Dave Glover "Down Under (Oz)" : Mobility Dev

Visual Studio 2010, Fx 4 Beta 2 Training Kit

dglover — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:09:00 GMT

Hopefully by now you've heard Visual Studio 2010 and Fx 4 Beta have shipped, if you live in Oz and not an MSDN subscriber then the best place to download it from is http://www.microsoft.com/australia/visualstudio/default.mspx.

If you are feeling a bit nervous about installing on your base machine then install it in a Virtual Machine, it works just fine!!

There is a great set of training resources for Visual Studio 2010 & Fx 4 Beta 2 in the form of the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit and check out http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/ for more great learning materials.

You'll find material covering

What's new for Common Language Runtime
ASP.NET 4
Windows
Windows Workflow
Windows Communication Foundation
Silverlight
Data Access
Parallel Computing
Extensibility Framework
Application Lifecycle Management

so check it out and get up to speed fast with the Visual Studio 2010 and Fx 4 Beta 2!!

Ohhh, lol, I have installed VS2010 Beta 2 on my ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-H with 2 gigs of RAM, running Windows 7, that plus TFS 2010 B2 Basic - ok, it's not going to set any speed records but useable and fun for trying stuff out esp when you are on the move.

Cheers Dave

Going to PDC09 then keep an eye out for Birds-of-a-Feather

dglover — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:00:17 GMT

You can find more information at www.pdcbof.com and follow them on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pdcbof

See ya there!!

Cheers Dave

Getting started with Windows Mobile 6.5 Widget Development

dglover — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:13:38 GMT

Nigel was after a few pointers for Widget development for Windows Mobile 6.5, so thought useful to blog as well!!

The model for widget development is similar to that of Apple, Nokia, Opera etc - HTML, JavaScript, CSS - the platform APIs differ for example persisting setting, creating enus etc, but same concepts.

Developing Widgets for Windows Mobile 6.5
Getting started with widgets on Windows Mobile 6.5
Useful info on setting up dev environment - important thing is that the 6.5 is a developers toolkit and must be installed after the 6.0 refresh SDKs - see blog item... SDK, DTK, DRK: WTF?!
Nick Randolph's blog at Nick's .NET Travels - lots of great stuff on Widget Development...
And get yourself signed up on Codemasons site - The Codemasons' Guild
The W3C spec for widgets is at Widgets 1.0: Requirements

Cheers Dave

Developing for Windows Mobile Webcast and Useful Links

dglover — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:51:12 GMT

Useful links from today’s www.codemasons.com.au Windows Mobile Developer Session

Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit has SHIPPED
Note, you must first install the Windows Mobile SDK 6.x pro/Std from here.

Application Architecture Guide 2.0

patterns & practices: Mobile Client

SMS Voter 3.0 Meets Software plus Services

MemMaker for the .NET Compact Framework

SharpZipLib

Idempotence

Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit Now Publically Available

dglover — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:35:04 GMT

Microsoft is pleased to announce the public availability of the Beta release for the Windows 7 Software Logo Toolkit. The toolkit allows ISVs to submit and receive the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo for their products.

Improvements, including self-test for applications, instant approval of passing applications, and a streamlined waiver process dramatically speed up the logo testing and the submission process. Fees for logo submissions have also been eliminated.

As a valued logo partner, the "Compatible with Windows 7" program also offers a variety of benefits including co-branding, MS partner points, and premier placement on a variety of online consumer facing sites.

Here are a few simple steps towards getting started:

1. Download the Beta logo toolkit here: https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=831&DownloadID=19072
NOTE: this link also includes the logo requirements document, toolkit release notes, a toolkit user's guide, and an overview of the submission process.

