Windows Media Center Program Manager Charlie Owen highlights that this year Windows Media Center celebrates its 5th anniversary on September 3rd. With Windows Media Center's upcoming birthday, Ed Bott decided to take the opportunity to celebrate the event by writing about how Windows Media Center has taken over his living room.  Ed takes three pages to describe setting up Windows Media Center in his living room and his experiences using it. Ed's goal was to turn Windows Media Center into a centralized hub for all his digital photos, music and video - consolidating his data into a single digital entertainment point within his house. Those interested in Ed's specs and pricing for his Windows Media Center set up - he's posted them here. I'm going to follow in celebrating Windows Media Center's 5 year anniversary just like Ed by posting about my very own Windows Media Center set-up I have in my living room.

My Windows Media Center PC is a custom PC by Velocity Micro called CineMagix Grand Theater Entertainment System specifically for Windows Media Center. It is currently running Windows Vista Home Premium with the following specs:

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2.13GHz
• 2 GB DDR2 PC5300 DDR667
• ATI Radeon X1950
• ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner (for Digital CableCard features)
• Integrated Intel High Definition 7.1 Channel Sound, with Optical and Coaxial Digital Outputs
• 2 x 250GB Seagate 7200.10 16MB Cache SATA/300
• Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter

The PC cost $2,215 and currently rates a 5.1 on the Windows Experience Index. As noted above, my Windows Media Center PC has CableCard abilities. Through Comcast (who supplies me with the CableCard), I have ability to watch and record HD content through my ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. I plan on covering my experience with CableCard and recording HD content through Windows Media Center in a later post but it is absolutely amazing. I was able to completely ditch the digital cable box supplied by Comcast replacing it with my Windows Media Center PC.

Connected to my Windows Media Center PC is my 42-inch LG HDTV. It fully supports 1080p (1920x1080 screen resolutions) which is what my Windows Media Center PC is running at. The HDTV essentially is the monitor for my Windows Media Center PC.

Just like Ed, I use the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000. This keyboard is perfect for Windows Media Center. It is light, thin, and has some great quick-access buttons for launching essential Windows Media Center features like the Guide and play controls. For a complete review of the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 - Andre Da Costa has an excellent review on his blog.

I also have a second Windows Media Center PC - my main desktop PC in my office (the one with the dual monitors you've seen in all my videos). It currently runs with an ATI TV Wonder 650. When I'm working, I have Windows Media Center running on the second monitor. The ATI TV Wonder 650 is capable of over-the-air HDTV but unfortunately I don't have the proper antenna to get this capability. But I have the ability to watch and record standard definition TV.

So to continue the celebration of Windows Media Center's upcoming birthday - tell me about your Windows Media Center set-up. How do you have Windows Media Center running in your home? I'm really interested in hearing about other people's set-ups.  

A lot of people ask me what my RSS feed reader is. They are usually shocked when I say Windows Live Mail. That's right. Windows Live Mail is my main RSS feed reader. Let me explain.

Windows Live Mail utilizes the IE7 RSS feed store in Windows Vista. Internet Explorer 7 brings fourth the Windows RSS Platform. The Windows RSS Platform introduces a Common Feed List in which Windows Live Mail takes advantage of. Read about the Windows RSS Platform here from Walter, Program Manager on the IE Team. Nick blogged back in September of Newsgator taking advantage of the Common Feed List just like Windows Live Mail does today. The Windows RSS Platform is designed in such a way that developers can create apps that read, add, and delete from the Common Feed List. Windows Live Mail taps into the Common Feeds List allowing you to read manage and read your RSS feeds. Any feed subscribed to in IE7 automatically appears in Windows Live Mail.

Your RSS feeds are displayed in separate tab in Windows Live Mail. It is easy to bounce between your email and your RSS feeds. They are separate so that your email and RSS feeds aren't jumbled together.

In the current beta of Windows Live Mail, you get a group of Search Folders at the top left-hand corner of the application above your first email account. You can add a variety of Search Folders for quick access to a variety of things like unread email or flagged items.

I have a Search Folder added for "Unread feeds". This will display any unread feeds that come in. I changed the default update schedule for all my RSS feeds from 1 day to 1 hour. Every hour, my RSS feeds are updated and my "Unread feeds" Search Folder displays them for me with the number of unread feeds. This is how I keep track of my news and what everyone is saying out in the community.

When someone posts about something that grabs my attention but I want to look at it again later on, Windows Live Mail lets me quickly "flag" that post (you can flag new posts in RSS, email messages, and newsgroup posts). When I flag a post, it then appears under my "Flagged items" Search Folder I can then look at later on. Anything you flag will appear here which really helps me prioritize emails, updated feeds, and newsgroup posts.

Windows Live Mail gives the user all they need to manage their RSS feeds by utilizing the Common Feed List built in to Windows Vista through the Windows RSS Platform. It works great for me in managing all 450 of my RSS feeds I'm subscribed to (I recently scaled back the amount of feeds I read).

