Set up Exchange ActiveSync in iPhone

1. On your SpringBoard, tap Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap the Microsoft Exchange logo.

4. Fill the fields as follows:
   • E-mail: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Domain: (leave this field blank)
   • User name: <Your Windows Live ID = Hotmail address>
   • Password: <Your Windows Live password>
   • Description: (doesn’t matter; my suggestion: enter your Windows Live ID or the word “Hotmail”)
   • Use SSL: I = enable
5. Tap the Next button.
6. iPhone might ask you whether you want to trust the certificate. If so, confirm this.
7. An additional Server field appears. Enter m.hotmail.com.

8. Finally, choose to synchronize all three items: Mail, Contacts and Calendar.
9. Each time, iPhone asks you whether to delete or keep your existing iPhone contacts. Choose your answer carefully, based on your personal needs.

Done! Now press the Home button to return to your SpringBoard, then tap the Mail icon in the dock. When you receive new mail, your iPhone will vibrate. You can always check the number of unread mail in your inbox in a red balloon appearing on the Mail icon.

Since yesterday, you can buy it in Germany and several other European countries: the iPad. Apple succeeds in making true what other manufacturers can only dream of: People flood stores and order a device for several hundred Euros—without knowing what the device can do.

iPad “worship”

Fancy. Innovative. Multifunctional. This is how Apple presents their newest achievement, the iPad, in TV spots and on its website. A computer to take with you, wherever you go… In the U.S., the flat tablet computer has triggered a true mass phenomenon: More than one million sold devices in the first month. The concept seems to be right.

The iPad is definitely changing the way how we use computers, especially at home. This is what iPad is made for: To be used at home, to surf the Web in your living room or at the table, to check mails, view photos or movies.

Its touchscreen makes it possible

In situations like these, you don’t need a keyboard—or very rarely. A finger tip is enough to display the content you want—whether it is photos, web sites, documents or anything else. Everybody can deal with the touch-sensitive screen. It is not important how you hold your iPad.

Without a doubt, the battery lasts for ten or more hours. I was really surprised by that, as the iPhone runs out of battery quite fast when you use the device much.

Excellent display quality—with just one disadvantage

You have to say it: The display quality is really excellent; the speed is impressive. But: the display is a reflecting one—extremely much. Depending on the lighting and outside, you will have difficulties reading the display contents. However, you will see fingerprints the more. That doesn’t look good, and of course, Apple won’t tell you.

iPad as reading device

Primarily, iPad wants to be a reading device. You should read books, newspapers and magazines—you can get all of these onto the iPad. The font is clear and crisp, photos look sleek as well. You can turn pages and zoom in for details. Some ebooks also offer interactive elements and are thus quite vivid. Reading on iPad works nicely. The device weight though is higher than you might assume at first hand. Rather make use of a table or desk, or your arm is going to be harmed…

You can buy books and newspapers in the new iBook Store. Publishers in non-English store versions though are holding back a bit yet, so there is not much to search through yet.

Gaming on the iPad

Gaming is an important sector, as the rather high number of iPad games indicates. For example, there are racing games where you take the whole device as stirring wheel replacement, instead of pushing buttons. You control the game with simple movements. The iPad detects them with integrated sensors.

Advantages

Some tasks are really fun to do with the iPad, foremost surfing the Web, watching videos—or browsing photos. That works really well on the iPad: You can organize your photos in albums, check their contents, and if you got the right album, you can view its photos and take a look at them in detail. Slideshows are available as well, really nice.

Disadvantages

However, other tasks can drive you crazy. This is true always when you try to accomplish something that Apple doesn’t provide. Apple is controlling everything: You can only install applications offered in the AppStore. That’s somehow worrying, maybe less for a mobile phone, yet definitively for a computer at home.

No computer replacement

While we’re talking about computers… You might ask: Can the iPad replace a normal computer? Clear response: No! The iPad is NOT a full-featured computer. You cannot store files on the iPad easily—or download files from it. You cannot even simply connect a USB stick.

You even need a real computer to use the iPad. To activate it, to update the system software, to make back-ups. You could say: The iPad is too stupid to work this out on its own.

Expensive fun

The iPad costs between 499 and 799 Euro, depending on its available memory. So, not a cheap thing. And: extras like keyboard, docking station or adapter cable to connect the iPad to your TV or to plug in a digital camera, add to that cost—and aren’t cheap either. Expensive fun, the iPad.

iPad alternatives

Without a doubt, the iPad is fun. It can be useful, especially at home. But it has its bad sides as well—and Apple earns, much. Some manufacturers, like Intel or Google, have announced iPad alternatives—but you cannot buy them yet. Thus, Apple is the first.

