This day was part of the much larger, national Your Britain competition where the prizes are £10,000 and having the winning photo on Bing UK for a day. But, if you want to win you need to get a move on, the competition ends tomorrow.

Next, us bloggers we let loose around London to take photos putting our new found knowledge into practice. Like the main Your Britain competition which I have written about before there were 5 categories we could take pictures for Local Britain, Natural Britain, Britain at Night, Urban Britain and Secret Britain. I went off with these categories in mind, however Britain at Night proved to be troublesome at 2PM in a gloriously sunny London.

My Natural Britain entry was:

My Secret Britain entry was

For Urban Britain I entered three photos which were:

Sadly I didn’t win with any of my photos but then the winners’ photos were fantastic. You can see all the runners-up and winners’ photos on Facebook including one from Tom Warren of WinRumors. Despite not winning with any of my photos I did win a prize through my use of social media by checking in to the most locations, in fact it won me the “Overshare” badge.

However, I still hope to win using my photos in the main Your Britain competition which is open to all in the UK. The prize is £10,000 and the chance to have the winning photo on the Bing homepage for a day. I think its a great competition and have already entered it.

You can see all the photos I took last Saturday on SkyDrive.

Despite having snow yesterday I was unable to get any better photos to add to the collection.

However if you don’t like these pictures or want more festive wallpapers for your PC then Microsoft have provided some excellent theme packs for your Windows 7 PC.

If you want even more wallpapers for your PC and want them to be Microsoft focused then fear not as last year I made one wallpaper that should meet your needs. Right click and open in a new tab to see the full sized image.

I hope you like the festive snowflakes too.

I know it would be useful to have quick access to Windows Live Hotmail, Photos, SkyDrive and Office Web Apps. I also think that Microsoft will be positions devices as a major part of the Windows Live service around the launch of Windows Phone 7 and so for good measure I added that to the below image.

I’d also hope to see jump lists for individual Windows Live sites, such as on Hotmail having the quick options to compose a new email, add a new contact, view social emails and flagged ones etc. There could be be similar options for each pillar of Windows Live which would allow people to treat the websites more like applications, the whole point of the new IE9 functionality.

If rumours are to be believe then some time today, or later this week, Microsoft will make public a Release Candidate version of Windows Live, if this happens I wonder if the online side of Windows Live will also be updated with such things as tweaks to the Calendar and, perhaps, jump list support too.

It would also be nice to have jump lists on Zune.net.

At first this isn’t surprising considering how well Windows Phone 7 is too online service, being able to pull information from a number of service, but what is interesting is what is syncing the photo to SkyDrive. Now it could be that Windows Live Sync will be integrated to the new mobile OS which could explain the instantaneousness of the uploading and sharing of the photo. However Windows Live Sync only stores files in a special 2GB space in SkyDrive, this space is not for sharing files and is only for backing up files. It, therefore, doesn’t make sense for Windows Live Sync to upload the photo to SkyDrive as the photo would be stored in a section that doesn’t allow sharing with contacts, somewhat different from what Kostas said.

This may mean that Microsoft are planning to have a more functional, larger version of the 2GB space on SkyDrive come the Autumn, unlike the area of SkyDrive we can currently use that is less functional than the rest of SkyDrive. Or it could indicate a unified SkyDrive where SkyDrive isn’t limited by some arbitrary amount but instead works perfectly with the whole 25GB.

Or, in fact, it could prove to be something else entirely.

I’m sure you have all heard of the KIN phones from Microsoft and its shining feature KIN Studio which automatically uploads everything on the device to the cloud and allows users to access everything in the cloud with various ways of browsing the files such as on a map or in a timeline. Since the KIN Studio was demoed people have hoped there would be a similar service for Windows Phone 7, could Kostas have eluded to it?

