Microsoft

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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
Aug 21, 2008 10:12 AM CDT

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? 
Jul 28, 2008 1:21 PM CDT

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
Jul 23, 2008 12:09 PM CDT

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...

How Piracy Can Boost Business
 How Piracy Can Boost Business
analysis
Jul 19, 2008 11:03 AM CDT

How Piracy Can Boost Business

Companies should copy, buy out, and study intellectual thieves

(Newser) - Intellectual piracy is bad for business, yes, but also inevitable—and companies fare better when turning it to their advantage, the Economist reports. The large (and illegal) volume of music and video exchanged online, for example, can reveal who’s popular in which countries. And Microsoft, which officially battles piracy,...

Mixed Note Caps Big Week
 Mixed Note Caps Big Week 
MARKETS
Jul 18, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Mixed Note Caps Big Week

Dow sees modest gains, Nasdaq loses; all indices post weekly gains

(Newser) - The markets were mixed today as poor results across the tech sector and from Merrill Lynch put the brakes on a two-day rally, MarketWatch reports. Good news from Citigroup kept the Dow buoyant, and it closed up 49.91, at 11,496.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq took a 29.52-point...

Tech Firms Buoyed by Demand Abroad
Tech Firms Buoyed
by Demand Abroad
Jul 18, 2008 8:53 AM CDT

Tech Firms Buoyed by Demand Abroad

International demand keeps tech afloat even as economy sinks

(Newser) - The tech sector keeps rolling even as the overall economy continues to flail, the Wall Street Journal reports. Four of tech’s giants, Microsoft, Google, IBM and Nokia, posted quarterly results yesterday, riding high on developed nations’ need for cost-saving technologies and emerging economies’ demand for infrastructure upgrades as the...

Microsoft Meets With AOL to Explore Possible Deal

Software giant is seeking an alternative to Yahoo

(Newser) - Microsoft will sit down today with executives from Time Warner's AOL to explore a joint venture between the two companies, reports the Wall Street Journal. The software giant is looking for alternatives to its failed Yahoo buyout. Microsoft and Time Warner have been considering a deal for months, though no...

Sparks Fly as Yahoo, Microsoft Take to Hill

Yang admitted deal with Google would hurt competition: Microsoft

(Newser) - Congressional hearings on Yahoo's proposed ad deal with Google got a little heated yesterday, with a Microsoft lawyer testifying that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang recently admitted, in a private meeting, that the pact would reduce competition, the Los Angeles Times reports. Yahoo’s general counsel said he recalled no such...

Microsoft Aims to Broaden Xbox Appeal

After locking in young male gamers, mainstream consumer is next target

(Newser) - Microsoft hopes to discard the image of its Xbox 360 as a distinctly young, overwhelmingly male form of entertainment and push more casual experiences toward a wider, mainstream audience, the New York Times reports. Microsoft debuted more accessible entertainment fare at the annual E3 convention yesterday, including features to share...

It's Google's Turn on the Hot Seat
It's Google's Turn on
the Hot Seat
Opinion
Jul 14, 2008 2:10 PM CDT

It's Google's Turn on the Hot Seat

Microsoft off the hook as Congress goes after its archrival

(Newser) - You have to forgive Microsoft if it indulges in some schadenfreude today, writes Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times. Archrival Google is facing a peril that’s all too familiar in Redmond. Steve Ballmer can sit back tomorrow as Google’s top execs go before the Senate subcommittee on antitrust,...

Yahoo Snubs Microsoft-Icahn Takeover Bid

Says new offer was better, but still not in shareholders' interest

(Newser) - Yahoo has rejected another takeover push, this time from Microsoft and investor Carl Icahn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bidders gave the Internet giant less than 24 hours to decide on an offer that would sell its search component to Microsoft and the rest of the company to Icahn...

FTC Rejects Call for Internet Privacy Law

Google, others want ad guidelines; feds favor self-regulation

(Newser) - An federal official testifying at a Senate hearing today shot down calls for a federal law to regulate websites that track users' data for advertising purposes. The FTC doesn't think it's necessary to place a rule on the books—one that could quickly become obsolete—and instead encouraged "meaningful,...

Yang Slams 'Destabilizing' Microsoft Plan

CEO accuses Icahn-allied giant of pretending to want deal

(Newser) - Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang launched a fresh offensive in the Yahoo-Microsoft war of words yesterday, reports the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft has said it would be interested in reopening merger talks if Yahoo's current board was replaced—but the Yahoo co-founder accuses the company of tactics to destabilize Yahoo without...

Oil Drops, but Rally Fades
 Oil Drops, but Rally Fades 
MARKETS
Jul 7, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Oil Drops, but Rally Fades

S&P 500 off 20% from October high

(Newser) - The markets saw modest losses today after a rally spurred by a drop in crude prices sputtered over capital concerns at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, MarketWatch reports. The Dow fell 56.58 to 11,231.96, the Nasdaq dropped 2.06 to 2,243.32, and the S&P...

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