March 5, 2007

Microsoft Chatting For Charity

In an attempt to increase use of Messenger, Microsoft has launched a charity drive that gives donations when you chat.

"So any time you have an i'm™ conversation using Windows Live Messenger, you help address the issues you feel most passionate about, including poverty, child protection, disease, and environmental degradation. It's simple. All you have to do is join and start an instant messaging conversation. We'll handle the donation.".

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:27 AM | Permalink

January 13, 2006

Music Mix from Windows Live Messenger: Share a Playlist and and then Simultaneously Listen to the Music it Contains

From my Friday, "it's not directly search but cool" file. If you have access to the Windows Live Messenger (WLM) beta (I don't) it's a brand new feature that reads like something I'm really looking forward to checkng out as soon as it becomes available to a larger user group which should be soon. It's a new IM feature that allows you to share a playlist and then simultaneously listen to the music the playlist contains and chat about it with friends via IM.

Microsoft is calling it Music Mix In Messenger. According to this blog post, the service will "very soon" become visible to MSN Messenger users. The post also includes the requirements to access once it becomes available. Stay tuned.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:22 PM | Permalink

December 4, 2005

IM Info Bots Come to MSN Messenger

BetaNews reports that MSN has release two new IM "bots" (type in a query and get an automated response) for MSN Messenger are now available. This page offers details on how to access the MSN Bots. The services come from the Real-Time Collaboration team at MS. The Encarta bot itself is powered by Conversagent. The Encarta bot, offers answers to "ready reference" types of questions (what is, who is, etc.) from MSN's Encarta Encyclopedia while the other bot offers BBC Television listings. I think bats will grow as a popular way to answer certain types of queries moving forward as IM becomes an even more popular communication tool. CitySearch, offered an AIM Bot last year but when I checked today, I was unable to access it. Here's a cached page with info.

AOL Instant Messenger offers a bunch of bots including one from the Wall Street Journal that I use on a regular basis. AOL ran into some trouble last week when they added bots for Moviefone and AOL Shopping (see: Search AOL Shopping Using AOL Instant Messenger) that according to BetaNews aggravated some AIM users since they were added to their buddy lists without being told.

Postscript: I tried the Encarta info bot. No surprises. + What is the Capital of the Gambia? Correct answer + Where was Abraham Lincoln born? Correct answer + How many ounces in a pound? Correct. + What what was the number one record in 1983? In this case no answer but I was "invited" to get (download) the Encarta "application" and go to the actual site for more info. I followed the directions but no luck. I'll try again tomorrow.

Posted by Gary Price at 8:14 PM | Permalink

November 26, 2005

AOL High Quality Video Downloads, AOL Triton IM Gets Search Box & Sharing MSNBC Articles Via MSN Messenger

AOL is running an new trial of "high quality" video you can download, AOL's Triton IM tool has a new search box and MSNBC news articles can now be shared via MSN Messenger. More below on these features:

+ AOL Hi-Q? Video Video Trial First, a new beta from AOL that I've been using for about a week without running into any problems or concerns. It uses a Windows client (sorry Mac users) that downloads "High Quality" video content (in terms of video quality) directly to your computer. They're calling it the AOL® Hi-Q? Video Trial. Videos can be viewed on-demand or downloaded automatically in the background when your system is idle. You can even subscribe to certain content types and have the files delivered/downloaded automatically. Presently, the available content consists of movie previews, celebrity interviews, music videos, games tips and original AOL programming but I would be willing to bet will see much more content delivered using this approach in the future. This just might be the way (at least in concept) that will see (no pun intended) high quality video content will be delivered to computers in the future.

+ AOL IM AOL IM Triton Released Along with a bunch of new features, the new AOL Triton IM release has a search box built into the IM box. MSN Messenger offers a shared search option (along with a search box in the client) while Yahoo Instant Messenger also provides a search box built into the IM client.

+ MSNBC News Articles via IM Most MSNBC news posts now have a link at the bottom of each article that allow you to share the item via MSN Messenger. You'll need to use IE. More in this blog post.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:59 PM | Permalink

October 11, 2005

Interoperability: Yahoo Instant Messenger and Microsoft Messenger Will Be Able to Talk to One Another

When Google Talk launched Danny wrote, "This is also a good point to note that Search Engine Watch has no intention of suddenly diving into instant messaging coverage...IM isn't search, so it's not where we'll spend our time in depth."

However, I just wanted to put up a quick note pointing out that in the "war" between the big players, it's worth mentioning that Kevin Delaney has just posted a Wall St Journal story (reg. req) saying that Yahoo Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger will announce (tomorrow) that their IM systems will soon be able to talk to one another.

In a competitive realignment of the heated Internet industry, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. are expected to announce Wednesday that consumers using their free communications services -- including instant messaging and computer-to-computer voice calling -- will be able to communicate directly with each other for the first time, say people familiar with the matter. The expected linkup of Microsoft's and Yahoo's communications services would immediately challenge the leading instant-messaging market share of Time Warner Inc.'s America Online unit. AOL has a 56% market share world-wide, according to research firm Radicati Group Inc. It has long resisted letting users of other instant-messaging services connect with its own. A combined Yahoo and Microsoft could command 44% of the global instant-messaging market, according to Radicati.

Both YIM and Microsoft Messenger offer search options direct from the client.

What happens if some sort of hook-up between AOL and MSN goes through? Would IM be a part of it?

Posted by Gary Price at 8:17 PM | Permalink

August 24, 2005

Google Launches "Google Talk" IM Client With Voice Calls

No longer rumor, the Google Talk instant messaging service from Google debuted today. Got a Gmail account? Then you can begin instant messaging via Google -- or do voice conversations, as well. Don't have Gmail? There's a new signup via text message system in place to help you along.

New Google Talk Offers Instant Messaging & Voice Chat from me and Gary is today's SearchDay article that delves into the new service, looking at how it takes Google further down the portal path but a path it pretty much needs to walk to stay competitive with rivals. We also look at how the new tool isn't in the "blow you away" style of some past Google offerings, unless you feel the voice quality of calls is as good as billed. We haven't done enough testing to put a stamp of approval on that.

There's also a handy comparison chart on how the tool stacks up against some of the competition in terms of features, along with more information. Check out the story!

Want to discuss or comment? Visit our forum thread, Google Talk Instant Messaging Live!

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:01 AM | Permalink

October 1, 2004

MSN Messenger To Gain Search

The beta for MSN Messenger 7, due out Monday, will add search capabilities to its client. Yahoo Messenger has offered this for about a year.

About ten days ago, CitySearch released an IM "bot" that allows you to "interact" with their database using AOL Instant Messenger. You can also search the AOL Yellow Pages this way.

Details on the Microsoft move from InternetNews: MSN Putting Search in IM Beta. Thanks to Search Engine Guide for catching the article.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

See More Posts From:

This Week | This Month

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints & Permissions

Privacy Policy
Affiliates

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-564586-7"); pageTracker._setDomainName(".searchenginewatch.com"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); window.collarity_appid = "incmedia"; //> //>

Top Jobs

more Jobs

Senior Digital Planner
U.S. International Media Los Angeles, United States

Senior Search Analyst
U.S. International Media Los Angeles, United States New York, United States

Webmaster - Marketing
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Lewisburg, United States

Web Marketing Manager
Harvard Business Publishing Watertown, United States

White Papers

more Research