2. Submit the test report from the toolkit via: https://winqual.microsoft.com.

3. If a waiver is needed for a failing test case from the toolkit report, the streamlined waiver process can be initiated by completing the online form at the following link:
https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/CreateFeedbackForm.aspx?FeedbackFormConfigurationID=3419&FeedbackType=3&SiteID=831&wa=wsignin1.0

Some additional information you may find helpful:

· Logo artwork and marketing guides can be downloaded from http://winqual.microsoft.com immediately once the following has been completed:

o The passing logo report is submitted and the logo policies are accepted

o The Software Logo License Agreement is signed online

· Instructions on how to perform the two manual tests can be found in the release notes.

· Windows 7 Logo Waiver/Exception Request: https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/CreateFeedbackForm.aspx?FeedbackFormConfigurationID=3419&FeedbackType=3&SiteID=831

· Only test results generated by the Beta release of the toolkit can be used to submit for the logo

· Additional frequently asked questions (FAQ) and the corresponding answers are maintained at the following location:

o Technical FAQ:
https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=11911&SiteID=831

o Business FAQ:
https://connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=11912&SiteID=831

Please note, now that we are now accepting officially logo submissions we are no longer accepting logo prequalifications.

We look forward to your participation in the Windows 7 Software Logo program.

We welcome any feedback you may have on the Windows 7 Software Logo program. Please use the following links to communicate with us:

· Report Logo Toolkit Bugs

· Logo Toolkit/Program Feedback & Suggestions

· Windows 7 Logo Waiver/Exception Request

Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit has SHIPPED

dglover — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:39:58 GMT

Ta da, finally the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit has shipped, well cool!!

Check out http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e

The tool kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files emulator images and tools to Visual Studio, so you can start building applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 and the new UI. You'll need the Windows Mobile 6 SDK to leverage the Gestures API & samples.

Interested in Windows Mobile Development then check out Windows Mobile for Australia and http://developer.windowsmobile.com/

Cheers Dave

Application Architecture Guide 2.0

dglover — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:28:00 GMT

Hey if you went to the Victoria.NET User group on Tuesday then you would have caught my Windows 7 session, you can find resources I mentioned at here, hope those that installed Win 7 on the night are enjoying and those that grabbed the DVDs have had a chance to fire it up!!

You can find resources from Tarn Barford's awesome session on Iron Python at http://blog.sharpthinking.com.au/post/2009/05/11/IronPython-Presentation.aspx - funny we both did our sessions on Netbooks!!

And Mahesh's session covering the Application Architecture Guide 2.0, tbh, I had lost track that version 2 was over on codeplex!! If you've not see this guide then I highly recommend you download it from http://www.codeplex.com/AppArchGuide/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=20586

There is great coverage of where technologies fit, from web, to services, data access, security, desktop and mobile along with recommended best practices and patterns, honestly take a break from your busy day to day busy existence and check it out, it'll be time well spent!!

Cheers Dave

MemMaker for the .NET Compact Framework

dglover — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:36:35 GMT

I twittered this awhile back, but appreciating not everyone twitters I wanted to share this on my blog for those interested in building Windows Mobile Applications using the .NET Compact Framework.

Rob Tiffany has a great blog on a concept pioneered by one of our partners, it's the MemMaker Pattern for optimising memory use, if you do any Compact Framework development then I strongly recommend you read Rob's blog it which you can find here!!

Tech.Ed Australia and New Zealand Call for Content Now Open

dglover — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:07:09 GMT

We’ve just opened the “Call for Content” for TechEd 2009 Australia and New Zealand, if you are interested in getting involved then check out Andrew’s blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat/archive/2009/05/06/tech-ed-australia-and-new-zealand-call-for-content.aspx

Cheers Dave

Save up to $900 when you add a MSDN® Premium or MSDN Professional subscription to Visual Studio® 2005 Professional Edition or Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition license

dglover — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:49:41 GMT

"MSDN Attach" Promotion Expires June 30th 2009

"For a limited time, save up to $900 when you add a MSDN® Premium or MSDN Professional subscription to Visual Studio® 2005 Professional Edition or Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition license. Plus, with a new MSDN Premium or MSDN Professional Subscription, you'll get Visual Studio 2010 when it ships!"

