webDotWiz Online has a Space: Windows Live

Skydrive - your free 5Gb of online file storage

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:01:22 GMT

Skydrive is the latest Windows Live service to be offered. Using your Windows Live ID, you have 5000 megabytes of free - yes, free - storage online for your documents, photos and videos. You can use Skydrive to backup your important files, share some files with selected contacts, or upload files to be shared with everybody.

To get started, go to http://skydrive.live.com, scroll down to the Get Started button, sign in to your Windows Live ID and you're away.

Now you'll see the three types of folders: Personal, Shared and Public. Your Personal Folders already have folders for your documents, music, pictures and photos, and videos.

Over on the right-hand side of the page you'll see we haven't started using up any of our free 5 gigabytes of storage.

Let's upload some photos to our pictures folder. So click Pictures to get to the next screen and click on Pictures.

Now we get the page where we can upload and add files to our online Pictures folder.

You'll see you can only upload five files at once unless you install the Upload Tool. To do the latter, you need to be in an administrator account, so if need be, change over, go to Live Skydrive to download and install the upload tool - you'll be glad you do!

Now when you come back to add files to your folders, you can drag 'n' drop your files from your folders on the hard drive onto the Drag files here box.

For photos, the easiest way to find those you want to upload is to use Live Photo Gallery. webDotWiz wants to upload his aloe vera photos so here's easily found them because they're tagged.

You need to be able to see the dotted box when you've loaded Live Photo Gallery (or your My Documents folder, for example) when you drag 'n' drop. When done, your file is shown as ready to be uploaded.

You might have more to upload so resize Live Photo Gallery so you can still see part of the dotted box.

Now we've got this list ready to upload.

Click the Upload button and the screen refreshes to let you know how things are progressing.

A little bit later:

When your files are uploaded, you'll see them in your online folder. webDotWiz uploaded photos and thumbnails are displayed.

And wow, look at all that storage space still to be used.

Once your files are on Skydrive, you can access them from any computer that connects to the web. So you can save a file at home and download it at work to make some changes, save it again to its Skydrive folder and access it from home. In other words, Skydrive is your mobile thumbnail drive that you can't lose!

Some notes about using Skydrive:

you can create folders and load files into them so you're more organised
for documents, you can create Document folders on Skydrive that correspond to folders in your My Documents folder on your computer
you'll want to think about the names of folders for your photos (e..g, you could use folder names corresponding to tags you use in Live Photo Gallery)
it appears there's a maximum of nine sub-folders that you can create within a folder
if your Internet Service Provider counts the size of files uploaded as well as what you download each month, be careful of your month's quota so you're not charged extra for the service.

Posted using Windows Live Writer with the help of Paint.NET, Microsoft Office OneNote (to get the screenshots) and Live Photo Gallery to organise the screenshots.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Skydrive,Paint.NET,OneNote,Windows Live Photo Gallery

Skydrive is here - your free 5 Gigabytes of storage

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:48:46 GMT

Skydrive (http://skydrive.live.com/) has just been made available to Windows Live users in 38 countries, including Australia .

Get started and upload those important documents, photos and videos so they're backed up. Or use the Shared Folders to allow your Live contacts to download files or let everybody download some of your files from the Public folders.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live,Windows Live Skydrive,Skydrive,free online storage

Windows Live OneCare update to version 2 on the way

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:25:27 GMT

webDotWiz received his update to Windows Live OneCare from version 1.6 to version 2 this afternoon so other Australian installs should be receiving their's too around this time.

There are a couple of links below about OneCare's new version 2 features.

You'll know you're getting your OneCare update when OneCare pops up and tells you to restart your computer.

Note that the new version keeps all your settings (backups, backup times, tuning times) but you can change them.

One new service is a subscription to storing photos securely online (10 Gb of space). From the OneCare help:

To purchase a OneCare online photo backup subscription:

Open OneCare
Under Quick links, click Change settings.
On the Backup tab, click Subscribe to OneCare online photo backup, and then follow the on-screen instructions.
Note: You also have the option to subscribe during the backup configuration process.

Here are a few links so you can read up on OneCare version 2's new features:

Live OneCare 2.0 does more than you may think: blogs.msdn.com/stevecla01/
Windows Live OneCare Support Experience Update: windowsonecare.spaces.live.com/blog/
Windows Live OneCare Version 2 Adds New Features: windowsonecare.spaces.live.com

Posted using Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Windows Live OneCare, Live OneCare, Windows Live

Office Live Workspace - webDotWiz just got his - w00t!

