"The tools extend the functionality of the basic Silverlight platform -- a necessary step for Microsoft to take a bite out of Adobe's ubiquitous Flash multimedia authoring and playback program for Web browsers. Silverlight is currently in a 1.1 alpha release.

The Blendables CTP contains the following tools for Silverlight developers, according to an IdentityMine press release:

• Zoombox -- Allows content to be panned in any direction or zoomed in or out using a multitude of user inputs.
• Carousel3D -- A 3D elliptical layout control with full ItemsControl-like functionality.
• ChromelessWindow -- Enables applications to stand out by creating a custom-branded window experience while still keeping the default window chrome functionality.
• TimelinePanel -- Creates compelling visualizations that emphasize the chronological nature of a data set.
• EvalBinding/SimpleBinding -- Data binding that adjusts in real-time based not only on application properties, but also on actual code evaluation -- all with XAML mark-up.
• DragAndDrop -- Enables drag and drop functionality on a number of built-in windows elements such as ListBox, ListView and TreeView.
• OSChecker -- Allows a designer to create a custom application experience contingent with the OS version.
• Pie -- Creates any type of elliptical visual such as pie charts, speedometers and gauges.
• ElementSnapshot -- Enables greater designer creativity by alleviating performance degradation when exploiting advanced visual effects.
• NumericRangeToObjectConverter -- Triggers application behaviors not only on a single value, but also on a specific range of values.

The preview represents the first mix of tools offered under the Blendables moniker, according to IdentityMine, implying that more will be forthcoming. "

source: http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=8515