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Rumor Mill: A Blu-Ray Drive for the Xbox 360, In time for Christmas?
All I have to say is, FINALLY!
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A new rumor points to the possibility that the Xbox 360 from Microsoft might be getting a Blu-ray drive. These rumors seem to pop up every couple of months, proposing either an internal or an external drive, only to solicit a quick and tough reaction from a Microsoft official who denies the possibility that this will ever happen.
Now, a publication called X-Bit Labs claims that Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology is under contract to create and produce an external drive which would be added to the already sold gaming consoles. The price tag is rumored to be around 100 - 150 dollars. It is thought that an announcement from Microsoft could come as quickly as in the following weeks, with the obvious aim of targeting the Christmas sales period. There's also a possibility that the drive could be announced early in 2009, at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Sony is using the Blu-ray drive which is integrated into the PlayStation 3 as a powerful argument regarding the superiority of its console. Microsoft initially backed the now defunct HD-DVD format and offered an add on drive for the Xbox 360.
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer, said not long ago that Microsoft was interested in supporting the Blu-ray “in ways that make sense” while Aaron Greenberg stated that “Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience”.
It just might be that the people at Microsoft do not know for sure whether the Blu-ray is important enough to buyers in order to warrant support and implementation related to the Xbox 360. Microsoft is increasingly repositioning its gaming console as a media hub targeted at more casual users and getting a Blu-ray add on might negate on of the few advantages that Sony still holds in the console competition. All I have to say is, FINALLY! =============== ... more -
Forget Windows 7 pre-Beta, Windows Strata Is Coming
At the start of October 2008, during a presentation at CIGREF – Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises in Paris – Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer stressed the need for a new operating system beyond the Windows server and client platforms. Following the retirement of Bill Gates, with Ray Ozzie as chief software officer, Microsoft has adopted a new Software plus Services business strategy designed to bridge the desktop and the cloud. Windows Cloud is an integral part of this strategy, namely a new Windows operating system built for the Internet. Details published inadvertently on the Professional Developers Conference 2008 website indicate that Microsoft is readying to detail a product previously unmentioned, labeled Windows Strata.
We said inadvertently because the information unveiled by GeeksWithBlogs has been removed completely from the session area of the PDC2008 website since October 8. At the same time, Microsoft is not offering any details related to the new product name, and in this context there is no official confirmation that Windows Strata is actually the Windows Cloud that Ballmer mentioned. However, in less than a month, Microsoft is bound to unveil the first Beta for Windows Cloud as Ballmer promised, along with the pre-Beta bits for Windows 7.
At PDC2008, Microsoft will deliver, in two parts, the session "A Lap Around Cloud Services" with the following synopsis: "Hear about key problems that cloud computing is solving and how these services fit into the Microsoft cloud computing initiatives. Learn about the pillars of the platform, its service lifecycle, and see how they fit with both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. Also, hear about the services roadmap over the next few years. [And] Learn about the cloud services that enable developers to easily create or extend their applications and services. From consumer-targeted applications and social networking web sites to enterprise class applications and services, these services make it easy for you to give your applications and services the most compelling experiences and features."
Of course that there are additional mentions of the Microsoft Cloud platform, but none referencing Windows Cloud or Windows Strata directly. In addition to promising a Beta for Windows Cloud, Ballmer also revealed that Microsoft would have a trademark label for the platform by PDC2008. At the start of October 2008, during a presentation at CIGREF – Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises in Paris – Micros... more -
Xbox 360 gaming console is set for a major face-lift.
Microsoft said Wednesday that it is planning to launch a major overhaul of its Xbox interface on Nov. 19.
"On that day, millions of Xbox 360 owners worldwide will experience a completely new Xbox 360 that is fun, social, and simple to use -- and puts more entertainment at their fingertips than any other device connected to the TV," the company said in a statement.
New Xbox Experience, as the revamp is called, will feature a revised user interface that, among other things, allows users to cycle through options as they would if they were using Windows Vista's Aero interface. Available games, movies, and TV shows will be presented side by side and will be easier to find and access, Microsoft said.
