Windows Calendar lets you set up multiple calendars, and then gives you the option of viewing one calendar at a time or comparing multiple calendars. Calendar setup is fast and easy; you just select different colors for each person. When compared side by side, this color feature makes it easy to see who’s doing what at any given time—a literal lifesaver for anyone who needs to manage a variety of schedules.

Set up and compare family calendars
I have set up a calendar for each person in my family, and the integration aspect of Windows Calendar lets me compare our day’s activities side by side, which has been an immense help to me. Now, for example, when I need to know whether my husband can take our daughter to an activity, I just glance at the calendar to check his schedule. Setting up your calendar is very logical and simple.

Here’s how to create calendars for each person in your family in Windows Calendar:

Click the Start button in Windows Vista. Type “Calendar” in the Start Search box.

Click Windows Calendar from the results under Programs.

A calendar will open with the name of the person assigned to the computer. If the calendar that opened doesn’t have your name attached to it, that’s okay. Just follow the remaining steps to create a new one for you or anyone else in your family who needs one.

In Windows Calendar, click File, and then New Calendar.

When the new calendar appears, type a name for it in the Calendars task pane on the left. Click Enter.
Note: All calendar names will appear in the Calendars task pane. Placing a check mark next to one allows you to see it along with other calendars. Remove a check mark and you won’t see the calendar.

In the Details pane on the right, select the color that you want to use. This color will help you identify various calendars quickly. If you can’t see the Details pane, click the View menu and then click Details Pane.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to create appointments and tasks. Click New Appointment or New Task in the toolbar and fill in the required information. When the details for tasks and appointments are filled in, the calendar will populate with the information in the appropriate color for the person involved.

From its inception, Zune has bet on the power of subscription, not only as a consumption model but also as a way to highlight the music discovery features central to the Zune experience and the PC platform. The Zune service gives consumers convenient and unlimited access to the music they want, and also connects them to other music fans and expert sources to help them find the music they will love. The new enhancements to the Zune Pass subscription service offer unprecedented value for all music fans.

“The subscription model continues to redefine the digital music landscape, and today’s announcement is great news for consumers, artists and labels,” said Simon Renshaw, chief executive officer of Strategic Artist Management (representing Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Everclear, Tila Tequila and Aly & AJ). “This breakthrough offer makes it easier than ever for consumers to discover new music and will encourage deeper engagement in the digital music space, and that is good for the entire industry.”

A Zune Pass gives a subscriber access to millions of tracks that can be streamed or downloaded from a PC or directly from a Zune device when in a wireless hot spot.1 Downloaded music can be shared among up to three PCs and three Zune devices. In addition to unlimited downloads, consumers now also get to select 10 free tracks per month to keep and add to their permanent collection. These tracks can be burned to a CD or moved to other devices even if their subscription ends.

Since the launch of the Zune portable media player and music service two years ago, Zune has invested in improving the subscription model and the discovery experience it brings to life. With the recent launch of Zune 3.0, Microsoft built additional value into the Zune Pass offering by adding new features focused on music discovery and personalizing the music experience for each user:

• Mixview. Customers can select an artist, album or listener from the Zune Social online music community to activate a dynamic visual mosaic of related music and listeners. With each click, users can take the view in a new direction. Mixview works with users’ current collection of music, in addition to tracks and albums from across the Zune Marketplace.

• Zune Channels. Subscribers can explore dozens of channels programmed by genre; explore sources such as Billboard Hot 100, The FADER magazine and KEXP radio; or access themed channels, like fitness, to get a steady stream of new music added to their collection automatically. Zune will even create custom channels for each user, based on favorite artists and genres.

• Personal Picks. Now the Zune software learns what kind of music users like and makes personal recommendations. Each week Zune suggests artists, albums and tracks based on the music each person has been listening to, as well as channels they might enjoy and listeners like them in the Zune Social.

“You’re in the Movies” is the perfect party game for everyone on your list this holiday season. Up to four players compete in a series of minigames that put the spotlight on the unique and often dubious acting talents of friends and family through physical movements, facial expressions and more. Players’ minigame actions are captured and placed into short, riotous films that offer sidesplitting entertainment that can be e-mailed and uploaded to social networking sites. With dozens of classic movie genres ready to go, gamers can live out their dreams of becoming a scream queen, zombie or kung fu master.

