Microsoft's 2009 projects

Microsoft recently lifted the lid on its research facility in Cambridge, a multi-million pound complex that houses 110 scientists. One of six dedicated research facilities run by the company worldwide, the base is behind some important developments in the web, such as IPv6, a new system being used to make sure we don’t run out of web addresses.

Managing director of the Microsoft Research in Cambridge, Dr Andrew Herbert, explained that developing ideas for Microsoft took in a broader scope than standard product design. “Microsoft research begins with people looking at fundamental problems – not thinking ‘what new things can we add to Windows?’”. In other words, the facility isn’t there just to develop existing Microsoft products but to come up with new ways of making people’s lives better.

The projects Microsoft showed us were at different stages of development – some ideas can take as long as 15 years to reach shop shelves. So while you might not see the following seven products for sale next month, the prototypes may become everyday household items in the not-so-distant future.

Homewatcher
One fundamental problem that broadband users currently face is monitoring usage accurately. Though ISPs often have tools on their website that let you see if you’re getting close to your download limit, actually figuring out where all the bandwidth is being used in your household and who by is a different matter. Homewatcher is Microsoft’s solution. A clear interface presents information about the bandwidth usage of all of the computers on a home network, which member of the family was online, what they were doing, and for how long. The idea is that you can monitor and restrict the usage of family members and diagnose problems in the home network.

Family Archive
We featured Microsoft’s Surface - an innovative touchscreen computer that resembles a coffee table - in Issue 211 of Web User. Family Archive moves the concept forward by incorporating a camera perched above the device that lets you take two- and three-dimensional pictures of physical items and turn them into digital files. This means, for example, you can store a child’s first pair of shoes as a digital file along with a birth certificate, say, and keep them all together for easy access on the device. The product is at a very early prototype stage at the moment with only three built.

Homebook and Kitchen Postcards
Other developments that could soon make it into our home also revolve around family life. Homebook consists of an internet-enabled screen on which each family member has an area. You can send messages to the screen from other web-connected devices and mobile phones. For example, you could leave a message informing other family members where you are and who you are with, or simple reminders for yourself and others. Kitchen Postcards works on a similar principle though a smaller scale – it resembles a digital photo frame and lets you send picture messages from your phone or other web-connected device to it for other family members to see.

SecondLight
Another product in development largely based on Microsoft Surface is SecondLight. More likely to find a place in public areas than a family home, it consists of a large screen that multiple users can interact with using touch and gestures. Its main use is to display images and maps, but text can be embedded within these images and projected onto a semi-transparent object held on or above the screen. This is achieved by using two projectors underneath the screen. One projects the main image and when an object is placed above the screen, sensors tell the first projector to let the light pass through from the second projector, which contains the text information. For example, you could display a map on the screen, but additional information such as street names could be displayed, seemingly on the object above the surface.

SenseCam
Healthcare is another area Microsoft Research is developing products for. SenseCam is a digital camera already being trialled by health professionals as an aid to anyone suffering from memory loss, in particular Alzheimer’s patients. Worn by the patient SenseCam automatically takes a series of images of what the wearer can see. Studies have shown that images are a powerful memory aid to those suffering with amnesia and it is hoped that the treatments that could be developed using SenseCam could be vital in treating debilitating mental conditions.

Somniloquy
Microsoft Research is also looking at ways in which computers can be made more energy efficient. Many PCs are left on all the time because people queue up their downloads to happen overnight, or so they can be remotely accessed for other reasons, such as peer-to-peer file-sharing. Somniloquy - which means talking in one's sleep - is a simple device that slots into a USB port and provides connectivity across a network while the PC sleeps. The PC can be quickly woken if it needs to perform a task such as downloading or giving access to a certain file. Once the process is over, the PC can be put back to sleep again. The idea is at such an early stage of development that the prototype literally consisted of a few circuit boards and a memory card glued together, but its green credentials suggest that it could be on the market very soon.