WLM 8.0 [updated]

//Updated and edited

Did you really think that I would waste my time writing "Windows Live Messenger" in the title? :D
Well, so MSN Messenger 7.5's replacement has been released today. And with a new name - Windows Live Messenger. "This is the same Messenger you know and love, only better," says Microsoft. I wanted to try it out.
I knew that it was being released today, so I headed off to the download site to get it. And god! it was one heck of a download at 14.6 MB!! I mean, v7.5 was no more than 8 megs, but fourteen! Anyhow, with a not-so-very slow ADSL connection, it downloaded pretty fast, starting at this speed:

So, well then, I proceeded to install it. The first thing was that they had changed all the Messenger logos in the installer (you see, having never tried the beta version, everything was new to me). After that, you notice that all the systray icons have changed too, for glossy, somewhat better ones. The login page no longer sports the display picture (at least, not for me, it didn't). The entire blue look of the old messenger (starting from v6 I think) has given way to a new, cleaner, streamlined Vista-like feel - and I like it!

The Login Page

The Main Window

There are many new features, too, like making phone calls (think Skype and Google talk). But as far as I gathered, I have the non-US edition (at least that's what the installer said) - I'm assuming phone calls 'n' stuff is only in the US. Then there's shared folders (share a folder with your contact), Offline chatting (not tried it yet :) ), and more. You can even search your contact list, and even change the color scheme of the main window, to suit your mood or visual style. Oh yeah, and it creates a new group called "Non Instant-Messaging Contacts", which contains all your hotmail contacts.

Get it now: Windows Live Messenger 8.0

Update: I tried out the offline chatting thing....it's pretty nifty - contacts recieve the messages when they sign in; that's pretty useful, especially if your connection gets disrupted or something. But I don't know if it's backward compatible.
Update: Soon, we'll be able to chat with Yahoo users on Windows Live Messenger!

-- Sahil

Artemis Fowl - The Lost Colony

The fifth book in the series due to release in September!

Ten thousand years ago, humans and fairies fought a great battle for the magical island of Ireland. When it became clear to the fairy families that they could never win, they decided to move their civilisation underground and keep themselves hidden from the humans. All the fairy families agreed on this, except the eighth family, the demons.

The demons planned to lift their small island out of time until they had regrouped and were ready to wage war on the humans once more. However, the time spell went wrong, and the island of Hybras was catapulted into Limbo, where it has remained for ten thousand years.

Now, the tainted time spell is deteriorating and demons are being sucked back into the present space and time. The fairy Council are naturally concerned about this and are monitoring any materialisations. When the spell's deterioration accelerates, the materialisations become unpredictable. Even the fairy scientists cannot figure out where the next demon will pop up.

But someone can. Artemis Fowl, the teenage criminal mastermind, has solved temporal equations that no normal human should be intelligent enough to understand. But Artemis Fowl is no normal human.

So when a confused and frightened demon pops up in a Sicilian theatre, Artemis Fowl is there to meet him. Unfortunately, he is not the only one. A second, mysterious party has also solved the temporal equations, and manages to abduct the demon before Artemis can secure him.

This is a disaster for the fairy People, because this demon was no ordinary fairy. He was the last demon warlock, and as such held the key to the survival of the entire demon race.

It is up to Artemis and his old comrade Captain Holly Short to track down the missing demon and rescue him before the time spell dissolves completely and the lost demon colony returns violently to Earth.

//Update - Check out all this and more about Eoin Colfer's new book Half-Moon Investigations at http://www.eoincolfer.com

Aha!

So, finally, I've succumbed to my wish of having a personal blog. I mean to say, I'm part of a team blog too, but, like you know, there are some things which one can't go about writing on a blog like that. Well, for your information, this ain't my first personal blog either, but it is the one I intend to continue with (unlike the other ones I ditched :D ).
Normally, a person would put some stuff about himself in a first post, but I hate "About Me"s so I'm not gonna do it. I just can never think of something to say for a thing like that (see my profile to get what I mean :) ).

So keep checking for updates - Subscribe to my feed (the link is in the sidebar too)
The design of this blog I've made myself, but it isn't even near completion - I'm feeling a bit lazy as of now - I guess I'll complete it sometime soon. The shoutbox needs to be done, the item page stuff needs to be changed, etc, etc......