Main/News >> News Archives > The week of August 24 (2008) (you are here)

MSN custom colors for your font! MSN Emoticons list overview! Find a Date for online chats! Quality Hosting specials for Messers! free msn games

 Beta invitations to Windows Live Wave 3 go out
Beta invitations to Windows Live Wave 3 go out

dwergs says ( 30 Aug 2008 ):

 

Messers who have been involved in recent Messenger betas will by now have received an e-mail invitation to the nomination round of the Windows Live Wave 3 Beta. The e-mail explains that the single beta program covers a number of Windows Live products (Mail, Messenger, and so on) and that participants are expected to file bugs and talk to the product teams in private newsgroups. Another snippet explains why we cannot share the invitation code with you:

windows live wave 3 beta including windows live messenger 9

"Unlike past betas, this is a small-scale beta with a very limited number of open seats. The nomination survey will close as soon as we reach our target number. If you want to participate in this beta, please act quickly. (Early entry doesn't guarantee final approval)


The receipt of the e-mail does not mean automatical acceptance into the Wave 3 Beta. A nomination survey has to be filled out and in about 2 weeks all chosen participants will receive the actual beta-invitation. The Windows Live Team adds: "However we might have more seats open in the future so stay tuned."

[Reported by: scrtmssgs and jmepamplin]



 Emoticolombianos: 25 animated emoticons for free
Emoticolombianos: 25 animated emoticons for free

dwergs says ( 29 Aug 2008 ):

 

Let's dive into the weekend with a Messenger freebie. This time around it's a pack of 25 animated emoticons courtesy of MSN Colombia, and you can tell by the one of a Colombian soccer jersey as well as a few Spanish ones (eg. "todo bien"). Check out this (non-animated) overview of the 25 emoticons included:

25 free emoticons from msn colombia

Here's how to handle the non-English installer:

1) Click the "Siguiente" button.
2) Untick the two options ("Utilizar...") if you don't want to mess with your default IE settings.
3) Click the "Acceptar" button.
4) Twentyfive animated emoticons are now being added to the currently signed-in Windows Live Messenger account.

>> View the animated installation instructions.

>> Download the free Emoticolombianos pack directly (landing page over here).



 [UPDATED] Ping.fm adds Friendster, Rejaw, Yahoo 360, Delicious and Wordpress.org
[UPDATED] Ping.fm adds Friendster, Rejaw, Yahoo 360, Delicious and Wordpress.org

dwergs says ( 28 Aug 2008 ):

 

Those of you who were fast enough to get into the Ping.fm beta when we posted the temporary invitation code, might be interested to hear about a few new features that have been added to the social network updating service since then.

- You can now post to Friendster, Rejaw and Yahoo 360.
- You can post bookmarks to Delicious (Mixx, Ma.gnolia and Mister Wong coming soon). Read these instructions on how to add a bookmark.
- You can now also update your self-hosted Wordpress blog using this plugin.

Ping.fm allows you to post blogs, update your status or add bookmarks via several methods, including a Windows Live Messenger bot. Those not in the beta, stay tuned for another invitation code!

UPDATE: As promised, here's a new invitation code: legendofping! Use it wisely and fast.



 Live Pages launched in Taiwan, offers map sharing over Messenger
Live Pages launched in Taiwan, offers map sharing over Messenger

dwergs says ( 27 Aug 2008 ):

 

Microsoft Taiwan and HiPages have just launched Live Pages, a search engine and interactive map service for Taiwanese businesses.

windows live pagesChi Li-ping, program manager for Microsoft Taiwan’s MSN business division, said Live Pages differentiates from Google and Yahoo thanks to "more extensive business listings, easy search words, location-based searches that also include neighboring businesses and direct dialing via the Internet." VoIP services are provided by Chunghwa Telecom, who allows free inquiry calls to more than 10,000 selected businesses.

The maps leverage the Virtual Earth platform while searches or locations can be shared instantly with online Windows Live contacts through the Live Pages activity for Windows Live Messenger. UPDATE: Those with a Windows Live ID set to Taiwan will also see a Live Pages Messenger tab.

>> View a screenshot of the Live Pages Messenger activity.

>> Visit Windows Live Pages (Taiwan).



 Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 promises return of WebMessenger
Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 promises return of WebMessenger

dwergs says ( 27 Aug 2008 ):

 

An observant visitor of Liveside has spotted a Coming soon! page for the next version (Wave 3) of Windows Live Hotmail.

