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Software

AOL Instant Messenger for Windows. 7.4.2.24 Beta 2

posted 24 Sep 2010 01:50 by avee sahadew

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) should be used because e-mail just isn't fast enough sometimes. This convenient, add-on to your system lets you communicate one-on-one or in a group with family, friends, and business associates who also use it. Finding people online can be easy too. Use the Member Directory to locate friends by name or by e-mail address.

Changelog:

The ability to search for buddies from the AIM user directory using "Find in Buddy List"
Updates to picture sharing, including the ability to Drag & Drop multiple pictures into the conversation window
And, as always, tons of fixes for issues you've reported including the "no sounds" bug

Download: AOL Instant Messenger for Windows 7.4.2.24 Beta 2 | 7.3 MB (Freeware)
View: AOL Beta Website

Google planning 60x faster Chrome 7 to hit back at IE9 beta

posted 24 Sep 2010 01:42 by avee sahadew

Unless you've been living under a rock then you may have heard that Microsoft recently released a public beta version of Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft officials showed off some impressive stats against their competitors, claiming the first and only browser to deliver full hardware acceleration of all HTML5 content. Being first is great but is being second more important?

Microsoft's bold claims are accurate but one has to remember the product is still in beta. Google on the other hand has a remarkable way of dishing out product updates with lightning speed. The web search giant is currently readying Chrome 7 which it claims will be 60 times faster than Chrome 6. 2D graphics performance and canvas acceleration is now available in trunk and canary builds of Chrome 7. "This system picks the best graphics API to use on each OS that Chromium supports: Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS and Linux", wrote James Robinson, Software Engineer at Google.

During our early tests at Neowin using Microsoft's Internet Explorer test drive site, IE9 still wins in canvas speed demos but Chrome 7 is greatly improved over previous versions. It's important to remember that Chrome 7 is still in the very early beta stage so this could change significantly before it's fully released. Google isn't the only other browser looking at hardware acceleration. The latest beta builds of Mozilla's Firefox also include hardware accelerated components for improved performance. It's not yet clear when Chrome 7 will be available in non-dev form but Robinson says it's coming. "With Google Chrome’s fast release cycles, we expect to be able to get these enhancements to users quickly and add new performance improvements over time."

Bing offers up search rewards to Internet Explorer users

posted 24 Sep 2010 01:40 by avee sahadew

Today, Bing announced an all new incentive to use the decision engine, by offering a cash reward to users who search. Bing Rewards is different from Bing Cashback, which was discontinued back in June.

Bing Rewards works by accumulating credits while you search using the Bing bar, and once you have earned enough credits, you can redeem your points for merchandise. Rewards include things like gift cards, electronics, music, games, Bing gear and more. You can see the Bing Rewards catalogue here. Bing Rewards will only ship within the 50 United States.

Bing Rewards is free to sign up, and users will receive 250 credits after registering. To get started, simply register for Bing Rewards, download the Bing Toolbar and login with your Windows Live ID. If you don't have a Windows Live ID, you can register for one here. The reward program only supports Internet Explorer 7 or higher on Windows XP SP2, Vista or Windows 7.

Users will be able to redeem their prizes at any time, and comes with free shipping for your items.

New Hotmail updates on the way; shipment tracking, Facebook chat and more

posted 24 Sep 2010 01:38 by avee sahadew

The Hotmail team was hard a work over the summer, releasing a major update to Windows Live Hotmail that included a new design, faster inbox and many other cool features. Even though the update was released two months ago, the Hotmail team announced some more exciting changes, something that might just blow the competition away.

Shipment Tracking
First up on the changes is shipment tracking within your email. Hotmail will automatically detect the shipping tracking number and provide real-time shipping information. Once the update rolls out, users will be able to track USPS and Fedex shipments right from inside their email, without having to visit the shippers website. DHL and UPS are also supported, but will provide links to the shipper's website for more detailed information.

Facebook Chat
Earlier this month, Neowin posted information that Facebook Chat will soon be coming to Windows Live Hotmail, and now the Hotmail team is ready to roll out this major update. Users can already chat with Facebook friends through Windows Live Essentials 2011 and Windows Live Messenger for the iPhone.

Microsoft also mentioned that they will be making the signout button more noticeable for users to see, based on feedback from some users.

Attachment Upgrade
Windows Live Hotmail became the first email provider to allow up to 10GB of photos in a single email, by creating a new album inside of SkyDrive and connecting it with your email. This allows friends and family to share high resolution photos with one another. Hotmail users share more than 1.5 billion photos a month on Hotmail, and with the ever increasing demand, the Hotmail team is increasing total filesizes to 25MB per email. You'll now be able to have larger attachments per email.

Dailymotion & Justin.tv
During the summer rollout, Hotmail announced you'll be able to watch Hulu and YouTube videos right inside of an email. The next update rollout will now support videos from Dailymotion and Justin.tv.

Subfolders
The new Hotmail update will allow you to create subfolders in your inbox, so you can put folders in your folders (yo dawg yo). A great new feature for people wanting to stay organized, but have a massive list of folders in their inbox, now you'll be able to separate your email using the Hotmail filters but keep a neat and tidy inbox.

Hotmail didn't give an estimated time for the release, only saying they would be rolling out the update immediately. The process may take a few weeks to reflect on everyone's account.

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