Microsoft – News Stories About Microsoft - Page 35

News Outlets Want More Control Over Search Engines

Nov 29, 2007 3:01 PM CST

News Outlets Want More Control Over Search Engines

Voluntary rules update has no enemies yet

(Newser) - News outlets with online presences are looking to add controls over how search engines index and display their material, asserting an outdated status quo doesn’t allow them to set enough terms on how their sites get crawled. A new set of guidelines proposed today, called ACAP, would allow sites...

The Shins Are In Demand—and Competing Ads

Nov 27, 2007 5:26 PM CST

The Shins Are In Demand—and Competing Ads

Microsoft, Apple both hawk products with hipster band

(Newser) - You might not want it, but competing music-player advertisers are betting The Shins will change your mind, reports GigaOm blogger Chris Albrecht. The alt-rock band is currently featured in ads peddling both Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Zune, leading the blogger to wonder which product the band actually uses.

Small Businesses Targeted for Software Violations

Nov 26, 2007 4:00 PM CST

Small Businesses Targeted for Software Violations

Industry group reaps big settlements from little firms

(Newser) - A group representing major software companies in copyright enforcement actions has been targeting small businesses for violating software licenses, reports the AP. Almost 90% of the Business Software Alliance's $13 million in settlements with North American companies last year came from small companies. Some owners say they were punished for...

Windows XP Update Adds Speed

Nov 26, 2007 3:04 PM CST

Windows XP Update Adds Speed

Testing company says it's 10% faster than SP2

(Newser) - Windows XP Service Pack 3, due out next year, runs Microsoft Office 10% faster than XP SP2, said a performance testing software developer. "Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix ... the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus," said the company's technology chief, who called...

Ambition Fails for One Laptop Per Child

Nov 25, 2007 2:38 PM CST

Ambition Fails for One Laptop Per Child

Visionary project lowering expectations as for-profit competitors muscle in

(Newser) - One Laptop Per Child started with a monstrously ambitious goal – build laptops for $100 each, sell them by the millions to the developing world. But since then, cost overruns and attacks from for-profit competitors have ravaged demand, the Wall Street Journal reports. A mere 300,000 are being produced...

Shoppers Swoon for Zunes

Nov 23, 2007 11:04 PM CST

Shoppers Swoon for Zunes

Thanksgiving shoppers on the hunt for 'iPod killers'

(Newser) - Microsoft's new Zune digital music players have been flying off the shelves, reports PC World. But big retailers have been running out, frustrating hordes of Thanksgiving shoppers attracted by big discounts and plenty of hype. Microsoft, which seems to have seriously misjudged demand for the best-selling model, the Zune...

Price War Moves High Def DVD Players

Nov 23, 2007 10:45 AM CST

Price War Moves High Def DVD Players

Competing HD-DVD and Blu-Ray makers drop prices under $200

(Newser) - Sales of high-definition DVD players have been languishing because customers were unwilling to choose one of the two competing formats—Blu-ray or HD DVD. But this holiday season may change that, with retailers dropping prices from upward of $400 to under $200, reports the Wall Street Journal. And Wal-Mart fueld...

Google Keeps Growing, Stock Keeps Rising

Nov 22, 2007 1:10 PM CST

Google Keeps Growing, Stock Keeps Rising

Predictions of $900 stock price as engine's market share grows

(Newser) - Google is already the US most popular search engine, but new data indicate it enjoyed a substantial jump in traffic this past month. Reuters reports that the search giant accounted for 58.5% of the American market. Google is trailed by Yahoo, Microsoft, IAC (the owners of Ask.com), and...

Anorexia Blogs Shut Down

Nov 21, 2007 4:59 AM CST

Anorexia Blogs Shut Down

Microsoft pulls four sites after complaints

(Newser) - Four websites hosted by Microsoft's Spanish division have been shut down for allegedly promoting anorexia and bulimia. The sites were closed following complaints by a Catalan provincial government internet watchdog, Iqua. It's the first time that a host has voluntarily closed websites accused of promoting eating disorders following complaints by...

Microsoft to Buy Yahoo: Blogger

Nov 18, 2007 1:24 PM CST

Microsoft to Buy Yahoo: Blogger

Says software company has sent a clear signal of intent

(Newser) - Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo, blogs Huffington Post’s Henry Blodget—there’s no other way to interpret comments made by a honcho Thursday that the Bill Gates brand plans to up its online search market share from its current 10% to 30%. Do the math, says Blodget: Acquiring Yahoo’...

