Esther is back with a brand new demo focusing on another cool feature in Windows Vista - Snipping Tool.  Snipping Tool is really handy for anyone who needs to capture and/or send an image of their screen, a web page or document - really any time where the visual explains more than a description. 

We've heard great things about the other videos we did (on Previous Versions, Live Icons and Instant Search), so our plan is to continue providing content like this.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think of the video, and if you have suggestions for tips and tricks we should cover in future videos!

Also, just a reminder that you can still get the Windows Vista Product Guide - a great resource on all things Windows Vista - for FREE in paperback.  All you have to do is pay for shipping.  Order your copy here!  The paperback guide doesn't include the new stuff in Windows Vista SP1, but you can download all of that information here

I caught this bit of news tonight from Redmond Pie’s awesome Web Slice for IE8 Beta 2 which shows their latest headlines: Microsoft Live Labs has released a really neat Color Picker Gadget for Windows Sidebar.

Download: Color Picker Gadget from Microsoft Live Labs

Essentially the Color Picker Gadget gives users quick access to RGB color hex codes. This could be extremely handy when working with several apps or doing website development and you’re needing to utilize a palette across the board. This Gadget allows you to create and save your own color palettes and search palettes from the website COLOURlovers. This was a side project of Live Labs Designer Jeff Weir. For more information, check out this post on the Microsoft Live Labs Blog.

A few weeks ago, Chris Pirillo (of Lockergnome fame) launched a brand new community website – called Geeks! - designed to give geeks of all ages a place to socialize on the web. On Geeks! – folks can sign-up to become members on the site and create photo albums, add videos, and even create a blog – all for free! The best part essentially is interacting and socializing with fellow geeks with the same geeky interests as you. Being a geek myself – I’ve signed up on Geeks! and if you’re a geek – you should too!

To help attract more geeks to Geeks! – the awesome Microsoft LifeCam folks at Microsoft Hardware have donated 10 Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams to Chris for a giveaway. These are the brand spankin’ new webcams just announced earlier this month.

This is how you can be entered to win one of these new Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams:

1. Sign-up to become a member of Geeks!

2. Join the Microsoft Hardware group on Geeks!

Once Geeks! hits 7,500 members – Chris will randomly draw 10 names for the 10 Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 webcams from the list of members in the Microsoft Hardware group. You are required to be a member of the Microsoft Hardware group to be entered for the giveaway. As of the writing of this post – Geeks! currently has 5,040 members. So sign-up and tell your friends!

I own both a Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 and VX-7000 and both offer excellent quality video as well as impressive video conferencing capabilities via Windows Live Messenger. You can also use the brand new LifeCam 2.0 software to add video effects to your webcam video and images. Microsoft’s LifeCams (including the VX-5500 being given away) are also compatible with AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft Office Communicator, and Skype.

Click here to view Chris’s announcement of the giveaway.

After you sign-up on Geeks! – feel free to add me as one of your geek friends!

This post was written using the new Beta of Windows Live Writer now available on download.live.com. I used Chris’s YouTube video to test Windows Live Writer’s ability to insert videos from YouTube. In the past I’ve only inserted videos from Soapbox on MSN Video. For a more complete list of what’s new with the Windows Live Writer Beta – click here.

I caught this via Nic over at Channel 10 today – a new version of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools has been released: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2.

Download: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2

The first thing I want to mention in regards to what’s new with Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 is something I think many readers here will find as very good news: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2 now has support for 64-bit Windows Vista.

Here’s what else is new with Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2:

• Support for reading & writing XMP side car metadata enabling interoperability with Adobe products.
• Viewing actual RAW images, in addition to thumbnails
• Conversion of RAW files to JPEG, TIFF, and HD Photo using “As Shot” camera settings.
• The ability to resize RAW images.
• Support for geotagging international locales
• Improved functionality for geotagging images.

And the features from the previous version of Microsoft Pro Photo Tools is there there too including the use of Virtual Earth 3D for 3D renderings of a image’s location.

