Blaise Aguera y Arcas Recognized by Technology Review’s Prestigious TR35 Listing of the World’s Top Young Innovators for 2008

  TR35 to be honored at Technology Review's EmTech08 Conference at MIT in

                                 September.



    REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 19 /EMWNews/ -- Microsoft Corp. today

announced that Blaise Aguera y Arcas has been recognized by Technology

Review (http://www.technologyreview.com/) magazine as one of the world's

top innovators under the age of 35 for his work developing Seadragon and

co-creating Photosynth, a monumental piece of software capable of

assembling static photos into a synergy of zoomable, navigable spaces.

Selected from more than 300 nominees by a panel of expert judges and the

editorial staff of Technology Review, the TR35

(http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/index.aspx?year=2007) is an elite

group of accomplished young innovators who exemplify the spirit of

innovation.



    



    Created by Aguera y Arcas, Seadragon aimed to change the way people use

screens, from wall-sized displays to those on mobile devices, so that

visual information can be smoothly browsed regardless of the amount of data

involved or the bandwidth of the network. Aguera y Arcas joined Microsoft's

Live Labs in 2006, and in collaboration with Microsoft Research and the

University of Washington, they combined Seadragon with a research project,

Photo Tourism, to create Photosynth.



    "The TR35 honors young innovators for accomplishments that are poised

to have a dramatic impact on the world as we know it," said Jason Pontin,

editor in chief and publisher of Technology Review magazine. "We celebrate

their success and look forward to their continued advancement of technology

in their respective fields."



    Aguera y Arcas and the other TR35 winners for 2008 will be featured in

the September issue of Technology Review and honored at EmTech08 Conference

(http://www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08/) to be held at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (http://web.mit.edu/) in Cambridge, Mass., Sept.

23-25, 2008.



    "Seadragon and Photosynth are changing the way people think about

software, and they both suggest a future in which what we see on our

computers actually exceeds our imaginations," said Gary William Flake,

Ph.D., technical fellow at Microsoft. "This vision is Blaise's mission, and

I fully expect that Blaise's best contributions are to come."



    Additional information about past and present TR35 winners and judges

is available at http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35. More information

about EmTech08 Conference can be found at

http://www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08/index.aspx.

    About Technology Review, Inc.



    Technology Review, Inc., an independent media company owned by the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the authority on the future of

technology, identifying emerging technologies and analyzing their impact

for leaders. Technology Review's media properties include Technology Review

magazine, the oldest technology magazine in the world (founded in 1899);

the daily news website TechnologyReview.com; and events such as the annual

EmTech Conference at MIT.



    About Microsoft



    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in

software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize

their full potential.