A new feature called Xbox Live Party will let parties of up to seven people chat and share pictures over a television screen while simultaneously playing games. The Personality Plus tool will let users create customized avatars that will represent them throughout the Xbox world.
"When the New Xbox Experience launches in just six weeks, we will be inviting the whole world to play," said John Schappert, Microsoft's corporate VP for Interactive Entertainment, in a statement from the Tokyo Game Show 2008.
Microsoft is looking to maintain recent Xbox sales momentum in the face of stiff competition from Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii unit. The company last month slashed the price of its Xbox 360 video game console by almost 30% for some models.
The cuts saw the price of the entry-level Xbox 360 Arcade system fall from $279 to $199. The basic Xbox 360 model, which features a 60-GB hard drive, dropped to $299 from $349. The high-end Xbox 360 Elite, which includes a 120-GB hard drive, now sells for $399 -- down from $449.
In its most recent quarter, Microsoft reported that Xbox 360 total console sales surpassed 19 million units during the period, up 74% from the previous year.
Recent releases of hot-selling game titles, including Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV, have helped spur Xbox 360 sales. Halo 3, an Xbox 360 exclusive, smashed game industry records when it debuted late last year -- including the record for most launch-day sales. Microsoft said Wednesday that it is planning to launch a major overhaul of its Xbox interface on Nov. 19. ... more -
Bad Things Happen to Unlicensed Windows Users
Companies that rely on unlicensed copies of Windows are more likely to experience system failures and lose customer data, Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday, citing a company-sponsored report.
According to the research, which was conducted by the Harrison Group Inc. but paid for by Microsoft, mid-sized firms -- those with more than 24 PCs and fewer than 500 -- were 43% more likely to have had a critical system failure lasting more then 24 hours if they used unlicensed Windows.
Those businesses were also 28% more likely to lose customer data and 73% more likely to lose their own data than firms exclusively using licensed copies of Microsoft's software.
The Harrison Group reached those conclusions after interviewing IT professionals and businesspeople at nearly 1,600 companies in the U.S., the U.K., China and Brazil. Of the companies included in the survey, Harrison Group labeled 690, or 43.7%, as using fully-licensed software; 890, or 56.3%, ran some unlicensed software.
Microsoft used the report to defend Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), its anti-piracy program that at times has come under fire from users.
In an entry to the company's WGA blog Tuesday, Alex Kochis, a Microsoft senior product manager, trumpeted the results. "Not surprisingly, companies that have more counterfeit software in their environment tend to have more IT related problems," Kochis said.
Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, agreed with Kochis, up to a point. "In principal, I kind of get the point that they're making," Cherry said. "If you're using non-genuine [Windows], there's a high likelihood that whoever put it on the media slipped other things into the code Actually, I would be surprised if there wasn't something slipped in. So I have no problems with that premise."
But Cherry remained cautious of the report. "I'm nervous about this because Microsoft paid for it," he said. "But who else, really, would study this?"
This is not the first time that Microsoft has linked unlicensed copies of Windows to negative side effects, including the potential of pirated copies containing malware, either by design or through an oversight on the part of the counterfeiter.
Even so, Microsoft has continued to tweak WGA. Last month, for example, it announced an update for Windows XP Professional users that will make the non-genuine nagging more prominent. Companies that rely on unlicensed copies of Windows are more likely to experience system failures and lose customer data, Microsoft Co... more -
Microsoft Files Lawsuit Against Scareware Scammers
Microsoft and Washington State’s Attorney General filed lawsuits in an attempt to protect frightened customers from buying useless software from scam artists.
Such scam artists use what is called "Scareware" to trick computer users into clicking on pop-up alerts that claim their device is "damaged and corrupted".
They are then persuaded to buy software that corrects the non-existent issue by offering fake security fixes.
Attorney General Rob McKenna called it a blatant rip-off of consumers.
Users are "duped into downloading a fake scan (of the computer) and then duped into paying for software they don't need".
The attorney general filed the lawsuit against a Texas firm called Branch Software and Alpha Red and its owner James Reed McCreary IV. The suit alleged that Mr McCreary's company "sent incessant pop-ups resembling system warnings to consumers' personal computers.
