Posted 10/22/08 at 03:35:05 PM by Mark Edward Soper

Microsoft has released an updated technology preview of its cool Deep Zoom Composer tool for Silverlight 2. As we reported back in July, Deep Zoom Composer gives you the ability to display multiple high-resolution thumbnails, zoom in for a closeup, and pan back again. You can use Deep Zoom Composer to create mosaics (as in our original story), or to bring a new level of interactivity to online collections (as the Hard Rock Cafe has done).

If you want to give it a try, install the latest version of Silverlight 2 beta first, then install the Deep Zoom Composer technology preview 0.9.0005. Deep Zoom Composer runs on Windows XP SP2 or SP3 and Windows Vista, and requires a 2GHz Intel or AMD processor, at least 1GB of RAM, and a Microsoft DirectX 9-capable video card with at least 256MB of video memory.

See  the Teaching Ideas and Resources blog at MSDN for more information about this and other imaging tools from Microsoft.

Join us after the jump for your comments, and don't forget to share links to your creations!

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Posted 10/15/08 at 06:00:36 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Adobe Flash Player 10 has been released. Its release follows a day after its only notable competitor Microsoft Silverlight 2 became available. The latest iteration of Flash is filled with many enhancements including native 3D transformation and animation, custom filters and effects, advanced audio processing and GPU hardware acceleration.

Adobe’s senior marketing manager in the Platform Business Unit, Tom Barclay, said that the Flash Player 10 is capable of “things not possible with Silverlight 2.” The direct reference to Silverlight 2 underscores the amount of respect Adobe accords to its seemingly innocuous rival – just about enough. Barclay heavily touted the addition of Adobe Pixel Blender-related functionality in the new edition. Flash Player 10 has simultaneously become available on Windows, Mac and Linux.

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