Darren Straight's Blog

ICT Enthusiast and photographer.

By - Darren Straight

Download New Microsoft Silverlight DreamScene

According to Brandon LeBlanc who is now posting at the new Windows Vista Experience blog over at Microsoft’s official Windows Vista blog. The Microsoft Sliverlight team have put together a Microsoft Silverlight DreamScene called “Dusk” which they are releasing at MIX07 this week, in both standard 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 aspect ratios. And though I have yet to see the offcial download links go up on the Microsoft Silverlight Homepage,  Brandon

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Maps/Virtual Earth New Imagery April 2007

The Windows Live Maps Team have recently announced new and improved aerial /Birds Eye imagery footage in many areas around the globe as well as seven new and updated 3D cities. Here is a list of the cities with new or enhanced coverage. Italy – Aerial and Birds eye coverage was already very good here. 73 new cities now have 15cm resolution aerial coverage

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live

Microsoft has today announced a new collaboration service between Silverlight (previously named WPF/E) and Windows Live called “Microsoft Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live”. Microsoft® Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live is a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications. The service offers web designers and developers

By - Darren Straight

Improving E-mail Deliverability into Windows Live Hotmail

Looks like Microsoft’s document recently titled “Improving E-mail Deliverability into MSN Hotmail and Windows Live Mail” has been updated to reflect some of the recent changes within Windows Live Hotmail, the document now titled “Improving E-mail Deliverability into Windows Live Hotmail” can be located here. The document serves to provide an overview of the services, resources and best practices that marketers

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Hotmail Unsubscribe Function gets tweaked

Microsoft has recently made a small adjustment to its Windows Live Hotmail unsubscribe function that should mean good things for marketers. Microsoft last August answered e-mail marketers’ calls to include an unsubscribe button in its interface so consumers will be less likely to mistakenly report permission-based commercial e-mail as spam. The unsubscribe link appears in place of the report-and-delete button

By - Darren Straight

Spinal Tap to Reunite for Live Earth Concert

Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming. The mock heavy metal group immortalized in the 1984 mockumentary, “This Is Spinal Tap,” will reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7. The original members of Spinal Tap

By - Darren Straight

Google surpasses Microsoft as world’s most-visited site

Just heard from SFGate and Search Engine Land that Google the Mountain View search engine has outstripped Microsoft on two fronts, by becoming both the most visited Web site and the most valuable global brand. For the first time, Google has edged ahead of Microsoft as the world’s most visited Internet property. Online measurement firm comScore Networks found that Google had

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Search Executive Dane Glasgow Leaving!

Dane Glasgow, general manager for Windows Live Search, is leaving the company to work for various nonprofits and spend more time with his family, according to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. Only last month did, Christopher Payne, VP of Windows Live Search, leave to start his own company. He was replaced by Satya Nadella, who had been heading the Microsoft Dynamics team

By - Darren Straight

Windows Live Product Search: More Images, More Relevant!

The Windows Live Product Search Team has just released changes to Windows Live Product Search that boost customer-perceived relevance by increasing the number of query results with images to 88.6%. Previously, the number of query results with images was an average of 79.2%, with the rest having an empty white space, so this increase is clearly somewhat of an improvement.