Microsoft Releases Face SDK for Windows Phone
Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:47 Written by Alan Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:47
Today Microsoft released a beta version of Microsoft Face SDK (software development kit) for Windows Phone. An SDK is used by developers to integrate a particular service into an app they are building. In this case, it is mostly for photo-oriented apps for Microsoft’s mobile operating system, which incidentally, we are hearing has now passed RIM in the U.S. market.
The new Face SDK beta is version 2.0.1 of the software, although it’s the first we have heard of it, likely because there are no developers around here.
“The Microsoft Face SDK provides many state-of-the-art algorithms to process face images, such as face detection, alignment, tracking, and cartooning. The SDK makes it easy for developers to create interesting, face-related Windows Phone applications.”
You can head over to Microsoft Research to grab the 34.1 MB file and if you use it to develop a Windows Phone app then send us a link so we can check it out and let others know about it.
Flickr Releases High-Res Images to the Main Photo Page
Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 May 2012 07:17 Written by Alan Tuesday, 15 May 2012 07:17
Just recently Flickr, the most popular photo site on the web, added high-resolution images to the lighbox. Today they are rolling out that feature to the main photo pages. Flickr is popular not only with casual users, but also professional photographers. The service was purchased several years ago by Yahoo.
With high-res photos available on the main photo pages users will now be able to “share all the detail side by side with the context of your photos. Location, time, camera, title, description, tags and more are all there to tell the full story around your photos.” Beyond the better quality images, Flickr is also releasing what they are calling a “liquid” layout. This will allow the site to automatically adjust the image size based on the size of the browser window. This new layout includes new photo sizes in the API as well. Flickr lists the following enhancements as part of the update:
- The biggest photo size is shown depending on your browser window
- There is absolutely no “upscaling”, and we try to avoid downsampling as much as possible.
- The title and the sidebar are visible without scrolling on landscape oriented photos. (which are the vast majority of photos on Flickr.)
If you want to get the geeky details on how all of this works then head over to the blog post on code.flickr.com. If you just want to see it then there is a sample image below. It’s good to see Yahoo continuing to support Flickr, especially since many of their other properties are languishing these days.
Manage and Browse Your Instagram Account From Your PC Desktop
Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 May 2012 09:06 Written by Alan Tuesday, 8 May 2012 07:00
Instagram is one one of the most popular and fastest growing mobile apps in the world right now, but it has one major shortcoming – it can’t be accessed from the web. Instagram is strictly a mobile app for iPhone and Android and their web site only allows for basic account information changes, but not viewing of your photos.
That has lead to a new market of third-party apps that fill this need. One of those is called Pokki and it allows users to freely view their photos right from their computer using a simple Windows app (sorry but there’s no Mac app yet). From within the app users can browse and manage their photos, but can’t upload new pictures. Once you download the application and launch it from your taskbar, you will be required to connect it with your Instagram account.
You can download the free “Instagrille” app from Pokki. In addition to managing your account, users can also view real-time notifications allow users to keep in touch all the time.
