Just Noticed and Confirmed at SkyDrive's Team Blog Sky Drive just got more kooler 5 times more kooler its Capacity is increased to 5GB! Five times to that of initial size!

Also more good news its now available in 38 countries.

Got some time to spare ? try your hands on Airplane Design Software, Originally Developed for Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, this web application allows you to design a Passenger Airplane, Set Range, Altitude, Speed and various other settings and variations then test your design, Gives you a good understanding about Aerodynamics , and of course, the fact that its not easy to built an Airplane. (or probably makes you feel like a rocket scientist,lol..) so fantasy starship builders and designers try your hands on the real deal and feel the wrath of aerodynamic constraints.. lol.

 Check Out My Design:

I have been following this site for a while now, Giveawayoftheday.com gives Licensed Software for free for a given time period (24 hrs) when installed within that period you can use the licensed software for free legally! offers also include games. While one shouldn't expect large packages or software's given for free this gives a good opportunity for not so big developers or for good products to be featured and gets good PR. This mutually beneficial promotion gave Giveawayoftheday a very good subscriber base, both in visitors and developers looking for promoting there software. Developers of the software decide the level of licence that's given, mostly it comes only as promotion and does not has support or updates unless the license is bought exclusively. Better Deal than a Shareware, All in all its a win, win, win situation for all.

How it works:

The Software's and Games are Distributed in a packager that connects to the site to check if the offer period is valid and then lets you install the software and license key. While I don't always install everything that is featured so far, Giveawayoftheday has featured some pretty cool software and tools helping in increasing your computing experience.

Today's Free Licensed Software and Game:

Found this on Nikhil Kothari's weblog too kool to resist a reblog

Thanks to the Windows Live Messenger Team you can now have your IM on your websites and blogs.

just click here ( settings page ) design your looks grant permission (for you to be visible so that annonmous users (visitors) can send messages) and you are done! copy paste the HTML code and enjoy.. Kool!!!

WinFX will be renamed to .NET Framework 3.0 Chk out the post at somasegar’s blog. Seems the change is only in name and not effect the technologies delivered as part of the product. 3.0 is still comprised of existing .NET Framework 2.0 components, inc. ASP.NET, WinForms, ADO.NET, additional base class libraries and the CLR, as well as new developer-focused innovative technologies in WPF, WCF, WF and WCS:

& Ya the CLR is same v2.0. The .NET Framework 3.0 will still ship with Windows Vista, and will be available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

The .NET Framework has always been at the core of WinFX, but the WinFX brand didn’t convey this. This change is aimed to reduce / end confusion of ppl about which MS developer platform and The technologies they should invest in. 

Great Move!

The coffee you drink as a pick-me-up in the morning could also make you more open to persuasion, researchers say. Evidence from a new study suggests that this happens because caffeine revs up the brain, not because it generally boosts mood.

Previous studies have show that consuming caffeine can improve one’s attention and enhance cognitive performance, with 200 milligrams (equivalent to two cups of coffee) being the optimal dose.

Moderate doses of caffeine can also make you more easily convinced by arguments that go against your beliefs, say Pearl Martin of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and her colleagues.

In 2005, her team published a paper suggesting that the compound primes people to agree with statements that go against their typical views because it improves their ability to understand the reasoning behind the statements.
Cooperative mood

But what if people were more likely to agree with others’ views simply because drinking coffee put them in a better mood?

To answer this question the team embarked on a new experiment involving nearly 150 volunteers. Subjects were asked about their attitude to controversial medical practices, such as voluntary euthanasia.

The participants were then given an orange-flavoured drink that either contained roughly 200 milligrams of caffeine or lacked the compound completely. Forty minutes later, when caffeine levels typically peak after consumption, subjects read arguments selected to contradict the particular opinion they held.

In order to determine whether caffeine made people more open to persuasion because it was promoting better mental function, or because it was improving mood, Martin’s team also threw distracting tasks into the mix. In one part of the experiment, researchers asked volunteers to cross out the letter ‘o’ whenever it appeared in the text. In another part, they asked volunteers to wear headphones and discriminate between high and low-pitched notes by pressing a button as they read the arguments that contradicted their opinions.
Poor concentration

Volunteers who had consumed the caffeine drink were more likely to change their point of view than those who hadn’t. However, the more distracted subjects were, the less likely they were to have their views altered.

This, say the authors of the study, supports the idea that better mental function – rather than better mood – is the reason that coffee could make a person more easily persuaded, because the volunteers were only more open to persuasion when they could concentrate on and assimilate the persuasive argument.

In light of these findings, people who gulp down lattes at business meetings may want to reconsider how the drink is affecting them, the authors suggest.

