Main/News >> News Archives > The week of April 15 (2007) (you are here)

 Having trouble using the Uniden Win1200 phone on Vista?

Inky says ( 20 Apr 2007 ):

Scott Hanselman recently blogged about the Win1200 Live Messenger Dual-Mode Phone (wow, that's a whole mouth full!). The phone allows Windows Live Messenger users to call any buddy using the Windows Live Call feature. Unfortunately the phone does not work on Vista, which cannot be fixed through firmware upgrades. However, you can get your phone replaced by Uniden for free: "Uniden is aware of the problem, and they are willing to exchange your phone free of charge for one that does work with Vista. If you send email to Uniden at e-scanner@uniden.com and provide them with the following, they’ll email you a prepaid Fed-Ex voucher so that you can ship them your phone to be replaced. Full name Address Phone number Email address Serial # of Win1200 Date of purchase" >> Read the rest of Scott's blog post (including a small review of the phone)

 Windows Live Messenger Password Recovery Tool

Inky says ( 19 Apr 2007 ):

If you have forgotten your password for your account, you can now recover it from a saved password in Windows Live Messenger, by using the renewed Password Recovery Tool written by Doggie. You can recover your stored password with a couple of clicks. A few warnings by its author, though: "As usual, I'd like to take the time to say to people that it's not a password harvester, and I do not condone stealing of passwords. [This program was] legitimately made for people that forget their password(s) ... If your account was stolen with the use of this program, it's not my problem." So be sure to keep the program away from your computer unless you really need it, if you do not want your friends (or others) to get the password of your account! The program itself is fairly easy to use, just enter your e-mail address and hit "Check". The results will show up instantly. >> Download the password recovery tool >> Original announcement by Doggie

 Webcast recording on Alerts, Agents

Inky says ( 18 Apr 2007 ):

In November 2006, Jean-Luc David, who is a Developer Advisor for Microsoft Canada, hosted a webcast about Windows Live Alerts and writing Windows Live Agents ("bots") which we announced earlier here. For those who didn't or couldn't attend the live webcast, you can now download the 70-minute webcast right here (11.3MB WMV video file). >> More information about other MSDN Canada webcasts

 Windows Live Messenger goes mobile in Finland

dwergs says ( 17 Apr 2007 ):

Sonera’s mobile phone customers in Finland from now on can use Windows Live Messenger on their mobile phones. The service costs €5.90 per month (this includes all domestic data transmission required) but customers can test the service free of charge for the first two weeks. The application can be downloaded by sending the text message "linkki messenger" to 15400 and it's currently compatible with Nokia 6230i, 6233, 6280, 6111, 6131, 5300 and Sony Ericsson K750i, K610i and W810i with more handsets to be added in the future. The service, which came about in a colaboration between TeliaSonera, Colibria and Microsoft, was also launched in Estonia and will be rolled out in Denmark, Norway and Sweden later in 2007 reaching a total of more than 11 million subscribers across Scandinavia. [Sources: TeliaSonera Finland and Colibria]

 First Official Look at the Xbox 360 Spring Update

dwergs says ( 16 Apr 2007 ):

Aaron Greenburg, Jerry Johnson and Tina Wood give you an official, 25-minute overview of the Spring dashboard update for the Xbox 360, naturally exploring the Windows Live Messenger integration and the new thumbboard add-on among the other changes. >> Watch the video on 10.

 Imitaemoticons Championship about to take over Spain

dwergs says ( 16 Apr 2007 ):

MSN Spain is about to launch a competition for which they will be collecting pictures of you imitating the default Messenger emoticons. At a recently launched teaser website called Empieza a Entrenar (or: "start to practice") you can watch two witty videos featuring the use of emoticons in real life situations. And we were told that the actual Imitaemoticonos championship will start later today at a yet to be disclosed URL (probably imitaemoticonos.com). There aren't too many rules (that would just spoil the fun) and you'll be able to make small changes to your photo after uploading. Visitors will be able to vote for their favorites and participants champion prizes such as Xbox 360s, LiveCams and Uniden Win1200 dual phones. The idea of collecting photos of people going :o, ;) or :@ is not exactly new. Mobile network operator Orange did it back in 2003 for their Expressionist Exhibition in London and before that, one of our Messers started a website called realemoticons.com. Meanwhile both projects are offline, but there are still numerous pictures floating around the web of nutty people mimicking the entire Messenger standard emoticon set. One slightly eccentric Messer even uploaded a whole set of emoticons made using his own face. Though the idea behind the competition is not original, it's likely to create a buzz around Windows Live Messenger in Spain. And if the powers that be consider it a success, a worldwide version will be the next step... >> Visit the teaser site and watch the videos here (Spanish). >> Examples of people imitating the Messenger emoticons here and here. >> UPDATE: As expected, the contest is now live at imitaemoticonos.com.

 Pollution alert: rollover ads emerge in Messenger

dwergs says ( 15 Apr 2007 ):

What's up with these new rollover Messenger ads showing their unlovely face at the bottom of our contact lists here in Belgium, The Netherlands and probably a few other countries around the world as well? I don't mind multimedia ads in itself (and thank heavens they are muted by default because I tend to have my speakers at full volume) but the problem with these gubbins is that they exceed the original Windows Live Messenger's window dimensions as soon as you hover over them with your mouse pointer. I tell you, that happens regularly when you open other running programs via the taskbar. And when they do that, they mess up my precious screen estate. Aaaargh! Stay put, you evil little ads (that we owe our wonderful and above all free Messenger experience to!!) or I'll have to go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blow torch... (Get it?) >> Badmouth or defend this new breed of Messenger ads on our forum.

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