“‘You’re In the Movies’ is a fantastic addition to our intellectual property portfolio, and we’re very excited about the excellent result of our partnership with Zoë Mode and Microsoft in bringing such a strong title to market,” said Barry Jafrato, senior vice president of Brand at Codemasters Software Co. Ltd.

“You’re in the Movies” comes with the following features:

• Casting call. “You’re in the Movies” casts players in a variety of exciting roles, from action heroes to silent film stars. Players can choose a genre, script and more.

• The director’s chair. Up to four friends can play together, and it is the director’s job to guide actors through their roles with simple instructions and immediate feedback. The director also rates actors on their physical performance in minigames.

• World premiere. Cinematic creations and user-created movies can be downloaded to your computer to be shared among friends, family and the entire world.

• Post-production. Players can use the director mode to produce their own movies. With this application, players can change music, add voice-overs and re-edit.

• The miracle of technology. The Xbox LIVE Vision camera captures player movements using the revolutionary Cutout Studio technology. “You’re in the Movies” allows players’ performances to be filmed, saved, shared and relived.

“‘You’re in the Movies’ gets you off the couch and into a rich, interactive movie experience for movie lovers everywhere, exclusively for Xbox 360,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft Corp. “Xbox LIVE is home to the best movie games, more than 400 high-definition movies available for download, and with the New Xbox Experience, Xbox LIVE now offers thousands of instantly watchable films from Netflix, including over 300 in high definition.”

The new product, code-named “Morro,” will be designed for a smaller footprint that will use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs, Microsoft said its surprise announcement.

Retail sales of Windows Live OneCare, which offered non-security PC care features such as printer sharing, data backup and automated PC tune-up, ends on June 30, 2009.

The company said “Morro” will be available in the second half of 2009 and will feature standard anti-malware capabilities to detect viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Morro will use the same home-built malware protection engine that powered Windows Live OneCare.

The new solution will deliver the same core protection against malware as that offered through Microsoft’s enterprise solutions, but will not include many of the additional non-security features found in many consumer security suites.

The freebie will be available as a stand-alone download and offer malware protection for the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.

UPDATE: Mary-Jo Foley has more, including this nugget:

Microsoft’s Equipt — which Microsoft launched in July of this year — is dead and Microsoft is having to go back and pull copies of Equipt from the channel (Circuit City in the U.S. and DSGI in the U.K.). Microsoft is offering customers a pro-rated refund for the service and allowing purchasers to keep Office Home & Student edition for free forever, Microsoft officials said.

By the end of this month, Xbox 360 will reach another industry-defining milestone:
25 million Xbox 360 consoles sold worldwide. It has taken the leading next-generation game and entertainment console just three years to eclipse the total lifetime number of original Xbox consoles sold.

“The future of home entertainment is Xbox 360 — it’s on-demand, it’s high-definition, it’s always social, it’s all in one place,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft Corp. “With the New Xbox Experience, we will reach the next generation of Xbox owners, 25 million and beyond. We are at a watershed moment, backed by the largest entertainment brands, with an incredible lineup of entertainment unmatched in any industry.”

All Your Friends and Favorite Entertainment, One Remote Control

With the launch of the New Xbox Experience, Xbox 360 owners will enjoy a limitless world where the best games, movies and TV shows are ready to share with friends across the globe through Xbox LIVE:

• Netflix instantly streaming in HD. The New Xbox Experience isn’t the only thing that will look great on your TV. Netflix is taking the first step by instantly streaming movies and TV episodes in high definition with the introduction of approximately 300 choices in HD via Xbox 360, including “La Vie en Rose,” “Flawless” and “Heroes.” Xbox 360 is the only Netflix-ready device to offer high-definition movies and TV episodes.

• Xbox LIVE Party. Xbox 360 allows you to create a virtual party on your TV with up to seven friends. With Xbox LIVE Party, use voice chat while you play games, (1) share photos in real time and entertain friends all over the world.

