Windows Experience Blog : Demo

Windows Media Center’s New Pictures + Videos Features in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:54:16 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Windows Media Center Team here at Microsoft and shoot some videos of the new features that are currently in the Windows 7 Beta. I’m a fairly heavy user of Windows Media Center and know many of our readers are too. This post highlights many of the the changes and new features that people can enjoy for themselves as they try out the Windows 7 Beta.

In the first of several videos I shot, Windows Media Center Program Manager Noah Spitzer-Williams takes us through the new Pictures + Videos features in Windows Media Center.

Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta

In the above video, Noah demos the following new Windows Media Center features and changes in Windows 7 (in the order of appearance in the video) to the Pictures + Videos experience:

Changes to the way videos are displayed in Video Library to include Thumbnails AND Names for each video.
Support for H.264 Video - no 3rd party codecs are required to play H.264 content.
Video Play-All Option (think of it as a “Video Slide Show”) with ability to navigate between each video.
Developers can take advantage of the new Import API for Windows Portable Devices. The new API enables photos AND videos from portable devices to be imported directly within Windows Media Center.
Ability to create Slide Shows (new Slide Show pivot) with your pictures and can contain pictures or music or both.
New On-screen Keyboard (Touch-enabled).
Improved Rating Controls within Windows Media Center UI.
New Ratings Pivot for quick access to your favorite content.
Play Favorites feature with new Slide Show style.
Auto Slide Show feature acts as a screensaver for Windows Media Center.

You may have caught PowerPlaylist in the Windows Media Center menu in the video. PowerPlaylist is an application originally released by the Windows Media Center Team for Windows Vista and can be downloaded here via CodePlex. The Windows Media Center Team is revising PowerPlaylist for Windows 7 and an early copy was installed on the PC running the Windows 7 Beta in the video. They plan to release an updated version to CodePlex soon. I’ll be covering that soon as well.

Expect more videos to follow shortly!

Notes on the Windows 7 Demo from Today’s PDC Keynote

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:59:05 GMT

Just a few hours ago, Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for Windows and Windows Live Engineering, did his keynote here at PDC2008 unveiling Windows 7 to the world for the first time. Steven asked Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Experience, to come up on stage and demo specific Windows 7 features that I think you’ll find very exciting. I’d like to take a moment and share some notes I took live here from PDC from his keynote about those features that they demoed.

It’s important to note that many of these features that were demoed during the Keynote were from more recent Windows 7 build and didn’t make it into the Windows 7 build being handed out to attendees here at PDC – but we wanted to show them off to you anyway.

Ok now on to my notes on the features demoed here from PDC (not in any specific order)! I also hope to try and add a little more context to the features that were demoed.

I’d like to emphasize all of these features that were demoed ultimately showcases that Windows 7 is being designed to make the things you do today faster and easier, and new things possible.

New Windows Taskbar in Windows 7:

The new Windows Taskbar in Windows 7 focuses on application “tiles”. These application tiles can be arranged or re-arranged anywhere on the Windows Taskbar simply by grabbing the tiles and moving them where ever you want on the taskbar. Users will be able to “pin” applications they use the most to the new Windows Taskbar via the Start Menu by simply dragging and dropping those apps from the Start Menu to the Windows Taskbar.

Another Windows Taskbar feature that was demoed was Live Previews. This lets users quickly see into the application window to see what’s there within the application window. When a user has multiple tabs opened in IE in Windows 7, when they move their mouse over the IE tile on the Windows Task bar – Live Previews will show all the tabs that are opened in IE (as seen in the above screenshot). You can even close tabs via Live Previews on the Windows Taskbar.

When users mouse-over each of the tabs they can “peak” into the each IE tab as it briefly appears on the maximized on screen. Sometimes the Live Preview via the taskbar isn’t enough of a preview.

The idea here is to offer users easier access to their most used applications and applications they have running.

Jump Lists:

Another feature that is also part of both the new Windows Taskbar and also the Start Menu is Jump lists. When you right-click on an application on the new Windows Taskbar in Windows 7 – you get a “Jump List” of options. In the demo, Julie right-clicked on Word and a Jump List appeared showcasing recent documents that have been worked on. If you recall, your recent documents you worked on in Word was usually accessible only inside Word. Jump Lists enable you quick access to options that might be deep within an application.

Here at PDC, we’re talking about how developers can take advantage of API’s that allow them to utilize Jump Lists.

The screenshot above is showcasing a Jump List for Windows Explorer within the Start Menu in Windows 7.

Windows Explorer:

Windows Explorer introduces a new Navigation Pane showcasing easy access to your Libraries and HomegGroup as well as your Desktop and Computer. Libraries allow users to have all their data (documents, music, photos, videos, etc) all in one place. We want network sharing to be much easier in Windows 7. And HomeGroup enable just that. HomeGroup is designed to seamlessly integrate and share computers and devices on your home network. Your HomeGroup is also searchable via Windows Explorer too.

