Kandarp 's space

Live.com homepage has generated some buzz lately with some very tastefully done backgrounds. I have been saving each of them and I love them. Scroll to the bottom of this entry for link to all the images from the public skydrive location.  

Next My MSN is out and in beta check it out @ v11.my.msn.com. Nice look, improved usability and more gadgets.

I had read stories about it. I had heard rumors about it. I had heard village people whisper about the it. Today I saw it :). Here is a screen shot.

It looks like the themed page is still in testing. As I can see it, only on one of my machines. This should allow the Live Search team to enable the scenario to theme the homepage by occasion going forward. Hopefully, on the next 4th of July we will see www.live.com themed for American Independence day!

 Get quick access to maps, driving directions, and aerial views through Windows Live Toolbar.

Live Search team recently added another service to their portfolio - Live Search Cashback. While this is old news, cashback links have started appearing in the "Sponsored links" for live search. Have a look

For those who have not heard of Live Search Cashback, its  a new service coming from Microsoft's acquisition of JellyFish. Here's a quick summary from the FAQ page.

What is Live Search cashback?

Microsoft Live Search cashback is "The Search That Pays You Back". Find great deals on millions of products from hundreds of brand name stores that you know and trust. You will be able to earn cashback savings based on a percentage of the product price. Your savings will be paid to you via your choice of a deposit to your PayPal account, direct deposit to your bank account, or a check in the mail. It's that simple!

Here is a screenshot of the landing page.

Windows Live SkyDrive, added some minor but very useful updates making the service even more desirable! Here is the summary from Windows Live Wire:

Now you can:

Add captions to your files and photos to describe each item.

Add comments to any file. Leave a note telling people what's new in a file, or comment on a friend's photo. Check out the recent comments others have made about your files.

Get larger photo previews so you can see which ones to open.

Flip through the contents of a folder without opening the files.

Also, SkyDrive is now available in 24 more countries or regions:

Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela, Serbia, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Pictures worth a 1000 words.

Folder Views

Add Caption and Comments

Browse using the filmstrip

The live.com homepage has been redesigned. If you had a personalized page that is now available @ http://my.live.com

source:liveside

A bunch of live products - hotmail, messenger , home and search - won the Webware 100 award in different categories. At first I was a bit surprised to see Windows Live Home in this list. I mean, this page was introduced what about an year ago and at that time, it did not offer much besides the cool design. 

However, when I checked the Windows Live Home today, I was pleasantly surprised to see what I saw! It does a really cool job of integrating, all things Windows Live. It integrates, mail, calendar, "what's new" feed with pictures, and also the Office Live docs!! Yes! I am really impressed by this! Way to go Windows Live Home. I can get to all of Windows Live and Live Search from this one single destination. And the design is also pretty neat. Check it out

Live Search launched a revamped News Search landing page, now showing categorized news, local news and multimedia news. Now all they got to do is added news by country section and have the ability to customize it. Check it out.

News by categories	Local News	News Video

It also looks like "Live Search" branding and search UI has also evolved. Clearly more emphasis on Live Search than on Windows Live. Its becoming more and more clear now that there really are three brands, MSN, Windows Live and Live Search

A friend forwarded this. This one deserves posting.

courtesy: Hardik Shah

Rumors are flying around that XBOX 360 might be getting a motion-sensitive controller similar to Wii Remote. MTV news is reporting that an undisclosed source has reported that the XBOX team is working on a Wii remote-style controller for the Xbox 360. There is a boring sketch of the prototype floating around as well.