Inside Windows Live Messenger:: Other

Make a difference: Live Earth

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:57:45 GMT

In May, MSN launched a new site called Live Earth @ http://liveearth.msn.com. It's an exclusive website for Live Earth: The Concert for a Climate in Crisis.

On 7/7/07, over 150 artists from around the world played music for the cause on seven continents (even Antarctica). Venues included US, UK, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, China, Australia, and Turkey. What an event! Zack Kushner (Live Earth Blogger), writes more about it here.

If you missed hearing about this, it's not too late. You can view the concerts, learn what you can do, and see what people are talking about all at http://liveearth.msn.com. I've been tuning in all week and I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of the content that's out there.

Listening to people talk about their concern for our climate and the passion to make it better inspires me to think about what I can do. It also made me realize: Live Earth is much more than a concert. Participants (everyone involved, not just the artists/celebs) want to catalyst the worldwide community to a single vision and mission: convert concern to action. As one artist said in an interview: You wouldn't want to burn down your home, we need to think the same about our planet.

Live Earth asks individuals to make pledges like:

switch to compact fluorescent bulbs
set thermostat to 55F when sleeping
maintain properly inflated tires
set water heater temperatures to 130F
choose seafood wisely
buy EnergyStar appliances and electronics
wash and rinse in cold water
buy locally produced food and produce
drink from reusable glassware
walk, bike, and carpool

What I really enjoy about this cause is that it focuses on what each of us can do as individuals. It emphasizes that each of us has an impact and responsibility. It also made me realize that even the small things matter. For example, writing a blog entry and spreading the word ... As one artist put it: you don't have to make big changes, just do what you can.

Download the Messenger LiveEarth Themepack and show your support!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

I was working in the lab late one night...

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:54:51 GMT

posted by Nicole

Microsoft Live Labs is working on some very cool stuff.

Photosynth looks especially awesome! It uses photos of the same location from multiple people to create a wonderful photo experience

A picture is worth a thousand words, so a thousand pictures are worth a lot more then I have time to blog about -- luckily there is a demo of the technology here.

If you have a comment/question/concern/discussion topic/rant/rave/other - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Got 80048883 at sign in? The solution is here! [edited]

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:03:57 GMT

Posted by Daniel

Jan 25, 2006***

A few days ago we asked for your help if you were getting error 80048883. Thanks to all the users who responded, and thanks to our help team, we now have the solutions. They're a little long, but they work. We'll make sure the next version doesn't have the same problems.

Get the Solution Here.

If this solution *doesn't* work for you, go here if you're an MSN users, and go here if you're a Windows Live user.

Jan 23, 2006***

Addendum: Thanks to everyone who has responded. Our HELP team now has enough users working with them to figure out the cause of this problem. When they come up with a general solution to the problem, I'll post it back here.

Jan 19, 2006***

We are trying to collect additional info from users receiving the 80048883 error code when they try to sign in. If you are using MSN Messenger 7.5 or Windows Live Messenger 8.0 and you get this error please send an email to reachmessengersupprot@htomail . We’ll help you sign in, and you'll be helping us make Messenger Better.

What is in a nickname?

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 06:34:34 GMT

posted by Nicole

Happy New Year! (yeah I know it was over a week ago)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Festivus, Hanukah, Boxing Day, New Years, and whatever else you celebrated. (I only listed the ones I celebrated this year).

Now let’s talk nicknames…..

What do Lucy and Cookie have in common? Each was a nickname for me (no laughing allowed, note the was!)

Lucy - from my mom, she is a big I Love Lucy fan. She loves Lucy and she loves me!
Cookie - from my sister, when we were very young. Just imagine the funny babysitter stories around that name

What do MSN and Messenger – have in common? Each is a nickname for MSN Messenger

MSN
- In Canada: “What’s your MSN, eh?”, “See ya on MSN, eh”
- In France: « on se parle sur MSN ».
- In Spain it is also MSN but for a different reason, MSN = MeSseNger
- In Mexico: "Te veo en MSN"
- Globally MSN is used the most often as a nickname, I think MSN once was an abbreviation for Microsoft Network, but I couldn’t find it used anywhere anymore!
Messenger
- In the halls of Microsoft: “Why are you not signed into Messenger?”
- In Japan: “Let’s do Messenger”, “What is your Messenger ID?”, (of course in Japanese and not English). Also the term IM – is not used in Japan

There have been questions and comments about what the nicknames for Windows Live Messenger will be. I will share some of my personal thoughts BUT I can’t answer the question. Instead the users of Windows Live Messenger will answer that question over time; yep that means you. People develop nicknames for other people or things they care about; nicknames (at least the good ones) are not decided by the owner!

