Unveils end-to-end development platform with free tools for Windows Phone 7 Series and advances with Silverlight that will bring new applications, games and experiences to life.

At MIX10, Microsoft Corp. showcased advancements in its platform technologies that enable the developer and designer community to deliver compelling user experiences across a broad set of devices. Building on the excitement of the recently announced Windows® Phone 7 Series, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform, and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, Windows Phone Program Management, detailed the opportunity for developers to use proven technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight and the XNA Framework to build new mobile applications and 3-D Games.

“As the browser, server, Web and devices evolve, a focus on delivering consistently great user experiences has become paramount,” Guthrie said. “By extending our familiar platform technologies and tools to phones, Microsoft is delivering the premier application development experience across a variety of devices and form factors.”

End-to-End Application Development Platform for Windows Phone 7 Series

During the keynote, Microsoft provided the first deep dive into Windows Phone 7 Series application development. By combining Silverlight features for rich application development and the XNA Framework for games, Windows Phone 7 Series empowers millions of developers and designers to build visually stunning and immersive applications and games — one of the industry’s most profitable mobile application categories — while taking advantage of device-specific capabilities. Specifically, developers will be able to take advantage of the following features:

  • Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion
  • A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information
  • Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running
  • Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)
  • Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience
  • Multitouch
  • Camera and microphone support

“Windows Phone 7 Series brings together a rich application environment, powerful hardware, a fresh approach to software and a smart new design,” Belfiore said. “It was designed to generate incredible opportunities for developers and designers to quickly and easily deliver compelling applications and games. With the best developer tools, an established ecosystem and marketplace, and a path for developers to use their Silverlight and XNA Framework skill sets, we are delivering an application platform that is simple, powerful and inspiring.”

Free Tools for Windows Phone 7 Series Developers and Designers

To further support an end-to-end development experience, Microsoft announced the availability of comprehensive tools support for Windows Phone 7 Series. The easy-to-install package includes previews of the following:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
  • Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
  • XNA Game Studio 4.0
  • Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing
  • Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview

A Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 Series Applications

Microsoft also showed how developers and designers will be able to bring applications and games to market with a new Windows Phone Marketplace. The Marketplace features a panoramic design and active merchandising to increase the discoverability of games and applications, and supports one-time credit card purchases, mobile operator billing and advertising-funded applications. The Marketplace will also enable customers to try applications before buying them and allow developers to cross-promote their applications through deep linking.

Several leading companies will be creating exciting applications and games for Windows Phone 7 Series. They include The Associated Press, Archetype International Inc., AWS Convergence Technologies – WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc., IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc., Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality LLC and Vertigo Software Inc.

Continued Innovation With Silverlight and Expression Blend

Microsoft announced a release candidate (RC) for Silverlight 4, available for download today, which builds on the beta version released at the Professional Developers Conference in November 2009. The Silverlight 4 RC provides powerful media and enterprise application and media capabilities, out-of-browser flexibility and world-class tools support via Visual Studio and Expression Blend with Sketchflow to enable robust application development and rich interactive experiences.

In addition, Microsoft unveiled the Expression Blend 4 Beta, a design and development workflow tool. New features such as Path Layout enable developers and designers to build and animate innovative user interface design via a groundbreaking visual layout mechanism, without the need to write code. Expression Blend 4 Beta also adds support for Silverlight 4, .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

Silverlight Customer Adoption

Silverlight adoption has continued at a rapid pace with installations approaching 60 percent of all Internet devices worldwide — an increase of nearly 15 percentage points in just four months. Customers such as Major League Soccer, BBC, eBay Inc., Netflix Inc., NBCOlympics.com and CT Corp., a Wolters Kluwer business, demonstrated how they are taking advantage of the power of Silverlight to deliver compelling consumer and enterprise experiences.

“Microsoft Silverlight technology will be the backbone of the video platform on our newly launched MLSsoccer.com,” said Chris Schlosser, director of digital strategy for Major League Soccer. “Our work with Microsoft allows us to launch cutting-edge digital and mobile experiences for our loyal fans. As part of our increased focus on digital media, we view a rich video experience as absolutely critical to accomplishing our goal of ’super serving’ MLS supporters.”