Assuming for a minute that such a service will be available for Windows Phone 7 it sounds like it would use SkyDrive as the backend, does this mean there will be more features soon for SkyDrive that allow users to have a more KIN Studio-like experience when browsing their files and information. Would this be a UI/set of controls for the whole of SkyDrive or would it be another sectioned off area like Sync uses; Microsoft have shown they can change the features of SkyDrive for different sections already. Indeed could this point to a future where SkyDrive is not so much a single storage service in the cloud but actually a name for several online storages (I hope not).

And yet there is another option this could be. In the same way Windows Live Photos is able to upload photos to SkyDrive it could be that just for photos the phone uploads new photos to SkyDrive and nothing else.

Whatever Microsoft are planning and however its implemented it sounds like the My Phone service will be disappearing or getting a major update. The service uploads the content of a phone, such as photos, once a day to the cloud, however if the OS uploads content to the cloud immediately then there is no need for such a service. Also the way My Phone doesn’t use the storage of SkyDrive or integrate with other areas aspects of Windows Live is very annoying but it sounds like this problem could now be addressed.

I would hope Microsoft are planning to provide a KIN Studio like service for Windows Phone 7 whether that be through Windows Live Sync on the mobile device or some other implementation. What i don’t want to see though is another section of SkyDrive created, it could end up being like using various storage services which defeats the point of SkyDrive somewhat. Microsoft are on the verge of some killer synchronisation between PCs, mobile devices and the cloud but it remains to be seen if they can pull it off or if they let the Apple or Google do it first.

I still can’t wait for Windows Phone 7 and maybe after the rising number of complaints with the new iPhone more people may well be wanting the new devices than ever before.

The description of the app is:

Windows Live Messenger for iPhone and iPod Touch is the best way to connect with the people that matter most and keep up with the things they are doing across the web. Use your iPhone to instant message your friends list, view and comment on your friends’ photos and status updates from Windows Live, Facebook, and MySpace, and at a glance, see what your Messenger friends are sharing from Flickr, YouTube, and many other social and photo sharing sites. Make sure to visit http://profile.live.com/Services today and setup Windows Live to bring in your social networks. Messenger is simply the best way to connect with your closest friends.
Chat: Instant message with your Windows Live Messenger and Y! Messenger contacts on the go so you’re always connected to the people that matter most. You can even receive IM notifications when your app is closed so you never miss a message.
Social: Windows Live Messenger gives you one place to view the updates your Messenger friends are sharing from social networks like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and more, helping you cut through the clutter on the go.
Photos: Upload photos right from your phone to share your favorite moments with the people that matter most. Create albums, add captions, and let your friends and family comment on your photos.
Hotmail: Access your Hotmail account without leaving the app to read, reply to, and compose emails. Get email notifications within the application so you know when you have new messages.

Not owning an iOS device myself I have to rely on other people’s opinions about it and as far it looks good with a 5 star rating after 22 votes on the app information page. I hope you all enjoy using this app. You can download the app from iTunes.

Update: I have just received the official information about the Messenger App and a new picture from Microsoft. The official information is:

The Messenger iPhone app is free and includes many of the same rich Messenger features that you’d experience on a PC. With the app, users can:

• Instant Message with multiple friends, allowing users to view chat history, use emoticons, send a ‘nudge’ to a friend who isn’t responding, and share links and photos via Instant Message
• The app also includes push notification of new chats, so users can see when they receive a new IM when they’re not already interacting with the app
• Access their Hotmail account without leaving the app to read, reply to, and compose emails
• Receive email notifications within the application so users know when they have new messages
• View the updates your Messenger friends are sharing from social networks like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and more
• Upload photos right from your phone, allowing you to create albums, add captions, and let your friends and family comment on your photos

The URL for the download from iTunes on your PC is: http://itunes.com/apps/windowslivemessenger

Users can download from their iPhone by searching for “Windows Live Messenger” in the App Store

Here’s a picture of someone trying to contact a friend who isn’t in the Messenger app.

I then wondered if it was possible to change the theme of the Live suite of service with the new headers and it is.

I then wanted to check if the older part of the Windows Live suite would use one of the new headers…and found that my Windows Live Profile page had also updated to Windows Live Wave 4. Everything on this page appears to have been enabled including privacy controls and the Messenger Connect services.