Journal reference: European Journal of Social Psychology (DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.347)
Source: NewScientist.

Following the launch of the Windows Live Messenger Beta, Microsoft has announced the start of its new contest, "Invasion of Robots Contest".

Through this contest, Microsoft is challenging developers worldwide to create conversational robots or BOTs for MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

According to company sources, the "Invasion of the Robots Contest" reflects how Microsoft is ensuring that its platforms have an appeal on Web 2.0. The Robots or BOTs are amazing software programs that enhance user-experience in a messenger application. To assist developers, Microsoft is providing three free SDKs (Software Development Kits) that developers would have to use for the challenge.

The "Invasion of Robots Contest" is open to all individual technology developers or authorized representatives of independent software developers, consultants, and/or vendors (including Microsoft) who are at least 18 years of age, and have technical programming education and/or knowledge to create "robot" software programs for use with MSN Messenger.

The contest is expected to draw a lot of participants from the country, as it is open to all developers and not just students. The winners not only win $40,000 worth of equipment for the best BOT but will also be known to have contributed to a new feature on MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.

The contest entry period is till September 15, 2006.

The participants can download three different SDKs (Software Development kits) from the Web site, build robots using the same, and register them on the site.

The three different SDKs provided by Microsoft are: the Akonix L7 Builder SDK that provides developers with the option of working with NET (C#, VB, etc), Java, or COM, each with a set of easy-to-use APIs, sample BOTs, and an IM Markup language.

The second SDK is the Incesoft Bot Platform SDK that lets developers create their own robot with their favorite developing languages, such as C#, VB.NET, and C++.

The third SDK, the Conversagent BuddyScript SDK, supports all MSN Activity features, and includes a sample activity-enabled BOT to get developers' ideas flowing.

Krishna Prasad, head - programming, MSN India, said, "The participants have to use the SDKs provided by us; any SDK can be chosen by the participant to create their robots. This contest is open to any developer and not restricted only to students or professionals alone. The participants can get all information about the contest on our Web site www.robotinvaders.com. We have also given an option where the users can login, and vote for the best robot created and posted on 'Robot Gallery'."

The registered robots will be judged on the parameters of
use of multiple Windows Live services: 25 percent,
user interaction: 25 percent,
usefulness: 25 percent,
creativity: 25 percent.

so what are u waiting for get set bot.

source: Techtree.

Microsoft yesterday announced its first release version to of a new proprietary specification to rival the widely used image format JPEG. According to Microsoft, its Windows Media Photo version 1.0 format surpasses what it terms the limitations of existing image formats. Convincing users to switch to its image format instead of JPEG is yet another demonstration of the way Microsoft has managed to keep its user base intact through platform lock-in.
The current version of Windows Media Photo available on the Microsoft website is an update to the 0.9 draft specification shipped with Windows Vista Beta 2 and the WinFX Runtime Components Beta 2.

In order to gain traction in the market place with the new image specification, Microsoft is expected to make the standard available for both Vista and Windows XP. One of the attractions of JPEG is that is available across a broad range of operating system environments. However, with a 90% market share of desktops, Microsoft is bound to win a large portion of desktop users over to its new digital imaging format as a means of further locking them in to its Windows platform. Having thousands of photos stored in a proprietary specification that cannot be easily converted to another format is a powerful inhibitor to users switching platforms.

Some analysts say Windows Media Photo is indeed an improvement on JPEG, offering the ability to store images in files about half the size of JPEG with superior quality. This, they say, will appeal to amateur digital photographers rather than professionals who use higher quality formats. It is the amateurs who constitute the majority of Windows users.

On the website, Microsoft lists the range of features and benefits supported by Windows Media Photo including: multiple color formats for display or print; fixed or floating point high dynamic range image encoding; lossless or high quality lossy compression; extremely efficient decoding for multiple resolutions and sub-regions; and minimal overhead for format conversion or transformations during decode. Linux and Mac users might have to wait for availability of this format encoders/decoders or applications in their platform.

Google said Wednesday that it has agreed to shut down some communities on its popular Orkut social networking site because the Brazilian government says they advocate violence and human rights violations.

Google agreed to shut down any sites that violate Orkut's terms of service, which forbid "any illegal or unauthorized purpose," after the company met Tuesday with a Brazilian human rights commission, which presented evidence that Brazilians have been using the invitation-only networking site to promote crimes and violence.

Orkut is extremely popular in Brazil with some 8 million users, representing about a quarter of all Brazilians who have access to the Internet.

In recent years, news reports have linked drug dealing operations and organized fights between soccer fans to Orkut communities. One community allegedly advocated killing the president and planting a bomb in Congress.