Panasonic`s full HD 3D Home Entertainment System

Best Buy’s Union Square, NYC Store Sells World’s First  Panasonic Full HD 3D System

DIRECTV Gives First Panasonic Full HD 3D System Customer One Year of Free Service

Panasonic and Best Buy continued their commitment to bringing 3D technology into American homes with the world’s first consumer purchase and retail availability of Panasonic’s Full HD 3D1 home entertainment system certified2 under the new Blu-ray DiscTM Association (BDA) 3D standard, sold exclusively at select Best Buy stores via Magnolia Home Theater.

The new range of Full HD 3D capable VIERA Plasma HDTVs and a fully-featured 3D Blu-ray Disc3 player will bring a new era of immersive visual entertainment into consumers’ homes, by creating a 3D experience that easily rivals the best that can be seen in cinemas. By delivering a full 1080p-resolution image to each eye, Panasonic’s Full HD 3D technology offers consumers the highest possible visual experience. To enjoy Full HD 3D programming, users wear a stylish and lightweight pair of active-shutter eyewear.  The sets are also Full HD TVs that display pristine 1080p content in two dimensions (2D) for conventional HD viewing.

“Television has successfully moved from black and white, to color, to High Definition. But immersive, totally realistic 3D imagery has been the final frontier and beginning today, Panasonic has conquered that as well,” said Bob Perry, Senior Vice President, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “Best Buy has been a proactive and important partner in bringing 3D into the living rooms of America and we are happy to share this milestone with them.”

“The demand for 3D technology in the home is just beginning for consumers,” said Michael Vitelli, President, Americas, Best Buy, “and Best Buy is uniquely positioned to bring this experience to life for our customers through our Blue Shirts and Geek Squad Agents.  We are thrilled to partner with Panasonic as it allows us to be the first retailer to offer this complete 3D home theater solution and underscores our promise to always deliver on the latest and greatest technology.”

Beginning today, Panasonic’s Full HD 3D Home Theater System will be exclusively available at select Best Buy Stores via Magnolia Home Theater. The total combined SRP of the Panasonic Full HD 3D Plasma Home Theater System components is $2899.99.  The system consists of a 50-inch class (49.9” measured diagonally) Panasonic VIERA VT20 Plasma 3D HDTV (TC-P50VT20 – SRP $2,499.95) which includes one pair of Panasonic 3D Active Shutter Lens Eyewear (TY-EW3D10U), and the Panasonic BDT300 3D Blu-ray Disc Player (DMP-BDT300 – SRP 399.95).   Additional pairs of 3D eyewear will be available with an SRP of $149.95. The individual components of the system will also be sold separately.

The VT20 is a Best Buy exclusive model and is equivalent to the VT25 series that was voted “Best of Show” at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.  The BDT300 is also a Best Buy exclusive model and is equivalent to the BDT350 which received the Consumer Electronics Association’s esteemed Innovations Award for its innovative 3D technology.

In addition to the 50-inch class size, the Panasonic Full HD 3D Home Theater System will also be available in a 54-inch class (54” measured diagonally), 58” class (58” measured diagonally) and 65” class (64.8” measured diagonally) screen sizes with suggested retail pricing and availability to be announced at a later date.

To create the best possible 3D picture, Panasonic has developed new, faster screen phosphors; coupled with its 600Hz sub-field drive, the new displays output alternating imagery at 60 frames per second to each eye. The brain then combines the images and interprets them as 3D.

The BDT300 outputs stunning, rock-solid, and immersive Full HD 3D imagery to compatible displays.  It also handles a wide variety of audio standards, and up converts all standard definition video formats. The BDT300 utilizes groundbreaking technologies incorporated in Panasonic’s proprietary UniPhier LSI chip, enabling the player to flawlessly process the large quantity of visual information necessary to create a Full HD 3D image in 1920 x 1080 resolution. Adaptive Chroma Upsampling insures that colors will be faithfully reproduced; and all native digital DVD formats are up scaled to 1080p resolution quality.

Panasonic’s Full HD 3D products meet the recently announced Blu-ray 3D™ specification standard.  This standard, which represents the work of leading Hollywood studios and consumer electronic and computer manufacturers, enables the home entertainment industry to bring the 3D experience into consumers’ living rooms on Blu-ray Disc, the most capable high definition home entertainment platform. Individual manufacturers and content providers will now be able to provide the technical information and guidelines necessary to develop and bring products to market.