I have now continued to check every Windows Live service and have found that Windows Live Home, SkyDrive, Photos and Groups have all been updated to Wave 4. Below you can see some of the image of the various updated services.

One other thing I have found is that the emails sent out from Windows Live Groups to notify the group owner that someone wants to join the group has received a make over.

This is great news and I now look forward to Windows Live Hotmail being updated and for the suite of applications to be made available for download, not long to go now. Despite not being able to view the new Contacts page it is possible to access the unified contacts list through the Bing search on most Windows Live pages, the search also allows searching of documents and the web.

One final thing I have seen is that I don’t think the Home page is compete yet, there appears to be a distinct lack of content on the right hand side.

You can find new features to applications and services in bold and my expectations and thoughts in italics.

Applications

Microsoft have focussed on refining the interface of many applications in Wave 4 by adding the Ribbon to the applications.

They are also working on separating Messenger from the rest of the Essentials suite, possibly because Messenger will become more than just an application but a platform for sharing and consuming content from across the web both on and offline.

New:

Messenger

Microsoft have provided lots of information about the new version of Messenger with videos and images, a full list of new features and more at http://www.windowslivepreview.com/messenger/.

The best features of Messenger Wave 4 are:

• Tabbed Conversations
  You can manage all your chats in one location so you can juggle multiple conversations in one place rather than having multiple windows popping up.
• High-definition video chat
  Meaningful conversations are enhanced by allowing you to see and hear your friends. The new Messenger now provides high-definition video chat, helping you experience video chats so you can share photos while chatting and see your friends’ reactions in real time and in full screen.
• Messenger for the Windows® Phone, iPhone and Blackberry
  Get the best mobile experience on these smartphones including access to all your contacts, seeing your social updates, starting a chat conversation, sharing photos and updating your status. Messenger often comes pre-installed on smartphones, but if it’s not on yours, just head over to the phone’s application marketplace.
• Ultimate Social Dashboard for Staying in Touch While Eliminating the Noise
  Because most people today use a variety of social networks and content sharing sites, with different sets of friends and acquaintances dispersed throughout these disparate networks, it can be challenging — and exhausting — to visit different websites and create different accounts just to keep abreast of your friends’ updates. But it isn’t just about bringing all that data together. What’s really valuable is helping you filter through the clutter and get to those updates you really care about — the ones from those people who you communicate with most frequently. There are a lot of intelligent algorithms and machine learning that can help in this, but we’ve found one of the best ways is to simply ask people. So, Windows Live Messenger will come right to the source — YOU — and ask you to specify your favorites.

And here’s a video showing some of the new features of Messenger in action.

I have had the fortune of using a version of Wave 4 Messenger and I have to say I found it very good. I was concerned that the “social” pane would take up too much room but I actually found it to be a very useful and efficient way to see what my contacts were up too. I can’t wait for Microsoft to release the final version of Messenger. 

Mail

Microsoft have yet to share with us publically anything about Mail but from the leaked version of Windows Live Essentials we do know that it will support Conversation View and flagging, just like the new Hotmail. The user interface has also been refined with the application now featuring the Ribbon interface and a few quick access functions such as the calendar down the right hand side of the program.

From a leaked document it is expected Microsoft will also point out these new features when they announce Windows Live Mail:

• Efficient inbox management tools
  Tools such as conversation threading give you the convenience of viewing your
  messages in the way that you choose. Quick views organize and find selected
  types of mail (unread mail from contacts only, flagged email, all mail across
  inboxes, etc.) across your email accounts, newsgroups and feeds.
• Slim Cal
  Instantly view your calendar without navigating away from the context
  of your inbox.
• Photo email
  Send photos in email without worrying about size restrictions. Add captions and
  layouts and edit your photos from within Windows Live Mail.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, like Hotmail, Mail features Active View which allows users to see videos, photo slideshows etc when there is a link embedded in an email without having to leave the email.