For more details, check out the team’s post on the Microsoft Professional Photography Blog.

In light of tonight's new ad "Life without Walls" seen in newspapers today along with the new "Real PC" TV ads (see Chris's post); I've decided to make wallpapers for folks so they can add "Life without Walls" as wallpaper on their PC.

1920x1200

1650x1050

1600x1200

1280x1024

1280x800

Just click on the above thumbnails for which ever screen resolution you need and in Flickr - choose "All sizes" and then "Original". Right-click and download away!

These wallpapers were uploaded to Flickr using Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta - available at download.live.com.

As was announced yesterday - the Windows Live Calendar Beta was to be upgraded today starting at 3pm Pacific Time. And it seems the upgrade is almost complete as folks are beginning to take notice when they log in to Windows Live Calendar it looks different!

The Windows Live Calendar Team says the following changes will appear in the Windows Live Calendar Beta update tonight:

• To Dos: Now you can manage personal and shared task lists with our new To Do functionality.
• Design and Usability Enhancements: A lighter weight user interface allows your calendar data shine through. Lots more room for your calendar data!

Definitely check out the new To Do functionality. I've created a task for me as you can see here:

I've got a ton of tasks to be added!

And remember - you can sync your calendars to your PC with the Windows Live Mail Beta available at download.live.com.

Right now as I write this everyone should be enjoying the shiny new Windows Live Betas - available for download at download.live.com. I'd like to take a moment to highlight several blog posts from the Windows Live Product Teams I think folks will be interested in reading.

Tanja, Program Manager for Windows Live Mail, is back on the Windows Live Mail Blog talking about today's Windows Live Mail Beta release. We all know that Windows Live Mail is sporting calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar (currently in Beta at calendar.live.com) but Tanja sheds some light on some specific calendaring features such as the "Add to Calendar" button. When you're reading an email with important information about an event or related to an event all you need to do is click "Add to Calendar" and you can take that information within the email and turn it into an Event in one of your Calendars. She also discusses the Event window where you can set the event to reoccurring, set a start and stop time and more.

Speaking of Windows Live Calendar - tomorrow Thursday Sept. 18 starting around 3PM Pacific Time the Windows Live Calendar Beta will be down for a few hours while the service gets upgraded.

Aaron from the Windows Live Messenger Team posted on the Windows Live Messenger Blog and discusses their Beta release and the features within the new Beta release such as Favorites, Group IM, Personalization, and the What's New feed. Aaron also mentions that the Windows Live Messenger Beta also has the ability to sign in at multiple locations called MPOP (short for Multiple Points of Presence).

The Windows Live Writer Team published a very extensive list of changes and updates in their Beta release. You should definitely check it out if you're a heavy Windows Live Writer.

And the Windows Live Digital Memories Team has posted lists of new features and changes in both the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta and Windows Live Movie Maker Beta.

And Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta? Yup! Michael Palermiti, Program Manager for Windows Live Photo Gallery, has a blog post up on the Windows Live Dev Blog discussing new extensibility in the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta. Developers now have a framework to develop publishing plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Matter a fact, Omar Shahine has published a plug-in he created for publishing photos to SmugMug.

When folks create new plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery, the Digital Memories Team will add the plug-ins to this page off their blog. Bookmark it now ;-)

Be sure to check out previous blog post on the Windows Live Betas and outlining what's new in each of the client applications.

Want to check out what's next for Windows Live? Chris Jones, Corporate Vice President for Windows Live Experience Program Management, has announced today the availability of new Betas for the Windows Live client applications on the Windows Live Wire blog. These Betas showcase significant updates to the client applications in the Windows Live suite introducing the next wave of Windows Live products and services. Chris does a fantastic job explaining the term "wave" and how it's used to describe Windows Live releases.  Definitely give his post a read as it discusses some background for Windows Live as it's progressed from 2006 to 2007 to today. Expect regular posts on the Windows Live Wire blog from members of the Windows Live Engineering Team discussing in greater detail specifics on the new stuff coming up for Windows Live.

