Microsoft plans to change the password policy for Hotmail accounts, in the interest of greater security. Users signing up for new accounts or changing their passwords will be prompted to create safer passwords and prevented from using easily-hacked passwords. Ars Technica reports that obvious passwords, like “password,” or phrases like “ilovecats” will no longer be allowed by the system.

Windows Live has launched a mobile SMS search. Users simply send a SMS to 95483 (WLIVE) to get instant results from anywhere. You can search for businesses, dictionary definitions, residential listings, get stock quotes, and get instant answers to questions through the service.

The service is currently only available to subscribers of Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Alltel in the United States.

Here is a full list of things you can do with the service from the Windows Live Mobile blog

• Local Business & Residential Listing ( e.g. Starbucks and your zip code)

• Reverse Phone Number Lookup (‘4258828080’)

• Instant Answer Queries (Remember to start your queries with ‘?’unless specified otherwise)

• Stock Quotes (U.S. & Int’l Exchanges)

• Area & Country Telephone Codes

• Word Definitions – use ‘D’ instead of ‘?’

• Holiday Dates

• Math (Calculations, Unit Conversions & Equation Solutions- ‘? 15% of 32.99’ or ‘? Cups in liter’ or ‘? 2y^2+5y+10=40’

• Health & General Information (e.g. ‘? Calories in Martini’ OR ‘? Tokyo Population’)

• Auto Spell-check and Correction

• Improved Formatting of Result Messages