In this podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with another one of our Windows Live community members.  She goes by Technogran on Windows Live Spaces and in the community, but her real name is Sandra.  She’s a grandmother in the UK, and as you’ll hear she has quite a sophisticated technology setup, including both a PS3 and an Xbox 360!  If you’ve been reading her posts, you’ll know she’s into photography too.  And best of all (in my opinion anyway), she’s using video calling in Windows Live Messenger to keep in touch with her grandchildren up in Scotland.

You can download this specific podcast in the format you prefer using the links below:

• Conversation with Technogran (WMA format)
• Conversation with Technogran (MP3 format)

Or subscribe to my whole podcast series using these links:

• Windows Live Podcast Series (WMA format)
• Windows Live Podcast Series (MP3 format)

Thank you, Technogran, for our conversation together.  I have a few more podcasts with more of our community members planned in the weeks ahead.  I hope you find them enjoyable, enlightening, and inspiring. 

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

The Windows Live Podcast Series is turning in a new direction for a while.  Up until now, these podcasts have featured Microsoft employees.  Starting with this podcast, we'll be having a set of conversations with some of our Windows Live Community members.  Volvoshine (a.k.a. Ryan) is our first guest, and he tells us a bit more about himself and how he uses technology in his life.

You can download this specific podcast in the format you prefer using the links below:

• Conversation with Volvoshine (WMA format)
• Conversation with Volvoshine (MP3 format)

Or subscribe to my whole podcast series using these links:

• Windows Live Podcast Series (WMA format)
• Windows Live Podcast Series (MP3 format)

I’d like to offer a sincere “thank you” to Ryan for taking the time to chat with me.  Look for more podcasts with more Windows Live Community members coming soon! 

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

About two months ago, I posted a blog entry covering the basics of sharing video on-line called Video Sharing 101.  That post purposefully didn’t dive into the details of video equipment, recording techniques or video editing software.  But in the intervening weeks, a couple things have happened that fall into those “beyond the basics” topics and I wanted to make sure and highlight them.

First, we launched a new beta of Windows Live Movie Maker.  There have been a lot of posts about this already, including some that rightly point out that this first beta is a little lean on features.  Two particular posts are worth your attention.  Eric Doerr’s post on Windows Live Wire talks about the history behind the product and where it’s going in the future.  Quikboy’s post on his blog rightly points out the dearth of features in the beta, but provides a good wish list of what he’d like to see happen in the future.  I’ve definitely pointed out this blog post to Eric and the folks on the Digital Memories team.

Second, Drew Keller, a colleague of mine here at Microsoft, has started blogging about video topics and his stuff is really, really, really good (IMHO).  He’s tagging it so it will be featured as part of our Windows Live community content up on http://www.windowslive.com, but I wanted to specifically do a “shout out” to him here.  He’s created some great videos with how-to tips for everything ranging from interviewing subjects to editing your videos.   

I hope you all have fun creating, editing, and sharing your videos with the world!

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

I’m continuing to make the rounds with my digital audio recorder, talking to various people involved in the recently released beta versions of Windows Live products.  This time around, we’re joined again by JP Wollersheim, a Senior Product Manager on the Windows Live team. 

We talked with JP a couple months back about the current release of Photo Gallery, and now he updates us on what’s new in the beta release.  We talked about the new features in general, and specifically drilled down into the new plug-in model that is part of the SDK, the difference between face detection and face recognition, and some of the cool extras that can extend Photo Gallery. 

You can download this specific podcast in the format you prefer using the links below:

• Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta (WMA format)
• Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta (MP3 format)

Or subscribe to my whole podcast series using these links:

• Windows Live Podcast Series (WMA format)
• Windows Live Podcast Series (MP3 format)

You can download the new beta release of Windows Live Photo Gallery at http://download.live.com.

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

I know a lot of you who visit my Space are also members of our new Windows Live community.  But if you’re not, I thought I’d do a quick post to let you know more about it. 

