Main/News >> News Archives > The week of December 12 (2004) (you are here)

 Dude, where's my ads?

dwergs says ( 18 Dec 2004 ):

Starting last night the Packs button and text ad have disappeared from some users' conversation windows. The banner ad at the bottom of contact lists has also been reported missing by several messers. Don't get your hopes up too high just yet, most of their content is regionally targetted and there's probably just a problem with one of Microsoft's servers. Enjoy your clean Messenger as long as it lasts... If you want to tidy up your MSN Messenger manually, use the Mess Patch full of handy tweaks. UPDATE: A. Madsen from Denmark reports that his tabs too have vanished. The Packs button is only present in some of his conversation windows... [Reported by: xsicxtransitx, Huuf and Zero1]

 Patchou starts worldwide Messenger Plus! tour in France?

dwergs says ( 17 Dec 2004 ):

Not only Santa is coming to town, Messenger Plus! guru Patchou is visiting Paris for the Holidays and on the 27th of December he's willing to organise a meeting with users of his software. Sometime in the afternoon you can join the Plus! developer for a free coke and meal. For once you are given the chance to benefit from the optional sponsor program too, because food and drinks will be Patchou's treat! :) The invitation is restricted to people who are active in the MSN Messenger community, including members of msnfanatic, Plus! and our very own Mess.be forum. If you think you qualify, send an e-mail with as subject "I'm your daddy, that's why!" to meeting_mpluspatchou.com before December 20th and he will get back to you with the precise time and location. More info and Patchou's official statement can be found here. [Reported by: saralk and XeroCool]

 MSN Spaces To Be Upgraded Today

dwergs says ( 16 Dec 2004 ):

Jay Fleugel, lead program manager for MSN Spaces, has announced the service will be seeing an upgrade. Today. A week and a half after it launched. According to Nathan Weinberg, the team scanned the comments from the various blogs and implemented the two things that were most asked for that could be coded quickly. Possible changes: - No censorship. - Search-friendly URLs. - Post timestamp editing. - New templates. - More control over RSS feeds (wishful thinking). - API support (not even close to likely, not for months). - CSS layout editing. - More comment control (ban IPs, for example). [Source: Inside Microsoft]

 Future MSN Messenger 7 Feature: Personal (Away) Messages

dwergs says ( 15 Dec 2004 ):

In the Hotmail Wave 10 screenshot we obtained from Winbeta last month, we noticed "coffee time" displayed in a person's contact card underneath his MSN Messenger nickname, along with the current MSN Messenger status and e-mail address. We asked ourselves the question if this was the first sign of new or even personalized status messages... After taking a look at the MSN Wave 11 concept screenshot we posted last week, everything fell into place for Inky, one of our visitors. Beneath the nickname of the person logged into MSN Messenger Inky noticed the line: "Add a personal message". Now, recently Inky discovered a new MSN protocol command called UBX. The syntax looks like this: UBX [email] [payload length] [Data][PSM][/PSM][CurrentMedia][/CurrentMedia][/Data] (replace [ and ] with < and >) For those who didn't see the link yet: PSM stands for PerSonal Message. CurrentMedia is quite possibly the file you're listening to or looking at in Windows Media Player. From the fact that the UBX command is already out in the wild, in combination with the leaked Hotmail Wave 10 screenshot, we can draw the conclusion that Personal Messages (which can be anything from a custom away message to the mp3 you're listening to) are not necessarily postponed until MSN Messenger Wave 11 but could be part of a future build of MSN Messenger 7 already! Good to see Microsoft is still concealing some surprising features for the final MSN Messenger 7 build, planned for February 2005! [Reported by: Inky] [Source: Inky's Blog]

 Half cardboard and half vinyl figure: CardBoy is here!

dwergs says ( 15 Dec 2004 ):

CardBoy and his posse are here and ready to take over the world! Half cardboard/half vinyl figure and all fighting machine, CardBoys are the toys of choice amongst toy fashionistas everywhere! >> First collect all the CardBoy MSN Display Pictures... >> ...And then collect all the cute but cool cardboard crusaders!

 MessengerDiscovery, the good... and the bad

dwergs says ( 14 Dec 2004 ):

Those of you who tried to download MessengerDiscovery from our site lately will have received an error message that it was obtained from "an untrusted website". Don't take that literally. It's just that the addon's creator, ecko_complex (aka effekt), decided to go the "Plus! way" and released a new installer with optional Sponsor Program. That's why the old 2.6.2 setup previously hosted at Mess.be became unusable and it's not an issue of trust. However, we are no longer hosting the MessengerDiscovery project because of this new path it has taken. But we do like to wish ecko_complex the best of luck in the future! Pure_BY pointed me to Segosa's analysis of the Sponsor Program that's now bundled as a support option with MessengerDiscovery. Read What does MessengerDiscovery install? for a detailed report. MD's developer himself has published a FAQ about the somewhat controversial topic. On a more joyful note: to celebrate the software's one million installs mark (achieved December 2nd) ecko_complex is giving out several ThinkGeek.com gift vouchers to the people who get their friends to download MessengerDiscovery. Read more about the promotion here. >> Download MessengerDiscovery 2.6.2, now with optional sponsor program.

 Added: Survivor MSN Display Pictures

dwergs says ( 14 Dec 2004 ):

For the fans of the popular Survivor television show, realitylpma uploaded MSN Display Pictures of every contestant and logo from all seasons. "Outwit, outplay, outlast..." >> Browse 157 Survivor MSN Display Pictures.

 Added: DP Remover by Huuf

dwergs says ( 13 Dec 2004 ):

Huuf's latest handy utility for MSN Messenger (both 6 and the new 7 BETA) is called DP Remover. The small program helps you to quickly and easily clean up your list of imported MSN Display Pictures. This is particulary interesting to people who have collected hundreds of them, like IEDP 2 addicts. You can select and delete multiple MSN Display Pictures by holding Ctrl and/or Shift, or filter them out based on a word. >> Download DP Remover by Huuf.

 .NET Passport Service problems causing 81000303 error

dwergs says ( 13 Dec 2004 ):

There is currently a problem with the .NET Passport Service and engineers are working on a solution. This also affects MSN Messenger users with non @hotmail.com/@msn.com email addresses, who may be experiencing problems with the service this evening. The common error message is: "We could not sign you in to MSN Messenger because there is a problem with your .NET Passport. Click OK to learn more at the .NET Passport Web site. 81000303." Clicking OK results in another error message: "Microsoft® .NET Passport was temporarily unable to complete your request. Please try again later." [Reported by: Zero1] [Source: Neowin]

 Added: Carmen Electra and Jennifer Walcott Display Pictures

dwergs says ( 12 Dec 2004 ):

Messer pHr0sTbYt3 presents... two babes in the form of MSN Display Pictures: >> Browse Carmen Electra MSN Display Pictures. >> Browse Jennifer Walcott MSN Display Pictures (registered members only).

Back to the News Archives