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:44:55 GMT

webDotWiz just got his email to notify him he has been accepted into the Office Live Workspace trial.

What is Office Live Workspace, he hears you ask - from the site:

Office Live Workspace is your online place to store, access, and share 1000+ documents. Use it to distribute meeting notes, work together on group assignments, or simply store documents that you can access from any computer.

So now webDotWiz is off to install the add-in to Office that will enable him to save and open Word, Excel and Powerpoint files from his Live Workspace from the menu in Office. You can get more info about how to make best use of the Office Live Add-in here.

As always, this post was created in Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Office Live Workspace, 2007 Office, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, cloud

How do you use Windows Live?

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:53:43 GMT

The free desktop programs in Windows Live are Windows Live Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery, Toolbar and Writer (download them all or the ones you want from www.windowslive.com). The one Live program that's not free that webDotWiz uses is Live OneCare which keeps viruses and malware away (with the help of Windows Defender which is installed with OneCare) and also does a monthly PC tuneup along with a regular backup of important files.

When webDotWiz signs in to Windows, Live Messenger lets him know who's online. As well, webDotWiz has a Windows Live ID he uses at work and another he uses from his home computer. This way he can use Messenger's ability to send messages (such as reminders and jobs to do) from one Live ID to another even though the other ID might not be even signed in.

Windows Live Mail is webDotWiz's gateway to all his email accounts (the one with his Internet Service Provider and several others associated with his Live IDs). But webDotWiz mainly uses Live Mail to be informed when there are new photos and blog entries on his Messenger contacts' Live Spaces. As well, webDotWiz has subscribed (via the RSS orange button in Internet Explorer) to numerous sites that have an RSS feed so he can quickly browse the list of headings of new content to see what is worth reading in full later on.

Windows Live Photo Gallery has become his preferred tool to organise and edit his photos and tutorial screenshots. webDotWiz hasn't yet completed the job of tagging all his images but Photo Gallery has brought back to life lots of photos that have been sitting on his computer for ages and nothing's been done with them. Now it's a simple job to upload a group of them from Photo Gallery to one of his Live Spaces to share them.

Naturally this column has been written in Windows Live Writer. There's now a spell checker but as well it's a simple job to add a photo, video, map or table to a blog entry. When ready, one click on Publish and the writeup is put on webDotWiz's Live Space.

Live Toolbar keeps popup ads away, gives one-click access to Live Hotmail or Live Spaces, and the Sign-in Assistant makes it simple to swap from Live ID to another when necessary.

There are a couple of online Live services, namely Skydrive and Family Safety, that aren't yet available to Australian users. Skydrive will give us online storage to backup photos and documents and share these files with others if so desired so it's worth keeping an eye out when Skydrive becomes available - soon we hope.

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Toolba, Windows Defender, Windows Live OneCare

Windows Live suite full version

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:36:22 GMT

The free Windows Live suite of programs - Windows Live Messenger, Live Photo Gallery, Live Writer, and Live Toolbar - have now all been released as final versions. That is, no more trial beta versions, and it's time to make use of all these free programs to connect and share.

WindowsLive.com is the site to visit to get an overview of the Live suite and then begin the download and install.

If you installed the trial versions a few weeks ago, you'll be familiar with the Live installation process which downloads the programs of your choice and installs them from the same dialogue. As soon as they're installed, you can begin using each one.

If you'd like to know more about what to expect when you're installing the Live suite, see this earlier post which has plenty of screenshots (blog it to your own Live Space for reference).

Let's now have a look at some of the features of the new Live applications.

There have been a couple of posts about using the Windows Live Photo Gallery including how to get started using tags to organise your photos and how to create a panorama so have a look at them to get underway with organising your photos. Another resource for some ideas is the Live Photo Gallery team blog at blogs.msdn.com/pix/.

Live Messenger 8.5 final version is little changed from the trial version of 8.5. Note if you're running Messenger version 8.0 or earlier you'll be prompted to download the latest version.

Windows Live Mail is a replacement for old out-dated Outlook Express. You should upgrade to Windows Live Mail for no other reason than for the enhanced security features. However one of the best features of Live Mail is that you can subscribe to as many email addresses you like and get all your mail in one place (e.g., webDotWiz has ten email subscriptions). As well you can keep up to date with your Messenger friends' Live Spaces, blog an email to your Live Space, start chatting with your Messenger contacts, and email your photos in a special style to impress family and friends.

