Windows Live Messenger Beta 9

Windows Live Messenger Beta 9 was released on microsoft's beta page about a year ago, and has since been removed. I still have the exe file that installed it, and here are the mirrors:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6fxwv0myxpn
http://rapidshare.com/files/82128205/install678.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/82128136/install45.zip
enjoy!

Btw: although there are MANY MANY new and cool features (shown below) I have had trouble using the video chat feature, so be careful.

Windows Live Messenger 9 Beta Features


* Multiple Points Of Presence Suport - Now you can sign into Messenger v9 from several different locations and remain signed in, In v8.5 and under, signing in at a new pc will sign you out anywhere else.
* Signature sounds - Make sound signatures instead of just graphical ones
* Per contact sounds - chose a sound to associate with each of your contacts’ actions
* Animated Display Pictures - now you can use animated .gif files as your display picture
* Links in Status Message - Links in the status message are now clickable
* SPIM reporting - report and block users who spam you via IM.


Disclaimer: Windows Live Messenger 9 Beta Features mentioned in this post are just for the purpose of information and awareness and may or may not be present in the actual version of Windows Live Messenger 9 Beta.

IE8 Beta 2 Released

According to AeroXperience, Internet Explorer Beta 2 has just been released internally, it is available publicly, but it is not on the IE8Blog or on Microsoft's IE8 Beta page (beta 1 is still there).
If you have windows vista or windows server 2008 then please follow this link to download it:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6ef71415-646f-4279-8b6b-193435ab2d80&DisplayLang=en
if you have any other version then please visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/browse.aspx?DisplayLang=en&nr=20&productId=FED6228C-C43B-4086-BF09-2986B9CE4610&sortCriteria=date#

Enjoy!

iPhone OS 2.1 Beta 1

Thats right, the iPhoneOS 2.1 Beta has been released to members of the apple developer program (the 100 dollar or 300 dollar only... not the free one).
There arent any pictures yet, or really information at all... but I heard they may include copy and paste into the SDK.

Internet Explorer 8 beta 1

It's here! Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. It has new features such as WebSlices, and Activities. The activities are interesting, but I havent had a great opporitunity to use them yet. I cant quite figure out how to use webslices at all. A new cool feature I just found was a change in the manage add-ons page. It looks like this:
http://i25.tinypic.com/10xeeet.jpg
Cool huh?
Not really... I've found that the new beta has issues displaying sites correctly, even though it passed the acid2 test (The acid2 test is a smiley face that determines how good your browser is). On the page im cuurrently on, posting this blog, The publish and save as buttons are half there, and half gone. The title bar text is about 4 screens down and 2 to the left....
The features are cool, but not cool enough for an upgrade from ie7. I'd recommend waiting until ie8 beta 2 comes out, and then upgrading. If not then, then get the release contidate (RC1). Itll be solid.

Windows XP Service Pack 3

Windows XP SP3 is the next and final update to Windows XP. Microsoft is halting all support for the old operating system and switching everything over to Vista and Server 2008 as soon as Mid-2009. This update fixes some bugs, and adds some new vista features to XP. Yahoo says it adds Windows Readyboost technology... but strangely the Yahoo Tech page has been deleted...
Please remember, if you install this you will then have to uninstall it prior to accepting the update from windows update.
Download RC2 (Release Cantidate 2)

Windows Vista SP1

Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) is the next update to microsoft's Windows Vista Operating System. This update "addresses reliability and performance issues, and provides support for new hardware and several emerging standards" (Microsoft)
The update is currently only available to Technet and MSDN Subscribers, but it will be available as a free download from windows update in "mid-March".
I used the beta of the service pack in December and I thought it was well worth it. Of course, this time around I wont have a branding on my wallpaper.

AOL Instant Messenger 6.8

This Beta is the newest version of AIM. It works great, and looks the part. Honestly however, I havent used an AIM client since 6.1 came out (ive been using trillian astra up til now) so I dont really know the changes from teh previous versions. So cool features I found are the color changer, multi account interface, Quick Invisible and Away Buttons, and AIM Tunes. You can download this from AOL here