Main/News >> News Archives > The week of April 09 (2006) (you are here)

MSN custom colors for your font! MSN Emoticons list overview! Find a Date for online chats! Quality Hosting specials for Messers! free msn games

 Two bots and the Decisionator
Two bots and the Decisionator

dwergs says ( 14 Apr 2006 ):

 

Hillier pointed me to yet another official MSN minisite, this one promoting MSN Messenger Bots to the masses as "simple programs that you interact with through MSN Messenger [via questions or commands] to get more information about specific topics". Listed are Secret Sparkle (mentioned earlier this week), the useful-when-it-works Encarta bot (also reported by DN2004) and a pair of new ones I haven't heard of before.

Cindy Elizabeth John is the first bot with a (semi-)Dynamic Display Picture and the first bot with three names, if you ask me. The 32-year-old virtual woman loves music, celebrity gossip, horoscopes... and the Quattro® For Women razor (the product she was built to promote by the company Schick).

>> Add Cindy Elizablah Blah to your contact list.

Furthermore we have Movie Scout. The bot didn't log in or put me on its Allow list yet, but I'm sure it does a good job at providing showtimes, trailers (launched as Activities) and other information related to Warner Bros. films.

>> Add Movie Scout to your contact list (UPDATED with correct address).

That last bot brings me to news about an upcoming movie recommendation service called the Decisionator. Based on your friends' preferences -and I guess that's were the Friends List feature steps in- it will suggest that one movie you should go see. Of course, sponsoring film studios will be able to "highlight" their movies within the application. "Coming to a Messenger near you this summer!"



 BBC Radio 1 tab streams favorite genres to Messenger
BBC Radio 1 tab streams favorite genres to Messenger

dwergs says ( 13 Apr 2006 ):

 

bbc radio 1 msn messenger tabSince a couple of weeks, Messenger users from the United Kingdom have access to a BBC Radio 1 tab that streams live radio or archived broadcasts from the past 7 days to your computer. A less complex version of the Musicubes Musical DNA Constructor can also give you show recommendations based on the genre you like to hear (from gospel over dirty house to grime).

Oddly enough, all the streams open in RealPlayer for me and bbc radio 1 msn messenger tabnot in Windows Media Player. Therefore, as opposed to the instructions on this page the tab doesn't tie into the "What I'm Listening To" feature. At least, not for me.

If you don't live in the UK but are a big Radio 1 fan (like me), you might go as far as to change your Passport's country settings to United Kingdom via this URL (you'll lose your region's tabs, but who cares). If you're using MSN Messenger 6/7/7.5, you could give TabServe 2.0 a try, but I'm not sure the tab's been added to their directory yet.



 Windows Live Messenger Add-ins & Friends List coming
Windows Live Messenger Add-ins & Friends List coming

dwergs says ( 13 Apr 2006 ):

 

Messer Mango pointed me to very cool Windows Live Messenger news recently uncovered by LiveSide.

Coolest novelty first. Remember the series of (now unsupported) add-ins that were available for Windows Messenger a long time ago? Well, Microsoft has decided to (big fat FINALLY!) add more extensiblity features for third party developers to the next Beta build of Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live Messenger Add-Ins are small plugins, either officially developed by Microsoft or officiously by people like you and me, that will give access to functions like changing one's MSN Display Picture, auto-responding to messages (in fact, an away messages add-in was already developed by a Microsoftie on Hack Day), etc.

You will be able to manage add-ins from the Messenger options dialogue and you can install as many as you like. .NET Framework 2.0 is required and for security reasons they will run in a sandbox, restricting access to your entire system. The big downside, however, is the fact that you can only run one at a time, so don't expect any add-ins in the league of Messenger Plus!. Though I'm sure this will spur a lot of creative stuff, and we'll be the first to show you!

Ken Levy, a product planner for the Windows Live Platform, has blogged that more information will become available during Tech-Ed 2006 mid-June and as soon as the next Beta build is released. His post also suggests that developers will be able to monetize their plugins just as bots and activities now.

In other news, Australian users of the Windows Live Messenger Beta are apparently privileged with the social networking tool called Friends List. You might recognize this feature from the first ever Windows Live Messenger screenshots posted in November last year.