It can be a bit of a pain to write up an entry in your Live Space using the web interface as it does its spell check. It's a lot easier to do your writing in Live Writer which now has a U.K. English dictionary. As well Live Writer makes it easier to add photos to your entry and you can use tables too and insert a map or video as the need arises.

So that's it for the free Windows Live desktop programs. Remember though that there other free services such as Live Hotmail and the new Live Calendar. Soon we should be seeing Live Skydrive where we'll be able to backup and store our important documents and photos online.

Note: the above can also be read at webDotWiz Online at this link.

This post has been put together in Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Live Messenger, Live Mail, Live Writer, Live Photo Gallery, Live Skydrive

Live photo gallery tip - importing from memory stick, CD, DVD

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:29:55 GMT

You can not only import photos into Live Photo Gallery from your camera but also from a memory stick, memory card, CD or DVD:

Click on File then Import from a camera or scanner... webDotWiz imported some photos from his Kingston memory stick:

A reminder that you may have click Refresh. Click Import to get the following:

Yeah, alright... webDotWiz has all sorts of photo bits and pieces on his memory stick... Next gives:

webDotWiz has used Clear all to unselect all the groups that Live Photo Gallery had flagged as not being on webDotWiz's computer and he's decided to only import the four scans selected above. Now it's time to Add tags - note the semi-colon after the first tag that webDotWiz has typed:

So after Cars, webDotWiz entered Racing; Sports cars; 1970s; Tech Drawings. Note: Live Photo Gallery automatically added the semi-colon after each tag that webDotWiz typed.

After the import finished, here's the photos (scans really) displayed in Photo Gallery showing that all the tags were applied:

A reminder that the Import Photos and Video window is separate from the main Live Photo Gallery window (check in your task bar) so that you can refer to your list of tags when entering them before importing.

Technorati tags: Live Photo Gallery, tagging photos, importing, camera, memory stick, CD, DVD, memory card

Live photo gallery tip - the forward slash and the semi-colon when adding tags

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:05:09 GMT

By accident webDotWiz found you can have sub-tags in Live Photo Gallery.

This came about when he entered a tag named PDP 11/34 to tag a photo of a Digital Equipment PDP 11/34 model computer from the old days.

Later when he was looking down his list of tags, all he could see was the PDP 11 tag which had a + next to it - clicking the + sign expanded the PDP 11 tag to show that a sub-tag named 34 had been created.

So when you use the / (forward slash) in a new tag name, Photo Gallery assumes the text after the slash is a sub-tag.

Try it when you get a chance (you can delete the new tag and its sub-tag by right-clicking on it).

When you're importing photos from your camera, memory card or stick, CD or DVD, you can add tags, as you know. In the latest version of Photo Gallery you can add more than one tag. Have a close look next time you're importing and you'll see that after you type in your first tag that a semi-colon is automatically added - that means you can add more tags.

Note that the Import Photos and Videos window is separate from the Live Photo Gallery window (you'll see them both on the Windows task bar). That means you can click on Photo Gallery to check your tag names before you start typing.

Technorati tags: Live Photo Gallery, tagging photos, sub-tags

Windows Live Wave 2 launches tomorrow night - Wed am Australia time

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:55:54 GMT

From Liveside:

In case you forgot that Windows Live Wave 2 is launching tomorrow night (for GMT through to PST - Wednesday morning for those ahead of GMT), Microsoft have put up a handy countdown clock to remind you.
From a client/application perspective, this will include:

Messenger
Mail (finally!)
Writer
Photo Gallery and
Family Safety

along with the online Skydrive service too - ie everything on the main beta page. Lets hope the installer works properly this time, though given the somewhat pre-emptive knowledgebase article, it looks like this may not be the case. (You may want to keep that link somewhere handy for your friends and family.)
After succumbing to the "viral" marketing, we're turning back to the scheduled show for tonight. Lots still to post before tomorrow! ;)

Posted with Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Live Mail, Live Messenger, Live Photo Gallery, Live Family Safety, Live Skydrive, Live Writer

Windows Live Calendar now live

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:41:28 GMT

webDotWiz just caught up with a post on Liveside announcing Windows Live Calendar Is Now Out! but they'd edited this post to with an update:

Update: almost out there. Windows Live Calendar was indeed up for a bit, for testing, and will be going live in a public beta VERY very soon, but it's not up yet. Take the weekend off from pounding the site, everyone :). (edit by kip: 8pm pdt Friday 11/2)

Well Live Calendar is working - so far - for webDotWiz.

