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.

If you decide to change the look of your desktop, bear in mind that it is only about pictures and images. There are the usual icons which you can personally design yourself if you are into it and but as a whole, they are all about imaging and packaging them uniformly to gain the nod of people who want them for distribution and for their own.

Apparently, you may wonder why apply a theme when you can always change the desktop image using the default use of control panel and display setting? This way it eats up lesser resources and the need to modify and select the settings is easier. With a Windows XP system, you can even apply the desktop settings of a Windows Vista so why bother to use different themes?

Surely, this depends on how technical a person using a computer may be. For the basic to standard people, it is easier to change a theme with a few steps. Some people are apprehensive when it comes to tinkering around with the other stuff and commands in a computer and you really cannot blame them. For all you know they will panic as soon as they make

This week we posted some new videos on www.windows.com and www.windowslive.com . We call them demos but really they’re little stories about people using Windows to do more, connect with loved ones and share memories. I’m excited about the videos for a Read More……(read more)

This week we posted some new videos on www.windows.com and www.windowslive.com. We call them demos but really they’re little stories about people using Windows to do more, connect with loved ones and share memories. I’m excited about the videos for a couple of reasons (besides the fact that it’s always fun to have something you had a hand in producing actually Out There – in front of real people who will have real opinions about them) – naturally I’m excited about the chance to paint a picture of Windows Vista and Windows Live working together and to showcase new features and capabilities in the product, but what I’m most excited about is the opportunity to put Windows in the context of people’s lives – which is an approach we haven’t traditionally taken with product demos on the Windows website.

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I went out on a limb a bit with these videos because of this – our initial storyboards revolved around the product, just showing the UI

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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

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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 Read More……(read more)