Hack MSN Spaces: Blog

Live Spaces Vision - get blog updates in (near) real-time

Sat, 17 May 2008 08:49:58 GMT

So many blogs, so little time. There are over 112 million blogs on the Internet! How do you keep up? You can take Live Spaces Vision for a spin! Yea really, a spin! Beware not to get dizzy while this shows you all recently updated Windows Live Spaces. Watch that Virtual Earth globe go round and round and round....

You can watch in 2D or 3D, the first time you start 3D mode you will be asked to install Virtual Earth 3D. To tilt and rotate the map, hold the 'CTRL' key on the keyboard whilst pressing your left mouse button. Scroll the mouse to rotate the globe on its axis.

Looking for a specific (interest) blog? There's also Interest Space Mode, as shown in the picture above. Just type in your specific interest in the search box, click submit and of you go! Interesting what/who you can find that way...I found John Bruno, Lead Program Manager at Microsoft (picture above).

To go to the Live Space Profile, click on the thumbnail in the recently viewed window (I'll call it the Collection Bar). This bar is shown below the map, scroll down a bit if you don't see it, I had to as well. I just wish the thumbnails wouldn't disappear when the search starts over to give me some time to click on them...I didn't find a way to stop the search either...

Live Spaces Vision is a stream of global updates to the Windows Live Space network of local market sites in near real-time. Live Spaces Vision joins FlickrVision, TwitterVision, and WikipediaVision in the vision map genre. This was achieved by using the publicly available Changes Feed and Virtual Earth SDK.
Evangelised by Rick Stock and Jason Christie in London, UK. Developed by Cyokin Zhang and Jamie He in Shanghai, CN.

Go and give it a spin, it can be reached through www.livespacevision.com or http://specials.uk.msn.com/livespacesvision

Whilst playing with this I thought how cool it would be to have this for your buddy list! Not only would you be up to date on their Live Spaces but it will show you where they reside at the same time! Could someone please.... *fantasizes some more* .... additional link in Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Spaces friends list...

More info: Live Spaces Vision - MSN On Windows Live UK

Thanks to LiveSide

Friends list problem

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:11:20 GMT

I am unable to modify/delete anyone on my friends list and get an error, 'Unable to update friend information'. Is it just me or anyone else getting a similar error?

10 Services To Send Text Messages From The Web

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:09:56 GMT

Sometimes you need to send a text message, but you forgot your phone, or you have poor cell reception, so what can you do? Or you just prefer the comfort of the full keyboard to the crammed one on your phone? No problem, we’ve got 10 sites to help you get started with staying in constant contact with your friends, families and even your customers.

Bloove.com - Get your phone contacts on the Bloove site, and then log in and manage them as well as send them text messages directly from the site.

ClearSMS.com - A professional SMSing service for businesses to send out mass messages to their customers to alert them about specials and sales. All messages are assigned a value in credits an you purchase more as needed.

GizmoSMS.com - GizmoSMS lets you send texts to users in over 50 countries an a slew of carriers inside each of those. While it is free to use, it does not allow space for identifying yourself except inside the body of the text.

Group2Call.com - Allows you to import your contacts, break them up into groups and send all the free texts you want to them. Also offers the chance to broadcast voice messages, but you have a limited supply of those.

Jaxtr.com - This one requires the person you wish to text to have the widget (like the one pictured above) installed on their blog or social networking profile, but if it’s there, you can text the member if they live in one of any 38 countries.

OhDontForget.com - Not only can you text people, you can schedule them for later delivery.

SMSGupShup.com - A system to allow you to send one text message to a number and they will then resend it out to every member that belongs to your group, up to 5,000 people in size.

Swaggle.mobi - A service for small groups to SMS each other at once; accessible via iPhone as well as by the web.

Yahoo Mobile - Yahoo Mobile lets you send and receive phone text messages; you will not be charged for sending the SMS; but the recipient might be charged the standard messaging rates for receiving or replying.

Yellowpipe - Mainly a web host, but they happen to offer a quick and easy SMS feature when you just have to get out a text quickly. They do allow you to enter a return number.

Source: Mashable

Spam comments on Windows Live Spaces

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:16:45 GMT

Over the past few months I have noticed an increase in spam comments on my blog. Maybe it is just my blog but I am getting sick of it.