• Personality plus. Create a customizable, animated avatar and literally jump into the world of Xbox LIVE. Your avatar is your game face throughout the New Xbox Experience and represents your personality — whether you are serving as an Xbox LIVE Party host, playing a game of “Scene It? Box Office Smash” or chatting with a friend.

• On-demand entertainment. Xbox 360 is home to the best TV and movie entertainment, including more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from Netflix and a large online library of more than 15,000 on-demand high-definition TV shows and movies from global partners such as Constantin, The Walt Disney Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), NBC Universal Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

• Your personal game room. Play revived classics such as “PAC-MAN Championship Edition,” “Galaga Legions” and “Portal: Still Alive” alongside games that put your avatars in the action, such as “A Kingdom for Keflings,” “UNO,” “Hardwood Hearts” and “Hardwood Spades,” exclusively for download from Xbox LIVE Arcade. Xbox LIVE members also will be able to access all of Xbox LIVE Marketplace, including Xbox LIVE Arcade, and even queue content to download straight from Xbox.com.

• Games for the community, by the community. For the first time in the history of console gaming, thousands of games developed by the creative community will be available to the public. The Community Games channel on Xbox LIVE will include games made by students, hobbyists and maybe even your next door neighbor, and will be exclusive to Xbox LIVE.

Microsoft Corp. today announced expanded product, sales and services initiatives with HP aimed at helping businesses more easily adopt and deploy virtualization to help lower information technology (IT) costs and make IT more efficient. Microsoft has expanded its work together with HP to sell and market storage, server and networking consolidation solutions and desktop virtualization solutions to small-, medium-sized- and large-business customers worldwide.

Today’s announcements include the following:

• In the U.S., Microsoft is working with HP to offer products, training and deployment services for storage, networking and server consolidation that are designed to help customers decrease costs, increase business agility, improve data access and protection, and increase employee productivity.

• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and Microsoft System Center are supported on the new industry-standard HP Virtual Connect 10Gb Flex-10 module, which works with the Flex-10 NIC on the recently introduced HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server. Together these technologies help enable customers to significantly lower costs with their server and network consolidation, business continuity, and dynamic datacenter projects.

• The HP and Microsoft Frontline Partner Program in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has registered 60 percent of eligible partners across 36 countries to receive access to virtualization training, sales tools, marketing materials, workshops, and incentives targeting small and medium-sized businesses.

• Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) features will be delivered in the HP ProLiant PRO Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, running on HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers, in December 2008. PRO is a feature of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 that enables dynamic management of virtual machines and the associated host platforms.

• HP provides comprehensive services, built on Microsoft technologies, for customers to virtualize their desktops and data centers. The services address strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement. HP offers virtualization workshops and proofs-of-concept as the first step for virtualization projects. HP also provides education and support for technology staff as well as services to develop a strategic technology road map using best practices to consolidate and manage infrastructure.

One of the things that makes Silverlight so powerful is the ease with which developers and designers can collaborate together on projects. Developers can use Visual Studio to open and edit Silverlight 2 projects and get a powerful code-focused .NET development environment, and designers can use Expression Blend 2 SP1 to open and edit the exact same project and use a creative tool to sculpt and create optimal user experience designs.

The WPF UI framework shipped in Silverlight further enables a great designer/developer workflow by supporting concepts like layout management, controls, styles, templates, and resources - which help avoid scenarios where designers and developers end up tripping over each other when integrating functionality, behavior and expressive design.

Silverlight 2 Twitter Sample

Last month I posted an in-depth blog tutorial on how to build a Silverlight 2 Digg application which you can read here. This tutorial was aimed primarily at developers, and focused on introducing the fundamental programming concepts involved when building a Silverlight 2 application.

Today Celso Gomes and Peter Blois posted a cool 10 minute video tutorial that shows off using Expression Blend to stylize a Silverlight 2 Twitter Messenger application. You can watch the video here. You can download the source code for the completed Silverlight Twitter application here.

