Some years ago, Google started a cooperation with AOL, so that users of the chat software Google Talk could also establish a connection to their friends in AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). Now, this integration has been enhanced.

It has always been possible to chat with your AIM buddies directly from Gmail, but you needed your own AOL network account for this feature. You don’t need such anymore — AIM contacts can be added directly. This feature is not only supported by Gmail, but also by iGoogle, Orkut and Gtalk on Android smartphones. This works from AIM’s end as well: you can add Google users with their mail address.

As consequence of this new enhancement, the Google developers have removed the possibility to enter your AIM account at Google Talk. AOL has developed a little tool to make it easier for you to add your chat buddies in Google Talk.

Google Talk is based on the open XMPP protocol. Google has added VoIP functionality called Jingle. The service can be used with any chat programs, as long as they support the XMPP protocol.

For years, Gmail offered the possibility to label incoming messages. These labels are a combination of a color-coding and folders that categorize emails. Until now, you had to get active once and set up your filters. The Smart Labels now presented will do at least part of the work automatically.

The experimental feature that you can turn on in Gmail’s Labs section, tries to detect certain e-mail types automatically and adds a matching label to them. Google developer Stanley Chen talks about advertising mail, social network notifications as well as messages from mailing lists or similar discussion platforms.

Chen explicitly notices that you can still use your existing filters. If there are some duplicate actions resulting of the new Smart Labels, you can edit them too. If an e-mail gets miscategorized, you can forward it to the developers. They will then check why the error happened. However, be conscious that you will send the complete e-mail to the developers.

The file viewer Google docs viewer is able to display numerous new document types in your browser, among them Adobe Photoshop- and Illustrator files.

You are confronted with the Google docs viewer when you use Gmail – when opening e-mail attachments that the browser cannot display on its own. With the update, the web application can now display twelve new file types, including Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (.xls and .xlsx) as well as PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 presentations (.pptx).

Apple Pages files can be rendered in your browser as well. Other new supported file formats are Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Postscript and true type fonts. The list is completed with Autocad files (.dxf) and Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg).

The rendering is quite faithful. However, some browsers cannot directly copy selected texts to your clipboard. With Google Chrome and Firefox, this works using the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut. The viewer itself is limited to correct rendering; you cannot edit the files.

Google docs viewer is available outside of Gmail as well, at docs.google.com/viewer. To view files with it, they must be available on the web (callable with http or https).

Google is one of the companies that had and have to take rather much criticism. Everything started when Google launched their new e-mail service Gmail in 2004. Privacy protectors were much worried – as Google uses contents of the messages that users send and receive to display personally customized advertisements.

Google has to read my e-mail to guess my interests and to be able to display matching ads in Gmail. But exactly this collides with the secrecy of the post, according to privacy advocates and the U.S. Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). Concerning Gmail, this is not a real problem in my opinion, as it is not employees reading my e-mail, but automatic programs – in fractions of a second, and completely anonymous. Here the displayed ads help to ensure that Google can continue to offer its e-mail service for free. I find: That’s totally okay.

In the meantime, Google has the reputation of a data hydra. Maybe not totally incorrectly. In any case, Google knows what I am watching on Youtube, where I am at the moment (Google Maps location service, for example on iPhone), what my house looks like (Street View), who my friends are (Android cell phones and Gmail contact list), which web sites I like to surf (Google Chrome browser), what I like to read (Google eBookstore), and which things I am shopping for on the Web (Google Shopping search).

But why the current discussion around Google Analytics? It is a statistics service used by website operators, bloggers and shop owners to get more information about their visitors. Therefore, data about your browser, your screen resolution and your operating system are sent to Google as soon as you open any website making use of Google Analytics.

The total collected data are not suitable for an exact location detection or definition who I am as visitor of the website. Plus, the collected user information is made available to the site owner only in anonymized form, for example: “50% of your visitors use 1024 times 768 pixels as screen resolution.” Here I see clear advantages for the owners – and finally for me, the visitor, as well. Finally it is me drawing advantage from the website knowing me well, being optimized for my needs and browser features. This is why mynetx.net uses Google Analytics as well.

Collecting these anonymous data – yes, my IP address belongs to them as well, as it changes once per day anyways – does not appear to be a big problem for me. I think it does not collide with privacy guidelines. And I am sure that if there is a test court case, it is going to have a similar judgment. After all, I live in Europe, and I should be allowed to make use of tech to my advantage. And Google belongs to tech as well.

