While working on several projects with Microsoft, Brenda had the opportunity to review a number of Microsoft products for their Canadian consumer audience. Here are a few of those reviews.

• Microsoft LifeCam
• Streets and Trips 2006 with GPS
• Wireless Laser Desktop 6000

Microsoft LifeCam
Hi Mom! Yes, it’s really me on camera

Webcams never appealed to me. I don’t like my having my picture taken let alone sit in front of a video camera. However, the farther I move from my family and friends, the more I want to be able to communicate in other ways besides e-mail. The Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 enables me to easily share video and still pictures with family and friends. It is more than just a run-of-the-mill webcam as it includes new features that focus on what matters most to webcam users – sharing – and sharing instantly.

The Windows Live Call Button: Located on the top of the LifeCam, this button makes it easy to start a webcam chat with anyone on your Windows Live Messenger list. So if you are used to chatting with friends by clicking on their name in your buddy list, you can do the same with the Windows Live Call Button to start a webcam chat.

LifeCam Dashboard: If you are a webcam novice like me, you have no idea where to find additional features and tools for your live chat. The LifeCam dashboard puts all of the controls right into your conversation window. You can pan left and right as well as tilt the angle or zoom without leaving the conversation. You can also turn on face-tracking software that adjusts the camera to follow you as you move during a conversation. Or, you can play with the video effects and add a flower or smiley face to your screen.

One-touch blogging: I want my mom to see how cute my puppy looks curled up on the desk chair, but I don’t think it’s necessary to start a live chat about it. LifeCams also allow you to take still photographs that are up to 5.0 megapixels. So if you want to capture a moment and share instantly, use the One-Touch Blogging button in your LifeCam video screen to immediately post your photograph on your Windows Live space.

LifeCams make live chats easy with the one-touch buttons, automatic face-tracking software, high-definition video and photos and an intuitive dashboard. And while it still may take me a while to get used to being on camera, the only thing stopping me now is the fact I’m camera-shy.

Streets and Trips 2006 with GPS
I am infamous for giving poor directions

There are few places I go without a predetermined route and map in hand
When I say left, my husband goes right, when I say we live two blocks north, guests know to travel two blocks south because I have zero sense of direction. I’m one of those people who hold a map high in front of my face and turn it to clockwise to see if it will start to look more like the road in front of me.

There are few places I go without a predetermined route and map in hand so I have become dependent on Streets and Trips for directions. I use the program’s Route Planner to input my address and destination to create clear, step-by-step directions. The maps are easy to read and even tell me travel times, distance and landmarks along the way but I still manage to get lost sometimes.

My dream this holiday season is to have stress-free travel, whether I am traveling to the grocery store on Christmas Eve or to the ski hills on New Years – I want to know exactly where I am at all times. So I have decided to upgrade my Streets and Trips to Streets and Trips 2006 with a GPS (Global Positioning System) locator.

What is a GPS locator? It is small receiver that you put in your car that will track your exact location at all times. It comes with a GPS receiver that you plug into your laptop running Streets and Trips. So if you bring your laptop with you - or your Pocket PC or Smartphone - you can track where you are on the map as you are traveling.

Once you have created a route and attached your GPS device, you can use the Driving Guidance feature to not only see but hear driving directions while you travel! It’s like having an expert in the back seat telling you exactly where to go. And if you happen to become “temporarily misplaced”, it can even adjust the route to account for your wrong turn.

So this is how I plan to holiday shop this year:
1.    I will use the Pushpin tool to mark on the map addresses of the stores I want to check out.
2.    Then using the Route Planner I will create a roundtrip route using home as my start and end point and add each of the Pushpins as stopping points along the way.
3.    I will hook up my GPS locator and receiver to my laptop.
4.    Then start the Driving Guidance Tool and hit the road.

So until the day comes they build a sense of direction you can implant in your brain, Streets and Trips 2006 with GPS Locator is the next best thing to keeping me on route.

Wireless Laser Desktop 6000
No more rolling ball or broken keyboard feet!

I am the person in my family who ends up with all the leftover computer parts, a monitor with permanent greyish lighting; the mouse with the roller that sticks; the keyboard with broken feet.  So when I purchased the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 I was absolutely thrilled – not only are the keyboard feet intact, but it includes a laser mouse – so no more rolling ball.

The keyboard has a comfort curve design which means it isn’t flat like an older keyboard, but it isn’t completely arched like an extreme ergonomic-style keyboard. Rather, it is slightly curved to make it easier to reach across the keyboard. It also has a nice cushioned palm rest so that your wrists don’t tire. The keyboard is full of additional gadgets like the zoom slider, the “My favourite’s” keys and hot keys, so that I can program my most-used files and folders to be only one click away. My only concern is that the keyboard keys are a beautiful clear white colour – I fear they will quickly pick up coffee stains and dog hair.

The Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 is by far the coolest part of this desktop pair. It is sleek-looking and extremely comfortable. The mouse includes high-definition laser technology meaning you have better control of where you want your mouse to point and it responds to your movement quickly, but very smoothly. A small button on the side allows you to magnify your screen so you can zoom in on a picture or enlarge a certain part of a document. The scroll wheel enables you to scroll in four directions, so you can scroll down a web page, but also across.

While I wait in line for the next hand-me-down monitor, at least I can enjoy wireless freedom with my top-of-the-line desktop set. No more cords to prevent me from resting back in my chair as I type. No more forcing my mouse to be near the edge of my desk so the wire can reach the back of my PC. And if anyone in my family asks where it came from – I’ll just tell them it’s a hand-me-down from my distant Aunt Grace.