NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2000 — The stage is set for families to begin adopting technologies into their homes that simplify daily tasks, enhance their entertainment experiences and increase communication at home and away. Offering the building blocks to turn this concept into a reality, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled the Microsoft® Home in New York. The wired home showcases how new and emerging technologies will become much more interconnected and exciting in the near future, making families’ lives easier and more fun.
The Microsoft Home in New York introduces more than 25 examples of the latest software-based technologies and services within the walls of an 8,000-square-foot loft in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. Complete with a kitchen, living room, dining room, master bedroom, kids’ bedroom, teen bedroom, home office and patio area, the home features software and devices that show how busy families can take advantage of technology and the Internet.
“Our idea was to create a home that people would view and think, ‘Wow, I can do that,'”
said Rick Belluzzo, executive vice president of the Consumer Division at Microsoft.
“We wanted to help people see how technologies are becoming an important part of everyday living, and how this trend will evolve over the next few years.”
While developing the Microsoft Home in New York, Microsoft worked with a variety of industry partners to present a unified look at how families might live in a home that was rich with a variety of technology. Critical to the design was the importance of showing affordable products and services that help people manage their lives without sacrificing convenience or fun. The Home and its Web site offer suggestions on how families can become more connected by taking advantage of the latest innovations such as home networking and new Internet services.
Completing Tasks and Saving Time
Many technologies positioned throughout the Microsoft Home in New York are designed to increase productivity around the house and help people streamline daily activities such as balancing the checkbook, shopping and accessing information. Featured software, such as Microsoft Money 2001, shows how families can keep track of finances with a few quick clicks. Other technologies, including MSN® Companion and MSN eShop, demonstrate how people can do things like order weekly groceries, research gardening information and check their e-mail from the home’s kitchen. The home also demonstrates how people can swiftly control security systems, thermostats, lighting, the stereo and other appliances from remote locations using their PCs, Pocket PCs and other devices.
Communicating and Sharing Information
Sharing information with family and friends and keeping that information organized is often a challenge for families with busy schedules. The Microsoft Home in New York illustrates how calendars of activities — such as after-school commitments, business travel and family events — are easily choreographed and viewed by all family members with networked PCs and remote devices. Using the home’s featured wireless products, including Pocket PCs and cellular phones equipped with MSN Mobile, families can get and share saved information from any room in the house or while on the road.
The home also shows how technologies such as MSN Chat, MSN Communities and MSN Messenger Service make it simple for people to communicate with friends and relatives across the street or in another country. Because communication is often enhanced with visuals, the home also demonstrates how the latest video and photo-editing software tools, such as the Windows® Millennium Edition (Windows ME), Windows Movie Maker and Picture It!® Home Publishing, can help families quickly create minimovies, personalized greeting cards, stationery, Web pages and more — all of which can be shared with others via e-mail.
Enjoying Free Time
The Microsoft Home in New York showcases a variety of software and devices that focus on entertainment, helping turn free time into a more personalized experience. The home shows how families can digitally record, pause and play back live television programming with technologies such as the Microsoft UltimateTV® service. In the music and video arena, the home illustrates how software, such as Windows Media™
Player 7, lets family members personalize, store and play music and video selections on nontraditional devices including PCs, Pocket PCs and portable digital media players.
Gaming is a big part of entertainment for many families, so the Microsoft Home in New York features the latest titles and hardware that deliver the most realistic, interactive and graphically rich gaming experiences of the holiday season. Key games and products include
“Age of Empires® II,” “Combat Flight Simulator 2,” the Microsoft SideWinder® Game Voice headset and the Force Feedback joystick.
Putting It All Together
The Microsoft Home in New York combines all these technologies with many other devices, software and the Internet. The result is a home with technologies that
“talk”
to one another across home networks.
When this type of technology is applied to consumers’ homes, families will be able to easily get, share and store information from multiple locations and multiple technology devices. This exciting capability will allow people to get what they need when and how they want it, and in a format that is consistent, familiar and functional. The Microsoft Home in New York makes this concept realistic, laying the technical foundation and helping people prepare for the coming of the connected home.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, MSN, Windows, Picture It!, UltimateTV, Windows Media,
“Age of Empires”
and SideWinder are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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