Microsoft

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Sick of Waiting for PC to Boot Up? PC Makers Hear You

Look to cut start-up times to 20-30 secs

(Newser) - As instant communication becomes the norm, computer users are quickly getting fed up with slow start-up times—and PC makers are focused on reducing the wait, the New York Times reports. To fight Windows’ slow load time, manufacturers are turning to programs that bypass the operating system so users can...

Microsoft Releases Emergency Security Patch

Unplanned patch addresses critical weakness

(Newser) - Microsoft has discovered a Windows security vulnerability dangerous enough that it's released an “out-of-cycle” security patch for the first time since April 2007, reports the Tech Herald. The weakness could allow a computer worm to spread malware around networks.

Rally Fizzles to Mild Losses
 Rally Fizzles to Mild Losses 
MARKETS
Oct 14, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

Rally Fizzles to Mild Losses

Traders worry non-financial stocks may still feel recession's bite

(Newser) - Stocks closed lower today after an earlier rally died down as worries about consumer-discretionary and tech stocks overcame investors’ faith in global actions to quell the credit crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow, up nearly 400 early, ended off 76.62, to 9,310.99. The Nasdaq, especially...

Google, Yahoo in Talks to Avoid Antitrust Case

Online ad deal may be capped to avoid further scrutiny

(Newser) - Google and Yahoo are working to settle any antitrust issues arising from their proposed joint online ad venture, the Wall Street Journal reports. Google has offered a cap on the volume of ads it sells Yahoo, which may be willing to continue selling search ads to avoid lengthy legal battles...

Wal-Mart Relents, Will Continue DRM Support

(Newser) - Wal-Mart has backed off plans to shut off its DRM server, at least for now, Wired reports. The retail behemoth had warned online music store customers of the upcoming shutdown, which would prevent customers from moving any files they’d already bought. Now, after public outcry, Wal-Mart is relenting—just...

Market Meltdown Reshapes Forbes Rich List

Buffett bumps Gates in redrawn rankings of world's wealthiest

(Newser) - The mortgage meltdown has certainly hit middle-class Americans hard but hasn't spared the uber-wealthy, Bloomberg reports. Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson’s net worth shed $4 billion between Aug. 29 and Oct. 1, for instance, while Warren Buffett overtook Bill Gates, whose net worth declined $1.5 billion, as...

6 Ways to Make Vista Suck Less
 6 Ways to Make Vista Suck Less 
Oct 9, 2008 10:57 AM CDT

6 Ways to Make Vista Suck Less

Get over it; Windows' new platform can be made livable

(Newser) - Windows Vista may be clunky, but Stephen Williams is sick of hearing complaints about it. He runs down six easy ways to make Vista more bearable in the New York Times:
  1. Turn off the user account control feature. Windows will finally stop asking your permission to do everything.
  2. Add memory.
...

PC to Mac: Who's Square Now?
 PC to Mac: Who's Square Now? 
ANALYSIS
Oct 1, 2008 4:29 AM CDT

PC to Mac: Who's Square Now?

Microsoft's $300M ad campaign fights 'snooty' Apple

(Newser) - Apple's ads have long painted Microsoft users as square, but the PC has effectively stood up to the cool kids in the company's $300 million campaign, writes Farhad Manhoo in Slate. "Even if they are a little saccharine, the core message of Microsoft's ads—that Apple is snooty—should...

Bailout, Oil Send Dow Down 372
 Bailout, Oil Send Dow Down 372 
MARKETS
Sep 22, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Bailout, Oil Send Dow Down 372

Traders nervous about long-term effects

(Newser) - Stocks plummeted today as uncertainty over the cost and long-term impact of the Wall Street bailout plan spread and oil surged, MarketWatch reports. Treasuries and the dollar fell as traders worried the bailout’s cost could affect the government’s status as a borrower. The Dow closed down 372.75,...

Microsoft Yanks Crazy Seinfeld Ads
 Microsoft 
 Yanks Crazy 
 Seinfeld Ads 
OPINION
Sep 18, 2008 9:56 AM CDT

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
Sep 17, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

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 revealing—of a tech company totally out of touch with Generation Y.  The choice of “...

Chrome Is 'Smart, Innovative'
 Chrome Is 'Smart, Innovative'
PRODUCT REVIEW
Sep 2, 2008 7:00 PM CDT

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
Aug 27, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

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...

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