This week tech bite is Windows Azure Platform. Azure is a Cloud service platform hosted in Microsoft Data Centers.

What it will do:

You need not purchase Software, Hardware. No need to worry about maintenance. You can host applications on Azure platform just the way you are using your Enterprise LAN center now. It can also be used as development environment for Application development. Connectivity, storage, uptime and data availability are promised at 99.95% in Enterprise Service Level Agreement.

How it Works:

Pricing will be based on usage , storage, transaction etc., Give a look at the pricing model comparison between three major Cloud providers, namely Microsoft Azure, Amazon, Google App. Engine.



When it is Coming: Second half of 2009, hopefully Nov 2009.

Where is this useful:
Reduces Tedious and expensive Infrastructure planning.
Additional computing & services capacity is available easily.
The services platform manages critical OS updates and management tasks.
Existing applications in other infrastructure can also be moved and maintained easily.
Happy Learning !!!

(Courtesy Infosys Blogs & Microsoft Azure websites)

This week tech bite is Google Alert.

What it will do:
Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms.

How it Works:
Google Alerts currently offers 6 variations of alerts - 'News', 'Web', 'Blogs', 'Comprehensive', 'Video' and 'Groups'. We can define the frequency of the alert like 'once a day', 'once a week', 'as it happens' .
You can create up to 1000 alerts.

Where is this useful:
monitoring a developing news story
keeping current on a competitor or industry
watching for new videos that match a specific topic
keeping yourself updated about the happenings on your interested topics

This week tech bite is Google Chrome OS. Till now Microsoft and Apple are the only major players in Desktop / Laptop OS, Google wants to enter this turf.

What it will do:
It will be open source like Linux . While Microsoft is trying to attack on 65% Market Capitalization of Google search with Bing, Google is trying to attack on 90% OS business domination of Microsoft with Chrome OS.

How it Works:
Google has already developed Open Source OS called Android for Mobile Phones. Chrome OS will be lightweight and just loads the browser, your OS will be present in Web(Cloud) but not on your desktop or Laptop. Browser will connect to the OS on the web and performs all OS activities. Google Claims, Chrome Operating System will be faster, smoother and lightweight.

When it is Coming:
Note books / PC's running on Chrome OS will be available by 2nd half of 2010.

Where is this useful:
Cheaper, no cost involved in buying OS for Hardware Manufacturer. They save $50 which they generally pay to Windows for its OS.
Just like all other Google applications it will be faster.
Lightweight OS, Desktop need not carry any heavy OS like Vista or Windows 7.

Microsoft Surface

Take a look at the cool demo's on Microsoft Surface home page.

http://www.Microsoft.com/surface/


What it will do:
The Surface is a coffee-table-sized touch computer that can respond to natural hand gestures and real-world objects. It utilizes a vision system with five cameras to sense input. The 30-inch diagonal display allows a number of users to see the screen while surrounding the table, enabling highly collaborative experiences. The users can interact with the content by touch, "grabbing" digital information with their hands. Surface can recognize many points of contact simultaneously, not just one finger as with a typical touch screen .

How it Works:
Hardware: For Input it uses Camera-based vision system with LED infrared direct illumination. 2 GB Ram, 250 GB Hard Disk, Intel 2.13 GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

Software: Microsoft surface applications can be written in Dot net WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).

When it is arriving:It is already available in the market for purchase. Costing around $12-15 K.

Where is this useful:
It is useful in enhancing the customer experience in industries like Retail, Automotive, HealthCare, Financial Service etc.,

Apart from this you can try implementing this wherever you you require Direct Interaction, Multi touch, Multi User experience, Object Recognition.