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 Block checker phishing on the rise, Microsoft blocks .info completely
Block checker phishing on the rise, Microsoft blocks .info completely

dwergs says ( 28 Jul 2007 ):

 

Every year I alert Messers to the dangers of self-proclaimed "block checkers", but still many and even advanced computerists fall victim to phishing efforts disguised as fairytales. Really, a block checker is as trustworthy as a bedridden grandmother with hairy ears and pointy teeth.

A lot of these deceptive sites appear to be hosted on the once-free, now low-priced .info top-level domain using names such as newmsnlive, msnforyou, messengerweb, msnblog, etc. And because these URLs are unknowingly being spread by victims as instant messages to their online contacts (eg. "Snif, get surprise at http://www.***.info/ Unbelievable!"), Microsoft has made the drastic decision to block all messages containing ".info". Filtering messages containing ".pif" or ".scr" is one thing, but this overprotective move prevents us from sharing links to perfectly safe sites (and I know a lot of you have registered .info domains for personal use). I agree that phishing should be fought back as much as possible, but this is just absurd! And they could at least make the server return an alert that the sent message has been blocked and hasn't reached its destination.

[Thanks to Paradox^]



 MSN Messenger for Mac bullied by Safari 3.0
MSN Messenger for Mac bullied by Safari 3.0

dwergs says ( 27 Jul 2007 ):

 

Quite a few Mac owners have lately been experiencing mysterious crashes of MSN Messenger when closing chat windows or when signing off. Their first thoughts inevitably must've been: "Damn you, Microsoft!" but, believe it or not, they have Apple to blame. Apparently the Safari 3.0 Beta conflicts with Messenger and causes it to shutdown on certain events. Uninstalling the Beta and reinstalling Safari 2 seems to settle the problem. Or if you really want to keep using Safari 3 you'll have to revert the System's webkit build as described here.

[Source: macosxhints.com]



 30 free emoticons now in 5 extra languages
30 free emoticons now in 5 extra languages

dwergs says ( 26 Jul 2007 ):

 

The set of 30 free animated emoticons that was first made available by MSN France in March has gone completely multilingual (with the necessary textual changes) and is now being promoted in several other markets. Thanks to Romain for providing me with all the links: Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Belgium (Dutch) and Belgium (French).

free animated emoticons for windows live messengerI'm repeating my previous warnings:
- You'll have to opt-out of making Live Search your default search and the MSN portal your homepage if you don't want that to happen (see this instructional animation I made earlier).
- Some pre-defined keyboard shortcuts can be extremely annoying (eg. an animated emoticon for every bye you type) so you might want to modify them after the installation.

No word yet on whether the second batch of emoticons will be internationalized too.

UPDATE (30-JUL-07): Make that six languages. Kris pointed me to the Italian pack in association with Pepsi to promote their Twist coke.

UPDATE (03-AUG-07): And just for the sake of being complete, let me add the Canadian microsite.



 Interview with CEO of GoPets
Interview with CEO of GoPets

dwergs says ( 26 Jul 2007 ):

 

Gamezebo's Luke Stapley posted his audio interview with Erik Bethke, CEO of the Korean-based GoPets company that launched its online community on the Windows Live Messenger platform last week.

The conversation covers things such as a new multi-player game coming later this year called GoDance that has your pets dancing to "great music", upcoming crafting systems like cooking for which users have to create all the food which can then be sold on the marketplace and which serves as energy for GoDance, and the new monkey avatar currently in development. He also explains that GoPets is still in its "soft launch" period to see how it scales up with all the sign ups. Later, it will be promoted more heavily across Windows Live and MSN properties with dynamic ads, a Messenger tab, etc.

>> Listen to the 22-minute interview here or download the mp3.

>> Launch GoPets via our Games Launcher.



 More Simpsons Movie mania and Messenger content
More Simpsons Movie mania and Messenger content

dwergs says ( 25 Jul 2007 ):

 

Yellow fever has definitely taken over the world as The Simpsons Movie opens in most theatres this week (or even tonight, like for us lucky Belgian bastards). Both offline and online promotional activities for this one have been incredible, my absolute favourite being the Kwik-E-Marts in the U.S. where you can actually buy Buzz Cola, Krusty-Os, Radioactive Man comic books and Squishees.

