TechFlash

NYT's Kristof: Boycott Bing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:30:05 GMT

[UPDATE, 8 p.m.: In a response to Kristof's post Friday evening, Microsoft said it's "committed to comprehensive results" and made it clear that it believes any problems are related to its search technology, not a purposeful attempt to omit controversial content. Microsoft's Adam Sohn cited "some queries that provide very balanced web results," such as a search in Simplified Chinese for "June 4th Tiananmen."

Examining Windows 7's fast start

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:58:23 GMT

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer got lots of attention yesterday when he announced that the company has sold twice as many copies of Windows 7 as it did any previous version of the operating system in its first month. It's "a fantastic start," he told shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

Pastor Hutcherson's advice to Microsoft on challenging Google

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:36:17 GMT

Google's dominance has perplexed Microsoft executives for years, but it sounds like Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond has got this whole Internet search thing figured out.

Gist says social networking in Outlook isn't a serious threat

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:53:33 GMT

After hearing about Microsoft's plans to let LinkedIn and other social networks integrate with Microsoft Outlook, one of the first questions that popped to mind was the potential impact on Gist. The service from the Seattle company, backed by Paul Allen, combines email, contacts, calendar items, online links, social-networking feeds and other data.

Predictions 2010: The future of Twitter, Google, everything else

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:04:44 GMT

What should Twitter do in 2010? Where will the stock prices Google, Amazon, and Microsoft end the year? Which companies will be acquired in the next year? And which cloud-computing platform will dominate?

Microsoft pilot aims to bring TV advertisers into Xbox Live

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:16:41 GMT

Microsoft this spring launched "1 v. 100," a prime-time game show for Xbox Live — an effort to combine an interactive video game with live television. Now Microsoft is taking that concept a step further, with a new pilot that aims to interest TV advertisers in this hybrid entertainment.

Shareholders quiz Ballmer about Macs, Windows, mobile phones

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:09:40 GMT

Microsoft's meeting with shareholders this morning was decidedly low-key, with investors overwhelmingly endorsing the company's compensation practices in their first "say on pay" advisory vote.

The roar of Tom Burt's Tesla

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:08 GMT

Tech geeks who love cars and video games will get a kick out of this. Microsoft executive Tom Burt -- the proud owner of a Tesla Roadster for the past eight months -- put his new sports car to the test last month "all in the interests of better gaming experiences for the masses." Tough assignment, huh?

LinkedIn to integrate with Outlook

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:54:04 GMT

Microsoft today announced a new feature of Office 2010 that will integrate information from social networks into the next version of its widely used Outlook email program. Business-oriented social network LinkedIn said it would be the first social network to support the feature, dubbed the Outlook Social Connector.

Microsoft: 'You get a free laptop! And you get a laptop! And you!'

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:01:28 GMT

In the absence of any big news during his keynote address this morning, Microsoft Windows President Steven Sinofsky took a page from Oprah's playbook and stirred the crowd to life with the surprise announcement that all of the paying attendees at the company's big Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles would get a free laptop.

Top five issues to watch at Microsoft shareholders meeting

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:08:27 GMT

Microsoft holds its annual shareholders meeting Thursday morning in Bellevue, and the company is painting an upbeat picture as it tries to move past the most difficult year in its history, from a financial perspective.

Motley crowd in Microsoft cloud

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:29:48 GMT

Companies looking to capitalize on the Azure rollout include Seattle-based Avanade, the IT consulting joint venture of Microsoft and Accenture. Avanade cites examples including Origin Digital, an Accenture company, that has built a video transcoding application on the Azure platform.

Microsoft settles with former employee accused of spying

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:31:38 GMT

Microsoft has settled a lawsuit against Miki Mullor, a former employee it accused of spying. Ancora Technologies Inc. said in a press release that all parties deny any wrongdoing and the terms of the settlement are confidential.

Tech Trivia: Can you match the acquired company with the price?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:30:22 GMT

At the TechFlash Holiday Party & Birthday Bash next month, we'll be hosting our first-ever Seattle tech trivia competition. In preparation for the big event, we've been compiling some fun little brain teasers to give attendees a sense of what to expect. Here's our second installment.

Microsoft's big 'Dallas' data plan

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:19:17 GMT

Microsoft's new "Dallas" data catalog for Windows Azure, announced this morning, aims to make big sets of public and commercial data available to developers using the company's cloud computing system. Ray Ozzie, the company's chief software architect, called it a "game-changing" subsystem of Azure during his keynote address this morning at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.

Awful dancing in Microsoft store

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:38:03 GMT

How Microsoft is (and isn't) using its Windows Azure cloud system

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:17:57 GMT

At its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft will try to sell companies and developers on the benefits of its new Windows Azure cloud computing platform, in preparation for its official rollout. But it looks like one of Azure's toughest customers will be Microsoft itself.

Paul Allen diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:14:27 GMT

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. In 1983, Allen successfully battled Hodgkin's disease, which is also a type of lymphoma. Allen's sister, Jody Allen, today sent an email to employees of Allen's investment arm, Vulcan, explaining the situation. Full email -- which was shared with TechFlash by a Vulcan spokesman -- below. [Post updated with a statement from Bill Gates]

Bing rises, Google hits new peak

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:35:58 GMT

New numbers from the comScore Networks research firm show Microsoft Bing rising to 9.9 percent of the U.S. search market in October, according to a Bloomberg News report this afternoon. That compares with a low of 8 percent for Microsoft's search engine in May, the month before the Bing launch.

Microsoft supercharges Excel

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:14:21 GMT

Microsoft this morning released a test version of Excel 2010 that the company says will be able to tap into distributed clusters of computer servers to crunch huge volumes of data much more quickly than before. You aren't going to need this to complete your weekly expense report -- well, hopefully not -- but it could come in handy for scientists and others that work with very large Excel workbooks.