Items tagged with MSN
It is hard to believe that it has been almost two years since Microsoft had announced that it was replacing MSN Messenger with Skype. When the announcement was made, many expected it to be integrated with Skype. But instead, it has continued on since then, though the service was mostly kept alive in China. However, Microsoft has finally announced that it is pulling the plug on MSN Messenger on October 31. Until then, those who visit its official site to download the instant messaging software will be greeted with a message that the service is shutting off and that users should download Skype. Anyone still using MSN Messenger will have their contacts automatically moved to Skype. MSN Messenger...
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So long, old friend. Very old friend, actually. It takes a certain generation to truly remember the advent of WebTV and MSN TV -- both were services of an era that existed before laptops and media streamers were out in full force. The concept was to bring the Internet to the Television, and in many ways, we're still seeing that dream lived out. There's Google TV, a variety of Smart TVs, Apple TV -- you name it, and companies are trying to figure out ideal ways to add the web to your living room experience. MSN TV was one of those options, but it never truly took off. That's actually a familiar refrain, as is the closing of such services. Microsoft has quietly announced over the weekend that MSN...
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Ever wondered what a modern, interactive map of the Internet would look like? Here's your chance to find out. The appropriately (if somewhat unimaginatively) named Internet Map site has drawn the top 350,000 websites in relation to each other, with sites grouped according to cross-link strength and topic. Sites are color-coded by region; Russia is the top red segment, China is the yellow section at the bottom-left, Japan is purple, and North America is the giant splotch of blue in the center. Clusters of websites within the map are grouped semantically; the author notes that "a vast porno cluster can be seen between Brazil and Japan as well as a host of minor clusters uniting websites of the...
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As though we need still another reason to hate DRM, here comes one. Remember the now-defunct MSN Music store? Hopefully you weren't one of the few to use it.Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft's now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never anticipated making: commit to which computers (and OS) they want to authorize forever, or give up access to the music they paid for. Why? Because Microsoft has decided that it's done supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of this summer.MSN Entertainment and Video Services general manager Rob Bennett sent out an e-mail this afternoon to customers, advising them to...
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MSNBC has joined the ranks of social networking sites such as Reddit and Digg as it has acquired Newsvine.MSNBC Interactive News LLC said it acquired Newsvine Inc., a small Seattle startup that lets visitors read and comment on news stories from mainstream media outlets.MSNBC, which is jointly owned by Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal, did not disclose financial terms of the deal late Sunday. NBC Universal is a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi SA. Surprisingly, this is the first acquisition by MSNBC Interactive in its 11-year history. Newsvine will continue to operate independently, though it may expand its operations from its current six employees to 10 - 15....
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Perhaps it was inevitable that a big news agency would eventually get taken in by a fake blog, but who would have thought it’d be from a faux Al Sharpton?Further, who would have that the blog would have been found on Blog Groper, a site full of fake celebrity blogs that even includes the recent “Steve Jobs” blogger who made tech headlines less than a month ago. “Now, however, it looks like News Groper may have had its big break--MSNBC reporter Alex Johnson mistook one of its blogs for real, and quoted it in an article. A soundbite from News Groper's Al Sharpton blog originally appeared in Johnson's story about African American leaders' reactions to the Michael Vick dogfighting case.” At least...
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You would think that Microsoft's online music download service would be fully compatible with their upcoming Zune music player, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. The Plays For Sure initiative was developed to ensure compatibility between various music downloading services, and music playing devices, and MSN Music is fully compatible with Plays For Sure. The problem is that Microsoft Zune is not compatible with the current Plays For Sure format. Microsoft has also announced they will be ending their MSN Music service on Novemeber 14th, the day Zune will be released. "The spokesperson continued: "We will not...
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