In January, DIRECTV and Panasonic announced a strategic relationship that will make it possible to bring 3D TV into the homes of millions for the first time. DIRECTV’s HD 3D channels, powered by Panasonic, will offer a 24/7 3D DIRECTV Cinema and pay per view event channel focused on movies, documentaries and other programming, a 24/7 3D DIRECTV on Demand channel and a free 3D entertainment channel featuring event programming such as sports, music and other content. In addition, to celebrate the launch of Panasonic’s Full HD 3D Home Theater System, DIRECTV is giving the first customer to purchase the system at today’s Best Buy launch event in New York one year of free programming, including its upcoming HD 3D service, which will be available this June.

“The superior quality of the HD 3D programming that DIRECTV will debut in June will be unlike anything that is available in the television market today,” said Eric Shanks, executive vice president of DIRECTV Entertainment.  “Being able to experience that quality through Panasonic’s Full HD 3D home theater system will make our customers feel like their living room is a 3D movie theater. We have had a long- time relationship with both Panasonic and Best Buy and we are proud to be partnering with these industry leaders to make the next frontier of television a reality.”

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has been the leader in the 3D revolution taking place in the entertainment industry.  The company has consistently supported efforts to bring consumers the benefits of 3D entertainment as quickly as possible.  In particular, Fox has distinguished itself by partnering with companies from other industries, including Panasonic, to make Full HD 3D TV a reality in the home.

“3D has invigorated the theater experience and it will be the same for the living room,” said Mary Daily, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  “Panasonic has announced amazing new products today and along with Best Buy’s commitment to the format, 3D will become a game changer for the home entertainment industry.  We are thrilled to have Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as our debut title in the Blu-ray 3D format.  The Ice Age franchise has grossed nearly $2 billion in worldwide box office and sold more than 75 million units in home entertainment.  Blu-ray offers the premiere high definition viewing experience for the home, and Blu-ray 3D uses the advanced quality to bring the movie theater 3D experience to your home.”

In addition to its new 3D technologies, each Full HD 3D Plasma model incorporates a rich set of advanced features. VIERA CAST™, Panasonic’s innovative Internet programming package, gives viewers the ability to access  feature films plus information and communication offerings including Amazon Video on Demand™, Bloomberg News, Fox Sports, Netflix™, and Skype™ on Your VIERA TV, among others.

To bring the excitement of Full HD 3D and Panasonic’s range of home entertainment solutions to consumers, Panasonic will launch a 15-city, Panasonic Touch The Future nationwide tour next week.  The tour will kick off in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning March 15 and then visit Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Dallas and Houston in March and April.

For more information on Panasonic’s Full HD 3D technology as well as product images, visit www.panasonic.com/3D.


Smart card readers cleaned quickly and effectively

Remove contaminants that cause read errors on Smart Card Readers

Dirt, oils and other contaminants are introduced into a card reader every time a credit card is inserted.

For the read contacts to properly access the smart chip, it is critical that these contaminants are regularly removed to help avoid card reader errors.

This newly released Waffletechnology Smart Card Reader Cleaning Card is designed to remove these contaminants by gently cleaning these critical read/write components.

This product not only offers superb cleaning attention to the smart card readers, but is also designed to be used in swipe and dip card readers that use magnetic stripe technology. This new cleaning card is a quick and almost effortless means of removing error causing particles from within most types of card readers worldwide.

“The New Waffletechnology Smart Card Reader Cleaning Card was designed to be the most versatile card reader cleaning product on the market. This product can be used on every chip and pin reader, smart card reader, swipe reader, hotel door lock, access control, time clock and virtually all card readers that are not motorized insertions,” explained Debra Ross, Product Manager / OEM Business Development Worldwide, KICTeam. “This product takes the guess work out of what product is needed to keep the card reader functioning. If it’s a card reader, the right cleaning tool is a Waffletechnology Smart Card Reader Cleaning Card.”

Today there are few businesses that do not have a card reader serving an important function. When the Waffletechnology Smart Card Reader Cleaning Card is used on a regular maintenance schedule, it will help maintain uninterrupted card reader service. This product offers an extremely low cost benefit when compared to the cost of conventional cleaning and replacement.

Source: KICTeam


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