Writer

Writer has received the Ribbon makeover and fins its self with lots of great UI tweaks but nothing major to speak of.

Movie Maker

Similarly to Writer there don’t appear to be any major new features just tweaks and additional options to edit, save and upload finished movies.

Both Movie Maker and Photo Gallery will see Facial Recognition which allows Photo Gallery to find pictures that have people in them and deduce who is in those pictures based on whom you’ve tagged in the past. The more you tag, the smarter it gets! Tags made in Photo
Gallery travel with the photo wherever it goes, and any tags you or your friends
make on sites such as Facebook also sync back down to your Photo Gallery.

Photo Gallery

Like the other Essentials applications Photo Galley is now equipped with the Ribbon interface but this application also has a few new features such as allowing users to Geo-tag photos and easily share them on social networking sites.

Photo Gallery will also feature:

• Multitouch Support  Photos can be adjusted using touch on any touch-enabled Windows 7-based PC.
• Libraries support  Photo Gallery now supports Windows 7 Libraries so you don’t have to manually import photos and videos again, it’s all done automatically.
• Photo Fuse
  Allows you to take the best parts of multiple photos to combine them into one
  “perfect” photo with an easy-to-use editing tool.
• Retouch
  Whether it’s a blemish, scratch, bruise or stain, Photo Gallery’s Retouch feature
  enables you to make it look like it never happened, employing the same
  technology that professional agencies use to polish photos.

Interestingly Photo Gallery and Movie Maker look to be treated as a “double act” when installing them as you have to have both or neither of them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a single application in Wave 5 for these two application that would allow users to create, view and edit photos and movies.

Sync

Sync is getting a much more prominent position within the Windows Live family as it will be the new Live Mesh which will allow files and folders to be synced across multiple devices and the cloud, remote access and and for program settings to be shared across a user’s connected PCs.

The below text has come from, what is thought to be, the official information about Sync.

With Windows Live Sync, your photos, movies, music and other files are synchronized across your PCs, and they automatically remain updated with the latest changes so you have access to your most current stuff when you need it. Set up Remote Desktop through Windows Live Sync and you can access your PC when you’re away from it, from any internet-enabled computer.

And with Sync, you can share settings for your favorite programs across your PCs, so programs work the same way on every PC in your home.

Some of the major features of Sync are likely to be:

• Sync folders across all your PCs (and Macs)
  Windows Live Sync keeps your files and folders, such as Documents, Pictures and
  Music, in sync across your computers so you can work or play wherever you want.
  Update a file on one computer, and it will automatically sync to the rest. Once
  your folders are synchronized, your files are available even when you don’t have
  internet access.
• Remote Desktop
  Leave your PC online and you can access it from devices.live.com. Find your PC
  among the list of devices on the website, and click Connect to remotely control
  your PC.

New: It would seem that Sync will now use SkyDrive for the online storage aspect however it is thought that there will only be 2GB of storage and its unclear if it will integrate with other folders in SkyDrive.

New:

New: The remote desktop mode will look very similar to how it currently looks in Live Mesh, remote access will be accessed through the new Windows Live Devices service. The technologies of Live Mesh that were available through the Live Framework are thought to be forming a basis to the new Messenger Connect set of APIs.

I like the sound of Sync, I currently couldn’t live without Live Mesh and think it a great shame that nothing has happened with it for so long, however Sync looks set to trump in a few areas by being able to sync more than just files but also my settings on my PC. I hope this allows me to log into any PC which has Sync and quickly use applications that are configures to just the way I like them to be, something I have been waiting for for some time.

Companion

Companion is a brand new application to Windows Live but is only a small one that will make it easier for users to share online content with their friends from within their internet browser.

This piece of software looks to me to be like sharing something on Facebook but rather than having a share button on certain pages this will make it easy for any page to be shared. This application might actually be short lived if Messenger Connect takes off in the way I hope it will.

Bing Bar

Microsoft also plan to include the Bing Bar with the Windows Live installer which will allow people to keep an eye on their emails, the news and weather and other content quickly and easily.