Singapore Lifts Ban on Game With Lesbian Love

UPDATED

Nov 16, 2007 2:54 PM CST

Singapore Lifts Ban on Game With Lesbian Love

Mass Effect can be sold with M18 rating

(Newser) - Gamers in Singapore may now buy Microsoft's Mass Effect despite a female-female love scene. The country has decided to allow the sale of the video game under an M18 rating, reports Singapore's Straits Times, after previously banning it due to a scene showing a human woman and an alien woman...

Price Cut Lifts PlayStation Sales

Nov 15, 2007 9:02 PM CST

Price Cut Lifts PlayStation Sales

Lower prices and a new low-cost model may help Sony to escape third place

(Newser) - Long lagging behind the Nintendo Wii and without a 'Halo 3' to rescue it, Sony's PlayStation 3 is finally seeing sales pick up in the weeks after a $100 price cut and introduction of a lower-end model. Sony said it sold 100,000 consoles last week, compared to sales of...

Game Banned for Lesbian Scene

Nov 15, 2007 8:53 AM CST

Game Banned for Lesbian Scene

Microsoft's anticipated "Mass Effect" not showing up in Singapore

(Newser) - Singaporeans anticipating Microsoft’s much-ballyhooed Mass Effect video game should stop anticipating. Thanks to a scene in which a human woman kisses and caresses an alien woman, Singapore has banned the action-RPG, Reuters reports. Microsoft said it would respect the ban, but outraged gamers decried the decision as too strict....

Firms Are
Waiting on
Windows Vista

Nov 15, 2007 7:13 AM CST

Firms Are Waiting on Windows Vista

Problems could prompt many to hold out for big '09 upgrade

(Newser) - It has been almost a year since Windows Vista was released to businesses, but a spate of hardware compatibility issues has many still waiting to upgrade until the release of the first service pack, scheduled for early next year. With the next version of Windows due in late 2009, PC ...

New VC Fund Wants
Only Facebook Apps

Nov 14, 2007 12:26 PM CST

New VC Fund Wants Only Facebook Apps

Investor puts exclusive attention on site he thinks is worth $100B

(Newser) - Venture capitalist Lee Lorenzen is so enamored of Facebook that he started an investment fund just to finance developers creating applications for the social network site. Not only is Lorenzen investing in a month-and-a-half-old industry, last month at a conference he said Facebook might be worth $100 billion, more than...

Europe Blocks DoubleClick Deal

Nov 14, 2007 7:29 AM CST

Europe Blocks DoubleClick Deal

DoubleClick acquisition held up for review

(Newser) - European antitrust regulators have put up a roadblock to Google’s $3.1 billion bid for internet ad giant DoubleClick, ruling that it needs to be reviewed before approval. The US has yet to approve the deal, though Brazilian and Australian regulators signed off on it. Google already controls 70%...

Can Firefox Stick to its Open Source Roots?

Nov 12, 2007 3:54 PM CST

Can Firefox Stick to its Open Source Roots?

Some fear huge profits from search deal make Mozilla a Google proxy

(Newser) - The image of the Mozilla Foundation is that of Internet underdog—an open source, non-profit network of developers whose Firefox browser has nabbed 15-20% of the market from Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But as the New York Times reports, a Google tie-in deal has enriched the foundation's for-profit Mozilla Corporation subsidiary...

Microsoft Finally Makes a 'Pretty Good' Media Player

Nov 12, 2007 2:12 PM CST

Microsoft Finally Makes a 'Pretty Good' Media Player

PC World 's qualified praise for the new Zunes

(Newser) - Microsoft released its latest Zune portable media players today, garnering approval from PC World. "This latest generation of Zunes should finally provide some real competition," declared the reviewer. The magazine praised the players for high sound quality and good extra features, but pointed to improvements to the Zune...

Imagining a Facebook Search Engine to Rival Google

Nov 12, 2007 10:19 AM CST

Imagining a Facebook Search Engine to Rival Google

Is 'social search' worth banking on?

(Newser) - With a new option allowing users to search for advertising pages, Facebook has crept another step closer to a search engine. Will the social networking site take the ultimate plunge in its battle against Google and roll out a full-fledged search engine? VentureBeat's Doug Sherret explores how this engine would...

Justice Backs Microsoft
in Antitrust Action

Nov 12, 2007 4:07 AM CST

Justice Backs Microsoft in Antitrust Action

US opposes extension of scrutiny

(Newser) - Microsoft chief Bill Gates has a critical ally in the latest phase of his company's marathon antitrust suit—the Justice Department. The agency is opposing court action by New York and California to extend judicial oversight of Microsoft's activities to 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal. Monitoring was part...