Each Library can have “locations” of folders configured to be included into that Library. Local or network locations can be included in Libraries. In the demo – you could see multiple locations for one “place” or Library. You can add folders from other PCs in your HomeGroup to your Libraries too and they will show up whenever you connect to your HomeGroup.

I have a more in-depth blog post exploring the power of Libraries and HomeGroup in Windows 7 that should be posted shortly – stay tuned.

Searching for files is also easier in Windows 7. Search now includes Filters such as “Type” or “Tags”. When searching for a specific term – matching strings are highlighted. Windows Explorer also enables quick access to enabling the Preview window with an icon in the top right-hand corner of the Windows Explorer toolbar.

There is a consistent Windows Explorer UI across all of Windows 7 including Windows Media Player 12.

Media Streaming:

It just plays. Windows 7 makes it easier to play media on your home network (especially with HomeGroup). No more choices thrown at you when try to play media.

Windows 7 will let you stream any media to computers and devices on your network including Digital Picture Frames.

In Windows Media Player 12, you can play music to a specific device on your home network. When you stream music to a specific device (or “play to” a specific device) – a device player called the Play To player will appear letting you control playing media to that device. All Julie did was right-click on a device in HomeGroup and choose “Play to”. This works for not just songs but also videos and images and also can be utilized in Windows Media Center in Windows 7 too.

Device Stage:

Device Stage is an all-in-one view of a specific device on in your PC’s Printers and Devices Folder – a new folder in Windows 7. 3rd party hardware manufacturers can use Device Stage to give users all the options – or “Tasks” - they need and want to control their device whether it’s a printer or mobile device. The Device Stage experience is also services-enabled feature customizable for 3rd party hardware manufacturers.

In the demo, Julie shows off connected her Motorola phone to Windows 7 and being able to manage that device using Device Stage. Because the Motorola phone is a Plug-and-Play device, the device appears in the taskbar and Device Stage pops up on her screen when she plugged it in to Windows 7. Device Stage is designed to take advantage of mobile devices and offers specific tasks such as syncing media to a device, syncing contacts and calendar events from Outlook to a device, and creating and downloading ring tones. Custom phone makers and carriers can take advantage of Device Stage for their devices.

We’ll have much more to say about Device Stage in Windows 7 next week and WinHEC!

Personalization:

In Windows 7 – your desktop is YOURS. Windows 7 will ship with specific themes users can use for their PCs or customize and create their own. 3^rd parties can create custom themes for Windows 7 and let you download them. We’re looking to offer theme downloads straight off of windows.com for users to enjoy.

Julie also demoed the improved abilities to change the color of glass in Windows 7.

Gadgets are now built in to the desktop instead of being confined to a sidebar. You can place them anywhere you want on the desktop or “snap” them to the side like you did previously with Windows Vista’s Windows Sidebar. To add gadgets, people will simply be able to right-click on their desktop to do so.

System Tray Enhancements:

The Windows Taskbar also comes with System Tray enhancements that automatically hide all but a default set of notification icons. Hidden notification icons are put into an “overflow” menu which can be expanded out to view. For notification icons you want on your system tray, Julie shows that you can drag icons from the “overflow” menu to the system tray. If there is a notification icon you don’t want on the System Tray, simply drag it to the desktop and it disappears. Users can also change the order by dragging the notification icons in the order you desire.

The overflow menu has a Notification Icon Control Panel that lets you also manage which notification icons are visible and how they alert you etc.

Wireless Networking:

Directly from the System Tray, Windows 7 introduces a better way of quickly accessing and connecting to wireless networks. Find and discovering available wireless networks is much easier. When new wireless networks are available in Windows 7, the network icon in the System Tray gets a neat little yellow star icon. Users can click the network icon and expand the available networks and choose which one they want to connect too.

Action Center:

Action Center is the central spot for users to troubleshoot issues with their Windows 7 PCs, view reported problems (and report them to Microsoft), run maintenance tasks that can make your Windows 7 PC perform better. Windows Defender is also integrated with Action Center to minimize the amount of alerts users see.

You can also use Action Center to access the UAC Control Panel…

UAC:

Enhancements to UAC put users in control of how UAC communicates with them.

Touch Capabilities:

Windows 7 spots huge investments in Touch capabilities. Julie demos quite a few of these features using a new HP TouchSmart PC. You can read two of my posts on HP’s TouchSmart PC line here and here. She first demos access Jump Lists with touch and also rearranging stuff with touch. She also showcases Gestures which make using touch-capable devices with Windows 7 pretty slick.

Touch in Windows 7 will be incredibly useful especially when browsing through your photos as Julie also demonstrates. She “flicks” through photos using her finger.

With touch and the enhanced Paint that comes with Windows 7 with the Ribbon UI introduced in Office 2007, Julie demonstrates choosing a paint brush and using touch to draw in Paint.

