Consumers have not embraced Windows 8, the current PC operating system from Microsoft. In fact, some people have paid to get rid of it and downgrade back to the more comfortable Windows 7. Microsoft wants users to give their latest offering a try, and are making Windows 10 available as a free download to users of their current operating systems. [More]
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Microsoft Temporarily Dropping The Price Of Xbox One To $349 Again
By 1.16.15
After cutting the price of the Xbox One $50 ahead of the holiday season, it seems Microsoft is still in the holiday spirit, as it’s offering the console for $349 again as of today. [More]
Google, Microsoft Face Down Hilton, Marriott In Fight Over Blocking Hotel Hotspots
By 12.24.14
Hotel wifi really sucks sometimes: it can be expensive, insecure, and slow all at once. When there’s a convention in town, the network’s so overloaded you can’t connect at all. So travelers bring their own mobile hotspots. It’s a win for the consumer, but not for the hotel that suddenly loses the ability to charge you more fees. And that’s the core issue behind a regulatory fight that has hotels and tech firms arguing over what consumers are allowed to do. [More]
Barnes & Noble Will Buy Back Microsoft’s Share Of The Nook Business
By 12.4.14
At first upon hearing that Barnes & Noble will be buying back the stake Microsoft bought in its Nook business in 2012, one might have the idea that Barnes & Noble really believes in the Nook again. But no, it’s just bringing the e-reader business back into the fold so it can prepare to spin it off in a sale next year. [More]
Microsoft Decides To Stop Charging For Mobile Office Apps
By 11.6.14
Realizing that it can’t make money if no one uses its products anymore, Microsoft has decided to allow iOS and Android users to access most of the functions in its mobile Office suite of apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint — without having to pay a hefty annual subscription fee. [More]
CNN Shows That Microsoft Surface Makes Great $799 iPad Stand
By 11.5.14
From NFL sidelines to product placement in various movies and TV shows, Microsoft has been making a huge marketing push to get its Surface tablets in the hands of people you see on TV. But what’s that distinctive-looking Surface stand actually propping up? In the case of CNN, it’s probably an iPad. [More]
Microsoft Dropping Xbox One Price $50 In Advance Of Holiday Season
By 10.27.14
It’s been a year since Microsoft and Sony launched their latest game consoles and the makers of the Xbox One are making a push to get their product in more homes this holiday season by dropping the price through the end of the year. [More]
Beats Headphones Join iPads On List Of Products Banned From NFL Sidelines
By 10.6.14
While NFL stars like Colin Kaepernick might love the Beats by Dre headphones they get paid to wear, they won’t be allowed to sport the fashionable headgear on the sidelines of their games, or even around their necks during post-game interviews, thanks to an exclusivity deal reached between the league and Bose. [More]
Ever The Unpredictable Scamp, Microsoft Goes With “Windows 10” For Next OS
By 9.30.14
While Microsoft is often seen as embodying the more straight-and-narrow side of home computing, you can’t fault the company for its utterly insane approach to picking names for its Windows operating system. After jumping from 3.11 to 95 to 2,000 before going back to 7 (and let’s not forget about the random non-numerical versions released over the years), the company is following the tepidly received Windows 8 with — what else? — Windows 10. [More]
Microsoft Buys Minecraft Maker For $2.5 Billion
By 9.15.14
It’s official — Microsoft has decided it wants to play a lot of Minecraft, and it’s willing to pay $2.5 billion for the right to do so. The company announced today that it reached a deal to purchase Swedish Minecraft developer Mojang. [More]
Microsoft Really Wants You To Buy An Xbox One So It’s Giving Away Free Games Next Week
By 9.4.14
It’s been almost a year since Microsoft launched its latest console, the Xbox One, originally selling for $100 more than the new competition from Sony. Now that these next-gen consoles are looking toward their second holiday season (and really their first with any decent games), Microsoft is trying to get a leg up on the PS4 by offering free games to people who buy an Xbox One next week. [More]
Soon You Can Use Your Xbox One To Stream Live TV To Your Phone (But Not In The U.S.)
By 8.12.14
The Xbox One gaming console is getting a new function added to it, Microsoft announced today. As of this fall, the late-2013, next-gen, still-new gaming and media device will also function as high-tech rabbit ears for your TV. [More]
EA To Offer $5 Monthly All-You-Can-Play Old Game Buffet For Xbox One Owners
By 7.30.14
Disc-based video games aren’t doomed yet; there are many years left to go before their seemingly-inevitable demise finally comes. One big game publisher, though, is clearly already scrounging for the nails they eventually hope to put into the lid of that particular coffin. EA this week announced a new online subscription service giving players unlimited access to a whole “vault” of games for as long as they keep paying the monthly fee. Is it a great idea for consumers or a blatant cash-grab from EA? In reality, probably a little bit of both. [More]
Microsoft Cutting 18,000 Jobs In Coming Months
By 7.17.14
Now that Microsoft is taking over Nokia’s device business, there are apparently a lot of people doing similar jobs. And so the company announced this morning that it plans to shed 18,000 jobs — about 14% of its total workforce — in the next 12 months. [More]
Microsoft, Google To Introduce “Kill-Switch” Function As Report Shows The Deterrent Cuts Thefts
By 6.19.14
Smartphone manufacturers appear to be taking consumers’ and legislators’ demand for anti-theft measures to heart. Just a month after Minnesota became the first state to pass a law requiring manufacturers to create kill switches Microsoft and Google announced that they would introduce the theft deterrent technologies into their products. And that’s a good thing considering a new report highlights just how effective kill switches have been reducing the theft of technology. [More]
The Aaron Paul Xbox One Ad Will Mess With Your Xbox One
By 6.13.14
For months, Microsoft has been airing ads with people hollering “Xbox On” and “Xbox Do This Thing That Doesn’t Really Work The Way You Show It In The Ad” but those ads were somehow not triggering users’ Xbox Ones to respond. That is until the new ads featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul started running. [More]
It’s Time To Start Treating Video Game Industry Like The $21 Billion Business It Is
By 6.9.14
The majority of video games in the U.S. are purchased and played by adults. The largest titles make money that Hollywood films could only dream of raking in, and the biggest players in the industry run multibillion-dollar multinational operations that employ thousands of people. Yet many consumers still think of gaming as a kid’s thing that doesn’t merit serious consideration or scrutiny. In an age where our culture recognizes previously sniffed-about industries like professional sports as much more than child’s play, it’s time to get over that same hump about video games. [More]
Father-Daughter Burglary Spree Ends After She Posts Doctored Microsoft Employee Badge On Facebook
By 5.27.14
I’ve never had a daughter, and I didn’t really have much of a dad. Most of what I know about father-daughter relationships comes from watching Paper Moon. I have a feeling that last part might also be true of a dad-daughter pair in Washington state caught stealing more than $40,000 worth of stuff from the Microsoft store on the company’s main campus. [More]
