I laughed so much today when in a Messenger conversation with our designer Shrbr, his display picture of himself winked at me. I thought I was seeing things! However, it turned out it was a custom display picture, that alternates based on the emoticons you use within your conversations.

This feature isn't new, dynamic display pictures have been around since MSN Messenger 7, but the fact you can use pictures and even short clips of yourself I find fantastic. It was funny, and rather surreal when sunglasses appear on your friend's display picture out of nowhere.

All you need is a webcam connected to Windows Live Messenger. Go into the display picture options window and select the "Webcam Snapshot" button. You can then customise the changes with the "Tile with moods" option. This is a really clever feature, implemented well. But beware, it can make your contacts jump when your display picture suddenly winks at them!

View a screenshot of creating one in action