Tag: Microsoft
Celebrate the Halo 3 launch in a week with some personalised Master Chief M&Ms
Or any launch, for that matter. I’ve just discovered that on the M&Ms website, chocolate-fans can upload graphics, logos or messages, pick between 22 colours, and order any amount they want. With prices starting at just $2.90 for a 1.75oz bag with a bow…
Google may be developing offline version of Gmail, challenge to Microsoft?
According to "highly placed sources", Google is currently working on an offline version of its highly popular web-based Gmail email service, making it possible to read and reply to emails even when not connected to the Internet, just as with…
Nokia N94i running Windows Mobile? Our fakeometer just exploded…
You might think the idea of Nokia releasing a Windows Mobile smartphone is ridiculous when it has its own Series 60 operating system. The vast majority of geeks would agree.
But if you’re the sort of person who’d rather trust obscure Thai auction sites offering blurry snaps of prototype handsets…
Well, you might want to check out this supposed N94i, which besides running Windows Mobile, apparently has a touchscreen’n’stylus, two-megapixel camera and MP3-playing capabilities. It’s up for sale on the Sanook auction site.
P2P file sharing could cut up to 95% off video hosting costs
A new study suggests that video publishing services such as YouTube and MSN Video could save up to 95% of their bandwidth costs by implementing some kind of peer-to-peer file sharing system. Researchers from Microsoft in collaboration with the Polytechnic…
UK Government backs BBC Trust's commitment to make iPlayer available on other platforms (eventually)
The Government has responded to an online petition calling for the BBC to make its iPlayer software, currently available for beta testing – available to more than just Windows XP users, by backing the BBC Trust's commitment to making the…
Opinion: HMV need more than gimmicks to attract kids to "cyber store"
Quick quiz now – do you still buy CDs on the high street? I rarely do these days, unless it’s an impulse buy in a sale as I browse, but then I don’t get much time to do that either like I used to. Let’s face it, we’re a cash rich, time poor society now and that means one thing – the Internet!
I’m not going to spit out the obvious downloading facts and figures that we all already know, digital music is big business and only a miniscule percentage of people reading this will never have bought or “found” a music track via the web…
Microsoft cuts $50 off the price of a Zune
Yesterday, no doubt to capitalise slightly on Apple’s iPod frenzy, Microsoft announced on its official Zune blog that the decent media player is getting its price hacked down to $199 with immediate effect.
Zune Insider also reports that “customer satisfaction” with the 30GB Zune…
Sony staffer fingered for negative Halo 3 Wikipedia edits
Life’s got very entertaining since the development of technology allowing you to track who’s been making what edits to Wikipedia entries. Sony is the latest company to end up with egg on its face, after some negative edits to the Halo 3 page were traced back to its Sony Liverpool studio.
Microsoft gives Zune a 'B-' for its first year on sale, hints at ZunePhone
Here’s to consumer tech execs eschewing hype in favour of realistic assessments of their products. Mindy Mount is corporate VP and chief financial officer at Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, so you’d expect her to bang on at length about Zune’s zeitgeist-seizing iPod-slaying revolution. And stuff.
Nokia teams with Microsoft for Windows Live apps on smartphones
Until recently, Nokia and Microsoft have been fierce competitors in the smartphone market, certainly in terms of their rival operating systems (Series 60 vs Windows Mobile). However, that rivalry is shifting to something friendlier, and fast.
See, just a couple of weeks after Nokia announced plans to put Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM inside its Series 60 handsets, it’s now revealed that it’s also going to preload Windows Live applications like Hotmail, Messenger, Contacts and Spaces on its smartphones, with Series 40 devices to follow next year.