It's distressing to many in the community to learn of Jim Gray's disappearance.  A fixture in the industry and reknowned scientist, teams have been searching for over 4 days for him now.  Amazon's Werner Vogels is asking internet users to pore through recent imagery from Nasa plan flyovers to try and locate his missing ship.  You can help by clicking here and just reviewing a sampling of images.  This is community in action- distributed human computing.  Please take five minutes and help look for signs of Jim.

Disclaimer: I don't speak for Microsoft nor work for any group involved in HD-DVD in my below comments.  There's purely my own for right or wrong.

ArsTechnica has an interesting take on the new Nielsen VideoScan data that shows Blu-ray is starting to close the gap.  What's not covered here is the intellectual savvy of many consumers to NOT BUY EITHER DISC and rather rent from Blockbuster or NetFlix, both of which support both formats.

Nielsen VideoScan is the go-to source for the consumer electronics industry when it comes to tracking video sales. The metrics firm tracks sales in nearly every distribution channel from the Internet to big-box retailers and specialty stores. Although hardware sales figures have been easy to come by, the movie studios and distributors have kept actual movie sales figures under wraps, so this is one of the first clear glimpses of what's going on with next-gen disc sales.

I thought this was a new tracker for Nielsen?  They're the only source as far as I know.  At least Ars points out all these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. 

The units sold #s are highly circumspect.  HD-DVD units for Xbox are bought for HD-DVD viewing, HD-DVD players are bought for HD-DVD viewing.  I'd be interested to see what percentage of PS3 owners are actually using their PS3 for viewing Blu-Ray discs. Just because PS3 ships with a Blu-Ray disc player does not mean the consumer has a) an HDTV or b) a desire to view Blu-ray discs.

I wrote more about the cost/benefit of HD-DVD late last year and recommendations that consumer do not buy discs in either format.  Where are the NetFlix and Blockbuster #'s on rentals of both formats?  Let's see the full picture.

It's propping to the servers.  If you're a developer and actually read my blog.  Here you go:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb188266.aspx

Last night, we posted a February update to the "WPF/E" Community Technology Preview for Windows and Mac.  Ryan Stewart at ZDNet picked up the new and talks about the update here.  The Channel9 guys already updated the C9 "WPF/E" playground to support the new release.  The SDK should be available shortly - team is putting some finishing touches on it and the webpages at the DevCenter. 

New features for developers include:

• Keyboard Input (KeyUp/KeyDown)
• MP3 Support
• Mouse cursor support
• Async downloader
• Simple text metrics
• Full screen mode
• Lots of performance work
• Improved JavaScript APIs

The team is making good progress and a sincere thank you goes out to all the customers providing feedback.  We're getting lots of requests for briefings, details, and the general buzz is palpable.  It's hard to handle all of them.  In fact, I'm hiring- more details on that later.

(For those who have asked, I still have the flu but getting better.  Thanks for the well wishes- heading back to bed.)

For those of you waiting for Nikon's official RAW image file reader (.nef) to show up and integrate with Windows Photo Gallery, it's now available.  Canon's RAW codec (.cr2)is still AWOL as is Adobe's Digital NeGative format (.dng).  Here's to hoping they show up soon.

While consumers work through the dizzying array of new features in Windows Vista, Ryan Stewart cuts through the hype and brings it back to what really matters - User Experience.  He notes, "We're all better off when experience wins and Vista is a huge step forward."  I couldn't agree more. But what about after the hype, the roar of marketing moves into sustain?  I'm expecting to see big pops of innovation as new Vista-enabled applications start to emerge.

An example of this is WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation, which is going to enable the next-generation of desktop applications that are 3D accelerated, and designer-developer collaboraration with Expression Studio and  Visual Studio.  I agree with Ryan, and look forward to seeing Tim Sneath write about these new applications.  Yes, they'll run on many XP PCs as well, but will truly sing on Vista.

Another will be "WPF/Everywhere" or "WPF/E" (Codename), which will take rich media experiences traditionally targeted at the desktop, and bring those to the Web with the flexibility of standards-based programming, and the power of XAML for presentation.  I've seen how important XAML is first-hand- when I worked in Windows as a program manager on Windows Vista Sidebar, the tension was palpable between the User Experiece designers creating the UI, and the developers who were unable to fully realize the vision pixel for pixel.  With Expression Studio + WPF, what you can envision, becomes programmable, pixel for pixel.  That is a powerful thing, and soon we're bringing that to the web as well.

Try WPF for yourself with my favorite "essential" application - the NY Times News Reader (beta). 

(I have the flu so I'm heading back to bed. :( )

While visiting a friend yesterday in the OEM Group at Microsoft, I spied an interesting sub-notebook on his desk.  It appeared to have a Windows Vista logo jeweled into the case and backlit in color.  My trusty camera in tow, I snapped a few pictures for your enjoyment.

The PC was a special edition created exclusively for a select number of partners (read: executives).  Microsoft partnered with ASUS to custom-build these little gems to demonstrate how laptops can take advantage of the latest technology in Windows Vista.  It's a widescreen Tablet PC, a Media Center, runs Vista Ultimate with Aero Glass, and even has a fingerprint scanner and smart card reader for login.  It also sports the latest Intel Centrino and Core2Duo technology.  Battery life is impressive as well.

Unfortunately you won't find these PCs at retail with the Vista logo, but it's a nice example of what PC OEMs can do when motivated.  Even the materials are premium, not plastic in texture.  Reportedly there are a few of these running around with leather finish!

As for the Tablet features? It's the first tablet my friend ever really liked.  With Vista, he's gone so far as to say he enjoys the tablet feature.  Of course I'm drooling over the PC and would love to see what I could do with Microsoft Expression Studio on it.

More pics here.

Here's to hoping PC manufacturers are willing to take even bolder risks in design.  To that end, IDSA and Microsoft partnered again this year on the Next-Gen PC Design Competition.  Entries are closed, and the winners will be announced in April.  I'm hoping to see some phenomenal new prototypes later this year.

 Fox Sports, Microsoft  and major retailers are doing launch events across the country next week for the Windows Vista launch.  This is pretty cool as major sports stars will be on-hand to get your picture taken (I'm planning to get my picture taken in Bellevue, WA with Shaun Alexander).  There will be some great prizes and giveaways and possibly some amazing deals on PCs etc.  The events start at 10pm at retailers including BestBuy, CompUSA, and more. Learn more about what events are happening in your area here.

Now this is cool.  Between tomorrow and April 30th,  Microsoft and T-Mobile will be offering free public WiFi to Vista users.  That's at places including Starbucks, Borders, FedEx Kinko's etc.  If you're a business traveler, this is a great deal.  More details at www.skysurprise.com.   

Teaser site here. It will be built on the Flight Simulator X engine.  My son doesn't know it yet, but this is destined to be his favorite game, provided Thomas and Friends can roll the tracks in some mod. ;)

It may also give my father a reason to upgrade his computer (purchased at Windows XP launch).

I love my BlackJack and you can't have it back Steve. For those who enjoy frankenphones with unusual ringtones, you can have your very own iPhone ringtone courtesy of Gizmodo.com. 

Next time you start up Media Center, the Online Media strip should automatically refresh with the new content (it may take a few minutes). Additional partners will be filtering in shortly.  Looks like things are getting prepped for the Vista launch at the end of the month.