Mister T: Announcements

Talking about When you speak, we listen. New features launched today!

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:49:19 GMT

So, we've just realized our latest set of features and updates. I hope you enjoy playing with the site. Please let me know your space, so I can visit and sign your guestbook :)

The areas I've been working on in this release are related to the brand new developer platform. This platform will appeal to different types of developers. I'm going to be posting in detail about this shortly, but here is a preview of what our platform will be offering:

1) Brand new RSS feeds.

2) A suite of HTTP url-based intentional APIs.

3) Gadget improvements.

4) Metaweblog API

We're taking a very serious look at making Spaces extremely developer-friendly and accessible to a variety of programming applications. Please bookmark our Spaces and http://dev.live.com/Spaces. We'll be adding plenty of documentation and discussion as we get the platform working for you.

Thomas

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When you speak, we listen. New features launched today!

Thanks to everyone who has sent us feedback over the last few months. We’ve heard what you’ve been asking for with Spaces, and we’ve been working hard to create new features, which we hope you enjoy.
There are a lot of features here, so sit back, take a read, and then go try them out. Next week we’ll be posting more about each feature – one per day – so stay tuned for more. Sign up to get alerts when there’s a new Space Craft post.
Also, please keep the feedback coming— both in the comments on the Space Craft as well as through the Spaces Feedback form. We care about what you want, and we’re listening!
— Chris
Product Manager, Windows Live Spaces

New in Spaces:
Communication
There are brand new ways to communicate with your friends, as well as with new people that you’d like to meet.
Your new Spaces home page
Now when you log in, you’ll see a new page dedicated to keeping you up-to-date on changes to your space and what’s new with your Windows Live Messenger contacts. In one glance you’ll see who has updated their space and who has added comments to your space. Roll over their picture to see who’s updated their photos, who’s posted a blog entry, and who’s added new lists.

Messaging
Keep in touch with your Spaces friends and meet other people on Spaces by sending them messages. Just put your cursor over their profile picture and you’ll see a “Send a message” link.   You can also use the link in the Visitor tools module on a person’s space.


Guestbook
Add the guestbook module and people visiting your space can leave comments with rich formatting, including images and video. Add the guestbook to your space by clicking here.

Customization
There are many new customization options for Spaces, so you can better control how your space looks.
Custom background image
Now you can upload whatever picture you want from your computer and use it as the background of your space. Upload your image in the Customize menu under the Advanced tab.

Additional colors and themes
There are now more themes to choose from and an easy-to-use color picker. You can also change the fonts!

Gadgets and Modules
With the changes we’ve made to gadgets and modules, now you can customize them to create the layout and design you want for your space.
Size and style
Most gadgets and modules can span the full width of a column, and you can now remove their borders or change their titles to whatever you want by clicking on the arrow in the right hand corner of the gadget or module when you are in Edit mode.

Other cool stuff
You can have multiple modules at the top or bottom of your space that span all of the columns – perfect for your space title and tagline. You can also have more than one version of the same gadget on your space. And if you’re on someone else’s space and see a module you like, you can add it to your space by clicking the “+” sign in the upper-right corner of the module.
Check out and install some spaces gadgets today from the Windows Live Gallery.

Photos
With over 18 million photos uploaded by Spaces users every day, we know that improving the experience of managing photos is important to you, so we added a few new features.
Managing your photos
There’s a brand new page for viewing and editing albums on your space.

Viewing photos
There’s a new layout for the individual photo pages so it’s faster and easier to view your photos and see all of your comments at a glance.

Mobile
There’s been a dramatic increase in Spaces mobile usage over the past few months, and we wanted to provide great mobile interaction with Spaces. Here’s what’s new:

See at a glance the recent updates and comments on your space
Add, delete, view, and browse your friends
View profile information

Interested in learning more about mobile features for Spaces? Read this Space Craft blog entry

Lists
Lists are now easier to use – and they look even better.
Music lists
Now you can show specific music lists on your spaces home page as well as see multiple results when searching for music on Amazon to create your list.

