Author Archive
Six months in, Live Search cashback is cashing in
When we launched cashback nearly six months ago, we mentioned that we’re going to use these three criteria to measure the program:
- Number of offers in the system
- Advertiser ROI
- Percentage of commercial searches as measured by ComScore
Well, we’ve been measuring, and today we can report that we’ve increased the number of product offers available in Live Search cashback by 30%, indicating strong advertiser interest in the program and early results on its ROI. Stephanie Tilenius, GM of eBay North America, has told us, "Microsoft Live Search cashback has improved our ROI on paid search by 50%, and based upon our shared success, eBay is increasing its search marketing spend with Microsoft Live Search by threefold." ShoeMall, a cashback advertiser also mentioned that the cashback program has increased their sales 6x since it began participating, prompting ShoeMall to devote even more marketing dollars to the program. In addition, we’ve seen a monthly average of 4.5 million unique users participating in cashback — they’ve conducted more than 68 million commercial queries.
In these tough economic times this early traction speaks to the differentiated and unique value proposition of Microsoft Live Search cashback for both consumers and advertisers. According to a custom comScore study, in Q2 2008, Microsoft Live Search referred almost 12% of total commercial online transactions and 13% of total online spending among key retail categories.
We’re encouraged by cashback’s first six months, but this is just the beginning — we have more up our sleeves. Keep watching.
Source- Live Search Blog
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New XNA Game Studio 3.0 Samples!
In anticipation of the launch of Xbox LIVE Community Games next Wednesday, November 19th we’re doing all we can to help all our creators get their games ready for the world with articles on playtesting and Peer Review.
Many creators are just starting out or still building their masterpieces and Creators Club offers many resources for you, too!
Along with updating all existing content to work with XNA Game Studio 3.0 (including the Spacewar Starter Kit!) this week we’d like to share three new samples!
This sample shows how to localize an XNA Framework game into multiple languages.
This sample shows how to make an XNA Framework game display correctly on a wide range of different televisions.
This sample shows how to support invites in a networked XNA Framework game.
If you have questions about these or anything else our incredible MVPs are waiting in the Creators Club forums to answer your questions!
Source- XNA team blog
Expression Encoder 2 SDK Updated for Service Pack 1
We’ve just released an update to the SDK, which now incorporates the new features in Expression Encoder 2 Service Pack 1.
Here are the main things that are new in the SDK :-
Reference.
A new Mode property, EncoderSku, which gives more accurate SKU information than Mode.IsExpress.
A new MediaItem property, FileOutputMode, which you can use to select ASF MBR as well as "Adaptive Smooth Streaming" output modes.
Enhancements to how output files are generated and accessed.
New audio overlay functionality for MediaItem.
Two new AAC base profiles for AudioProfiles.
Two new H.264 base profiles for VideoProfiles.
A new AdaptiveStreaming profile for both AudioProfiles and VideoProfiles.
A new VideoProfile profile, VideoProfileMbrDeltaCollection, which you can use to customize MBR and/or AdaptiveStreaming output streams.
A new default resize mode of SuperSampling instead of Bicubic.
Here’s the link to download the updated SDK.
Source- Expression Encoder Blog
Announcing the new Live Search API, version 2.0 beta!
If you’ve been wondering what was simmering in the Live Search API pot these past months, wonder no more! Today we officially launched our beta for the new generation of search engine API.
Live Search API version 2.0 beta, announced this morning at PubCon in Las Vegas, is now just a click away from being live in your development environment.
There’s a lot that’s new in this version:
- We now offer access through new interfaces: JSON, and XML over HTTP. Of course, you can still use our SOAP interface. But now you have options.
- You said you were spinning cycles parsing out non-web results that had been shoehorned into a one-size-fits-all response structure, and we heard you. The new API is strongly typed and offers access to seven different types of results (web, news, images, phonebook, spell-checker, related queries, and Encarta instant answer).
- We’ve opened up our Terms of Use, eliminating the pre-set usage quota. We do require that you use this API for user-facing applications only. But that’s reasonable, right?
- We’ve retained the popular capability to batch as many SourceTypes as you want into a single request with a single query string.
Exciting? What if I told you that you can apply for a pilot program that will allow you to incorporate advertisements seamlessly into your results pages, retrieving them as one more SourceType in a request? Well, you can!
To top it off, we’ve restructured our RSS interface. Now we offer the ability to use a 100% OpenSearch compliant RSS format to send requests to our web, news, images and phonebook SourceTypes.
Live Search API, version 2.0 beta is what you need to develop search applications that transcend the old-school ten-blue-results-on-a-page.
To get started, go to the Live Search Developer Center and get your AppID today!
Source- dev.live.com
Microsoft Store USA - Now Online - Shop Till You Drop!
Microsoft has just launched a store containing the entire line of Microsoft Products which includes all software, hardware, and peripherals.
With this launch, Microsoft customers in the U.S. are able to buy first-party software and hardware directly from Microsoft in a comprehensive online catalog. On our store, you’ll find products from many categories, ranging from Office 2007 Home and Student and Zoo Tycoon 2 to Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers and the new Zune with that cool Buy from FM feature.
You may now shop! - http://www.microsoftstore.com
Source - winoscentral.com
Windows Sysinternals Updates: ZoomIt v2.2, AccessChk v4.22
ZoomIt v2.2: This ZoomIt update makes it easier to see the drawing cursor when it’s small relative to the zoomed region by representing it as a cross hair, allows you to position the text cursor when you enter text mode, supports changing the text color for the break timer and while you’re placing the text cursor, and includes a number of other minor improvements.
AccessChk v4.22: This update fixes a bug that sometimes caused AccessChk to not show the full list of rights and privileges assigned to a user account.
Source- Windows Sysinternals Blog
25GB of Free Online Storage with Windows Live SkyDrive
The Windows Live SkyDrive Team has posted a in-depth post offering a overview of what’s coming with their next update. First and foremost: Windows Live SkyDrive will be boosting everyone’s storage from 5GB to 25GB. Secondly, they want to give you more control over your files by offering you new features to do so:
Download photos directed to your to Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Download as a .zip file. Download an entire folder in one compressed file (initially available only in the United States, Denmark, and Ireland).
Move files between folders.
Copy files to multiple folders.
Sharing photos is huge these days. They’ve added almost 20 new features to make the photo experience on Windows Live SkyDrive even better such as supporting People Tags, bigger thumbnails, and a new online slideshow using Microsoft Silverlight.
You will be able to also keep your Internet Explorer favorites synced up with multiple PCs using Windows Live SkyDrive and Windows Live SkyDrive.
There is a lot coming to Windows Live SkyDrive! Check out their blog post for more details on what’s coming up.
Source- Windows Experience Blog
New LIVE Guide Available for Games for Windows - LIVE
Major Nelson has posted that an update to Games for Windows – LIVE will be available next time you login to a LIVE enabled game (of course) - offering you the brand new LIVE Guide. He’s also posted a bunch of shots of the new LIVE Guide here on Flickr.
Unfortunately I’ve packed my Games for Windows – LIVE games away as I’m in the middle of moving. But I’m thinking of picking up the new James Bond game Quantum of Solace (I’m anxious to give the new Live Guide a try myself). Feel free to recommend other Games for Windows – Live titles for me. I already own Halo 2 for Windows Vista and Shadowrun.
Source- Windows Experience Blog
