At the Digital Life conference in New York this week, Microsoft offered the first good look at the long-awaited flock of new Media Center Extenders. What's an Extender? I like to think of it as a really lame name for a really cool technology: A device that takes the all the digital music, pictures, and video on your PC (presumably set up in the least-convenient spot in your house) and streams it to your TV or stereo (presumably set up in the spot you actually enjoy hanging out).

Extenders are designed to work with Windows Media Center, one of the coolest, most Apple-like consumer products Microsoft has ever made. Media Center is a multimedia hub, a place to manage and enjoy all you digital pictures, music, and video. It comes with the Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista.

Until now, the only device that could act as an Extender in the Vista version of Media Center was the Xbox 360. I have one and it rocks. But not everybody wants to buy a game machine to perform this task. 

So Linksys, D-Link and Niveus have been working with Microsoft to design some stand-alone alternatives. These new Vista-compatible Extenders are scheduled to hit stores in November and start around $300. I watched a live broadcast of the Digital Life Extender demo Thursday morning on my laptop as I fed my kid his breakfast. From what I could see, these gadgets looked like winners.  

<Michael Stroh>

My parents had their 50^th wedding anniversary recently. As the unofficial family photographer and computer geek, I found myself in charge of putting together a slide show for their big party.

After a couple of weeks of collecting old photos from my parents and digging through my own archives, I splurged on a high-end Epson scanner capable of scanning slides and negatives as well as prints.

Then I began the laborious task of scanning about 200 of the best shots. Many of the old photos were scratched, smudged, or stained, so I needed to do a lot of retouching.

The weeks flew by, and soon it was time to assemble the slide show. With only two days left before the anniversary party, I still had not decided on a program that I could use to create the slide show.

I tried Windows Photo Gallery, because it includes a slide show feature with the “Ken Burns effect” of panning and zooming in on photos, which I had my heart set on. But to my dismay, it does not allow you to add a sound track – a deal-killer for me.

I started looking at other photo-editing and video-editing programs that include slide show capabilities, as well as some dedicated slide show programs such as the highly regarded Pro Show Gold. Then I remembered that Windows Media Center includes a slide show feature. There I was, a help writer on the Windows Vista team, and I had forgotten all about the best slide show feature built right into Windows Vista.

Within 15 minutes, I had a fantastic-looking slide show running in Windows Media Center, complete with slow-motion panning and zooming, and a stirring soundtrack. I brought my PC to the anniversary party, connected it to my Dell UltraSharp 24-inch monitor on a table with the guestbook, and launched the slide show. It played over and over for about three hours without a glitch.

The slide show was a hit. My parents loved it, and so did the guests. The ultimate compliment came when my brother said he got choked up while watching it. This is the brother, mind you, whose deepest remarks to me are usually something like, “Hey, what’s happening?”

So the next time you want to make a slide show, check out Windows Media Center. From the opening screen, go to Tasks, click Settings, and then click Pictures. You can select any picture folder for the slide show, and choose any song or set of songs to play as a soundtrack. You can also display or hide song information and photo captions during the slide show, and turn on animated transitions (i.e. the Ken Burns-style panning and zooming).

The only caveat is that when I burned the slide show to a DVD disc after the party, it eliminated the animated effects. Still, Windows Media Center is about as good as it gets, short of buying a dedicated slide show program. Best of all, if you’re running the Home Premium or Ultimate editions of Vista, you already own it.

<John Swenson>

As Microsoft prepares to launch Halo 3 (perhaps you've heard of it?) for Xbox next Tuesday, I thought it would be fun to do some game-related posts.

So this week I sat down with two Microsoft employees who I think you'll find interesting. One of these people rarely grants interviews. As a shameless ploy to get you to come back, I won't say any more. 

This box shot, however, contains a few clues to their identities....

<Michael Stroh>

UPDATE 9.26: Patience, folks, the interviews are coming. Bill and Steve just keep me busy.  Meantime, who's played Halo 3? —M.S.