Google Chrome is the fastest browser and getting more and more popular as alternative to Internet Explorer and Firefox. Gmail users however miss the integration of their email account into the Google browser. The free “Google Mail Checker Plus” extension adds this feature and links Google Chrome to Gmail.

As soon as the Chrome extension “Google Mail Checker Plus” is installed, a red envelope icon appears on the right side of the address bar. The figure at the bottom right of the envelope shows the number of unread messages in your Gmail inbox. Clicking this envelope opens a popout window with all unread messages. You can read and reply to messages directly from this window. Sure, the add-on cannot replace your full-featured mail program; however it is ideal for accessing your Gmail account quickly.

Download for free: Google Mail Checker

Gmail now recognizes YouTube links in received messages and converts them, so thumbnails are displayed in addition to the video links.  You can play such videos directly below their link right inside the message opened in Gmail.  That also counts for YouTube links received in chat messages.  Thus, you don’t have to open a new browser window nor close Gmail first.

Gmail now notifies you when you want to send a message with attachment but you forgot to attach a file to the e-mail.  In the message body, Google looks for keywords like “attachment” or “attached.”  If you want to send a message containing such keywords, a confirmation is displayed whether you have possibly forgotten to attach a file to the e-mail.

The features Muzzle, Fixed Font Width, Email Addict, Location in Signature and Random Signature have therewhile been removed from Gmail Labs.

ReMail founder Gabor Cselle returns to Google where he once worked as intern.  Later he had been development leader at Xobni, offering search and social features for Microsoft’s e-mail client Outlook, and finally founded Remail to develop a new mobile e-mail client.

For a while, his software has been available for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.  It downloads all e-mails in a mailbox to the mobile end device and thus makes the mail searchable.  That doesn’t only work much faster than searching mails on servers, but also saves money, according to reMail, pointing to the data transfer costing otherwise.

With being taken over by Google however, reMail disappeared from the market and is not available in Apple’s App Store anymore.  Google had been taking the same steps with products developed by other companies taken over.

Existing customers can continue to use reMail, Support is available until the end of March 2010.  As recompensation, all users of the software will get all paid features for free.

Remail founder Gabor Cselle is going to work as Product Manager for Google Mail.

Clique nas imagens para baixar os scripts!

5) WLM Safe: o primeiro script antivírus, antispam, antiflood, antiroubo and anti-phishing para o Windows Live Messenger!

O Windows Live Messenger é atualmente a melhor plataforma de comunicação. E os spammers sabem bem disso. Vários sites tentam pegar os dados de sua conta para spamar, vírus miram o Windows Live Messenger e usam suas facilidades de transferência de arquivos para compartilhar mais vírus, e amigos usam outros add-ons como o StuffPlug e o Messenger Discovery para imitar seu apelido, fonte, e imagem de exibição. WLM Safe é o primeiro script no mundo a prevenir esses ataques.

WLM Safe é o primeiro script antivírus para o Windows Live Messenger. Proteja seu Messenger contra vírus, pishing, spam, flood, congelamento, cópia, bots and hackers.

Portanto, um merecido 5º lugar.

4) Screenshot Sender: envie screenshots para seus amigos com extrema facilidade!

Screenshot Sender já está disponível há um bom tempo, mas ainda é bastante popular. É um script que te habilita a enviar screenshots para seus amigos sem nenhuma complicação. Assim como em 2006, esse é o melhor script disponível para enviar screenshots.

Permite o envio fácil e rápido de screenshots para seus contatos.

Por causa de sua utilidade e fácil interface gráfica, o colocamos no 4º lugar.

3) GMail Checker: novo email? Saiba na hora!

Mesmo quando usando o Windows Live Messenger e Windows Live Hotmail, as pessoas tendem a ter outras contas de email. Há apenas um problema: para checar seus emails, você abre o navegador, entra no site do email, checa por emails, e se não tiver nenhuma novidade, repete tudo em 15 minutos. Chega disso! GMail Checker é um script que faz exatamente o que o nome diz: verifica por novas mensagens do GMail, e te informa quando chegam novas mensagens. Útil mas muito fácil de se usar, perfeito para usuários do GMail, mesmo aqueles com múltiplas contas no serviço de emails do Google ou em uma rede GPRS: você pode adicionar múltiplas contas e definir intervalos, definitivamente merece o terceiro lugar.