To download the new Windows Live Betas - just head on over to download.live.com later today and install the betas.

When we talk about the Windows Live suite - we are talking about the following desktop client applications that sit on the user's PC that tap in to the Windows Live services in the "cloud" (the web). These applications are only part of the Windows Live story as they all connect in more than one way to the Windows Live web services. Windows Live represents what is called software + services where software is connected to services on the web. The follow applications are part of the Windows Live suite:

• Windows Live Messenger
• Windows Live Mail
• Windows Live Writer
• Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Windows Live Movie Maker (NEW)
• Windows Live Family Safety

Windows Live Movie Maker is brand new to the Windows Live suite in the next major wave of releases for Windows Live. But I'll talk more about Windows Live Movie Maker in a bit.

An example of how these client applications tap into the Windows Live services in the "cloud" is how the Windows Live client applications handle contacts. A single contacts storage service - called Windows Live Contacts - powers your Messenger contact list and Address Book in Windows Live Hotmail. Your Messenger contact list *is* your Windows Live Contacts. As Chris Jones said in his Windows Live Wire blog entry - these updated Windows Live client applications are "designed to work best when connected to our suite of web-based services". I've got one word for that - w00t!

Ok enough of the technicalities - let's take a look at what's new with the Windows Live client application betas. Keep in mind I'm only going to briefly cover some of these features as this post could get really long if I went in-depth. I'll dive deeper into specific features in later posts.

NOTE: Instead of putting "Beta" at the end of every product name everything here on out is related to the Windows Live Betas being released today and not the RTM Windows Live suite (aka the non-Beta Windows Live apps).

Let's start with Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live Messenger essentially was almost completely redesigned.

By default, the UI sports an all new lighter color scheme. You'll notice that the tabs in Messenger are no longer on the left-hand side. Instead, they now sit in a "Tab Bar" just above the video carousal or banner ad. The Tab Bar can be turned off. You can also have your What's New feed from Windows Live Spaces appear in Windows Live Messenger for you to keep track of what's happening with your friends in Windows Live. You can see the What's New feed on your Windows Live Spaces homepage today.

When you mouse over a contact, Windows Live Messenger now has a neat mouse-over menu that lets you choose a variety of options such as sending a text message to a contact's cell, calling that contact, or viewing their contact card.

TIP: For your most favorite contacts you can drag them to the Favorites category. I use the Favorites category in Messenger for contacts that I instant message with the most.

However one of the biggest changes to Windows Live Messenger is how you can personalize your Messenger experience. I was able to change the way my contact list looks which is great. I am also now able to choose a "scene" for the main window of Messenger. There are several scenes that come with Messenger I was able to choose from. I discovered you can also choose your own scene from photos you have on your PC as well. When I chose a scene - Messenger automatically changed the color of my Messenger windows to match the coloring in the scene I chose.

In the screenshot, you can see I chose one of the desktop wallpapers that came with Windows Vista (the one that is also the background here on the Windows Vista Team Blog). Now what is really neat about choosing a scene for Messenger is that it also changes how the Messenger window looks when you're chatting with a friend. Essentially you can truly change how your contacts "see" you. Because I changed my scene in Messenger to be the Windows Vista energy wallpaper - when I chat with someone on Messenger (who is also running the Beta) their Messenger window will reflect my scene. This is the conversation window I see when I initiate a conversation with the Windows Experience Blog. Take a look:

Windows Live Messenger also lets you choose a Signature Sound that plays for your contacts when you sign-in to Messenger.

There is more than just customization changes to Windows Live Messengers folks will notice with the Beta. Users can now create Groups where they can add up to 20 people for private group instant messaging. Users can now share photos directly within the conversation window which I found to be an excellent new feature.

I can choose multiple photos to share with a Messenger contact and go through the photos with them in the conversation window. Instead of sending photos one by one in Messenger - this is a much easier way share photos with friends. You can either press the "Photos" button in the top left-hand corner of the conversation window or drag and drop photos onto the chat box.

