blending the mix

Steve picks out a great piece of work from Microsoft Live Search (MS are on a roll at the moment what with 5Gb SkyDrive and Surface!) which I feel compelled to share. Not because it is Steve or Microsoft, but because I think it looks at promoting search (and browser plugins which is something close to our heart at the moment!) in an entirely new way - and how timely.

(the introduction to the game)

Big Snap Search encourages you to install the Windows Live Search as your default browser search engine:

(adding Live Search to the browser toolbar enhances your chance of winning)

Quite simply, you stand a better chance of winning (i.e. matching a pair of cards) if you install Windows Live Search in your browser.

As we saw a couple of weeks ago, Firefox 3 will be focused on search - so if you aren’t part of a browser already, you stand little chance of being used. We already have dozens of search plugins for FF, Flock can detect a search engine on any page and asks you to add it, so how can MS claw back some of the lost ground if it can’t match Google on quality of search results? Be on more machines.

I can’t help thinking that I am being manipulated here, but have to give Microsoft 10 out of 10 for innovation. From all accounts, their ad team are developing some truly exciting ideas.

UK Windows Live Hotmail Product Manager Jo Wickremasinghe (god, I hope I got that right!) presented some of Microsoft’s latest developments regarding the addressing of spam and suggested what we as email marketing professionals can do ensure deliverability for our clients to Windows Live Hotmail (WLH) inboxes.

In short, Jo’s seminar was by far and away the most interesting (especially given the 60% market share WLH has!) so I have broken it down into smaller chunks.

Windows Live Hotmail:

• Hotmail is now 10 years old and has 11.9 million customers making it the largest web-based email service in the world.
• It accounts for 58% of all web-based email activity.
• WLH handles 5billion messages DAILY of which >80% comes form unknown sources (not necessarily spam, but otherwise unidentified sources like COMPANY YOU who may not have authenticated yourself with WLH).
• WLH handles 300 million active email inboxes
• >1million new IP’s identified daily
• <10% these IP’s are from recognised sources

WLH is strictly focusing on protecting the consumer - be aware. If you are not meeting their requirements, you WILL end up in the "bin".

Industry Lowlights:

• Spam + Fishing attacks are up 40% since 2006 (of which 80% is from bots).
• PDF, mp3 and image-based spam increased 30% since 2006.
• "Pump+Dump" stock-market spam actually affecting share prices and providing indirect financial rewards for spammer.
• Spammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated (and are great direct marketers).
• Big brands and governments are being hit hard.

Industry Highlights:

• Online travel activity has increased by 21% since 2006.
• Banking, despite phishing attacks, has enjoyed 27% growth.
• Increasing collaboration between ESP’s and legal organisations seeing more spammer being prosecuted. There have been 400+ legal actions since 2003.
• Reported online fraud has actually reduced by 10.6% compared to 2006.
• The reporting of fraudulent emails has also fallen by 50% since 2006 as a result of improved spam filters.

More later…

Just testing out Windows Live Writer for blog posts.

Awesome.

This is one serious piece of kit…just wonder if my friend Steve Clayton uses it…

My Sony laptop is on the verge of packing in, after years and years of (ab)use it is at death’s door.

The CD drive does not allow me to burn back-up discs anymore and it is pot luck as to whether or not it will work from one day to the next.

So, I am offering a unique opportunity to sponsor ME.

Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or indeed any company willing to provide me with a half-decent laptop will have their name mentioned as part of my email signature.

In ALL communications in which I participate and which requires me to use the laptop (pretty much all the time!), I will apply the following signature text for a full 12 months (and I WILL provide weekly evidence of this):

Paul Fabretti

Director

Written on an Apple Macbook Pro by Company X.

Or

"Written using the latest Dell Precision M90"

or whatever suits the company providing it! You get the picture!

I may even think about something that sounds good too!

I am a minimum 3-times a day, 3-blog blogger with a (growing) average 800 unique visitors per month (ok, not a lot but growing all the time!). I am an active member of linked-in, openbc, ecademy as well as the pinkomarketing wiki and google group.

I am also an eBay (UK) Gold Power seller. A link to the company providing my laptop will also be included in ALL my eBay auctions.

Some will no doubt snigger at the visitor numbers (and advertisers may balk at the numbers!) but I am an extremely active member of the communities in which I mix, and present you with an opportunity to touch business professionals deeper than any banner ad would.

If this is of interest to you and you would be able to provide me with a laptop, I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Tags: ebay, Dell, Apple, Macbook Pro, laptop, pinko marketing

Yes, you read right!

I have found a way of allowing those people who have not been lucky enough to receive an invite to get onto the Windows Live Mail Beta.

For every person who emails me and has also linked http://blendingthemix.com to their existing blog, I will email the Live Mail Beta insutrctions. (and believe me, they are very, very simple and work too!)

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, Live Mail Beta

The following link is a gadget for the Windows Live desktop: Google - MicrosoftGadgets.com.

Designed to incorporate all sorts of clever and useful productivity features, Microsoft hopes that the programing community (like the Firefox one) will create useful tools that will bring people flocking to use Windows Live as their new home page.

BUT, follow the comments down on the 6th most popular download and see the root of the problem:

Be warned…

This Google gadget encodes a publisher ID for the Google AdSense program. Look at what is “hidden” in this gadget:

This is a publisher ID so that the gadget publisher can share in the profits when you use it. It also embeds extra ads into your search results! I don’t think this is fair we weren’t told this up front by the gadget developer. You can read more about Google AdSense here: http://services.google.com/feedback/online_hws_feedback?client=pub-8209065128435831&hl=en

If your looking for an honest Google gadget, check Live Google Search v1.1 that has no hidden agenda. It simply directs you to the standard Google search URL recommended by Google.

The gadget designer has hidden his affiliate code into the gadget so that every use of the gadget will increase his likelihood of receiving Google Adsense income.

BUT, that is not all:

I was also a little disturbed, but not surprised, to discover the way your iTunes gadgets work. Instead of reading an RSS feed from Apple and directing the user to iTunes Music Store, the gadgets are simply iframes into http://www.ifindcds.com. When a user click on one of the links, it uses a URL from the domain http://click.linksynergy.com (which is really http://www.linkshare.com, a company that runs an affiliate marketing program).

Then there is your Amazon gadget. It’s sole purpose is to make money for you as well. Whenever anyone uses it to buy a product, you share in the profits (see the Amazon.com associate program for details).

He has done the same thing for an iTunes gadget as well as an Amazon gadget.

The very best feature (for me anyway) is being able to customise my desktop with gadgets to suit my own needs.

Unless everyone bothers to check the comments about a gadget, people like this are going to RUIN the credibility of the good, honest and useful gadgets that are out there which ultimately, will do nothing but destroy Windows Live

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, Microsoft, Google Adsense