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A few weeks ago we gave away ten Webcams on Geeks, courtesy of Microsoft. I wanted to show you a bit about this particular webcam, and what makes it compelling. It’s an excellent piece of hardware. The Microsoft LifeCam VX 5500 allows you to share your world anywhere, anytime.

Send a video message to your contacts anywhere, anytime – even if they are not online. Send and receive video messages directly from your desktop using the exclusive LifeCam Video Message gadget. Webcam folds flat to go with you whenever, and wherever, you want to use it. Fits on all monitors, including flat screens and notebooks, or sits directly on your desk.

Share and swap photos in real time with your friends and family using Windows Live Messenger—right in the video call window! It’s simple to start video calls. One touch of the Windows Live Call Button lets you see who’s online, and you’re on your way to making a video call.

I’ve been a fan of Microsoft hardware for years. I’ve regularly used their keyboards and mice, and their webcams. What makes this particular webcam interesting is the faceplate. You can easily change the faceplate to other colors, based on what your office looks like. You may want everything to match – or have a fun color to your cam just to mix things up a bit!

There’s a built-in microphone, it will allow you to do video and even take pictures. More interesting to me is the compact nature to this particular model. You can twist it around, and even push it down on itself. The profile, when collapsed, is very skinny. It makes it suitable for traveling or moving around if that’s something that you do.

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What are You Looking for in Webcam Hardware?

A few weeks ago, we announced that we would be giving away ten LifeCam VX5500 webcams, courtesy of Microsoft. The requirements were simple: you had to be a member of the Microsoft Hardware group on Geeks. Oh, and we decided that the giveaway would only be done once we reached 7500 members on the Geeks site. I still can’t believe that in such a short amount of time, we have surpassed that goal. It blows me away! You guys are an amazing community, and we’re growing by the day.

In order to choose the winners, I wanted to make sure it was completely fair. Kat and I got together on IM. We discovered that there are 60 pages worth of members to the group when you list all group members, with 18 listed per page. I then went to Random, and first told the site to select ten random page numbers, between 1 and 60. Once I had the ten pages, I told it to choose a number between 1 and 18, since there are 18 members listed per page. The following page numbers were chosen: 27, 13, 52, 56, 37, 14, 7, 59, and 45. The random number on the page was 16. SO: the 16th person listed on each of those pages wins a free Microsoft LifeCam VX5500 webcam! Here are our winners!

• Kumar Veetrag
• Robootto
• Brian
• Jonathan Bracero
• Brandon
• Ross
• Phil Williams
• Rivahratt
• TechGuy555
• Norman Rowe

Congratulations to all of our winners, and thank you again to everyone who has made this community such a great place already!

Microsoft Hardware: Free for a Few Geeks

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Now that we’ve reached 5000 Geeks on the new site, it’s time to announce our next giveaway. Ten lucky Geeks members will win a free VX-5500 LifeCam from Microsoft! All you have to do to qualify is to be a member of Geeks, and join the Microsoft Hardware group. This giveaway will happen once we reach 7500 members, which won’t be long from now.

The LifeCam VX-5500 is all about fun with an innovative new design. The VX-5500 ships with three interchangeable faceplates in blue, red and white, so users can either choose their favorite color and leave it that color or switch the color every day to match their mood. Similar to LifeCam Show, the VX-5500 can be used on a laptop or desktop computer with an innovative universal attachment clip. When users are ready to pack up, the entire webcam folds down flat for easy transport. With a VGA sensor for 640×480 video, 1.3MP stills, and a unidirectional, noise-cancelling microphone, the LifeCam VX-5500 keeps all video communications crystal clear.

• Optimized for Windows Live. Windows Live Messenger lets you chat online via text, voice and video. Combine the features of Windows Live with the LifeCam VX-5500 for an unforgettable experience.
• Interchangeable Faceplates. Extra faceplates let you customize with your favorite color.
• Video Messages. Send a video message to your contacts anywhere, anytime – even if they are not online. Send and receive video messages directly from your desktop using the exclusive LifeCam Video Message gadget.
• Noise Cancelling Microphone. Crystal-clear audio, built-in unidirectional microphone with acoustic noise cancellation and echo cancellation.
• High Definition 1.3 Megapixel Still Photos. High Definition still photos show you in the best light.

Brandon LeBlanc will also be posting about this giveaway on the Windows Vista Blog… so we may hit 7500 members faster than you think. That blog has a large amount of traffic and subscribers, and many of them may come over to join us at Geeks.

Also, make sure you’re with us in the chat room this Friday night, September 27th. As promised, we’ll be giving away Ponzi’s 1st Gen iPhone to one lucky member of the Geeks community since we passed that 5000 member mark today!

Thank you to everyone who has made the Geeks community grow so quickly into such a fantastic place. And special thanks to the team at Microsoft for coming on board with this awesome giveaway!

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Would You Like to Win a Free Microsoft Webcam?

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I received the new Microsoft LifeCam VX7000 camera and hooked it up. Unfortunately, I’m having serious issues with it, just as I did with the last version. This is really shocking to me, and disappointing.

If you look on my screen, what you’re seeing is not special effects I’ve added. This is a live feed, directly as it is coming from the camera. It almost looks as though it’s a television with vertical hold problems, mixed in with color effects. I’ve tried it now on my Vista setup, as well as my XP setup. The problems exists on both machine, with both types of O/S. Therefore, I know it’s a hardware problem with the camera itself, not a software problem.

This is really surprising and disappointing. I expect better from Microsoft. I know, here come the jokes. But seriously guys… I’ve never had a complaint about a Microsoft keyboard or mouse. But I had the old VX6000 LifeCam, and had difficulties like this, as well. I expected much better out of the new camera, especially since it costs about $100.00. However, it works much like I would expect a $10.00 camera to work.

This isn’t really a review. It’s more of a “buyer beware”. I really like the Logitech camera I use. The hardware is great, but I’m not in love with the software. I’m still looking for that one perfect webcam I can use, whose hardware AND software I love.

What are your recommendations? What webcam do you use, and what do you love and/or hate about it?

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Microsoft Lifecam VX-7000

Dude. This webcam looks and sounds sweet:

• High Definition 2.0 Megapixel Video* (1600 × 1190 pixels)
• High Definition 7.6 Megapixel Still Photos (3200 × 2380 pixels, interpolated)
• Built-in Microphone
• Wide-angle Lens (71 degrees)
• Notebook Mobility (Designed for laptop lids)

I’m getting a Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000. Nay, I’m swearing by it.

Microsoft Webcam