To begin with Vine is still in beta phase  and is available by invitation only at vine.net. At first glance, Vine looks like a personal alert system where your group of friends and families get to know about your whereabouts and anything that might warrants an alert.

Vine will get you your personal dashboard and you can receive about important alerts and vital information including articles from 20,000 news and public safety sources. You can send and receive alerts as you wish – from anybody in your group or from any of the sources mentioned above. The good part is that the Vine personal alert system is connected to your mobile. So if you are in an alien land and there are no phones – and you need to contact your friends and family immediately, Vine comes in here – You can send a mobile alert to your family and friends from your computer.

Sending an alert is also location and device agnostic – you can send an alert from your mobile phone or even e-mail or other applications.

The Yahoo factor!

Those of us who keep a tab on the search engines have a fair idea about the Bingoo! , but it is still a blackbox stuff as far as Vinoo! is concerned. But, considering the social spread and Web DNA of  Yahoo, Vine should be getting a jump-start by utilizing Yahoo’s existing podium. It remains to be seen as to how far hand goes in the glove with Vine and Yahoo. The radar must be working overtime in the cellars of Facebook & MySpace.

Pricing & Availability

• The basic service is free
• If you want to receive alerts on your mobile phone standard messaging charges apply
• Vine is currently available only in US.

Microsoft Vine in the news

• ***”It’s been awhile since Microsoft introduced a game-changing social Web application, but Vine — a service that’s debuting today with a beta test in Seattle — could be a contender.”   Seattle Times
• *** Microsoft debuts Vine in Seattle: Twitter+Facebook on steroids — Seattle Times
• * **Microsoft announces Vine, a location-based service for emergencies — VentureBeat
• * **Microsoft Vine To Connect Family, Friends When Crisis Hits — TechCrunch
• * **Meet Vine, Microsoft’s superhero software — CNET
• * **Microsoft’s Vine: Emergency Social Networking — PCWorld
• * **Microsoft throws a Vine to disaster victims — The Wall Street Journal
• * **Microsoft’s deep-rooted Vine isn’t just another social network — Tech Blog Plus

System Requirements for Microsoft Vine Beta

• Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), Windows Vista (32-bit
• or 64-bit editions)
• Processor: 1 GHz or higher
• Memory: 1 GB of RAM or higher for Windows Vista, 512 MB for Windows XP.
• Hard disk space: 100 MB for Vine and 500 MB for the Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5
• with Service Pack 1
• Resolution: Minimum 1024×768
• Internet connection: Broadband Internet access is required (provided separately); charges may
• apply
• Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or later, Firefox 3.0 or later
• Graphics or video card: A graphic card with Microsoft DirectX 9 and 128 MB of graphic memory
• is recommended