Microsoft and Nokia have joined forces to provide customers with Windows Live Services which has been specifically designed for Nokia devices. The services will be compatible with the S60 devices and will be available to users in 11 countries which are - Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, U.K., Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The services include Windows Live Hotmail , Windows Live Messenger , Windows Live Contacts and Windows Live Spaces.

To use this service users will have to download a suite which will give them access to these services. Nokia customers who own Nokia N73, N80 Internet Edition, N95, N76 and the N93i can get the Windows Live services via the Download application in 11 countries. By next year, the services will also be available to compatible Series 40 handsets . Inittially the services will be available as a free trial and then users who want to use the service will be asked to pay a monthly service.

Through this collaboration Microsoft definitely aims to get mobile consumers to use there Windows Live Services which can be accessible almost anywhere . I hope this service was offered in India too . Lets see how google will respond to this.

As a gamer , i am very fond of gaming accessories including gaming mouse , gamepads , wheels etc. Microsoft Sidewinder series , which was first launched in 1995 is well known for its cool PC gaming peripherals which includes gamepads , joysticks and wheels . On Wednesday , Microsoft launched the first gaming mouse of its Sidewinder series , a very innovative product that transforms the mouse into a cool gaming system.

It has got a design which facilitates perfect handling along with tuning tools , a one touch access to Windows Vista games explorer , a first ever LCD on a gaming mouse and hosts of other features.Lets take a look at the features in details -> Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft is soon going to increase the storage limit of there hotmail service to 5 Gb from a previous one of 2 gb. The move will not take place immediately but slowly among all the users. Currently Google is offering nearly 3 Gb but they have announced that users can increse it upto 9 Gb by paying a small account , Yahoo is offering Unlimited storage.

There are also going to be some performance enhancements in Hotmail and it is also going to become faster shortly. We will also see a new “report phishing” button in email and a chance to merge duplicate contacts in address book. An option will also be there to allow to users to go directly to inbox thus avoiding the extra advertising content.

I was a big fan of Hotmail in the older days . I opened my first email account with hotmail in around 1999 and it is still active today . But most of the time i use Gmail as i find it both fast and easy to use. Lets see if such moves can make users shift towards hotmail ? what do you guys think ?

Microsoft recently announced that it has renamed its Windows Live Folders as Windows Live Skydrive. Apart from the name change , there are also some new features along with an enhanced User Interface.

For those who are not familiar , Windows Live Skydrive is a Windows Live Service that gives each user a 500MB space on the internet to store there documents and files which can be shared with others. It is simple like a Personal briefcase on the internet. You are given several protected directories which can be used to store your files. These protected directories are hidden from public and are for your personal use. There is also an option to create a shared folder which you can share with your friends and contacts or with general public. You can also specify people on your Windows Live contact list who will be able to view the folders. You can also specify permissions to people viewing the directory, the “reader” level allows people to view the files while a “contributor” level allows people to add or remove files in your shared folders.

I only started using it from yesterday but by looking at the interface and the features , it seems like a good way to share your documents with others or it is like having your personal documents available anywhere.

For those of you who have always wanted to visit New York but couldnt actually make it , Microsoft has the solution to it . Microsoft has launched there “Live Search maps 3-D” feature starting with New York and a few other cities.

Microsoft^® Live Search Maps will today begin offering three-dimensional, photo-realistic views of New York City buildings and landscapes, with perspectives that few people — apart from Superman — have ever seen. The free online service will provide a unique look at many of New York’s iconic locations, along with local listings, ratings and reviews and driving directions to help people easily find, discover, plan and share relevant location information that is important to them on the Web.

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Google also launched a new feature for Google Maps - Street View which will give you a street view of some of the cities . Now both of these announcements came at the same day from Google and Microsoft because it is all part of the O’ Reilly Where 2.0 Conference .

Come 2008 and you wont see Windows XP in the market. According to the windows life cycle policy web page, Microsoft will discontinue selling its Windows XP operating system by January 31 , 2008 despite its popularity to focus on marketing for its new Vista OS which has not received such a huge response since its launch .

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