Gmail Checker permite que você se conecte ao servidor do GMail periodicamente para procurar novos emails. Quando encontrar algum, ele lhe alertará com o nome da conta e a quantidade de emails.

2) WLMStatus: mostre o seu status no Windows Live Messenger por toda a web

Este é um script da casa: WLMStatus é um script que te permite publicar seu status livremente. Você seleciona um estilo (mais de 70 estilos disponíveis), escolhe uma fonte e decide o que mostrar. O script então providenciará códigos tanto para fóruns (BB-code) quando sites (HTML). Fácil de usar e um deve-ter para webmasters e frquentadores de fóruns ao redor do mundo. Disponível em Alemão, Espanhol, Farsi, Finlandês, Francês, Grego, Holandês, Inglês, Italiano, Norueguês, Polonês, Português, e Turco. Além disso, é compatível com o Chinês e outras línguas de caracteres não-regulares.

Você alguma vez já se perguntou como você pode fácil e rapidamente mostrar seu status no MSN/Windows Live Messenger, ou sua imagem de exibição, ou até mesmo a música que você está ouvindo no momento, em qualquer lugar? Deixe todos os seus amigos participarem de sua vida – e ele poderão ver seu status sem precisarem entrar no Messenger antes.

Fácil de usar, útil, e com uma excelente interface, compatível com a esmagadora maioria dos sites: este é um deve-ter.

1) Twitter2PSM: o melhor script para mostrar seu atual estado no Twitter na sua mensagem pessoal

Twitter2PSM, também criado por mynetx Creations,é um excelente script para integrar o serviço de micro-blogs Twitter na sua mensagem pessoal do Windows Live Messenger. Usando o Twitter2PSM, você pode escolher quais tweets vão na sua mensagem pessoal (por ter uma marca [#marca] específica), o quão freqüente ele deve checar por atualizações, se você quer o horário e cliente usado na sua mensagem pessoal, se você prefere um tempo estático (13:21, Sábado, xx de agosto de 2009) ou tempo relativo (há 5 minutos). É fácil de configurar, tem um sistema de atualizações automáticas embutido é é outro deve-ter para pessoas usando o Twitter!

Twitter2PSM é um script de Twitter para o Windows Live Messenger, atualizando sua mensagem pessoal a partir de seus últimos tweets.

Um merecido primeiro lugar!

Se você conhece algum outro script fenomenal, sinta-se meu convidado e poste-o como um comentário nesse post, estou ansioso por suas opiniões!

Flock, the “social Web browser”, has been updated to 2.5 (download Flock 2.5). This version adds support for Facebook Chat right in the browser: you will see the chat toolbar on any website you are currently browsing, as long as you are signed in at Facebook in the background. The chat bar design was not updated to the latest changes Facebook did, but nevertheless it is a great enhancement and helps staying in touch with your friends.

These are the services that Flock supports natively:

Flock is just a fine example of how user-generated content can be incorporated into a browser interface. It seems that the browser as the user’s primary web tool, is a fine place for adding access to social networks right at your fingertips. What I asked myself though when looking at the Flock 2.5 Release Candidate some 1 or 2 weeks ago was, why does Flock not support Windows Live?

mynetx: Please tell me a bit about yourself. Is your life directly or indirectly involved with Windows Live?

Kip: I’ve been writing for LiveSide for almost 3 ½ years, since it started in Jan. 2006. Before that I was a beta tester for MSN and Microsoft products, was an original “MSN Butterfly”, and a 3 time MVP for MSN and Windows Live.

I use Windows Live products daily, mostly mail and messenger, and of course Windows Live Writer.

mynetx: Do you think the Windows Live team cares for their users’ demands? Why?

Kip: I think they are as responsive as you can be when your customer base is in the hundreds of millions of users. In some respects that many users makes it more difficult to make changes, as they affect so many people in so many different ways. I do think that Windows Live could do more to be a more agile team. Both the structure of Microsoft and the sheer numbers of users contribute to… make it very difficult to react quickly to market trends.

mynetx: Like a big vehicle is slow in turning around, unlike a small car?

Kip: yes exactly. Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for Windows and Windows Live Engineering, is often said to “make the trains run on time”. Problem is, when everyone has cars and has already left, waiting for the next train, even if it is on schedule, might not matter.

mynetx: Though I think that Microsoft has had its big awakening sometime 2 years ago.

Suddenly Internet Explorer development was “restarted”, and the overall Corporate Identity was renewed, and I think this has also had consequences on Windows Live.