"The messages read "CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGE! - REGISTRY DAMAGED AND CORRUPTED."
According to the complaint, the ads "instructed users to visit a web site to download Registry Cleaner XP" at a cost of $39.95 (£21.70).
"We won't tolerate the use of alarmist warnings or deceptive 'free scans' to trick consumers into buying software to fix a problem that doesn't even exist," McKenna said.
"We've repeatedly proven that Internet companies that prey on consumers' anxieties are within our reach."
Eric Sites, the chief technology officer with security firm Sunbelt Software, which tracks spyware and malware threats, says the problem is a growing one.
"In the last six months we have seen an enormous uptick in the number of people getting infected by these scareware or spyware agents.
"They are becoming a lot more prevalent and the 'scare and scam' is all about getting money out of the user," he said.
The scheme took advantage of a Windows operating system feature designed to let computer network administrators send notices to people using the machines.
Microsoft referred the case to the attorney general's high tech unit and helped put the case together.
"Cybercrime continues to evolve, but with public/private collaboration such as this, we can work to champion tougher laws, greater public awareness and, ultimately, stronger protections for online consumers," said Richard Boscovich, senior attorney for Microsoft's Internet safety enforcement team.
The software giant has since filed five new lawsuits and amended two previous complaints all relating to spyware attempts.
Scan & Repair, Antivirus 2009, MalwareCore, WinDefender, XPDefender and WinSpywareProtect were the programs included in the suit.
The defendants are mostly listed as "John Doe" because investigators do not yet know the identities of the people involved. Microsoft and Washington State’s Attorney General filed lawsuits in an attempt to protect frightened customers from buying useless sof... more -
Fighting the scourge of scareware
Microsoft has filed lawsuits against companies who use "scareware" into tricking people to buy their software.
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Visual studio 2010 and .NetFramework 4.0 is announced to be launched.
Visual studio 2010 and .NetFramework 4.0 is announced to be launched.
Visual studio 2010 and .NetFramework will be avilable soon by Microsoft. Here you can find all information about features of Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft .NetFramework 4.0. with screenshots.
source page link:
http://tech-worlds.blogspot.com/2008/09/microsoft-launc... Visual studio 2010 and .NetFramework 4.0 is announced to be launched. ... more -
New software turns PC into TiVo TV recorder
NEW YORK (AP) -- TiVo Inc. and Nero AG of Germany were set to announce Monday that they will be launching a package that turns a Windows PC into a TV recorder, just like a TiVo set-top box.
The kit will cost $199 when it goes on sale Oct. 15, and includes a remote and a TV tuner that plugs into the PC. The interface on the computer screen looks just like the one on a TV equipped with a TiVo box.
It's not the first software that allows TV recording on the PC. That's been possible for years on computers equipped with TV tuners, and some versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system include the necessary software. But it will be the first time that both the TiVo interface and functions have been replicated on a PC.
The Nero LiquidTV/TiVo PC will go on sale initially in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, but it could open up some markets where TiVo does not yet sell its set-top boxes. Joshua Danovitz, vice president and general manager of international business at TiVo, said the plan is to launch it in Europe next year, including in Nero's home country, Germany. Britain is the only European country where TiVo currently has subscribers. NEW YORK (AP) -- TiVo Inc. and Nero AG of Germany were set to announce Monday that they will be launching a package that turns a Windo... more -
Xbox 360 Slim Is Really Real
At a recent event held in Delhi, Microsoft India revealed some very key information on the future of Xbox and the present. At the event they confirmed that the long rumored Xbox 360 Slim is actually real and that we should wait for an announcement sometime in December. The new version of the Xbox 360 was once rumored to be revealed in 2009, but know we now see that this rumor was actually wrong. Microsoft India has also officially announced its new Xbox 360 package deal for India, which is an 360 Core console, a 20 GB HDD, one wireless controller and free copies of Viva Pinata and Forza 2.
Article from http://www.gamercenteronline.net/2008/09/27/xbox-360-sl... At a recent event held in Delhi, Microsoft India revealed some very key information on the future of Xbox and the present. At the even... more -
Bill Gates talks about the economy.
