European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes computers tuesday May 17,1994 to open by the Seattle Post Intelli Goncer Seattle a in its drive to attract Ordinary Consumers to computers Microsoft corp. Plans a High tech retail store and computer software showcase near its corporate Headquarters in Redmond wash., according to an Industry publication and sources. The 30,000-Square-foot store slated to open within a year would be similar to Nike town the entertainment oriented promotional retail concept developed by Nike corp., according to computer retail week a Trade publication based in Manhasset . Retail Industry sources familiar with Microsoft a plans said the company wants to create a flagship store and promote it As a tourist destination featuring company history and elaborate product displays. /. A Erin Carney a Microsoft spokeswoman Crown played the reports. A there Isnit a definitive plan for a store that i can confirm at this Point a she said. But Quot we arc always looking for new and innovative ways to reach the consumer with our products a she added Nike the Beaverton  manufacturer of athletic shoes and apparel built its original Nike town in Portland four years ago. Encouraged by the first stores Success Nike has since opened stores in Chicago Atlanta and Orange county. Its Disney esque stores glorify sports and Nike products with modern museum style displays sounds front live athletic events and hands on product stations. Microsoft would probably await the performance of a first store before deciding whether to locate stores elsewhere in the country sources said. The software giant recently hired former computer City merchandising vice president de Belleba to head retail strategy. He is in charge of planning and operating the store according to computer retail week. Belleba and could not be reached. Microsoft would use the store to demonstrate its selection of consumer products through interactive displays allowing shoppers to experience its products one source said. The flight simulator program for instance might be promoted with a real simulator Consumers could climb into. The company Likely would spend at least $500 per Square foot to build the store the source said. A. A a it a going to be a museum qual ii store a highly entertaining highly interactive and fun a according to the source who wished not to be identified. A this is not a mall concept. The perfect parallel is Nike  with sales to businesses slowing the Home Market has become the fastest growing segment of the computer Industry. Microsoft in response has mounted an aggressive Campaign to reach More  getting the picture technology makes working with photos a new experience by Steve silk Hartford courant about the time photography became a sort of National pastime Kodak founder George Eastman coined a famous slogan a you push the Button we do the rest a he never dreamed that one Day anyone could push the Button and do the rest. A a nowadays thanks to High Power personal computers cd rooms snazzy software and a new generation of electronic cameras posting a Button to capture a fragment of time is just the beginning. Now any Button Pusher who can Boot up a computer can not Only take a picture but he or she can also improve or enhance that image with an Arsenal of special effects that permits him or her to Sharpen the focus intensify colors or erase the Wise Guy waving in a Corner of the Frame. Crossing cameras with computers does More than link two of the most popular pursuits of the late 20th Century a a it creates a hybrid technology whose awesome picture making capabilities often cast a spell Over those who see digital photography for the first time. A a it a very seductive its like magic a you see things appearing and disappearing before your eyes a says Carol Squiers a senior editor at american photo Magazine a a there a always been a just press the Button a this is the first time you press the Button and actually see something  photography like television telephones and seemingly everything else in the world is going digital. Digital photography in which images Are captured and stored in bits and bytes and displayed on a computer terminal or to screen is already taking a firm hold of professional photography. Industry watchers agree that it is Only a matter of time before digital goes mainstream and film based photography fades from the scene like an old Daguerreotype. Few dare guess How Long the transition May take but Kodak spokesman Paul Allen reckons there sat least a decade or two of life left for the familiar yellow boxes of film sold by the company which is based in Rochester , eve after digital goes mainstream he says some photographers will continue using film. But just to be Safe Kodak is hedging its bets. In 1992, the company introduced Kodak photo cd a player that can be connected to a to or computer system and used to display photographic images electronically encoded on discs much in the Way music is stored on an audio compact disc. The device opens the digital doorway to Consumers but you still need film to get in. The images Are captured on film with a traditional camera the film is then sent to Kodak where the images Are scanned digitized and stored on cd. Home computer users can use the disc on a Kodak photo cd player and display their pictures on a to screen. Using the player s editing features users can pan crop and enlarge their images. More sophisticated controls Are possible with a compatible cd rom equipped computer and the Correct software depending on your system. With a computer system photographers can View the pictures on screen or manipulate them using software such As Kodak photo Edge or Adobe photo shop which East Hartford conn., photographer Michael Ulsaker Calls a the Nikon of the retouching  the technology is evolving so quickly that anyone with a Mac or windows a cd rom drive and the appropriate software can pump out wildly altered pictures that until recently were possible Only with $500,000 scan new technology allows computer users to manipulate photographs a process that just a few years ago would have Cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ners such As a Sci Tex. With a digitized image stored on a cd and a properly outfitted computer system photographers can enjoy Many benefits of True digital photography a limitless opportunities to enhance images High Speed transmission to other computers and the ability to incorporate photography into desktop publishing systems. The photo cd system is still the cheapest Way for a Dabbler to get into digital photography or at least partly into it. But though marketed to both pros its very seductive it s like magic a you see things appearing and disappearing before your eyes a Carol Squiers american photo Magazine and amateurs the Kodak photo cd has thus far been embraced primarily by professionals who use the cd for cataloguing scores of pictures. Another popular option for would be digital dabblers is Philips cd interactive a device that plays photo cd computer games digital movies and cd rooms but is targeted at folks who done to have or done to want a computer. Still Many Amateur photographers and doubtless plenty of pros have never even heard of digital photography. That May change later this year when Kodak introduces Kodak creation stations at some camera stores. Anyone will be Able to walk in off the Street and feed the machine a print slide or negative when your picture pops onscreen you can begin working a Little computer magic via the machines self guided instructions or with a Brief tutorial from a store employee. You might restore contrast and Sharpness to an old faded family snapshot employ digital magic to dispatch an old Boyfriend into the netherworld of cyberspace or simply get a copy of that prize vacation picture the one from the negative you lost Long ago. Although hybrid systems such As photo cd and the Kodak creation station May help generate initial interest in digital photography the end station for this computer based image making is something the tech hos Call digital capture taking the picture digitally that is recording the image directly onto a computer disk without using film As an intermediate step. Until now costs prices for High Quality digital cameras begin in the $15,000 Range a have been prohibitive for anyone except professionals or Large corporations. But the recent introduction of the Apple Quick take 100 has changed All that. This futuristic looking camera equipped with automatic exposure and automatic Flash retails for $749 and can take up to 32 pictures that will appear a in 16 million colors a immediately on your windows pc Monitor provided you Are linked electronically to a computer equipped with the special software that comes with the camera. This instantaneous Quality something that makes even fast developing polaroids look sluggish by comparison a is for Many one of the chief advantages of going digital. The same picture that appears within microseconds on your own computer screen could also appear on someone else a screen provided the computers were linked by Modem. The primary drawback with direct digital photography is image Quality. The Apple Quick take 100, for example takes pictures with roughly 300,000 pixels picture elements in its High Resolution Mode. A top of the line digital camera Allen says captures about 1.5 million pixels. An image on photographic film by Way of comparison is composed of about 18 million pixels a so the picture is sharper and More Subtle in its gradations of tone and color. Computer generated prints a the kind you a hold in your hand As opposed to what you a see on a screen a Are also not quite As Good As photographic prints. But most experts say that Only a trained Eye could Tell the difference. Some however express concern about the longevity of computer generated prints