Betsynote: Not to be outdone, Beau realized his officemate Ajay would be having a birthday...but here's how Ajay tells it....

I’m Ajay, a graduate student from the Masters of Information Systems Management program at Carnegie Mellon; I’m a program manager intern working on Core search feature development.

 Apart from getting hands on with real product feature projects, playing with some fantastic technology, and rubbing shoulders with some really smart people, interns at Microsoft also learn to have fun at work.  It’s something I totally love about Microsoft compared to other big companies; everyone knows how to let their hair down once in a while.

Some of you may have seen what Beau’s friends and his friends and I did to his office, so today was my turn. As my birthday “Gift” they gave me my very own window office… built entirely of juice cans and cardboard boxes.

The cans were contributed by several interns (yes, we get free juice and soda, and we chug at least 4 a day). T hey made sure I had a comfortable place to sit, with a nice can hallway for those oh so important “hallway conversations.” I actually liked it so much I’m going to keep it for a while!

 Thanks a ton to Beau, Michael, Franz, Maggie, Jaidev, Dena, Mario, Josh and Yan. This rocks!!

Who says Microsoft is all work and no play?  :)

-- Ajay Nair, Program Manager Intern, Web Search

We’re excited to announce that Windows Live Toolbar is not only out of beta but also packed with new features to help you find precisely what you’re looking for, surf with powerful protection and personalize your experience on the Web. Since the toolbar is an add-in to the browser, these features are ubiquitously accessible from any web page. Our hope is that Windows Live Toolbar gives you a better overall Web search experience, so try us out and let us know what you think.

Smart Menu

Smart Menu enables immediate access to information about things you select on any Web page.

Whenever you highlight text that Smart Menu understands, a menu bar automatically displays near the highlighted text, providing you shortcuts to access maps, weather, stocks or web calling through Windows Live Messenger.

Because Smart Menu presents the information like an instant answer in a preview window, you don’t have to leave what you are doing to take advantage of this information.

For instance, recently I was trying  to find a hotel for my upcoming trip to Hawaii.  I get really annoyed when the Web site doesn’t provide a link to a map or the map ends up being hard to read.  With Smart Menu, I can highlight the address and get an instant map preview from Windows Live Local. Best of all, my favorite Windows Live Local features like zooming, continuous dragging, aerial vs. road view are all available within the mini-preview!  Without any extra clicks, I weeded out all the hotels that are far from the beach!

Maps

Another feature I enjoy using is the new Maps button on the Toolbar. It picks up multiple addresses on any Web page and lets you simultaneously map them all out on Windows Live Local.

 

As part of my ongoing hotel research, I visited a travel Web site to get hotel recommendations. In one click, I got the top 10 recommended hotels mapped as pushpins on Windows Live Local. No tedious copying and pasting! Again, hotels near the beach win!

 

Custom Buttons

Custom buttons let you personalize the toolbar with buttons about topics and Web sites you care about.  For example, to keep track of air fares, I have a custom button that keeps me informed of flight deals from top travel sites. I also have a button that keeps me up to date on movie news.

Here’s more on what’s so great about custom buttons:

• Powerful – you can define a button that searches one or more Web sites (using tabs from the toolbar in IE6 or IE7 tabs), navigates to favorite places on the Internet, or keeps you informed with headlines from your favorite sites through RSS.
• Simple - custom buttons are so easy to create that you can make one in minutes. It is based on a simple XML file coupled with a button icon. Check out dev.live.com for access to the SDK and more.
• Share-able – You have access to loads of useful buttons made and shared by other people from the new Windows Live Gallery or when you’re feeling really creative, you can upload your own custom buttons and share them with the world!

 

Smart Type

As you start typing in the new toolbar search box, you will notice suggestions of popular search terms so that you can more quickly and precisely find what you’re looking for.

 

I have also received some hotel recommendations from friends but as you can imagine, getting the spelling right for Hawaiian words is tough! With Smart Type, as I started typing in the toolbar search box, the recommendation for the Halekulani hotel came back in seconds. Bingo!

 

The Toolbar also offers you many options to collect organize and share the information you find on the Web. I can email a simple link to a friend. I can also use Onfolio, a new toolbar add-in that lets me easily save, organize and share my online research. Onfolio captures copies of pictures, text or Web pages to your PC for reliable access later. In my case, I am positive that once I share my hotel findings with my husband, he will just pick the cheapest hotel on the listJ.

 

There are tons of other improvements as well including the new One Care Advisor which helps you combat identify theft and keep your PC safe from viruses.

                                                 

With the new Windows Live Toolbar, I am practically jet set and ready to go on vacation!

 

On behalf of the entire toolbar team, I hope that you will find the new Windows Live Toolbar equally useful and enjoyable! Again, be sure to tell us what you think as we are always looking for your suggestions.

 

Denise Ho

Lead Program Manager, Windows Live Toolbar

I feel like I’m always expecting packages.  In fact, I have been receiving a steady stream of packages for the last five months because my husband and I are remodeling our 1930 house we recently purchased.

At first it was fun, kind of like having a birthday everyday -- but then it got challenging to keep track of everything that we had ordered.  Using the package tracking features on the various shipping companies’ websites became a tedious daily ritual. 

But, how cool is this?  I got to be part of solving my own problem through my work.  I am a Program Manager on Instant Answers and my team and I just finished developing a new Instant Answer that has since alleviated the annoyances of tracking all my packages.  Now I can go to MSN Search  to track packages from any of four providers, FedEx, DHL, UPS, and USPS.  I no longer have to navigate to four distinct sites and follow four processes to see the status of my packages. I can enter just a tracking ID or an ID and some other package tracking keywords, and the Package Tracking Instant Answer properly constructs the tracking link for me.  All I have to do is click the link and view the status.  WooHoo!  More time for Xbox 360 in the evenings! 

Here are a few examples of searches you can do on MSN Search to track your packages; just plug in your own IDs for the x’s:

Where is FedEx package xxxxxxxxxxxx?

Tracking status xxxxxxxxxxxx

DHL shipment xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Do you find this feature as useful as I do; try it out and let me know what you think.

--Jocelyn Dollar, Program Manager, Instant Answers

My name is Beau Hollis.  I’m a grad student at the University of Florida, and as of today, I’m 23 years old.  I’m a Program Manager Intern for Windows Live Search.  I help define the user experience for the Windows Live Search page.  I really love my job and my team, and of course, all the great friends I have made out here.  Speaking of my friends, they all collaborated to create the ultimate birthday office for me.

They didn’t want me to do any work on birthday, so they unplugged my computer and its many peripherals and wrapped them in foil along with pretty much everything else in my office.  The soda cans I did to myself (thanks Microsoft for free soda) but  the Dixie-cups full of diluted Cherry Coke were part of the “upgrade.”  

Special thanks to all the masterminds behind this makeover:  Ajay, Francisco, Maggie,  Dena, Jaidev, Michel, and Maribel.  You guys are great.

Beau