The video does a nice job demonstrating how designers can re-style a Silverlight application without having to mess with the code behind it. In the process it shows some of the power and capability that Expression Blend 2 provides to build really rich user experiences.

Styling a Silverlight Twitter Application with Expression Blend 2
Silverlight 2 provides a rich platform for building cross-browser/cross-platform RIA applications.

One of the things that makes Silverlight so powerful is the ease with which developers and designers can collaborate together on projects. Developers can use Visual Studio to open and edit Silverlight 2 projects and get a powerful code-focused .NET development environment, and designers can use Expression Blend 2 SP1 to open and edit the exact same project and use a creative tool to sculpt and create optimal user experience designs.

The WPF UI framework shipped in Silverlight further enables a great designer/developer workflow by supporting concepts like layout management, controls, styles, templates, and resources - which help avoid scenarios where designers and developers end up tripping over each other when integrating functionality, behavior and expressive design.

Silverlight 2 Twitter Sample

Last month I posted an in-depth blog tutorial on how to build a Silverlight 2 Digg application which you can read here. This tutorial was aimed primarily at developers, and focused on introducing the fundamental programming concepts involved when building a Silverlight 2 application.

Today Celso Gomes and Peter Blois posted a cool 10 minute video tutorial that shows off using Expression Blend to stylize a Silverlight 2 Twitter Messenger application. You can watch the video here. You can download the source code for the completed Silverlight Twitter application here.

The video does a nice job demonstrating how designers can re-style a Silverlight application without having to mess with the code behind it. In the process it shows some of the power and capability that Expression Blend 2 provides to build really rich user experiences. Celso starts with a developer version of the application, and then customizes and sculpts the UI to have a fun twitter character theme:

The Application Model

The Silverlight Twitter client is hosted within an ASP.NET server application that exposes a web service that enables the Silverlight Twitter application to communicate to the Twitter service (since Twitter does not allow direct access from client applications). Communication between the Silverlight client and the ASP.NET web server is done using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

The client application uses a Model-View-Presenter (MVP) pattern (also known as the Model-View-ViewModel pattern) which is commonly used in large WPF applications. Even though this is a fairly simple application they wanted to take advantage of the flexibility that MVP allows and allow room for future growth.

Maintaining the separation between the visuals and the application logic also enables designers to make fairly complex visual changes without impacting the basic application flow. The video goes through some examples of the styling flexibility this architecture facilitates.

Microsoft Store offers Microsoft’s entire consumer catalog, including desktop software, the Xbox console and its related game titles, the Microsoft Zune, and all of the company’s hardware, including mice, keyboards, web cameras, and joysticks. Along with a fast, secure buying experience, customers will enjoy an easy-to-use interface and useful product comparisons.

“Microsoft Store gives customers a trusted environment to discover, learn, try, download and buy from the largest selection of Microsoft software, devices and hardware,” says Larry Engel, general manager, Microsoft Store & Marketplaces. “For the first time, customers will have one place to find and purchase everything from Microsoft, rather than seeing just a list of products.”

According to Engel, one of the most compelling features of the new store is that it will offer many products, including Windows and Office, as a digital download. “We think customers will enjoy the immediate satisfaction of purchasing, downloading and installing these products within minutes,” he says.

Although the Microsoft Store will price all its products at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), customers still see benefits, says Engel.

“Microsoft Store is really about making that direct connection with the customers, and then making it a great experience from start to finish,” he says. “The entire focus of our design is to make it easy for customers to navigate and find the products they want, and understand which products will work best for them.”

Customers will find tabs to broad product categories, and simple links for version comparisons, pricing and ordering. Straightforward “connect the dots” diagrams allow for fast and clear comparisons between software versions, so customers can get the right package for the features they need.

The Microsoft Store has simple product comparison charts which help customers quickly review product versions and features.
Click for larger image.