In Windows Live Mail - users will enjoy full calendar sync with Windows Live Calendar. I've been waiting for this feature for a long time and it's very exciting to finally see!

I was able to create new calendars and have them sync up in Windows Live Calendar and vice versa. Windows Live Mail will also import calendars from Windows Calendar in Windows Vista as well which will then also sync up to Windows Live Calendar if you've signed up for the Windows Live Calendar Beta at calendar.live.com.

TIP: In both Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail - you'll notice that contacts display tile (or status "dot") will glow green if they are online, yellow is they are "Away", and red if they are "Busy". If a contact is offline - their status "dot" will be white or their display tile will be faded. The status icons and colors are going to be consistent across Windows Live.

Windows Live Photo Gallery expands on helping users manage their digital photo collections by offering several new features that make managing their photos a lot easier.  

Windows Live Photo Gallery now has face-detection technology that helps find people within your photos. When I opened a photo of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld from one of the new TV ads, Windows Live Photo Gallery detected two people in the photo. I was then able to add people tags to each of the people Windows Live Photo Gallery detected.

When a person is detected, all I needed to do was put my mouse over that person and a list of my Windows Live Contacts appeared. I can choose a person from my Windows Live Contacts or manually add a name. I certainly don't have Bill Gates or Jerry Seinfeld as Windows Live Contacts ;-)

TIP: If Windows Live Photo Gallery is unable to detect some faces, you can add them manually by clicking on "Add people tag". You can then draw a square over a face and choose a people tag for that person.

There are also new options for fixing your photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery in the Beta such as "Straighten photo" and "Black and White Effects".

If a photo is tilted in some awkward way, the "Straighten photo" tool lets you align the photo to fix that tilt. And sometimes you might want to create some old fashioned black and white photos but didn't shoot the photos in black and white - now you can quickly make them black and white in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Just like with the last release - Windows Live Photo Gallery continues to let you upload your photos to either Windows Live Spaces or Flickr. But under the "Extras" menu you'll notice there is an option to "Create a Photosynth". Consider this like a quick shortcut to creating new Synths for Photosynth. If you have the Photosynth plugin installed on your system, you can jump into creating a Synth right from Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows Live Writer continues to be the best (and coolest) blog editing tool on the web.

New UI lets you switch via tabs at the bottom between blog post "edit", "preview", and HTML much more quickly - which is something I find extremely useful as I am always putting embed code in my blog posts and switching between edit and HTML is something I do quite often. Windows Live Writer now also supports being able to upload videos directly to online video services such as Soapbox on MSN Video and YouTube.

Windows Live Movie Maker is the newest addition to the Windows Live suite. This isn't simply Windows Movie Maker from Windows Vista re-branded. Windows Live Movie Maker was, like Windows Live Messenger, pretty much re-designed. Using the familiar Fluent user interface (as seen in Microsoft Office 2007) - or commonly referred to as the "ribbon" UI - Windows Live Movie Maker offers a brand new movie making and editing experience with the average consumer in mind.

Windows Live Movie Maker lets you add audio tracks and video effects to your videos.

Once you edit your videos using Windows Live Movie Maker you can upload those videos directly to Soapbox on MSN Video.

I use Windows Live Movie Maker today to bring in videos I take with my LifeCam VX-7000. I edit them and splice them together and then upload to Soapbox. The VX-7000 shoots some pretty good quality video for uploading to the web. Most webcams today consumers own can shoot some pretty decent video and what better than to use Windows Live Movie Maker to edit those videos and upload them to Soapbox for all to see?

It is important to understand that Windows Live Movie Maker Beta is in the early stage of testing and will of course continue to evolve. Part of getting the Beta in your hands today is getting feedback to shape the product.

And finally we have Windows Live Family Safety. Windows Live Family Safety offers an improved and simplified sign up process makes it easier to configure the service and manage your kids' activities online. Because I don't have kids myself and don't need this application, I don't have much experience with it to-date. But if you have a family, this application is something you should certainly check out especially when you're looking to keep your kids safe while being on the Internet.

