Windows Live Messenger 9 Beta New Features

These are the new features in WLM 9 (currently in pre-beta stage) that are posted around the web.

New features:

1. Sign-in and messaging in multiple locations up to four at once.
2. Signature sounds. 
3. Per contact sounds.
4. SPAM Reporting.
5. Animated Display Pictures - supports animated .gif files as display pictures.
6. Link in Personal Status Message
7. URLs in Personal Status Messages are hot and clickable in the Messenger contact list.

General improvements:

1. Behind the Scenes Changes 
2. Architectural changes that modified how things work but shouldn’t have changed how things look. 
3. Changes to sign-in, connectivity, presence, sending text IM’s, voice & video features.
4. Windows Live Contacts Server
5. wlcomm.exe runs in the background to keep your contacts’ information up-to-date and helps Messenger sign you in faster.

Windows Live Messenger ads!

Three cool WLM advertisements :)

Microsoft launches "Cool Hotmail" in India

Whether you call Bombay thier home, or Bangalore. Whether your favorite star is Hrithik, SRK or anyone else! Whether you call yourself cool or hot! Whether you like junk or sportics! or if you have class of thier own! Its here for them.

Microsoft brings coolhotmail for India. Now no more same pintch for everyone. Everyone can have its own style represented by his/her e-mail address. You can have a unique e-mail address that flly represents you personality like yourname@clubashwariya.com, yourname@globicallyunique.in, yourname@iamwhatiam.in and much more. There are 141 to choose from. It will be really cool if Microsoft launches something like this for Pakistan too.

Check it out!

Link:
Coolhotmail

The new Live Search 2.0

Seeking to narrow the gap with Google, Microsoft Corp unveiled a retooled Web search service that aims to deliver more relevant results and combines text, video and other information onto a single page. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, said Windows Live search is now on an even technology footing with offerings from rival search engines after years of playing catch-up since it started developing its own Web search in 2003.

Its new presentation is in line with an industry trend to step beyond traditional text links, with unified search results that offer Web sites, news, pictures and video on one page. Rivals Google Inc and Ask.com made similar changes this year, and Yahoo Inc is moving in that direction.

"Microsoft is realistic. It doesn't think it's going to wake up tomorrow and overtake Google," said Allen Weiner, an analyst at research firm Gartner. "Right now, Microsoft wants to establish itself more firmly with its existing users."

Source:
Reuters
Link:
Windows Live Search

@live.com address registration

[Note: the @live.com registration hack is't available now. Windows Live has fixed the flaw, the following article was posted when hack was available.]

@live.com address registration is not officialy launched to public by Windows Live. There was once when some java script code was entered on addressbar of hotmail registration page and we were able to make @live.com ids. But the bug was later fixed my Windows Live team.

I found a way on liveside.com to make @live.com thats working right now. If you want @live.com id then try it before its fixed by Windows Live team.

Go to www.hotmail.com, click on Sign up, and choose a free account, as before.
Now, you will be taken to a signup page that shows an @hotmail.com domain for your email address.
Go to the address bar, make hmnewuser.aspx read newuser.aspx and look along until you see &hm=1, after removing that hit enter.
Your @hotmail magically becomes @live.

So, for example,

https://signup.live.com/hmnewuser.aspx?mkt=en-us&revipc=US&ts=3967950&sh=62Zm&hm=1&ru=http%3a%2f%2fmail.live.com%2f%3fnewuser%3dyes&rx=http%3a%2f%2fget.live.com%2fmail%2foverview&rollrs=04&lic=1

becomes

https://signup.live.com/newuser.aspx?mkt=en-us&revipc=US&ts=3967973&sh=P1iS&ru=http%3a%2f%2fmail.live.com%2f%3fnewuser%3dyes&rx=http%3a%2f%2fget.live.com%2fmail%2foverview&rollrs=04&lic=1

source/credit : Liveside