V3.7 improves the Messenger Web Toolkit by adding the following.

• Offline IM – Users can now IM offline contacts, just like they can in the Messenger desktop client.
• ASP.NET Ajax Library Integration – Starting in V3.7, the Messenger Web Toolkit UI Controls are built as ASP.NET Ajax Library (http://asp.net/ajaxlibrary/) controls.  This means you can add MWT Controls to your pages using standard declarative and programmatic methods of ASP.NET Ajax Library.
• Improved Application Contacts – We’ve improved application contact functionality to work better based on feedback we received in V3.5.  Application contacts defined on a page no longer are carried across to new pages.  This helps applications avoid hitting the 250 contact limit for application contacts.

Though its not supported for the latest Chrome 4 or Beta5 but it has added support for Firefox 3.6 and Chrome 3.

Links :

• Give it a try
• Documentation

It plays on the Storyline, revealing facets of the movie, situation in the plot and other interesting facts. It also contains behind-the-scenes photographs, giving moviegoers a unique chance to experience what happens on the sets.

From : Hindustaan Times

Before installing, please be sure to manually uninstall any existing version of Windows Live prior to version 11.1 and after install u must reboot the Windows phone.

Features:

• Windows Live Messenger
• Hotmail
• Photos
• What’s New

Astrill is a new virtual private network provider. Servers provided by Astrill are located in the United States and the United Kingdom. It changes your default IP address to UK or US based IP address.

While surfing with Astrill, your connection is encrypted thus protected from eavesdropping (even from your ISP). You can feel safe to use Wi-Fi on public places, because with Astrill all your information is protected. And it bypasses any kind of firewall or filtering.

Astrill is still in Private Beta and its trial version of 3 days is available for download. You may get a fully functional Private beta Invitation. We are able to get the 100 Invites exclusive for the readers of WinSpark.net. All you have to do is simply subscribe to us and write down the comment for the Beta request.

The Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems introduce BranchCache, which enables content from file and Web servers on a wide area network (WAN) to be cached on computers at a local branch office. It not only speeds up access to data and documents from Web and file servers by reducing web and file access over a WAN link, it frees up bandwidth over the WAN link for other uses.

BranchCach has two operating modes:

• Hosted Cache mode
• Distributed Cache mode.

Hosted Cache mode specifies a local server for caching content downloaded form a content server over the WAN. Caching occurs at the very first request from a user in a branch office. A user from the same branch office subsequently requests for the same content will establish a connection with and retrieve the cached content from the local Hosted Cache server. Host Cache mode is recommended for a branch with more than 50 clients and does require some form of infrastructure for caching and accessing the content in a local server.

Distributed Cache mode, on the other hand, is for a small branch without a local file server that can be used as a hosted cache server. This configuration caches content downloaded from a content server over the WAN at a user’s computer. Caching occurs at the very first request from a user in a branch office. A user from the same branch office subsequently requests for the same content will locate the cached content by broadcasting, and then retrieve the content from that user’s computer in the local area network. Peer-to-peer sharing is the basic idea. There is no central repository in the branch. There are no requirements for servers or services in the branch office beyond client computers running Windows 7.

This is how the BranchCache™ process works:

1. A Windows 7 client connects to the content server in the central office and requests a file (or file segment) exactly as it would if it were retrieving the file without using BranchCache™.
2. The content server authenticates and authorizes the client exactly as it would without BranchCache™. If successful, it returns content metadata over the same channel that data would normally have been sent. If this is the first time any client from the branch office network is requesting a file not already cached on the local network, the client retrieves the file directly from the content server.
3. In Distributed Cache mode, the client sends a request on the local network for the required file by using the Web Services Discovery (WS-Discovery) multicast protocol. The segment hashes provide a unit of discovery. This helps reduce the total number of lookups performed for a given piece of content (versus looking up each block). The client that previously cached the file sends the file to the requesting client. The data is encrypted using a key derived from the hashes sent by the content server, as part of the content metadata. The client decrypts the data, computes the hashes on the blocks received from the first client, and ensures that it is identical to the block hashes provided as part of the content metadata by the content server. This ensures that the content has not been modified.

While in Hosted Cache mode, the client uses the hashes in the metadata to search for the file in the Hosted Cache server. A key difference in Hosted Cache mode is that a client establishes an SSL connection with the Hosted Cache server, and it offers content identifiers over this encrypted channel. The Hosted Cache server connects to the client and retrieves the set of blocks that are not cached.