Whew. This turned in to a very long post - one of my longest yet. There is some very exciting things happening with Windows Live so it deserves such a long post. I think I've outlined most of the biggest changes you can check out in the Windows Live Betas today. To leave feedback: head on over to the Windows Live Wire blog or go to feedback.live.com.

If there are any specifics within the Windows Live Betas you want to hear more about - let me know!

UPDATE: I've updated the screenshots so they are a bit of a higher quality.

Almost two weeks ago, I blogged about a contest being put on by The WinVistaClub for finding the best Windows Vista website on the web. And yesterday the winners were officially announced!  

Winner: Tweaking with Vishal

The website Tweaking with Vishal took the crown by a landslide, capturing 32% of the 11, 520 votes. The website is definitely a Vista tour de force with hundreds, dare I say thousands of tips and tricks for customers.  

Congrats to Vishal and all of the finalists. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to spreading the word!

As was announced last week - the Zune Team rolled out their Zune 3.0 release today consisting of updated Software and Firmware which is now available for all to enjoy at the updated Zune.net website. Click here to go directly to the Zune 3.0 software download page. Once you download and install the Zune 3.0 software, your Zune device once it's connected will be offered new firmware. You can now enjoy new features such as Channels, Personal Picks, Mix View, Buy from FM and more. Oh and the new Now Playing screen is pretty slick too! Also hitting store shelves as we speak are 2 new Zune devices: the Zune 16 and Zune 120. And the Zune 8 is now available in shiny blue-on-silver. As readers of the blog are aware, I've expressed keen interest in picking up a Blue Zune 8. And I did! To celebrate today's Zune 3.0 release I figured I'd post some unboxing shots of the new blue Zune 8.

The Box

Opening the Zune 8 Box

Unboxed

The BLUE Zune 8

I also did some shots comparing the Blue Zune 8 with a Black Zune 8 and a Zune 80. Take a look:

Zumerama does an unboxing of a Zune 16 and Paul Thurrott unboxes the Zune 120. Jason Dunn from Zune Thoughts also discusses his recent trip to Zune Headquarters in Redmond which is also worth a read.

The Zune 16 is available in stores in all black however today it was announced that people can order different colored Zune 16's exclusively via Zune Originals. Zune Originals will offer the Zune 16 in blue, red, pink and green as an online exclusive only. New artwork will also be hitting Zune Originals as well!

To help users utilize the new wireless functionality in their Zune devices - the Zune Team is also announcing today that it is working with high-speed Internet access provider Wayport Inc. to offer Zune users free wireless access to the Zune Marketplace from more than 9,800 participating McDonald's restaurants across the United States.

I'm always looking to discover new music. Add me as a friend on the Zune Social and let me know of some new music I should try out.

With the release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 a few weeks ago, users were introduced to new features, such as Web Slices and Accelerators, as well as enhanced Search capabilities that make browsing the Web much easier. Users can now be exposed to specific bits of information they want quick access to - from the latest news to the latest weather to search for a new blue 8GB Zune. I'd like to take a moment to highlight just a few examples of partners who have taken advantage of IE8's capabilities in Beta 2.

Search:

New York Times Instant Search - By adding The New York Times as a Search Provider in IE8, users can search the latest headlines from The New York Times directly from IE8's inline search.

Web Slices:

Digg's Main Page Top 10 - Find the latest popular stories that have been "dug" on Digg with this Web Slice. 

freenetMail - Let's subscribers check their freenetMail, or view meetings, tasks and birthdays.

And Me.dium offers several Search Providers, Web Slices, Accelerators and Add-ons for IE8 that users can enjoy - mixing browsing the Web with social networking! Click here to see Me.dium's offerings.

More and more new Web Slices, Accelerators, Search Providers, and Add-ons are getting added to the Internet Explorer Gallery all the time.

