Windows Live has launched their Wifi Hotspot Locator website, to help users of the Windows Live Wifi Suite. Of course, anyone can use it, and it is a pretty good database, so go ahead and enjoy. It supports a whole bunch of countries, filtering paid or free hotspots, type of establishment (bar, airport, beach etc.) and service provider. Of course, you can see where your hotspot is on a Windows Live Local map.
Two things are needed to make this usable: It needs to be available offline, so those who need a wifi connection can find it (after all, if you need wifi, how are you going to get to the website?). Also, the website needs to work on mobile phones, either via SMS or mobile browsers, to make finding easier. It doesn’t even work in Opera, let alone Pocket IE.
If Microsoft is smart, it’ll include a link to this site in the Windows Vista Network Center, just to show Vista users where hotspots can be found. That’s the kind of cross-promotion that no one can complain about, and helps users perfectly.
There’s also a Windows Live Wifi blog.
(via LiveSide)
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Windows, General |
no comments
Congratulations to everyone at Windows Live: Live.com is now the #10 site on the internet, as far as Alexa is concerned. Now, Alexa is rarely perfect, but is a good benchmark, so lets just acknowledge that this certainly means they are doing well. With MSN.com at #2 and Live.com at #10, Microsoft finally has two spots on the list, something only Yahoo can claim (yahoo.com=#1, yahoo.co.jp=#8).
Here’s how they stack up with the other big boys:
Of course, there is one problem: The number one subdomain on live.com is login.live.com, with 59% of all traffic. Login.live.com is where you go these days, for about three seconds, when logging in to the former Passport network. That means more than half of Live’s visitors are coming only because they are logging into Hotmail, and leaving instants later, which isn’t saying much at all. Basically, only 41% of the traffic counts, and that probably smacks it straight out of the top 10.
Here are the top subdomains:
- login.live.com - 59%
- mail.live.com - 20%
- spaces.live.com - 15%
- get.live.com - 2%
- live.com - 1%
- ideas.live.com - 1%
- help.live.com - 1%
- Other websites - 1%
Sorry, guys. When Hotmail moves to Windows Live Mail, you’ll see a huge bump (right now, hotmail accounts for 78% of MSN.com’s traffic), and we can then probably legitimately decipher just how popular Windows Live is.
(via Richard MacManus)
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
In what is a bit of an unfortunate decision, Microsoft has announced it is modifying the way the Ribbon in Office 2007 performs, giving into complaints from users that the Ribbon was taking up too much screen space. This despite the fact that while the perception of the Ribbon is that it is larger, due to the large, graphic buttons, it is in fact 5-8 pixels smaller than the Office 2000/2003 menus! Yes, despite looking bigger, the Ribbon is actually smaller, but testers complained so much about their perceptions, and Microsoft failed to properly explain the difference, so now the user interface has to suffer.
Now, the articles seem to indicate that this will be mostly optional, that you can probably just use the Ribbon as intended, but I’m worried about Microsoft making too many concessions to less open-minded Office users. The Ribbon, like the Start Menu, is a major change in UI design, but one that will benefit everyone once they learn how to use it. People complained about the Start Menu when Windows 95 came out, and they eventually came around, and the same thing will happen with the Ribbon.
UPDATE: TDavid asked me to trackback him on this, so here goes. Check out his thoughts on this story.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Office, Applications, General |
4 comments
In what comes as no surprise to anyone who looked closely, the much-hyped Microsoft Zune portable media device is pretty much a Toshiba Gigabeat S with added Wifi, a new OS, and different buttons. FCC filings released today show off the details of the Zune, and reveal that it is indeed manufactured by Toshiba. The releases also show that the Zune:
- Has a 30 gigabyte hard drive
- Plays music, video, and pictures
- Has wifi (802.11 b/g)
- Comes in white, black and brown
- Has a 3-inch LCD
- Has an FM tuner
- Can be hooked up to a TV for better picture
- Can send “promotional copies” of DRM music to nearby users. These are presumably the rumored tracks that can be lent to anyone, but expire after a short period.
- Has a DL mode, which streams music to up to four nearby devices, including those of people you don’t even know (if you so choose).
The filing calls the device the device the Toshiba 1089. It would be interesting if Toshiba released their own version of the device they made for Microsoft, which would increase the number of players that can use the sharing features. The device-to-device capabilities are to devices called “Pyxis devices”, according to the manual.
The device prototype, which is disected in the FCC filing and pictured at Engadget, does not appear to have a removable battery, which would make it the rare non-iPod device to repeat Apple’s collosal design mistake. However, it also looks abnormally thick and with no side buttons or headphone jacks in this FCC PDF, so the unit pictured may not be representative of the final product.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Zune, Windows Media, General |
one comment
LiveSide reveals the Windows Live Dashboard, a program that acts as a center for Windows Live desktop applications. It allows management of installed Live apps, as well as one-click installation of new products. While Microsoft is not likely to bundle the Dashboard in Vista, it might convince a few OEMs to bundle it independently (or through money, like Google does), or they might have it as an install option with a bunch of software products.
