I may never be able to think of Microsoft the same way that I always have in the past. Over the past two days, Microsoft has spared no expense in flying me and a group of other Youtubers out to Seattle, Washington to tour some production processes and top secret, yet-to-be-announced tech in their Redmond, WA campus. It started with the first-class flight upgrades, the black car service, a nice dinner out on the town, and the top-of-the-tower hotel room with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. Gratefulness and gratitude were on tap before we'd even started the tour.
We took cars from the hotel directly to the campus in Redmond and started by touring one of the prototyping and design buildings on campus. Here we saw many of the initial iterations of the Surface book before it's final form took place. The effort that went into reducing weight, finding the perfect balance, and the all-important "muscle wire" folding mechanism that gives the opening and closing of the notebook just the right amount of touch and go. An entire warehouse filled with 3D printers to afford the engineers and designers the ability to dream up a design and have a 3D prototype in hand in no time flat, rooms for laser etching, finish painting, and everything in between that you could imagine a designer would need to develop the perfect physical product. An impressive sight indeed.
We also got a very thorough tour of the ergonomics department/lab and talked a bit about some of the amazing tech and even a few relatively primitive tools used to find ever conceivable measurement on a human's face. This data is used to ensure that wearable and in-hand devices will be comfortable in at least 90% of the general public's hands. Amazing stuff.
From the ergonomics lab, we next went to the audio testing area where we were treated to a little time in the Guinness Book of World Records quietest room in the world. Your voice sounds so much different in the room (which seems more appropriately called a "chamber") when there is absolutely no sound reflection. The lights were shut off and we stood quietly in the chamber for 30-40 seconds and the sensory deprivation of no sight and no hearing allows you to hear your actual heartbeat, but it also had this strange effect of making my ears feel heavy and gave me a very slight dizzy feeling. It was pretty bizarre.
There were also some amazing technologies that Microsoft gave us exclusive access to see and preview that I'm not even allowed to talk about. But rest assured, between the robots waiting for you ready to give directions when you need them and the language altering artificial intelligence, to the self-growing lettuce vending machines and insane augmented reality that will change the way you buy products and services, the modern face of Microsoft is facing squarely into the future. In fact, they're doing their part to usher it in.
Nathan Joseph Dodson | Philadelphia Cinematic Portrait Photographer
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