Kip: Yes. Ray Ozzie is working hard to change the culture, but Windows Live is still to slow to react sometimes. That being said, I use Windows Live products every day, and generally like them a lot.

mynetx: If Microsoft took over Facebook, would you be using it then?

Kip: I don’t see why not. I have no problem using Microsoft products.

mynetx: How do you think Yahoo!’s future would have been affected, if the Big Deal would have happened last summer?

Kip: If anything, Yahoo! had an even worse culture for quick reaction than did Microsoft. I think the combined market share would have shaken up the market a bit, but just getting the two companies to work together as one would have been a monumental task, and I think it would have caused a lot of problems.

The new CEO at Yahoo!, Carol Bartz, is working to change their culture too.

mynetx: Within the next five years, where could you picture Windows Live?

Kip: Windows Live is going to benefit from its relationship to Windows 7. But in 5 years I doubt that there will be so much emphasis on which platform you use: are you in the MSFT camp, the Apple camp, the Google camp, etc. Within 5 years the barriers to communicating with some one because you don’t have the same Messenger client should be gone.

mynetx: How?

Kip: Mobile will be much more prevalent; smartphones, data access on phones, etc. Just like now how ridiculous it would be if a Nokia phone couldn’t call an iPhone, it will be much easier to communicate between devices than it is now.

mynetx: Please provide two positive and negative comments about any outstanding Windows Live product.

Kip: Windows Live Mail is a great product, I think. I currently have 9 email accounts loaded, including non-Hotmail accounts and even a Gmail account. It loads them all quickly, presents them handsomely, and handles calendar, contacts, and newsgroups. I struggled before with trying to get Outlook to handle multiple Hotmail accounts (although the new Outlook Connector is better), but now I don’t worry about it.

As for a negative, while I understand the thinking behind Windows Live Essentials, I think tying the updates of all the Windows Live products together was a big mistake. In the last Messenger upgrade, in order to fix a small but somewhat important bug, users had to go through the whole Essentials installer “experience”. It sucked, and it’s stopping some Windows Live products from getting updates they need because of having to update everything at once.

mynetx: Do you run Windows Live Messenger 24/7? Do you have some kind of a routine with Messenger and the other parts of Windows Live?

Kip: Messenger is on when my computer is on, yes. I have the main messenger window open all the time, positioned as a right hand sidebar (where the Vista sidebar would be, which is the first thing I turn off when I set up a computer). Messenger auto loads when the computer is turned on.

mynetx: You don’t like Sidebar?

Kip: no

mynetx: Use your fantasy: how do you think Messenger will look like within the next five years? What new features could it present?

Kip: Well hopefully a much better interface for multiple conversations (tabs!). Also I would like to see the user interface around contacts improve: a better interface than a contact list that you have to scroll down to find someone, click on it, open a window to start a conversation, etc. And you should be able to start conversations with people not in your contact list, in some public areas… similar to what you can do in Twitter now, or even in the new Messenger web toolkit.

I expect that Messenger in general will get to be more phone-like, and phones will get to be more Messenger-like.

mynetx: Comparing these ideas with Messenger’s current features, which of these might be added in the next release, Wave 4?

Kip: I think we’ll see some improvements in Contacts. Somehow I doubt we’ll see tabs, although I could be wrong. Msgr users have been calling for tabs for years without success. Mostly I think you’ll see Messenger and the other Windows Live desktop apps continue to work toward sharing a common interface, and to share common parts.

mynetx: Why is the Windows Live team just ignoring the loud shout for tabs that tons of Messenger users shout since years?

Kip: I wish I knew, but I don’t.

mynetx: Are you satisfied with the Windows Live services that are provided to you?

Kip: Yes. I use multiple Live ID accounts (to separate the work I do on LiveSide from my personal stuff), and it is very easy to manage now. We use Custom Domains for our LiveSide accounts, and it’s great. I really like Windows Live Mail, and Live Writer. Of course I think there could be improvements, but overall I’m happy.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Kip: I will tell you about one feature I really miss, and that is the Live Maps activity. It was very useful to be able to share maps, to plan meetings etc. MSN China has recently re-released a version of it in China, so hopefully we’ll see it again.

mynetx: What was your first impression of Live Mesh? Could it be a new diverse method of file sharing among peers, or could it improve the current system at hand?