To implement BranchCache, client computers must be running Windows® 7, with the BranchCache feature enabled. Web servers and file servers must be running Windows Server 2008 R2, with the BranchCache feature enabled

Useful Links :

Download

• BranchCache Executive Overview (.doc)
• BranchCache Technical Overview (.doc)
• BranchCache Security Guide (.doc)

• BranchCache Deployment Guide
• BranchCache Migration Guide

Video guide

• Remote Connectivity in Windows 7 (Snack)
• Windows 7 Enterprise Demo of BranchCache

This series of Web seminars will lead you through common application development scenarios in Windows Mobile 6.5. From “hello world” to embedded databases, from sending a simple SMS messages to using the new touch-screen enabled Gesture APIs, these sessions will get you started developing custom applications for your Windows Mobile 6.5 device.

The series includes these videos:

• Getting Started with Application Development for Windows Mobile 6.5
• Using SQL Server Compact Edition with Windows Mobile 6.5
• Accessing Local Files with Windows Mobile 6.5
• Building a GPS-aware Application with Windows Mobile 6.5
• Building a Windows Mobile Application with Bing
• Basic Messaging with Windows Mobile 6.5
• Windows Mobile 6.5 Security Fundamentals
• Introducing the Gesture APIs in Windows Mobile 6.5

Checkout here : Building Apps for Windows Mobile 6.5

Project Natal was first announced at the E3 video games conference in June last year. It is the system allows users to play games controlled by body movements and speech rather than a handheld device.

Natal’s body gesturing system relies on cameras, sensors, microphones and software to understand voice commands and capture the motions of a player as they jump, kick or wave.

Mr Bach, President of Entertainment and Devices at Microsoft, said that – “With Project Natal we are allowing you to have the experience you want with technology that’s natural for you,” but they did not say how much Natal would cost or which countries it would launch in.

Links :

• E3 2009 Announcement
• Project natal Homepage

• Office Home and Student boxed product is available in a Family Pack, allowing usage on three PCs in one house
• Purchase rights for Office Home and Business, Office Professional, and Office Professional Academic boxed product allow for usage on two of your PCs.
• The Product Key Card is valid for a single installation of the product.

Product Key Card : For consumers who purchase a new PC, Microsoft is working with major PC manufacturers and our retail partners to make it simpler than ever to try and buy Office 2010.

Through our retail partners, Microsoft is introducing an all-new Product Key Card to help consumers more easily access and experience Office 2010 on new PCs that have been pre-loaded with Office 2010. The Product Key Card is a single license card (with no DVD media) that will be sold at major electronic retail outlets.

Or click here to download a more detailed guide to each edition.

* Office Professional Academic 2010 is available through authorized academic resellers only.

• People can share files with you on a homegroup using your online ID instead of having to create a Windows user account for you on their computer.
• You can use your online ID to access your information on other computers on a network, such as accessing files on a home computer from your work computer.

Follow the Procedure to link Online IDs

1. Open User accounts from Control panel.
2. Click Link online IDs from Left Menu.
3. Next to the online ID provider that you want to link your user account with, click Link Online ID.




4. Type your user name and password for the online ID, click Sign in, and then click OK.

Just send a link, and in one click everyone you invite will be watching a synchronized view of your slide show in their browser, even if they don’t have PowerPoint 2010 installed.

To broadcast your slides to an audience, follow the directions below.

Step 1 : If you don’t have PowerPoint 2010 installed, download the Office 2010 today.

Step 2 : To start a broadcast from PowerPoint 2010, on the Slide Show tab, click Broadcast Slide Show.

U will get the Broadcast window just like the example below.

Step 3 : Click on Start Broadcast (It will connect to the PowerPoint Broadcast service)

After that the Sign in box will appear. Sign in with your Windows Live ID. (If you use Hotmail, Live Messenger, or Xbox LIVE.

PowerPoint will provide a public link that you can send to remote attendees. Anyone who receives a link to the broadcast may watch it.  Keep in mind that if an attendee forwards the link to someone else, that person can also use the link to view your broadcast.

You can invite more attendees with send Invite button.

To view a broadcast, just open the Broadcast link (All you need is the latest version of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari for Mac.)