In the past two years, Microsoft has spent more energy in making Windows Live Hotmail even better. The result proves that these efforts were not in vain. But—what does “better” mean? What is important for a modern e-mail service in 2010 and beyond?

Security

With considerable amounts of spam and phishing mails flooding your inbox each day, it is important that you stay secure. Trusting your mail provider is of essential importance. Hotmail now checks every link that you click within e-mail messages. Even before they reach your inbox, mails are scanned for potentially harmful contents. This is done by the Microsoft Smartscreen filter. When a message is filtered, you will get informed of the reason. Mail from trustworthy senders displays an icon so you can recognize them at first glance.

With the new Hotmail, you will also be able to run your complete session SSL-encrypted. Sign-in is possible not only with user name and password, but also with single-use codes that are delivered e.g. to your cell phone. This increases your account safety in public places, such as airports or Internet cafés.

Easy usage

Hotmail Highlights inform you about your friends and their messages to you, about social news, events and birthdays. One-click filters allow you to scan your Inbox for relevant items, and new Quick Views display messages with attachments, videos or photos.

Removing unwanted mail is about to get easier. Have you ever been irritated by the bunch of messages delivered to you by Social Networks—“John Doe wants to connect with you”? When you are in need to find a certain mail, even newsletters can get into your way easily. With the Sweep feature, you can sort out such mails with a single click, and only your really important correspondence is left over.

Viewing messages in conversations is an good way to read even older messages sent by the same sender—with a simple mouse-over. Unlike the same functionality in Google Mail, in Hotmail you can turn this feature on and off as you need.

Focusing on mail contents

Often, messages you receive request that you take an action. For example, a friend may send you a link to a video on YouTube. Or, you want to take a look at the vacation photos in the Flickr album that your sister has just sent you. With Active Views, you can now watch the video or browse the photo album right from your inbox. Hotmail is also partnering with other companies and services like LinkedIn to provide an interactive experience, letting you take actions inside the email they send.

Access from anywhere

Reading and sending mail from your cell phone is getting simpler, too. If your phone supports Exchange ActiveSync, you can now sync your mail, calendar and contacts with your inbox on the Web. You don’t have to miss the rich functionality of Hotmail on your phone anymore, such as filters, previews, HTML views, reading messages offline, or show/hide message headers.

Integrating your Office

Microsoft Office 2010 is now integrated into Hotmail via SkyDrive, for free. This lets you view and edit Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, OneNote notebooks and PowerPoint presentations. With versioning, you can access older versions of the same document, from the Web—wherever you are, anytime you want.

Hotmail—ready for the future

With these upcoming improvements in mind, my opinion about Hotmail is getting better gradually. I see that the Windows Live team has invested time to think about how e-mail is used these days. What do you think about the new Hotmail?

A limited number of cases is currently inspected where users of the mobile versions of Windows Live services gained unlimited access to other people’s accounts after sign-in.  On Tuesday, Microsoft stated:

Microsoft takes customers’ privacy seriously, and immediately upon learning of these reports, we started an investigation.

After the investigation, a detailed report will be published as soon as concrete results are available.  According to some users, they had full access and control over the personal data and settings of other users.  Probably the error was caused by aggressive mobile caching, so the wrong authentication cookies were sent to the wrong people.

A recently published post on the Twitter blog reveals that the mobile version works best with browsers implementing the WebKit.  Among these are the default browsers of Android, iPhone, Nokia S60 and smartphones with Palm Web OS.

Design and technical features should be available on BlackBerry as well.  However, the developers will perform some fine-tuning to achieve this.

In the coming weeks, the old mobile Domain ‘m.twitter.com’ will go offline.  From then on, any incoming requests will get redirected to the new mobile website at mobile.twitter.com.

From the developers’ view, this new mobile site matches the microblogging platform much better.  The team is interested in constructive feedback.

More information: http://mobile.twitter.com/

For using Windows Live Messenger for Java phones, you need a Windows Live ID, just like with the PC version.  With this recently released Java client, you can chat with multiple contacts simultaneously.  According to Microsoft, that’s also possible at the same time.

Furthermore, all incoming messages are sent directly to the user’s cell phone.  You can manage your contacts as well as information about their profiles or their status.

You can send yourself a SMS containing the download URL for the Java client via the corresponding website.  If your device is not supported, your cell phone will get redirected to the browser version of Windows Live Messenger automatically.

More information: Windows Live for Mobile

Sure: T1, cable, DSL, these all are widespread, but what about mobile web access? UMTS offers top-speed, but when you come into an area not covered by UMTS, you’d have to fall back on GPRS or EDGE. How long do you want to wait for a web site to load on such a connection? Good. Then you know how important it is to offer light-weight versions of websites.

What do you think about this? Let me know.