Kip: I use Live Mesh daily also. I think you will see Live Mesh integrated into Windows Live, and the plan is to introduce some of that in Wave 4. Could Live Mesh become a sort of torrent? I don’t know about that, I think that architecturally maybe it could, but I doubt that Microsoft would allow it to be used as a free form file share.

mynetx: Do you wish Messenger would have a feature that a third-party IM software already has? Besides tabs, that is.

Kip: I don’t use other clients much if at all, so I’m not one to comment.

mynetx: However, as Messenger user, I’m sure you’ve got a good tip that not everybody might know about yet.

Kip: Lol, to me Messenger is like the phone, I don’t think about it much, I just use it. I sure hope photo sharing is improved in Wave 4 though, I find the new way to share photos very cumbersome.

mynetx: And finally, are you working on any project related to Windows Live currently?

Kip: Well we are hoping to be able to integrate the Messenger toolkit into LiveSide. I am not a developer, but we have someone working on it for his site (also Community Server), and we will be working together to see if we can make it happen. Unfortunately Community Server is kind of complicated, and we want the experience for our readers to be a good one, so it’s going kind of slow at the moment.

mynetx: Who works at LiveSide?

Kip: LiveSide is run by myself, Chris Overd, and Harrison Hoffman. We get regular contributions from Sunshine (Cornelia Koopmans), and have a few other contributors as well.

mynetx: LiveSide is a very good news source when you want to be on top of the latest developments and Windows Live news. I want to thank you and the other contributors for the great amount of time, knowledge and research that you put into the site each day, regardless of vacations, making LiveSide what it is today—a must-read!

Is it the same fun for you people running the site as it is for us reading it?

Kip: Yes we have a lot of fun with it

mynetx: I hope the site will continue to do its best to inform us about anything interesting in the Windows Live world. Great that you took your time to discuss “Windows Live and You” with me!

Kip: Happy to do it!

mynetx: Nice that you got some minutes for this interview. For the beginning, describe yourself and your connection with Windows Live, in one sentence.

Mauro: Since the Windows Live program began (yet at ideas.live.com) Messenger has become part of my daily life, as the whole Live suite.

mynetx: Yourself?

Mauro: So, it has became part of my life =P. I now use it to connect with friends instead of using a telephone, also meet some people from foreign countries, and get the best of internet, especially with the integration between WLMail and WLMessenger, which includes calendar sharing (nice to plan meetings) and easy emailing (when Instant Messages aren’t enough).

mynetx: So we’re right into the topic! What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Mauro: Video conference. It’s gorgeous! Especially when in High-quality full-screen mode. I’ve got some distant relatives which I barely talked to before Messenger, now it’s pretty nice to be able to just talk over Messenger as if I were face-to-face with them.

mynetx: And what do you like most in Windows Live at all?

Mauro: Integration. You can have everything in the touch of a button, like sync all email accounts, calendars and feeds from Windows Live Mail.

mynetx: And you use that frequently?

Mauro: Sure. Messenger and Mail are programmed to automatically open after Vista has me logged in, and from those two only I can get to everything I’d use, like Calendar from Mail and SkyDrive from Messenger.

mynetx: Great combination, hmm?

Mauro: Sure =P. SkyDrive is pretty better than those old sharing folders (which I only used once, when testing Messenger 8), since they don’t need both contacts to be online.

mynetx: Now, turning from what exists, to what doesn’t exist yet: What is the thing you’d love most to be added to Messenger?

Mauro: Better integration with people from other services, like GTalk. Also, improved stability wouldn’t hurt….

mynetx: Do you think Windows Live Wave 4 will feature such improved integration?

Mauro: Not sure… They’ve been promising it since the beginning, and there has been some years since the first time I heard it.

mynetx: I wonder if you heard of my April Fools joke…

Mauro: Which one? =P

mynetx: This year’s one, “New IM networks for Windows Live”.

Mauro: Oh =P, yes, I did.

Mauro: At least they seem to be trying to do something better. This month for example, I noticed Messenger could be acessed directly from Hotmail.

I was in a friend’s house finishing a short movie, schoolwork, when I was uploading it to my mail, it was right there =)

mynetx: True, Messenger in Hotmail has rolled out to more markets last days.

Mauro: Yep I had that before in GMail, it’s nice.

mynetx: Over to your schedules. Are you running Messenger whenever your PC is on? What are you doing, with Windows Live, usually after your computer has started?

