Entries tagged with windows live - Channel 8

Windows Live Wave 3 Beta goes live!

TheContempt — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:50:00 GMT

Today, the Windows Live team officially shipped the first public Beta releases of the hotly anticipated "Wave 3" application stack. Together, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker and Windows Live Writer make up the bulk of the offering with Family Safety and Windows Live Toolbar rounding out the suite nicely.

The build up to this release has included applications like: Photo Gallery, Mail, Writer, Events, SkyDrive, Calendar, and Family Safety. Each of which focused on bringing a different aspect of the traditional desktop experience to the web as part of a broader software + services initiative across the company. No release date has been set for the release of final versions of the software, but coming from such a strong pedigree, I'm sure we'll see incredible things!

Windows Live Quick Applications

sriram — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:58:00 GMT

On a recent visit to the Windows Live Dev site, I found this gem - Windows Live Quick Applications; a collection of 11 web applications (source included), fully functional and built to leverage just about every Live service available. The neat thing about this is, its under continuous development - meaning every time a new Live SDK is released, Quick Apps will be updated (mostly) to demo that. You can either download all of the applications or À la carte, your choice!

I think Quick Apps makes a great learning resource and goes well with the numerous screencasts we've got. Be sure to check this out and let us know what you think? What new App/Feature you want? Give us a shout..okay?

Mega-Microsoftie shows off Windows Live Research

Max — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:24:00 GMT

I don't know about you guys, but when I'm ready to buy a new gadget or big-ticket item, I research it a LOT. I look at every review I can find, peruse over every specification, and make sure it's the best I can get for the money. And while expert reviewers are good, my favorite is if I can find real people just like you and me who have used the product and see what they have to say about it.

It takes a lot of time to really go through all of this information, which is why Windows Live does this Research for you! Check out Stefan Weitz the Mega-Microsoftie's demo of how this all works... pretty sliiiiiick.

Watched it?? Now go try it...

Ask the Zuck: "Do you have any more of those Windows Live OneCare Subscriptions??!?"

Max — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:08:00 GMT

Well ladies and gentlemen, here is a perfect example of how you all as a community have the power to make cool stuff happen. In this first of many installments of "Ask the Zuck: Man on the Inside," I have a little surprise for you. It seems that the lead product manager for Windows Live OneCare, Larry B., is a Channel 8 reader! He was so impressed with everyone's passion for Windows Live OneCare both in the forums and in my last post, that he has dropped off 10 one-year subscriptions for me to do with as I please.

And since you guys asked for it, I am pleased to give all 10 subscriptions to you all! Want one?? Be one of the first 10 comments and you win! As soon as you comment, drop me a note at maxzuck AT live.com so I have a means of sending you your code. You must comment before sending me a mail. And do me a favor, please, and let me know who you are in the email (Channel 8 user name that is).

UPDATE: I have ONE MORE pass from Leandro, so that makes the total 11!

Reaaaady.... GO!

New Live Search front page

Max — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:47:00 GMT

This one actually caught me by surprise, which sometimes is fun, but other times when you catch the early flight home from San Diego to find your...... oh never mind.

Anyway, it seems that the front page for live.com is sporting a sleek new interface that I personally think looks--dare I say--elegant.

What do you think??

Microsoft hits it big on Webware's top 100 Web Applications for 2008

Max — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:20:00 GMT

The voting is complete and the winners are posted from Webware's top 100 web apps chosen by the community (that's you!). The list is full of really great products and services that I have found to be invaluable tools for everyday Internet use. It was also nice to see some of Microsoft's recent advancements in the online space on some of the top 10 lists. Zune side by side with Pandora. Live Search up there with Google. Windows Live next to Skype and Yahoo! Mail.

Some of these services are pretty new have had rocky starts but are definitely contenders today as can be seen by how the community feels. If you haven't checked out Live Search lately, give it a shot. The results are MUUUUUCH better than they used to be and it has actually become my homepage. I personally use Pandora all the time but have augmented my music knowledge-base considerably with the Zune Social capabilities.

This is pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if Live Mesh took a few winner's slots in the near future :)

Worldwide demo competition. The art of demo

Lean — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:51:00 GMT

We have fun with our products all the time, every year we do an internal competition for demos. This year Windows Vista and Windows live were the themes. Employees from around the world compete in each one of their countries and then they compete in the final even in Redmond. The UK sub was represented by a team composed by Students, they are interns from Customer Service and MCS, here is their story.
You can watch more on 10

New Windows Live Maps brings unique 3-D rendering and real images to life

Max — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:03:00 GMT

With the new features now available in Windows Live Maps, I thought it would be a great chance to have a chat with your favorite "I love Microsoft stuff I don't really work on" Mega-Microsoftie, Stefan Weitz. Yeah, he's that awesome.

In this heavy-on-demos session you will see a few of the features Live Maps has to offer including our 3D rendering coupled with real photos from Birds Eye--VERY slick stuff. In addition, Stefan goes into the traffic enhancements we have made ranging from the visualization in the 3D world to helping you save time by rerouting you based on heavy traffic.

