So I’ve been receiving quite a bit of mail lately, asking whether Twessenger works with the latest Windows Live Messenger 2009 Beta. The short answer, unfortunately, is – no, it doesn’t.

The latest Messenger beta build introduced a number of major changes, including what appears to be the removal of the “Shared Folders” feature and the official “add-ins” API. As you might imagine, Twessenger relied on this API in order to hook into the application.

I haven’t had the time to dig deeper to figure out if there’s anything I can do to work around this, but the odds of a fix coming anytime soon, if ever, are very low at this point. I’m going to steer away from attempting to use undocumented and unofficial methods because they’re bound to break with any future Messenger updates, and I really don’t have the time to provide support and write patches.

I’m sorry if this answer is a let-down for you. I hope that someone out there can provide a working solution that you can migrate over to soon. Thanks for all the feedback and kind words that many of you sent in during Twessenger’s lifetime. It was fun while it lasted. :)

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Twessenger 2.0 is here!

So what’s new?

• More reliable: Completely re-written from scratch to use the latest Twitter API.
• Easier to set up: Just install, enable the plugin, and enter your Twitter username. You no longer need to search for your numeric Twitter ID.
• New options: You can now change the update interval, and choose to ignore all Twitter replies – i.e. messages beginning with @
• Automatic update notifications: Twessenger 2.0 will automatically notify you when new versions are available!

Download: Twessenger 2.0

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If you’re a Firefox user, and you haven’t tried out Firefox 3 yet, you’re missing out on some genuinely awesome features. I’ve been testing it since the early beta bits were available, but I think that the recently released RC2 build is stable enough for anyone to use.

If you’re still hesitant, watch this screencast by Mozilla’s Mike Beltzner, in which he introduces some of the major new features; you’re bound to be impressed.

If I had to pick my favorite feature, it would have to be the revamped address bar (check out the screencast to see it in action), but I also like the integrated add-on manager, and pause/resume support in the new download manager.

Vista users – install the Glasser extension to enable the Aero Glass effect on the browser chrome. Now you’ve got a browser that fits in much better, visually, with the rest of the system. :)

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It’s not the car you idolized as a kid.
It never made your bedroom wall, or high school locker.
And there were no 1/18th scale models of it on your shelf.

Because it didn’t exist.

The Audi R8 – Revise your list of dream cars.

Consider that list revised! Move over, Ferraris, Lambos, and Porsches; we have a new winner. In fact, I feel a sudden, strong urge to save up $100K, just so that I can get my hands on one of these some day.

A car this stunning deserves an equally impressive ad campaign, and Audi’s promo site for the R8 doesn’t disappoint. Their “Dimension R8″ sequence is quite simply the best ad for a car I have ever come across — the music, the matrix-esque camera angles, and the lighting and scenery just set your pulse racing. Don’t miss it!

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In case you missed the news a few days ago – Microsoft is offering full, legitimate copies of Office 2007 Ultimate to students for $60 from now until April 2008 through a promotion called “The Ultimate Steal.”

A number of universities offer free MSDNAA subscriptions to students, which include licensed copies of several Microsoft apps, but Office is not part of the package, so this is a good way to get the missing piece on a student budget.

A retail copy of the full suite costs over $600 on Amazon, and even the discounted “Home and Student” edition (which only includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote, but surprisingly not Outlook!) would set you back ~$120. This is a fantastic deal if you’re eligible.

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