Mauro: Yes, it’s always on. Messenger and Mail are always there, ready to use, so whenever I need them, it just works. (As Vista was promised to…)

After I’ve been logged, I’ll just hide it’s windows, and let things happen. The offline message toast panel appears, so I can restart last day’s unfinished conversation, and soon Mail will alert me about received emails.

While nothing happens, I’m looking for anything, from school subjects to mere curiosity things.

mynetx: And the What’s new lists date you up?

Mauro: Not really… In fact, I’ve turned it off. It seems to not work really well. All updates I get are old (like 1 week old) and not interesting, only things like “Someone played with other one and someone won (few days ago)”.

mynetx: Heh. Did you know you can edit the settings of what shows up in the What’s new feed?

Mauro: I do =P, but it acts as if I didn’t change it. In your case for example, there is “45 Minutes ago: updated Twitter”, while twitter updates are turned off.

(And looks like I finally got something new…)

mynetx: Since when are you in the Live business? Tell me a bit about your history.

Mauro: Well, I first knew about Messenger with an uncle, the same who introduced me to graphics editing. It was MSN Messenger 6.2 yet, wasn’t really good, but I really liked it.

mynetx: When was that?

Mauro: I think it was about 5 years ago, not sure.

Then a friend told me about an add-on, Messenger Plus!, which extended its functionality. I installed it, liked, but like many people who just trust everyone, uninstalled it thinking it had ad ware.

Then everything was renewed by Live; a friend of mine got an invite from another friend.

mynetx: When was it when you discovered Messenger Plus?

Mauro: It wasn’t instant. First I got used to Messenger. then after the 7.0, I discovered Plus!. Dial up internet ;p, forgot how slow it was?

After I got the Live invite, and installed the new Messenger, I started looking for what was new. The look was gorgeous, Sharing folders kind of worked with the only one I knew to have the beta, and the Live concept was beginning to take a form. First, it was only Messenger. Then there were Spaces. Then a new Hotmail, then everything just came in a big bang.

After Messenger 8.5, I was thinking about buying Vista, and so did I some time later, only then I discovered how nice the Live suite was. Everything worked better than with XP, everything seemed more natural, and got even better after the 14.0 update. In the meantime, I was beginning to learn English. I first started using Messenger to actually use it in the 8.1 edition… When I had enough knowledge, I downloaded Plus! again, by that time I knew how to check if it would be safe.

I loved it! Seemed much better than the one I had used in MSN Messenger times…

mynetx: It had become Messenger Plus! Live 4

Mauro: Yep =P It was MPL 4.21, I remember that well. After some time, I decided I’d help people who built it all, started to submit feedback about Messenger, some things were really fixed.

Then I’d be amazed at a new Messenger Plus! functionality, the one that made me be what I am today. I started to skin Messenger, a friend had just installed the 4.50 version and asked if I could build a skin for him as he didn’t like any of the ones there were available. Well, so did I. Ev0 was way too dark, and Apple Live was nice but it didn’t fit Windows, sorry =P

mynetx: Haha, Apple Live is my skin!

Mauro: That was the time when everything merged. The whole Windows Live suite, Vista, and Messenger Plus! were working together.

mynetx: When you’re using Messenger intensively, I’m sure you’ve got a breaking tip for an “aha” effect. Give me a tip you consider precious

Mauro: Don’t ever use network intensive stuff when video calls are active – your messages start to have a HUGE delay.

mynetx: And finally, what’s the Live-related project you’re currently working on?

Mauro: Do skins count? =P

mynetx: Sure!

Mauro: So, that’s all I do for Messenger by now. There aren’t any interesting betas right now, and the best I can do are them. I like to give people power of choice, so make skins which can change Messenger only a bit: there’s always a “return to default” option.

That power of choice was the same one I like to be owner of when I got the chance to test Live, and now I just want to give people that same feeling.

mynetx: Any details of your current skin in development?

Mauro: Sure =) It’s the light counterpart of “The Favourite”, which I think will be named Clarus. (To be the opposite of Darkus, both not yet definitive.)

I think you’ve already seen them, a skin based on different tones; dark overall with light details, and the inverse in the counterpart.

The next one will be a minimalistic skin for those people who still prefer low resolutions, so they’ll be able to save some space.

mynetx: Great! Looking forward to your contributions . I really appreciate that you took a few minutes to talk with me about Windows Live and You.

Mauro: My pleasure! ^^

Hotmail unterstützt POP und SMTP schon seit einiger Zeit für Hotmail Plus-Nutzer, doch die Nachfrage nach einer allgemeinen Verfügbarkeit von Hotmail-POP-Zugriff war hoch, besonders mit GMail im Hintergrund, das all dies kostenlos anbietet.

