Yep, we’ve broken through to the Web 2.0 stages of this blog and we now have tags. Anyone know how to get this into the sidebar now? We’ve got no idea…

{flashtagcloud}

Only a small update for Windows Live Hotmail but it seems to have gone unnoticed by most people. To reflect that Live Hotmail is near completion, the beta tags in the address of the product have gone and is now simplified:

Old: http://by117w.bay117.mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx
New: http://mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx

Windows Live Hotmail is expected out soon, but is subject to last minute changes, as Microsoft products famously have always seemed to

Unconfirmed reports over the networks from Microsoft say that Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (the latest installment for the Windows Server System) has actually been released. We can’t confirm this as there is no official word from Microsoft.

We’re aware that Bink (in all his glory) has posted on this item - he states that there is still some work to go. But we are almost 100% sure that there is something big going on, and it’s got to do with the SP2 release. Some employees have said it’s released, some have said it’s up on the web already, there’s some confusion going on especially with the SP2 related knowledge base articles up on Microsoft Support.

Whatever’s going on, we’ll try and be the first to break it.

Here at Live and Beyond, we respect NDA’s (Non-Disclosure Agreements) and lets make a point of this by not uploading these files ourselves. We’re not going to post any screenshots of Windows Home Server on this website, nor are we going to leak any information about it.

However, we have had a very happy breakthrough because it doesn’t say anywhere we’re not allowed to point people to the right direction. One reader (dharma14) emailed in after uploading a whole shed load of Windows Home Server screenshots to flickr. As it is going into public beta soon, we thought we’d shed some light into what it looks like.

Click here to check out the first full album of Windows Home Server screenshots!

A nearly double dose this week as an awful lot has happened, well, a lot of innocent things have happened and being the evil son of a bitch that I am, I’m going to poke fun at them once again! Enjoy people.

Just noticed actually checking on the help.live.com pages, that their secure certificate expired a couple of days ago. I’ve contacted Microsoft and so far they said “they’re working on it” but how long does it take to get a new SSL certificate? In my experience, it can be done in 10 minutes.

The Get Live website has opened up for Windows Live Hotmail and its impending release. Windows Live Hotmail is expected to be released any day now. First time users can now see the advantages of Hotmail by checking out the new website.

Go now: http://get.live.com/mail/features

This could be all the evidence we need, or it could just be some silly intern who decides to jump the gun and presume that nobody will make a big fuss about this because we’re all idiots. Well I’m gonna try and make a fuss about this, as in fact, I am actually an idiot.

In the Windows System Resource Manager service in Windows Server “Longhorn”, the description of the service clearly mentions “Windows Vista Server”. Check the screenshot for yourself, it’s right below. We were all expecting Windows Server 2007, or as VistaBase has decided to prematurely jump the gun and call it Windows Server 2008, I don’t think anyone is none the wiser after this posting anyway.

A normal 30GB iPod selling for $1,525? Diamonds not included!

“This iPod is brand new, the box has been opened but the iPod has not been unwrapped from the plastic or turned on, and all accessories are included and unopened. This is a brand new iPod Video 30GB (not refurbished or second) .”

Picking up the story from TechEBlog, I decided to have a look at the Auction Page. The winning bidder is leah0811. This Brit has a good positive feedback score of 92.6%. Nothing out of the oridnary you may say but if you look at the feedback history there is activity till December 2006 with good positive feedback. There is no activity or feedback in the month of Januray 2007 but by Febuary there is a lot of activity and feedback, all of which are negative.

Here are some of the negative feedbacks from the bidder’s page:

“FAKE BIDDER AVOID!!!!”

“Complete bloody scammer. Cocked up my auction by overbibdding. P*ss off.”

“Fraudulant!!! Bidded ridiculous offer and never paid and never heard from them”

This got me thinking, why would someone with a really good feedback score and history go berserk in Feb. with no activity in Jan.? I think this person’s eBay account was hacked and is now being used to place fake bids all over.

What do you think?

Fake bidder or a fake bidding hacked account?

“This set contains contains my work from the Microsoft Photoshoot I did late 2005 - early 2006. My mission was to create genuine images to be a part of the Windows Vista Wallpaper collection. Two shots from the Photoshoot (first two in the set) made it to Vista’s Wallpaper Collection, while many others remain here, and waiting to be uncovered.” - HD

Click here to go to the wallaper collection!