NetworkWorld reports about more details of Cisco Network Design Expert (CCDE) certification, previously announced here.

The CCIE, while an extremely well respected certification, focuses on the device level configuration and operation of Cisco equipment. Network design is not part of those tests. Furthermore, for experienced design engineers and architects, the CCIE tracks do not fit their roles and needs anymore, yet the CCIE is the only avenue for industry recognition for people at their level.

The new CCDE will be on par with the existing CCIE programs. It will have a written exam and then a “performance oriented scenario test which assesses a practitioner’s advanced network design skills”. The “scenario” format or process has not been developed yet. The intent is not to make it a “lab”, but focus it on design.

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Microsoft and Joint Photographic Experts Group (responsible for the JPEG format) both announced (Microsoft and JPEG press releases) that the specification for Microsoft’s HD Photo as been submitted to JPEG. The result will be the next generation of JPEG called JPEG XR.

JPEG will vote on whether to accept the new digital-photo file format as a standard, which Microsoft hopes will one day replace the widely used JPEG format as the industry standard for electronic photography and digital imaging.

HD Photo offers increased image fidelity, preserving the entire original image content and enabling high-quality exposure and color adjustments in the image. This new format offers the ability to decode only the information needed for any resolution or region, a key feature supporting Web imaging applications such as Windows Live™ Earth, and the option to manipulate the image as compressed data. HD Photo combines both lossless and lossy image compression in the same design, and can retain the full dynamic range and color fidelity data from a camera’s image sensor. JPEG XR introduces support for High Dynamic Range (HDR), a major and fundamental new development in digital imaging. HDR provides benefits for both the capture and rendering processes for digital images, leading to improved image success for users at both the consumer and professional level.

The HD Photo format was announced some months ago; here’s a round up of technical details about the format.

If you wish to learn more about the HD Photo format, header over to Bill Crow’s blog which has comparison photos and much more information, or the Wikipedia entry.

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O Verão está aborrecido?  Não te preocupes! Há coisas interessantes para fazer.

O programa Ciência Viva no Verão propõe-te vários locais para visitares, sobre astronomia, engenharia, geologia, biologia e até fárois.

Na praia, no campo, na cidade, de dia ou de noite, faça férias com a Ciência.
Observações astronómicas, passeios científicos, visitas a faróis e a grandes obras de engenharia.

Existem várias actividades em muitos pontos do país, predominantemente observações astronómicas. Visitas a fábricas de papel, centros emissores de telecomunicações, etc, existem visitas para todos os gostos, por isso visita o site e procura alguma actividade na tua zona, ou melhor ainda, viaja para outra zona.

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Walter Stiers pointed to IStartedSomething’s post about Microsoft’s Roadmap for 2008 and beyond. Steve Ballmer spoke at the Financial Analyst Meeting 2007, and his presentation is available and contains some very interesting informations.. You can read the transcript (which you won’t..), download the presentation and watch the webcast.

It appears that Microsoft will be opening a research center here in Portugal!

Their Software + Services strategy outline. I don’t like that AdCenter on Service Enablers.

Their advertisement strategy.

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Microsoft sure has a lot of products. Windows Automotive?

Microsoft is currently working with automakers and suppliers worldwide to put its Windows Automotive connected car technology into production.

Microsoft TellMe?

Microsoft said Wednesday it will buy Tellme Networks Inc., which provides voice-enabled mobile search, directory assistance and computerized, speech-driven customer service hotlines.

Microsoft AdCenter?

Simply put, search advertising is an effective, low-cost way to get new customers to find your business when they’re online looking to buy.

Now, time to find my where my potential is!

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To address the growing demand for network professionals who can design and build a service-oriented network architecture, Cisco announced enhancements to the CCDP professional-level design certification. The revised course and exam help to ensure that Cisco network design professionals remain current with today’s increasingly complex network requirements.

The revised course is Designing Cisco Network Service Architectures, ARCH v. 2.0; the revised exam is number 642-873. About 90 percent of the course covers new material that is in line with current Cisco products and solutions.

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Engadget reports that Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri programmed an iPhone virtual keyboard on a Nokia N800 using Python and Edje.