I do not like toolbars in browsers and the Bing Bar hasn’t changed my opinion but I am aware that many other people do like this toolbar.

Services

Again with the services side of Windows Live Microsoft has worked hard on refining the user interface which now sees a revised, dynamic header with access to all the services and “glanceable”  information about new emails and contacts.

Hotmail

Microsoft have provided lots of information about the new version of Hotmail with videos and images, a full list of new features and more at http://www.windowslivepreview.com/hotmail/.

The best features of Messenger Wave 4 are:

• Conversation View
  We know how having a "conversation" with someone — or several people — via email over an extended period can leave pieces of that conversation haphazardly spread throughout the inbox in individual snippets. The new Hotmail brings all those snippets together so you can view the entire conversation in one place. (Note: Conversation view is an option that you can turn on or off because not everyone prefers to view their email in conversation view. This is flexibility that Gmail does not offer — Gmail has conversation threading permanently on — no way to turn it off, which many people told us they prefer.)
• Sweep 
  Finally a tool that makes it super easy to get rid of the junk mail cluttering up your inbox — the No. 1 email annoyance — at least according to the thousands of people we’ve asked. Sweep is a virtual broom that lets you super easily "sweep" the mail you don’t want out of your inbox into either folders or oblivion, leaving your inbox clean. We’ll even offer to auto-sweep email you don’t want or want archived in the future if you’d like. Just leave the box checked when we offer to do that for you. No need to set up and manage rules (unless you’d prefer to do that).
• Exchange instant messages and text messaging (SMS) with your Windows Live Messenger friends
  With the new Hotmail, you can see who’s online and chat with your Messenger friends or even send an SMS message to their phone — all without ever leaving your inbox.
• Send up to 10 GB of photos per message
  Send virtually all the photos you want to without having to worry about attachment limits or clogged inboxes, either at your end or on the recipient’s end. Hotmail works with Windows Live SkyDrive, your free online storage space from Windows Live, so you can send up to 200 photos of up to 50 MB each (10 GB total) in a single message. It’s as easy as sending regular attachments, but we give you the option of uploading them to SkyDrive. This means the people you’re sending photos to get an email containing a preview of the photos, along with links to launch a slide show or download the photos to their hard drives — all in a single .zip file instead of painstakingly downloading them individually. Or they can even import them straight into Windows Live Photo Gallery. Sharing lots of large photo attachments has never been more easy or painless.
• Exchange ActiveSync
  Hotmail supports push email on the web, PC and now on mobile phones. Using Exchange ActiveSync, available on nearly 300 million phones, with the new Hotmail you can not only seamlessly synchronize email between your phone and the web, but also synchronize your calendar and contacts. This is a significant improvement over IMAP alternatives that support sync’ing of email only (not calendar and contacts).

And here’s a video showing some of the new features of Hotmail in action.

Messenger

As I pointed out earlier Microsoft are keen to take Messenger to the cloud and this can easily be seen in the Messenger service. Messenger in the cloud appears to be very much like the Home page today with a refined Hotmail highlights section showing interesting emails grouped by filters, Messenger social which is the latest social news and information from a user’s connected services and a list of a user’s online Messenger contacts on the right hand side.

Just like the Messenger application it is possible to add comments to the social updates.

By hovering over the Messenger name in the header a drop down list appears with all the online contacts, a search box and a few links to other Windows Live services. One major thing with the contacts list with Wave 4 is that it is a unified contacts list made up of all the contacts in both Hotmail and Messenger but also all the friends a user has on Facebook, Zune Social etc just by connecting their profile with other “activities”. As seen in the below image the Web Messenger also supports tabbed conversations just like the application version.

I think the fact that Microsoft are taking Messenger to the browser in such a strong way will be great, the current implementation of Web Messenger is pitiful but useful. However by being able to access Messenger in any Windows Live service rather than just Hotmail will be great and by having Messenger more social in the browser as well as the application should make for a better experience wherever someone is. 

Photos

There doesn’t appear to be much changing with Photos in Wave 4 but it will be possible to watch videos in the service and not just photos.

