprehensively, and sync to my device really well. I love the big thumbnails, which is something that iTunes doesn’t do with podcasts - and it’s an easier process to add podcasts via the Zune software than in iTunes.

Other features

The Zune Store could have gone so, so badly wrong. Trying to go up against something as well-established as the iTunes store is a dangerous buisiness, and using the Microsoft Points currency instead of just plain old run-of-the-mill cash does make it seem, at first, a little odd. Then I realised how great it is for those people who don’t have a credit or debit card - you can just go and load up on MS points at a store, and use them on anything - not just on the Zune store, but on Xbox Live Marketplace and the like!

One other big pull of the Zune for me is FM radio. Sure, you can buy an iPod addon that does that, but I really like being able to laugh like mad at Chris Evans, but still be able to switch back to my own music collection when I get too angry at Jeremy Vine.

I used an iPod again yesterday to see how it felt having lavished so much attention on the Zune… and it was then I realised I’m not going back. The Zune is so nice, so fresh to use, and has so many features that certain other devices don’t have. Ok, so I can’t open up a browser on there and surf the web, and I can’t make phone calls from it… call me old-fashioned, but I have a laptop and a mobile phone for that kind of thing.

So that’s Zune. Roll on deployment in the UK - we need some fresh air and new ideas in a market that’s become dominated by just one contender.

So this is the fourth and final part of the video diary from Seattle! On our last day before flying back, Dominic and me got the chance to go over to the Willows buildings to see some really cool technology that Microsoft are developing!

In the video you can see me playing the ESP simulator (Flight Sim Pro) using a cool motion detecting / video headset with Todd Langstad, and then us playing with a Microsoft Surface (dream come true!). We saw some other cool stuff and demos of future releases, but they wouldn’t let me video those as they’re all a bit pre-release

The music I used in these videos was America by Razorlight, and Breakfast in America by Supertramp… see what I did there? Anyway, now I’m back in England there’s so much on my list to blog about - so stay tuned!

Since all of my sight-seeing plans for the weekend have been dashed by the unusually close relationship the contents of my stomach has developed with the inside of the hotel bathroom’s toilet bowl, I decided to fit in an extra Video post showing off some of the work that Dominic and I did last week!

If you haven’t already, go along to www.popfly.com and start playing!

So with the main week of work experience with the Popfly team coming to an end, it’s time to share with you all the second video diary from Dominic and my trip to Seattle! Check out the links below the video!

Check out John Montgomery’s blog, Tim Rice’s blog and Adam Nathan’s blog.

I asked my Popfly Mashup if it was working right. Needless to say, I’ve created a compulsive liar…

In the gap between video blog posts, I wanted to share with you some of the cool things that the Popfly team have been making recently (and I’m not the first - Paolo beat me to this one!)…

With the Olympic Games starting this week, Adam and the team here at Popfly Central have created a set of games using the Popfly Game Creator. There are 10 in total, but I’ve embedded my favourite in here for you to play… head on over to the Popfly site to play more!

To round off this post, I think it’s only fitting to say GO GREAT BRITAIN at this year’s Olympics - we’ve got some great athletes competing this year, so I’ll be watching with baited breath!

As mentioned in my last blog post, both Dominic Green and myself have flown out to the magical land of Redmond, WA to do some work experience on the Microsoft Popfly team.

We flew out on Sunday night, and as with any trip to somewhere far away, the journey was long and eventful! I therefore present to you the first video blog of the trip… The Journey!

So we slept pretty well on Sunday night, and our first day yesterday was pretty intensive. The team here are pretty friendly though, and it feels great to be working on something cool like Popfly, not to mention being a part (albeit temporary) of an awesome team of people.

More videos and posts will follow - but for now, it’s back to working on some great stuff for Popfly. It’s a great technology that’ll let you create things with almost no technical knowledge, so go along to the site and sign up with your Live ID!

Later on today I’m travelling to Redmond, WA for 10 days working with Dominic Green on the Popfly team, and getting shown around some of the other teams that work on the main Microsoft campus in Seattle.

I’m on the 1830 GMT flight non-stop to Seattle, and we’ll be in the air for nearly 10 and a half hours. Still, I’ve got my iPod, laptop and the in-flight movies, not to mention the window seat and Dominic for company!

I’ve acquired a video camera for while I’m out there, and all being well I’ll post up a few video blog posts for your enjoyment!

Keep checking my Twitter, and check back to this blog for updates when I can make them!

The last 12 months has seen the successful trial and proliferation of one particularly cool technology that has the potential to be a real game-changing addition to both IT and broadcasting. I’m talking, of course, about ‘on-demand programming’.

Most of you will have heard of the BBC iPlayer, and all the services that came after such as 4OD, Sky Anytime and DemandFive. So last night I decided that I’d try all of the ‘on demand’ services, and see how they all stacked up.

I had been using the BBC iPlayer for quite some time. It recently underwent some changes and is a much fuller, richer service than it was. It gives me a choice, and I like choices. By default I can just go to the web site, click a show and watch a pretty good quality stream right there in the browser. If I want a higher quality version of the show, I can download it to my machine in WMV format through their tiny little download manager, that sits in the system tray after a quick install. Since their recent revamp, I can also listen back to BBC radio shows via the iPlayer.

So having already used the BBC service, I looked for the right URLs and soon had everything I needed to start watching the content that other channels delivered. Or so I thought. As it worked out, I would only be able to test two of the four major services on offer - Sky’s services is only available to subscribers, and the DemandFive web site just plain didn’t work.

I decided to start off with Channel 4’s service 4OD, as I really fancied watching some ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks‘. Sadly, it wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped.

Within a minute or two of reading through the ‘how-to’ bumph that the 4OD home page provides, it became clear that this wasn’t going to be as easy to use as the BBC iPlayer. With the BBC service, I have the option of downloading the content to my local machine, but I can watch or listen to anything I might want to via the iPlayer website. With 4OD, I would have to download their application before I even got started.

So, application downloaded and installed, and on first run I get presented with the main 4OD screen within a full-screen app window. All looks pretty good and well designed, and it’s pretty clear and simple to navigate. I search for ‘Buzzcocks’ and lo, I find nothing. It seems that show isn’t offered via 4OD. No matter, I’ll try and find something else to watch…

And that’s when I see it - I’m not looking in the right place. No, I’m in 4OD alright, but I’m in the free section. 4OD is a subscriber service too, with a ‘free area’ for non-subscribers to access. Feeling a tiny bit misled, I search on through the free content available, and choose a different show.

So, you’re thinking, I finally got to watch something from 4OD. But no. Before I could watch any 4OD content, I had to register with them first. So, I give up trying to use this service from a distance and sit back down at my laptop to fill out the registration form. Five minutes and an email confirmation later, I’m watching the show. The big difference here is the advertising. Now, I know that the only reason that the BBC doesn’t have ads is because we pay for a TV license, but now I’m miffed - I don’t get to watch the show I want unless I pay for a 4OD subscription, and now I’ve got more ads than I’d get watching this show on TV!

So, feeling disappointed with my 4OD experience, and having already watched what I wanted to via the iPlayer, I gave up and went to play some Halo.

On-Demand services are really where the future of broadcasting is heading. It’s where web 2.0 really starts to come into it’s own, and shows that some of the biggest players in media are starting to twig that the ‘net isn’t just for porn and businesses.

That said, it’s early days. The BBC were pretty groundbreaking with the iPlayer, which had only hit the public scene properly in January after extensive public trials. It’s therefore no surprise that they are ahead of the game here - but as with any game-changer, there’s going to be a period of re-adjustment and flaky development over the next year or two until on-demand really becomes staple.