Add a MSDN Premium subscription to your existing Visual Studio Professional License for roughly the cost of the subscription alone (roughly a 20% discount for new 2-Year subscription in Open)
Add a MSDN Professional subscription to your existing Visual Studio Professional License for roughly the cost of the subscription alone (roughly a 40% discount for new 2-Year subscription in Open)

Benefits of MSDN (Overview): Thousands of developers have chosen MSDN Subscriptions for the great product benefits and access to key technical resources of developing applications on the Microsoft platforms. Now is a great time to consider an MSDN subscription: Expression® Web and Expression Blend (for building web and rich internet applications) are now included in MSDN Premium, and SQL Server® 2008 / Windows Server® 2008 are included as well. MSDN subscriptions include invaluable development resources for developers and architects using Visual Studio Professional. With MSDN, you get priority access to new versions of Microsoft products, including Visual Studio 2010 when it ships, plus Microsoft operating systems, server software, productivity applications, exclusive access to pre-release products, technical support, upgrades to new versions of Visual Studio, and more.

Need more information:

Website - http://www.microsoft.com.au/offers/developers

See a full list of MSDN Benefits: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa718661.aspx.

If you have any questions then please contact Arabind Coomaraswamy on +61 2 9870 2372

Cheers Dave

Palm Treo 500 Smart phones in Oz outright for $499 or on a plan

dglover — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:06:06 GMT

Following on from my post on Looking for a great deal on a Windows Mobile phone in Oz? someone pointed me to the Palm Treo 500, it's a pretty well specified phone plenty of memory, expansion slot, Bluetooth and it's also available from Optus on a plan.

Updated Developer.Windowsmobile.com Portal

dglover — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:45:36 GMT

This maybe old news for you, but at the end of October we launched a new Windows Mobile Developer portal at http://Developer.Windowsmobile.com. We've improved "Windows Mobile Developer" on MSDN - Easier Navigation to content, whitepaper and sample code, you'll also find links off to "Windows Mobile" social networking on Facebook and Twitter providing a great way to interact with other like minded mobile developers!!

Improvements on Developer.Windowsmobile.com include :-

Information on developing apps for Windows Mobile. From Start, Develop, Test to Release
Opportunities to showcase your applications
keep abreast of events and future updates
Search has been improved on the site making it easier to find what you want
and links to the new Windows Mobile Team Blog and Forums

Developer.Windowsmobile.com

Updated Windows Mobile Developer on MSDN

Running Windows 7 on my ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook

dglover — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:25:00 GMT

Now that Windows 7 beta 1 is out in the wild I can't resist sharing my experiences with Windows 7 Beta 1 on my ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook (also see My ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook and Windows Vista Experiences) I did a fresh install and the system is upgraded with 2GB RAM, 2GB ReadyBoost SD card, 200GB disk.

To help you get up and running with Windows 7 I've listed the device drivers, software packages I've installed that work just fine plus a few minor tweaks I made!!

First impressions are awesome, system is responsive, stable, search is fast, battery life great and the environment is more consistent and visually appealing.

I love the new unified taskbar with application preview that IMHO combines the best of previous generation Windows and OS X Taskbars and makes for a much more consistent experience.

Battery life on the system is pretty similar to running Windows XP and Vista. With the network off, screen dimmed, power set to 'Power saver' then getting 5 or so hours, watched part of a movie, did some email, read a few docs, edited a few pictures, wrote this blog item etc.. Yes, you'll notice better memory utilisation but I have 2 gig of RAM installed so not really much of an issue.