Book lists
Same as with music! Search for the book and add the information and picture from Amazon.com to your list.
Looks better in narrow view
We’ve make some improvements to make your lists look better when in narrow columns on your space.

APIs and Feeds
We wanted to give you the ability to access your Spaces information from a variety of locations and services, so we added new RSS feeds and opened up our APIs to allow you more freedom. Go crazy with your Spaces data!   Visit: http://dev.live.com/spaces over the next few days for more information. Note: Only spaces with permissions set to “public” can use RSS feeds and APIs.

Profile Updates
There are some new, cool additions to profiles.
Enhanced contact updates preview
When you see a profile picture on Spaces, just put your cursor over the picture and you can see a lot more information about the person than ever before.

Have fun using the new features! We’re looking forward to seeing what you do with your space.   And if you got this far, leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Spaces, Spaces, Microsoft, Social Networking, New Release

More gadgets available.

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:38:27 GMT

Hangman (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=6d02ccea-65e8-4d0d-b0f9-60ee289b4100&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=5)

Well, I don't really have to explain this one, do I?

Mortgage rates watch (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=c6c50609-e4d2-4c07-9051-75d581c50eac&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=6)

This one looks interesting, if you're investing or just interested in real-estate.

Rock Paper & Scissors (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=0a004918-6784-4f12-b89d-950b0ab9d3ea&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=7)

If you never had a chance to learn this when your age was still in single digits, here's good opportunity for catch-up.

Pong (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=f20b08a0-6e6f-415e-9e56-43bb1cd1fe63&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=8)

This is one of the more promising ones, but it kinda cheats, because it's loading a Flash player :) Nonetheless, it's fun. I wasn't sure if there was a resizing problem when using this gagdet; if you see problems, provide feedback on the gadget's home page in the Live Gallery.

Live Noid (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=82beff12-f479-463b-a6c6-b79e6472bb72&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=10)

This looks really promising. I haven't tried it yet.

TrackWord (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=6d41b226-be71-4bf1-95cf-1181c73b7d56&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=10)

A letter game. Reminds me of Boggle.

GMT Clock (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=8af7eb96-971f-4d14-90bc-2fed6ce92a45&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=10)

The clock; the lifeblood of almost every desktop I've seen. Here's a chance to stick one on your Space.

Gas Prices (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=6f77c7b3-3d88-4f69-9207-8699d6673509&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=12)

Needless to say, I LOVE this one!

Technorati Search Gadget (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=f9c0d676-c537-4a06-9463-99bca82ae434&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=14)

The ubiquitous Technorati Search engine at your Space.

Apartment, Condo Finder (http://gallery.live.com/liveitemdetail.aspx?li=353f1696-368e-47c0-9be7-e91cb6b3f8fb&l=1&subtype_filter=0&date_filter=0&sort_by_filter=1&c=0&view_style=full&page=16)

If you use your Space as a flyer portal, here's your dynamic Apartment bulletin. Very handy for freshmen, new hires in companies, etc.

IE 7 pre-release version out.

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 02:27:52 GMT

For those of you not already aware, Internet Explorer's next version is 7, and a version very close to the final gold is available for you to install in Microsoft's Web Site. Check it out at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/.

My favorite reasons to use IE7 are its advanced printing features and tabs. RSS support and Phishing detection are the other big stories from IE7.

Give it a shot, and let me know what you think. Unlike Spaces, this is not one of my creations, but I'll be happy to communicate any serious feedback to the team :-)

Check out your stats.

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:50:00 GMT

The stats page is back from a well-deserved vacation. Check it out, and report back if you see any funky behavior.

Windows Live Spaces - finally here!

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 01:39:05 GMT

Phew - we're done - and present to you our new and shiny Windows Live Spaces! Thanks for your patient wait. For those of you who want to know about this release, check out the Spacecraft post below. We have a social network, a gadget framework, a brand spanking new UI, many bug fixes, performance improvements at both the client and server, and much more. Everyone in Spaces is excited about helping you take full advantage of the new powerful tools in this release. Enjoy! And keep your feedback coming, either via the feedback link below, or via blog comments. The usual. You know the drill.

