Microsoft has launched a website for its Live Messenger users : Minimise-Me. WLM users can avail of this new service to build their own emoticons & characters.
Windows Live Messenger users can even create a mini version of themselves. One can also play around with one’s own facial characters like the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, nose, etc. There is also a Celebrity Gallery, where you can customise the images, with the click of an Edit button.
Source: WinVistaClub
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Microsoft Corp. plans to acquire the 50.1% it doesn’t already own in MSN Israel Ltd. from partner Internet Gold Ltd., the companies said on Sunday.
The companies said in a statement that they’re "discussing the terms of migration and possible future cooperation." Meantime, they’re still "working together to support employees, advertisers and users."
MSN Israel, established in 2000, is part of the Redmond, Wash., software giant’s portal network, which operates in 44 countries. In almost all these countries, Microsoft wholly owns the portals, the companies said.
Source- MarketWatch
The new MSN Toolbar which uses Silverlight (works with Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2) that was released to the US market about a month ago is going global. You can now download localized versions of the toolbar for a few selected markets and we guess more will be added over time. In addition to the US release it is now available in the UK, Germany, France and Italy.
Source- Liveside
However a few days ago the My MSN customised homepage launched a new beta version, available at http://next.my.msn.com.
So what’s new? Well the most striking thing you’ll notice when comparing it to the old site is that it now features the new-style header UI. This includes the drop down menu linking users to all the other MSN sites, as well as offering access to the main Live Search verticals straight from the page.
Other new pieces include an embedded MSN Video player, showing the most popular videos right now, tooltips to improve the first-run experience, and the standard modules such as Hotmail inbox, most popular searches and front page news. The menu system for each module needs a UI update, but other than that it makes a good first impression.
While the main page is already pre-populated, users can create their own custom pages. Just click the Add a Page - Blank Page option, and then pop a keyword into the search box to find content
Source- LiveSide
For eco-warriors and environmentalists, there’s a new channel on MSN that will be of interest: MSN Environment. On this site, you can read news and blogs, watch videos, get eco-friendly tips, plus get access to tools like a carbon calculator and a water usage meter. The site is only on MSN UK (for the U.S., we have MSN Green instead), but there are certainly features on the site that will appeal to everyone interested in these issues.
If you want to follow various sections of MSN Environment, there are several RSS feeds to choose from, including:
- Environment Blog: Matthew Yeomans is the co-founder of Custom Communication an online media consultancy that provides environmental reporting. He reports for MSN on The Climate Report blog.
- Environment Features: All the feature stories from MSN Environment Editor including analysis.
- Environment Photos: All the photo stories from MSN Environment Editor including analysis.
- Environment News: Updated throughout the day with breaking and feature news stories
- Environment Videos: Stand alone features from VideoJug
- Green Living : Reports on Green Living
Source- Channel 10
The official MSN Video/Soapbox Vista Sidebar Gadget is now available for downloading and installing:
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=b4ea67a2-5cb6-4a15-8ae1-048cccaf8ffc&bt=1
Some of the Highlights of the MSN Video Vista Sidebar Gadget:
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Display Localized MSN Videos with links to MSN Video Destination Site
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Display Soapbox Videos and play natively Inline
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Localized for over 30 countries and languages
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Top-Level market Navigation
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Numerous Sort-by options
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Display Search terms
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Display Related Videos
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Customize number of thumbs and pages to show
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Auto-scroll Pages at defined intervals
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And much more……
Source- on10.net
The MSN Direct team just released a Technology Preview of MSN Direct for Windows Mobile devices!
It is a Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone) application that connects to the MSN Direct information service and delivers the information that you care about – and it updates automatically – and you never have to enter an URL, or wait for a web page to load.
You can get Weather, Stocks, Top Stories, World news, Sports news, Entertainment news, Business, Travel, Tech, Health, and even News of the Weird.
To get it on your device just go to http://phone.msndirect.com from your PC or your phone
A newly reported vulnerability could put the security of MSN Messenger users at risk.
The flaw lies in MSN Messenger’s video chat component and could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a user’s system. The vulnerability does not affect the latest version of the application, now known as Windows Live Messenger 8.1.
An attacker could exploit the flaw by injecting specially-crafted code into a video chat invitation.
On accepting the invitation, the user would experience a buffer overflow, which could in turn cause an application crash and allow the attacker to execute malicious code.
Discovery of the vulnerability is credited to a researcher known as ‘Wushi’.
Security firm Secunia rated the vulnerability as ‘highly critical’, the second highest of its five alert levels.
A Microsoft spokesperson said that the company is investigating the flaw. Microsoft and Secunia recommend that users upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 8.1.
Secunia also recommended that users who have not upgraded should avoid unsolicited video chat invites.
A similar flaw was reported two weeks ago in Yahoo Messenger which could allow an attacker to execute malicious code through a specially crafted chat invite.
Source Technoworld
Ankur Mittal | July 21, 2008
