fishbrains - Bret Fisher

—- from Paul Thurrott’s dotNET Update —-

After you upgrade to Windows Messenger 4.5, several interesting new features are available-including some cool tools from Microsoft and third parties, including MSN Calendar for scheduling, MSN CarPoint for traffic, and CNBC on MSN Money for stock prices.

Verizon is working on a new service that will integrate your home phone with Windows Messenger. Suppose you�re at work, but you�re expecting an important phone call at your home phone number. Using Verizon�s new service, which will probably cost about $5 per month, you can get an alert every time your home phone receives a call. These alerts, like the new Hotmail notifications you�re probably now familiar with, will arrive on a �slice of toast�-as Microsoft calls them internally-a small square window that pops up out of the lower right corner of the screen. The toast slice will tell you which number is calling and give you options such as ignoring the call or forwarding it to another number, such as your work number. You can set up default actions for events, deciding on a number-by-number basis how to handle certain calls. And if you use Verizon�s integrated voice-messaging feature, you can listen to voicemail from your XP PC. Good stuff.