Messaging spam, sometimes called SPIM, is a type of spam targeting users of instant messaging (IM) services. SPIM is more than just an annoyance. It’s a serious threat to online privacy and security. SPIM campaigns that employ phishing tactics to get your account information can put all the personal information associated with your account at risk.

Today, Microsoft has filed a civil lawsuit against several people and businesses in which they are alleged to undermine the security and privacy of Windows Live customers. This case alleges that the defendants engaged in instant messaging spam and phishing on Windows Live Messenger.

Funmobile Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company owned by brothers Christian and Henrick Heilesen, has spimmed thousands of Windows Live Messenger customers since March 2009. Customers who clicked on the link in the bogus instant messages sent by Funmobile were then “phished”— that is, asked for their IM username and password to log in, according to the complaint. Those who provided the log-in information were often redirected to an adult Web site or, in some cases, a site that claimed to be a social networking community for Windows Live Messenger users.

Meanwhile, Microsoft alleges, the defendants collected the wrongfully-obtained usernames and passwords and used them to access Microsoft’s proprietary systems and our customers’ accounts. They then “scraped” or “harvested” the contacts within each user’s account, and sent unsolicited bulk IMs to each of his or her contacts.

Protect yourself against SPIM

• Do NOT click any SPIM links you receive, but close the conversation window.
• Tell your friend that you have received SPIM from his account.
• Change your Windows Live ID password. (Change your password here.)
• Do not tell your password anybody.
• Only enter your password on a website where you see the green encryption mark in its title bar. The address should always start with “https://login.live.com”.
• Remember to sign out properly after chatting at public places.
• Check your hard disk for viruses.

Sources:
http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!41246.entry
http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/archive/2009/07/16/saying-no-to-spim.aspx

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 to talk about Windows Live and You. To get started, please describe yourself and your connection with Windows Live, in one sentence.

Dane: My name is Dane N. (sometimes referred to as Dane Smith), and I’ve been part of the Messenger Community since Messenger Plus! 2 Alpha in 2002.

mynetx: Quite a long time… Tell me a bit about your history.

Dane: In 2002 I applied to test Messenger Plus! 2 Alpha. Over the years, I’ve become obsessed with everything to do with (what was then) MSN Messenger (and now) Windows Live Messenger. The Microsoft Messaging Platform has always been my #1 Instant Messaging Service due to its ease of use and integration better than any other client into Windows. Over the years, I developed sometimes strange hobbies such as collecting new computer worms and viruses and submitting them to antivirus companies as well as working on the team of 2 startup webhosting companies and eventually starting my own, Technology Pulse. Today, I still test Messenger Plus! Live and market a product aimed to keep users in touch with contacts called WLMStatus Premium.

mynetx: So you are a Messenger tester?

Dane: Yes. I’ve been testing Messenger products for Microsoft since Version 6.0.

mynetx: Interesting. What has your experience with the testing platform Microsoft Connect, as well as getting in touch with the Windows Live team and the other beta testers, been like, up to now?

Dane: Well, back in the day we used a communication platform for testing called Beta Place. I liked this site because it wasn’t overly crowded and had just what you needed in order to test. Microsoft Connect is nice, but I think it keeps you a bit “too connected” with users and the voting system is never really used that much from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem like an effective platform for me. The Windows Live Team has always been easy for me to get in contact with, I have a few of them on my own personal contact list and as a Windows Live Butterfly, if I need to get in touch with someone I don’t have contact info for, I can get that information very easily. My contact list also contains mostly other Messenger Testers.

mynetx: Butterfly. Could you explain this term?

Dane: Yes. A Windows Live Butterfly is somebody who excels and goes above and beyond while testing Microsoft Windows Live products. Anyone who is recognized as a butterfly consistently provides valuable feedback to Microsoft and traditionally helps non-techie users with problems with their Windows Live Products. Windows Live Butterflies automatically gain acceptance into new Windows Live Beta Programs upon request, no application required, because as a butterfly our work is proven to be effective and useful.

mynetx: So it’s a great job you’re doing in testing Windows Live products. Is it still interesting for you, after all the time?

Dane: I’m glad you asked that. After all these years and versions, it is still interesting because even with minor releases, you see your work being put into the resulting Microsoft Products, even if its something as small as a bug fix or typo fix. Knowing that you’re contributing to making a great product even better is what makes it rewarding and fun.

mynetx: When you are going that far beyond an average Messenger user of nowadays, let’s talk about your personal habits. What part does Messenger play in your daily computer and web routine?

Dane: Messenger plays a big role in my life, online and off. You see, it’s such an important aspect of my communication that I have mobile versions of Messenger on my Apple iPhone 3G and am logged in (even if in Appear Offline status) for more than 12 hours a day usually. Right when I log onto a computer, Messenger is the first thing I check for. I sign in and catch up on messages before going anywhere else online. And when I’m done checking with the program itself, I scour the common technology news sites looking for more messenger related news.

mynetx: Hmm. “Addicted.” Sounds reasonable?