Twenty-five years ago this week, Carnegie Mellon professor Scott Fahlman typed a colon, a hyphen and a right parenthesis on his computer keyboard—and the rest, as they say, is history. The emoticon was born. Want to see the history-making message? Check out this site created by Mike Jones of Microsoft Research, who was there when it all started.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about emoticons and find it strange that they only began to show up after the birth of e-mail. How did our ancestors, communicating via dead wood, convey epistolary angst or irony without them?

One thing I do find interesting, though, is how emoticons have adopted to different cultures. My wife, who is Japanese, doesn't type :-) but  (^.^). If she were a guy, however, she would have smiled like this: (^_^).  Here's a fun list of other Western-Eastern variations. International readers: Know any other country-specific ones?

I'll end in Japanese fashion, with a bow.

m(_)m

<Michael Stroh>

Greetings Exploring Windows readers!

My colleagues and I on the Windows Help and How-to team want to thank you for stopping by. We hope you'll take a few minutes to browse our new blog. 

In the coming weeks and months, we're planning lots of surprises—everything from tips on how to use your PC better to interviews with some of the cool people here at Microsoft who make the technology in your life. So be sure to check back each week (or subscribe to Click by hitting that RSS button there on the left). 

We'd also love to hear what's on your mind and what you'd like to read about. Feel free to leave a note in our Guestbook there on the right.

<Michael Stroh>

P.S. In case you read the headline and thought, "Wow, he's hexalingual!" Sorry, no. Just having fun with Windows Live's new online translator. :-)

You won't find me blatantly shilling for my employer very often in this space. But today I make an exception. As a parent, I would feel guilty if you or your kids somehow missed the software deal Microsoft announced today. 

Students can now pickup the Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 suite for $60. Trust me, folks, junior ain't gonna get it any cheaper (not even if you work here). On Amazon, the same version sells for $620. And that's even with a good discount.

You can find out more about the new promotion at The Ultimate Steal. But in short: to receive the discount you'll need to be enrolled at an accredited school and have a valid ".edu" e-mail address. 

The Ultimate edition of the Office suite includes Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Access, Publisher, OneNote, Groove and InfoPath. (In my opinion, the revamped versions of Word and OneNote are reason alone to pick it up.)

The promotion expires on April 30, 2008.  For more, check out PC Magazine's coverage of the announcement.

<Michael Stroh>

Only a few years ago, MapQuest was the way everybody seemed to find out how to get someplace. It even briefly reached verb status. "Oh, just MapQuest it," I remember a friend telling me after I asked for directions to his party.

Nowadays, it's Google Maps, a service I use regularly. Why? Habit, mostly.

But it's funny how habits can blind you. Turns out an even better mapping option is sitting right under my nose. In its October issue, PC World magazine put the popular services to the test and awarded its highest rating to—surprise!—Microsoft Live Search Maps. (Google came in fourth, with MapQuest right behind it.)

Nice to know I'm not the only one occasionally blinded by habit.

"I didn't think anything would get me off Google Maps," writes PC World's Steve Bass. "But after using Live Search Maps just once, I was hooked."

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. (And, yes, that's the building there where I work.)

<Michael Stroh>

In case you missed it, my friends over at Windows Live today announced that you can now test the new Windows Live suite.  Chris Jones, Live's head honcho, had this to say on the Windows Live Wire blog:

Today we’re releasing beta versions of a new generation of Windows Live software designed for your Windows PC that makes it easier than ever to get connected to Windows Live or other services.

This suite of software includes e-mail (Windows Live Mail), photo sharing (Windows Live Photo Gallery), a great publishing tool that lets you post directly to your blog (Windows Live Writer), parental controls (Windows Live OneCare Family Safety), a new version of Windows Live Messenger (8.5), and more.

If you haven't already, give them a go and let me know what you think. 

One of my favorites is Windows Live Writer, which I use to write all the posts on Click. It's a fantastic blogging tool. Best of all, like the rest of the Windows Live suite, it's free.

<Michael Stroh>