some news on the windows live platform front...now you can link your passport live id accounts!  i like a lot of the windows live services, but one that i've struggled with is live id.  not the concept, but rather the implementation.  it is getting incrementally better day by day and this one change in particular made me happy.

when passport first came out, most got one.  when messenger came out, you used your passport.  then you could create a passport/live id with your own email account (didn't have to be hotmail.com), then there were some changes and you might have had to migrate yours...etc.  you can see where i'm going here -- i have roughly 4 live id accounts.

then you have your corporation, like mine :-) -- sometimes they require registrations from a live id ending in @mycorpdomain.com -- that frustrates me, but oh well.  i basically have two primary live id accounts i use and when i login/out of sites because i may have created sites under one account, etc. -- i would have to lose major context of what i was doing...not anymore!

here's what you do to link your various live id accounts...

1) go to http://account.live.com and login with your preferred live id

after you login you'll see the summary page and on it you should see the "Linked Windows Live IDs" section:

2) click on the 'Manage Linked IDs' and you should see:

3) click on the 'Link an existing Windows Live ID' and you'll be asked to confirm your logged in live id password, and then you'll be able to add another Windows Live ID account:

4) once completed you'll see that your accounts are now linked:

great, so now what? well when you go to a live id-enabled site you'll be able to switch identities immediately on that site without having to logout/login to a different windows live id...you'll be instantly changed on the same site...that is awesome.

so go link your most used windows live ids!  thanks windows live team!

the concepts of these 'devcamps' seem to be a winning formula.  a combination of open spaces, tech content, socializing, and contesting is luring people to iphone devcamps, silverlight, adobe air, and now sharepoint.

my compadre dave in chicago is helping to support a MOSSCamp in chicago.  using the barcamp site?  of course not, it is for moss :-) so they are using some of the new sharepoint features in a public site.  you can read about the plans for the 9 NOV event being held at clarity consulting.

so if you are available, in the area, and not too tired if you are coming back from devconnections in vegas, you should head over there -- it is free!

should be a good time if you are in the area.  sharepoint has really evolved to be a great platform for content management and internet sites...now that it is built on asp.net, it makes development much more flexible on that platform!

one of my favorite network shows is 'the office' (other than that i think the reality shows suck.  damages (on fx network) season finale was pretty decent by the way, not great, but decent.

anywhoo... it seems second life is making it's way all over the entertainment world.  apparently csi:ny had second life on it and then on the latest episode of 'the office' my favorite character (other than creed), dwight shrute, pursues second life.  in his words:

"second life is not a game...it doesn't have points, scores, it doesn't have winners or losers." (jim: 'oh it has losers')

dwight then goes on to say:

"i signed up for second life about a year ago.  back then my life was so great that i literally wanted a second one.  in my second life i was also a paper salesman, and was also named dwight. absolutely everything was the same...except i could fly."

the show is hilarous...you can watch it on nbc.com for free after 2PM tomorrow apparently (i love how networks are doing this now).  later in the show dwight's world is discovered where he has acquired land in second life and called it "second second life."

brilliant.

a video screencast that jesse and i collaborated on was just posted.  in the screencast jesse demonstrates the code we did to demonstrate a concept he calls "hypervideo" which is basically leveraging media metadata, and simulating retrieving related data information to display in the experience.

this concept is very similar to the experience at HSN.tv of showing "related products" using the metadata being streamed in their experience.  i hope you find it useful and if you have any questions, please let me know!

again, my goal is to try to help provide you with relevant information about microsoft web platform technologies like silverlight and enabling scenarios.  if you have a good idea (and aren't exactly sure how to go about it), send it my way as i'd love to help you and the broader community learn how to do it.

are these fully complete samples?  probably not.  they are intended to help you think and work through a portion of potentially your use of these technologies.  if they suck, let me know.

saw this on the 'sphere...using ulead, swf2xaml jeff and michael created 'silverlightvr 360,' showing an image of a jeep in virtual 3d.  the user is able to move the image on along both axis points to look at the object (jeep) in a virtual 3d view.

tools and directions are listed on their write-up here.