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.

Tonight, you may have caught our new "Real PC" TV ads - which aired for the first time during an episode of The Office. You may have also seen the "Life without Walls" ad in newspapers today. The Windows consumer campaign has officially moved into its next phase with a new series of TV and print ads designed to highlight that technology is supposed to help people break through barriers and overcome obstacles. To view our latest TV and print ads, head on over to the Windows PressPass site.

And starting tonight - you can also choose to take part in our campaign yourself! People wanting to proclaim they are a PC just like in the ads can upload their photos and videos to Windows.com. The content you upload may be selected for use in our online banner campaign or on video billboards in New York's Times Square. Users will be notified by email when they can see their content in the banners.

So there seems to be the rumor running around that we're supposedly cancelling our Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads tomorrow. I wouldn't count on anything being "cancelled". It was always the plan to have Jerry Seinfeld in the first phase of the campaign and not a part of every ad. Instead, our Windows Consumer Campaign is moving into the next phase and we did mention previously that you should expect the campaign to evolve. I'll direct you to a post by Stuart Elliott of The New York Times to shed some light on what's next for our ad campaign.

More to come - stay tuned!

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

...

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

...