MSN Launches Beta of Soapbox on MSN Video
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REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 19  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MSN today announced the U.S.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. hopes to bank on the popularity of online video-sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video with its own competitive service, which goes into beta on Tuesday. Soapbox on MSN Video, which will allow users to upload and share personal videos with others who use the service, is now available as a beta release in the U.S. for the Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox browsers. The service initially is available by invitation-only, though users who want to take part in the beta can sign up for a waiting list at http://soapbox.msn.com Like competing video-sharing services, Soapbox will allow users not only to upload videos to the Web in almost any digital video format, but also to tag and categorize them so other users can find them. The service will let users both watch videos and browse for new ones simultaneously on the same screen, something that differentiates it from YouTube, Microsoft said. Other features in Soapbox include the ability for users to set up RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for videos in which they are interested, and to embed videos directly into their personal blogs. To achieve the latter, Microsoft eventually will set up one-click integration between Soapbox and Windows Live Spaces, letting users upload videos from Soapbox to their Windows Live Spaces pages by clicking on a button. Eventually, Soapbox will be integrated throughout many of Microsoft's online services, which include Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. The Soapbox service will work with IE 6 or later browsers running on Windows XP, and the Firefox 1.0.5 browser or later running on Windows XP or Macintosh OS X. Social networking services and media-sharing communities are becoming all the rage with the current breed of Web users, with sites like YouTube and the online community MySpace -- which generate revenue through advertising -- steadily gaining in popularity. However, though these sites are increasingly becoming part of the pop-culture zeitgeist, but they are so far unproven financially. Like its other Web-based services, Microsoft aims for Soapbox, too, to generate revenue by luring online advertisers, the company said. Though it won't be ad supported in its initial release, Microsoft hopes the service will feature advertising down the line.
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Beta application is available as part of the new MSN Toolbar Suite.
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MSN HAS introduced a &quot;preview&quot; version of MSN Music in the US which allows downloading of music using Windows Media Player 10 or a web browser.
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Microsoft have let the public use a beta of their tool for some months while testing continues. The last few days have seen a new release of the beta which seems to be getting closer to bringing back consistently sensible results.
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Microsoft on Friday re-opened MSN Soapbox, the company's competitor to Google's YouTube, after two months of being closed to the public due to copyright concerns. The updated Soapbox now lets anyone view videos without being signed, and includes filtering of content.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O will start   testing on Tuesday an Internet video-sharing service called   Soapbox, the software company's answer to Web sensation   YouTube.
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Microsoft has unveiled beta version of a new MSN Toolbar Suite that lets users search all documents, media files and emails on their PCs at the same time as searching the Web.
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After Google announced their search software utility and Yahoo! told the world they are working on a similar program. MSN is now beta testing their software.
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Microsoft officially launches a set of tools that it hopes will become a kind of YouTube for videogames.
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Microsoft on Thursday officially unveiled the new beta version of its MSN Search site, the company&#39;s hotly anticipated attempt to take on Google for Web searching.
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The MSN Toolbar Suite Beta rounds out Microsoft&#39;s MSN search family with fully indexed searching of local documents and e-mails.
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MSN Spaces, Microsoft&#39;s new blogging service, accompanies a beta version of MSN Messenger 7.0 and updates to MSN Hotmail. MSN Spaces makes it easier for consumers to create and maintain a personal Web site, says Microsoft.
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US software company Microsoft has launched a beta version of its MSN Toolbar Suite, with desktop search functionality that can help users find documents, media files or e-mail messages on their PCs.
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Now that AOL has entered the social news arena with Netscape and Yahoo has incorporated various del.icio.us and Digg influenced services into its social media and search platform, it&#8217;s time for Microsoft to also enter the picture.  MSN is testing the MSN Reporter, a Digg style social news site which was developed by a Dutch [...]
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Microsoft&#39;s MSN has introduced a beta version of its new blogging tool, MSN Spaces, which it expects will eventually be supported by advertising.
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Blog: Although it was announced back in April, the Internet video site, still in limited testing, is getting renewed attention this week.