Main/News >> News Archives > The week of July 02 (2006) (you are here)

 Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

dwergs says ( 07 Jul 2006 ):

Arr, you lads! No reason to belay the pirate talk, for today Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest hits the shores. Here's some pirate booty to celebrate the release, me hearties. Fair winds! >> Play the wonderful Dead Man's Tale with/against your Messenger buddies via our game launcher. >> Add Billy Bones to your contact list for a single-player game. >> Download the free Pirates theme pack for Messenger here or use one of our Pirates of the Carribean 2 Display Pictures. >> Oh, and there's a pirate emoticon included in the Blue Tones emoticon set available from CustoMess. >> If you want to become a mighty pirate, you need a fitting name first. Choose: male pirate names or female pirate names.

 Microsoft readies Vista, Windows Live keyboard

dwergs says ( 07 Jul 2006 ):

It's rather courageous to baptize a future product als the "Ultimate Keyboard" because you simply can't beat every computer geek's wet dream in the field. But admittedly, the feature set of Microsoft's upcoming keyboard is impressive. It has an automatic power/battery life save feature, a Windows Live Call button that provides one-touch access to Windows Live Messenger (logs in, opens your contact list and allows you to initiate a call/chat), a Gadgets button giving access to the mini-applications in Vista, auto-illuminated backlit keys adjusted based on surrounding light and proximity of users, wireless 30-foot Bluetooth range, etc. Watch a demo here. Pricing and launch date are yet unknown. [Source: Digital World Tokyo]

 Inside Windows Live Messenger.. Quite literally!

Inky says ( 06 Jul 2006 ):

As I am halfway my second week of my internship, and halfway my lunch break, I thought it would be cool to say hello to everyone of you from Microsoft Redwest D, where all the cool Windows Live Messenger stuff is being designed, coded and punched into shape ;-) During my internship I will be working on some things that will possibly power the next generation Web Messenger and other Live.com services... However, for all the developers among you, it is only for internal teams so don't get your hopes up just yet! Besides my own top secret work, I can assure you some really cool things are coming your way (and some very soon!), including one of the most requested features for Windows Live Messenger. Of course, being a Microsoft employee now, I can't reveal too much information (or rather barely anything at all!) so you will have to be patient... But it is definitely worth waiting for! Oh, and if I so happen to come across Leah, I will make sure to say "Hi" for all the 200+ million of you (according to this blog post)!

 Updated (yes, again): Mess Patch for Windows Live Messenger

dwergs says ( 06 Jul 2006 ):

We're really spoiling you with Mess Patch releases lately. Rolando took note of your suggestions and implemented some of them in yet another update. This version comes with a total of 81 tweaks, so I'm expecting a call from the Guinness Book of World Records anytime soon. - First of all, there was an issue with Norton AntiVirus from Symantec which detected the previous version of Mess Patch as Trojan.Zlob. Of course, this was a false alarm and it just proves that antivirus software can be wrong. Mess Patch does not pose any kind of threat to your computer and downloading Mess Patch from Mess.be or via the auto-update is always 100% risk-free! - I'm happy to announce that Mess Patch can now be used in conjunction with Windows Live OneCare. Users of Microsoft's comprehensive PC care service can now get messy with Messenger again. - As for new features, you can now show thumbnailed Display Pictures of your contacts in normal view mode instead of the little green buddies. And in "Detailed view" mode, you can decide to move the Display Pictures to the right side (as requested by Daeron Tinúviel) - Re-entry of a Mess Patch Original feature: "Show Contact Status In Contact List", although it's for English versions only at this time. - Lots of Messers disliked like the way the conversation window text ad removal caused the white space area to disappear as well. We split up the option so you can decide yourself. - Important: Removing ads now stops both JavaScript errors AND flash sounds (reported by royeiror). - Thanks to a change by Microsoft you can now steal custom emoticons from your contacts again while song links are disabled. Convenient! - Lastly, several bugs when saving/loading settings were fixed (although older settings files and registry keys no longer work). >> Download Mess Patch for Windows Live Messenger 8.0.792 (current version).

 Inside Live with Leah Pearlman

dwergs says ( 06 Jul 2006 ):

There's a video interview with Leah Pearlman, Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger, over at inside live, which is a new official Microsoft site giving you a peek behind the curtain of Windows Live services. Leah tells us why :'( is her favorite emoticon, what her favorite feature is, why working at Microsoft is so much fun, what her e-mail address is, etc. She also mentions that Messenger is still in Beta, so the interview is a little bit dated. Of course, I did my best to spot revealing screenshots or notes on her corkboard, but I'm afraid there aren't any easter eggs (bummer!). And that Bill Gates puppet on her desk is just scary.

