Microsoft launched its official Windows Live Messenger app for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch in the US, Canada, UK and France. A free download from the App store, Windows Live Messenger for iPhone is a slim downed version of its Windows desktop big brother.

Sharing is caring

As soon as you launch the Windows Live Messenger iPhone App, you are able to update your status on Windows Live and see the “social updates” from your friends. You can easily send text, emoticons, nudges, URLs and even photos with your IM messages.

The Hotmail icon (to the right of the status update area) displays new unread email messages. A quick tap on the icon, takes you to the mobile web version of Hotmail within the app itself. The Social tab aggregates all of the activities from your friends. You can filter the content by clicking on “status messages” or “photos” just to see that content. Clicking on the Friends tab, displays the familiar view that Windows Live users will already be accustomed to.

Chatting with friends is easy, by selecting the Chats tab you can easily see the flow of conversation. Notice, the new emoticons.

One of the cool new features of the iPhone is app, is the ability to include photos in your status messages. Creating a photo status message from your iPhone is straightforward. Either, take a new picture with your phone, or select one from your local album. Alternatively, you can also pick a photo from your Windows SkyDrive, if you have photos stored there. You can add labels or add annotations to your photos and even “style” them with the included photo effects feature

The app also provides push notification alerts, even when the app is closed.

One of the other interesting features, is that the Live Messenger app supports Multiple Points of Presence (MPOP). This means, I can keep my desktop version of Windows Live open and the continue to chat with my friends on the phone app. Updates appear in real time on the desktop client app. As you can in the picture below, Windows Live Messenger also shows you all of the locations that you are signed into, and allows you to easily sign out of them.

Overall, Windows Live Messenger for iPhone is a strong release and has already replaced many of the 3^rd party services that I used previously to connect with friends on Windows Live.

Windows Live Messenger for the iPhone is available to download here

This was post was originally cross posted on liveside.net

Tom Davenport has posted a great little hack for finding discounts between 75-99% on Amazon.co.uk

The hack involves finding a number of “node codes” on the site. See below for instructions.

• Click on the store you want to buy from – for example, books.
• Look in the URL for the number that follows “node=”. Copy it. For books, this is “266239”.
• Paste this into your browser, replacing “number” with your five digit code:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/?node=number&pct-off=75-99

• The page that loads will show all the products in that category between a 75-99% discount. You can play with the discount range by adjusting the numbers 75 and 99.

Tom posted the following links below, which will take you straight to the discounts. Great find!

Books

Music

DVDs /  BluRays

Video Games & Hardware

Software

Home & Garden

“One of the things our grand children will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real.” – William Gibson

via Steve

Apple’s iTunes is the defacto standard application for syncing music to iPods on many PCs. As a result, many people also use iTunes to organise their music libraries, iPhone applications, podcasts etc. However, there is one big problem with the iTunesSetup.exe installation file. Apple have decided to bundle and install a number of other applications with the iTunes installation. The other applications include Bonjour, Mobile Me, Apple Application Support, Apple Mobile Device Support and Quicktime.

Many people do not want to install the other applications. However, Apple does not allow the option to install individual components. The good news, is that it very easy just to install the individual components that you want.

Firstly, you need to install Winrar. This application will allow you to ‘unpack’ your downloaded iTunesSetup.exe file. Locate your file, and right click on it. You will be presented with a number of menu options, select ‘Extract Here’.

Winrar will now extract the iTunes installation package and will reveal the individual MSI setup files. You can now double click on the iTunes.msi file to install iTunes without the other applications.

This post was originally made by Gizmodo. However, I have added some additional information to support the 10.6.2 update, which removes Intel’s Atom processor. All picture credits to Gizmodo.

This post walkthroughs the process of preparing Mac OS X Leopard, onto a USB memory stick. The USB memory stick can then be used to install Snow Leopard on the Dell Mini 10v netbook.

Prerequisites

• Dell Mini 10v.  It must be a 10v, not a regular Mini 10.

• BIOS version lower than A06 (A05, A04, A03 all work fine). Downgrade instructions are available here, though they require a Windows PC for creating a bootable DOS flash drive.

• Retail copy of OS X 10.6 (NOT an OEM copy that comes with a new Mac).

• An 8GB (or larger) USB flash drive, the faster the better. External HDDs will work too.

• A Mac with a working optical drive, for preparing your flash drive

• Netbook BootMaker and NetbookInstaller

Preparing Your Flash Drive

1. Insert your flash drive and OS X Retail install disk into your computer

2. Open Disk Utility (searching in Spotlight is the easiest way to find this)

3. Select your flash drive from the list on the left. Make sure to select the drive itself, not any partitions you may have written to it before.

4. In the right panel, select the "Partition" screen.

5. From the dropdown menu, select "1 Partition," then click "Options" below the partition map.

6. Select "Master Boot Record." This will ensure that your Mini 10v can boot from your flash drive. Select a name for your partition—doesn’t really matter what—and apply your changes. Keep in mind this will delete anything you have on your flash drive right now, so back it up if need be.

7. Once this is done, move from the "Partition" screen to the "Restore" screen in Disk Utility

8. For your Restore Source, select (by dragging) the OS X install disk from the left panel. Make sure this is the item called something to the effect of "Mac OS Install DVD," not "Optiarc DVD" or some other hardware title. For the destination, drag your newly-prepared partition over. Click restore.

9. Run the BootMaker app., select your OS X partition on the USB drive and select Prepare Boot Drive.

Installing OS X Snow Leopard

10. Jump into the BIOS, double-check to see if you have the right BIOS. As long as it’s lower than A06, you’re fine. If not, you will need to downgrade. See above.

11. With the arrow keys, cycle over to the "Advanced" screen, where you’ll see a list of options. USB BIOS Legacy support should be enabled, as should Bluetooth.

12. Now cycle over to the Boot screen., "USB Storage," and move it to the top by pressing the F6 key.

13. Once you’re done, press F10 to save and exit.

14. Ensure your power plug is connected to your computer and the USB stick is connected. All being well, you should see the screen below.

15. The first thing you need to do is format your hard disk. Bring up Disk Utility in the installer select it at the highest level possible. Go to "Partition" and make it a single Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition. Before hitting Apply, go to Options and select GUID Partition Table. Then hit apply.

Follow the usual OS X install instructions.

Updates

16.  Download  the Mac OS X v10.6.1 Update. After the installation reboot. Now, install the Mac OS X v10.6.2. Update – BUT DO NOT REBOOT!

17. Next download and install the latest version of Netbook Installer and reboot. The netbook should now reboot with the 10.6.2. update.

Odds and Ends

By and large, your install should work out of the box. Sleep, shutdown/startup, sound, keyboard shortcuts, battery indicators, and anything else you can think of should be present and at attention, barring one glaring flaw: the trackpad.

18. Go here, and download the attached trackpad driver.

19. Open Finder on your 10v, and press CMD+Shift+G (on this keyboard, that’s Alt+Shift+G.) In the box that comes up, typed "/Extra" and press enter.
This will bring you to a hidden folder. Copy the .kext file you’ve download into the Mini10vExt folder, making sure to back up the one you’re replacing.

Open Finder on your 10v, and press CMD+Shift+G (on this keyboard, that’s Alt+Shift+G.) In the box that comes up, typed "/Extra" and press enter.
This will bring you to a hidden folder. Copy the .kext file you’ve download into the Mini10vExt folder, making sure to back up the one you’re replacing.

20. Run the app in the "Extra" directory called UpdateExtra, which will alert OS X to the new drivers. Restart your computer.

Now you should be able to click and drag—the cursor should jump when your second finger makes contact. You should see, as you could before, a panel in the OS X preferences where you can adjust trackpad settings.  The only other issue you’re likely to run into is the occasional too-tall settings screen. Here‘s a clever virtual screen resolution workaround for that.

"Don’t do what you’re taught to do, do what you love to do". — David Foster

Having downloaded the latest distribution of Ubuntu – Karmic Koala a few week ago, I have invested considerable time in tweaking the best configuration for my needs. This, rather technical post lists a number of applications that I’m running on my Ubuntu laptop. I will add/remove applications over time, so this post is likely to be updated. I hope you find it useful.

Essentials

1. Install the Latest Updates

As with most modern operating systems, applying the latest updates should be top of the agenda list after installing Ubuntu.  This can be achieved in two ways, either click on System > Administration > Update Manager. Alternatively, launch a Terminal window and the choose  Applications > Accessories > Terminal.

Next enter in the following command:

sudo apt-get update

Enter your password if prompted. After the $ prompt, enter the following:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Enter Y if prompted to proceed.

2. Install Restricted Extras

Restricted updates contain a number of key enhancement to the system that Ubuntu are unable to ship as part of the distribution. However, there are key bits of software here including Adobe Flash Player, Java Runtime Environment (JRE) (sun-java-jre) with Firefox plug-ins (icedtea), a set of Microsoft Fonts (msttcorefonts), multimedia codecs (w32codecs or w64codecs), MP3-compatible encoding (lame), FFMpeg, extra Gstreamer codecs, the package for DVD decoding.

Enter the following Terminal command to install these extras:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Again, enter your system password if prompted. You may need to do this going forward after running each sudo command!

Security

3. Install a Firewall

Ubuntu isn’t prone to attacks as some other operating systems. However, I think it is worth installing nevertheless.

Enter the following Terminal command to install the firewall.

sudo apt-get install gufw

The firewall can be configured by navigating to System > Administration > Firewall Configuration

4. Antivirus

Generally speaking, Ubuntu users do not need install antivirus software. However, you can install the ClamTK Virus Scanner.

Enter the following Terminal command to install the client:

sudo apt-get install clamtk

5. Install Backup Software

Use the following Terminal command to install backup software

sudo apt-get install backintime-gnome

Media Players and Codecs

6. Media Player – VLC

Simply the best open source media player there is. It will play virtually any kind of media you can throw at it. 

Enter the following Terminal command to install VLC

sudo apt-get install vlc

7. MPlayer

Another great media player worth installing is MPlayer

sudo apt-get install mplayer smplayer

8. AmaroK

AmaroK integrates with Wikipedia, lyrics and album cover look-ups! It should also sync with your iPod too

sudo apt-get install amarok

9. DVD Playback

Most commercial DVDs are encrypted with Content Scrambling System (CSS), which attempts to restrict the software that can play a DVD. You’ll need to install libdvdcss if you want to play them. Type the following Terminal command:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

Then enter:

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

10. K9copy

K9copy is a free open source DVD backup, copying, compression, and authoring utility that requires libdvdcss.  You can easily create MPEG-2. MPEG-4, or DVD videos with this utility. To install it type:

sudo apt-get install k9copy

11. DVD::RIP

DVD::Rip is a DVD backup/copy program, written in GTK-based perl, that uses the transcode video/audio processing and conversion tools. To install it type:

sudo apt-get install dvdrip rar

MSN Messenger Client

12. Emesene 

Emesene is an MSN messenger client that uses a simplified interface similar to the original messenger client.  To install it type:

sudo apt-get install emesene

FTP Clients

13. Filezilla

Filezilla is the ubiquitous free open-source FTP client and server for all platforms.

sudo apt-get install filezilla

Microblogging

14. Gwibber

Gwibber is a small microblogging client for people who frequently use sites such as Twitter, Identi.ca, Jaiku, Facebook, Digg, and more.

sudo apt-get install gwibber

Utilities

15. Webcam

Cheese is an Apple Photobooth inspired application for taking pictures and videos from a webcam.

sudo apt-get install cheese

16. Compiz Fusion

Compiz Fusion allows you to use interesting desktop effects such as a rotating cube desktop.

sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-main\
compiz-fusion-plugins-extra emerald librsvg2-common fusion-icon

Run Applications > System Tools > Compiz Fusion Icon. A blue icon will appear in the tray. From here you can configure Compiz-Fusion.

17. Conky

Conky is a light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop.

sudo apt-get install conky

18. Screenlets

Screenlets are small applications that are laying on your desktop. Eye candy stuff and useful in many ways. Just type:

sudo apt-get install screenlets

Go to Applications > Accessories > Screenlets and choose the screenlet that you want click launch/add.

Additional screenlets can be downloaded from www.gnome-look.org or from http://screenlets.org/index.php/Category:UserScreenlets

Web Browsers

19. Google Chrome

To add the repository, open the source list :

sudo gedit  /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these 2 lines at the end of the sources.list

For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala :

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Open the terminal and add the GPG key

sudo  sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0xfbef0d696de1c72ba5a835fe5a9bf3bb4e5e17b5

Now update the cache

sudo apt-get update

Google Chrome can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Utilities

20. ntfs-3g

ntfs-3g allows you to read and write data to NTFS formatted drives and can be installing with the following command:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

Then type the following command:

gksu ntfs-config

21. Mount Windows Hard Drives on Startup

Mount your Windows HDD ‘s on Ubuntu startup with PySdm. You can install Pysdm with Ubuntu Software Center or with your terminal:

sudo apt-get install pysdm

Next run the app with

sudo pysdm

On the partition list you can found all of your hard drives. Click on the drive you want to mount, then on general preferences tab click Mount and apply. If the disks are not mounted on startup, start your Pysdm again and select Mount on startup options then apply. Be careful, don’t play with the rest options if you are not experienced user because you can damage your Ubuntu system.

22. Unrar

sudo apt-get -y install unrar 

23. Beagle

Similar to Google Desktop Search and Mac OS Spotlight, Beagle offers a great desktop search tool for Ubuntu, and can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt-get install -y beagle

24. Gnome Deskbar Applet

The Gnome Deskbar Applet is a cross between Spotlight and Quicksilver. Basically it’s a great app launcher and then some, with plugins designed to integrate more search options than you can shake a stick at, from live Google searches to integration with Beagle.

To use the Deskbar Applet, right-click the top panel and select Add to Panel… and find Deskbar Applet (incidentally, there are a lot of other great tools in the Add to Panel… dialog worth checking out). It’s no Quicksilver, but it’s better than any app launcher/search tool available on Windows.

apt-get install deskbar-applet

25. UNetbootin

Unetbootin allows you to install Ubuntu from a USB Drive. Install the app with the following command:

sudo apt-get install unetbootin

26. Search App Explanation

apt-cache search xxxxx     

(Where xxxxx is the name of app that you wish to learn more about).

27. Skype

sudo apt-get install skype

28. Clipboard

sudo apt-get install parcellite

29. Add/Remove App

The Add/Remove app is a great app for installing and removing applications. It can be easily installed, by following the instructions below:

Applications  > Ubuntu Software Center then search for “Add/Remove” without quotes. Double click on Add/Remove Applications and hit install

30. Wine (Windows Compatibility Layer) 

sudo apt-get install wine1.2

31. Adobe Air

sudo apt-get install adobeair1.2

Optionally, install the Twitter client Twhirl

sudo apt-get install twhirl

Blogging Clients

32. Lekhonee – A WordPress Client

sudo apt-get install lekhonee-gnome

ScreenSavers

33. Cool ScreenSavers

sudo apt-get install stellarium

Bittorrent

34. Bitorrent Client

sudo apt-get install deluge

Sun Java

35. Java Client

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin

Email Readers

36. Thunderbird

Thunderbird from Mozilla is one of the best email client applications available, it can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Virtualisation

37. Sun’s Virtualbox

Sun’s Virtualbox offers free virtualisation software. Install the latest build below

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Themes

To add the repository, open the source list :

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these 2 lines at the end of the sources.list

For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala :

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Open the terminal and add the repository verification key server

gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:11371 --recv-key 

881574DE && gpg -a --export 881574DE | sudo apt-key add -

Now update the cache

sudo apt-get update

Type in the following commands to install the required themes:

sudo apt-get install balanzan-theme

sudo apt-get install infinity-theme

sudo apt-get install wild-shine-theme 

sudo apt-get install exotic-theme

sudo apt-get install tropical-theme 

sudo apt-get install bamboo-zen-theme

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-sunrise-theme 

sudo apt-get install aquadreams-theme 

To remove the themes you have just installed, use the command :

sudo apt-get remove “theme-name” 

Apple removed Atom processor support in the latest update to Snow Leopard – 10.6.2. This prevents the MSI Wind hackintosh to update correctly. However, by following the instructions below, you can easily enable 10.6.2 support.

1. Download the 10.6.2 update from Apple’s download site.

2. Before running the update, launch Terminal and type in the following command:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel_10_6_1

3. Now, run the installer, but DO NOT restart

4. Next, type the following commands into the Terminal:

sudo cp /mach_kernel /mach_kernel_10_6_2


sudo cp /mach_kernel_10_6_1 /mach_kernel

5. Finally, launch any tools you need to patch your ktexts (if needed).

6. Restart Snow Leopard.

"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel". – Maya Angelou

An excellent post here by Brett and a feeling that resonates very deeply within me. Over the last twelve months, I have noticed a significant increase in the number of individuals referring to themselves as “Social Media Consultants” or “Socail Media Specialists”. Many people seem to think that rebranding themselves as a social media guru is a fast and easy to make a lot of money. It certainly is not.

Just because you manage your own social networking profiles, surely it is the same deal to manage the social profiles for a business isn’t it? It certainly is not.

Working professionally within social media, is by far one of the most demanding and stressful jobs in the world. What most social media consultants earn in relation for all the hours and effort they put in, is very small compared to many other professions. Brett presents a perfectly position 12 reasons why being a social media consultants sucks.

1. The pace can be overwhelming. Your social media knowledge, your connections, and your published content all quickly become obsolete – and constantly need upgrading. If you get slightly unplugged for even a month or two, by accident or by choice, you’ll have missed out on some fairly major developments… and you’ll have to scramble to keep up.
2. Social media friendships can be demanding. The larger you grow your network and the more online presence you have, the more well-meaning people will randomly request and demand things of you. You’re hit with more emails, more interview requests, more offers to get together pick your brain for the price of a coffee, more stories to vote on, more mindless chit chat to respond to – or else people will feel snubbed.
3. Success is ephemeral. You can be rocking the socks off of the social media world and cranking out the content and new connections like an Uzi – but the second you take your finger off the mouse trigger, people will forget about you pretty quickly. They’re all after the new guy, the new site and the new trend.
4. It’s very competitive and there’s no barrier to entry. Every man, woman, and child with a Facebook account is now a social media consultant. No matter how much time and effort you put into researching your technique, content and presentations – you will still be competing for gigs against the hot girl with 6 months experience or the “Senior Social Media Manager” at some big company with 39 friends. Even if you’re honest and straightforward about the extent of your knowledge (or lack thereof), you’ll still have to compete with sales hustlers and shameless self-promoters who might not be.
5. It requires lots of unpaid overtime. Social media is really fun and glamorous when it’s just for kicks, but it can to feel a lot different when you’re “working it” on the other side of the bar. In addition to spending 30 to 40 hours a week on profit-producing business development and client contract tasks – I usually spend an additional 30 to 40 hours writing content, managing my blog and responding to comments, reading RSS feeds and commenting, building accounts, helping with my friends / connections, following links on Twitter. When you’re feeling it, it’s still fun, but when you’re not – it can feel like a grueling overtime burden that eats into your nights, weekends and your business workday.
6. Some people expect you to know everything. No matter how intensely you study and practice your social media skills, clients will need help or guidance in areas that you just don’t know anything about. If you are honest about what you don’t know – some clients will think less of you, and will look for an full-service “agency” who claims to know about “everything.”
7. Egotism is rampant. Independent social media consulting requires that you build up a strong “personal brand” – or professional superego. The emphasis on status, self-promotion and cult-of-personality brings out the ‘worst’ and most self-serving parts of some people. I’ve met some snobs, hob nobs, and megalomaniacs who would probably feel more at home at coke parties, socialite society balls, or on American Idol – had they not discovered social media.
8. Social media is unpredictable. No matter how good of advice you give, or how much time you put into content or a campaign – sometimes it just doesn’t catch on. This can leave you biting your nails and leave the client doubting your skills. A designer can guarantee they will deliver 3 design proofs within 30 days – but a social media consultant CANNOT guarantee even the best content or ideas will be well received by the community. The volatile nature and fickleness of the community cause a lot of stress and pressure to work overtime when something doesn’t “catch on.”
9. The pressure to “sell out” is intense. At the low end, there’s tons of cool companies and people who need help – with $500 budgets. But the ones willing to pay good money to consultants are usually huge corporations. Sometimes, but not always, they have uncool products and services that aren’t a natural fit for social media – but they’re hungry for a way to ‘leverage the new media trends for profit.’ Consultants need to get paid – and it can cause both parties to ‘fall in love’ based on incompatible needs – and end up in awkward, uncomfortable professional relationships.
10. The pressure to “have no life” is relentless. Working non-stop through evenings, weekends, holidays and the wee twilight hours are all fair game – if you want to even try to keep up with the rockstars on Twitter and the digerati on Digg. If you are determined to keep your work contained within a normal workday or workweek – you may find yourself at a huge competitive disadvantage because many of your peers are willing work much, much more.
11. Clients want results, not strategy. In theory, you can just offer people “consulting” or advice. But to keep clients paying each month, they usually have to see successful results. This often can’t be outsourced or whipped up – it often requires the client’s full, active participation and willingness to change their business culture. Many of them aren’t willing to actually follow the only strategy (involvement and active participation) that will likely provide them with the results they want. Catch-22.
12. You can never stop hustling. No matter what level you make it too, you can never kick back and coast along – earning passive income as a consultant. If you’re not hustling and making enough noise that people don’t forget about you – you’re not getting paid and you’re sinking. If you’re a natural-born power networker this can be exciting – but it can quickly get fatiguing for some personality types.

Social Media Consulting is Hard, Hard Work

There are some incredibly hardworking, almost superhuman people who have made a good name for themselves and provide excellent value as social media consultants. Who have set things up so they make good money without being on a hamster wheel 24/7.

But for every one of them – there are dozens of people who will try, fail and get ground into dust by the intense pressures and unique challenges that new media presents. I think there are a lot of ways to make a living with your passion for social media – but the consulting model is one of the most demanding, least stable and least lucrative ways. It can be a lot less glamorous than it may seem from the outside – so go into it with open eyes. And make sure you really, really love the extra hustle that that social media adds to the networking and self-promotion demands that all types consultants face.