Microsoft are also planning to tweak the great slideshow feature of Photos with controls in the top of slideshow to allow users to do more with the photo whilst viewing it. Another great feature of photo will be the ability to comment on a photo which will be seen on the service the photo has come from.

It doesn’t appear that Microsoft are planning to compete with YouTube with the addition of videos to the service but simply to just allow people to share and store their own personal videos. I think photos will now be appearing in Photos from across all the connected social networks providing users with a single place to view all their friends’ photos.

Office (formerly Docs)

Office is coming to Windows Live in a big way with a lot of integration across the service and the Office Web Apps. Users will be able to create Office documents by hovering over the Office section in the header and access their documents and groups. When creating a new Office document the corresponding Web App will launch that gives users a scaled back version of Office in their browser with only basic functionality, this document will then be saved on SkyDrive.

The Office page on Windows Live will allow users to access folders on their SkyDrive, quickly see recent documents, see what documents have been shared/edited by their contacts using a filtered Messenger Social feed and create new documents. Windows Live Office will also allow versioning support to allow users to quickly return to a previous version of a document.

Uploading documents will become easier than the current method as the uploader is going to be a Silverlight one which will allow it to be more functional and for it to work on a wider number of browsers.

Another way in which Office is being integrated with Windows Live is in Hotmail where users will be able to view and edit Office documents without having to have Office installed on their computer. By using the Active View in Hotmail it will be possible to quickly edit and save a document and then quickly return to the user’s inbox to reply to the original email containing the document with the newly edited one already embedded.

One final point to note is that Office Live Workspace will be moving to the new Windows Live Office service which should incorporate the Windows Live Groups seen in the list of items when hovering over the Office section in the header. 

I think the integration of the Office Web Apps in Windows Live could well be the most useful feature in the entire Wave 4 update, I can just see so many uses for it and know I could have used it before.

Groups

Windows Live Groups are being slightly repositioned within the suite of services to make it more focused on collaboration. At launch it appears that only the Office OneNote Web App will available for the group collaboration with more Web Apps added over time. The limit to how many people can be in a group Messenger conversation will be upped to 40.

Windows Live Groups are an alright part of Windows Live and that’s about it, there are some good aspects to them and some weak areas, I hope that these subtle changes will make them more useful and its likely more people will use them for the Office integration alone.

Other Services

Obviously there are other services to Windows Live however very little is known about how they are changing in the next update, we will just have to wait and see for those.

Misc

Branding

As I mentioned near the beginning of this post Microsoft seem to be differentiating Messenger from the rest of the Windows Live Essentials package and the same is true of Hotmail from the other Windows Live Services. The reasoning for this is unknown but I think Microsoft are keen to keep its most popular services separate from any negative perception of the other Windows Live offerings and to try and create well known brands (which they are already) that the rest of Windows Live can built around.

This is most obviously seen in the new logo for Hotmail, before Wave 4 Hotmail’s logo was the same as the Windows Live Mail.

Microsoft may be separating the branding of Messenger, Hotmail and Essentials because Essentials are released in versions where as (Web) Messenger and Hotmail can be updated whenever with no real versioning involved. It would then go some way to explain why Windows Live Essentials’ branding is though to carry a version number in the way of “2011”. Why 2011? I don’t know.

Some of the Application logos will be:

Icons for applications and services within the suite:

• Sync
  
• Devices
  
• Family Safety
  
• Groups
  
• Profile (Favicon)
  

Mobile

You are probably thinking this is all well and good for someone who is sitting in front of a monitor who has access to the web or is using a PC but know this, Microsoft haven’t forgotten those many, many mobile users. They plan to offer a Messenger application for the iPhone and iPod that, obviously, will allow users to chat with contacts but also browse photos shared on SkyDrive and allowing users to take, edit and upload a photo to share with their contacts.

Microsoft haven’t stopped there though as they have made mobile and touch friendly versions of many of their online services too.