You can download the latest beta of Windows Live Mail here.

If you're interested in what Microsoft is doing with RSS, you can head over to the Microsoft RSS Blog to get the latest from the folks at Microsoft working on RSS technologies such as the Windows RSS Platform.

Today, the Microsoft Office Outlook Team has made the new version of the Microsoft Outlook Connector Beta available for download. That means no more "beta".

UPDATE: You can download the final released version of the Outlook Connector here or through Windows Live Essentials at download.live.com.

With all the responses on my post announcing the beta a few months ago, I figured this announcement will be of interest. The final build number is 12.0.4518.1058. If you don't see that build number in the About window for the Outlook Connector, then you're not yet running the final version.

The Microsoft Office Outlook Connector lets you sync your Windows Live Hotmail account up with Outlook 2003 and 2007. Remember, in order to sync your Calendar you need to be a paid subscriber of MSN Premium, Office Live Essentials, or Office Live Premium to get that added functionality with this release. If you are not a paid subscriber of these services, you will see an error in syncing your calendar in Outlook but you will be about to sync up you email messages and contacts just fine.

Be sure to visit the Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog and give them your feedback on the Outlook Connector.

As you probably already noticed, I've been doing quite a bit of posts that include video demos of devices and software in my posts. A few folks have asked me how I produce these videos and I'd like to outline the exact process I use in producing these videos for a blog post.

For software demos (like my recent Windows Live SkyDrive demo) I use Camtasia Studio 4 to capture my screen and I publish out to a WMV file I then upload to MSN Soapbox.

However when shooting actual footage of me demoing a device (like the Fingerprint Reader) or events coverage (like WinHEC 2007) - I have a pretty standard step-by-step process I use every time I shoot video. First off: I always shoot video in HD (1080i specifically). Secondly: in grabbing and editing video I shoot of my digital camcorder, everything I use is a feature that ships in Windows Vista.  Let's take a look at my step-by-step process to see what I mean:

Step 1: I shoot the video using my Sony HDR-HC3 HDV Handycam which shoots in 1080i and 16:9 widescreen. For events, such as when I was at WinHEC, I shoot usually without a tripod. For footage such as close-up demos of hardware and devices - I have a tripod that I use with the camcorder to get steady footage. I don't want to make anyone seasick with wobbly video. The HDR-HD3 comes with a remote which allows me set up the camcorder and tripod for the best shot and quickly hit record without having to physically be behind the camera. I can focus on doing the video.

Step 2: After I shoot the video, I hook up my HDR-HDC to my Windows Vista PC via Firewire. Windows Vista automatically detects the camcorder without the need of searching for any required drivers which is absolutely wonderful.

Step 3: I open up Windows Movie Maker to import the footage off my HD-HDC. Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate come with the built-in ability to bring in raw HD footage off of a HD camcorder. I use Windows Vista Ultimate on the PC I use for producing my videos.

Step 4: Using the Import Video Wizard in Windows Movie Maker - I import my HD video shot from my camcorder into Windows Vista.

Step 5: Using Windows Movie Maker - I edit the clip I want to publish. I split the video, move video around, add transitions (I usually use "Fade") and also add custom graphics such as my Windows Vista Team Blog graphic you can see at the end of several of my videos.

Step 6: After I have the video edited to how I like it - I publish the video from Windows Movie Maker.

Step 7: Windows Movie Maker gives you several options in publishing videos. I choose to publish videos under the "Windows Media Portable Device" template which publishes videos out at 1.0Mbps, 640x480, and 30 frames per second. I've found this sitting gives me decent quality and small file sizes for publishing videos on MSN Soapbox.

Step 8: I take the video I published out from Windows Movie Maker and import it into MSN Soapbox. MSN Soapbox then lets me embed the video into a blog post.

That's how I produce videos for blog posts from shooting the footage to embedding the Soapbox player in a post.

Take note that Windows Vista natively supports bringing in HD content from a HD camcorder and lets you edit those HD videos. After importing my HD footage into Windows Vista, I can take that HD content and stream it to a HDTV using my Xbox 360. It looks wonderful. I can also burn it onto a DVD and give it to friends or family to watch too (just not in HD though). I sometimes take my HD video and put it onto my laptop to edit video while traveling too.

Because of the ease of producing videos with Windows Vista, you can continue to expect to see more videos here moving forward.

Today Microsoft is announcing the final product name for what was previously known as Windows Live Folders. Windows Live SkyDrive gets not only its final product name but also a few new features and enhanced UI reflecting changes coming across many of the Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces.

So what's Windows Live SkyDrive? Windows Live SkyDrive is a brand new Windows Live service that gives users 500MB of web space for the storing and sharing of files. Think of it as a personal "harddrive" on the internet - or "the cloud". By default, you get several protected directories which you can store your files in. These directories are completed protected from the public. Only you can view them. However, Windows Live SkyDrive allows you create or choose specific folders to share with everyone (Public folders) or specific people on your Windows Live Contacts list. You can set specific permissions for those viewing your folders as well - such as someone who can contribute (add and remove files) or someone who is simply just a reader. Your Public folder allows ONLY reader permissions for the public in viewing files within the folder. No need to worry about people maxing out your account with files.

