Windows Experience Blog : Windows Live, Digital Memories

Introducing the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:08:16 GMT

A few days ago you may have heard about a new webcam from Microsoft Hardware that does 720p High Definition widescreen video. Well… meet the new LifeCam Cinema!

The LifeCam Cinema records video at 720p HD in 16:9 widescreen up to 30 frames per second (fps). It uses ClearFrame Technology for smooth, detailed video and has an improved de-noiser. The improved de-noiser reduces image graininess - especially in low light. It also has a faster image-processing technology that keeps video smooth at any resolution. The LifeCam Cinema also has a high-precision glass element lens for much clearer video quality. You know how some webcams have blurry corners in videos? Yeah – not here! Other features include taking 5.0 megapixel stills, a digital noise-canceling microphone, and a flexible attachment base bends to fit on most surfaces (like the top of LCD monitors and notebook screens, or simply on your desk desk).

Through the LifeCam 3.0 software (which can be downloaded here), LifeCam Cinema users will enjoy integration with both Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker which was released yesterday. To record video and take still photos with the LifeCam Cinema, you will need the LifeCam software installed. After recording a video, you can quickly launch Windows Live Movie Maker to edit that video and share with friends and family online. Using Windows Live Movie Maker, you can add transitions and other animations to videos recorded with the LifeCam Cinema as well as music, captions and more. When taking still photos, you can view those photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery and edit and add tags.

The LifeCam Cinema will be available starting in September 2009 for an estimated retail price of $79.95 (U.S.).

For more information on the LifeCam Cinema, click here for the press release.

I am currently giving the LifeCam Cinema a spin myself – courtesy of Microsoft Hardware. Expect to see some movies created with the LifeCam Cinema and edited with Windows Live Movie Maker in the very near future.

Get The New Windows Live Movie Maker Today!

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:25:31 GMT

Brian Hall, General Manager for Windows Live, just has announced via the Windows Live Team Blog that the new Windows Live Movie Maker is now available. The new version of Windows Live Movie Maker is part of an update to Windows Live Essentials – available for download here. I’m currently running the new version of Windows Live Movie Maker on Windows 7 RTM and it will also run on Windows Vista too.

For more information on the new Windows Live Movie Maker, see Brian’s blog post or this awesome resource website which includes demo, HD samples and deep product info.

Sorry for such a short post, but I’m off to make me some movies!

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, Story, Movie Maker, Video

Upload Photos to Facebook with New Windows Live Photo Gallery Plug-in

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:18:24 GMT

Michael Palermiti, Program Manager on the Windows Live Digital Memories Experience Team (the awesome people responsible for Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker), has posted about a new plug-in for Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta that allows you to upload photos directly to Facebook. Using LiveUpload to Facebook, users can configure multiple Facebook accounts to upload photos to in Windows Live Photo Gallery. Upload to Facebook supports the ability to upload photos to existing albums on Facebook or create new ones.

Download: LiveUpload to Facebook

What’s even better about the LiveUpload to Facebook plug-in is that it takes advantage of Windows Live Photo Gallery’s new People Tags feature. That means if you tag a person you are also friends with on Facebook – once you upload the photo to Facebook that tag will automatically appear on the published photo.

You can download the Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta, along with Betas for the rest of the Windows Live Essentials suite, at download.live.com today. The plug-in only works with the Beta.

For a list of other plug-ins for Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta – click here!

Publish your photos to Flickr with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:16:00 GMT

Today the DMX Team is announcing a beta refresh for Windows Live Photo Gallery that includes the ability to publish your photos directly to Flickr. Based from direct customer feedback, the DMX Team worked with Flickr in enabling support to upload photos to your Flickr account in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Uploading photos to Flickr through Windows Live Photo Gallery is just as easy as it is uploading to Windows Live Spaces. To upload to Flickr, all I needed to do was choose the photos I wanted to upload and hit "Publish" in the toolbar. A drop-down list will appear that allows me to either choose Windows Live Spaces or Flickr as destinations I want to publish my photos to. I of course for the sake of this post chose Flickr. A new window appeared letting me enter options for which set I want the photo to belong to, what size I want the photo to be uploaded at, and permissions of that photo.

Windows Live Photo Gallery will notify you once your photo (or photos) have been uploaded and ask if you would like to view those uploaded photos. In choosing to view the uploaded photos, I was able to add a description and change the name of the photo.

I'd like to share one of my most favorite photos I've taken to-date which I've uploaded to Flickr using Windows Live Photo Gallery:

This is a photo I took with my Nikon D40 (which is a Certified for Windows Vista device) while camping at Timothy Lake with some friends this last summer. This is a shot of Mt. Hood here in Oregon. You can also take a look at my Windows Vista Coach Tour set. I took a bunch of photos while traveling around the East Coast last year on the Windows Vista Coach.

Program Manager Michael Palermiti has posted on the PIX Blog about today's Windows Live Photo Gallery release which they are calling the Beta 2.2 Refresh. If you already have a version of Windows Live Photo Gallery installed, you can grab the Beta 2.2 Refresh by running Microsoft Update (the Windows Update client in Windows Vista will detect a new update is available if you have it configured to use Microsoft Update). If you don't have Windows Live Photo Gallery installed and you want to give it a try, just head over to the Windows Live Betas page and choose Windows Live Photo Gallery.

You can also check out the Flickr Blog where they talk about partnering up with Microsoft for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

For me, I am going to leverage both Windows Live Spaces and Flickr in publishing my digital photos to the web with Windows Live Photo Gallery. For personal photos such as family events and things I've gone and done with friends - I will upload those to Windows Live Spaces. For all my digital photography and traveling to events - I plan to upload to Flickr. Quite a few amateur photographers use Flickr to show off their work. I'd like to do the same. I'd also like to share memories from traveling around as well. You can follow what I upload to Flickr by going to my Flickr page.

Make sure you keep your eye on the Windows Live Wire Blog too for information on Windows Live releases.

Online Photo Backup with Windows Live OneCare 2.0

Brandon LeBlanc — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 07:24:00 GMT

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.