So there was a massive physics test today. It had a feeling it would be bad the night before. First I dreamed I was running in front of a train, and I got run over. Then I had a different dream - I was being pulled down a staircase by people. Then next dream - me running a race and losing. Yeah. Great way to start test day.But anyway.

Just took the test a while ago. Halfway through, the fire alarm rings. Wow. We all go outside, and for the next 30 minutes the test is interrupted. When all is said and done, the test will go through but with easier grading. Craziness.

Remember when I decided that Google Lively was plain useless? Guess everyone else though so too, since it's going to be discontinued by the end of the year.

If you haven't already, go to LiveSide.net and check out all of the awesome new Wave 3 services about to be released. The coolest new feature is definitely the integration of feeds, which pretty much one ups friendfeed. I'm predicting an imminent death for friendfeed because of this. Plus it looks like pretty much everything is getting a huge overhaul, and there will finally be some consistency! The only thing I'm disappointed about is that Spaces is no longer going to be a social network, as it definitely has the potential, but as a blogging platform, I guess it's not terrible.

So I decide to try out the Zune software, since my friend, who normally doesn't care about computers much was raving about how awesome it was. And lo and behold, he is correct! It's freaking awesome! The normally Microsoft critical reviews were spot on when they said it was awesome.

The style of the software is very nice, with wonderful color scheme and minimalist design. The fades add a very polished feel to it as well. The only minor irritation is the fact that I have to access by zune.net page through a browser rather than through the software, so I have to jump around a bit. The Zune software is great, and I wish I had tried it earlier. The concept is also pretty neat in that I can see what my friends and listening too and whatnot.

Well... I have no friends in the "social" right now, so maybe somebody friend me? My ZunePass is crest1nd , because somebody took "crestind". You'll get to see my eclectic music tastes, ranging from Carmina Burana to Get Like Me . Long day of fixing the sinking sprinkler system, tired, out.

A bunch of great Live services that disappeared off the face of the internets.

Live 411
A great service, acquired by Microsoft way back. I actually use it pretty often, since my phone service has no internet. Now... hardly anybody even knows about this great service. There's no link on any of the Live websites to this at all, a pity. At least Google has a link to GOOG411 in their all services category.

Live Foldershare
Also acquired a while back... now it's also lost in the depths. However, this is pretty much Live Mesh so I guess Foldershare becomes irrelevant.

Live Search Books
Microsoft decided there was no money in scanning books... and discontinues a great service. Next thing you know, Google has worked out a revenue sharing model for its book search.

Live Search Farecast?
Random service which doesn't really seem to fit in with "search". Now... no updates really.

And... confusion reigns - 1, 2, 3, 4. 4 different pages with different products listed, linking to each other. If I had never heard of Windows Live, I'd be pretty confused. Not a link to Hotmail Plus in sight.

Oh, and today's Live homepage is breathtaking... wish I was there. "Beg, borrow, or steal – it's worth it for this kind of scenery" says the hotspot. Or... work really hard

Sweet! I finally got the new Hotmail, and it is great!

First off, it does seem significantly faster, and it is not just a placebo effect. Everything loads a bit snappier than before. The design is also great - very light, airy and minimalist (as well as blindingly white), which really helps you focus on the content better when compared to the previous blue bar. The contact list is also greatly improved thanks to better sorting options and permissions viewing.

There's been a great deal of complaint on the Hotmail Live Space about folder problems or stuff like that, but everything is working great for me! Only a few things I don't like - it still uses the ugly Windows XP favicon, the dropdown menu has no shadow (inconsistent...) and the lack of icons makes everything take a split second longer than usual. I also wish it would autorefresh the inbox like Gmail.

Not all the Wave 3 services are complete, and already there are inconsistencies everywhere. Different headers, search bars with different icons and font styles, different title tag naming schemes and different footers... wonderful. Let's see the dropdown menu - one says "Family Safety", another says "Safety". One says "Xbox", one says "Xbox LIVE".

Windows Live Admin Center
Downloads - Windows Live



However, Windows Live Admin Center is great. I had never really tried it out until today, and if you have a website, it's really worth taking a look. I especially like the open membership feature.

Going back to this comic. The title is "Take the Tightrope". It says that if you don't have any of the other characteristics, be courageous and make the leap. But the problem is, what is courage? How can the person taking the tightrope know whether it is courage or stupid or insanity? Or is it that courage is having the belief to do what others may think is completely insane or stupid.