My take on some Windows Live Messenger nickname possibilities:

WLM - Doesn’t flow nicely, lots of syllables – double-you-elle-em, plus it could be confused with Windows Live Mail.
WLMe - Not a fan of this one either but you can distinguish it from Windows Live Mail (WLMa)
Double Me - To get this you need to know the nickname for the University of Washington (my school!), which is UW pronounced You-Dub, WLMe -> Dub-L-Me, which become Double Me - I think this one it too complicated.
Messenger - An oldie but a goodie and users in Japan would have no need to change!
Nicole IM - yeah it’s a long shot
Live - Short, sweet, and easy to say. “See you on Live” (is cool, sort of sounds like see you online), “What’s your Live?” is a bit awkward – “What’s your Live ID?” makes more sense to me.

If you have other ideas or thoughts on the above please post it!

In old news....

I enjoyed reading this comparision of IM Clients on PC World. It ranked MSN Messenger v7.5 higher than the rest of the clients reviewed. No surprise here

Computers and the People Who Love/Hate Them

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:06:00 GMT

posted by Leah

Computers are like people. It’s tough to see because most of them don’t have belly buttons or opposable thumbs. Even fewer grow hair or toenails, and they’re not particularly appreciative of good music (on Friday I played Gold Digger about 15 times on my computer, and NOT ONCE did I catch it singing along, any real person couldn’t resist.)

But computers must be like people, because when they do something stupid like erase a file, force us to restart, or lose a network connection—when computers do something we don’t like, we treat them like people.

We talk to them: "Um, Computer...could you load any slower?!"

We yell at them: "No You loser! Give me my files back!"

We insult them behind their backs: "I don't have my homework. My stupid computer lost everything!"

And occasionally, when they come through in the end, we forgive them : "Oh Thank you thank you thank you!"

Because another difference between computers and people is that computers have no feelings, computers are easy to blame. Maybe you spilled hot coffee on it, or your roommate tripped on the network cable, or you’re still running windows ’98 – 1898, that is. No matter whose fault it really is, we can always yell at our computer, guilt free…

But yelling at a computer around here might actually hurt someone’s feelings. All day I use products like Windows, Office, Messenger, and Spaces (obviously). And occasionally, I run into a problem. My first instinct is to raise my fist and start yelling “You stupid &#@*! Computer!” And then I remember that the person in charge of that feature might work down the hall, next door, or even be me.

Working here has taught me that it's more effective to send a polite email, make a quick phone call, or chat with someone over lunch about what may have gone wrong. 99% of the time, I find out that

a) The problem was my fault. The help files explain it all.
b) Yes, it’s a known issue that someone is fixing it
c) Yes, it’s a known problem, but it needs to stay that way because of some trade off until a better model is found.

The other 1% of the time, I get to hear someone say “Ooops! Good point.” and even if my file is forever lost, or my new favorite custom emoticon is gone, getting that response always makes me feel pretty smart. Smart enough that I want to find more problems – and let someone know.

Now, when something isn’t behaving the way I want, Microsoft product or no, I can calm down a bit, remembering that computers (and their applications) are like people – like the passionate people who build them.

If you need help:

1) Go to the Help menu and select Help Topics. Search for your answer.

If you don't find the answer you seek

2) Click on Help...Send Feedback and select contact Customer Support

If you don't get a response fast ...

3) email messengerbloggers@hotmail.com. We'll try to hook you up. We're happy to help (unless the answer is easy to find in Help. that's what its there for :-)

If you have feedback

1) Make a comment on the blog. Ryan - an intern in the London office is collecting all your comments regularly. (I know, he's british, and a hip MS intern, he must have a hopin' social life)

or...

2) Click on Help...Send Feedback. We have people who collect all these comments and share the information out to the our team.

or...

3) email messengerbloggers@hotmail.com

If you have a general non-technical question, a blog post idea, or general thoughts about life, love, messenger, blogging, or the color orange:

1) Leave a comment!

2) Email messengerbloggers@hotmail.com and again, we'll do our best to respond.

How to stay uptodate on Windows Live Messenger

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 00:16:52 GMT

posted by Nicole

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