Ist es schon für mich verfügbar?

POP mit Hotmail ist noch nicht auf der ganzen Welt verfügbar. Das Windows Live-Team schreibt:

Wir freuen uns anzukündigen, dass die POP3-Technologie nun für Hotmail-Nutzer in Großbritannien, Kanada, Australien, Frankreich, Japan, Spanien, Deutschland, Italien und in den Niederlanden verfügbar ist. Falls du dein Land oder deine Region nicht in dieser Liste siehst, nicht traurig sein, wir machen POP3 in weiteren Teilen der Welt später dieses Jahr verfügbar.

Wie aktiviere ich POP-Zugriff auf Hotmail in meinem E-Mail-Programm?

Das hängt von deinem E-Mail-Programm ab. Ich zeige dir das Beispiel von Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, aber andere Programme sind ähnlich.

1. Klicke auf „Extras“, „Kontoeinstellungen…“.
2. Auf dem Tab „E-Mail“ klicke auf „Neu…“.
3. Wenn du nach „E-Mail-Dienst auswählen“ gefragt wirst, wähle „Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP oder HTTP“, und klicke auf „Weiter“.
4. Aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Servereinstellungen oder zusätzliche Servertypen manuell konfigurieren“, und klicke auf „Weiter“.
5. Wähle jetzt „Internet-E-Mail“ und klicke auf „Weiter“.
6. Im Bereich „Benutzerinformationen“ gib deinen Namen und deine Hotmail-Adresse ein.
7. Im Bereich „Serverinformationen“ wähle „POP3“ als „Kontotyp“, gib „pop3.live.com“ als „Posteingangsserver“ und „smtp.live.com“ als „Postausgangsserver“ an.
8. „Anmeldeinformationen“ sind deine Hotmail-Adresse (inklusive @live.de oder @hotmail.de), zusammen mit deinem Kennwort.
9. Nun klicke auf die Schaltfäche „Weitere Einstellungen“, und wechsle zum Tab „Postausgangsserver“.
10. Aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Der Postausgangsserver (SMTP) erfordert Authentifizierung“.
11. Auf dem Tab „Erweitert“ bei „Posteingangsserver (POP3)“ aktiviere das Kontrollkästchen „Server erfordert eine verschlüsselte Verbindung (SSL)“.
12. Bei „Postausgangsserver (SMTP)“, öffne die Auswahlliste „Verwenden Sie den folgenden verschlüsselten Verbindungstyp“, und wähle „TLS“.
13. Nun klicke auf „OK“, „Weiter“ und „Fertig stellen“. Du bist fertig!

Seid sicher dass ich euch benachrichtigen werde, sobald POP über Hotmail überall verfügbar ist, auch in den USA.

Microsoft has announced details on the future, the new, Windows Live, and I am bringing them to you like I promised.

Over the coming weeks, the next generation of Windows Live will become available at www.windowslive.com. The new Windows Live experience is enhanced by Microsoft partners with feeds from third-party sites that help you stay up to date on what’s new with friends and family, and see information from other online services such as Flickr, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter,WordPress and Yelp. Refer downwards to get some details on this.

The Windows Live Web services and applications for the PC are now called Windows Live Essentials. Also Windows Live for mobile will get a revamp.

Windows Live Web services

• Windows Live Hotmail
  • Integration of “What’s New” feed
    After you send an e-mail to a friend, Windows Live displays a page confirming that the e-mail has been sent. If the friend is part of your Windows Live network, you will also see a concise update of the friend’s online activity, on both Windows Live and third-party services.
  • POP access
    You can access your Windows Live Hotmail inbox while offline using Windows Live Mail or Outlook with POP access. Anyone can use just about any e-mail application, whether it is from Microsoft or not.
  • POP aggregation
    This feature offers one place for your e-mail. With POP access in Windows Live Hotmail, any non-Hotmail e-mail account that is POP-enabled (such as Yahoo! Mail Plus, Gmail and AOL) can be imported into Hotmail for convenient, one-stop access. There are options to see all e-mail in one inbox or have each account filtered into a separate folder that users specify and label.
  • Instant Access
    Instant Access is a tool for quickly finding and embedding Web images, restaurant reviews, maps, directions, movie times and more into e-mail messages — without having to leave the compose e-mail page.
  • Instant messaging in Windows Live Hotmail
    The Windows Live Messenger instant messaging service can be used to send and receive instant messages from the Hotmail inbox.
• Windows Live Photos
  The home to your photos on the Web is at http://photos.live.com. You can create Web slide shows and share photos through Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Groups, Windows Live Events, Windows Live FrameIt and Windows Live Spaces. You can even see all your photos from Windows Live Photos on most Web-enabled cell phones. Windows Live Photos includes several tools and features such as these:
  • People tagging
    You can identify and tag people in your photos, and see other photos that they are tagged in.
  • Commenting
    You can add comments to photos and see comments friends make.
  • “What’s New” feed
    You can monitor the photos that people in your network post on Windows Live.
  • Shared albums
    You can create albums on Windows Live Groups and give friends permission to add photos, tag them, and collaborate to create a shared album that combines the best photos from all group members.