... and he received this alert in his Live Mail after the above entry was made:

Try it yourself at calendar.live.com.

The first thing webDotWiz noticed was its speed - at the moment he's having a play around.

Posed using Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Calendar, Windows Live

Live Photo Gallery hints and tips - using tags

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 11:49:32 GMT

This post - with lots of screenshots - accompanies webDotWiz's Oct 4 article on webDotWiz Online (www.webdotwiz.com), Live Photo Gallery hints and tips which is also posted here on webDotWiz Online has a Space.

In the above article, webDotWiz used a folder called Holidays to illustrate how you might tag photos. Well, webDotWiz doesn't have such a folder but he does have a folder called Screenshots and none of the images in that folder had tags when he started the screenshots in this post. Now they all have tags .

webDotWiz began by loading Windows Live Photo Gallery and opening up his Screenshots folder - it contains about 150 images, and is a real mixture:

Even though all these images are in one folder, because they relate to all sorts of different contexts, using tags will enable webDotWiz to more easily find a certain image or a group of images that relates to a particular topic. For example, those Paint.NET images above should all be tagged accordingly.

So webDotWiz's first job was to select all the photos in the Screenshots folder and give them a tag called Screenshots. You can see he was trying to be organised before he started using Live Photo Gallery. So he went to File and chose Select all:

Now it's time to give all these images a tag called Screenshots (if the right-hand information pane is not visible in Live Photo Gallery, click on Info on the top menu to open it):

So click on Add Tags and type in your tag - webDotWiz entered Screenshots and pressed the ENTER key (or you can click the mouse):

Note how Live Photo Gallery picks up that webDotWiz has been a good lad and already tagged a few images in the 150 or so screenshots he's stored and which include all sorts of subjects. There'll be a later post on how you can use this feature to help you more quickly assign the same tag to groups of photos so you save time but get organised.

Now let's take a small group of these screenshot images and add another tag to organise ourselves a further step:

webDotWiz has picked a group of screenshots he used in a tutorial on how to add your own background image to your Live Space:

This group all deal with using Live Writer so webDotWiz will tag each one in the group accordingly:

And the group fits in with tutorials (like this one) that webDotWiz has written up so Tutorials is another handy tag:

At this stage webDotWiz can ask Live Photo Gallery to show all images tagged as Screenshots then narrow down the selection by getting images tagged as Tutorials on Live Writer (the third tag). But he wants to go one step further because he's got lots of tututorial screenshots about Live Writer so to be more specific he decides to use another tag Background image:

So now in the future webDotWiz can ask Live Photo Gallery to show all images that are tutorials about using a background image in Live Writer.

Once you've entered different tags and your list increases, you can save some typing by selecting a group of photos and dragging them onto the tag you want to apply to the group;

So webDotWiz selects all the screenshots he's made thus far for this tutorial - here's one:

The whole group is dragged onto Tutorials in the tag list to apply it to each image in the group:

While the group is still selected, webDotWiz applied a couple of more tags:

So now webDotWiz has a group of screenshot images that he can use (and add to) whenever he wants to write up a tutorial about tagging photos and images in Live Photo Gallery. He doesn't have to remember which folder these images are stored in under My Pictures - all he need do is click the appropriate tag from the list in Live Photo Gallery

Posted with Live Writer. Irfanview and OneNote were used to capture the screenshots.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Photo Gallery, tagging photos, tags

Installing Windows Live Suite - some help so you know what to expect

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 01:40:16 GMT

To download and install various Windows Live programs (e.g., Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail and the trial version of Windows Live Photo Gallery), go to http://get.live.com/wl/all to run the installer and then choose which programs you want to download and install.

A note to those on dialup or ISDN connections: Messenger, for example, is about an 18Mb download, Live Mail about 14Mb, so you can see the problem immediately . The best solution if you're in the vicitinity of Rushworth is to come into the Rushworth Community House and use its fast broadband to download what you need. For ISDN users, it took webDotWiz two attempts to get everything downloaded and at about 1Mb/minute download speed, you can work out downloads took a fair while.

So you've loaded http://get.live.com/wl/all into your browser - this is what you'll see and the bit you're interested in is the big orange button at the bottom of the page:

Sidenote: by the look of the pic above, it seems the update to Live Writer has fixed the fuzzy picture problem - you beauty .