Microsoft will also be providing a way to access documents on mobile devices as seen in the screenshot below.

Messenger Connect

Messenger Connect is perhaps the most intriguing part of Windows Live that Microsoft will be releasing this year. I’m not sure if its part of the Wave 4 update but it is being rolled out around the same time. Its Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Facebook and become a bigger player in the social web without competing with any service as it provides away for website developers to add Messenger functionality (contact lists, IMing and social interactions) to web pages.

New: I have been informed that Messenger Connect will be a rebranding of current Microsoft APIs with some extra new features, these APIs are going to be the Live Framework ones, the technologies of Live Mesh which were opened up to all to use.

An image of what is thought to be Messenger Connect in action.

I am very interested to see how this can and will be implemented across the web and if it really will be a compliment to current social networks and a true platform to share anything with anyone.

I am excited for the beta and roll out of the applications and services, there is just so much to look forward to in Windows Live Wave 4 and still we don’t know everything. Clearly this is, without doubt, the largest update to the Windows Live suite ever.

It depends how much new information there is about Windows Live as to whether or not I update this post or create an entirely new one. If you think I have missed any major news or features of Windows Live out from this article please let me know.

Thanks to many sites for the info and images including LiveSide.net, LiveSino.net, Neowin.net and @FMartin_MS

The Kin devices have taken the same approach as the Windows Phone 7 team in that they are making sure as many other Microsoft services are integrated into the device as possible such as the obvious ones Windows Live, Zune and Bing search. This is great to see and I only wish this had been done by more teams at Microsoft before 2010.

Windows Live

However I believe that with Windows Live there is more going on than meets the eye, its clear to see that its possible update one’s status or share a photo using Windows Live but its also possible to share videos on the service. Currently its not possible to watch videos online through Windows Live however it is expected that the Photos service will be expanded to allow the playback of videos stored online. There have been pictures of videos accessible through a new version of Windows Live Messenger and online. Windows Live ID is also the signin system used to collate a user’s social networks into a unified list through partnerships Microsoft has with social networks.

The Kin Studio service that backs up all the content from the Kin devices has been described as unlimited storage for the devices which sounds excellent and currently there is no service from Microsoft that offers that kind of storage solution. Live Mesh offers 5GBs and SkyDrive offers 25GBs, these services are not expected to merge when the Wave 4 update is released. However when I watched the Channel 9 video with a hands on of the Kin devices and Kin Studio it was said that “Windows Live storage” provides all the cloud storage for the service. To me this can only be SkyDrive, in which case Windows Live SkyDrive may not have a limit on storage come the Wave 4 update and possible feature some of the synching technology of Live Mesh, which will be great.

Lets not get our hopes up though, if SkyDrive does indeed get unlimited storage it might only be available to the Kin devices to store data in the cloud with no front end for consumers.

One final thing though is that Kin will be launching in the US in May, as I said currently video playback isn’t supported in Windows Live services so I guess there must be an update coming within the next month or so. One date that springs to mind is May 18th when it is thought Microsoft will release a beta version of the Essentials suite of Windows Live applications. this then could also be the release date of the Kin devices.

Zune

We have known that Zune will be coming to Windows Phone 7 but Kin will actually be the first “Zune Phone” with the ability for the Zune software to stream music using the phone’s network. I believe that if users want to watch videos from the Zune Marketplace then they need to sync them onto the device before hand rather than stream them.

Unlike Windows Phone 7 though the Kin devices wont require the Zune PC software to sync music and video to the device, because the data is synced to the cloud rather than a computer, instead using the Kin Studio to keep content up to date in the cloud and on the device.

Bing

Bing also makes an appearance on the devices as the only search provider in the dedicated search application on the device and the ability to use the full power of Bing to find things locally.

I find it interesting that search on the Kin devices has three separate screens to swipe through to chose which kind of search the user wants to do, whether it be on the device, on the net or locally. This is not as elegant as it could be, surely it would be better to have a single search screen and then swipe through the results, more the pivot UI seen on the Windows Phone 7 search.