BIll Gates talks about the situation of America and the troubles today
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Microsoft unveils $40bn buy-back
Microsoft has unveiled plans to spend $40bn (£22bn) buying back its shares from investors, the biggest single buy-back plan in history.
Analysts say the move is an attempt by the software giant to use its spare cash to prop up its share price which has fallen by almost 30% this year.
Hewlett-Packard and Nike have also announced major buy-back programmes.
The personal computer-maker will buy back $8bn of shares, while Nike's plan is worth $5bn.
'Attractive prices'
Microsoft said the buy-back plan showed its "confidence in the long-term growth of the company and our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders."
Industry watchers have said Microsoft will be hoping the plan will revive its share price which has declined this year, partly due to its failed $47.5bn (£26.3bn) bid to buy the internet portal Yahoo.
"I'm impressed," said Michael Holland of the deals. He oversees $4bn (£2.2bn) as chairman and founder of Holland & Co in New York.
"When companies have come in to buy their own stock subsequent to a financial crisis, they've bought at attractive prices and it's been a good use of liquidity," Mr Holland told Bloomberg News.
At the end of June this year, the company was sitting on a cash mountain of $23.7bn and has never been in debt in its 33-year history.
The BBC's technology reporter Maggie Shiels said there was little doubt Microsoft had to do something because it simply had too much cash lying on its books following the company's failed attempt to buy either all or part of Yahoo.
Dealogic said the new buy-back, which will run until 2013, was the largest single announced share-buyback in history.
It follows a previous 2004 plan which started as a $30bn project and was later boosted by another $10bn.
'Volatile market'
HP said its board approved an $8bn repurchase following a previous programme which started in November. About $3bn (£1.6bn) remains from that authorisation.
The firm said it gave the go-ahead to the share buy-back to counteract the effect employee stock plans have on ownership percentages.
Just last week the PC-maker announced it was cutting 24,600 jobs in the wake of its acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp.
Meanwhile Nike's plan to buy back $5bn of shares over the next four years has been welcomed by Standard & Poor's Equity Research as providing "support to the shares in a volatile market."
Share buy-backs peaked in the third quarter of 2007 at $172bn according to Standard & Poor's senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt. The figure for the first quarter of this year is $113.9bn. Microsoft has unveiled plans to spend $40bn (£22bn) buying back its shares from investors, the biggest single buy-back plan in history... more -
Robot wheelchair finds its own way
MIT researchers are developing a new kind of autonomous wheelchair that can learn all about the locations in a given building, and then take its occupant to a given place in response to a verbal command.
Just by saying "take me to the cafeteria" or "go to my room," the wheelchair user would be able to avoid the need for controlling every twist and turn of the route and could simply sit back and relax as the chair moves from one place to another based on a map stored in its memory.
"It's a system that can learn and adapt to the user," says Nicholas Roy, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and co-developer of the wheelchair. "People have different preferences and different ways of referring" to places and objects, he says, and the aim is to have each wheelchair personalized for its user and the user's environment.
Unlike other attempts to program wheelchairs or other mobile devices, which rely on an intensive process of manually capturing a detailed map of a building, the MIT system can learn about its environment in much the same way as a person would: By being taken around once on a guided tour, with important places identified along the way. For example, as the wheelchair is pushed around a nursing home for the first time, the patient or a caregiver would say: "this is my room" or "here we are in the foyer" or "nurse's station."
For now, the wheelchair prototype relies on a WiFi system to make its maps and then navigate through them, which requires setting up a network of WiFi nodes around the facility in advance. After months of preliminary tests on campus, they have begun trials in a real nursing home environment with real patients, at the Boston Home in Dorchester, a facility where all of the nearly 100 patients have partial or substantial loss of muscle control and use wheelchairs.
As the research progresses, Roy says he'd like to add a collision-avoidance system using detectors to prevent the chair from bumping into other wheelchairs, walls or other obstacles. In addition,Teller says he hopes to add mechanical arms to the chairs, to aid the patients further by picking up and manipulating objects -- everything from flipping a light switch to picking up a cup and bringing it to the person's lips.
