Cincinnati State, Evendale Branch

Microsoft Mindshare HolidayTour

Microsoft is excited to be coming to show several of the latest products for the Holiday 2002 shopping season. The live demos will include Picture It! Digital Image Pro, Tablet PC, Pocket PC and several games -- Links 2003 and Age of Mythology. In addition, you'll see some tips and tricks about Windows XP and hear briefly about the rest of the products in the holiday lineup. 

Picture It! ® Digital Image Pro version 7

Tablet PC

The Tablet PC provides the full power and functionality of today's notebook PCs with all the features of Windows XP Professional. In addition, you get the added capabilities of pen-based computing: using a digital pen to input handwritten information into your computer, and using the pen to control your computer, like you would with a keyboard or mouse.

• Format handwritten ink to emphasize ideas and personalize your notes.

• Search all of your handwritten notes using keywords to quickly locate information.

• Convert your handwritten notes into typed text.

• Mark up almost any document with handwritten notes without making changes to that document.

Pen and ink capabilities can be extended to other applications in addition to Windows Journal. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition will offer Office XP Pack for Tablet PC as a free download. With Office XP Pack for Tablet PC, you can take advantage of pen and ink capabilities in Office XP core applications, which includes Microsoft Word, Outlook®, Excel, and PowerPoint®.

Pocket PC

The Pocket PC is one of the most connected PDAs available. It offers you more choices for communicating and accessing your personal and corporate information-so that you can stay in touch, informed, and in step with key people and projects. The Pocket PC can be a fun, entertaining, and even educational device, offering you a "personalized" mobile experience that reflects your own style and tastes.

We'll show you the latest advancements in technology in Pocket PCs. For instance, Toshiba's GENIO e550G integrates a package of productivity tools supported by the Intel PXA250 (XScale) 400MHz processor, the fastest available for Pocket PC applications. Pocket versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer and the Windows Media Player are all integrated into the GENIO e series. If features two of the latest advances in expansion slots: an SD slot for the Secure Digital Input-Output card and SD memory card and a CF-II slot for compact flash cards. Toshiba and numerous third-party developers support these slots with diverse applications, including memory cards, 802.11b wireless networking cards, modem cards, and Bluetooth™ cards.

We'll show you how you can easily connect this Pocket PC to a wireless network.

Links 2003

Links® 2003 delivers the most realistic golf experience on your PC. The newest version of history's best-selling golf series takes you to six all-new championship courses, giving you more realistic control over every shot with the all-new real-time swing. Create your own character and play against some of the hottest pros in your own professional career, then design your home course with the Arnold Palmer Course Designer and share it online

• The most detailed golf environments possible – Links 2003's improved graphics engine makes each course look unbelievably real, with higher-resolution textures blended together for gorgeous bunkers, lakes, trees, shadows, and more.

• All-new championship courses from around the world ­– Cabo del Sol (Mexico), Kauri Cliffs (New Zealand), GLENEAGLES® (Scotland), The Tribute at Otsego Club (U.S.), Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail – Cambrian Ridge (U.S.), and Skeleton Coast, a fictional course set along the African coastline. Players will also be able to enjoy hundreds of additional courses created by fans and Microsoft. Courses designed for "Links 2001" and "Links Championship Edition" are compatible with "Links 2003."

• More realistic control over every shot ­– New Real-Time Swing lets the mouse become the club, with ball physics factoring in speed, tempo, direction and course conditions in real-time so each shot more closely simulates an actual golf shot. Traditional "click"-swing and PowerStroke methods also included.

• Players manage their own professional careers – Compete against improved AI opponents in a single-player career. All-new, highly-detailed 3-D golfers come alive with motion-captured moves detailing their swing types and personalities. Play as or against Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik, David Toms and Annika Sorenstam, or create a character.

• Design your dream course with the powerful Arnold Palmer Course Designer – A new library of hundreds of objects, new texture resolutions up to 512 x 512, and new tools make the most powerful, 3-D real-time course design tool better than ever.

• Challenge family and friends online, anytime – The all new Links® Match Maker enables players to join matches with other online players at any time from within the game. Players can also create their own custom tournaments, then run the tournament through email using the new Email Tourney feature.

Age of Mythology

Age of Mythology transports players to a time when heroes did battle with monsters of legend and the gods intervened in the affairs of mortal men. Players wage war using human armies and diplomacy, progress through development ages, enhance military and economic performance with improvements, and manage economics through resource gathering and trade. Mythology enters the mix when players call upon the gods to act on their behalf or reinforce their armies with more than 35 mythological creatures. Ensemble Studios' new 3-D engine adds a deep richness of graphical detail and creates a unique new title based on the ancient cultural history of the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythologies, which are divided into nine detailed civilizations.

From Microsoft Mindshare