We just released, so bear with us a bit, as the site tries to settle down and the performance quirks are ironed out. I'll be talking more about the features later - for now, explore and enjoy.

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Windows Live Spaces - It’s Here!

Hey Spaces Fans!

We’re thrilled to announce that Windows Live Spaces has just released and we hope you’re loving it! We’ve talked about some of the cool new features of Windows Live Spaces, but if you’re not sure where to start, here are a couple of tips:

1. Set-up your friends list. Simply add the new Friends Module to your space, or click here to automatically add it to your space, and start inviting your friends. Once your friends accept your invitation, they will appear to visitors of your space. You can also explore your contacts’ friends (and their friends too) directly from Windows Live Messenger. Simply click on your contact’s Messenger icon to view their contact card, and then click on the “View this contact’s Friends list” icon on the bottom right hand corner of the contact card. This will launch the cool new Friends Explorer feature that will allow you to easily navigate through lists of friends.

2. Add gadgets. Jazz up your space by adding cool new gadgets. All you need to do is click on the “Customize” link in your Space when you are in the editor mode, and then click on the link titled “Add gadgets from Windows Live Gallery” to be taken to the Windows Live Gallery where you can select gadgets you want to add to your space. Check out the “Updated Spaces” gadget we just added to The Spacecraft! You can add this gadget automatically to your space too by simply clicking here.

You will also notice that we heard your feedback on photo navigation features and have brought back the filmstrip as a result!

To find out more of the cool new features of Windows Live Spaces, check out http://discoverspaces.live.com/. You can also check out spaces guru Mike Torres’ video, where he demos how easy it is to use the new Windows Live Spaces here.

Have fun and let us know what you think of the new Windows Live Spaces!

The Spaces Team

Good news: Served sometime next week.

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:52:09 GMT

As you know, sometime next week, changes will be happening. I warned you about the URL changes. If you think of that as the bad news, here is the good news.

We're going to give you some really awesome things to put in your space. Here is just a partial list. I'm not going to reveal everything, because it's more fun for you to figure the rest out.

Gadgets. Have you seen the module about weather and the horoscope? Well, that module is actually called a Gadget. Why, you might ask. Well, it's not like the other modules in Spaces - it's actually a little program that sits right on your Space and figures out how to show you the weather, or your daily reading or whatever. Think of gadgets as smart modules that don't stay still. They do things constantly. Today, you could only add a few of these to your space; in our next release, you can add gadgets that you write yourself, or someone gave you. Spaces will be able to host virtually any gadget you want. Think of a stock gadget, or a map gadget that you fancied. If you don't know how to write a gadget and want to learn, I'll write a post later about how to get started. In the meantime, look at some gadgets already out there, at the Windows Live Gadget gallery.
Social Network. How do you link your space to your friends' Spaces today? It's a bit hard, isn't it? You pretty much have to create a list and add each one to your list. Wouldn't it be better to have a picture of each of your friends so that you can click and go to their Space? You could then see their group of friends, and click there, and so on. Even better, you could go really far away, to someone you didn't know, but liked to meet, and ask them to be your friend, just with a single mouse click. Well, that's the beginning of the Windows Live Social Network. Stay tuned. It's hot. Within a month, I expect to see many of you to have huge friends networks. I can just see it happening, by looking at how popular your spaces are today.
Pretty. Our UI is going to look really pretty, and will be easier to use for many people around the world, especially those who are sight-impaired and those who have other special needs at the computer. This means that your Space is going to look even better than it does today. Looks are usually a subjective thing, but the new look gives you more options than today's look.

A final reminder about the URLs - they're going to move under your feet. Make sure to use the new URL scheme, because that's the quickest way to show your space.

Let me know if you have any questions. And get a good rest this weekend, because you'll be very busy next week at your Space :)