Life.CommenceChange(DateTime.Now);

Talk about a lot of updates!  Last night we finished the deployment of a bunch of new features including Windows Live Events, a new service for "party planning".  I've been working on this for most of the year, so it's only appropriate that it ships on my first born's due date (the 11th!)  Still no sign of the baby though.

Check out the Space Craft entry for all the details.  Below is just some of the event specific fun.  Rob and Dare have been posting more about the specifics of the release and what to expect; if you're interested, you should check it out.

Easily create a great-looking website for your next event To offer you more ways to connect and share memories with the people you care about most, the team that brought you Spaces would love to hear your feedback on Windows Live Events, our new, free social event planning service.  With Events you can easily: Plan that next baby shower, birthday party, or family reunion Create a great-looking event invitation and website using one of over 100 fantastic templates Invite anyone with an e-mail address and track who’s coming Make your event unique with familiar customization features - choosing a friendly web address (like http://kates1stbirthday.events.live.com), using custom colors, fonts, and background images, or adding modules and Windows Live web gadgets Let guests and organizers share photos and stories before and after the event Click on Events from the new navigation and then click Create event to get started!

Share photos and stories after the party’s over Ever notice that your guests take more and better pictures at your parties than you do because you’re focused on everyone having a good time?   And, if you remember to even ask, there is a mad scramble afterwards to try to collect everyone’s photos over e-mail.  Well, we want to make that A LOT easier with features like: Photo album creation by the event organizer AND any of the guests Stunning full-screen photo slideshows Ordering prints through our partner, HP Snapfish One-click download of a photo album into Windows Live Photo Gallery After the event, return to the event website and click Add album in the Photos module to share those photos! In addition to making it easy for everyone to share photos after the party, Windows Live Events allows guests to share memories in other ways, including a discussion board, guestbook, and sharing videos you upload to Soapbox on MSN Video or other popular video sharing sites.

 

Well that took a lot longer than I had hoped.  The AT&T Tilt is finally here.  It's fun when AT&T says this, knowing full well they're comparing it to the iPhone:

"The AT&T Tilt is the most comprehensive wireless device on the market today," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Business Voice/Data & Mobility Products, AT&T. "In addition to its innovative design, there is no device on the market that packs the number of features that are available on the Tilt."

I'm a little concerned going back to Pocket PC (although I've always liked it more than Smartphone for my needs).  I bought the Q because it was small and light.  This device isn't small or light.  But hey, it's almost the winter and I'll be wearing a coat most of the time.  The beauty of AT&T vs. Verizon (which I use now) is if I want to get a used "dumb" phone for $50 and swap the SIM card out for those times when I don't want to carry a computer in my pocket, I suppose I could.

This phone really is very close to my perfect device from a year ago.  I'm calling AT&T tomorrow to see if they'll have it on Friday.  Now I just have to make sure the kid knows to wait another few days before arriving so I can play with one last toy.

I'll admit that I was expecting to be let down by this announcement after Apple's big iPod push.  But I've soaked in all the data I could over the last 30 minutes about the 2nd generation Zune and while I'm not blown away, I'm happy with what we're offering.  There are a few things about the new Zune that caught my eye, especially considering I don't see a viable video player in Apple's lineup right now.

First, the Zune 80 has a huge (3.2") screen and 80 gigabytes to work with for $249.  Those three facts working together can't be underestimated; it means you can carry around full length movies, TV shows, and tons of photos alongside what's probably most, if not all, of your music library.  And you get a nice big screen to watch video on for less than $250.  Second, the device supports WMA (of course) including (I expect) automatic downsampling which is important if you're weird and use WMA Lossless to archive your CDs like I do.  But perhaps more importantly, it supports automatic synchronization with recorded TV via Windows Media Center.  The ability to take Sportscenter on the Connector bus everyday is just too cool to pass up, especially because it'll synchronize automatically over my Wi-Fi network!  And the long awaited podcast support has hit the Zune too, so there will truly be no need for iTunes anymore in my house.  Finally.  And since you can exchange podcasts via Wi-Fi, I expect I'll learn about new programs from co-workers.

Zune 2 also carries over the FM radio support - which sounds pretty uninteresting until you consider it's the only way most gyms broadcast sound from the TV sets.  Not having FM built into my iPod nano has frustrated me more than once while being stuck on a treadmill.

One thing I'm cautiously excited about is this new ZunePad thing.  Touch screens are nice, but I've heard from just about everyone I know who has an iPod touch that not having direct control over the volume is a total PIA.  And of course, the screen gets smudged.  Now, I don't know how this ZunePad will work in action, but there is a great video of it on the Seattle PI blog.  This may be the only Zune 2 video out there.  It looks like fun - and I especially love the album art.  But it could suck if it doesn't work exactly right, we'll see.

All in all it's a solid, while not revolutionary, v2.  I don't expect the new Zune to win over a ton of iPod fans, but having 80gb of recorded TV, podcasts, and automatically downsampled WMA music in my pocket, synchronized over the air while I am sleeping, is probably enough for me... and it probably will be for a lot of people.  Again, there isn't a similar model in Apple's lineup at all - the closest thing is the comparatively insanely expensive 16GB ($399) or 8GB ($299) iPod touch.  $399 for 16GB or $249 for 80GB...  Hmm...

So I expect I'll get a Zune 80 for the bus - and maybe a small, cheap ($149) one for the gym or for my wife.  Employee discount service, get ready!

Read more -> Microsoft unveils new generation of Zune