If the police serve a search warrant on your home, you know, but if law enforcement searches your cloud-stored files, you’ll probably have no idea — and companies like Microsoft are currently forbidden from telling you. That’s why the tech giant is suing the Justice Department, but can Microsoft even bring this lawsuit? [More]
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Microsoft Band Removed From Website; No Plans For Band 3
By 10.3.16
Weeks after rumors began to swirl that Microsoft would abandon its two-year-old Band fitness device, the company has removed the wearable from its website. [More]
Report: Microsoft Likely Won’t Make Another Wearable Band
By 9.14.16
Two years after Microsoft entered the wearable market with its Band fitness devices, it appears the tech company may be throwing in the towel, at least for now. [More]
Report: Microsoft Ditching Lumia Smartphones In Favor Of A New Surface Phone
By 9.12.16
It could be the end of the Lumia line of smartphones according to a new report that says Microsoft is going to kill off those devices, and focus on a new Surface Phone instead. [More]
Apple, Amazon, Google, Twitter, Dozens More Voice Support For Microsoft Lawsuit Against Justice Dept.
By 9.6.16 — Updated: 1.23.17
In April, Microsoft sued the U.S. Department of Justice, arguing that its “customers have a right to know when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails,” and that “Microsoft has a right to tell them.” While Microsoft might be the only plaintiff in this case, dozens of tech biggies, media companies, privacy advocates, and others have let the court know that they stand behind Microsoft. [More]
Microsoft Buying Its Own Game Streaming Service To Take On Twitch
By 8.12.16
Game streaming is big business. And like TV streaming before it, everyone with two wires to plug together wants a slice of that delicious viewer pie. (Ew.) Which explains why Microsoft is hopping in the pool with its own streaming service acquisition. [More]
You Can Still Upgrade To Windows 10 For Free — Here’s How
By 8.1.16
July 29 has come and gone and maybe you’re sitting there smacking yourself for not upgrading to Windows 10 for free while you had the chance. If you don’t want to spend $120, there’s still hope for you yet. [More]
Today Is The Last Day Windows Users Can Upgrade To Windows 10 For Free
By 7.29.16
If you’ve been putting off upgrading your Windows 7 or 8 operating system to Windows 10 — even after all that nagging, prompting, and pestering from Microsoft — today is decision day: either upgrade for free before the end of the day, or you’ll have to pay if you upgrade later. [More]
Microsoft Won’t Achieve Its Windows 10 Goal By 2018 After All
By 7.15.16
When Microsoft first started touting Windows 10, the company set an ambitious goal: to have the operating system installed on 1 billion devices by 2018. That pledge was a bit too ambitious, it seems, as the company announced it’ll need more time to reach that point. [More]
Court: Microsoft Can’t Be Forced To Turn Over User Emails Stored Outside Of U.S.
By 7.14.16
When law enforcement officials serve a tech company with a warrant for information on a specific user, does the fact that the company could easily access that information online negate the concern that the sought-after data is stored wholly outside the U.S.? A federal appeals court — in a case involving a Microsoft email user — says that the location of the information does matter. [More]
DNA Molecules Can Now Store Hundreds Of Megabytes Of Digital Data
By 7.7.16
In a scene that could be straight out of Battlestar Galactica or Caprica, researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington say they have found a way to successfully encode and store hundreds of megabytes of data in synthetic DNA molecules. [More]
Microsoft Apologizes For Trying To Be Cool With Email Inviting “Bae” Interns For “Dranks”
By 7.7.16
There is perhaps nothing so cringeworthy as someone who is most definitely *not* cool trying to talk to the younger crowd in their own language. Microsoft is apologizing for such an effort after hitting a spectacularly uncool note this week in an email to its interns, calling them “bae” and inviting them to have a “lots of dranks” on a Monday night at a company event. [More]
Microsoft Making Its Windows 10 Upgrade Prompts A Bit Less Pushy
By 6.28.16
After numerous Windows 7 and 8 users complained that Microsoft was being overly aggressive in trying to get them to upgrade to Windows 10, the company says that for real, this time, it’s going to be a lot less in-your-face with its update reminders. [More]
Woman Wins $10K From Microsoft For Automatic Windows 10 Upgrade
By 6.27.16
The chorus of complaints from PC users over how pushy Microsoft has been with its Windows 10 upgrades reached a new level recently, after a woman won a $10,000 judgment against the company for an automatic installation gone wrong that she said seriously mucked up her computer. [More]
Microsoft Getting Into The Legal Marijuana Business With Software That Tracks Pot Plants
By 6.17.16
We’ve come a long way from the days of warning teens about the dangers of reefer madness, America. These days, major corporations are hopping into bed with marijuana in the hopes of making money in states where marijuana is legal. Microsoft is the first big company to get into the weed business, with a new partnership to offer software that tracks pot plants from “seed to sale.” [More]
Why Is Microsoft Spending $26 Billion To Acquire LinkedIn?
By 6.13.16
Microsoft will soon have your resume on file — or at least the resume of a few hundred million LinkedIn members. The two companies announced a deal this morning that would see Microsoft pay $26.2 billion to acquire the job-networking site. [More]
Microsoft Protects You From Yourself, Outright Bans Worst Passwords
By 5.27.16
The point of a password is to keep your accounts secure. A bad password, though, doesn’t do that very well. And despite decades’ worth of repeated warnings not to use the same terrible passwords, millions of people still regularly do, even when a system tries to require better ones. So Microsoft, in the name of customer protection, has finally had enough and is just going to start banning the really crappy ones altogether. [More]