Obviously -and wisely- the instant messaging universe hasn't been ignored either. Far from it. We have already mentioned the Simpsons avatar generator and the official movie MSN Display Pictures. But there's another avatar creator in collaboration with Burger King which automatically transforms an uploaded photo into a Simpsons character. Results vary heavily depending on your source image -I turned black like Dr. Hibbert on my first attempt- but you can always finetune the outcome afterwards, and it seems to offer quite a few more options than the other avatar generator. Unfortunately, you'll have to cross your fingers, go to simpsonizeme.com and hope it works because it's been unreachable a lot for the past couple of days. What did I say, the movie mania is real.

bart simpson display picBut there's more for those who live in any of the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, or the United Kingdom. There are 5 emoticons, 3 winks, 1 dynamic display picture, 1 static display picture and 3 conversation window backgrounds, all available for free through the content menus in your conversation window. Check out the screenshot below if you have no clue how to find them.

simpsons movie messenger content downloads

Also check out our 234 regular Simpsons Display Pictures, 23 Simpsons Status Pictures and a few Simpsons emoticons.



 Which cyclist fails the next drug test? Get an instant alert!
Which cyclist fails the next drug test? Get an instant alert!

dwergs says ( 25 Jul 2007 ):

 

I'm aware that the peloton is closer to the Champs Elysees than its starting point in the UK, but I only just came across these free Tour de France 2007 alerts. If you don't want to waste time on sports sites during the day, you can sign up and get the latest news, results and rankings delivered straight to Windows Live Messenger.

And I bet they'll also inform you as soon as l'Equipe reveals the next positive in the doping tests...

>> Sign up for Tour de France Messenger Alerts: Dutch or French (let me know if you can find them in other languages).



 Largest global study gains insight in IM usage of youngsters
Largest global study gains insight in IM usage of youngsters

dwergs says ( 24 Jul 2007 ):

 

MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft have listened to 18,000 kids (8-14) and young people (14-24) from 16 countries (UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) to learn how digital technologies like the Internet, e-mail, social networks and instant messaging have an impact on their lives. The Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground technology and lifestyle study yielded many interesting facts, but for you Messers I'll restrict myself to the IM-related results so you can compare with yourselves:

NUMBER OF FRIENDS:
- Globally, the average young person connected to digital technology has 94 phone numbers in his or her mobile phone, 78 people on a messenger buddy list and 86 people in his or her social networking community.
- Globally, the number of friends that young males have more than doubles between the ages of 13-14 and 14-17 (from 24 to 69).
- The age group and gender that claims the largest number of friends are not girls aged 14-17, but boys aged 18-21, who have on average 70 friends.
- Globally, kids have 5 online friends they haven't met yet and teenagers have 20.

ONLINE BEHAVIOUR:
- Nearly 70% said the first thing they did after turning on their computer was to check IM.
- One hundred percent of those surveyed said they communicate every time they go online.
- Out of all young people surveyed, 14-17 girls spend the least time online (21 hours per week) whilst 22-24 males spent the most time online (31 hours a week).
- Over half said that they could talk about more things on IM than face-to-face, 53% said that they could get to know people better, while around 4 out of every ten said that they found it easier to make new friends and felt less lonely as a result of using the Internet.
- The top topics on IM for 14-24s were: gossiping (62%), making arrangements (57%), talking about the opposite sex (57%) and flirting (55%), work or school (54%) and TV and music (52%).
- Digital communications are complementary to, not competitive with, TV. 47% of youth IM each other about "what is on TV right now."

But in the end, a majority in almost every nation expressed a preference for meeting in person (although Japanese, Chinese, Poles and Germans scored higher than others when it came to wanting to communicate online). Maybe it's reassuring to know that we aren't all turning into web-addicted geeks captivated by technology itself. Youngsters just love how technology enables them to communicate all the time, express themselves and be entertained.

>> Learn more about the Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground study from the press release.



 Windows Live Messenger turns 8!
Windows Live Messenger turns 8!

dwergs says ( 22 Jul 2007 ):

 

Eight years ago today MSN Messenger was born into the world of free web services and boy has it evolved from then. Today's birthday is apparently not getting as much attention as last year's magical 7th -not even on the Messenger Says blog although the weekend might have something to do with it- but two of the free theme packs by the official content providers are still available here and here. If you come across anything new I've missed, tell me about it.

Either way, cheers and long live, Messenger!



 First Xbox 360 Messenger Kit hands-on
First Xbox 360 Messenger Kit hands-on

dwergs says ( 22 Jul 2007 ):

 

Gamespot has the exclusive on the chatpad accessory for the Xbox 360, publishing the first hands-on review including pictures. Some excerpts:

"The chatpad itself feels solid. The keys provide adequate, clicky feedback and are spaced well enough for fast typing. It uses a standard QWERTY layout, and many of the keys have special alternate values that you can activate. The alternate modes can be activated by using the green and amber keys on the bottom left and bottom right of the chatpad. The pad also has a messenger button that can open up the messaging window onscreen."

"The Xbox 360 Messenger Kit looks to be a solid product for system owners interested in taking advantage of the Xbox 360's communication options. Players who stick to gaming and voice chat won't need to pick up the chatpad, but the peripheral might become more compelling if Microsoft were to release more text-heavy applications on the 360, such as a Web browser, for example"



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