"Orkut does not condone any of the communities that advocate violence and are a threat to human rights," Nicole Wong, a Google attorney, said in a statement.

Brazilian Rep. Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh, a member of the congressional commission, said Google had agreed to remove six websites from Orkut and help police identify those who posted the pages as part of a preliminary accord.

"I am satisfied with progress of the agreement, but we only expect to reach a final agreement in 15 days," Greenhalgh said by telephone from Brasilia, the nation's capital.

He said in principle the agreement would require Google to hold user information for up to six months to provide time for Brazilian courts to issue subpoenas, if necessary.

Google would also be required to set up a Portuguese speaking team that was aware of Brazilian legislation to monitor the online community.

Google, however, did not confirm whether or not it would be handing over user data to the Brazilian government, and said it was still waiting Wednesday for Greenhalgh to provide a list of the questionable sites.

Greenhalgh said the list was sent by overnight mail and should arrive Thursday morning.

Determined to maintain the consumer loyalty that has helped fuel its success, Google has repeatedly stressed its commitment to protect its users' information within the bounds of local laws.

Earlier this year, Google fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena seeking an extensive list of the search requests that people had been entering into its search engine.

Google argued the demands were an unnecessary intrusion that threatened to undermine the public's trust in the Internet, and a U.S. federal judge agreed. Although it didn't have to disclose search requests, Google was ordered to provide the government with the addresses of 50,000 websites in its search index.

When Google launched a search engine in China earlier this year, the company decided not to offer its e-mail service, to lessen the likelihood of facing a government subpoena seeking access to private messages.

Rival Yahoo has come under intense criticism for providing the Chinese government with personal e-mails that have contributed to the convictions of several journalists.

The very first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Expression Web Designer is out!. A professional design tool to help you create modern standards-based Web sites. EWD is a new professional design tool for creating HTML/CSS based web sites and applications. One of the great features is the deep support for web standards - something that is more important today than ever in the designer community. It also provides sophisticated CSS management and formatting with drag and drop features that will be exciting for designers.

Expression Web Designer helps you create and work with:

• Standards-based Web sites
• Sophisticated CSS-based layouts
• Extensive CSS formatting and management
• Rich data presentation
• Powerful ASP.NET 2.0-based technology

Sounds a bit of fusion between Frontpage and Visual web developer rite ? According to Abhishek this is the FRONTPAGE (one of my all time favorite Microsoft Products) Next Version.

Read the release annoucement at Somasegar's blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2006/05/15/597093.aspx 

There had been a lot of improvements from frontpage 95 to 2003 but this one gives u a whole new experience!

News Group: microsoft.public.expression.webdesigner

[Download the CTP]
 Size: 224MB

Just got “Writing Secure Code 2nd Edition” from Microsoft, i had been waiting to get my hands on, for a while now dint find time, Dint know microsoft has a few psychics on board else how wud they know…

The contests i participated in got me the book but not sure which one was it: Security Shootout or Security Webcasts Contest or someother... nyways, Thank you, Microsoft.

Almost Completed with the book and just started to hav fun! now that the content is stored safe up in the gray matter! ;) planning to add this to our MUGH library once am done, too kool a book to keep for myself… 

Finally got Vista! thanks abhishek ;), looking forward to do some bug busting soon… Got new hardware to hav a clean start! wud post my experience soon on my windows site : www.windowsworkshop.com keep chkin…

PLASTIC MOLD FIRM Apple, might be finding out that the problem with having a dual boot alongside Windows is that users can compare both operating systems better.

According to Penny Arcade, the introduction of Boot Camp makes it a lot easier to benchmark what the two operating systems can do.

One of its hacks installed Boot Camp onto his MacBook, installed Windows and then World of Warcraft. To test how the two operating systems compared he ran WoW at 1440 x 900 with all the graphic settings on maximum.

It was barely playable of course but he managed to get a frame rate reading of 15 and 20 FPS under Mac OSX.

On the same laptop under Windows and the same settings he managed to get between 35 and 40 FPS. This is a pretty big difference.

The reviewer said that he preferred using OS X, but it was a little difficult to justify when a game runs twice as fast under Windows

Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31121

Microsoft is set to deliver a broad-scale build of Vista to two million testers.

After five years of course changes, false starts and a host of beta and Community Technology Preview (CTP) builds, Microsoft is set to deliver a broad-scale build of Vista to two million testers. Microsoft is likely to drop the build – known by multiple names, including the consumer Vista CTP and Vista Beta 2 – as early as this week at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle, according to company watchers. (Around the same time, Microsoft also is likely to release Office 2007 Beta 2, the next major milestone of Microsoft's next-generation desktop suite, as well as Beta 2 of Longhorn Server.)

