Windows Live Messenger Preview

MSN Messenger is ranked as the number one messenging program by PC World, and by many more of the instant messaging community. When a new version is brewing, there is always a bit of excitement around it. Windows Live Messenger, sporting a new name, is no diffferent, especially when looking at the other "Live" products that are in development.

The inital release of Windows Live Messenger (WLM) was mid-December, and is still the latest release of WLM. The current version heavily resembles the current version of MSN (though a bit more rough around the edges). There are, however, a few distinct differences.

The most easily seen difference is in the main messenger window. The area which holds your current display name and personal message has the ability to change colors. You can select any color you wish, but there is a bit of a filter over the top of the color that distorts it, so it takes a little bit of playing around with to get the exact color you want.

Contact Management

The contact menus also show change. It is a bit cleaner, in my opinion, and it's easier to see your contacts information. When highlighting contacts, you are given several options for that contact, such as sending an email, sending a mobile message, viewing the contacts profile, and more.

Additional contact features include the ability to edit the contacts information. You can now add general information, personal info, work info, and notes for that contact (all of which is available to a search feature).

The search feature is my favorite feature in the new windows live messenger. The search results update immediately, and search all fields associated with contacts (such as notes, first name, etc). This will be great for people who have very large contact lists and would rather just sort by online and offline rather than using many groups.

Messages

Nothing really special changed with the messaging window or how you chat with people. The one addition that was long overdue is the option for offline messages. With offline messages, you can open a chat session with a contact, and type a message that will be delivered to the recipient the next time they log in. This feature is backwards compatable with all versions of messenger, but only WLM has the ability to send these messages.

A new feature is also the addition of "Sharing Folders." Sharing folders are folders for contacts that allow you to add files, which are stored on Microsoft's servers, that are available to contacts. It's sort of a shotgun file sharing approach. The files that you choose to share, at any time, are available whenever to both clients.

With sharing files there is always the chance of people getting infected with a messenger worm, and sharing files is a great way to spread the worm. To combat this, there is now an option to use the Microsoft Virus Scanner (msvs.exe) that will automatically scan files that are shared or received via standard file sharing through messenger. It is the same virus scanner that is used on the new Windows Live Safety Center.

Phone Calls

Another way to chat with people is through the improved VoIP features in WLM. Now, thanks to MCI, you can use WLM to call anyone; phone or computer, you can call them. PC-to-PC phone calls are the same with all other versions of messenger, but the ability to to call contacts phones is new. You must pre-pay for the minutes to be able to call (like with Yahoo!), but you can make the calls for as low as 2.3 cents per minute.

Conclusion

Overall, for the first release of the beta, Windows Live Messenger shows a lot of promise. WLM is keeping pace with Google's and Yahoo's messenging program. It has retained all features that you love about the current version of MSN Messenger, but with a few more enhancements. Only time will tell of all the new features.

Check out some screenshots on my Flickr account.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft · Messaging · windows live messenger ·

A Long Goodbye

It starts with a letter, but lasts forever
I can’t help myself, that’s just the way that I am
I used to feel different, but time has changed all that
I don’t know why I was fooled by your words, your touch

Now it seems clear; there is no more there
The feelings that remain are bruised and beaten
It’s obvious you don’t care, and don’t want to fight
I’ll save you the trouble, and take myself from you

You don’t have a clue, or even a care
You probably don’t know what it’s like, to not have anyone there
You don’t ever call, except by obligation
If you do you quit, for another form of pleasure

I am not blind; I am not deaf; I am not dumb
Your simple tricks don’t fool me
Twice is the count I have played your little game
Thrice is not an option, for me to be a player

I guess that is everything, I was already packed
I’ll send myself away, to find another life
I apologize for my actions, the time that I had to take
To say my long goodbye.

Technorati: Poetry

New Years Ingenuity

Ah, the fruits of a bored mind. Welcome to another idea that, initially, was just a joke but soon turned into reality. What could make a night of fireworks better, even when you have artillery shells, roman candles, bottle rockets, a 250-shot saturn missile battery, and a roll of 2000 firecrackers? That's simple: make your own launch system.

The launch system comprised two basic parts: the tubes and the fuses. We needed a way to make sure that we were able to launch a lot of shells, and at about the same time (roughly).

TUBES
The tubes were all (roughly) 13-inches long with holes drilled about 5-inches from the bottom of the tube. We ran the fuses out of the holes and then put the shell into the tube.

To make sure that the shell fired right, we also put some, well, cardboard I guess (it was left over backing from my new entertainement center, not sure what that is), and then secured with a couple layers of duct tape.

The tubes that we had made were then placed around one of the tubes that came with the artillery shells and secured with duct tape. When everything was said and done, tubes looked like like this.




FUSES
The problem was merely how to get all of the shells to go off at the exact same time (or at least close). We couldn't sit there and light all the fuses and have some shells firing off while we were lighting them.

The solution that we came up with is simple. Put gas in a container and put the fuses in the container. When we would light the gas, it would continue to burn all of the fuses until all of the rockets fired.

Simple enough really, and it worked quite well. We ran all of the fuses out the sides of the tubes and then bound all of the fuses together with duct tape (for organizational and control purposes only).



We finished everything at about 12:05am New Years Day. We then took everything outside for the big launch (and hopefully it went right). We stacked some bricks up around the sides of the launchers so that they wouldn't fall over and start firing shells at my house.

At about 12:15am we light the gas and it was go time. I was the lucky one, and my friend was the lucky one to film. The film is available online (right-click, then select save-as; 22MB) for your viewing pleasure. There is also a smaller version of the movie if you want to stream the clip. There are some more photo's on my Flickr account as well.

We would especially like to thank the drunk guy speeding down my street for driving by right as the last shell went off (and then yelling at us for it). Now that I review the video, you are obviously right... we surely must have hit your car.

New Years 2006 · Fireworks · Amusement