See how many times you can count Stefan say "BOOM!"

Also, check out Stefan's debut on Channel 8 if you liked this demo.

Live@edu Mashup Contest... for students like you

Max — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:29:00 GMT

Ever thought about creating a mashup of online services to see if you can make a better, more useful service together? Well it's time for you to act on it and maybe even pull in some prizes in the process. I'm talking $10,000 in cash for the first prize, $2,500 for the two runners up, and an XBox 360 Halo 3 pack for two more winners.

Want in?? Check out our Live@edu mashup contest for student developers. The Windows Live team has given you the tools you need to compete, all you have to do is make something wicked cool.

In addition, the judging will be very community oriented (25%) so get your friends involved. 50% of the judging will be based on creativity... and the other 25% will stem from your usage of Windows Live tools. Check out some of the mashups already out there to get some inspiration.

PS: there's even free web hosting involved, so hurry while it lasts!

MSN Videos, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Writer, and Spaces... DEMO!

Max — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:58:00 GMT

You like to take pictures? How about videos? Maybe you’re an avid writer… or even a blogging machine!? Getting all this stuff online today is very doable… and very time consuming.

I knew there were better ways to go about sharing videos, pictures, and my fancy loquacious prose with the world… and Stefan Weitz, Mega-Microsoftie, was the man to show us how to do it. So in this VERY DEMO HEAVY (yay!) sit-down, you will see Stefan show you how to go from digital video camera to online in a blog post with pictures, text, etc. in one of the most simplified methods I have yet to see. How does he do it?? A rich integration between online and local consumer applications that are all actually either part of Windows XP/Vista or freely available at http://get.live.com.

If you ever have wondered what we mean by “Software AND Services,” then this is a great example from the consumer standpoint. So check out an impressive solution to what used to be a complicated process now simplified by: Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Movie Maker, and even MSN Videos.

5 Gigabytes of cloud storage... for free? Yes, please!

Max — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:45:00 GMT

One of the ways I used to make sure I had access to certain files anywhere I went was by emailing the file to myself so it would be stored on my webmail or Exchange account. Another more tangible way is to keep my 4 Gigabyte (GB) USB thumb drive with me wherever I go. But really, the USB drive is an unnecessary hassle and my web space quickly ran out once I started using bigger files. So there goes that plan...

Along comes Windows Live SkyDrive (decent name for once eh?) with 2 GB of in-the-cloud file hosting at its inception. Now we're getting somewhere... a solution that does not fill up my email box and is accessible by myself AND by others... and I can even set up permissions on who can see what. To make things even sweeter, the SkyDrive team recently upped the space to 5 GB.

So how do you get one of these fancy magical storage in the cloud solutions? All you need is a Windows Live ID... you know, the same one you already have to log in to Channel 8. In case you're already logged in and cannot find it, here is a hint:

Now you have no excuses about where to host your C8 wallpaper design... and if you need a design tool, how about checking out Expression? It's part of DreamSpark!

Get your new @live.com user name, and your new Windows Live experience

Lean — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:53:00 GMT

Today we launched the next generation of Windows Live. This release is the first time we have brought an integrated suite of Windows Live products and services at the same time, making it easy for users to connect and share anywhere.

To underscore the new photo sharing capabilities, the launch was highlighted by a special “Share a Smile” event held in New York and Los Angeles. This event featured a seven story sphere of smile photos shared by people around the world, including Microsoft employees. As part of this event, Microsoft will make a donation to Operation Smile to help children around the world overcome facial deformities. The more smiles shared and viewed using Windows Live, the larger our donation.

You can get everything at www.windowslive.com and start using Windows Live to share photos, communicate with your friends and family, as well as help protect your PCs and your family while on-line. As you start to use the product.

Here are just a few of the great new capabilities in this release of Windows Live:

· Now you can post your photos to Flickr in addition to Windows Live Spaces directly from inside Windows Live Photo Gallery

· Going on vacation and want to let your friends and family know? Set up a vacation auto-reply in Windows Live Hotmail

· Use the unified contacts for all your communications in Windows Live, including pictures and gleam notifications in Windows Live Messenger to keep up with updates from your contacts on Windows Live Spaces

· Automatically rotate and group your photos by time when you import them using Windows Live Photo Gallery

· Windows Live Writer lets you work off-line and easily add maps, videos, pictures, and more to your blog

· Keep all your e-mail in one place using Windows Live Mail

· Use Windows Live OneCare Family Safety to keep track of your what children are doing on-line

· Set up your events, manage invitations, and collect photos from everyone using Windows Live Events

And that’s just the start. Find out more details about everything listed above and some of the other amazing things you can do by visiting the Windows Live Wire Space and then go install the product by visiting www.windowslive.com. You’ll also want to make sure you and your friends and family are one of the first to get a new, additional “@live.*” Windows Live ID too.