An example of the most common spam comment on my blog:

At first it was ok and I used to manually delete them but in the past few weeks I have been getting more than 10+ comments a day which is a real pain to delete one by one. I reported this to the Report Abuse link and got in touch with the support team. I was told how to delete comments at first and when I replied I know how to delete comments they told me that appropriate action has been taken against the spammer after I supplied all the details to them. But soon after I send them the email I get another spam comment by the same person. I again send an email telling them about it and I get a reply saying please fill in all the details although in the email I sent them I had put in the blog entry where the spam took place. I am tired of filling details all the time and it having no effect on the spam comments on my space so I decided that the problem lies not with the support team but with the way the Live spaces commenting feature is designed.

You need a Windows Live ID to sign in and comment. This was done I believe to decrease spam and also that Microsoft can track people who violate their TOS or abuse other peoples spaces. I am sure the support team must have deleted the spammer's account but it is not hard to create a new account and start spamming again. I hope the following methods I outline below if implemented can cut down on spam.

Ability for a user to block a visitor:

A Live Spaces user should have the option of blocking visitors they do not want commenting on their space or block visitors they think are spamming their space so that specific visitor cannot comment on their space while they are signed into their account which is required by Live Spaces in order to post a comment. The visitor will have to create a new account in order to spam again which I am sure is more of a hassle. Multiple blocks by different users can send a red flag to the spaces team and they should investigate wether to delete the account of the spammer or block his IP.

Well blocking IP can sometimes make other people suffer as well so I think the method below used in other blogging services could be more appropriate.

Introduction of a Akismet type feature into Windows Live Spaces:

Akismet is a plug-in used widely in WordPress blogs to cut down not only on spam comments but spam trackbacks too. When a comment is made on your space, Akismet checks it against know spam comments and will decide wether to mark the comment as spam or not and let the comment get published or stay hidden in the spam folder just like how you webmail junk/bulk inbox works. You can see the spam comment box and decide if a comment has been put there by mistake and mark it as not spam. The system learns and in the future will not mark a comment by that person or that type of comment in your spam box. You can also mark spam comments that get published as spam and the system will update its database and learn from it. Too many 'mark as spam' from different users for a type of comment will make sure that in future whenever a comment like those being made on my blog everyday go straight to the spam box. An appeal system for a visitor/user should also be in place incase a group of spacers decide to make someone a target and keep marking his space/comments as spam.

I am surprised that Spaces does not have a feature like this already as I have so many spam comments and hundreds of viagra pills trackbacks on blog entries like 'How to add music'. It will also be easier to implement such a feature on spaces as visitors have to sign in with their Windows Live ID to make a comment and spammers can easily be tracked or their accounts deleted.

What are you thoughts on this matter? Any suggestions to improve the above two ideas are welcome or if you can think of a way to tackle spam on spaces you are welcome to email me or comment below.

Update: 15/4/2008

Wow, just got like 20+ comments, what pain having to delete them manually from different blogs.

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Gizmoz - 3d Avatar for your Space

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:01:54 GMT

Gizmoz lets you upload pictures of yourself and it turns you picture into a 3D avatar with which you can make short clips with voice recordings and other things.
<A clip of myself>

Go to http://www.gizmoz.com/ and sign up for an account.
After you sign in the navigation and creation of content is pretty self-explanatory. Just make sure you have a decent passport photo of your self.
After you create your content and publish it, Gizmos will give you an option to Post it on Live Spaces. Click on the Live Spaces link in the Post it section...

Clicking on the link will add a gadget to your space through which your clip can be seen by all your visitors.

If you want to embed this clip on your blog...

Don't click on the Live Spaces link but rather copy the code given by Gizmoz. (see the code below the orange box in the picture above)
You can add this code to a new or existing blog entry by the embed video link.
- Add a new blog entry or open an existing one in edit mode.
- Click on the Embed Videos link found near the Add photos link. See picture below:
- Paste the Embed code of your Gizmoz clip you copied earlier and click Save.
- You will notice the video is now in your blog entry. You can adjust the height, width of the video with your mouse. Also you can use the blog editing tools to make further adjustments like alignment.
- After you are happy with the changes, publish your blog entry.
- Preview your Space!

You can add this to a HTML module as well.

Done!

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Fresh, Free and Gorgeous RSS/Feed Icons

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:28:43 GMT

Looking for some new RSS icons for your blog?

