Microsoft

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Microsoft Yanks Crazy Seinfeld Ads
 Microsoft 
 Yanks Crazy 
 Seinfeld Ads 
OPINION

Microsoft Yanks Crazy Seinfeld Ads

Cryptic ads left some 'scratching their heads'

(Newser) - Microsoft has axed the cryptic Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates ads that left some viewers "scratching their heads," Michelle Quinn writes in the Los Angeles Times. Though a Microsoft spokesman claims it was the plan all along to stop here, the blogosphere is abuzz about Microsoft's "strained...

Gates Tops Rich List With $57B

Leads Forbes ranking for 15th year

(Newser) - Microsoft founder Bill Gates leads the latest Forbes list of America's richest people with a fortune estimated to be $57 billion. It's the 15th year in a row that the visionary behind the computer revolution has topped the ratings. But the rich are not getting richer, Forbes reveals. Several fortunes...

Zune's Music Discovery System Tops iTunes
Zune's Music Discovery System Tops iTunes
PRODUCT REVIEW

Zune's Music Discovery System Tops iTunes

Apple, Microsoft take page from Pandora's book in broadening users' horizons

(Newser) - In test-driving new software from Apple and Microsoft designed to facilitate music discovery for users of their respective media players, Walter Mossberg gives the edge to Zune’s system over rival iTunes’ upgrades. “Though I didn't happen to have as much time to use Zune's software as I did...

Yahoo's Next Move: Third-Party Content

Keeping users on site by enabling links to Netflix, Craigslist is goal

(Newser) - After struggling through months of takeover battles and sagging stock prices, Yahoo says it’s working to become a web destination for users rather than simply a jumping-off point, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. It plans to add third-party content and newly developed applications on a new Yahoo home page,...

Adobe Tops Microsoft for NFL Streaming

(Newser) - Power up, football fans: NFL is streaming its NBC Sunday night games live for free, CNET reports. Using Adobe's Flash, it streamed one game this week and is continuing tonight with the Chicago Bears' matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. The technology offers a few tricks, too: a “star cam”...

Geek World Rants, Raves Over Microsoft Ad

Some find Seinfeld/ Gates routine unfunny; others, 'hilarious'

(Newser) - A new Microsoft ad is sparking praise and putdowns in roughly equal measure around the Web today. Paul McDougall calls the spot "outdated and not very funny" in InformationWeek, but says it's revealingof a tech company totally out of touch with Generation Y.  The choice of “...

Chrome Is 'Smart, Innovative'
 Chrome Is 'Smart, Innovative'
PRODUCT REVIEW

Chrome Is 'Smart, Innovative'

Google's beta version hows promise, but lacks key features, too

(Newser) - Google's innovative new browser Chrome could unseat Microsoft's Internet Explorer, but the beta version lacks some important features, Walter Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal. Chrome introduces the "Omnibox," a combination search box and address bar, as well as tabs that operate as self-contained browsers. However, its...

Google to Launch Web Browser

'Chrome' announcement appears in comic book

(Newser) - Google will soon launch its own Web browser, called Chrome, aiming to make web surfing easier and faster, the Wall Street Journal reports. The announcement is the latest volley in the long battle between Microsoft and Google, which released the news by sending a comic book outlining Chrome's features to...

With Eye on Xmas, Microsoft Cuts Xbox Price

Maker of game console puts pressure on rival Sony to go lower

(Newser) - Microsoft appears to have fired the first shot in a new round of game-console price cuts, the Financial Times reports, trimming the cost of its Xbox 360 today in Japan. It plans to do likewise shortly in the US. In Japan, the Xbox now costs $184—less than half the...

Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users
Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users
ANALYSIS

Explorer 8's Privacy Feature Boon to Users

... though advertisers surely won't like Microsoft's addition

(Newser) - The privacy features available with the next version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will appeal to users “paranoid or perverted,” Peter Bright writes on Ars Technica, but will “go some way to curtailing the power of large Internet companies to monitor how people are using the web....

