MSN has recently come out with some developer competitions for MSN Messenger and Virtual Earth. Be sure to check out the Virtual Earth Hacks video on Channel9 and Dare's post for any other information.
@Matthew
Also yesterday, Microsoft announced that it bought Teleo, a provider of voice over Internet protocol [VoIP] technology. Currently MSN also uses similar VoIP technology in MSN Messenger, but has not yet incorporated into the public switched telephone network [PSTN]. I have been using VoIP PSTN service through Packet8.net and so far have been quite impressed [in the pocket certainly, and call quality as well]. I should also note that Microsoft has used other VoIP technology before deploying it's own, but Microsoft .NET Voice Services as it was known was discontinued in software updates in 2003.
The technology certainly looked cool, I hope MSN uses it well.
@Matthew
Yesterday the butterfly released the Phishing Filter Add-in for MSN Search Toolbar Beta as expected. The technology uses the same Microsoft Phishing Filter in Internet Explorer 7 Beta [codename Rincon]. This is one of many cool additions to the MSN Search Toolbar, including an MSN Games and MSN Weather modules, and MSN Screen Saver Beta [although it can be used independently of MSN Search Toolbar now].
I haven’t taken a look at the technology in detail yet, but I wonder how it compares to other anti-phishing technology like Netcraft Toolbar or Earthlink ScamBlocker, which uses technology from Brightmail. Even eBay’s toolbar now indicates when a user is browsing a real eBay/Paypal site.
@Matthew