In addition to downloads, Microsoft Store will also offer full packaged product. In general, PC software will be available either as packaged product or for immediate download, while games and of course hardware will be shipped.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that since its launch in May, Microsoft Live Search cashback has seen positive traction in all three of the key metrics on which the company said it would report: number of offers in the system, advertiser return on investment (ROI), and percentage of commercial search queries as measured by comScore Inc. The company also announced that 20 of the top 50 online retailers in the U.S. and 140 of Internet Retailer’s Top 500 are now participating in the program, including new advertisers AT&T, Drugstore.com Inc., FTD, Gap Inc. properties (including Banana Republic and Old Navy), Kmart, RedEnvelope and Saks Fifth Avenue.

On advertiser ROI for the program, according to Stephanie Tilenius, general manager of eBay North America, “Combined with eBay’s already great prices — frequently 30 percent below retail on the items people want — the Microsoft Live Search cashback program is bringing home holiday deals for eBay shoppers that can be an incredible 60 percent below retail. Beyond the great deals for buyers, Microsoft Live Search cashback (http://www.live.com) has improved our ROI on paid search by 50 percent, and based upon our shared success, eBay is increasing its search marketing spend with Microsoft Live Search by threefold.”*

Other advertisers are also reporting strong results. Sales at ShoeMall have increased over sixfold since it began participating in Microsoft Live Search cashback, prompting ShoeMall to devote even more marketing dollars to the cashback program for holiday and beyond.

Shopping Cart Providers Expand Program’s Reach

Microsoft also announced today that Microsoft Live Search cashback has entered into agreements with shopping cart providers Miva Merchant, Early Impact Inc. (ProductCart) and 3DCart. Under the agreements, retailers using these shopping carts on their sites are now eligible to become a part of the Microsoft Live Search cashback program. Each of the providers has implemented a set of tools to easily enable its retailer partners, mostly small to midsize merchants, to join Microsoft Live Search cashback. The addition of these merchants through the shopping cart providers is projected to greatly expand the set of product offers available to consumers through Microsoft Live Search cashback.

Microsoft Corp. today unveiled significant updates to the Games for Windows — LIVE online gaming service, enhancing the service to provide an unmatched Windows multiplayer experience and excite the growing online gaming community. These compelling changes build on the foundation of Games for Windows — LIVE, which allows gamers to connect and play with their friends for free, and includes unique features such as Achievements, TrueSkill matchmaking, voice and text chat, and a single identity (Gamertag) that works across both Windows and Xbox 360.

• Redesigned for PC Gamers. Available for immediate download, the revitalized in-game display provides quick and easy access to the full set of Games for Windows — LIVE features, optimized for use with a keyboard and mouse, and built from the ground up with PC gamers in mind.

• Games for Windows — LIVE Marketplace. In early December, users will be able to easily download exciting game trailers, demos and add-on game content such as extended chapters and new characters, as well as give publishers a straightforward way to extend the experience of their Games for Windows — LIVE titles for consumers around the world.

“The online space is and will remain the driving force behind Windows gaming, and we’re taking steps to ensure that Games for Windows — LIVE provides a unique online home for PC gamers,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of LIVE, Software and Studios at Microsoft. “This new release was designed specifically with our community of PC gamers and game developers in mind. It’s a natural next step in delivering a world-class online service for Windows gamers.”

The free Games for Windows — LIVE service is an integral part of some of the most popular and highly anticipated games on any platform:

• “Fallout 3” (Bethesda Softworks LLC)

• “Grand Theft Auto IV” (Rockstar Games)

• “James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace” (Activision Publishing Inc.)

• “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II” (THQ Inc.)

• “Red Faction: Guerrilla” (THQ)

• “Battlestations: Pacific” (Eidos Interactive Ltd.)

Bethesda Softworks’ revolutionary hit “Fallout 3” will be the first to distribute premium downloadable content directly to gamers via the Games for Windows — LIVE Marketplace. “Fallout 3” is already a leading candidate for game of the year, and the complete “Fallout” story, including new quests, foes and weapons, will be available exclusively on Games for Windows — LIVE and Xbox LIVE for Xbox 360.

“Games for Windows — LIVE helps us expand the ‘Fallout 3’ universe and bring the full experience directly to gamers,” said Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “Through the Marketplace we now have a no-nonsense way to deliver updates and great downloadable content. It’s really a complete package, and a great fit for ‘Fallout 3.’”