The day started off with meeting the fellow bloggers, the PR people and Ian Moulster who is a Product Manager at Microsoft UK. We were given a brief for the day that included 2 challenges for us bloggers; the first was to take photos from the London Eye and then ask our Twitter followers to name the building we photo’d and from where we too the photo, the second challenge was to make a PowerPoint about the day using the photos we took.

On board the London Eye we had to take photos of:

- St Paul’s Cathedral

- The BT Tower

- The Battersea Power Station

- The Shard

These photos were then stored on SkyDrive and shared to Twitter. I was at an advantage to the bloggers who didn’t have a Windows Phone as I could share my photo to Twitter and have it automatically save it SkyDrive. People using alternative devices had to upload the photo to SkyDrive and then share it to Twitter manually.

It is very easy to share anything from SkyDrive with people via several different ways. It is possible to email someone a link to a file or folder on SkyDrive or share via a social network (so long as the user has linked their Windows Live account with their social network account) and even generate a link to share anywhere, including Twitter. This is a relatively new feature and was introduced in one of the recent SkyDrive updates.

Below are the photos I took whilst on the London Eye.

Next up we had to make a PowerPoint presentation to show the others the photos we had taken. We started the PowerPoints in the feature rich PowerPoint Web App but I decided to then continue work on the PowerPoint on the desktop version. This gave me some additional customisation options, allowing me to make a Metro theme for the presentation. Because I had started the PowerPoint in the Web App and then opened it in the desktop version all I had to do was click the “save” button to save the updated version on my desktop back to the cloud. Users don’t have to manually upload a newer version of an Office document if the start editing a document on SkyDrive and then choose to open it up in the desktop version.

Below you can view the embedded PowerPoint I quickly cobbled together during the event.

There were some interesting points made during the event about SkyDrive. One that struck me was that there is no easy way to add a photo, or indeed any file, stored on SkyDrive to an Office Web App document. This seems to be an oversight and one I hope Microsoft addresses soon, this is certainly a feature that makes a lot of sense.

I had a very enjoyable day and despite knowing most of what was talked about and shown off I think it was a very beneficial day for all those who attended. I am looking forward to what else Microsoft has planned for SkyDrive and the Web Apps. If you are interested in keeping up to date with the latest SkyDrive news then you might want to check out the official Windows Live blog and check this out to find out more about SkyDrive.

There were a few demos of the new features such as how it will be possible to navigate one’s SkyDrive from the Office Hub and how the multitasking will be similar in design to WebOS’s “cards” design, something I am happy about as its one of WebOS’s best features (perhaps I wont need that TouchPad anymore…)

In addition, Steve Ballmer also announced that the first update to Windows Phone 7 will be published in the first few weeks in March. That will be the “NoDo” update and will bring “copy and paste”, faster app launching and, for those in the US, CDMA support.

Microsoft have also shown off how Xbox Live is being evolved in conjunction with Windows Phone 7 and Kinect. They have coded a system that allows two people to play an Xbox game where the Windows Phone is used as a companion to Kinect. It looks like fun and could have many more uses than that shown in the video.

There was also talk of the over 8000 apps now available for Windows Phone and also the Nokia partnership, Elop even took the stage for a few minutes.

Microsoft were keen to stress throughout the announcement that what was announced and shown is just part of what will be coming to Windows Phone 7 this year. However what was announced is pretty major and I think shows a rapidly maturing platform. What else Microsoft have planned I don’t know but I’m thinking it perhaps not “tick box” features (such as “copy and paste”) but could perhaps be more unique to Windows Phone. I’d hope that by the end of the year we will see VoiP and tethering as a few of the other features. This looks set to be a good year for Windows Phone and users of the OS.

Sadly there was no talk of new devices or any plans for Windows Phone 7 to be used as a tablet OS.

If you want to watch the announcement it is on the MWC site, however it requires registration (which is a ridiculous practice) but some of the demos are very interesting to watch and I would encourage you to watch it.

For the easily offended sorry for bad language in some tweets.

I have got the first 19 tweets excluding tweets about this site from the Twitter search. I have found from the list that there are 9 positive tweets about Microsoft and its products with the majority being about Xbox and Office. There are 5 negative tweets about the company and/or products and 5 tweets that are neither for or against Microsoft.