The plan was to do it in less than one week, it took a bit more. It does no type prediction, word hint, cursor navigation or key composition (accents are not possible).

Summary is 230 lines of Python, 1110 lines of Edje, including comments and blank lines, and a really easy to type keyboard.

He also shares a video demonstration of the thing:

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July ends today and so does the Cisco Netspace Challenge race for the top 10 spots on the leaderboards.

I ended with almost 372 000 points, which is more than enough to ‘buy’ some wallpapers and avatars *gasp*.

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As you can see, i have half of the points that the first participant has, and i’m 62 000 points short from the top 10 spots. I had an average 50 000 – 60 000 point difference from the last of the top10, but i got bored and started answering randomly. There are a lot of questions about Frame Relay, which i didn’t know anything about, but i think it’s a good idea to read some lectures about it.

About the prizes, i already posted about it. I want some damn tshirts!

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win-get is an automated install system and software repository for Microsoft Windows written in pascal (for the command line client) and php for the online repository. The ideas for its creation come from apt-get and other related tools for the *nix platforms.

The system works by connecting to a link repository. Finding an application and downloading it from the stored link using wget.exe . Then performing the installation routine (silent or standard). And finnally deleting the install file.

One comment i found interesting:

I use this at LAN parties to deploy games to clients… one big whiteboard telling them where to get the installs from my own repository. Took a bit to set up but the last 3 LAN parties ran much more smoothly than people screaming where are all the IP’s for the shares!!!.

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Last week, a Judge dismissed a defamation law suit brought by Tim Paterson, who sold a computer operating system to Microsoft in 1980, against journalist and author Sir Harold Evans and his publisher Little Brown. The software became the basis of Microsoft’s MS-DOS monopoly, and the basis of its dominance of the PC industry.

The story of how Bill Gates came to acquire an operating system is well known. In 1980, Kildall’s Digital Research provided the operating system for a wide range of microcomputers, and was established as the industry standard. IBM had approached Microsoft, then a tiny software company in the Seattle area, to provide a BASIC run-time for its first micro, the IBM PC. Gates offered to provide IBM an operating system too, even though he didn’t have one at the time. This required a hasty purchase.

Microsoft turned to Tim Paterson, whose garage operation Seattle Computer Products was selling a CP/M clone called 86-DOS. This had been developed under the code name QDOS (for “quick and dirty operating system”), and SCP sold it alongside an add-in CPU card. Microsoft turned this into the hugely successful DOS franchise.

Read the rest of the story from the Register and the Wikipedia entry.

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O Ed Dunhill informa a comunidade que a Microsoft Research está a aceitar candidaturas para uma bolsa de doutoramento válida para 3 anos, com fundos chegando a 33 000 euros por ano. A data limite de candidatura é até 26 de Setembro e serão aceites candidaturas apenas nas seguintes áreas:

• Computational Biology
• Computational Ecology and Environment Science
• Computer-Mediated Living (including Integrated Systems, Sensors and Devices, and Socio-Digital Systems)
• Constraint Reasoning
• Machine Learning and Perception (including Applied Games, Computer Vision, Information Retrieval, and Machine Learning)
• Natural Computation
• Programming Principles and Tools (including Security)
• Systems and Networking (including Distributed Systems, Networking, and Operating Systems)

A candidatura será feita no seguinte site: http://microsoft.redwhale.com/. Para mais informações consulta o seguinte site: http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/jobs/fellowships/apply_europe.aspx.

Para aqueles que ainda não chegaram à fase de doutoramento, existem outras oportunidades que devem aproveitar:

• MSP Program – The Microsoft Student Partner program is an excellent way for students to learn about new technologies, talk about them to their peers and get some great technology experience on their CV.
• The Imagine Cup – The imagine cup is a group of international competitions for students held by Microsoft the most famous of which is the Software Development Competition. Its a great way to showcase your talents and win some cool stuff along the way and once again it looks great on your CV.
• US Summer Placements – Microsoft US offers summer placements to international computer science students at our head office in Redmond. This is a great opportunity to get visibility within Microsoft as well as getting hands on experience working in a large team of developers. Guess what…it looks great on your CV!

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