You can use the icons for private and commercial projects, blogs and web-sites for free. However, please take a closer look at the license agreement — e.g. it’s forbidden to sell the icons and in order to use them, the designer asks for a backlink.

Click here to download the RSS icon package.

----------------

For new users:

What is RSS?

How to add images to your space. 1, 2.

After reading the RSS and adding images tutorial I think you will be able to put up and RSS icon linked to your RSS feed on your front page via a HTML module.

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Spaces maps working again...

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:30:12 GMT

Spaces maps suffered a database problem and unfortunately all the data was corrupted and it could not be repaired. I am going to try to get a new hosting service so that this does not happen again. Bluehost where it is hosted did try to help but they really weren't much help.

The service is back up again and the only way we could do it was to reset the stats and do a clean start. I apologize for any inconvenience caused. Hopefully it will not occur again.

I have been really busy with a few things and now a days I get less time for spaces but I will try to put up a few tutorials in the coming days.. till then let me know how spaces maps is working for you and any feedback is welcome.

On an another note, I will try answering the messages and emails that you have sent me in the past two weeks.

Good day!

- Dev

Talking about Your feedback = Changes to Windows Live Spaces

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:57:13 GMT

Your feedback = Changes to Windows Live Spaces

First, thanks again for all of your feedback. There's nothing like receiving comments and ideas directly from some of our 115 million monthly Spaces users worldwide.
Based on what we've heard from you, here's the latest round of changes we've made:

You now have the ability to remove updates from specific people in the what's new area of your Spaces home page.

At the bottom of your (signed-in) Spaces home page, you now have an “Options” link.

Clicking “Options” will take you to a “What’s new Options” page where you can choose who of your Spaces friends and Messenger contacts show up on your home page.

We've added back your list descriptions for all lists when they are displayed in the narrow column
The font for custom lists is no longer bold by default
We changed the Sponsored Results module to reflect the transition of our partnership with Kanoodle
We've made some additional smaller changes which you won’t see but which will further improve the Spaces service

We hope you enjoy these changes. As always, keep the feedback coming. We are listening.
- Chris
Product Manager, Windows Live
Technorati Tags: Windows Live Spaces,Windows Live

Spaces maps broken

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:01:35 GMT

www.spacesmaps.com is broken and it is being fixed. I will update you in the coming week when its working again.
Sorry :(

The best video to watch when things are rough in your life...

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:54:54 GMT

This is not related to spaces but it is an absolute must see. Never give up!

Link to original video

Custom list description hack

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:50:13 GMT

Update: Wes just notified me that the Spaces team are going to re-enable list descriptions in the coming week, so carry out the following tutorial only if you cant wait and have to put a description for an important link.

After the recent updates to spaces, the descriptions on custom lists (when placed to the sides) do not appear. Many users have been unhappy with this. Through this simple procedure you can get descriptions onto the side as before...

First,

Sign into your space and click on the edit link found on any custom list that is on the side or create a new one.
Click on the Add item link and enter the description you would like to have for the link you are going to add to the list. Put this description into the link name field and leave everything blank as it is and click Save as show in the picture below...

Now click on the Add item link again and this time enter the link name and the link web address/URL in their respective fields and then click on the Save button.

All done! Now preview your space and your custom list placed on the side will have links with descriptions.

Note: Always enter the description item first and then the link info later on via a new item. Although this (your list) might not look good as before it is at least useful when you have to put a description to an important link.

Thanks to Spence in Space for this tip.

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My new Asus laptop

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:00:46 GMT

My HP laptop fell down and along with a broeken screen my hard disks were damaged beyond repair. Although sad at losing all my data from the previous two years (pictures, music) a lot of it not backed up due to me being lazy and taking my laptop for granted I am quite happy at having for a new laptop.

It is a expensive but the quality and the specs of the laptop with the good looks being a bonus make it worth the price.

The Asus Lamborghini VX2S laptop:

Specs:

Asus 15.4" VX2S-B2B Notebook --Intel Core 2 Duo Processors T7700 2.4 GHz, 15.4"WSXGA+ (1680x1050) ,2GB DDR2 +TM1G,NV8600GT 512MB ,200GB 7200RPM HDD, Docking,Vista Ultimate.

More details and pictures here.