If you're an Aussie and want to check out the Friends of your Friends, right-click on a Messenger contact and select View > Friends List (you can also browse the Friends List from one's contact card). No ETA on the worldwide availability of this feature yet, but you can find more info and a screenie here.



 WeeMee for free if you're luckee!
WeeMee for free if you're luckee!

dwergs says ( 11 Apr 2006 ):

 

free weemee display picturesConsidering the several millions of users worldwide, most of you have -at least- come across one of the many WeeMees out there, created with Saw-You Ltd's paid avatar service which launched back in 2003. In the meantime, the WeeMees have become entirely "dynamic" and the choice of body parts, accessories and backgrounds has been expanded considerably. The only downside is the rather high price-tag of these animated avatars: £3.00 (€4,30 or $5.25) each (depending on your location, to be paid with PayPal, Credit Card or a text message).

But perhaps if you're lucky, you can get one of the two hundred free WeeMees they're giving away daily starting today until April 18th (that's 1400 in total). After you created a WeeMee and dressed him/her with the new Spring season's gear, go to the checkout to see if yours is free today. If not, try again tomorrow and/or the day after and so on. Anytime you return, your WeeMee will still sit there waiting to be downloaded... or eventually, to be paid for.

>> Why spend the wonga when you can have virtually unlimited MSN Display Pictures for free?

(UPDATE: Added a Proof MSN Display Picture for those who want to pay homage to the murdered D12 rapper).



 New activity for girls offers free Dynamic Display Pictures
New activity for girls offers free Dynamic Display Pictures

dwergs says ( 10 Apr 2006 ):

 

A new Messenger activity aimed at girls slash women (slash drags?) has been made available in the US region. The Secret Girl's Dress Up Game is the first activity that allows you to create Dynamic Display Pictures (that's animated avatars instead of static images) and even better, it's completely free.

free  dynamic display pictures generatorThe DDP generator is branded all over by Sparkle Body Spray, a "fresh" product from P&G's Secret deodorant line. Together with your contact, you start by picking one of the five female characters (Rose, Tropical, Vanilla, Peach, or Apple) and then dress her with items from the Sparkle's girl closet. As soon as you're finished, you can automatically import the 50s style dynamic display picture (reminiscent of Kuntzel+Deygas) plus its three moods into MSN or Windows Live Messenger and show it to your friends.

Don't worry if this activity doesn't show up in your list of games, because you can also launch it directly from our MSN Games launcher!

The activity goes together with a chatterbot called Secret Sparkle who's eager to share with you the latest TV & movie gossip, beauty and fashion tips. Click here to add Secret Sparkle immediately to your contact list.



 MSN Messenger gains in numbers
MSN Messenger gains in numbers

dwergs says ( 10 Apr 2006 ):

 

I received lots of statistical data on MSN Messenger over the course of the weekend and it turns out our favorite IM software is performing better than ever.

Let's start with broad numbers: comScore Networks has revealed that Europe overtops North America in Instant Messaging users. Eighty-two million Europeans (49 percent of the continent's online population) used IM in February 2006 compared to sixty-nine million North Americans (37 percent of their online population). In Latin America, IM is popular among even 64 percent of the active Internet users.

msn messenger europeWith 61 percent of worldwide IM users utilizing the application, MSN Messenger has the strongest degree of penetration in the world. Ninety percent of the IM users in Latin America swear by MSN Messenger, over 70 percent in Europe and Asia Pacific. In North America, the number is significantly lower due to the immemorial competition from AIM and Yahoo! Messenger.

Outside of North America, it's Skype that's gaining support from now 14 percent of IM users worldwide. Thanks to the software's first mover advantage on the VoIP domain, a study by Continental Research reveals that 48 percent of the nearly 2 million Britons that have used VoIP in the last 12 months "skyped" each other. But with about 20 percent, MSN Messenger is closing in as solid second choice in the PC-to-PC voice communication market.

Not bad for a soon to be killed off product!

[Sources: ITNews.it and Contractor UK]



Click Here!

Back to the News Archives