Windows Live to get Media Center gadget

Microsoft spelled out planned features for its Live.com Web site to a selected set of customers this week and, in the process, shined some light on Microsoft's strategy with Windows Live.

The software giant hosted a group of "Search Champs" at its Redmond, Washington campus, according to attendees that wrote about the event.

The Windows Live site at Live.com is a Web page to search the Web and aggregate RSS feeds and other information such as weather and news. Microsoft has designed Live.com so that it can be customized and extended with "gadgets," or add-on programs that run on the Live.com page.

At the event, Microsoft demonstrated a gadget, which will be available soon, that allows a person to view TV show recommendations and schedule recordings on a Windows Media PC from the Live.com Web site, according to bloggers.

"That's the power of services and gadgets. You can consume services (including all the awesome services provided by Microsoft) anywhere, anytime on any browser using live.com," explained Live.com product manager Sanaz Ahari in her blog.

In another demonstration, Microsoft showed how a user will be able to drag and drop a gadget from Live.com Web browser to Windows.

"The result will be a Yahoo Widgets like experience, and users will have the further ability to synchronize gadgets between the operating system and the live.com site," wrote TechCrunch's Michael Arrington.