 PREVIEW: Windows Live for Mobile (Beta)

dwergs says ( 05 Jul 2006 ):

Remember how I was raving about the Windows Live Mobile version of Messenger after Phil Holden demonstrated it at the second Windows Live Session in London? Well, we managed to get our hands on the Windows Live for Mobile 10.7 Beta and decided to make you some screenshots and even better, a demo video showing its complete set of features. Regarding Messenger, you'll notice Display Pictures, the possibility for group conversations, file transfers (see screenshot, receiving and sending Voice Clips and Nudges. The video's contents (by estimation): 0:06 Viewing Contacts 0:14 Mail 1:17 Messenger 1:30 Reading News 1:45 Internet Explorer 2:26 Search 3:11-6:55 Messenger again >> Download the Windows Live for Mobile Beta video demo (watch with Windows Media Player for best results). >> Can you Digg it? UPDATE: Embedded the video directly on this page for people having trouble downloading and/or viewing it. (If YouTube ain't down, that is :@) And finally some screenshots:

 Hotmail XSS exploit still unpatched

dwergs says ( 05 Jul 2006 ):

Sixteen year-old Adriaan Graas from The Netherlands informed Microsoft last week about an XSS (cross site scripting) exploit he found in Hotmail. The exploit allows hackers to steal cookies from their victims and obtain full control over their inboxes without the need of knowing their passwords. More than a week later, the billion-dollar company still hasn't fixed the flaw. The story is hardly surprising considering Microsoft's long-lasting reputation of XSS blunders, eg. last year's reported MSN Alerts and Ilovemessenger vulnerabilities, and a similar one going way back to 2002. While we agree it's best to privately and directly report vulnerabilities to the company involved, the information has already been disclosed on the web and various news sites are publishing it. We can only hope the exposure puts enough pressure on Microsoft. The Hotmail exploit can easily be executed via websites, e-mails or instant messages, so until the hole is patched: watch where you click!

 WC2006: World Cup semi-finals SPECIAL

dwergs says ( 04 Jul 2006 ):

I feel sorry for the many Mess.be visitors who don't give a damn about the World Cup because this is our 6th post already related to the worldwide soccer event (and it might not be the last). Then again, it's a huge and exciting competition and I bet the other half will enjoy this special dedicated to the four teams playing in today's and tomorrow's semi-finals. Show support for your favorite team (or the one you grudge the least since your country was sent home) and use its Messenger Display Picture by dragging the image below onto your current one. I've also added a couple of emoticon sets and nickname ideas (created with our good old ASCII Nickname Construction Kit). Nickname idea: þø®~|~ùgªL, Emoticons by Crazy Dude: Nickname idea: i¯|¯ÃL¥, Emoticons by brend0nx: Nickname idea: ƒ®ªñ©e, Emoticons by SeBsZ: Nickname idea: G€®(v)ÃÑ¥, no emoticons available. UPDATE: Added the German stuff again. After all, they're playing on Saturday Maybe you don't favor any of these teams, then why not support the appeal against racism in football called Football Resistance? Racism still exists. Everywhere. It even infiltrates the stadiums, where citizens from around the world join together. More information about this campaign here. [Thanks again to Timothy, gotenks_fp and Rolando for the awesome Display Pics]

 Hello? This is Yahoo! Messenger for Mac talking to you

dwergs says ( 03 Jul 2006 ):

After a status quo of almost five years, Yahoo! decided to finally update their Yahoo! Messenger for Mac software. The public beta version comes with a new look and feel, new features (avatars, sounds,...), but to us the most interesting change is that the application is designed to support and talk to Windows Live Messenger. Someone over at the Trillian forums (of all places!) got it to talk to Windows Live Messenger, but one-way only. More details and pictures here. UPDATE: We also made our own high-res screenshot of Yahoo! Messenger talking to Windows Live Messenger. If you want to try it yourself, remember to put "All others" in your Allow list (Tools > Options > Privacy). [Reported by: RJT (last week already, too bad I was away at Rock Werchter or else we could've scored a massive Digg), Ingiliz_cezahsi and an anonymous Messer] [Visit: Yahoo! Messenger for Mac]

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