The following was posted on twitter by @lituus:

WLV4 web services will use a more Metro-inspired look. Basically large, fluid Segoe typography. The sign-in page is just the tip of the iceb

Metro is the core UI for the newly announced Windows Phone 7 Series. Here’s a Metro poster at one of Microsoft’s office spotted by Paul Thurrott:

hat tip @vasudevg

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Hotmail Sign-In Page Tweaked Ahead Of MIX10, Metro Inspired Look For Wave 4?

Depending on the pressure applied when you click, the behavior of the mouse will vary. Sounds quite interesting and at the same time a bit weird considering a lot of users have the habit of clicking with a lot of force. The device will have a learning curve definitely. The patent states two interesting use cases of pressure sensitive mice:

Selecting Files/Folders:

The number of files selected when mouse is moved in a diagonal direction would depend on the pressure applied to the mouse click. The following images would explain better:

Case 1:

The above image shows four files selected and the mouse moving in a diagonal direction. The pressure applied to the click is less here.

Case 2:

As seen, more files are selected, the pressure applied this time is more.

Page Scrolling:

The second use of this technology as shown is the amount of page scrolled depending on the pressure applied when clicking. Images:

Case 1:

The left side image shows the position of the cursor and when a normal click made the amount of scroll performed is shown on the right side.

Case 2:

Similarly, when the mouse is clicked with more pressure the amount of scroll is more as shown on the right side image.

Another patent filed on the same day shows that Microsoft refers to the clicks that have more pressure as Hard Tap. The Hard Tap patent is described as:

The use of variable-pressure taps in computer interfaces is disclosed in which tap inputs cause different functions to execute depending on the pressure applied by the tap. A hard tap is interpreted when a user makes rapid contact with the input surface, exceeding a threshold pressure within a threshold time, possibly without exceeding a threshold distance from the initial point of contact.

The patent applications:

• Pressure Sensitive Controls
• Hard Tap Patent

Another one of Microsoft NUI concepts. I’ve posted about a Microsoft Research project that features pressure sensitive controlling as well – Device Control by Muscle Movement

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Microsoft Working On Pressure Sensitive Computer Mouse?

Internet Explorer 9:

Internet Explorer’s user numbers have taken quite a beating, despite of IE8 being a fairly decent browser. The Browser Ballot screen hasn’t helped Microsoft either. Firefox has a wide user base that is steadily eroding courtesy Chrome. One of the biggest hassles with IE has been the so called standards incompliance. With IE9, Microsoft is determined to change that.

Steven Sinofsky showed a glimpse of IE9 at PDC09 and categorically stated that adhering to standards is a prime focus for them. With a Softie – Chris Wilson, as the co-chairman of the W3C group developing HTML5, IE9 was expected to support the new web standard. Some specs about Internet Explorer 9 as previously confirmed: IE 9 – What We Know. According to a patent application, IE9 is expected to enhance their Quick Tabs feature as well.

A list of HTML5 sessions

Windows Phone 7 Series:

Took everyone by surprise, like Project natal, no one knew what was coming till it was shown. Microsoft pulled off a successful unveiling of their new mobile operating system called – Windows Phone 7 Series, of course they could’ve chosen a smaller name. Anyway, the MWC event was more like a first-look of the features of the operating system and nothing regarding third party apps was mentioned. As MIX10 drew closer, information regarding what is expected started trickling. With iPhone games being ported to screen shots and demos of exclusive games.

What probably took the cake was the demo at Tech Ed Middle East where a game was started on the PC, continued on the Windows Phone 7 Series device and then finished on the Xbox 360. The basic point being, coding apps and games for all the three platforms has a lot of overlapping code thereby making it easy for the developers. Video of the demo:

Click here to view the embedded video.

List of WP7S sessions

Live Wave 4:

Microsoft’s bundle of essential software for Windows users known as Live Essentials will undergo it’s 4th major upgrade with Live Wave 4 being announced at MIX10. Screen shots have surfaced at regular intervals over the past several months and as such a public beta is expected to announced at MIX10. A quick round up of what is known about Windows Live Wave 4 with screen shots, is here - Windows Live Wave 4 – What’s Known So Far.

Update: It seems that there will be no Wave 4 at MIX10.

Windows Azure and Cloud Computing:

With Steve Ballmer kicking of a new campaign for Microsoft Cloud initiatives and the 3 screens and cloud demo of Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft is geared up to fight the likes of Google and Amazon in the cloud computing race. Windows Azure was launched in November and there are quite a few sessions scheduled.

Not sure but there will be some talk about Office Web Apps and possibly something on the release of Silverlight 4 final, maybe a bit about Bing and the new MSN homepage.

MIX10 begins March 15th, 9 AM PST (9:30 India) onwards. Like most events in the past year, MIX10 will also be covered by the Microsoft All Star group with a live blog starring:

• Long Zheng – IStartedSomething.com
• Mary Jo Foley – AllAboutMicrosoft.com
• Ed Bott – EdBott.com
• Paul Thurrott – WinSuperSite.com
• Kip Kniskern – LiveSide.net
• Benjamin Rubenstein – Neowin.net

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MIX10: HTML5 & IE9, Windows Phone 7 Series, Live Wave 4 And More

The Courier will definitely have Internet connection capabilities, the images indicate towards 3G and ability to insert a SIM card, making calls might also be possible for all we know. Some details about the Courier known by Engadget:

• A bit bigger than 5×7 when closed
• Built-in camera
• Based on Windows CE (that’s what is beneath Windows Phone 7 Series, Zune)
• Head phone jack
• Processor: Tegra 2
• Availability Q3/Q4

You can watch the prototype in action here.

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The Courier Is Social, Does Facebook And SMS

Click here to view the embedded video.

This technology was first shown at a TED talk and was well received across the Internet.

The Flickr integration for Street Side View is very interesting for one reason – Geotagging. The whole concept is based on geotagged images uploaded to Flickr. It is a known fact that the iPhone is most popular camera on Flickr, at the same time each image clicked using the iPhone is a geotagged image. Which statistically would mean that the iPhone is why Street Side View is possible. Every iPhone out there in the US is being used by Microsoft Bing Maps.

Pretty cool how technology works: Microsoft using a Yahoo service to pull images that are published using an Apple product.

The other demo was of Xbox Live as it is in the UK. And boy this is how I want to watch television. Microsoft has a tie up with Sky network to provide content and live television over Xbox and Xbox Live, broadcasting content isn’t where Microsoft stopped, with Xbox Live you can view the same channels your Xbox Live friends are watching with them in a virtual drawing room on a huge screen. Again, I’ll let the video do the talking:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Microsoft also launched – microsoft.com/cloud

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Xbox Live, TV, Bing Maps And SteveB At UW [Demo Videos]