Microsoft has a new service in beta, called Windows Live. I read about it on CNN.com, and initially I thought it was something like the OS online, and I was all set to say, “Although a couple years ago I hated this idea because of the likelihood of an annual Windows subscription, I’m now ready to embrace the potential here because — as I’ve discussed with Lewis regarding email — I used to want to own stuff on my hardware, but now I realize that I don’t want my data or communications to be tied to one physical location.”

So then I checked out Windows Live. It’s not what I expected. Before I get to that, let me point out that when you load it up in Firefox (obviously), this text appears at the top:

Firefox Users
Firefox support is coming soon. Please be patient 🙂

I find it notable that a Microsoft site is promising support for a rival browser right out of the gate. I mean … the promise is right out of the gate. Right.

So really Windows Live seems to be an über-portal. It is not dissimilar to Google’s Personalized Home, with access to email, news, and networked bookmarks, which I have been posting about for (literally) WEEKS!!

Google has to get off their ass and clean up Personalized Home, do more with Bookmarks, and get the RSS reader working — which as Lewis noted, appears to be the first big thing they have completely dropped the ball on.

Finally, this is not the first product Microsoft has offered called Live — Xbox Live has been around for about two years now, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Xbox 360 will feature media integration with standard Windows XP machines, and greater integration with Windows Media Center PCs. I can totally envision a seamless experience that combines Xbox Live and Windows Live whether you are viewing it on your Windows PC or on your TV via your Xbox 360.

News.com has a new(?) service called Newsburst, which I liken to a pseudo-RSS-aggregator. It gives you a bunch of recommended news sources, but you can also add RSS feeds you find on the web by pasting their URL into a box.

It’s similar to Google’s Personalized Home page, except that it’s just news and RSS feeds, and it’s got a more distinct look.

Speaking of Google, does Google Reader work? While writing this story I loaded it up and it’s still telling me I “recently subscribed” to stuff I added weeks ago.

Anyway, I like Newsburst.

I switched from Yahoo Mail to Gmail at just the right time.

I still check my Yahoo account every one or two days, and coinciding almost perfectly with me switching to Gmail, I’ve started getting between three and six emails — every day — that Yahoo’s spam filters don’t get. I typically only read the subject line on them, and they all appear to either be random words strung together or current headlines from news websites. I mark each of these messages as spam, but apparently Yahoo’s filters can’t figure them out.

Google Web Accelerator is now available for download to all users. For a while there it was in closed beta, after a very brief open beta when it first rolled out.

I installed it, and apparently I have saved 43.4 seconds because of it. It’s using about 12 megs of RAM last I checked. I now have a lot of memory committed to Google applications … it’s enough to make me look seriously at buying more RAM. All these small applications are nice, but they run all the time and they put a hit on performance.

Once again I take a look at all these browser features. It’s enough to make you think that Google should just get it over with and put out a Google Browser that has all these applications built in. Plus there’s Flock now, which appears to be the most app-integration-centric browser yet. I wonder: Will this will spur Google into pushing up the initial beta of its browser as to avoid being an also-ran?

I read an article on PC World titled Building a Better Browser: Flock Has Landed.

Flock is a web browser. As of this post its latest version is 0.4.8. I bring it up for two reasons, the same two reasons why PC World did an article on it: its attention to bookmarks and blogging. Regarding bookmarks, it integrates with del.icio.us. That earns it points in my book. Regarding blogging, it works with Movable Type, TypePad, Blogger, and my choice, WordPress.

Flock also integrates with Flickr, which I do not have an account with but which several of my friends do.

The fact that Flock integrates with all these various online services makes me wonder if its owner/developer is working at all with anyone, or if it is merely writing hacks to take advantage of these services. For example, if you want to use the Flock browser’s bookmarks system, you must go to del.icio.us and get an account. This leaves me just slightly wary — particularly when it comes to my blog. Currently my blog has a password unique to all my other passwords, and it’s only written down in a php script that exists on my hosted server … if I type it into a settings dialog in my browser, does the potential exist for a malicious website to view that data? The risk must be higher than in my current setup.

To shift gears for a second (even though I discovered this while reading the afore-linked PC World article), Amazon.com’s A9 Toolbar features networked bookmarks. Just like the Yahoo! toolbar, which I no longer use.

When is Google going to enrich its bookmarks system and when it is going to integrate its bookmarks system with the Google Toolbar? Or with the Google Sidebar?