Stuff I love

There are a ton of great reviews on the web about Windows 7 and this entry is more about my experiences on the ASUS Eee PC, but a quick summary of the cool stuff I like:-

Attention to detail, example the wifi control applet, sticky notes, calculator (tons of new stuff), ribbons added to Paint, Wordpad (see Small Screen UI Optimization for Office - it's applicable for all Ribbon enabled apps)
Libraries are a great way for you to consolidate multiple folders of similar items (eg Pictures) and manage, search, sort, filter etc as if they were one.
Integrated DivX Codecs see http://apcmag.com/windows_7_surprise_divx_built_in.htm, yup freely available today, but great now just part of the platform, tested and supported.
Gadgets anywhere on your desktop.
The eye candy, yup, I know, shallow, but the built-in themes are beautiful, love the Australian theme and I assume themes will be available by region.
PowerShell 2 and an Integrated script Editor/Debugger.
Creating and mounting VHDs (Virtual Hard Disk format used by Virtual PC, Server, Hyper-V Server)
key combination takes the sweat out of selecting your video output!!
Windows Live Photo Gallery (see tweaks below, not specific to Windows 7) - Photo fixing, Tagging, Face Detection along with search and filtering is phenomenal!!

Stuff I'm not sure about

Windows Experience Index - Doesn't seem to reflect the "Super Hybrid Engine" Power modes, either a problem with the ASUS Utility on Windows 7 not working or Windows 7 Beta 1 Experience Index issue, I think the latter.
LAN traffic slow, wifi works as expected.

Setup and Drivers

Most of what I needed for Windows 7 on my ASUS Eee PC 1000H was part of the default install but I had to manually install the network drivers and ASUS utilities.

Also be sure to install the "Update for Windows 7" and run Windows Update after the network drivers are installed!!

Chipset/Graphics Diver Mobile Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family	Installed as part of Windows 7 but run Windows Update for the latest release of drivers from Intel. As at time of writing this was pre release version 8.15.10.1620
Wireless Network PCI/mPCI/CB(RT2760/RT2790/RT2860/RT2890)	Installed driver only http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html -> http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/IS_AP_STA_RT2860_D-1.2.1.0_VA-2.1.2.0_RU-2.1.9.0_VA-2.2.4.0_AU_2.0.9.0_VA-2.0.9.0_111108_1.0.6.0_Free.exe
LAN Driver Atheros AR81Family Windows Driver x86/x64(Vista, XP, Server 2003)	Current Version: 1.0.0.40 http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx
ACPI ASUS Driver Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Driver	Patched driver from http://gecko.me/?acpifix fixes Vista and Windows 7 driver incompatibility.
ASUS Utilities Super Hybrid Engine Utility for Windows XP	Current Version: V1.04 - works on top of patched ACPI Driver. http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Eee%20PC%201000H/XP

Software Installed

Office 2007 fully Service Packed
Visual Studio 2008 SP1
Expression Blend V2 SP1 and Design V2
Silverlight 2 SDK and Silverlight Visual Studio Addin
Windows Live Essentials - Windows Live Photo Gallery, Live Messenger etc
Skype 4.0 Beta (Skype 3.x not supported on Windows 7) - tweaked recording device 2 channel, 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality)
Adobe Reader
Zune 3.1
Twitter Clients - Twhirl and Witty

Utilities

CCleaner
WinRAR - useful for unpacking ISO files while Daemon tools not working on Windows 7
Daemon tools for now doesn't install:(

Tweaks

Bar the changes listed below everything else is as default - Super Fetch running, Aero running - Aero auto switches off when on battery and Power Saver mode selected.

Disk Advanced Performance: Device Manager -> Disk Drives -> Properties for system drive -> Policies -> Enable: Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device (ensure you read the warning!!)
Windows Update once a week: Ok, yes probably not best practice.
For Skype voice calls set recording device 2 channel, 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality), default setting wasn't so great.
Set Windows Live Photo Gallery as default photo manager: Start -> Default Programs -> Set your default programs -> Windows Live Photo Gallery -> Set this program as default
Set Windows Live Photo Gallery as default Autoplay for photos: Start -> Default Programs -> Change Autoplay Settings -> Pictures -> Import Pictures and Videos with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Resources

Windows 7 Announcement at CES 2009
http://msdn.com
Channel 9 has an entire series of videos on Windows 7 which provide a great learning experience.
The E7 blog
The Windows 7 Blog for Developers for deep technical content

Enjoy Windows 7 beta 1 on your Netbook and be sure to send your feedback to the product group via the "Send Feedback" links scattered across most parts of the OS.