Now I know that this is by no means scientific but the majority of positive tweets back in January were about Office and that still seems to be the trend. However when looking at these tweet it appear that Office in fact polarises people, they either love it or hate it. Its also interesting to see several tweets about Xbox, arguably Microsoft’s best consumer product, are actually not as numerous as those from business users who use Office.

Its also interesting to note that there are quite a few more positive tweets about Microsoft when searching today than there were back in January.

I will review the state of “my Microsoft life” on Twitter again in a few months to see if there are any apparent trends.

I haven’t seen anything like this for other websites on Windows Phone 7 but it certainly make sense to advertise a Windows Phone 7 app on the sites, especially when the apps are so easy to use thanks to the Metro UI. You can find out more about Twitter for Windows Phone 7 on the Bing Visual Search and see  images and a description of the app.

Have you seen any other sites advertising their Windows Phone 7 app? If so let me know.

Slideshow option

When searching image on Bing there are 4 different options to view the endless list of photos “zoom small”, “zoom medium”, “zoom large” and “show image details”. I think that added to this should be the option for a slideshow. With the refinement options on the left hand side of the image results its possible to have quite a stunning selection of photos and in fact people might not be looking for a single image but a selection of images all of the same subject.

I think that people should be able to remove some images from the results to make a “playlist”, of sorts. This could also help refine Bing image searches for all as photos that are removed by many people are likely to not be photos that people want to see when searching a specific query.

Further to this idea is that some people might like to have wallpaper sized photos (selectable on the left) as their desktop wallpaper (even as a slideshow on Windows 7) which could also be an option on Bing. It might also be useful if Bing provided the option to download selected photos, this would require a different way of browsing photos with the emphasis on selecting multiple photos rather than just viewing one.

This is seen clearly with searches such as “Hawaii flowers”. Most images are of stunning photos of flowers found in Hawaii and would make an excellent slideshow, desktop wallpaper or a selection of photos for a slideshow etc.

Full size should be default

I find it odd that when searching photos that once I have found one I like I am taken to a site and then have to click again to see the image in full size. When I click an image its because I want the image, not to see the site the image is on. I think to remedy this Microsoft should make the default behaviour of Bing Image search to present the full size image when an image is clicked but allow a user to go to the site from there.

Geo tag, date should be a refinement too

As I mentioned earlier there are some refinement options down the side of the image search but I think there should be choices. With more and more photos featuring get tag meta data I think users should be able to choose to see images from a location. This could link in with Bing Maps too.

With the web becoming more real time it might also be good to specify when images were uploaded/indexed by Bing. There are plenty of ways to see photos being uploaded and shared on Twitter but if it was possible to see the most recent photos uploaded by anyone on any service.

As part of this I also think Bing should make it very easy to share images with people, they already provide this functionality for some web sites but I think images should have this ability too.

Photosynths should be listed

I really like Photosynths as they can show off something far better than just a collection of images, however Microsoft haven’t done much to take the technology and photosynths mainstream (yes they are accessible in Bing Maps but only by turning them on). I think that photosynths should appear in image searches too, there will be some image searches that have a lot of photosynths associated with the search term. This could improve the awareness of photosynths and also give Bing another unique feature over Google.

It would be great if the photosynths could be viewed with the search results, rather than having to go to a separate site. It would also be good if it was possible to refine the image results to photosynths only in the same way its possible to select image sizes.

Bing image search feels very unchanged to me over the past few years and I think they need to address why people search for images today. Surely most people are now looking for more than just one photo and are interested to new images and to select where the images have come from. I also think that image results need to be treated more as a media experience rather than just a list of images. Sometimes a single image is being searched for but if Bing can make looking at images a stunning and immersive experience then they could create another reason to use Bing instead of Google.

For a service that has a quite often stunning image on the front page everyday I’m not sure it actually does a great job a providing an attractive, useful and immersive way to browse images; I think it should.

TechFlash have a good overview of when the feature was announced and what it can do with a video with a video of how the Social page works.

Liveside are reporting that the beta page is available but only only in the US, I however have access to it in the UK but all the trending topics are from the US and there appears to be no way of changing where they are from.

Microsoft have also been providing students in the UK a chance to win 4 different entertainment experience starting with a trip to the movies for the lucky student and 3 mates and improving to the 4th prize which has now been unlocked, a trip to New York City. This competition is still open to UK students at the Windows Access All Areas Facebook page.

