Video: How to surf faster with Internet Explorer
A few enterprising Microsoft employees have produced a low-cost video that shows how accelerators, a feature of the Internet Explorer 8 browser, reduce the number of steps to perform common tasks.
What Microsoft’s doing is attempting to beat Google by changing the game. Instead of… Continue Reading
Does Google Apps break Microsoft Outlook? Not anymore
Those of you who get uncomfortable around confrontations and arguments may be able to breathe a little easier now — it looks like Google has resolved a recent spat between the search giant and Microsoft peaceably, with a bug fix.
The trouble started when Google… Continue Reading
Roundup: Zune HD specs, Google mobile ads, the most obscure Apple upgrade ever
Google AdSense Mobile – Yes, Google ads on your phone is a big deal. But Greg Yardley, CEO of mobile analytics startup Pinch Media, warns against dreams of Google megabucks for iPhone apps: “The bulk of applications either have a limited shelf life (just like a console… Continue Reading
Web tools leave the cloud: Zoho available for SharePoint
As online office software tries to move into big corporations, it’s starting to work more closely with entrenched solutions — which often means technology built by Microsoft. In the latest example, Zoho just announced plans to offer its collaboration services as an add-on for SharePoint,… Continue Reading
Microsoft says Google tool breaks Outlook
Silicon Valley rivalries between tech firms are serious. But they rarely break out into fistfights. Those of us who long for a rumble are forced to settle for cranky late-night blog spats.
At 1:56 am this morning, we got one. Outlook product manager Dev Balasubramanian… Continue Reading
Graphics chip rivals race to deliver next-generation chips
The next-generation of graphics chips is due to arrive in PCs sometime this year. Both Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices are expected to deliver these chips for the personal computer market this year, but no one knows exactly when.
This change is so important that,… Continue Reading
Roundup: Building43 launches for net enthusiasts, Twitter verifies accounts and more
Here’s the latest action:
Nintendo fends off patent trolls — The game industry leader just won yet another patent suit, this one falsely claiming that the Wii can play DVD movies.
Rambus settles with EU — The memory chip designer has agreed to cut some… Continue Reading
Video game sales still in a slump versus a year ago
Video game sales fell for the third straight month in May. Even though the industry can’t beat the extraordinary numbers it turned out a year ago, it’s not quite time to panic. The recession is a drag, but the blockbusters for this year are expected… Continue Reading
Roundup: Digital TV transition hits Friday, Microsoft cuts MS Money, Google cuts trips
Here’s the latest action:
Digital TV transition — About 2.8 million aren’t ready for the switch from analog to digital TV on Friday.
Barry Diller on content — The CEO of IAC says, make people pay for it. Paidcontent (of course) has more.
Fifteen iPhone… Continue Reading
The top ten video games of the coming year
At the E3 convention in Los Angeles last week I got to see a lot of what the video game industry has to offer in the coming year. Hands down, the best technology I saw at the show came from Microsoft in the form of… Continue Reading
Roundup: Yahoo’s Bartz slams Bing, solar brightens chip market and more
Here’s the latest action:
Intuit picks up PayCycle — The software company paid $170 million for the payroll services provider to strengthen that division of its business, reports Reuters.
Miles unveils electric Coda — Miles Electric Vehicles, known for its low-speed electric vehicles, has launched… Continue Reading
Dean’s video report on the latest trends and great games of E3
Here’s a video I shot with Alexa Lee of Ooyala at the Microsoft Xbox 360 booth at the E3 trade show in Los Angeles. After three and half days at the 40,000-attendee event, I’ve soaked in some of the interesting trends. In this segment, I… Continue Reading
Bing lists my job from 2001
I want to like Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine. It’s pretty! The video results that play when you mouse over them are cool. And Microsoft people are smarter and nicer than anyone in Silicon Valley wants to admit, so I like for them to win… Continue Reading
Microsoft games exec details how Project Natal was born
Microsoft threw one of the biggest curve balls at the E3 video game conference on Monday as it announced a new way to control games through your speech, gestures, and your full body, code-named Project Natal. You can control an Xbox 360 video game through… Continue Reading
Microsoft shows off motion-sensing game control, Project Natal
Trying to one-up Nintendo at the E3 game conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft showed off a game-control scheme where you use your body to control what happens in a game.
Dubbed Project Natal, the new game control system uses a 3-D depth camera… Continue Reading
Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm coming to Xbox Live this fall
Microsoft scored a coup last November when it debuted Netflix movies on the Xbox 360. Now it’s Facebook’s turn. Microsoft will now integrate the Facebook social network into the Xbox 360 dashboard. You can now view photos, make friends, and otherwise interact on Facebook directly… Continue Reading
Bing demo video
Microsoft says Bing, the company’s new search engine, will launch on Wednesday, June 3, after a few delays this week. Even if I get Bing to load, I’m too old to spend the weekend typing up a review. But I had Microsoft send us this… Continue Reading
Peeling back another layer of detail on Microsoft’s secret gesture-control system for games
We reported recently that Microsoft was preparing to announce a gesture-control system for the Xbox 360 at the E3 show in Los Angeles starting Monday. Now we’ve peeled back another layer of the secret.
The motion-sensing control system that Microsoft is working on is key… Continue Reading
Bing downtime means nothing yet
Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine — whoops, they’re now called discovery engines — has served some sweet-looking pages to a few lucky people since Steve Ballmer’s henchmen threw the big switch yesterday. But most of us have only seen blank pages or the “Coming Soon” page above…. Continue Reading
Interview with game developer Chris Taylor, supreme commander of imaginary wars
Chris Taylor is a goofy character in the game business. That’s why he was a fine emcee at our recent GamesBeat 09 conference. But he has a serious side as the founder of Gas Powered Games, a maker of real-time strategy games that has weathered… Continue Reading