Research Paves Way for Better Wi-Fi in Autos

Researchers find a way to stabilize mobile internet access

(Newser) - Researchers at Microsoft and two US universities have designed a system to give drivers better Wi-Fi connections, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. The technology, presented last week in Seattle, allows a moving computer to hook into one Wi-Fi station as an "anchor" while using other stations as support. Researchers say...

Rock the Vote Takes Game to Xbox Live

Youth registration drive targets players with online promos

(Newser) - To get gamers off the couch and into politics, Rock the Vote is targeting Xbox players, CNET reports. Beginning Monday, Xbox Live users will be able to register to vote and answer surveys from their living rooms. "To realize our goal of registering 2 million young Americans by this...

Microsoft's Photosynth Cool, If Frustrating
 Microsoft's Photosynth
 Cool, If Frustrating

PRODUCT REVIEW

Microsoft's Photosynth Cool, If Frustrating

Web-based service creating 3-D panoramas can be difficult to use—but often worth it

(Newser) - Live Labs, Microsoft’s 125-man web innovation unit, launched its first major product today, and it’s certifiably neato, Walter Mossberg writes in the Wall Street Journal. Dubbed “Photosynth” the free, web-based program converts your photos into navigable 3-D environments. It’s an amazing service, Mossberg writes, “an...

Microsoft's Answer to Apple Ads: Seinfeld

Comedian to front $300M campaign to counter stodgy image

(Newser) - So what's the deal with Microsoft ads? The company has enlisted Jerry Seinfeld to spearhead a new $300-million campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports, to try to shake the negative buzz about Vista, and the nerdy, feckless image projected by John Hodgeman in Apple's popular "Mac vs PC" ads....

Insider Sales Put Facebook's Value at Fraction of $15B

Even CEO Zuckerberg reportedly selling still-private options at bargain prices

(Newser) - Though the stake bought by Microsoft last fall pegged Facebook’s value at $15 billion, a rush of stock sales by insiders at the still-private company shows they think it’s worth much less, BusinessWeek reports. Even Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the social-networking giant, reportedly has sold some...

6 Degrees of Separation? New Study Says 6.6

Microsoft researcher seems to confirm that the world is a pretty small place

(Newser) - A huge Microsoft study of its Messenger records bolsters the oft-quoted, but never proven, theory of “six degrees of separation"—almost. The study puts the figure at 6.6, but that's still a pretty small world. A Microsoft researcher analyzed 30 billion messages sent among 180 million users...

Domain Name Bug Worries Web Providers

Firms race to fix flaw in Internet's architecture before crooks find it

(Newser) - ISPs worldwide are racing to patch a flaw in the design of the Internet that could allow criminals to steal personal and financial details of Web users by diverting them to fake sites. The flaw resides in the procedures of the Domain Name System, which translates URLs into numerical Internet...

Is New iPhone Apple's Vista?
 Is New iPhone Apple's Vista? 

Is New iPhone Apple's Vista?

Analyst says continued tech, customer-service turbulence could do real damage

(Newser) - It’s still exceedingly tough to get a new 3G iPhone due to limited supply, and myriad technical problems persist in registering and operating the eagerly awaited gadget. Apple has apologized for the lines, and the bugs in its new syncing software, but one analyst tells USA Today that the...

After Yahoo, Microsoft Amps Up Search Effort

Ballmer says company can be more flexible now in Google fight

(Newser) - CEO Steve Ballmer is spinning Microsoft’s failure to acquire Yahoo expertly, telling analysts today that, unburdened by the search giant, the company can be more frisky and adaptable in its fight with nemesis Google, the Wall Street Journal reports. Actions might speak louder than words, though: Microsoft announced yesterday...

An Independent Yahoo Is Hard to Imagine
An Independent Yahoo Is Hard
to Imagine
ANALYSIS

An Independent Yahoo Is Hard to Imagine

Iffy Q2 results make a deal, with Microsoft or Google, best option

(Newser) - Yahoo’s earnings report yesterday didn’t portend an immediate turnaround, Catherine Holahan writes in BusinessWeek, meaning the company must do something to meet the “grandiose claims” it made in rejecting Microsoft’s bid. Some still see Yahoo ultimately taking that path, and expanding its deal with Google is...

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