Montage from Microsoft Labs introduces user-curated online magazines

In recent years, there has been a massive surge in popularity for audio-visual communication. Driven by an ever-increasing flow of data, the audio and visual channels are really our only recourse; reading text simply isn't fast enough. YouTube videos, Flash games and sites, infographics -- all of these, and more, are popular because of our limited bandwidth for the written word. It's almost like our brains breathe a sigh of relief when we can sit back and look at a picture or listen to some audio, rather than parsing word after word after word.

Microsoft in general (Bing!) and its FUSE Labs in particular have obviously noticed this trend towards visualization. Pivot, Kodu, Project Emporia and Spindex all have strong visual elements -- and its new project, Montage, is perhaps the most visual yet. Montage advertises itself as a tool that lets you share "your visual album of the Web," and that's exactly what it does. Take a look at some albums that other people have already made, such as the True Blood, or Jude Law.

The best bit is the Montage editor, however. Anyone can make a new album; all you have to do is type in a topic, and play with the beautiful browser-based editor. Each panel can be a different type -- text, video, RSS or news feed, Twitter stream, etc. -- and you can drag and drop each part of the layout until you're satisfied.

In short, it's a lovely toy to play with, and there's also the massive added bonus that its output is both functional and beautiful.

Montage from Microsoft Labs introduces user-curated online magazines originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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