David Gallagher at the New York Times had to do some rumour control when a reader wrote accusing Microsoft of prohibiting the word “Tibet” in Hotmail addresses to appease the Chinese government. No “freetibet@hotmail.com”, no “tibetsmellsofwetmonks@hotmail.com”, no “ilovetibet@hotmail.com.” Is this another Chinese-Microsoft evil conspiracy? While there are some of those going on between China and companies like Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo, this is not the case.
Games For Windows LIVE, the PC equivalent of Xbox Live, has now gone free. As of now, you won’t have to subscribe to a Games For Windows LIVE Gold Account (US$49 a year) in order to get the PC to PC or PC to Xbox 360 multiplayer action. Great news for PC owners, but we hope that Microsoft will refund the cash for people who still have a few months left on their account. [Games For Windows via Gamerscore Blog]
Here’s an interesting fact about Microsoft Points–the fake currency used in the Xbox 360 and Zune Marketplaces–that we just learned yesterday: points expire. If you’ve got promotional, contest, or giveaway points from Microsoft for doing something or other, you should check out their billing site. These actually expire after a given time. The good news is that points you buy normally don’t expire, and would be completely ridiculous otherwise. Just keep an eye on your stuff. [Unscripted360]
If you play in the Windows Live sandbox (Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts and Spaces) and use a Nokia S60 phone, your life just got easier. Available today in a whole buncha places it wasn’t before, the Windows Live app for S60 syncs your Live contacts and Hotmail account with the phone’s address book and mail client (not push though), and lets you do pretty much all the regular Messenger stuff from your phone, like send pictures or files. And it’s all intemagrated. If you wind up installing, let us know how it goes. [Windows Live]
Microsoft is testing a new bundle of fun codenamed “Albany” which rolls Office Home and Student, Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workspace and some other Live services into a package that you’ll pay a monthly fee for. It’s this kind of thing, turning software into services you have to keep paying for and never actually own, that makes reports of Windows 7′s modularity kinda scary. Here’s what “Albany” will ask you to pony up for every month in real-world terms.
Microsoft’s Live Maps is adding Clearflow, a system in 72 cities that takes four years of real-world traffic data and uses it to interpolate what traffic is going to be like “today”. The project started with traffic algorithms from GPS units in Microsoft employees’ cars, and now has “over 125,000″ miles worth of info. This traffic data should be free and available on Live.com for you to plan out your next trip to Albertsons. It’s not quite as good as Dash, but it beats going in blind. [NYT via Slashdot via JKOntheRun via Lifehacker]
Ever since I gave up my chains in 2005 because they were an insult to God, I’ve been trying to find a suitable replacement. Since T likes computers as much as he likes wearing gold, T thinks this INFO Live bracelet is just the thing to keep him connected and fashionable at the same time. Not only is it wireless, it can hook up to your printer, your TV, your computer and your camera and control each one with gestures. What? What do you mean it’s not real. Mr. T doesn’t like to be fooled, sucka. Mr. T has a forecast for you, and it’s an 80% chance of pain. [NextGenDesignComp via TechPin via Uber Review]
The apparently incombustible Meizu CEO, Jack Wong, has just announced that they are going to add Live Messenger to their M8 mobile phone, the rather pathetic and sad motherboard that wants to be an iPhone clone when it grows up (if it ever gets released). In other words: new vapourware announced for vapourware. The usual cynics are probably asking themselves “why should I care about this crap?” Which is exactly what we are asking ourselves right now. [Meizume—thanks Heartwork]
Gizmodo’s no-lifecam is online again, I’m filming some iPhone stuff live. [iPhone SF Campout Live Video]