Cheers Dave

My ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook and Windows Vista Experiences

dglover — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:03:13 GMT

Article amended (Dec 28, 08) to include a reference to a patched ACPI Driver from http://gekko.me/acpi.php

Hmmm, may be ya getting a Netbook for a pressie or had one for awhile and you're thinking of firing up Vista or hanging in there for Windows 7, well here's a quick summary of my Windows Vista setup and what device drivers I use and how I've optimized my system for max battery life.

I've been a very happy owner of an ASUS 1000H Netbook for some 3 months now, XP Home edition lasted about a day and ever since then I've been running Vista SP1 and more recently SP2 Beta and both have been a joy and solid on the system, that said I did upgrade the RAM to 2gig, bar that, it's an out of the box system.

I love the device, small, without compromising too much on keyboard or screen size, stylish and performance good enough for day to day productivity apps, internet browsing, picture editing etc. It's running the latest Intel Atom 1.60GHz CPU which from memory runs at a cool 2 watts rather than the 35 watts consumed by traditional mobile CPU chipsets, so nice and green too!!

Vista Experience Chart

As you can see for most things the experience index is good, it's not a gaming machine but it will certainly cope with WPF apps with ease!!

Battery Life

These number are not scientific but rather under general observations for office productivity, watching a movie or two, surfing the net etc. With wifi, Bluetooth turned off, screen dimmed down and max power saver options set then getting somewhere between 5 to 6.5 hrs battery life, so absolutely awesome for travel etc. With wifi on then around 4 to 5 hrs, again not done with a stopwatch, but will give you some idea what you can expect.

Applications Loaded

Office 2007 - Outlook, Word, Excel etc and all run well
Office Communicator - Video conferencing is excellent, churns at about 20 to 30% CPU on Super Performance mode
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 - yup just fine for casual stuff
Expression Blend V2 SP1 - Yup, good enough for casual stuff, been doing some hands on labs, not lighten quick, but good enough
Windows Live Clients, IM including Video, Photo Gallery, all fine, Movie maker requires more patience
Mesh - though I don't auto start as too resource intensive for the system, certainly at time of writing, beta etc
Skype and various Twitter clients - Twirl and Witty
IE 8 Beta 2
Adobe Reader

Favourite Utilities

CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/ - most excellent for getting rid of all the crap files off your system and generally tidying up
DAEMON Tools Lite - http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/download.php - great for mounting ISO images
Auslogics Disk Defrag - http://www.auslogics.com/en/ - excellent disk visual disk defragger

Small Screen UI Optimization for Office

On a 1024 x 600 resolution screen you start to be a more mindful of screen clutter, space taken up by menus and ribbons etc. Running Office is no exception, but did you know there is a really cool ribbon space saving optimization? If you double click on any of the tabs in Office you hide the ribbon and then simply single click the tab to reveal ribbon, well cool and perfect for a small screen device!!

Office Ribbon Minimised - now we're laughing!!

Device Drivers

The following as of mid December 2008 are the device drivers I'm running with on Vista SP1 and SP2 and all stable, sleep, hibernate etc work well!!

It's probably reasonable to assume this driver config will be good for Windows 7, though I've not tried yet, the driver model in Windows 7 will be consistent with Windows Vista.