Changing the http://cid URL's

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:38:14 GMT

For the past few months I have seen an increasing amount of comments which have URL's starting with cid. I just made a new dummy space and saw that Live Spaces does not give the option of choosing a space URL at the sign up stage like it used to before. Instead after signing up for a live ID you are given a space with a URL like: http://cid-8c5b859909977f69.spaces.live.com/.

You are also presented with a Getting Started/Welcome to your space module through which you choose the URL of your space. I think many people who are new to blogging or casual Internet users might miss this. I have also seen most of these spaces are set to private and comments cannot be returned which is an annoyance.

If you don't know what a URL is, click here.

Click here to learn how to make your space public so others can comment back on your space.

To change the cid url into something more memorable such as http://d3vmax.spaces.live.com , read on...

First,

Sign into your space with your windows live ID / email and click on the Your Space tab and enter your space.

Click on the Choose web address icon found on the Welcome to your space module that is present on your space.

Enter a space address/URL that you think is easy to remember so that it is easy to give it to your friends or family or just choose something cool and click on the Check availability button to see if it is available as someone might have already taken it. If it all good then click on the Save button and you have created a web address for your space which any one on the Internet can access. (If you have set it on public: Recommended)

Now go through the basic tutorials listed on this space and started learning about spaces and customisations.

Good luck!

-Dev

p.s. Note in case you don't have the Welcome to your space module you can get it from Customize >> Add modules or you can get your web address from Options >> Space settings. Once you have selected your space web address/URL, you cannot change it. If you want to change it you will have to delete your space and create a new one (again from space settings) but do not that you will lose all your blogs/photos and just about every data you put on your space including comments.

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Getting the best out of Windows Live Spaces

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:58:44 GMT

A few months ago I did a presentation at Microsoft UK on getting the best out of Windows Live Spaces.

Click here for the Powerpoint presentation files (Click on any and see which one works for you)

I hope you find it useful and it helps you getting started with spaces.

- Dev

Friends List hits 1000

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:26:01 GMT

My friends lists has hit 1000 friends and Live Spaces does not permit me to add anymore friends. Therefore anyone on my friends lists whose space is set to private will have to be removed (sorry :) in order to make space for future public space friend requests.

Regards,

Dev

All the spaces updates in the past week

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:01:31 GMT

Matt had listed all the spaces updates before but I did not have much time to blog/translate it then.. here are the list of the updates that have hit spaces from the Spaces team itself. I will try replying to all your comments and messages when I get the time in the coming days.. stay tuned.

At the end of last week, we released some new features for Spaces and Windows Live Events. Here's the low-down:
New in Windows Live Spaces
Friends of your friends
When you're signed in and you visit another person's space, you can easily see the friends you have in common.

Multiple photo modules
More than 8 million photos are uploaded to Windows Live a day, so we figured you might like to have more ways to showcase your photos on your space. Now you can! Just add more than one photo album to your space from the Customize page.

Additional markets and additional storage for Windows Live SkyDrive
In addition to the US, UK, and India, SkyDrive is now available to users in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey.
In addition, SkyDrive users will also have more room for storing files because the limit is being raised from 1GB to 5GB. So now you have five times the space you had before — that’s 5GB of free online storage for your favorite documents, pictures, and other files. SkyDrive is a great way to make sure your files are available to you from any computer, without having to carry them around on a flash drive. It is really useful for sharing files that may be too big to send in e-mail.
For Spaces users in the countries above, you will see a link on your Spaces home page which will allow you to upload files directly from Spaces to Windows Live SkyDrive. Just click on the Share Files link at the top of the Spaces home page.

You can also learn more by visiting the SkyDrive team blog.
New in Windows Live Events
We added new features to Events to make it more personal. When you create an event on Windows Live, your own name and e-mail address appears on the invitation instead of the automatically generated e-mail address. In addition, any public events you organize will show up in your Windows Live profile and Events homepage so your friends and Messenger contacts will know when and where it's happening.

As always, let us know your thoughts and keep sending us your feedback. We are listening.
-Chris
Product Manager, Windows Live
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Updates on Spaces

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:22:10 GMT

In the past week(s) there have been a few updates on spaces.

Common friend
List descriptions removed
Updated spaces on the spaces community page have a more detailed description (when not signed in)

While I was in London I had suggested the common friends list indicator and am happy that it has been implemented finally weather or not it was due to my suggestion or not. The funny thing is when you are signed into your space and preview your space (i.e. not in edit mode) you can see that you have all your friends as common friends.