Today we are also releasing IE8 Beta 2 in 21 more languages in addition to what we released last month (English, Germany, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese). The additional languages are: Arabic, Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

You can click here to download Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 today.

For more about Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, be sure to check out my comprehensive overview or this series of very cool IE8 videos that showcase many of the features available in IE8 Beta 2 today.

Earlier this week, Apple released iTunes 8 which included some headaches for Windows Vista users (including myself) in the way of blue screens of death. My good friend Ed Bott dug into the situation and discovered what might be causing the issue - it appears to be a problem with a driver that is installed when users also install iTunes 8. Unfortunately iTunes is known for pushing out components that Windows users don't necessarily want.

Fortunately, not all is lost. Due to the uproar from unsatisfied customers, Apple issued an updated version of iTunes 8 that fixes the problem (sort of).  You'll need to uninstall the broken version of ITunes 8 and Apple Mobile Devices support, and then use your Apple Software Updater to reinstall iTunes 8 and get it working the right way. 

Anyways you might be asking why I even installed iTunes in the first place and it's because I am a software fiend and love playing with new software regardless of who it's by. But just so you know - I'm a diehard Zune user myself ;-)

Yesterday, the Zune Team announced their Zune 3.0 release was hitting next week on September 16th. As a Zune user myself, I am pretty stoked for the Zune 3.0 release. The Zune 3.0 release consists of updates across the entire Zune ecosystem including new firmware updates for all Zune devices, new Zune software update, and updates to the Zune Social. The Zune 3.0 release focuses on music discovery and taking it to the next level.

Instead of me talking about the new features in Zune 3.0 that help users discover new music - I figure I'd just show you these videos from members of the Zune Team instead that show off the new features themselves (I love that new Zune animation they use at the beginning and end of the videos!).

Terry Farrell, Product Manager on Zune Marketing Team, discusses the new Channels feature. Channels are like "regularly updated playlists" as Cesar Menendez explains in his blog post on the Zune Insider talking about the Zune 3.0 release. One of the Channels users can be able to subscribe to is the Billboard Top 100. Check out Terry's demo for the low-down:

Video: Zune Fall Update: Channels

Dave Jones, Lead Program Manager on the Zune Software Team, discusses the new Zune software features in Zune 3.0 such as Mix View, the enhanced Now Playing screen, and Personal Picks:

Video: Zune Software Features - Zune Fall 2008

Terry Ferrell discusses the new wireless features in Zune 3.0 such as browsing the Zune Marketplace wirelessly by attaching to a local wireless "hot spot" (hot spots can range from your own wireless home network to your local coffee shop):

Video: Zune Fall 2008 Wireless Features

Megan Tedesco, Program Manager on the Zune Device Team, discusses the Buy from FM feature let lets you add songs you hear from a FM radio station to your cart for purchase and download from the Zune Marketplace:

Video: Zune Fall update: buy from FM

On top of the features mentioned above, the new firmware update for Zune devices will also bring Games and Audiobook support.

The Zune Team is also introducing two new devices with the Zune 3.0 release: the Zune 16 (16GB) and Zune 120 (120GB). Shiny new blue-on-silver and sleek all-black color schemes are also being introduced. I'm going after the new shiny blue-on-silver Zune 16 once it hits stores!

Whether you have a Zune 4 or a Zune 120 - all Zune devices have FM and wireless capabilities so users will be able to enjoy these new features (Buy from FM, Browse Zune Marketplace) across the board.

For more information on the Zune 3.0 release definitely check out Cesar Menendez's post over on the Zune Insider. I know its a bit late but congrats Cesar on the new Zune-ified theme for Zune Insider!

I don't know about you but I'm really looking forward to next week's release :-)

Today we announced 2 new Microsoft LifeCams that will be entering the LifeCam Family - the LifeCam Show and LifeCam VX-5500. We also have something to go along with the new LifeCams that extend the LifeCam experience...