Dane: Yes. Without a doubt, it’s very important to me.

mynetx: What is your favorite feature in Messenger?

Dane: Out of the latest iterations, my favorite feature would have to be by far the Nudge function. I always hate when I’m asking someone an important question and they aren’t looking, its nice to nudge them and get that answer quicker.

mynetx: Like ringing a literal bell in front of the phone microphone?

Dane: Yes Sir. It never fails.

mynetx: . Unless people ignore nudges deliberately, lol. — However.

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

Dane: I only really rely upon two windows live products. Windows Live Messenger (of course), and Windows Live Hotmail Plus.

mynetx: What is the different between Hotmail and Hotmail Plus?

Dane: These days, not much. 10 GB of Mail Storage, No Account Expiration, No advertisements and File attachments up to 20 MB.

I originally purchased it for POP3, which is now part of the free hotmail.

mynetx: True—Good coup with Wave 3. Liked it?

Dane: Wave 3 is amazing. Another fine performance from the Windows Live Team.

mynetx: When Messenger is one of the two Windows Live products you rely on, I’m sure you’ve got a breaking tip for an “aha” effect. Give me a tip you consider precious.

Dane: I don’t really have a tip as much as a suggestion. Never use Windows Live Messenger without its proper counterpart, Messenger Plus! Live.

mynetx: Why?

Dane: In my opinion, Windows Live Messenger is naked without Messenger Plus! Live cause the immense amount of useful features the Messenger Plus! Live software offers. My favorite features added by the Plus! Live software but not built into Messenger include Tabbed Conversations, Quick Text Recall, and Boss Protect Mode.

mynetx: Talking about Messenger features—what is the thing you’d love most to be added to Messenger?

Dane: Native Tabbed Chatting.

mynetx: Do you think this feature will be added in Windows Live Wave 4?

Dane: I do not. I feel like this is a feature Microsoft doesn’t want to touch as of yet.

mynetx: But why?

Dane: It would require another interface adjustment, rather large, and I don’t think Wave 4 will change the interface massively this time around to prevent confusion from users.

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

Dane: I’m continuing my work on WLMStatus Premium, which uses Messenger Plus! Live and Windows Live Messenger to deliver status information in image form to users’ websites. I’m also working on another project, but I cannot discuss that at this time.

mynetx: Any hint? (A)

Dane: Haha, nope, sorry

mynetx: Fine, then. Anyways, I found it great that you took your time to discuss your relation to Windows Live. Windows Live and You—what would your subtitle for this interview be?

Dane: “From The Beginning.” And Thank you for interviewing me.

The easy way: BVEncoder

Here is how it works:

1. Download and install BVEncoder.
2. Start the program.
3. Click the “Browse…” button, and select your source file.
4. Now, choose your target format. Some of the formats offer additional options appearing then.
5. Then, browse for the target file and be sure to enter the proper file type extension.
6. Finally, click the button “Click here to start re-encoding the file”.
7. Now, wait until the window “Conversion is still in progress” window disappears. You’re done!

That was easy, hmm?

Free download: BVEncoder by Bram Vandeperre (BVSoft)

Tell me what you think of this tool.

Update: Numerous sources confirm that the Web Services (not the Clients) will roll out from December 1st until December 8th, 2008.

What does this Wave 3 phase 3 feature?

• Applications (“Windows Live Essentials”): Full release
• Services: All released, except Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Calendar

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

We’re reading all of your comments, and we’re working on fixing many of the issues that we’re hearing matter most to you. […] we are working on fixing the problems you are reporting just as quickly as we can.

While the Live Hotmail team is addressing the issues, Ellie suggests a few temporary workarounds to access Hotmail nevertheless:

1. Try Windows Live Mail, a program you can install on your computer from http://get.live.com/wlmail. This is free, it works on Windows XP or Vista, and it will let you access your Windows Live Hotmail and contacts, plus you can add other e-mail accounts and view them all in one place.
2. Try the Outlook Connector to read your Hotmail if you already use Microsoft Office Outlook. You can download the Outlook Connector for free to access your Windows Live Hotmail, contacts, and calendar.
3. If you are a Linux user, or if you need to access Hotmail from the web, try the mobile version of Hotmail on the web at http://mobile.live.com/hm. It doesn’t have all of the features of regular Hotmail, but it may help you get to your inbox and other folders.

The next weeks will show which of the many issues with the new Live Hotmail will actually get fixed, or at least changed in a way so Microsoft won’t lock out their own users.

What do you think about the new Hotmail?