As ever its great to see integration of Microsoft services in new products and I hope that update to the Windows Live service will be coming soon.

I think the reason we have heard so little about Windows Live Wave 4 is because aspects of the suite are closely related to Windows Mobile 7 and as such Microsoft are reluctant to talk about it until their new mobile OS has been announced and demonstrated. Below I discuss some of the ideas I have had in which Windows Live Wave 4 could, hopefully, integrate with Windows Mobile 7.

Windows Live Devices?

We know Microsoft will be adding a new service, Devices, to the suite when they release wave 4 which suggests to me that many different gadgets, possibly including TVs, will be able to link up to Windows Live. It is also possible that aspects of the devices can be controlled, in some way, through the service. Currently Windows Live links up well with Digital Photo Frames, through FrameIt, and I expect the devices service to incorporate them. It is also understood that Live Mesh will become part of the Windows Live family so we see a place to add computers and mobiles to the service just like in Live Mesh. Finally I both believe and hope that the Microsoft My Phone service will utilise the Live Mesh technology, therefore become a Windows Live service; which should reduce the replication of data, such as contacts (currently Windows Live and My Phone don’t use the same list of contacts). To that end Microsoft won’t want to show off Windows Live Wave 4 yet as it would show the level of integration of phone storage of future Windows Phones and Windows Live.

If Microsoft is serious about the cloud then this is something they really need to do, by combining all their online services into a single place with the ability to centrally control linked devices and their storage it will make using Windows Phones and Windows Live much simpler for consumers.

Windows Live only services on mobiles?

If we now look at Windows 7 we saw Microsoft remove many of the default applications like Mail and Calendar so the company couldn’t be sued for bundling applications with the OS. Now the only way to access similar applications from Microsoft is to download the Windows Live suite. Microsoft could well follow a similar idea with Windows Mobile, but not for fear of being sued. It makes more sense to me to have a single calendar accessible on any Microsoft platform, whether that is Windows, Windows Mobile or on the cloud; the same can be said for contacts, tasks and several other aspects of Microsoft services. Instead of Microsoft providing downloadable applications to access these services I expect they will embed them within the OS with mobile calendar being the Windows Live Calendar. Some people could be concerned with the integration then between Windows Mobile and Office Outlook, however through the merging of Office and Windows Live in the cloud, through Web Apps, I can see a closer integration between Windows Live and Office Outlook.

It makes sense for Microsoft to only provide highly integrated services on their phones which link up with the cloud services of Windows Live; for example I would love to be able to sync my Windows Live Calendar with the calendar on my Windows Phone (why this has not yet been done still amazes me).

Windows Live going Social?

From job postings we know Microsoft are aiming to make Windows Mobile social by integrating several Social Networks deep within the OS, this could indeed mean an expansion for Windows Live. Microsoft My Phone already allows sharing photos on several Social Networking Sites from within the service. If then, as I predict, My Phone becomes part of Windows Live Microsoft will be making their online suite of services even more social. It makes sense that Microsoft would use Windows Live as the platform to share content, for a start they already have a good Photo service which I expect to soon be joined by a Video service. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if we see the launch of a URL shortening service from Microsoft, probably along the lines of WinLi.ve. Messenger is one of the most used Instant Messaging services and if Microsoft were able to leverage those social interactions through more aspects of Windows Live they could stand to gain quite a lot. Again if Microsoft were to use Windows Live as the means of consumers sharing content to Social Networks then they wouldn’t want to show parts of Windows Live before Windows Mobile.

For me it would seem Microsoft is gearing Windows Live up to be a platform for sharing content, they already have a lot of websites partnered up to allow people to keep informed of “What Is New” with their contacts; it would therefore be logical for Microsoft to provide a means of reversing the exchange of information and allowing posting of information to those services via Windows Live.

I am really looking forward to information on both products from Microsoft and would hope my ideas would only scratch the surface of what Microsoft has really been up too. I guess we shan’t be hearing much with regards either of the products for over a month until the Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona on 15^th February; seems a long way off yet.