People leave friends and family personalized voice mails or send them emails all the time. What about sending them a customized video message with all the benefits of voice mail and email but with video instead? Today, we're launching Video Messages to do just that!   Video Messages lets users enjoy the combination of what they get with voice mail and email with video to send personalized video messages to friends and family (or whoever they want).

You can visit Windows Live Video Messages at videomessages.live.com.

How about we check out what Windows Live Video Messages is all about?

When users sign into the Windows Live Video Messages website, they will notice it is set up quite a bit like a mailbox is for email. And that's how users should treat their Video Messages - like voicemail but better.

Note: Silverlight is required for Windows Live Video Messages.

On the top left hand corner, users will see 3 categories for Video Messages next to their display icon: Received, Sent, and Unviewed. A listing of how many Unviewed Video Messages is also displayed along with total Video Messages you have in your account.

On the left hand side users will have a sidebar that also displays new Video Messages (the black number circle in the above screenshot) as well as a list of their top 6 contacts.

When I first signed in to Windows Live Video Messages, I had 1 Unviewed Video Message. This was Video Message by Microsoft welcoming me to Windows Live Video Messages. A tile with a link to a list of available Microsoft LifeCams and where to buy them was also included.

On the top right hand side of Windows Live Video Messages is another set of buttons and options.

Users can select how they wish to view their Video Messages. There are 2 options: "Scattered" View or Grid View. By default, when users sign in it will be on Scattered View as that's what it was one for me when I signed in. Users can also check how much space they have left in Windows Live Video Messages by moving their mouse over the little harddrive icon. Users will get 2GB of storage for their Video Messages. Because Video Messages aren't usually very long - 2GB of storage will go a long way. And of course the Recycle Bin icon lets you manage deleted Video Messages and can be emptied at any time.

Recording a Video Message is really easy. To do so, all users need to do is press the "+" at the bottom right hand corner. A recording window will pop up.

NOTE: Windows Live Video Messages is designed to work with all of Microsoft's LifeCams. Non-Microsoft webcams are also supported by the website.

Windows Live Video Messages will detect your LifeCam and display your LifeCam in the Recording window.

After users record their Video Message, they can play it back before sending to make sure it's what they want to send. If it is what they want to send, they can click the "+" buttons on the empty display icons at the bottom to add contacts they want to send the Video Message to. You will be able to add multiple contacts as well. Users will also be able to lock certain Video Messages from being forwarded or saved by recipients.

After the user sends their Video Message, the person you sent it to will be notified via email a new Video Message is available for them to view.

That person can then reply to it just as they would reply to an email you send.

Sending and receiving Video Messages is really easy. But wait - there's more!

For users on Windows Vista, there is also a LifeCam video messages gadget available that lets users create, send, and receive Video Messages right from their Windows Vista desktop (with Windows Sidebar of course!). Users can choose 6 of their top contacts to be always shown in the gadget for quick access to sending Video Messages to specific people - like your mom. The LifeCam video messages gadget supports the all of the Microsoft LifeCams.

The Gadget will run on 64-bit systems when running Windows Sidebar in 32-bit mode.

Give Windows Live Video Messages a try today and start sending Video Messages to your friends and family! I also currently own the Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 - which I blogged about here. I also got my hands on the Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 which is also proving to be an excellent webcam. I'll be blogging more about the VX-5000 shortly. And certainly check out the new Microsoft LifeCams announced today as well.

A few weeks ago, John Obeto published a very extensive review of HP's 2nd generation TouchSmart PC. The new HP TouchSmart PCs are a follow-up to the 1st generation HP TouchSmart PCs which were released in January of 2007. The 1st generation HP TouchSmart PC was one of the first consumer PCs that took advantage of features in Windows Vista such as Windows Media Center. John's review goes from unboxing and OOBE (Out-Of-Box-Experience) to several testing scenarios. While the HP TouchSmart PC is a consumer PC - John also discusses the "unintended" use of the HP TouchSmart PC for the Small Business.

