Upgrade to MSN mail / Hotmail 2.0

I logged into my msn account last night and noticed some pretty neat changes. They are going 2.0. They are jumping on the 2.0 wagon so hold on! Wait are you shocked that I have an msn account? Don’t be it was from back in the day when I thought SEO stood for “Sweet Electric Oreo”. Dont worry I do have a gmail account. Funny thing is I like my msn account better. Here are few screenshots.

Cool rounded images!

More fun!

They have some great new color scheme and of course I go with black. What it is slimming.

MSN Soap Box Beta Out!

I received this email yesterday:

The wait is over… You can now join the Soapbox on MSN Video beta!

Click here to join the Soapbox beta!
(After clicking you’ll need to sign in with your existing Passport / Windows Live(TM) ID or you can create one.)

Soapbox is a new service from MSN that lets you easily publish, watch and share videos with your friends, family and the world. With Soapbox, you can:

Publish video from any major digital video format (AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, MPEG 1/2/4, 3GPP, DV, H.263, H.264)
Watch entertaining and original videos uploaded by others
Do everything–search, browse, share, even upload video–all without interrupting the video you’re watching
Tag any video on the site to categorize it as you see fit
Embed videos in your blog or e-mail your friends links to your favorite videos
Set up customized RSS feeds by user, category, or tag to automatically get notified about new videos you’re interested in
And lots more…
Join Soapbox. Make your statement. Give us your feedback .

Thanks,
The Soapbox Team

Having problems signing up or want more information? See our help page.

I find a bit funny that they have released this after the big Google and YouTube Purchase. A lot of hype over it, but only in due time will we find out if it was worth the 1.65 Billion clams.

So, of course I checked it out what Microsoft had to offer in the arena of video. Overall, I thought it was ok. It did not WOW me nor did it have me puking on my keyboard. I personally do not like flash driven system, they seem a bit shaky when it comes to navigation.
Personally I do not think this will take off at all or even be somewhat successful as Google video. But you know Microsoft they always are trying to compete because they have a huge checkbook. I am sure Soap Box will find its niche user that really like it. You can count me out on this one.
Here is a screen shot of the main navigation: (Nothing too impressive)

Here is a screen shot of the player: ( I do like the tabs) I found it funny that on the main page they had a movie of Bill Gate is some comedy parody.

Overall, I might check Soap Box out a few more time to see if they have made any changes. Alright well back to doctor office where I make billion of dollars.

Live.com In Gmail?

I was checking my gmail account today and noticed something interesting. An advertisement for window live. Click below:

As you can see it reads “Search any web page with powerful protection …….” I check my gmail 5 times or more a day and this is the first time have noticed this. Must be a big push for msn with the launch of live.com today. Ahhh good old MSN and Bill Gates. What a new search engine is out??!!? o wait that is just msn.com search rebranded!

Update: vlad7 over at digital point forum said that the ad was from the email I received.

Still interesting to see that they are sending advertisements within people’s emails.