The research has been funded by Nokia and Microsoft. MIT researchers are developing a new kind of autonomous wheelchair that can learn all about the locations in a given building, and the... more -
Microsoft reboots Seinfeld, Gates ad plans
No more spots to air in campaign called odd; focus on real Windows users
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MSN vs GOOGLE - Search engine rap battle
Search engines rap. That's right. And they trade nasty punchlines.
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Jerry Seinfeld Bill Gates second Microsoft commercial
This ad, the second of the Seinfeld and Microsoft series, is just as confusing as the first and last four and a half minutes. Still, even as confusing as it is, it still is entertaining! This ad, the second of the Seinfeld and Microsoft series, is just as confusing as the first and last four and a half minutes. Still, e... more
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Seinfeld and Gates Microsoft Commerical
This is the original recent Microsoft ad that did not give any information other than the Microsoft logo at the end of a minute and a half advertisement with Seinfeld and Gates at a shoe store. So weird, yet entertaining! This is the original recent Microsoft ad that did not give any information other than the Microsoft logo at the end of a minute and a ... more
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"I'm a PC"
The video campaign following the Seinfeld and Gates ads to change Mac's degrading image of PC.
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Advertising - Echoing the Campaign of a Rival, Microsoft Aims to Redefine ‘I’m a P...
So Microsoft turned the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" campaign upside down with their new campaign of filming various people declaring they are a PC. First, they began with the ever-so-confusing Seinfeld and Gates commercials that did not declare anything after two minutes of watching other than the Microsoft logo. However, now they have shifted their campaign to this interesting twist on the old Mac commercials! Check it out! So Microsoft turned the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" campaign upside down with their new campaign of filming various peop... more
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A Gloomy Vista for Microsoft
"Remember how AOL used to be cool, but then became the service used only by people who didn't know any better? Microsoft is heading down that path." "Remember how AOL used to be cool, but then became the service used only by people who didn't know any better? Microsoft is ... more
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Microsoft retires Seinfeld ad campaign
TV viewers can return to their favorite programs without fear of seeing Bill Gates shaking his tushie now that Microsoft Corp. has retired a bizarre two-week-old ad campaign featuring the software giant's chairman with comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
Bloggers and online media have suggested that the Redmond, Washington-based company yanked the Seinfeld ads after they were poorly received. The ads show Gates and Seinfeld trading banter at a mall shoe store and while living with a suburban family, trying to get in touch with regular people. Seinfeld asks Gates nonsensical questions about the future of computing, and Gates responds with "signs" that he's on the right track, including "adjusting his shorts," as Seinfeld called the awkward hip shake, and doing "the robot," a dance move.
However, a senior vice president in Microsoft's central marketing group, Mich Mathews, contended in an interview Thursday that it was always the plan to replace the Seinfeld-Gates ads with ones that focus on Windows.
"The notion that we're doing some quick thing to cancel (the Seinfeld ads) is actually preposterous," Mathews said. "Today was always the day. ... Media buying is something you have to do months in advance."
Mathews described the three Seinfeld spots as ice breakers with a limited shelf life, designed to grab people's attention in a tongue-in-cheek way without the pressure of having to talk about the product.
"We wanted to be sure that when we do come out with our major message, today, 'Life Without Walls,' more people would be paying attention than they would otherwise," Mathews said. "My goodness, did we do that."
The Windows-focused campaign attempts to turn Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads on their head. A new TV ad set to debut during "The Office" on NBC Thursday evening begins with a Microsoft engineer who looks like the PC character in Apple's ads saying "Hello, I'm a PC, and I've been made into a stereotype." He's followed by a montage of real-life PC users, celebrities and Microsoft Windows engineers who all repeat the "I'm a PC" mantra.
Microsoft also has ads queued up for print, Web and public spaces that focus on the way Windows, Windows Mobile, Microsoft's Live services and its TV platform connect.
The $300 million campaign was designed by ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Microsoft said the company is "exploring options" with Seinfeld for new ads, but that no ads beyond the three that aired have been filmed so far. TV viewers can return to their favorite programs without fear of seeing Bill Gates shaking his tushie now that Microsoft Corp. has ret... more
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