Windows Live Messenger out of beta
It probably should’ve been called MSN Messenger 8, but due to the ‘Live‘ rebranding service exercise at M$, it has been called Windows Live Messenger (WLM). I did start using it months ago when it just went into beta but since it was horribly buggy, I uninstalled it and went back to 7.5 almost immediately.
However the last beta version which I’ve been using for over a month or so before the recent release of the final version has been very stable so that shouldn’t be an issue now. Although I believe there still are some issues with the offline messaging.
Main attraction to upgrade to this version would be the offline messaging which has been (very) long overdue (think about it, the ancient ICQ had offline messaging a decade ago..) and a more slick looking interface. Apart from those, it’s very much the same messenger as before.
The eagerly awaited integration with Yahoo! Messenger to allow users of MSN/WLM and YM to send messages to each other (without the use of multi-network clients like Trillian, GAIM, etc) has not materialised as yet, although both services has recently started advertising it much more prominently than before.
A WLM login page screenshot courtesy of Wikipedia:
More screenshots can be found in the entry at Wikipedia.
While on IMs, Yahoo! Messenger has released the beta version 8. I don’t use it much, so I haven’t tested it out.
World Cup
After a brief hiatus due to exam preparation, it’s time to update my blog. :P Some World Cup humour I’ve came across recently..
A funny comic strip on US who can’t be bothered about it by Little Gamers:
‘Medical certificate’ which was sent to me by Dinesh:
An article on ‘World Cup rules for girls‘ by The Sun Online. :P
‘Stealth’ ringtone
Check it out here.
Hmm, I heard it loud and (annoyingly) clear. Seems that I have very good hearing eh.. :O
Videos of other OSes
A solution for those who want to see how another operating system works without having to go through the trouble of installing it: OSVids.com
via Forever Geek
Google Browser Sync and Spreadsheets
I’ll just lift the description off the Google Browser Sync page :P
Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions.
I don’t think I need to further expand on that. :P I have yet to try it out, but will do so shortly since I frequently switch between my desktop and notebook and could be a better option to my current setup of using Syncback to do the synchronisation/backups between the two for the browser side of things.
Google Spreadsheets on the other hand allows you to create, store and share spreadsheets. Currently still under Google Labs, it’s aimed more towards those who constantly send spreadsheets to and fro via email. You can apply to try it out here. A writeup on it can be found here.
Windows Vista Beta 2
The first public beta of the next release of Microsoft Windows is finally out. You can get more info on it here. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to download it as the servers are probably flooded. :( I’ll probably download it after my exams are over..
Beta Webmails
Gmail caused a storm when it was launched by Google 2 years ago offering 1GB of space (now in excess of 2.7GB) and having a really slick interface. I’ve stuck to it ever since I got my invite and apart from a few disruptions, it has been the best webmail interface I’ve used so far. Invites are no longer scarce and you can even invite yourself over here.
The other 2 beta webmails I do use on and off are Windows Live Mail and Yahoo! Mail Beta. Both are invite only as well with overhauled interfaces to compete with Gmail.
Live Mail takes a lot of cues from Microsoft Outlook and is pretty decent but unfortunately I find the Internet Explorer-only requirement (loads up the standard Hotmail ‘classic’ interface if you use Firefox) and the ads at the top and right of the page a tad too annoying (no Adblock extension in IE7 :P).
Yahoo! Mail Beta on the other hand took their standard interface and attempted to remodelled it with a look similar to Yahoo! Messenger which in my opinion, made the standard non-beta look and feel a lot better. It feels sluggish overall, which is especially apparent when scrolling. There’s supposed to be an ad on the right hand side as well, but Firefox’s Adblock extension probably made it disappear. :P Here’s a trick you can use to invite yourself to try Yahoo! Mail Beta yourself taken from this page:
* log in to Yahoo Mail
* click Options
* select Account information from the left panel
* go to Member Information, General Preferences, Preferred Content
* select, for example, Yahoo UK
* click Finished
* go to Yahoo Mail
* you’ll see a page that says “It’s the New Yahoo! Mail Beta… and you’re invited.”
* click on “Try Beta Now”.
Here are the screenshots of Gmail, Windows Live Mail and Yahoo! Mail Beta courtesy of Wikipedia.
VMware
VMware now makes it extremely easy if you want to try out various ‘appliances’ on your current operating system (probably Windows) without requiring you to meddle with your current setup. All you need is to download and install the free VMware Player and then choose the appliance which interests you, download and load it up in VMware Player. You can then freely experiment with the appliance you have loaded up and easily throw it off when you no longer want it. ;)
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