I put together a small demo outlining Windows Live SkyDrive and several of today's beta improvements with a few new features. Check it out:

Video: Demo: Windows Live SkyDrive

For those who've been using the beta of Windows Live SkyDrive, today's changes and updates include the new Windows Live UI (header), improved file upload, thumbnails in folder views, and a section for visited SkyDrive folders from other people.

Nick and I use Windows Live SkyDrive quite a bit in sharing files. With me being outside Portland and him of course in Redmond - Windows Live SkyDrive has enabled us to quickly access and share files while working on projects. It has been a tremendous help overcoming the distance.

Give Windows Live SkyDrive a spin and let me know what you think. I'll be setting up a Public folder for you all to check out with some photos while visiting Redmond.  

Screenshots:
   

A few weeks ago Tim Sneath, who is a Group Manager and Evangelist at Microsoft, posted about Family.Show which caught my eye. I decided to give it a try. Family.Show is a genealogy application built on the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) by a company called Vertigo. Family.Show is a very slick application for building your family tree and tracking your own family history. Tim Sneath also points out that Family.Show is an excellent example of WPF in a "complex, realistic" scenario for developers to take a look at. 

In giving Family.Show a try - I discovered I really would like to know more about my family history. I had such a great experience with it I decided to create a small video demo of how Family.Show works in managing and tracking your family tree:

Video: Demo: Family.Show

Forgive the video's abruptness and pace. I didn't want to bore you with filling out a complete family - rather simply to highlight how easy it is to create your family in Family.Show.

The ability to drag and drop images into profiles of family members is an excellent showcase of some of the advantages with building apps with WPF for Windows Vista. But in regards to Family.Show - using WPF allows me to easily navigate through my family tree entering details on family members quickly and efficiently and is not overly complicated for my needs. Family.Show stores your .family files in a directory in your Documents folder which is also easily movable and backed up as well.

Click here to install Family.Show via ClickOnce. You can also view Vertigo's Family.Show site here.

In my previous demo of Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (beta) I was pretty general about its features. But I'd like to dive a little deeper into some of the enhancements and features coming with Windows Live OneCare's next major release. Coming with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 will be a brand new way to backup your most important and precious digital photos called Online Photo Backup. With Online Photo Backup you get 10GB of online storage to store your digital photos. Take a look at this small demo I made showcasing Online Photo Backup:

Video: Online Photo Backup with Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Making sure your digital photos are backed up is a high priority for Microsoft and the Windows Live OneCare Team. A user could have many years worth of digital memories stored on their PC and if that PC crashes, those memories are lost. Of course you can back those photos up to another PC, or a DVD but those don't come entirely risk-free. Backing up to another PC doesn't mean that PC won't fail and with backing up to a DVD, you run the risk of that DVD becoming damaged in some way and then unreadable to restore the data. With Online Photo Backup - you take those risks away.

I currently have over 5 years worth of digital photos on my PC with Windows Live OneCare 2.0 backing them up to my Online Photo Backup storage space. I have photos ranging from college experiences and events to WinHEC 2006 and 2007 to CES last year and the Windows Vista Launch in New York City. These are memories I would never want to lose.

With the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 beta - Online Photo Backup is an "add-on" to your OneCare Subscription and allows you to backup photos to any of your PC's in your OneCare Circle. According to the Windows Live OneCare Team Blog - when Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is released, Online Photo Backup will be an added cost to your standard OneCare Subscription package.  

For updates on Windows Live OneCare - stay tuned to their official team blog.

Be sure to also check out my previous Windows Live OneCare 2.0 demo as well.

I've been itching to demo this neat little gadget for a while now. A few months ago, I purchased the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader. The Microsoft Fingerprint Reader allows you to replace your standard Windows logon (Username and Password) with your fingerprint. And it works absolutely fantastic with Windows Vista. Anyway, I'll let the demo do the talking:

Video: Demo: Microsoft Fingerprint Reader on Windows Vista

You can quickly manage your credentials through the software that ships with the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader called DigitalPersona. If you hold your finger down on the fingerprint reader you will get a "One Touch Menu" pop up in the lower right-hand side of your screen giving you all the options you need to manage your credentials.

To manage your logons to various websites, you have a Password Manager that lets you edit the profiles for specific websites you use the fingerprint reader to login.

Using the DigitalPersona software, you are able to import and export data within your Password Manager to other PC's using Microsoft Fingerprint Readers. Security is a concern here in regards to importing and exporting of data so you are required to use your finger to verify you are you to export or import any data.

If you login in to quite a few websites, the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader is a great way to manage your logins "with the touch of a finger". Sorry, I couldn't resist ;-)

If you own a Microsoft Fingerprint Reader - you can download the Windows Vista drivers here. Just select "fingerprint reader" for your product.