Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the joint interview at All Things Digital…

We have one beta invite for the Windows Live Suite beta (Live Messenger, Live Writer and Live Mail). Although the betas are in the public to download, if you want to be a part of the testing experience and guaranteed placing on the Windows Live Messenger 9.0 beta, then leave a comment below with your email address in the correct field and we’ll pick one out.

But to make things interesting - I’d like to know in your comment, reasons “why someone will never look at me the same way again”. These can be hilarious as a result - the best one gets the invite. Go!

LiveSide jumped on this story as soon as it broke, in the middle of the night UK time. Chris dude, please sleep. I do worry about your health at times. You’re a good bloke and I’ve known you for a good few years - please sleep once in a while

Windows Live Messenger 8.5
Nothing really new except this emoticon ““ which can be written as (’.') - oh, there seems to be some Windows Live Folders integration for when that’s out of beta, but that’s soon to come too, part of the Live Drive “cloud” of storage service. There’s a new theme as well, but that’s really all there is to it… there’s not even any added Aero support.
Download here or check out it’s beta web page.

Windows Live Mail
The new name for Windows Live Mail desktop, which will replace Outlook Express and Windows Mail in Windows Vista. It’s awfully confusing with all these mail applications that Microsoft have suddenly thrown at us all, but Windows Live Mail is meant to overtake everything that it’s previously made, allowing Hotmail accounts and Outlook accounts to be used in this new client.
Download here or check out it’s beta web page.

Windows Live Writer
The new way to blog to whichever blog site you have - whether it be Windows Live Spaces or Wordpress, you can add an entry with picture, map or video support. Fully extensible with plugins (some of the ones that Scott at LiveSide has made are brilliant), and it keeps everything in a nice tight-nit place.
Download here or check out it’s beta web page.

All of these products now have the same confluent theme, which I can only presume will eventually resonate throughout all the new versions of the Windows Live products which come out. They all have new installers which simply install and give no more than 2 shortcuts on your desktop, but they’re all new and exciting and I recommend anyone with some spare time to check them out.

Microsoft has unveiled a new touch-sensitive coffee table-shaped computer called “Surface”. Designed to do away with the need for a traditional mouse and keyboard, users can instead use their fingers to operate the computer. Also designed to interact with mobile phones placed on the surface, Microsoft says it will initially sell the unit to corporate customers. These will include hotels, casinos, phone stores and restaurants.

So-called “multi-touch” interfaces - which allow the user to “gesture” with several fingers at once to manipulate data, rather than relying on a mouse and menus - have been making waves in tech circles for some time. One of the most hotly-awaited examples is Apple’s iPhone, which is scheduled to be released in June.

Hewlett-Packard has also been looking at expanding multi-touch technology, in addition to leading research scientists such as Jeff Han of New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. With a 30-inch screen, Surface will initially sell for between $5,000 and $10,000 (£2,525-£5,050). However, Microsoft said it aimed to produce cheaper versions for homes within three to five years.

“We see this as a multi-billion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror,” said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. Microsoft says small groups of people will be able to use each Surface machine simultaneously.

They will be first deployed in November in Sheraton hotels, Harrah’s casinos, T-Mobile stores, and numerous restaurants. The computer giant has had a mixed record recently with new consumer products. While its Xbox games console has been a success, its Zune music player continues to lag far behind Apple’s iPod.

Source: BBC News

Apology
OK we got it slightly wrong. Myself and my contact have both been providing Microsoft with work towards Messenger 9 (as it’s known on the inside). We didn’t know there was an 8.5. We heard rumours of an interim release but apparently they were quite wrong. We’re sorry - we messed up, we jumped the gun. The story originated from a Spanish site of which a Spanish version of the software was leaked by… a Spanish person (obviously). This has soon escalated into a debortiry or flurrious talk across the blogosphere, and something of which I now wish I had gone against instinct and followed the Dark Side. Once again, we’re sorry. We missed a big chunk of information and hopefully we’ll never do it again.

A story which was #1 on Reddit’s homepage apparently loaded a Trojan onto your computer. The story titled “IN 1985 New Zealand eliminated agricultural subsidies. What happens next?” has now been deleted from Reddit after a Reddit user made other users aware of it by submitting the headline below:

Reddi users be careful. The current #1 item on the home page (about the New Zealand agricultural subsidies) loads a trojan on your computer. I just confirmed this on three seperate PCs. Click on the link to read more about the Trojan in the comments section. It does make you wonder how the story reached the front page in the first place!

“Google have done the deal to launch Google Mobile and branded Nokia phones following a conversation with 02. Expect this announcement in a few weeks.” - Sam Sehti

[source: http://img.worsethanfailure.com/Images/200705/error’d/xbox.jpg]

I saw a a Popfly demo and am glad that Microsoft is making use of it’s new Silverlight platform really well.

Popfly, which is still in private beta is a new Silverlight application that allows you to build mashup and websites. It came late to the party as Yahoo Pipes already lets you build mash-ups but Popfly is a class apart. It has an easy to use UI and looks like a pleasure to create new mash-ups.

You can create apps that display your Windows Live Spaces or Flickr Photos on the fly and you can embed it anywhere. I really can’t explain it, Click on the link below and see it for yourself.

http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msdn/popfly/PopflyIn15.wmv

This week MSN teams launched http://liveearth.msn.com, the exclusive online destination for Live Earth: The Concert for a Climate in Crisis. Live Earth will culminate on 7/07/07 with a global concert on seven continents with venues that include the US, UK, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, China, Australia, and Turkey. Live Earth is much more than a concert – it’s designed to be a catalyst event to coalesce a worldwide community of people who share a single environmental vision and mission: to convert concern to action.

More than 150 of the world’s hottest artists will perform for Live Earth including Madonna, whose new song, “Hey You” is available for free download exclusively for seven days from the MSN Live Earth site.

“Hey You” was produced by Pharrell Williams and Madonna and recorded in London. Madonna will perform “Hey You” as one of the headliners for Live Earth U.K., joining the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Genesis, the Beastie Boys and other performers at Wembley Stadium in London on July 7, as part of the 24-hour, seven-continent Live Earth concert series.

As the exclusive online destination for Live Earth, MSN is pleased to offer this song in conjunction with Madonna and is proud to donate 25 cents for each of the first 1 million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection, in support of Live Earth.