I don't like the way the description of lists have been taken off when you put the lists on the side columns. I think it should be up to the space owner to decide wether to remove the descriptions or not. The links have also become bold making it look ugly.

The third one wont make much difference but it can help you discover random spaces.

Do you know of any more? What do you think about this updates? Please comment....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:11:57 GMT

Zamar - Free online file conversion

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:58:17 GMT

Zamar lets you convert music, videos, pictures and documents into different file formats without having to download any software. It is free, quick and very easy to use.

It also lets you convert Office 2007 documents into different file formats. You don't have to sign up but if you do you get a bigger file upload capacity and save your converted files.

Click here to see all the different conversion types supported by Zamar.

One-Click Jailbreak for iPhone 1.1.3 Firmware

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:46:09 GMT

Lifehacker has a nice entry on how to unlock your iPhone and use it on any network you want.

Click here to read it.

Create .Gif images online

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:13:47 GMT

Sometimes you just need to do things on the run, and you just simply don’t have access to Photoshop, so that’s where a GIF animating site like Gickr can come in handy.

Via Mashable

Also...

Build your own attractive business cards online with free webapp Deyey. The site's built-in templates are attractive, simple to use, and easy to customize.

Via Lifehacker

Background Tables

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:19:44 GMT

You can use background tables in your blog entries to give it a different theme for the individual blog entry you want to publish, whether it is a poem or a small article.

For example:


	Hack MSN Spaces		A d3vmax tutorial Background Tables

To do this...

Click here to browse through the background database.
After selecting the one you like, click the corresponding code text file present next to it and download the file. Open the saved file and copy the entire HTML code. (See/click pictures below)

Now...

Create a new blog entry.

Press the <HTML> button present in the blog editing tools.

Paste the code you copied earlier. (Right click your mouse and select Paste from the drop down menu)

Press the <HTML> button again and you will see the background image with a your text here in a box. Click this portion and replace it with your own words/poem etc.

After you are done with making adjustments like font size and colour, publish your entry.

Repeat the above steps for different blog background tables.

Done!

Click here to see a tutorial on custom blog backgrounds.

A special thanks to Little Fish Big Pond for providing the backgrounds and the codes.

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MVP 2008

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:36:14 GMT

I got an email a few days back telling me I have been awarded the 2008 MVP award by Microsoft for my work on Windows Live Spaces. I had got the same award last year as well.

More info on the MVP awards...

Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts that represents the technical community's best and brightest, and they share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

I might be going to Seattle again for the MVP conference. :D

2008 kicking in...

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:57:12 GMT

Search your Blog

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:07:26 GMT

Click here to add the search gadget. With this gadget you or your visitors can search your blog, windows live spaces or the web. It also gives you the options of different themes.

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Split Personality

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:18:37 GMT

- hi - hi

- I have a split personality!

- I have one too! (wtf!)

Windows Live (MSN) Messenger on Spaces

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:10:46 GMT

Chat to Dev (When online)

You can embed Windows Live Messenger chat window into your website / Live Space and let anyone who’s visiting that page chat with you while you’re online on your Live Messenger.

"The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control lets people on the Web reach you in Messenger by showing your Messenger status on your web site, blog, or social networking profile. The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control runs in the browser and lets site visitors message you without installing Messenger first. The IM Control is supported in IE6, IE7, and Firefox 2.0 on Windows and Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS. The IM Control is supported in 32 languages."

To prevent IM spam (aka SPIM), there is a Human Interactive Proof (HIP) challenge before a conversation can be initiated from the Web. For users concerned about privacy and wondering if anyone can just copy & paste some HTML, change some values and then spam you from the Web…rest assured this has been considered. In order for your online presence to be detected or IM conversations begun from the Web, you first have to turn on this feature. Safe defaults and making sure our users are always in control of their Web experience is key. - Dare

To embed Live Messenger...

Update:

You can add the Windows Live Messenger chat window via a gadget. Click here to add one to your space.

------

(or)

Go to http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/websettings.aspx and sign in...
Then click on the Create HTML link as shown in the picture below:

Select the IM control type, and theme and you will notice an Iframe code is generated below
Copy this code (Highlight it, right click mouse, select copy)
Once you have copied this code, sign into your Live Spaces.

There are two ways to add this to your space..

HTML module
Via your blog entry

I recommend using the HTML module...