Chipset/Graphics Diver Mobile IntelÂ® 945 Express Chipset Family	Currently Version: 15.8.3.1504 http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2300&DwnldID=16312&strOSs=156&OSFullName=Windows%20Vista*%20Ultimate,%2032-bit%20version&lang=eng
Wireless Network PCI/mPCI/CB(RT2760/RT2790/ RT2860/RT2890)	Installed driver only http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html -> http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/IS_AP_STA_RT2860_D-1.2.1.0_VA-2.1.2.0_RU-2.1.9.0_VA-2.2.4.0_AU_2.0.9.0_VA-2.0.9.0_111108_1.0.6.0_Free.exe
LAN Driver Atheros AR81Family Windows Driver x86/x64(Vista, XP, Server 2003)	Current Version: 1.0.0.39 though I see that 1.0.0.40 has just been released. http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx
ASUS Driver Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Drive for WIN XP	Patched driver from http://gekko.me/acpi.php fixes Vista and Windows 7 driver incompatibility. Current Version: V4.00.0004 http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Eee%20PC%201000H/XP
ASUS Utility Super Hybrid Engine Utility for Windows XP	Current Version: V1.04 http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Eee%20PC%201000H/XP
ASUS Utility ASUS Update Utility for updating the BIOS. Note: If you disabled the AsAcpiSvr.exe service as below then you need to enable again to update the BIOS else you get a "AsusODS.exe not existing" error.	Version V1.01.08 http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Eee%20PC%201000H/XP

Tweek me there please!!

Ok most of these optimizations are about maximizing battery Life

Turn off Aero	Right mouse click desktop -> Personalise -> Window Colour and Appearance -> Click Open classic appearance properties Select Windows Vista Basic
Disable sidebar
Enable Advanced Disk Performance	Device Manager -> Disk Drives -> Properties for system drive -> Policies -> Enabled Advanced Performance
Disable Superfetch (slightly more controversial setting, but think it improves restart out of sleep)	Computer Management -> Services and Applications -> Services -> Superfetch -> Disable Service
Disable auto start of AsAcpiSvr.exe This ASUS Driver causes an annoying problem on Vista, it throws a can't find interface for graphics and audio dialogue box.	Not required if using patched driver from http://gekko.me/acpi.php From Start type MSConfig -> uncheck AsAcpiSvr.exe
Managing communications Disabling the AsAcpiSvr disables some of the of the hot key functionality for wifi, bt, camera etc. Not really a problem, I use the EEE PC Tray Utility and get all the functionality I need. The screen brightness hotkeys work just fine.
Windows Update Once a week. Ok yes not best practice but it helps start up time and I have other systems kicking around that warn me if urgent patches are required!!

So that is pretty much how I have the system setup, the only minor inconvenience is that the Vista Graphics driver doesn't allow for stretching the 1024 x 600 resolution to 1024 x 768 on the system LCD, this is a pain when you hook up the device to a projector and want to see the screen locally as well as externally. Bar that I love it!!

Cheers Dave

Windows Live got a serious social makeover – see http://home.live.com

dglover — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:52:50 GMT

If you thought that Windows Live was a bit of a yawn then you’ve not seen the latest incarnation, it’s got way more integrated and socialized, added in concepts of social feeds, networks, sharing, update notifications etc, the networking has taken off like wildfire, so be in to win and get connected!! Check out the Windows Live Team Blog for more info and check out the blog item on privacy and permissions.

The Windows Live Beta clients are great, new IM Client, Writer, Photo Gallery, Mail (with integrated Calendar support) available at http://www.windowslive.com/ComingSoon

http://Skydrive.live.com now offers 25 gig free of charge space, max file size is 50mb, but there are plenty of file splitters around for larger files:)

http://Photos.live.com is very cool and the slide view is beautifully implemented with Silverlight, the frame seems to pick up in the dominate colour in the photo, to great effect, upload is drag and drop simple with the uploader addin.

Windows Live Activities off your Windows Live “Profile” page – hooks up you flickr piccies, blogs, twitter feeds etc in to a unified “What’s new” feed – again well implemented!!

Updated mobile support at http://mobile.live.com – see http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!28656.entry?sa=411864678 for more info.

http://office.live.com – two free offerings:-

Office Live Workspace (SharePoint in the cloud and very cool)
and Office Live Small Business (but limited to a handful of countries at the moment)

All this have been well integrated in to http://home.live.com.

From a developer perspective check out Live Services SDK - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb264574.aspx

and the article on wikipedia is not bad – slightly out of date in places – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Services

Cheers Dave