Our community’s home on the web is called the Clubhouse, and it has two main parts – the Clubhouse Space and the Clubhouse site.  The Space is open for anyone to explore and friend, but the site requires applying and registering.  You can find out more about that process in the upper right corner of the Clubhouse Space under the “Join Now!” heading.

One of the things we’re doing over on the Clubhouse Space right now is asking for feedback on statements that best describe Windows Live.  If you haven’t already, click on over, check it out and let us know what you think.

Thanks, and I hope if you haven’t already joined our community you’ll decide to jump in!  The more the merrier!

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

As much as we all communicate by talking, texting, IM’ing, blogging, social networking, and tweeting (for you twitter folks), you start to wonder if anyone does e-mail anymore.  In fact, e-mail remains a vital way that most people stay in touch with each other.  One of the most popular photo sharing solutions on the web is still just sending pictures as e-mail attachments.

To get a better understanding of the different e-mail solutions in and around Windows Live, I sat down with Walter Harp, a Director on the Windows Live team.  Walt and I discussed Hotmail, Windows Live Mail, and Outlook and how all these different solutions address customer needs and how they are all evolving.  We talked through the recently announced changes coming to Hotmail, and the recently released beta version of Windows Live Mail.

You can download this specific podcast in the format you prefer using the links below:

• Windows Live E-Mail Solutions (WMA format)
• Windows Live E-Mail Solutions (MP3 format)

Or subscribe to my whole podcast series using these links:

• Windows Live Podcast Series (WMA format)
• Windows Live Podcast Series (MP3 format)

You can download the new beta release of Windows Live Mail at http://download.live.com.

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

DECEMBER 17 UPDATE:  This feature was changed between the time I posted this and the most recent beta release.  Check out this blog post from me for more information.  The information below is no longer correct for the currently shipping version of Windows Live Messenger.

One thing you’ll probably notice after trying the new beta release of Windows Live Messenger is that it just looks better.  It looks more fun and playful.  And as you dig into it a little more, you’ll see the playfulness isn’t just skin deep. 

Something I particularly like is the new signature sound you can add to your online presence.  It’s kind of cool to know who is logging in without even looking at the notification “toast” that pops up from your system tray.  If you want to give it a try, first just click on your display picture in the upper left corner of Messenger, then click on Change your signature sound:

Then either choose a sound from one that is built into Messenger, or Add a new Sound:

I’m not sure who came up with “Life in Redmond” sound however.  Strange.

Try clicking on Add a new sound and you’ll see one of the neat little fun fit-and-finish things in the new beta release.  You can pick any audio file you like, then grab your favorite few seconds of it, add fade in and fade out effects, and you’re set:

I can’t wait to start hearing everyone’s favorite guitar riffs and sax solos!  Thankfully, Messenger limits your selected audio to only 5 seconds or less, so your friends won’t be blasting whole songs at you every time they sign in.

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

I’ve created a new Windows Live ID that I’m using to test out some of the new features of the Windows Live Beta release.  So if you happen to get a friend request from Marcus Beta sometime soon, please know it’s just me testing out some stuff.

Have a great weekend!

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

I finally got a few minutes to try out something I’ve been wanted to experiment with for a while now.  It’s called AutoCollage, and it’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen our friends at Microsoft Research develop (and they have lots of cool things).  It takes several of your digital pictures and puts them together into a single snazzy collage.

To test it out, I used a few of my favorite animal pictures from our vacation to South Africa earlier this year.  And I included one of my wife and me too.  Here is the result:

What impressed me most about this is that it automatically put my wife and I in the center, and did a great job balancing and blending everything else, with the only minor exception being the warthog photo in the lower right corner.  It was incredibly easy and makes me look like a photo pro!

The other nice thing I uncovered thanks to Jamie (one of our Windows Live Community members), is that AutoCollage is integrated with the new Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta.  To download the Photo Gallery beta, just visit http://download.live.com.  To download AutoCollage, just click here.

I hope you have fun creating your own collages!

- Marcus