Kevin Collins takes our group through the Microsoft Zune Lounge
Our group was treated to a tasty breakfast prior to our presentation
A colorful Microsoft Zune is pictured above. Kevin Collins (left) gives an overview of the lounge as a place where company execs and artists can come to work and perform in a relaxed environment.
For my group, the second spot on the Tuesday morning itenerary was a trip to the Microsoft Zune Lounge (many thanks for the brunch spread of food, so much to choose from and enjoy), which features a big room for concerts for artists and musicians to work on their material in relative peace and quiet, and another room that demo'd the benefits of a Windows Media Center solution for pushing content all throughout one's house, with the use of Media Center Extender products, an XBox 360, and Media Center PC with Vista Ultimate Premium edition and Cable card tuners built into them to record the content.
-Patrick Sun
The flexibility that this setup is like one-stop shopping for all of the recording and storage of shows and films being provided either through a cable TV feed, or over-the-air programming. In addition there are other streaming options from the internet that add to the value of such a system. As yet another bonus, home automation is just a plug-in away, allowing for controlling of the lights in the house, and also the security alarm state of the house.
-Patrick Sun
The last thing we got to see in action was "The Surface", which has the dimensions of a small coffee table (or a slightly larger version of a table top video game from the 1980s that were found in pizza joints), with a remarkable touchscreen surface that allows for the use of hand gestures (in contact of the screen surface) to manipulate different bits, like images that can be re-sized or re-oriented or displayed in clever ways, as well as moving around and zooming in and out on a map, etc. Also you can play games on it, and "Whack-a-Mole" proved to be a hit amongst those in need of some fun and stress-relief.
-Patrick Sun
I love using MCE on my HTPCs. I wish they would come out with MCE as its own program that you could just load on to Vista, XP or Mac. It blows the competition out of the water as far as functionality goes. And this demo went to show how flexible l it is.
-Parker Clack
I want to thank Microsoft for the great demo and their hospitality!
-Sam Posten
