tech e blog

Microsoft's MySong software automatically generates customizable (jazz / happy) music from your vocals -- analyzes to determine the best chords. Video demonstration after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope basically "puts together terabytes of information from telescopes all over the world to make a seamless rendition of the entire known Universe." Video after the break.

Witness the power of the fully operational Microsoft WorldWide Telescope, as Roy Gould and Curtis Wong walk the audience at TED through this stunning software effort

Developed by Microsoft programmers, this software basically lets users "interactively browse and explore large unstructured collections of photographs of a scene using a novel 3D interface." Video demonstration after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

(Thanks, Jake)

ShakeSMS is an application for Nokia phones that allows you to answer text messages by simply shaking the handset.

Shaking a phone to read text messages is as intuitive as swiping your finger across the screen to unlock it, but once you're trained it becomes second nature

Microsoft has developed an application (Photosynth) that analyzes a group of images and looks for similar distinctive features across photos. When a particular feature is found in multiple images, 3D positional data is calculated and the photos are then arranged in an interactive manner. Unfortunately, commercial availability has not yet been announced. Video after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

Developed by Shai Avidan and Ariel Shamir, this innovative software uses an algorithm to resize images by intelligently removing or adding pixels in order of importance. This allows users to retain all image details without losing quality. Video after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

Microsoft's Seadragon software lets you smoothly browse visual data "regardless of the amount of data involved or the bandwidth of the network." Video after the break.

Its aim is nothing less than to change the way we use screens, from wall-sized displays to mobile devices

Maybe enhancing/retouching that special image in Photoshop just isn't enough. Going the software route doesn't mean you have to be limited to simple tools. What if you could recreate that image, but in 3D? Well, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new method of converting a single 2D image into a 3D scene. Put simply, custom software locates visual cues in the image and differentiates the horizontal/vertical surfaces. Video after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

Sketching tablets are so yesterday, 2D to 3D interfaces become reality with this innovative software, which takes the 2D images you draw and renders them in 3D. According to its creator, "the alogrithm adds shading according to the strokes and connections between the lines." Video demonstration after the break. Click here for first picture in gallery.

An MIT engineer has created a piece of software that allows you to sketch something as you would on paper, and then interact with the design as a mechanical system. Video demonstration after the break. Click here for first picture in stills gallery.