  

• Windows Live SkyDrive
  Conveniently access all your files with the increased ease and storage capacity from Windows Live SkyDrive, now offering 25GB of online storage and tighter integration with other Windows Live services.
  

  

• Windows Live Profile
  Broadcast key information about yourself from Windows Live and more than 50 partner sites to your Windows Live network. Anything that you do on Windows Live or on select third-party services is automatically reflected on your profile as well as throughout most other services in Windows Live — if you choose to share with your network. You are in control to broadcast your activities to the world, share only with some friends and family, or share with no one at all. The Profile page is also the place to invite your existing friends and contacts from your favorite third-party services, such as LinkedIn, to Windows Live so that they can see your latest updates. You can also choose to publish your activity on more than 50 sites into your Windows Live feed, to allow your network to see updates from all your online activities in a single place.
• Windows Live People
  The People page is for storage and management of your Windows Live contacts. It’s a central address book that contains your contacts from Windows Live Hotmail as well as all the people in your Windows Live network (Windows Live Spaces and Messenger contacts). With Windows Live People, you can invite your contacts from third-party services such as LinkedIn (and more services will be added over time), organize contacts into categories, and assign permissions that put you in control of what your contacts can see about you online. The People page is accessible everywhere in Windows Live through the header, so you can add, invite, follow or connect with your contacts wherever you are in Windows Live. You can also chat with your IM contacts directly from the page with Windows Live Messenger for the Web.
• Windows Live Spaces
  With the newest version, Microsoft has focused on improving the experience by making the fonts easier to read, removing advertisements and generally improving the user interface.
• Windows Live Sync
  Formerly known as Windows Live FolderShare, the new Windows Live Sync enables you to keep your files and folders synchronized across PCs and Macs. The new features include Windows Live ID integration for a unified sign-on experience and functional enhancements such as Recycle Bin integration for easy file recovery and Unicode support for working with files from an even broader range of formats.

Windows Live Essentials

• Windows Live Messenger
  There are some fresh images about the new Messenger. Look here:
  

  <a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=c1b27998-9f2a-4795-8f87-c034ca04a963" target="_new" title="Windows Live Messenger">Video: Windows Live Messenger</a>

Windows Live for mobile

• Windows Live Hotmail for mobile
  Some of the new features, scheduled for release in early 2009, follow:
  • Mail search
    Ability to search within your e-mail
  • Rich e-mail
    HTML rendering of e-mail, including embedded images and links
• Windows Live Messenger for mobile
  Web-, client- and SMS-based IM from your mobile device
• Windows Live Photos for mobile
  Web-based photo viewing, upload and sharing. Client-based photo upload.
• Windows Live Profile for mobile
  It offers Web-based access to view and update your information and connect with others.
• Windows Live People for mobile
  Integrated contacts in mobile phone address book for supported devices. Web-based hub to access contacts. SMS-based search for contact info.
• Contact search
  Search for contacts in your contact list using your phone’s Web browser.
• Get Contact Information
  Send SMS to a Windows Live SMS shortcode to look up a contact’s information (coming early 2009).
• Windows Live Spaces for mobile
  Web-based access to personal Web page and blogging
• Windows Live Calendar for mobile
  SMS-based access to today’s and tomorrow’s appointments
• Get calendar
  Send SMS with “today” or “tomorrow” to a Windows Live SMS shortcode and get your calendar for the day (coming early 2009).

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:ed82b0bc-81a1-417e-8db6-cedad0d078b9&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Windows Live">Video: Windows Live</a>

Images, Videos: LiveSide.net, Windows Live Wire