This is the next page to load and it's where you can choose which programs to install. By the way, you can always return to this page later to install a program you don't install now:

Click Install and the Live Suite installer downloads - it's about 1.7Mb - and you can run it (OneCare Family Saftey is not ticked for Australian users since the service is not yet available here - check the team's blog at http://familysafety.spaces.live.com/ for availability soon):

Accept the licence terms on the next screen that opens:

... and the installer begins checking for earlier version of programs (e.g., you'll probably have an older version of Live Messenger on your computer):

This step can take a while but after a bit you'll notice the installer begins its job - note that the next program begins downloading:

Here's how things are going a bit later (on broadband at the Rushworth Community House):

When the programs you've chosen have downloaded and installed, you'll be prompted to do a restart:

After the restart, start using and enjoying the new and updated Live applications.

If you'd like to see more screenshots and comments on the install process, see this post at Live Chronicles.

Posted with Live Writer (trial version 3 with improved graphics rendering - not more fuzzy pics).

Technorati tags: Windows Live Suite, Live Mail, Live Messenger, Live Writer, Live Photo Gallery

Windows Live Suite - get the updated Live Messenger, Mail, Writer and Photo Gallery

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:56:06 GMT

There are new or updated versions of

Live Messenger (now version 8.5)
Live Mail
Live Writer
Live Photo Gallery, and
Live Toolbar

They're all updated and/or installed from one place, the Windows Live Suite at get.live.com/wl/all. You can pick and choose what you want to install but you'll want to install all those listed above.

The Live Photo Gallery is now released to the general public in a trial version but from first looks, there's lots to help us out with our photo collections, from importing from our cameras to editing and uploading to Live Spaces.

To read more about the Photo Gallery, see Brandan LaBlanc's post, Edit and Share Photos and Videos with Windows Live Photo Gallery.

See Liveside for more news about the latest updates.

Also see the post by Chris Jones, Vice President, Windows Live Team.

This post was created in the latest release of Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Live Messenger, Live Mail, Live Writer, Live Photo Gallery, Live Toolbar, Live Spaces

Sites for 26-Aug-2007 - some Windows Live news and updates - Messenger Cafe, Live Trueswitch, CardSpace

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:12:59 GMT

A list of sites announcing new Windows Live services or hinting at what's to come:

A little more information on @live domain launch: livechronicles.spaces.live.com
Announcing TrueSwitch – an easy way to switch your e-mail account to Hotmail: mailcall.spaces.live.com
Disable Firefox Adblock for Hotmail or switch to the classic version: mailcall.spaces.live.com
Login.live.com uses SSL Extended Velidation Certificate: bink.nu/Article10936.bink
Messenger Cafe: www.cafemessenger.com
New Live ID to CardSpace Integration: visitmix.com/Blogs/Joshua/
What is Windows Live ID?: channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=334848#334848
Windows Live Calendar and Events sightings, coming soon?: www.liveside.net/blogs/
Windows Live Platform tidbits from last week: blogs.msdn.com/cheller/
Windows Live Trueswitch: secure5.trueswitch.com/winlive/

Technorati tags: Today's sites, Windows Live, Messenger Cafe, Live Trueswitch, CardSpace, Live ID, Live Calendar

Windows Live Home goodness

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:30:02 GMT

The Windows Live Home page (home.live.com) went live today.

Liveside were the first to notice that the colour changes (once you're signed in) depending on the time of day - webDotWiz hasn't signed in yet:

Now he has (at about 2000 his time):

Notice the extra buttons on the toolbar - Home, Hotmail, Spaces, OneCare... these buttons also show up on the Live toolbar in your Space:

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Live home page, Live Spaces, Windows Live Home

Windows Live Folders and Windows Live Photo Gallery being trialled

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:29:00 GMT

Via Liveside and the Windows Live Folders team blog:

Microsoft have announced that Windows Live Folders (folders.live.com) and Windows Live Photo Gallery have begun limited trialling (i.e., trial users are limited to the U.S. at the moment or have received invitations).

Windows Live Folders will give each Windows Live ID user 500 megabytes of space online in which to store documents, pictures and music, for no charge. See the Live Folders more info page.