But still there is more to this campaign for people in the UK, anyone who “likes” Windows Access All Areas on Facebook or follows WindowsAAA on Twitter can win copies of Windows 7, DVD box sets etc by entering small competitions. They run these competitions very regularly so you would do well to like and follow these guys and win some goodies. They also share lots of entertaining news and videos on these accounts which I have found to be very interesting and funny.

They seem to have much more planned for the summer too promising a “another little summer bag of surprises coming your way” soon. I am really looking forward to what else these guys have planned to give away and its a great way to get more people to like Windows 7 and Microsoft.

You can “like” Windows Access All Areas on Facebook and follow them on Twitter at @WindowsAAA.

The site will allow users to sign in to Windows Live, Facebook and Twitter and receive all the latest news from those sites right on the MSN homepage. There will also be a continuation of the focus on Windows Live Hotmail and Messenger well as Internet Explorer all right at the top of the page. Users familiar with the US site will notice the content boxes, highlighted by the blue lines, which allow for easy switching between the tabbed sections of the information boxes, making it much easier for people to read the content they want to without leaving the page.

Another aspect of the new design to note is the prominence of the MSN Video Player, Microsoft answer in the UK to Hulu in the US, which although doing well has suffered from lack of discoverability. The MSN logo also appears to be being changed to match the US version.

After first seeing the image of the new design for the US version of MSN I have been eagerly waiting for a redesign of the UK site, that finally seems to be coming albeit in only a few areas.

I will let you know if I hear anything more official from Microsoft about this.

New: I have just been sent the Press Release about the MSN update and the claim the MSN page is the UK’s “most popular news and entertainment portal homepage” with 20.6 million unique visitors each month. They claim that the new site “is faster to download, adds more video content, more news and adds access to Facebook and Twitter as well as Microsoft services like Hotmail and Windows Live”.

They have identified some of the most important new features as:

• Social media – an integrated social networking section that means users can access and update Windows Live, Facebook and Twitter directly from the homepage
• More news – an innovative news info-pane, with top headlines, breaking stories and weird and wonderful tales from around the world
• Bigger and better Hotmail – Hotmail inbox from the homepage, allowing them to be updated when new mail has been received
• Larger images – a new slideshow at the top of the homepage that provides consumers with access to up-to-the-minute news, exclusive editors’ picks and the latest new videos at the click of a button.  Sports, Cars and Money also have a new spot on the homepage, while the simple alphabetical navigation bar locates MSN channels instantly
• New brand – a sleek new MSN logo that has been rolled out across the UK site, synching up with the new global brand of MSN
• Content – all the best from user favourites, such as Entertainment, Life & Style, Tech & Gadgets, Shopping, Him, as well as personal essentials like Local, Weather, and Horoscopes.
• Video – the ability to watch clips from within the homepage, plus access to the latest HD videos and VOD with MSN Video Player

Perhaps most importantly you can check out the new features of the revised MSN site at http://www.tourmsn.co.uk/, enjoy.

Its a very simple concept and one that could well make people use Twitter for its valuable information who otherwise would avoid the micro blogging service. It should also allow well season Twitter users to quickly find tweets that are important to them that they may well have missed. You can check out all the information and FAQs about this new project here.

I think the idea is great and it has an interesting interface with the big balls of statistical information on the front page and it’ll be interesting to see how this project develops.

I have to say I am quite amazed at the rate the Microsoft’s Fuse Lab are churning out new and interesting ideas for social interactions on the web, they might not all be feature complete but they do all have so innovative ideas and I look forward to seeing more from them.

I am working on the assumption that we will see this project released to the market at some point, Long thinks we will see some iteration of this at E3, which will be great.

What I find interesting about this project is that Microsoft is unlikely to want to be directly competing with the likes of Twitter and Facebook as they have set up some important partnerships with those two social networking giants. However I expect this service will alongside the established networks and will look for key words in people’s status updates and tweets and then use a video image from what I expect to be a massive collection of different activities, locations and feelings. What this is likely to do is create a more person and more engaging experience for people to see what their friends are up too as reading streams and stream of text isn’t always that much fun.

This video and project again reassures me Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division is becoming an increasingly major player in an increasing number of consumer markets.

Let’s hope this project will be implemented as part of the Xbox Live and Windows Live services over the coming months and hopefully will be another thing to look forward to Microsoft demoing at E3, with Project Natal being the major thing.