Wow…

I mean it has become REALLY cool to use this tool.  When I got the new laptop, it had Windows 7 installed.  One of the tools was the windows Live Gallery, and I spent a lot of time tagging people and adding descriptive tags for locations.  It was nice to be able to pull out images based on tags.

But it really changed with the new update…

Now I can combine tags for searches.  My wife is putting together a coffee table book of our boys as a present for the grandmothers.  Tonight, I pulled up images from my gallery (a couple thousand pictures) that were of both boys together… then each boy individually.  There were also a few events that she wanted pics from… and they were just as easy to pull up.

But the real surprise was when I found some pics that needed tagging.  It was recognizing faces. At this point it is only suggesting… and not for every one… but I can only imagine that it will get better as I tag more people.  This will be REALLY useful for tagging the other kids in my sons’ classes.  I don’t know them all that well, so after a few tags, the computer can help me recognize them.

Of course, I have been loving the automatic filing by date.  That means I can pull up pictures by date or subject… or both.  That had been the drawback of having a couple thousand pictures, they were tough to search.

Windows Live Gallery is a cool tool.  I’ll have to revisit some of the other tools to see if they have stepped up enough to regularly utilize.

Related articles

• Windows Live Photo Gallery Now Does Geotagging (on10.net)
• Windows Live Photo Gallery and Foursquare team up to provide photo tips (gadling.com)
• Edit your photos in WL Photo Gallery… from Zune 4.7! (liveside.net)

I got another Toshiba, the last one was mostly trouble free for the last 5years, I can’t really complain.  I did consider a few other machines…

• 

  Image via Wikipedia

  HP TouchSmart TM2.  This is a convertible Tablet PC, like my old one, except smaller.  While it was my first choice, it was also around $1000… and so I opted for being able to return home…

• Toshiba Satellite T135D-S1325RD.  This borders on the Ultra-Portable range.  It is small, with a 13.3″ screen.  It was a hard one for me NOT to get.  It runs about $600, but Office Depot had it on sale for $530.  I might have been able to come home, but it wouldn’t have been fun…
• Toshiba Satellite T115S-S1120.  I actually bought this one… but then found out that the processor was just a single core, unlike the previously mentioned machines.  IT was on sale for $470 at Office Depot…
• Toshiba Satellite L505D-LS5007.  We almost had a winner, but I really wanted a smaller machine with more battery life.  The price was certainly right, $550… on sale for $400 at Office Depot.  The size was the only issue… and if I was dedicated to using it as my only machine, I might have gone for it…
• Apple iPad…  Sorry, but it really wasn’t seriously in the game.  Aside from not being available yesterday, the performance is sub-par for a real computer.  The price wasn’t bad for an Apple… but I need WAY more flexibility.
• Toshiba Satellite® L515-S4010…  We have a winner.  A little more battery life than the big machines and a little smaller.  It also has a little bigger screen and built in optical drive compared to the little ones.  The price was marked down from $570 to $500.

So, that is what I looked at and what I ended up with.  I’m still getting used to Windows 7 (Home Premium).  I like it, but it is a big change from where I was.  I have MS Office 2010, FireFox, Thunderbird, Open Office and most of the rest of the stuff I need loaded up…

The “old” Tablet PC isn’t going to go away.  I loved having the ability to write on my screen and a lot of the functionality of the Tablet.  We aren’t sure what the problem is, but we are going to play with it and hot rod it some.  It doesn’t HAVE to start up on Monday morning to go to work anymore, so there are some things we can try…

Anyone have a license for Windows Vista or Windows 7 laying around that they aren’t using anymore? I’ve heard that it can be ‘mostly’ upgraded to run those…  I’ve already upgraded to a 320GB Hard Drive and 4GB of RAM.  The problem might be an intermittent issue with Windows (we have just completed a fresh install to test) or it could be a motherboard issue…

In with the new…  ;^ )