It’s been a while since I revisited the Google Wave sandbox after I first got access. At that time, it didn’t even render correctly in IE8, no matter which rendering mode I use (IE8, IE8 compatibility, IE7). It’s good to remember that Wave is not officially supported in IE8, just like how Silverlight is not officially supported in Chrome, but works.
The browser you’re using is currently unsupported.
We recommend using one of the following browsers for the desktop client:
- Google Chrome or Chromium
- Firefox 3.0+
- Safari 3.0+
But now, it renders correctly in IE8 compatibility view (IE8 standards)! And the interface is just as slow as rendering in Firefox 3.5, if not slower.
A large screenshot is after the break!
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Just got this email announcing discontinuation of Popfly:
I’m writing to thank you for registering and using Microsoft Popfly. I’ve been fortunate enough to see all the innovative mashups, Web pages, and games created by the Popfly community since we launched Popfly two years ago. It has truly been a pleasure to watch the spirit of creativity flow through a growing Popfly community over the life of the product.
It’s with a heavy heart that I share some news with you today: on August 24, 2009, the Popfly service will be discontinued and all sites, references, and resources will be taken down.
After August 24th, your access to your Popfly account, including any games and mashups that you’ve created, will be discontinued. However, Microsoft is still very much dedicated to helping you express your creativity and pursuing a path to software development. If you’re interested in refining your skills in Web applications, please visit Microsoft Web Platform Installer. For those interested in programming on the Xbox, then please visit Microsoft XNA or Microsoft Kodu. And for those who are interested in Windows programming, please visit Microsoft Express.
Thanks again for your support and please don’t hesitate to contact us at popfly@microsoft.com if you have any questions.
Regards,
John Montgomery
for the Popfly Team
Goodbye to Popfly!
In response to the mounting questions about the new hosted Exchange services, a new website has been launched at http://outlookliveanswers.com/ to support your everyday email.
Already, it answers a range of questions from “What is Outlook Live?†all the way to synchronising contacts with other Live services. I think this site will be welcomed by many students, especially those who are a little more technically inclined. It even tells you how not to use the Outlook Live web interface, and fall back to POP and IMAP mail access.
It looks like that this website is intended to be a specialised community revolving around solving issues and problems with Outlook Live. A feature many would find welcome is the service availability status, which we hope would remain green most of the time.
Bing, the new rebranded Live Search, has just been made available to public. The first thing I’d want to do is to make this the default search provider in Internet Explorer 8.
Searching www.ieaddons.com, I couldn’t find the Bing search provider! But not to worry, they’ve made it just too easy to make your own search provider. Head along to http://www.ieaddons.com/en/createsearch.aspx and follow the instructions!
Essentially, it involves:
- Search for “TEST†(capital letters) using Bing
- Copy the URL of the first page after you made the search
- Paste that into the search provider creator, give it a name and click install!
Update: As pointed out, this method doesn’t give you search suggestions. As a quick hack to give the impression of Bing suggestions, we can add Live Search suggestions to this accelerator.
I really wish I could add javascript to this blog so that you can just click a button to add the search provider to IE8, but unfortunately hosted WordPress won’t let me. It won’t even let me upload an .xml file! So I’ve included after the break the Open Search Description file that would give you that.
Just create a new XML file Bing.xml, and host that up on your favourite web server. Then create a shell HTML file that calls a javascript function to add this as shown.
Update: Head along to Mozilla Addons, where Long‘s made the Bing search provider available for download. Even though it’s meant for Firefox, it’s based on the same open standard (open search description) so it’s the same. The “Download Now” link works in IE8 too!
Update: Get the addon now at ieaddons.com! It now uses the search suggestions from Bing rather than from Live Search.
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Windows 7 RC is finally available for download! It’s still free at this stage so this is the perfect opportunity to play with the latest version of Windows.
Unfortunately, Microsoft’s FAQ answers “Will I get a free copy of Windows 7 once it’s released for volunteering to test the Windows 7 RC?†– “Sorry, no.â€
Anyway, we should see if we can knock down Microsoft’s servers again by having everyone download at once, just like with the beta. 
Software | Edmund Tse | 
17 Jul 2009 11:33 | 
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