The latest update to Windows Live Mail beta was released to the world today.  There are lots of great improvements including performance, in-line spell checking and the introduction of the "down-level" experience (the non-AJAX version for older browsers).  The best place for a quick summary is Steve's post and the best place for lots of details is Imran's post to the mailcall blog (be sure to also check out the video on spell checking).

I'm hoping we'll also hear from Ellie soon too... she led the effort to develop the downlevel client.  Working with a development team in China (both from here in Mountain View, California and by flying out to Shanghai) as well as developers here Ellie got the first downlevel version ready to ship.  As with the first Kahuna betas, this isn't complete yet... but it will evolve as well.

Some spell check video trivia for you:

• Steve was the camera man
• The little flash you see at the end is a glimpse of baby clothes... Imran's going to have twins!

When I made the choice between smugmug and Phanfare one thing I found I missed was the ability to filter my pictures by year taken.  To my delight, smugmug added this feature shortly after I joined.  The feature is currently hidden and considered beta, but it works quite well - the only bug I've found is it got confused about a picture I stamped as being taken in 1959 (seems they weren’t expecting dates that old... shocker).

If you want a nifty timeline on your smugmug page, here's how to do it:

1. Go to http://yoursmugmugname.smugmug.com/?showGoodies=1 (be sure to adjust the URL for your member name)
   This will take you to your homepage with the phototimeline module visible
2. Click the "show" link
   
3. Very important: click the "date taken" link
   If you don't do this all your pictures in the timeline will be shown by date uploaded (which won't be very interesting unless you've been a smugmug member for multiple years)

That's it, now you have a nifty timeline on your homepage.

Trina posted the first installment of these two Chinese students lip synching "I want it that way" about a month ago... and Paula and I almost wet ourselves.

Well, if you were waiting for more, wait no longer... they're back with their interpretation of "As long as you love me". 

Yeah... the guy is still playing doom in the background, oblivious.

And yeah, the first one is still better.

I get this question a lot: "how do I get on the beta?"  I get it almost as much as "could you please send me an invite?"

Well, we've taken the human element out getting on the beta (and that's good news for you).  Now, instead of prostrating yourself on every Windows Live Mail blog you can find, you can simply go to http://ideas.live.com.  On Windows Live Ideas you'll find out how to get on the waiting list of the Windows Live Mail beta as well as several other cool betas we have in the works. 

Do your children like to wait in line and get hassled by disgruntled minimum-wage government employees?  The perfect toy has arrived just in time for this holiday season: the Playmobile security check-in play set.

This toy comes with an x-ray machine, metal detector, scanning wand, guards, a passenger and, of course, two guns.  Rookie traveler with Texas-sized belt-buckle, pocket knife, cell phone, nail clippers and briefcase (with laptop and boarding pass still inside) sold separately.

I don't think I can understate how cool this feature is:  spell check as you type.

Ever since I first saw this feature in Word I've been wanting it in every application I have (including DasBlog, you listening Omar? ).  Well, now we finally have it in Windows Live Mail beta.  The way it works is pretty slick too, the client-side code on the browser actually starts handing words and groups of words up to the server to be checked for errors.  When errors are detected the misspellings are indicated on the client with familiar red squiggly lines. 

The best way to get a feeling for this is to see it in action.  Since we haven't released the feature yet you can't, unfortunately, try it out... but you can have Imran give you a demo. Check out the Video that Imran, Vikram, Brian and Zeek made, it gives a great run down of the design, development and testing of the feature.

For those of you on the beta and wondering when you'll see this... I'm predicting you'll see it before the year is up (but I don't make any guarantees ;)).

The oft-romanticized Christmas truce of 1914 has lost its final witness.  Alfred Anderson was thought to be the last living veteran of the famed yule truce when German and British soldiers sang carols, exchanged gifts and, according to some reports, played a game of soccer.

Alfred Anderson was 109 years old.

British and German soldiers fraternize - Christmas 1914

I had no idea who this man was before today, but his association with the legendary truce makes me a bit sad at his passing.

From BBC News:

Prince Charles has paid tribute to Scotland's oldest man and the country's longest serving veteran of World War I, who has died at the age of 109.

Alfred Anderson, who served with the 5th Battalion the Black Watch, died in a nursing home in Angus.

Read the full BBC article

Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape 9 is out along with some other interesting news: MB is branching out from the music business into the spoken word.  Early December Mercedes will publish its first volume of text tracks for download.  Billed as "Challenging literature for mobile people, young authors read by well known voices" it should provide a bit of variety to your morning commute.  We can only hope the right type of people download these audio tracks... plenty of people in California have enough trouble driving as it is... throwing challenging literature into the mix could create a tremendous road hazard.

Mercedes-Benz text tracks, think of it as Mercedes-Benz Mixed Audio Books.

Addendum: Small print on the back of the cover for MBMT9 indicates that volume 10 will be available on 12/13/2005 at http://www.mercedes-benz.com/mixedtape/ ... mark your calendars.