Are you ready to TouchSmart?  Are you looking to get your first taste of the newest, hottest all-in-one "walk-up" computing solution?

I hope so, because we're about to give you an overview of what the HP TouchSmart IQ500 series of computers can do.  Built in to every TouchSmart is the HP TouchCenter suite of applications.  These - you guessed it - are designed specifically to be easy and fun to use, with no keyboard needed!

You'll find everything from news and other important updates, to music and photos, all the way to games and the Internet at your fingertips.  Let's get the tour started, shall we?

Overview of the HP TouchCenter Environment

The HP TouchCenter application can be driven entirely by your touch alone.  When you first start it up, you're met with two application bars - the large, main one in the middle, and the secondary, smaller bar on the bottom.

Use your finger to drag the panels left or right and scroll through the available applications, and touch the one that you'd like to run.  It's that simple!  You can also drag, drop, and reorder the panels to customize the view how you like it.  In addition, you can freely add new panels to link to applications, websites, and more.

TouchSmart Music

I don't know about you, but I love to listen to tunes while I'm surfing the web, writing, working, or doing just about anything on my computer.  So, if you're anything like me, you went straight to the Music application to get things moving.

Above is the icon you will see for the Music application.  If you have music loaded into your TouchSmart, you will see the TouchCenter rotate through your album covers randomly.  You can see the covers of one of my albums in the icon above as an example.

Here, you can see the awesome Music application in its full glory.  Check out the album view to your left, and the playlist view to your right.  Playing an album is as simple as dragging to scroll through your library, touching an album cover, and touching a song to play.

In addition, you can touch and drag songs or album to the playlist window on the right, and save your own custom playlists to jam to later on!

TouchSmart Video

Of course, you don't want to stop at music, do you?  Of course not!  To fully take advantage of the TouchSmart's beautiful widescreen, you'll want to give the Video application a spin.

Here, you can play videos you have loaded on to your TouchSmart, which can be organized into folders and played back anytime you like.

In addition, you can record videos using the built-in webcam and microphone, or even upload your videos to YouTube.

TouchSmart Photos

What better place to store and show off your most treasured memories than on your new TouchSmart?  The Photos application is intuitive, easy to use, and a fun way to organize and display the best moments of your life.

Here, you can see the main screen of the Photos application.  Like the Music application, you can drag and reorganize your photos how you like them, and can organize them into albums as well.

Here, you can see one of my favorite features of the TouchCenter Photos application - the edit feature.  Given that I'm not exactly a professional photographer, I really enjoy the easy crop, rotate, remove red eye, and other tools - no complicated programs to mess with, just some simple touch-ups and I'm ready to go.

TouchSmart Calendar

I'm a self-professed calendar junkie, and simply can't live without mine.  The TouchCenter has a nicely designed Calendar application integrated with the unit.  It's like being able to bring that old, coffee-stained desk calendar to life... without all the torn edges and scratched-out meetings.  Goodbye paper calendar - hello TouchSmart!

Here, you can see that I have added an event to my TouchSmart calendar.

TouchSmart Weather

When I check the weather, I want it to be really, really easy.  Too many times have I attempted to check the weather online, only to be met with a slow moving website or a bunch of information I really don't care about nor want to see.

In steps the TouchCenter Weather application to save the day - it's simple, clear, and effective.  Simply search for your city or zip code, and the panel will display the current weather and forecast. 

As you can see above, touching the icon will expand your view to an extended forecast, so you can see just how your weekend weather will be.

TouchSmart Notes

Now, we're on to my very favorite application - the Notes app.  This little gem has a lot of flexibility that is out of scope for this quick overview, but let me say that it's powerful and fun.

The only thing I treasure more than my calendar are my notes, and I take notes in a variety of ways.  No matter what method I choose to use, the good old "sticky note" never seems to go away - and nothing could make my heart flutter more than an electronic version.

Check out this sneak peek of the Notes application.  You can tell that I'm jotting down a quick note on how to cook something... wouldn't want to burn dinner, would I?  You can select different note styles and colors, and different pen widths and colors as well, to give your notes a unique look and feel.  The fun part is dragging and organizing them when you're all done!

TouchSmart RSS Reader

Another display of how efficient and capable the TouchSmart can be, the RSS Feeds application makes reading your favorite news feeds simple.  First, all you have to do is subscribe to the feed in Internet Explorer (easy to do while you're browsing the web.)

Above, you can see that I have chosen the "Add a Tile" button.  Assuming that you are subscribed to feeds in Internet Explorer, you can choose a feed to create a new tile from.  Then, after you add the tile, your new feed will show up in your list of panels.  This enables you to either skim the headlines quickly, or if you want more detail, you can touch the icon and bring up a detailed reader that will link you to the full articles on the Web.

Games And Other Fun Stuff

Last, but not least, the TouchSmart ships ready-to-go with a whole bunch of fun games to play.  I'll let you discover the different available games for yourself, but I would like to share that InkBall is a whole lot of fun.  It reminds me of the old classic, JezzBall.

You can see above that I didn't do so well on this round!  The objective is to draw ink "walls" with your finger that each of the colored balls will bounce off of, in order to direct them into their corresponding holes.  It's simple but addictive, and really takes advantage of the TouchSmart's interface.

Conclusion

So, there you have it - now you know about some of the power your TouchSmart has, but there's a whole lot more.  There's an awful lot out there for you to discover, as each of these applications has features, details, and customizability to make your computing life easier and more fun.  I hope that you enjoy using each and every one.

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