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Microsoft bringing the ribbon to Windows 8 Explorer
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Rumors, Software,
Perhaps people are overloaded on Apple rumors because the rumor mill has shifted to Microsoft and its next operating system, now referred to in the blogosphere as Windows 8.
The latest rumor is that Windows 8 will incorporate the "ribbon" interface with Windows Explorer. The feature - which put more functionality front-and-center rather than hidden behind drop-down menus - was first incorporated into Office 2007. With the release of Windows 7, it was also added to Paint and WordPad. A version of the "ribbon" interface is also included in Microsoft Office for Mac 2011.
According to Within Windows, Microsoft is thinking about adding the ribbon to Windows Explorer in the next iteration of the OS, but nothing is set in stone.
"In early builds of Windows 8, this Ribbon UI is only half-finished and, frankly, of dubious value," the blog wrote. "In fact, based on the divergent ways in which various related UI elements are repeated around the window frame, we get the idea that the use of the Ribbon in Explorer is, in fact, quite controversial inside the halls of Microsoft's Redmond campus."
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Gallery: Microsoft bringing the ribbon to Windows 8 Explorer
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Paul Allen portrays Bill Gates as a brilliant backstabber
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft,
In an excerpt from an upcoming book released Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen paints co-founder Bill Gates as a technical genius, but as a ruthless executive who tried to dilute Allen's financial stake in the early days of Microsoft.
In the excerpt from Idea Man, Allen's upcoming book, Gates is characterized as an intensely focused mathematical genius, with a penchant for social quirks. Allen describes himself as the glue that held Microsoft together.
Idea Man is scheduled to be published this month by Portfolio, a member of the Penguin Group. The excerpt was published by Vanity Fair.
The crux of the story seems to lie in the last anecdote Allen relates: a scene in which Gates and Steve Ballmer, brought in to run the company, apparently scheme to dilute Allen's stake in the company. Allen describes Ballmer as looking like "an operative for the N.K.V.D." Allen, then suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma, recounts the scene:
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Gallery: Paul Allen portrays Bill Gates as a brilliant backstabber
Zune Death: Why no word from Microsoft?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Microsoft, Portable Audio / Video,
Dear Microsoft: Manage your message or someone will do it for you. Case in point: the recent, none-too-surprising news that the lovely Zune HD will meet a timely death. Within minutes of the news breaking, stories and tweets flooded the Internet declaring, "The Zune is Dead." This was followed by people asking if everything "Zune" was gone or just the hardware. I assured people that the obvious answer was the hardware only, but is it that obvious? And why wasn't Microsoft out in front of this information?
Yes, the fact that Microsoft is giving up on music player hardware is bad news for Microsoft and good news for Apple, but it's up to Microsoft to stand up and explain its decision and strategy. In the absence of clear information from Microsoft, everyone else can and will shape the message. So now, even though most within the industry are quite sure that the Zune software and service, which lives on in phones and PCs, is in no danger, average consumers are no longer certain. They could at this very minute be making plans to switch to Apple, iPods and iTunes.
If I were Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, I would have stepped forward and explained the shift away from music-only hardware (leaving aside the fact that most music players do a whole lot more). Then, while wiping away one single tear, I would have quickly shifted gears to a clear strategy, which isn't even new: "For mobile devices, we're focusing our attention on Windows Phone, which already has Zune and Xbox Live functionality." Then I'd add, "This, friends, is not a loss. Lessons we learned from Zune hardware's five-year life have given us invaluable insight and made it possible for use to deliver the Windows Phone platform and some truly stellar partner-driven hardware to wrap around it."
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Gallery: Zune Death: Why no word from Microsoft?
Next Windows Phone 7 update delayed to March
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Microsoft, Software,
Given the problems with its first Windows Phone 7 update, Microsoft said Thursday that it will delay the next upgrade, which will bring cut and paste functionality, until late March.
"I believe it's important that we learn all we can from the February update. So I've decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners," Eric Hautala, Microsoft's general manager of customer experience engineering, wrote in a blog post. "As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March."
Microsoft started rolling out its first, minor update for the Windows Phone 7 platform in late February, but a glitch prompted the company to temporarily halt updates for Samsung phones.
Click to continue reading Next Windows Phone 7 update delayed to March
Gallery: Next Windows Phone 7 update delayed to March
T-Mobile Sidekick service gets killed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Microsoft,
RIP, Sidekick. T-Mobile's once-beloved e-mail phone will finally die on May 31, when T-Mobile and Microsoft pull the plug on the specialized data service that delivers Web pages, e-mails, and apps to the Sidekick line.