Add a Custom HTML module / Sandbox (Please read the HTML module tutorial to learn how to adjust its position, remove the title and add codes to it)
Please position the HTML module on your space where you would like to display your chat window and save the layout. (A centre position perhaps? )
Paste the code into the HTML module and press Publish / Save.
Your page will refresh and you will see the messenger.

But if you want to add this via a blog entry...

Create a new blog entry.
Press the <HTML> button present in the blog editing tools.
Press the <HTML> button again and you will see the messenger . Make adjustments like alignment, etc.
Publish your entry.

Done!

Preview your space and start chatting..

Note:- As far as I know, your email address is not visible to visitors.

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SeeqPod - Search Music, Create playlists, Embed Player

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:49:09 GMT

I must give it to the guys who developed SeeqPod. Their website loads fast. The search is easy and the creation of the playlist does not even require you to sign in, just drag & drop. Every time I use the service it never fails to amaze me.

SeeqPod searches the Internet for the song or video you like and gives you and option to drag it to a temporary playlist. Your songs play as soon as the loading is done (It is pretty quick). There are options for every song you put in the playlist and it gives you the URL of the song as well, you just cannot download (I suspect this is to save them from any lawsuits). You can then embed your playlist via a player they provide. More details below...

Go to http://www.seeqpod.com/music/
Search for any song or video you might want in the search bar.

Hover your mouse over the song you would like from the displayed search result and click on the green right arrow key that appears. You will notice that the songs jumps to the right and a playlist is created. It should start playing in a few moments... Should it not play due to some error in the hosting, try adding another song from the search result.
If you song is not found, they will put a notice up for it and will try to find it in a few hours or perhaps a day(s).

If you click on the TV icon found on every song in the playlist, it will attempt to find a video for that song.

If you want to play just one song on your space, add only one song to the playlist. If not carry out the steps above to add more songs. You can drag and drop any song in the playlist like you would do on your windows desktop. You can also drag songs from the search results into the playlist.
After you have added a few songs and seem to be satisfied with your playlist, it is time to get it onto your space or blog.
Under the Audio Player you will notice an Embed button. Click on it...

Select the type of player you want to embed on your blog from the given options and copy the embed code given.
After having copied the code...

Add the code to a HTML sandbox and after finalising the position and other attributes like disable border, etc. click on the Save button. Use this if you want to show the player on your front page at all times (recommended).

Add the code to a New blog entry via the HTML button and after making final adjustments, publish your blog entry.

Note:-

This player does not autostart. Anyone who can make changes to the embed code and manages to autostart the player with the playlist, please contact me or comment below. I have tried my best but I can't seem to auto start it. Many of you will be disappointed by this but you can still use this service to find songs quickly and using the URL displayed for the song, you can add this URL to your space media player and auto-play it from there. Again no playlist though :(

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Diwali and a Happy New Year

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:56:28 GMT

On the 9th of Nov. it was Diwali in India. It is one of the most celebrate and important festivals here and it's called the festival of lights. It is followed by the celebration of the New Year.

According to the Hindu calender, it is the start of the New Year today and the year is 2064. Although the Hindu calender is not followed much it is still kept in mind for festivals and other traditional ectivities.

Below are a few wpics of the fireworks I blasted yesterday an today.

Problem resolved : .Gif images

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:46:32 GMT

Many of you who had .gif images and banners complained that the transparent regions came up as ugly background after the recent spaces update. The problem has been resolved and you can put your shiny bling bling banners back up!

Some useful websites

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:51:50 GMT

Here are a few useful websites for this week...

Online Photo editing Services:

Both flauntR and FotoFlexer are online picture editing services. They are easy to use and if you want to quickly edit pictures on the fly you can do so. They keep adding new features as well. So if you remove red-eyes or crop a picture quickly try using these services. No software installation is required and if you do not have Photoshop or know how to use image editing software then this is a must! If someone is looking for a desktop photo-editing application try Paint.net, it is as good as Photoshop but free and has a lot of plug-ins.

Cheap phone service:

"Mobivox, a local number service for making free or cheap phone calls across the world,

Mobivox works by providing a local phone number in order to make calls from any phone. It costs about 2 cents to make calls across the globe. The service also offers group calling options, mobile-to-landline call transfer, and easy import options to add contacts from your address books on Skype, Outlook and Google." - Mashable

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