We’ve seen companies release products that are designed to push all their other products, and mostly, they’ve been just plain annoying. I think Acclaim did this with a bunch of their games. Hopefully, the Dashboard is unobtrusive and helpful, and doesn’t push on users products they don’t need (like the Family Safety Settings software for homes without kids).
UPDATE: LiveSide updated their post to reflect that Windows Live Essentials is the larger product, allowing for the one-click installs, and Dashboard is part of that product.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Windows, General |
no comments
Turns out Australia is one of the only countries in the world where DVR providers, like Windows Media Center, cannot show Electronic Programming Guides to users. For some reason, the networks refuse to allow this information to be used to aid viewers in finding more televison programming, claiming it is intellectual property.
It’s a god-awful stupid practice, and one that hurts the networks and their viewers, and seems to hold no advantage for any involved parties. Perhaps someone could explain to me why this is? Anyway, that is the reason why the Australian version of Window Vista (Home Premium or better) will not have the Electronic Programming Guide. Better have a TV Guide ready along with some time to manually program it.
Wait, is TV Guide illegal there, too?
Given that Vista Media Center’s predecessor, Windows XP Media Center Edition, did not offer a free EPG service, it was hoped that the issue would be rectified for Vista. Alas, Microsoft maintains that it’s at the mercy of the TV networks in this regard, as it’s ultimately their decision as to how much EPG information to transmit.
“We can’t revolt and go and say … we’re going to do this anyway,” Putt told CNET.com.au.
“We’re in constant discussions with the networks around features and functionality within media centre.
“As it stands we can’t make any commitment [regarding when an EPG would be offered], but certainly it’s in our interests, because it’s in our customers’ interests, to get an Electronic Program Guide.
“It’s just as frustrating for us as it is for everyone.”
Australia is one of the only countries in the world with such strict restrictions on EPG transmissions. At present, most local free-to-air networks only provide current and next program information.
(via Digg)
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Vista, Media Center, Windows, General |
one comment
Turns out those “The Office” videos I blogged about last week weren’t put out by Microsoft, but rather leaked, and they aren’t too happy about it.
The story goes that three years ago, Microsoft paid Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to do the videos for their employees, on the express condition they never be shown publicly. When the British megahit comedy ended its run, Gervais swore he would never reprise the role of David Brent, and he only agreed to do this one if it remained an internal corporate video.
A spokeswoman for Gervais explained the comedian was concerned the appearance of the videos could make fans think he had reversed his decision to retire the Brent character for good.
She said: “Microsoft is looking into how and why these videos have appeared on the internet,” adding that Gervais will not be seeking damages from the software giant: “Unfortunately these things happen but it’s Microsoft’s responsibility to let us know how it got out.”
It’s a shame Gervais doesn’t want to do the character ever again. I’m one of those people that think both the British and American versions have been real good comedies, and I wouldn’t mind it if Brent visited Scranton for some sort of cameo appearance. Oh, well.
Just to violate a copyright again, here are the videos. Blame Viacom-owned iFilm, where they showed up first.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Corporate, Humor, General |
no comments
The IE team has put together a great quick reference “cheat sheet” for Internet Explorer 7. It has all the keyboard shortcuts, including those for the new features. Some good ones:
- CTRL + Zoom in
- CTRL - Zoom out
- CTRL 0 Zoom reset to 100%
- CTRL I Open Favorites
- CTRL J Open RSS feed panel
- CTRL CLICK (or MIDDLE-CLICK) Open in new background tab
- CTRL SHIFT CLICK Open in new foreground click
- CTRL Q Open Quick Tabs
- CTRL T Open new tab
- RUN > “iexplore.exe –extoff” Runs IE with extensions disabled.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Internet Explorer, Applications, General |
no comments
A few blogs have been posting about Windows Live Video Search, in beta and not exposed in the regular search.live.com engine. Turns out there’s an alternate version of the Windows Live search engine at beta.search.live.com, one with a few UI changes and the new video search. It has four default tabs (Web, Images, News, Local) and a More drop-down (which is very cool and AJAXy) that lists some more options.
The video search itself is pretty good. The interface is easily the cleanest out there, with neat white boxes containing the title and source of the video, as well as a short description and preview thumbnail. Hit an arrow in the top right-hand corner of the box, and you get even more info, like the resolution, bit rate, country, file size, video format, and genre.
Besides that, the beta search is interesting for one other reason: It works well in Opera, something the regular Windows Live Search doesn’t yet do well with. Read a bunch more at Brady Forrest’s O’Reilly Radar blog and TechCrunch.
August 25th, 2006
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Live, Windows, Search, General |
no comments