Via Sengupta.

There are loads of tools and services u can use to diagnose, optimize, enhance and moniter your website here are a few that i use not just becaz they are free but also as they are better than the most free and paid services out there!!!

Use these to make ur site/blog more featured, enhanced and kool!!!

Webstats: www.statcounter.com [ my favorite site counter & site stats service, tested tried so many and finally found this! has loads of options and features, been using it ever since more than a year now and there was nvr a single downtime. ]

Analytics: Google Analytics [ knw which pages are searched and seeked for on ur site improve on topics there is more traffic on optimize ur content and much more… ]

Site Alerts: Msn Alerts [ let ur users know on their mail mobile and messenger what or when ur site is updated. signup and receive alerts all u hav to do is give a signup link on ur site.]

Site Moniters: www.mon.itor.us , www.site24x7.com [ these actually give service thats equalent to paid services of many monitering services] www.vertain.com [ this one has speed tests and speed moniters too, helps in optimizing the site. (suggested by abhi) ]

Feeds: www.feedburner.com [mutate ur feed to a superfeed add features looks and more…]

Source: HTML Compress [ Any content of ur site html js vb you can use this tool to compress and load faster. (actually removes uneeded charector and line space) increase speed of loading decreases loadtime almost by 50% + a lot user friendly just point the directory of ur files it does the rest ]

Translations: Google, Babblefish.

Site Search: MSN (1), Google (blog) [your site needs to be indexed to use these] else use Freefind (bots search and index ur site immediately.)

The services and tools mentioned are suggested for Pro sites if u hav a personal site u can add more features like comments, guestbooks and many more…

[Constant Update Marked]

BANGALORE: Microsoft's India Development Center (MIDC) announced their involvement in an end-to-end project to develop 'Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile' - a unified communications client that provides information workers with a premier mobile collaboration experience through native integration of mobile applications with enterprise-grade, real-time communications tools.

Communicator Mobile will extend features of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Microsoft Office Communicator to the Windows Mobile 2003 SE and Windows Mobile 5.0 platform, both Pocket PC Edition and Smartphone, the company said in an official release. 

The development process included getting feedback from usage within Microsoft, Beta users outside Microsoft, and TAP (Technology Adoption Program) partners. The suggestions and feedback from user groups were incorporated into the product in the early stages of the development cycle, the release adds.

Recently unveiled during Steve Ballmer's keynote at 3GSM in Barcelona Spain and based on the user interface of the Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 desktop client, the client goes beyond simple voice services, incorporating connected communication modes such as more secure instant messaging (IM), presence awareness and integrated VoIP-telephony.

Commenting on the product being completely developed out of India, MIDC VP & MD Srini Koppulu said, "Our India Development Center plays an important role in contributing to future innovations at Microsoft and we are proud to be at the core of Microsoft's global development initiatives. The release of Communicator Mobile is an endorsement of Microsoft's mission to "innovate, energize, and support Microsoft investments for the mobile user experience."

Communicator Mobile client increases potential data revenue for mobile operators by driving demand for business-class devices with an enterprise-grade client, adding rich, real-time collaboration capabilities to mobile data networks, the company claimed in the statement.

Source: Microsoft Offers Office On the Go.

This is the first CSS font on the web! says, Stu Nicholls. Just hav a peep in the source code of this page ( http://www.cssplay.co.uk/menu/cssfont.html ), u will be very suprised!

Just digg-ed!

Title says it all! Also has URGE Free trial music service ( remember the music service addin in ur windows live messenger recently ) guess that fits the picture ;) lol!

URGE music service is a partnership with Microsoft and MTV Networks that would allow you sign-up and download music!!!

[ Download ] [ Looks ]

Microsoft has launched a Web site outlining the minimum hardware requirements for the next version of the Windows OS, Windows Vista. Apple hasn't announced its intentions for Vista and Boot Camp, but preliminary indications suggest that Intel-based Macs will make the cut.

This comes less than a week before the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle. At the show, which kicks off Tuesday, Microsoft and hardware manufacturers are expected to show how Vista will run on a variety of machines, as well as showcase add-on technology built to enhance the OS.

On the Microsoft “Get Ready” Web site, the company has outlined the requirements for running both low-end versions of Vista or higher-end versions that take advantage of the OS’s new Aero graphical user interface capabilities.

Microsoft differentiates the both as: calling the former a “Windows Vista Capable PC” and the latter a “Windows Vista Premium Ready PC.”

