Minority Report Style, Secret Project “Milan” Reveled

The new, Minority Report style, intelligent surface by Microsoft turns surface computing from science fiction to reality.

This new gadget takes coffe tables to a whole new level. The current price tag means I won’t be putting my feet up on this table in the near future, but still, you’ve got to see this:

Google’s New 360-Degree Street View, Very Cool and Very Mashable

This cool new addition to Google Maps is definitely in my “Mark” category.

Just select any address, click the “Street View” button and you’ll get a 360-degree ground level view. Drag the image to move around or click on the arrows to advance forward down the street.

Click the image below to give it a try…

This new feature by Google Maps is not only very cool but also very Mashable. So for those of you who are thinking “I must have this on my site” Google merged two of its existing application programming interfaces: the Gadgets API and the Maps API at allow you to add it.

TechCrunch20 - A Golden Opportunity For Startups

Twenty of the hottest new startups from around the world will demo their products in the TechCrunch20 conference this September in San Fransisco. The conference was announced earlier this year and is still open to any startup that will be ready to present in time for the conference. The only condition is that the product or service has not been announced anywhere else before. This adds a nice “cutting-edge” flair to the event…

For the 20 startups selected this is a golden opportunity to get up close and personal with leading professionals in the industry. More importantly, it will put the chosen startups in a position to select the investment they wish to take, rather than hungrily seeking investment.

A team of twenty experts will help select the final 20 startups to present at TechCrunch20. These are the 5 of the panel members:

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail.

Marc Andreessen is the co-founder of Ning, a web application that lets you create your own little social networks. He’s also the co-founder and chief technical mind behind Netscape Communications Corporation and co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser.

Roelof Botha is a partner at Sequoia Capital . Prior to joining Sequoia Capital, Roelof served as the Chief Financial Officer of PayPal (EBAY) and worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Caterina Fake the co-founder of Flickr

Brad Garlinghouse is SVP, Communications & Communities at Yahoo!

Here are the rest of the TechCrunch20 panel members.

Good luck to those of you who decide to go for it!

I Dread The Day My Mom Upgrades to Vista

Don’t get me wrong, Windows Vista has some great, way over due, but still great improvements. But in the battle of user experience against security, it seams that user experience didn’t even show up.

For the novice user, every security message that pops up is very alarming. Terrified of the security alert, most users don’t even bother to read the message. For them the messages “Click to delete your entire data” and “Click to use the software you just installed” is pretty much the same. In both cases they would click “cancel” just to be on the safe side.

The problem with Vista is that on every move you make, it asks you to “allow” or “cancel”. I dread the day the group of family members and friends I provide support to, lead proudly by my mom, upgrade to Vista. Vista has been launched a few months ago already and now it’s coming to the mass. Mark my words fellow techies, we’re going to need another hour each day just to answer emergency “allow” or “cancel” questions.

This very funny video gives you a sneak peek to Vista:

Not that you really have a choice (if you’re a PC user like me), but for those of you who want to learn more before you upgrade:

• Here’s a pretty balanced review of Vista by TechnologyReview.com
• A less balanced review featuring the incompatibilities of Windows Vista
• Tips on how to tweak Vista

Those of you who have already upgraded, you know what I mean. For the rest of you, start practicing the word “A-L-L-O W”…

BetaMarker.com Version 1.1 Features YOU

Beta Marker version 1.1, to be launched on June 1st, features YOU - the user.

Your image and profile when you submit or mark software, your comments and your software recommendations. This version highlights user activity to help you identify users with similar taste in software. Whether you come to Beta Marker to share and download great software or to let off steam and report crappie software, the spotlight will be on YOU.

Beta Marker version 1.1 is also packed with cool new features you’ve requested, like video demos, a changed marking system and much more.

We’ve got about 72 hours of final code changes, debugging and little sleep before the launch.

See you, literally, on June 1st!