Main/News >> News Archives > The week of September 30 (2007) (you are here)

 Confusion over re-release of Windows Live Messenger 8.1.0178

dwergs says ( 06 Oct 2007 ):

Several tech news sites, including ActiveWin.com and Bink.nu, are reporting the "release" of Windows Live Messenger 8.1.0178, which we -to put it bluntly- staged back in January already. They're all pardoned for not being as obsessed with Messenger build numbers as we are, and it was easy to determine what got them fooled in the first place: the publication date of the same old version was changed to October 3rd 2007 on the Microsoft Download Center site. None of the Microsoft people we contacted were able to comment on the reason of the date modification, but it's clearly not based on a change in the software itself.

 Updated: Adium 1.1.3

dwergs says ( 05 Oct 2007 ):

Adium, one of the best IM clients for Mac with Windows Live Messenger support, was last week updated to 1.1.3. The most notable of many changes is the return of MSN support using the HTTP connect method, as required in many firewalled environments. There's also a fix for the incorrect size display for file transfers through MSN. >> Download Adium 1.1.3 for Mac OS X.

 Go IM the doctor

dwergs says ( 04 Oct 2007 ):

Brooklyn-based Dr. Jay Parkinson calls himself an "extremely accessible" doctor and he's not kidding. Patients can get in touch with him 24-7 (for emergencies) by phone, e-mail, text, instant messaging and video chat, which makes him the first M.D. to my knowledge with a practice on Windows Live Messenger (and Talk, Yahoo!, AIM, etc.). "When you sign up for my service, you submit a secure form to me with detailed health information about you. This form also contains a field where you get to choose a password that will be used to open password-protected pdf’s and to initiate IM conversations. When an IM chat is begun, you will identify yourself by name and I will ask you for your password.". His fee is "far less than your yearly coffee budget but a little more than your Netflix". Or US$500, in case you're wondering. Despite the admirable initiative (goodbye waiting rooms full of coughing and sneezing people) and original business model, I'd like to raise my concerns about the doctor-patient confidentiality. Unlike what's being told within the four walls of a medical practice, there's no guarantee sensitive information will stay just between you and the doctor (think logfiles, lack of encryption, etc.). Dr. Parkinson recommends using Adium for its built-in security and encryption technologies, but then reading "due to an unfortunate incident beyond my control, my computer was hacked" on his Flickr page doesn't exactly instill complete confidence... >> Go see the doctor.

 Yahoo! claims all things smiley

dwergs says ( 04 Oct 2007 ):

No sign of Microsoft at the smiley's 25th anniversary party last week at the Carnegie Mellon University, but Yahoo! was all over the place including the birthday cake. CMU professor Scott Fahlman posted the first emoticon to an online electronic bulletin board on Sept. 19, 1982 at 11:44 a.m., and since then the colon-hyphen-parenthesis combo has spread all around the world. At the party professor Fahlman announced an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication, which will be sponsored by Yahoo! and carry a $500 cash prize. The first so-called Smiley Award will be be rewarded in 2008. Talking about Yahoo! and its contests, I wondered how their 2007 Yahoo! Messenger Emoticontest finished, and if voters get their way it seems that the upcoming release of Yahoo! Messenger will include a lot of, ehh, baby emoticons.

 All your Belgian phones are belong to MS?

dwergs says ( 03 Oct 2007 ):

Microsoft is negotiating the launch Windows Live Messenger with Mobistar and BASE, Belgium's second and third largest mobile phone operators. Our country's most popular operator, Proximus, started to offer Proximus Instant Messaging to its customers at the end of last year, and over 100.000 have signed up since then. Mobistar and BASE also offer respectively a web-based and i-mode version of the client already, but Microsoft now wishes to reach as many as possible of the 3.3 million Belgian Messenger users, and offer them the best client available. On a related note, Proximus is currently offering new users one month access to Windows Live Messenger for Mobile for free. More information at youneverwalkalone.be, where you can also stick your face on a photo and send the result as an MMS for free (within Belgium) or use it as a Display Picture.

 Updated: Apollo IM 1.0.2 adds MSN/Windows Live support

dwergs says ( 02 Oct 2007 ):

With the help of the iPhone community, the people behind the Apollo IM application were able to add support for MSN/Windows Live Messenger (and ICQ, and .mac) just as promised. Its new website also hints at planned compatibility with Yahoo!, Google Talk, Jabber, and other IM services. If you're curious how this first native IM client for iPhone looks like, then hit the play button on this video. How to install Apollo IM: 1) Download Installer.app here. 2) Follow Installer.app installation instructions. 3) Open Installer.app on your iPhone. 4) Select "Community Sources", then install. 5) Select "BSD Subsystem", then install. 6) Select "Apollo", then install. >> Watch the demo video (in case the embedded player is not working). >> Visit the Apollo IM homepage.

 Mess Patch gets its own little nutshell

Rolando says ( 02 Oct 2007 ):

A little less than 3 years old, Mess Patch has finally earned its place on the web. After all, the patch has grown and it shows: there's been a patch issued for almost every version of Messenger released since 7.0 beta, and with five generations of releases and around 6 million downloads, we feel it's about time to open up a website that specializes with Mess Patch exclusively. Still mess.be. Still 80+ features strong. Still messing. Anything and everything you need to know and get for Mess Patch: News, Updates, Development, Downloads and lame jokes are here. And if you feel like you’ve got something to say but no one’s listening, you can post your feedback, bug reports, suggestions, and feature requests on the Mess Patch forum. So from now on, http://patch.mess.be is home of Messenger's ultimate toolkit. Bookmark it. Tell your friends about it. Shout it from the rooftops. Write it on a restroom wall near you! (If you actually get around to doing just that, please take a photo and send it to propsmesspatch.com ;) >> Visit Mess Patch's new site

 Updated: Pidgin 2.2.1 with Nudge DoS vulnerability fix

dwergs says ( 01 Oct 2007 ):

The past weekend brought an updated version of Pidgin, which in the first place addresses the recently discovered MSN Remote "Nudge" Denial of Service vulnerability. The bug made Pidgin crash (DoS) when a nudge was received from a user not on the contact list, because the protocol plugin attempted to look up the contact's nonexisting info and as a result accessed an invalid memory location. It is recommended that you upgrade if your privacy settings allow all users to contact you. Pidgin is a feature-rich instant messaging client for Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes that allows you to log into AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, MySpaceIM, and many other IM services simultaneously. >> Download Pidgin 2.2.1.

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