"It was a joint decision reached by Microsoft and T-Mobile," T-Mobile spokesman Tom Harlin said. "We think it's a natural order for products to be replaced by newer technology, and we've announced there will be a 4G-enabled, Android-powered Sidekick."
But here's the catch: Harlin refused to commit to releasing the new Sidekick before May 31, saying only that "in terms of the next Sidekick, we'll have more information in the coming weeks."
Originally known as the Danger Hiptop, the T-Mobile Sidekick was a huge breakthrough for affordable, easy-to-use messaging phones when it first came out in 2002. Seven more models came out through 2009, and the Sidekick built a reputation as a popular messaging solution for young people with prepaid accounts. T-Mobile stopped selling the Sidekick last July.
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Gallery: T-Mobile Sidekick service gets killed
Microsoft enters Mac App Store with Windows Phone 7 Connector
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Microsoft, Software,
Looks like Microsoft's first app to be included in the Mac App Store is Windows Phone 7 Connector. If you own a Windows Phone 7 device, or a Zune HD, then you'll wanna grab this free software. It allows you to sync your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts from iTunes to your Microsoft device, as well as photos and videos from iPhoto. You can also sync content taken with your phone to your Mac as well. One thing that's missing? As of now, Windows Phone 7 Connector doesn't sync calendars or contacts. Still, it's nice to see Microsoft looking to play along with the Mac App Store model. Get a look at Windows Phone 7 Connector in our walkthrough above.
Gallery: Microsoft enters Mac App Store with Windows Phone 7 Connector
Microsoft Bing caught stealing search results from Google
Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet, Microsoft,
In a very controversial yet fascinating study, Google has exposed what looks like blatant copying of search results by Microsoft's own search engine, Bing. As a test, Google invented 100 query terms, words that do not exist, and they made the search engine return a single link to a site that had nothing to do with the search term. Then, a group of engineers used Internet Explorer 8, equipped with the Bing toolbar, to search for those terms on Google. Low and behold, soon after, Bing started returning the exact same search results. Since the terms were deliberate and random, there can be no coincidence. From the apparent evidence, Microsoft clearly used either IE8, Windows itself, or the Bing toolbar to find out what people searched for on Google, what results they get, and then used that to improve their own Bing site. Check out the blog post for all the details on Google's claim. Something tells me this battle is far from over.
Read More 
| Google Blog
Gallery: Microsoft Bing caught stealing search results from Google
Why American students fail in science
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Google, Microsoft, Science,
There is going to be a lot of debate over the fact that American students are again falling behind in their education. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress, American children are nothing less than pathetic when it comes to understanding science.
This whole mess will be blamed on all sorts of things, probably all valid. But who, besides me, is going to blame the computer? Has anyone noticed that ever since the computer was brought into the classroom, student test scores have been falling? Does anyone find this coincidence weird? After all, the computer is, in itself, a teaching machine, of sorts.
Over the years, I've seen a lot of quasi-teaching software and educational software companies come and go, but can you name one large or middle-sized software company that specializes in educational software for children in grade school now? Just try to name one.
The biggest software company in the world, Microsoft, used to have some educational software sold under its discontinued Home brand, but I have no idea what became of it. The company, along with the Gates Foundation, promotes the idea of computers in the classroom, but it seems more of a ploy to make kids comfortable using Windows than anything else.
For science education, the greatest thing a computer can do is to show scientific principals in a way no blackboard or discussion could ever do, with graphical representation and full motion animation. You'd think that with all the computers that have been installed in school that American kids would be wizards by now. But no.
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Gallery: Why American students fail in science
Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2010
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Video Games, Videos,
2010 will come to an end in just a few short hours, and we are just in time with our annual top 10 list of the most-watched Gear Live video episodes. Over the past year, as expected, there was a bunch of Apple gear that made the list, but Microsoft gets the top two spots with our Xbox 360 dashboard tour, and the an unboxing of the new Xbox 360 slim. Also getting an honorable mention is the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Popcorn Hour Popbox, among others.
Oh, and if you wanna be sure to get our new video episodes as they come out in 2010, be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes, on YouTube, or in your RSS reader!
Also, you can check out the top ten videos from 2009, 2008, and 2007!
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Gallery: Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2010
Real quick - if you've been scouring the Internets and your local stores for a Kinect and have been coming up short, Amazon just got a grip of them in stock. Hurry though, they are gonna go quickly.
Read More | Kinect on Amazon