After Julie was done were her demos, Steven Sinofsky came back to stage to discuss a few things such as Software + Services with Windows Live and IE8. I’ll be diving deeper into those topics in later blog posts.

There you have it – a pretty sweet preview of what’s coming with Windows 7. In the future, expect us to continue to talk about Windows 7 and of course look to our new Windows 7 Team Blog for announcements related to Windows 7 including information about the Windows 7 Beta (which Mike Nash talks about here). I’ll also be talking about my Windows 7 experiences too.

Esther Choi is back and she’s feeling “Snippy”

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:46:00 GMT

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

Demo: Previous Versions of files in Windows Vista

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:44:00 GMT

Today, Esther is going to show off the Previous Versions. This feature is part of the Shadow Copy feature in Windows Vista. This is a really helpful feature that has saved me numerous times! It essentially makes incremental back-ups of your work - so if you accidentally delete content, you can find it again and recover it with a single click. Anyone who has modified a document and clicked "save" instead of "save as" will appreciate Previous Versions!

Video: Windows Vista Demo: Previous Versions

Let me know what you think of this and the other features we've discussed this week (Search and Live Icons) - we'd love your feedback!

Demo: Instant Search in Windows Vista

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:30:00 GMT

I wanted to give you all a heads up on something new we're bringing to the blog.

A lot of times when the Product Team is showing off Windows Vista, the crowd is pretty impressed by all of the useful features we built into the OS. Most of these are things that will make day-to-day work quicker or easier - especially for those of us office drones. But many of our users just don't know they exist. So we figured, why not show you some of our favorite features?

Over the next week or so, our own Esther Choi from Windows Vista Product Management will be hosting a series of short videos that don't just cover what these features are, but also how and when to use them. We hope to make videos from the Windows Vista Product Management Team a regular thing, so let us know what you think by leaving a comment...and what you want to hear more about!

Today we're kicking off with Instant Search, which is really cool in Windows Vista. Finding stuff can be a big pain, but the search capabilities built directly into the OS help me locate the documents, music files, photos, emails and whatever else you're looking for quickly.

Video: Windows Vista Demo: Instant Search

By the way, while we're on the topic of features, I wanted to let you know that the Windows Vista Product Guide - a great resource on all things Windows Vista - is now available for FREE in paperback. All you have to do is pay for shipping. Order your copy here. I should note that the paperback guide doesn't include the new stuff in SP1, but you can download all of that information here.

Add MSN Video Feeds to Zune as Video Podcasts

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:09:00 GMT

The MSN Video folks have updated Soapbox on MSN Video to allow users the ability to subscribe and add someone's video "stream" to Zune. You'll notice a new Zune icon next to the RSS icon on people's profiles on Soapbox for MSN Video.

When you click the Zune icon, it adds the video feed to the Zune software. For example - when you go to my profile on Soapbox for MSN Video (where I host my videos I post here) and click the Zune icon - my video feed will appear in the Zune software.

Any new videos I publish to Soapbox on MSN Video will then be downloaded into the Zune software which can also be synced to a Zune device. When I post video demos of cool Windows or Windows Live features and announcements - you can put them on your Zune and show your friends.

I expect to be doing more videos in the coming weeks so definitely pay attention here of course and my video feed on Soapbox for MSN Video.

Demo: Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:51:00 GMT

Last week Nick announced that the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program has begun. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 is the next major release of Microsoft's all-in-one PC protection program. Windows Live OneCare not only protects users from viruses and spyware, but also helps users make sure their important data is backed up and that their PC's are updated with the latest updates from Windows Update.

Chris Overd over at LiveSide briefly touches upon features within Windows Live OneCare 2.0 such as Multi-PC support with your OneCare Circle, Centralized Backup, and the upcoming online photo backup service. However I took some time to record a little demo video showcasing some of Windows Live OneCare 2.0's new features including the new PC startup management tool and the OneCare Circle.

Video: Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Demo

You will notice that in the demo, I didn't touch upon Windows Live OneCare 2.0's new Centralized Backup feature. That is because my PC's on my home network have all their backups managed by Windows Home Server, which was released to manufacturing earlier this week. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes into account PC's being backed up to a Windows Home Server. But more on Windows Home Server at a later date.

So just how does Windows Live OneCare 2.0 work with Windows Vista specifically? Windows Live OneCare 2.0 takes advantage of Windows Vista's Network Locations (Private VS Public) and protection levels with its firewall settings. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 ensures protection for your PC depending on your Network Location. Windows Live OneCare 2.0 uses Windows Vista's networking features to help protect the user's PC.

This is just the beginning of the beta program for Windows Live OneCare 2.0 Beta Program. Expect Windows Live OneCare 2.0 to evolve throughout the beta.

Expect this demo video to be the first of many demo videos to come on a variety of topics!