Note that down the bottom of this page is a Get started button which will take you to the normal Live ID sign-in page. Although the press release says Live Folders is in a managed beta release, somehow or other webDotWiz managed to sign in and start using Live Folders with another of his Live IDs on a computer connected to a different Internet service provider than his home computer. Anyway, give it a go and see if you get in and you can start uploading documents, photos or your own music you want to backup or share.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is not only a service (e.g., uploading photos to albums on Live Spaces) but also is a program that replaces the Vista Photo Gallery and which will also run on Windows XP (with Service Pack 2).

Here's a few new features in Live Photo Gallery (as compared to Vista Photo Gallery):

Improved image editing features like Panoramic stitch, histogram, and sharpen image.
Improved tagging and organization including the ability to quickly sort by name, file type, tag or date.
Publish photos directly to your photo galleries on Windows Live Spaces.
Auto event grouping and tagging when importing photos (and video) from your camera to PC.
Improved Photo Import Tool.

(sourced here).

It's worth taking a few minutes to read through Brandon LeBlanc's post on the Windows Experience Blog to check the changes and planned features along with some good screenshots for Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows Live OneCare being updated to version 1.6

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:21:18 GMT

You don't have to do anything as the update will be automatically carried out for you over the next few days or weeks, according to a staged upgrade process, as is done for Microsoft update on your computer.

If you're on a dialup internet connection, the upgrade process will take longer than for those on broadband. For example, the last major update to Windows Live OneCare was 70Mb in size, so it took some time for those on dialup connections to be properly updated.

There are some useful comments on the Windows Live OneCare forums.

For reference, you can keep up to date with Live OneCare news at the Live OneCare team blog and the Windows Live OneCare forums.

Technorati tags: Windows Live OneCare, update

Screenshots of Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger 8.5

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 01:00:49 GMT

webDotWiz has been sparing in giving you lots of screenshots of the updated Live Writer, Live Mail and Live Messenger 8.5 so go to Liveside.net for lots of good views so you get an idea of the improvements to the user interface - and new features - in all these updated apps.

Note that we Australians haven't yet got a trial version of Windows Live Messenger 8.5. As soon as the Australian version is released, you'll hear about it from webDotWiz - in the meantime, enjoy the screenshots at Liveside.

Aside: webDotWiz wonders whether the holdup with Messenger 8.5 for Australia is to do with providing Messenger-to-phone calling (as already available in the U.S. and U.K.).

Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger

New version of Windows Live Writer

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:12:31 GMT

The latest version of Live Writer is now available from writer.live.com. Download, install and enjoy!

When you run Live Writer for the first time you'll immediately notice that its menu system and user interface have been improved.

A couple of improvements worthy of note are Set category (including being able to add a new category) at the bottom left of the page and Set publish date at the bottom right.

A new addition is the ability to add tables to your post:

New imagery on Live Maps	Site: maps.live.com
Country	Cities/Locations
Australia	Canberra
	Uluru
UK (3D)	Northampton
US (3D)	Manhattan, Queens, Yonkers NY

To create a table is similar to what you'd do in Microsoft Word - click the Table button to get this:

By the way, this screenshot was inserted using Insert Picture... (as in the previous version) and it now seems that Text Wrapping is working (this pic is set to Left text wrapping).

Oh, and there's live spell checking! Actually, if there was a print function in Live Writer, it'd be perfect as a word processor but we're publishing to the web so there's no need for printing (lots of $$$ saved on buying print cartridges).

Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer update, Windows Live Spaces

Windows Live Messenger, Mail and Writer trial versions - soon

Mon, 28 May 2007 09:51:54 GMT

Liveside are indicating that new trial versions of Windows Live Messenger (version 8.5), Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Writer aren't far away.

You'll find a screenshot of Windows Live Writer here and a screenshot of Windows Live Mail here.

This is a screenshot of the contact list in the Spanish pre-release version of Live Messenger 8.5 which the Messenger Adictos people obtained (note that the version released for public trial could change):

You can get a glimpse of the redesigned chat window here and the sign-in window here (via Mess.be).

Technorati tags: Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Folders - nearly ready

Sun, 13 May 2007 02:21:55 GMT

Another Windows Live service is about to launch, according to posts from Liveside.

Live Folders will give us online storage for our files (up to 500Mb of space in the trial version Livside is guessing) for no charge.

Files and folders can be classed as private, shared or public so you can backup important files which nobody else can access. Or you may want to let friends (e.g., co-workers) download files from your Live Folder. The third option enables anybody to view and download selected files.

For some screenshots of the service and more info about the options for storing and sharing your files, see the Liveside post.