The microsite promises a cleaner design, new themes and colors, ever-increasing storage like Gmail, new calendar features and up to 70% faster loading times when signing in, viewing and opening e-mail.

On the IM front, WebMessenger integration is approaching so we'll be able to control our status and send short replies to our online Windows Live contacts again instead of having to e-mail them.

Coming soon? Let's hope so!

>> Check out this tiny preview screenshot over at Windows Live Hotmail - Coming soon!



 Wear your Display Picture: Threadless = 2 Cool 4 School
Wear your Display Picture: Threadless = 2 Cool 4 School

dwergs says ( 26 Aug 2008 ):

 

Threadless is having a 2 Cool 4 School sale: all tees are only US$12, prints only US$25. And you know, their designs make excellent display pictures:

display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures
display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures
display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures
display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures
display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures display pictures

>> Check out the 2 Cool 4 School sale at Threadless. Hurry up, your size might be running out.



 Windows Live Messenger BETA Version 2009 (14.03921.717) and all there is to it
Windows Live Messenger BETA Version 2009 (14.03921.717) and all there is to it

dwergs says ( 25 Aug 2008 ):

 

I wasn't going to waste anymore words on the early internal 9.0 build but now that it has leaked and ten thousands of you are probably messing around with it, I'll point out some more details.

As far as I tested, you can add an unlimited number of contacts to your Favorites category. Favorites are shown with their display picture and are not ordered alphabetically (view Favorites screenshot). Instead, you can move contacts up and down in the list and prioritize (right-click a contact and choose Move up or Move down).

The new Groups feature allows you to share documents and photos in a multi-party conversation. You can create a group via Contacts > Create a group, attach a custom display picture to it and enter a special group message (view Groups screenshot #1 and Groups screenshot #2).

Like Inky said, regular contact groups have been renamed "categories" but you can easily convert them to a group through an option in the context menu. Just right-click on the category name (view Convert to group screenshot).

Messenger bots (or Windows Live Agents as Microsoft calls them) have been given their own little contact list icon (view bot icon screenshot).

As we've shown you before, display pictures in conversation windows are aligned to the left in this build instead of to the right. Contrary to many of your opinions, I think it makes more sense and the speech bubble visual gives it a nice touch too. But if you don't like the new look, you can choose to hide both display pictures which makes the window look like this. Now I'm not sure if I like the bulleted conversation text though, and the conversation window should definitely show the contact's Windows Live ID somewhere to avoid confusion. But again, this is an early build and by no means final.

Also in the conversation window, Timothy has found that the handwriting input has become more responsive, especially pressure-wise.

UPDATE: The default font for your messages has changed to Tahoma on Windows XP and Segoe UI on Vista (thanks JTaylor06!).

To conclude, let's see what's NOT in this Windows Live Messenger 9 build:
- The Add-Ins tab (under Tools > Options) has been removed. Then again, Add-ins were never officially supported (which is a missed opportunity).
- No sign of the Sharing folders feature. I won't miss it.
- Changing your display picture through drag-n-drop doesn't work. Not in the contact list nor the conversation window. A bug, I assume.
- Tabs are hidden by default. For testing purposes, I assume.

If you discover anything else noteworthy, feel free to pop me a message.



 Leaked: slightly outdated Windows Live Messenger 9 M1 build
Leaked: slightly outdated Windows Live Messenger 9 M1 build

dwergs says ( 25 Aug 2008 ):

 

So the Windows Live Messenger 9 build we've had in our hands a few weeks ago has leaked all over the web yesterday. Don't look at us, Microsoft, we kept it in guarded quarantaine. We even removed our exclusive screenshots upon receiving your DMCA complaint soon after we shared them with our Messers. But now that the very same build is out of the bag, I guess we can bring them back:

Contact list with new header
Conversation window with left-aligned DPs
New PhotoShare feature
About dialog (build 14.0.3921.717)

For more information about the new features, refer to our original post on this Windows Live Messenger 9 build. Note that this is far from the final version of Windows Live Messenger 9 and should you download it (and do so at your own risk) expect bugs, crashes and incompatibility with add-ons like Messenger Plus! Live and MessengerDiscovery Live.

>> Download Windows Live Messenger 9 M1 (Build 14.0.3921.0717) at the following unverified mirrors: Winxperts.net, JCXP.net, RapidShare.com #1 & RapidShare #2, Live-Share.com or this torrent.

[Reported by: oren goldman, Japus, James_478, erik10002, Matty and lemon]



Click Here!

Back to the News Archives