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Main/News >> News Archives > The week of August 31 (2008) (you
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 Screenshots of possible final Windows Live Messenger 9 release
dwergs says ( 05 Sep 2008 ):
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Forget about the leaked Windows Live Messenger 9 build, it is sooo last month. The LiveSide boys have discovered these two screenshots of what just might be the final version of Windows Live Messenger 9.
>> Screenshot of Main and Conversation windows.
>> Screenshot of Main window personalization options.
Let's sum up changes and possible new features we can derive from these visuals:
1) Main window header (dashboard) backgrounds are customizable.
2) New, bigger e-mail inbox icon located at the right in the header.
3) Personal Status Message (PSM) and "music you're currently listening to" are now separated.
4) Colored display picture frames show the contact's current status: green means available, yellow is away, red is busy, white means offline, pink means pimping. Ok, I made that last one up.
5) Buddy icons in the contact list are replaced with the similarly colored squares.
6) The What's new feed below your contact list keeps you posted on what your contacts are up to in terms of blogs posted or photos uploaded to Windows Live Spaces, files uploaded to Windows Live Skydrive, etc... the potential of this feature is huge). It'll also show a thumbnail picture if applicable and there's a personal feed per contact in the conversation window.
7) Promotional tabs have been moved to the footer, right above the banner ad.
By the way, dear Microsoft, before you send us another DMCA takedown notice, first check out who owns the domain these screenshots are hosted on. |
TBot, Windows Live Translation Bot speaks 13 languages
dwergs says ( 03 Sep 2008 ):
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A commonly requested feature for Windows Live Messenger has always been instant translation. Instant messaging allows us to connect to the rest of the world, but one of the things that can still hinder our communication is the language barrier.
 That's why the Microsoft Translator team back in May 2007 debuted the MT Bot prototype as a "human" translator that participates in conferences and translates messages sent by all parties. Today the bot -now dubbed TBot- is released as a full-featured product, more reliable and stable than ever and ready for the masses.
The following languages are supported (more languages will be rolled out over the next several months):
English to/from:
o Arabic
o Chinese Simplified
o Chinese Traditional
o Dutch
o French
o German
o Italian
o Japanese
o Korean
o Portuguese
o Russian (RUS->ENU only)
o Spanish
Chinese Simplified <-> Chinese Traditional So what's new compared to earlier prototypes?
- Interface language auto-detection: TBot knows which language you speak, so it can talk to you in your idiom (we currently support localization in all source languages we support).
- Change language pairs: TBot supports changing the language selection after a conversation is started, so you can select *any* of the current source languages to practice your language skills.
- Extended features: just type TBot ? to learn all TBot can do for you.
Note that machine translation isn't always perfect, so avoid slang and LOLspeak to begin with.
>> Add mtbot@hotmail.com to your contact list (remove the prototype's address if applicable)
>> Leave your comments on the Windows Live Messenger translation bot here. |
Ping.fm beta now open for everyone
dwergs says ( 02 Sep 2008 ):
Released: Adium X 1.3 with much improved Windows Live Messenger support
dwergs says ( 01 Sep 2008 ):
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We previously summed up a few interesting changes that were added in the beta of Adium 1.3 and last week -after seven months in the making- the final version of the outstanding Messenger client for Mac was released.
"This release improves almost every aspect of Adium, ranging from performance and memory to Facebook chat support, and from user interface polish to much improved MSN support with personal messages (finally!). A brand new, gorgeous Contact Inspector brings together all a contact’s information in one place – coalescing combined contacts’ information and accessing your Apple Address Book to give you at-a-glance information, and intuitive live searching in the Standard Contact List makes it a snap to find your friends. Check out the full list of changes: 261 fixed tickets in all." >> Download Adium X 1.3 for Mac OS X. |
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Just a quick note to let you know that the Ping.fm service is now available to everyone who cares to join. It's still in beta, but an invitation code is not longer required to sign up.