November, 2006

What’s the name of that Map thing?

Virtual Earth? Local.live.com? Maps.live.com?  It’s all so confusing.  We’ve suggested just changing the name to Maps and be done with it, and recently there have been signs that the change has occured.

First, http://maps.live.com works, and doesn’t resolve to http://local.live.com

Windows Vista Countdown gadget

Windows Vista Countdown GadgetThis is a re-print of a post that I did on my blog. I thought I’d post it here in case you missed it. Look for my companion article in the next few days about how to write one gadget

Windows Live – The *Real* Future?

One of the common things that seems to be happening with the major Windows Live services and products is for a development SDK to be released for the product to allow 3rd party developers to build upon the application and add …

Windows Live advertising starts in the UK – Search marketing sucks?

Today saw the first major Windows Live advertising here in the UK, with a 4 page front-cover for the “Metro”, a free London paper aimed at commuters. Much like the previous ads in American newspapers, they focused on Windows Live Search, including …

MSN/Windows Live Search drops 8% in the year

Today sees the publication of a new Nielson NetRatings report (PDF) on the US search share rankings. There are few surprises concerning when it comes to the top 2 performers – Google 49.6%, 23% growth and Yahoo 23.9%, 30% growth. …

MSN Money gets update; CNBC.com to launch soon

In an email sent out earlier this week, MSN Money users learnt they will now have two financial information sites to choose from. The first, MSN Money, underwent an update earlier this week, providing new features that include:

  • Improved

Windows Live Mobile launches SMS Search Beta

WLMobile icon.gifJust a few days after announcing a major partnership between Windows Live Mobile and Sprint, the Windows Live Mobile team have launched a new SMS search service that provides Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Alltel subscribers SMS access to Windows Live …

MSN Premium releases 9.5 version, not dead yet

Much to our surprise, MSN released version 9.5 of MSN Explorer/MSN Internet Access to subscribers as an update on Friday.  The release appears to fix a number of issues surrounding upgrades to Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Live …

MSN Music retires, Zune launches

Another MSN service becomes content with the closure of MSN Music. With Microsoft launching Zune Tuesday, MSN Music will not become Windows Live Music, but become a delivery method of content. MSN Music will no longer be selling …

Windows Live Mail desktop Updated

Build 1172 of Windows Live Mail desktop just went live on Ideas.Live.com.  This is the first publically available update for WLMd in about a month and a half, so needless to say there have been a lot of improvements …