On my recent visit to Disneyland to see the Innoventions Dream Home, I was able to play around with the new 2nd generation HP TouchSmart PC courtesy of HP. At the Innoventions Dream Home, today there is a mixture of 1st generation and 2nd generation HP TouchSmart PCs. HP hopes to replace all the 1st generation HP TouchSmart PCs with the new 2nd generation TouchSmart PCs at the Innoventions Dream Home in the coming months.

So what is the HP TouchSmart PC exactly? It is an all-in-one PC with a 22 inch widescreen display that has built in touch capabilities. That means you can essentially touch the screen and utilize applications that take advantage of the built in touch features.  HP ships a suite of TouchSmart applications that take advantage of touch but more about this in just a bit. 

The new HP TouchSmart PC ships with the following specs (complete list of details specs are listed here in this PDF):

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5850 (2.16GHz)
Chipset: Intel GM965 Express Chipset
Memory: 4GB DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200RPM SATA
Optical Drive: Slot-load SuperMulti DVD Burner
Video Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300 M GS HD with 256MB Dedicated Video Memory
Network: 10/100/1000 BaseT network interface
Wireless Connectivity: Integrated Bluetooth / Wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n) with built-in WLAN antenna
Audio: Integrated High Definition Audio with High-performance 2.0 Speakers
TV Tuner: Dual-format NTSC or over-the-air ATSC High-Definition TV Tuner
Remote Control: HP Media Center Remote control with IR (infrared) Receiver
External Memory Port:  5-in-1 memory card reader

You'll notice the system ships with 4GB of RAM. Because of this - the HP TouchSmart PC also ships with Windows Vista Home Premium x64 to take advantage of the full amount of memory. The HP TouchSmart PC also ships with Windows Vista SP1 installed as well.

There are 2 models of the HP TouchSmart PC today: the IQ504t and IQ506t. The biggest difference between the two models is that the IQ506t is the model that ships with the TV Tuner built in.

The design of the 2nd generation HP TouchSmart PC is quite a bit different than the 1st generation. The main PC is a much sleeker design. HP describes the design as a "sleek piano black design with elegant espresso side-panel highlights". The unit also comes with a HP Ambient Light that allows users to see their keyboard in the dark. The keyboard is also conveniently able to be tucked under the unit when needed as well which is nice especially if you would like more room.

While the design of this all-in-one PC is impressive, equally impressive is the HP TouchSmart Suite that ships with it. The TouchSmart Suite consists of the following applications:

• HP TouchSmart Music
• HP TouchSmart Video
• HP TouchSmart Photo
• HP TouchSmart RSS Feeds
• HP TouchSmart Browser
• HP TouchSmart Calendar
• HP TouchSmart Notes

These applications take full advantage of the touch capabilities of the HP TouchSmart PC. Navigate through your RSS feeds with the touch of a finger. Go through your calendars by simply touching the screen. Play music, view photos, watch videos - all by touching the screen. In using these applications you can see that HP has invested a great deal in touch capabilities for this PC - which is very exciting. In my own experience trying these applications out myself - I found everything responds elegantly to the move of my finger on the screen. No lag, not hiccups what so ever. It was certainly a "wow" moment for me. If this PC was sitting in your kitchen or living room, to use it all you would need to do is walk up to it and touch the screen - no keyboard necessary.

Side-note: I'd like to note because this PC ships with Windows Vista Home Premium x64 - the TouchSmart Suite of applications work fully under 64-bit.

HP has invested quite a bit in touch technology for the PC. The HP TouchSmart PC is a culmination of 25 years of HP touch technology design and development. HP first brought a PC with touch technology to the market in 1983 with the introduction of the HP 150 PC.

For more details on the HP TouchSmart PC - check out HP's TouchSmart Website at www.hp.com/go/touchsmart. There you can view a demo of the HP TouchSmart PC's impressive capabilities. You may have also seen their ad on TV as well. If you want to check out the HP TouchSmart PC out yourself in person - the HP TouchSmart PCs can be seen in a variety of stores such as Best Buy, Fry's, and Circuit City. You can also see them, as mentioned above, at the Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland.