marypcbuk: (Default)
2007-03-02 06:40 pm

i'm talking about charidee

If you're in the US and you use some species of Microsoft IM client and you don't mind it being Windows Live Messenger, your IMs could raise money for charities like Unicef, the Sierra Club, stopglobalwarming.org and six others. Microsoft is donating money from the ads on IM conversations, with a minimum $100,000 guaranteed donation to each of the nine organizations during the first year of the program. It's kind of viral charity marketing: instead of taking out ads, they're hoping that people will want to do some good and be won over by WLM enough to stick with it. Interesting model...

To get your IMs to count, click the link above or the button below to go to the site, tell them where you live and install WLM. Then choose Tools > Options and after putting your name in for My Display Name add one of these text codes to choose which organisation you want to get a share of the money from the ads you see.
*red+uAmerican Red Cross
*bgcaBoys & Girls Club
*nafNational AIDS Fund
*mssocNational Multiple Sclerosis Society
*9milninemillion.org
*sierraSierra Club
*helpStopGlobalWarming.org
*komenSusan G. Komen for the Cure
*unicefThe US fund for UNICEF

<a href="http://im.live.com/?source=WLM80x15"><img src="http://global.msads.net/ads/pronws/WLM.80x15.gif"><img src="http://microsoftwlmessengermkt.112.2o7.net/b/ss/mswlmmktdreamcom/1/H.9--NS/1?ns=microsoftwlmessengermkt&pageName=Module&c3=Module%20WLM80x15" width="0" height="0" border="0"/></a>
marypcbuk: (Default)
2006-06-26 09:10 pm

Talking to my PC: calling and recording

I've always been uncomfortable sitting at my desk, talking to my PC via a headset; it just hasn't felt like making a phone call unless I have a phone clutched in my hand or tucked under my jaw. While I'm sitting in the comfy chair with my leg up to rest my knee and working on a laptop (or two - I miss the multiscreen thing), I've found it much easier to use a headset with a mobile phone or the DECT phone from Simon's desk. I'm set up to record from the phone on my desk onto a tablet PC or a digital recorder, which doesn't work from the mobile phone. How could I get the recording and the headset to make it easier to take notes and record the interview I had to do today? Mark Anderson of SNS is one of the smart people I get to enjoy talking to and I didn't want to miss anything I couldn't type fast enough. And how could I keep the cost of a transatlantic call down? Simon suggested Skype, and the Skype voucher we'd picked up at a recent conference and the handy Skylook software he found which records to MP3 and saves the recordings as an Outlook message (and adds all the Skype dialling options to Outlook). At first I thought that was a bit gimicky and wished it recorded into OneNote. I'd still like to record it into OneNote but having it in Outlook and therefore on any PC I use will actually be pretty handy. And I'm very impressed with the sound quality - using the standard microphone socket on a Toshiba Portege R100, it's very clear and there were maybe two three-second sections of the conversation where I heard any distortion. I shall do this again. But I may not hand out my Skype numebr widely; I'd rather have a handset to pick up to see who's calling than a pop-up cluttering my screen.
marypcbuk: (Default)
2006-06-20 01:56 pm

Tacky tie-in or savvy marketing?

Captain Jack fans beware; it's probably not really him sending you an IM. And I don't know how long it will be before the 'exclusive film clip' you get by working through the Dead Man's Tale adventure in the new Windows Live Messenger shows up on YouTube. You can skip the chatty skull and crossbones and download backgrounds, photos and icons - allegedly somewhere on http://get.live.com/messenger/overview after you download the new version of Live Messenger. But it's nice to see a game that's designed to be played with the person you're in an IM with. And there are pictures of Captain Jack on http://www.deadmanstale.com to look at while you install the software.

mmm. Pirates.