Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Mobile/Wireless Computing
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Microsoft offers free image-browsing app for iPhone

Seadragon Mobile is Microsoft's first iPhone app

December 15, 2008 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Microsoft Corp. said Saturday that it has created a free application that lets users browse superlarge images on the iPhone's 3.5-in. touch screen.

The application is called Seadragon Mobile and is developed by the Live Labs team at Microsoft.

Available for free via the iTunes App Store, Seadragon lets users view gigapixel-sized images using the iPhone's multi-touch screen to zoom in and out of photos or maps "with just a few pinches or taps of your finger," according to the Live Labs blog.

Live Labs is Microsoft's in-house Internet incubator, a cross-functional group made up of "scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs" tasked with developing Web 2.0 applications and features, according to its Web description.

Live Labs has publicly released a number of applications and projects in the past year.

Despite the fierce rivalry between Microsoft, whose Windows Mobile operating system is used in smart phones competing with Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Microsoft's development of an application for the iPhone is not entirely a surprise.

During the iPhone's release this summer, Microsoft had hinted that it would release an app for the iPhone.

Live Labs group product manager Alex Daley told TechFlash.com that Microsoft chose the iPhone for the first mobile release of Seadragon before Windows Mobile or BlackBerry smart phones because of the Apple phone's popularity and strong graphics capabilities.

Related Blog

Microsoft iPhone app ships broken and proprietary. Expectations met

Microsoft certainly isn't making it difficult for its detractors to criticize their foray into iPhone Apps, writes Seth Weintraub in Apple Ink.

Microsoft is expected to release a voice-recognition application for the iPhone next year, according to TechFlash.

Besides zooming in and out of single images, Seadragon is meant to enable users to browse and zoom in and out of a set of images stitched together via Microsoft's Photosynth technology.

However, Microsoft said the Photosynth feature broke after Seadragon was uploaded to the App Store.

Microsoft said it has developed a fix.



Jump to comments

Microsoft

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER
Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.
WHITE PAPER
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.
WHITE PAPER
Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

Southern Company
Download Now  

Managing Laptops Outside the Office
Learn how you can reduce costs by tracking mobile computers no matter where they are located.

4G Ahead Video Program
Uncover the features and benefits of the two leading 4G technologies for enterprises considering future deployment.

Case Study: Roughing IT
Download Now