Today is a very historic day in the U.S, and Microsoft technology will play a role.

CNN is hosting an amazing project called 'The Moment' at http://www.cnn.com/themoment.  Attendees at the inauguration are encouraged to take and send photographs when Barack Obama takes the oath of office.  Those photographs will be stitched together into a PhotoSynth capturing the event.

If you're unable to see the event from your current location, you can also see the inauguration broadcast live via Silverlight (and in HD).  You can find the Silverlight stream here http://www.pic2009.org/page/content/live.

Today we announced the release to web of both an updated Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio.  While there may be some debate on how it's pronounced, there's little disagreement that Azure is a great step forward and can enable some great scenarios.  I've been doing some work with Azure as part of a new project, so expect some Azure content to make it's way into the blog soon.

Links and details for the updated bits below:

Windows Azure SDK

The Windows® Azure SDK provides developers with the APIs, tools, documentation, and samples needed to develop Internet-scale applications that run on Windows Azure. Using the Windows Azure SDK, developers can create applications and run it in a local development fabric even without a registered account*.

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® extend Visual Studio to enable the creation, building, debugging, running and packaging of scalable services on Windows Azure.

If you've read the blog for awhile, you've heard some of my thoughts on context. It's important. It's valuable. Context plays largely into the future of where value will come from.

One place where it could be extremely beneficial is in social networks. Some social networks, like Linked In, have explicit contexts. Others, like Facebook, are a bit more nebulous. Many people are starting to wonder what their definition of a 'friend' is. Others just want some simple buckets - friends, family, and work - so that Mom and the boss don't see their Spring Break photos and friends don't see the pics from that presentation you did in Omaha. For the latter, you'd think it would be in the social networks best interests to add context.  Context = better targeting = better monetization, an area where allot of the social networks could use some help.

In addition to providing better targeting, it will also help to avoid user attrition. Take myself for example.  I'm a technology early adopter who works with customers, speaks at conferences, writes blogs/articles/books, and does interviews with the press. I was on Facebook early, and as a result of my interactions had alot of folks 'friend' me on Facebook before my non-tech friends and family hopped on the FB bandwagon. This past year saw the birth of my first child,  a deep engagement in presidential politics, and an embrace of micro-blogging.  Do my co-workers really need my n-times daily status updates? Do I alienate customers because I aligned myself with a political party? Do I really feel comfortable sharing photos of my child with people I've in some cases never met?

The answer to these and many questions like them were no. Without context, we go through what I call the four stages of Social Network Friend Grief, and either move some of our traffic to another network or drop out of social networking altogether.

I've defined the Four Stages of Social Network Friend Grief as :

(1) Friend censorship (hey friend, don't post those videos on my wall, they might offend people at work)

(2) Self censorship ( Maybe I shouldn't post this pro-Obama article, it might be problematic with any customers who've friended me and are Republican)

(3) Anger (It's my account, why the hell can't I post what I want!?!)

(4) Acceptance (Friends stay in Facebook, business colleagues move to linked in, and I call Mom on the weekends)

The following clip from the TV show Seinfeld, shows George going through Stage 3

For myself, I reached stage 4 over the holidays and a did a manual move of a number of my professional contacts to LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/aa3/624) and set up a Twitter feed for those interested my micro-blogging (http://www.twitter.com/marcmercuri). When there was a question on whether a contact belonged on Facebook or LinkedIn, I asked three simple questions: Have we had a drink or shared a meal that wasn't paid for by a corporate entity? Have we ever played a game on Xbox Live? Have you ever met my wife or son? If not, I moved the connection to LinkedIn.

Let's hope adding context is at the top of the social network's new years resolutions, it's in everyones interest.

I jumped on the twitter bandwagon early, and wrote alot of Twitter-related code shortly after the API was released.  I wrote Twitter libraries for .NET, Twitter activities for WF, and I believe I was the first person to ever hook twitter up to a robot (http://www.twitter.com/robotonxt) BUT I was never actually on Twitter myself.

Well, that's now changed, you can now follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marcmercuri

On Friday, Microsoft released Windows 7 Beta and the response was overwhelming. Literally. Initially, there was a plan to limit the number of beta participants to 2.5 million, but per the Windows team blog:

Due to an enormous surge in demand, the download experience was not ideal so we listened and took the necessary steps to ensure a good experience. We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 Beta and, as a result, we have decided remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th). During that time you will have access to the beta even if the download number exceeds the 2.5 million unit limit. 

You can download the ISO for the beta here - 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx

The good folks over at ZD Net have provided some info on how to burn the ISO, as well as provide guidance on how to get the Windows 7 Beta installed via Virtual PC 2007. That article can be found here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3317

As someone who's been using the pre-beta and the beta, I'd encourage you to check it out. It's incredibly stable, fast, and has a number of cool new features. 

Not content to just relax over the holidays, I've decided to upgrade my blog.  We're now running on a new host and with a new blogging package (Grafitti CMS by Telligent). 

Graffiti imported all of my old content from DasBlog (my previous blogging engine), so all of the old links should stil work. If for any reason you notice any issues, please send me an email.

I've been traveling for most of the last month - first the PDC in Los Angeles, then on to TechEd EMEA in Barcelona, and now in San Francisco for the Strategic Architect Forum.

I've been looking forward to SAF, as it's a great chance to meet, chat and learn for all attendees, be they Microsoft or our customers. Whether you want to chat, rant, or talk about areas where we might be able to collaborate, my schedule is very flexible for the first couple of days of the event. If you're in town for the event and would like to talk, let's definately schedule some time over the next couple of days. 

You can contact me either via email (mmercuri@microsoft.com) or come up to me at the event. For those who've not met me before, I'm easy to pick out in a crowd based on my height (I'm 6foot9). 

Today is the first day of PDC, and the first of several blog posts from the event.  If you've friended me on Facebook, you'll have seen a note my status the other week that said "I was working on something out of this world, literally."  If you've been to the PDC blog, you'll have seen this post that gave some more details last Friday. If not, I'll fill you in now.

Through my work this year, I've had the opportunity to work with some great organizations - both privately held and the public sector.  One of this organizations happens to be NASA and the folks at the Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena.  They are some of the smartest and coolest people you'll ever have a chance to meet.

Don't take my word for it, have a chat with them and find out for yourself. That's right - NASA is going to be at the PDC this year.

As you walk into the big room, be sure to check out the robotics area on the right side of the aisle and you'll notice there's a replica of a Mars Exploration Rover and staff from NASA / JPL will be there as well to talk about the Mars Mission.

And once you've chatted with them, swing on by and say hello in the Coding4Fun area where I'll be most of the week. Lots of cool stuff going on there - but I'll blog about that in a later post.

Today, Microsoft officially launched the Urban Challenge, sponsored by KIA Motors.  KIA's sponsorship has taken RoboChamps to a brand new level - both in realism and in terms of prizes.

KIA has been very generous with models of their cars and buildings. This enables us to provide additional realism in the environment, as you will have the opportunity to choose one of 5 robot cars based on real KIA models.You'll program these cars to navigate a course through a large city, that comes complete with other moving cars, video billboards and working traffic lights. You car is loaded up with a number of sensors to help you achieve your goal, including multiple cameras, a laser rangefinder, bumpers, and a GPS unit.

We're also announcing that KIA's sponsorship is providing the largest prizes in the history of RoboChamps. Participants will be competing to win prizes including $5000, $10,000, and even a real car!

This video provides an overview of the new competition, with video of what you can expect in the simulation environment.

For additional details, check out the RoboChamps website (www.robochamps.com)