Keep an eye on your feed from webDotWiz to know when you begin using the Live Folders service.

The Live Folders site (folders.live.com) was up for a while but at this time, it's down again.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Folders

SharedView

Sun, 13 May 2007 02:19:05 GMT

Via Bink.

There's not much more info about Microsoft SharedView than on Bink's post and the Microsoft download page. The link to the Windows Live Betas homepage doesn't yet provide any further info either.

Anyway, here's a snippet from the Microsoft ShareView download page:

Microsoft SharedView is a fast and easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use SharedView to put your heads together and collaborate.

and:

More effective meetings and phone calls
Connect with up to 15 people in different locations and get your point across by showing them what's on your screen.
Work together in real time
Share, review, and update documents with multiple people in real time.
Use anytime, anywhere
SharedView is easy to use, from anywhere, at a moment's notice.

SharedView will be of great benefit for those working together on documents and helping others.

More info from webDotWiz as soon as he comes across it.

Technorati tags: Microsoft SharedView, meetings, share documents

Easy way to add a site to your Live Favorites

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:21:43 GMT

The Windows Live Favorites service is an effective and easy way to take all your favourite sites with you as you go from one computer to another and give visitors to your Live Space access to sites you consider as having useful information (you've added the Favorites module to your Space, haven't you?).

If you've got the Windows Live Toolbar installed, there's a button on there which enables you to manage your favorites. That's ok if you've got a few to add. But what about when you're browsing, come across a site and you want to add it - there is an easy way.. and webDotWiz has taken ages to find it (he probably should have read through the Help, but oh well...).

It's simple:

Right-click somewhere on the web site page you want to add to your Live Favorites
From the popup menu, choose Add to Windows Live Favorites
Allow a few seconds and after a bit you'll get the following popup:

with all fields filled in for you except the Share this favorite - you'll have to tick the box. Click OK and all is done

Technorati tags: Windows Live Favorites, adding a site

Windows Live for TV in orbit

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:27:00 GMT

For those running Vista Media Center under Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate can sign up to try out Windows Live for TV, nicknamed Orbit.

What's it all about - well, here's the description from The Orbit (WLforTV team Space):

Windows Live for TV is an early beta 3D browser application that makes it easy to connect to your social network as well as friends and family from within Vista Media Center or IE7.0. You're be able to view the best of Windows Live Spaces and communicate with Friends and Family over Windows Live Messenger 8.1 with voice & text chat as well as make a phone call.

This pic makes the point (imagine you're viewing this on your big plasma screen):

Technorati tags: Windows Live for TV (Orbit), Windws Media Center, Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate

Windows Live services - what we've got so far

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:48:05 GMT

To celebrate it's first birthday, Liveside.net created a collage of current Windows Live services:

Technorati tags: Windows Live, Windows Live services

Windows Live QnA site updated

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 10:35:22 GMT

Via the QnA (Question and Answer) Team Blog.

The QnA site has a new-look homepage - much more straightforward and uncluttered compared to the old one.

Ask and Let the World Answer is the new theme and, to help us more easily browse for answers (or questions), there's a list of the most popular tags on the right-hand side of the page.

With the holiday season approaching, one area might be of interest to many people is to ask about recipes for different foods for this time of year.

Technorati tags: Windows Live QnA

Live.com update

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 09:07:39 GMT

Everybody doesn't use Live.com to bring in info from sites (i.e., subscribe to various RSS feeds) but there are plenty of gadgets you can add to you Live.com pages - weather, stocks, shopping, news of all different sorts - to have the info come to you and make it possible to keep up to date with the info you want (the alternative: visiting lots of sites just isn't feasible these days - who's got all that time?).

As well the Live.com team are continually working on their code so the site's speed is improved and they've done more in the latest update.

The latest updates are spelt out by the Live.com team on their Space.

Technorati tags: Live.com, gadgets

Office Live to launch Nov 15

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:55:27 GMT

The Microsoft press release, Microsoft Office Live Will Launch Web Service to Help Small Businesses Attract Customers, Generate Repeat Business, has plenty of detail.

The Nov 15 launch is for a full service for US customers and the beginning of a trial period for customers in the UK, France, Germany and Japan - Australia must be coming later.

Small businesses wanting a web presence need to carefully consider the opportunity offered by Office Live (www.officelive.com) - there's a free plan to get you started that includes the tools to easily create a web site, several email addresses and other assistance to help you spread your web presence.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Office Live