Hardware requirements for a Vista Capable PC are a modern processor with a speed of at least 800MHz, 512MB of system memory and a graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC has a good deal more requirements. It must have at least a 1GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1GB of system memory, 128MB of graphics memory, 40GB of hard drive capacity with 15GB free space, a DVD-ROM drive, audio output capabilities and Internet access capability.
It also needs a graphics processor that runs Windows Aero, which Microsoft defines as a DirectX 9 class graphics processor that supports a Windows Display Driver Model Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32 bits per pixel.The graphics processor for Aero also must meet the following requirements for graphics memory: 64MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor less than 1,310,720 pixels; 128MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions from 1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels; or 256MB of graphics memory to support a single monitor at resolutions higher than 2,304,000 pixels.

Windows Vista system requirements have become a matter of particular interest to Mac users since Apple released Boot Camp, a beta program that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Apple has yet to comment on its future plans for Boot Camp, but it’s widely assumed that the software will be updated to run Vista once Microsoft releases the new operating system — enterprising users have already gotten development versions of Vista working on the Mac.

The hardware specifications outlined by Microsoft are consistent with Apple’s Intel-based Macs, however. Both ATI and Intel, who manufacture the graphics systems used in the new Intel-based Macs, indicate that their graphics hardware is Windows Vista-compatible. A Mac with upgraded RAM also falls in line with Microsoft’s specifications for a Windows Vista Premium Ready PC. Visit Macworld’s Windows on the Mac: What you need to know for more details about Boot Camp.

Microsoft began working with hardware partners several months ago to prepare customers for Vista’s release. In April, PCs with stickers saying “Windows Vista Capable” became available in stores, letting customers know what hardware can be upgraded to Vista once it is available. Microsoft does not plan to do the same with the Windows Vista Premium Ready designation, recommending customers ask a retailer or manufacturer about PCs that meet those requirements.

On the Get Ready Web site, Microsoft stressed that purchasing a Windows Vista Capable PC does not mean customers will get discount vouchers for Windows Vista. They still must purchase an edition of the OS for full price when Vista is available.

In March, Microsoft said the consumer release of Vista would be delayed until January 2007, though business customers will have access through Microsoft volume licensing to the OS before the end of the year. Since Microsoft is missing the busy Christmas holiday shopping season with Vista’s general release — which had been an important target for selling the new OS — analysts are predicting that the company may release Vista even later than January.

Source: Peter Cohen

Microsoft India has unveiled an Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) for Windows XP Media Center PCs that will allow Indian users to control their television entertainment experience.

With EPG, viewers of TV through Media Center PCs can search live and scheduled TV programs on various channels up to 15 days.

EPG also lets users search for their favourite program, movie, or actor by entering keywords as also program their PCs to record or playback these shows at their convenience, thus making the very concept of prime time viewing redundant.

EPG, which could be accessed through a dial-up or cable Internet connection, is an on screen interactive guide to television programs that for the first time in India will allow viewers to navigate, select, discover, and record shows across more than 80 TV channels in the country, including 35 regional channels. Not only this, the guide also provides viewers with a short description on the program start time, duration, censorship classification, and genre. And to make the guide easier to scan, viewers can hide channels that are not included in their TV service package, or the ones that they do not watch regularly.

The service will be integrated into the Windows XP Media Center PCs, and will be available to users for free YES! FREE !!!.

Moreover, combined with the DVR (digital video recording) capabilities of Media Center, viewers will be able to search for and record a single program or an entire series, with just the press of a button. Users can even burn these recordings to create their own collection of favorites such as movies, television series, sports events etc.

According to sources, the Media Center PC combines the functionality of a PC, TV, radio, DVD player, and media player, and serves as a home entertainment hub. Microsoft was the first company to bring an integrated PC platform to the market, which also provided the ability to Pause Live TV. EPG adds to this functionality, by serving as an electronic search engine, which promises to make life simpler for everyone from an avid TV watcher to an occasional TV viewer.

Microsoft plans to begin an awareness campaign comprising advertising and other activities to build on this category.

Source: Techtree.

Until now, Pageflakes can be use as our very own personalized start page. like my yahoo or live.com, Now on you can also share your pages (with friends or colleagues) or publish them for everyone to see!

“ Put together a team page for your sports club with the latest
sport results, shared to-do lists and sport news feeds? Or how about an
easy way to share business contacts, manage group tasks and exchange
notes and ideas with your colleagues at work? ”

Just move your mouse over the tabs at the top of your page and select
'share page' or 'publish page'. The default setting is private - so as
long as you don't share or publish a page, only you can view it.

Kool features and more than 75 flakes to choose! developed by community, not enf ? develop ur own flake and use it even share it with the community!

chk out my page : www.flakes.tk