Microsoft has unveiled its next-generation console, the Xbox One, which will go on sale later this year. Xbox One was shown off alongside a new Kinect sensor and a redesigned gamepad. Microsoft described the voice and gesture-controlled machine as an “all-in-one” system offering games, live TV, movies and music. The firm’s Entertainment and Devices Division [...]
Google and Microsoft have both reported rising profits for the first quarter of 2013. Google’s net profit climbed to $3.35 billion in Q1 2013, up 16% from a year ago, boosted by online advertising revenue. Microsoft said it made $6 billion in profit during the same period, a jump of more than 17% from a [...]
Microsoft has been fined 561 million euros ($731 million) for failing to promote a range of web browsers, rather than just Internet Explorer program, to users in the European Union. It introduced a Browser Choice Screen pop-up in March 2010 as part of a settlement following an earlier EU competition investigation. But Microsoft dropped the [...]
Microsoft has become the latest technology company to confirm that it has been targeted by computer hackers. In a blog post, Microsoft announced that “a small number” of its computers had recently been deliberately infected with malicious software. The firm said it found no evidence that any customer data had been accessed, but an investigation [...]
Microsoft is under fresh pressure to disclose information about how confidential its Skype user data is. Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 43 other campaign groups have signed a letter asking Microsoft to reveal details about what information is stored and government efforts to access it. Google, Twitter and others already provide such transparency [...]
Microsoft has announced it intends to “retire” its instant message chat tool Windows Live Messenger (WLM) and replace it with Skype’s messaging tool. The news comes 18 months after the software giant announced it was paying $8.5 billion for the communications software developer. Microsoft said WLM would be turned off by March 2013 worldwide, with [...]
Microsoft has formally launched the Windows Phone 8 operating system in a bid to reclaim smartphone market share. It boasted that the system’s internet browser, Internet Explorer 10, was the fastest on any mobile, and also suggested it offered the closest integration with video chat app Skype. Microsoft had a 3.1% share of the handset [...]
Microsoft has started shipping its first Surface tablet computers ahead of their official launch on October 26th. According to Microsoft site, it has sold out of pre-orders for the 32GB version of the device, which runs the RT version of Windows 8. It marks Microsoft’s entry into the PC hardware market, posing competition to other [...]
Windows 8 will be released on October 26, Microsoft has revealed. The declaration was made at the firm’s annual sales meeting and was published on its blog shortly after. The firm has described the update as the most important redesign of its interface in more than a decade. The announcement was made a day before [...]
Microsoft has written down the value of online advertising firm aQuantive it bought five years ago by $6.2 billion. Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6.3 billion in cash in an attempt to catch rival Google in the race to increase revenues from search-related advertising. The write-down effectively wipes out the acquisition’s value, although there was little [...]
Microsoft confirms it has bought the office social network site Yammer for $1.2 billion. The business, which is four years old and has five million users, operates like Facebook for communication within companies. There had been reports the two were talking about a deal but Microsoft only confirmed the plan on Monday. Yammer is used [...]
Microsoft has unveiled Surface, its own-brand family of tablets, which will be powered by its upcoming Windows 8 system and contains a choice of an Intel or ARM-based processor. It allows Microsoft to challenge Apple’s bestselling iPad with a device that can run standard applications such as its own Office programs and Photoshop. But it [...]
Microsoft launches the most complete preview yet of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft said that tens of thousands of improvements have been made to what it calls the most important redesign of its interface since Windows 95. Consumers can now download the release preview of Windows 8, a system which Microsoft says is [...]
Motorola Mobility has been granted an injunction against the distribution of key Microsoft products, Xbox 360 games console, Windows 7 system software, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, in Germany. The court’s decision follows a ruling that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to offer H.264 video coding and playback. A US court has banned [...]
Microsoft has announced that its next operating system Windows 8 will come in just three different flavors. For those with Intel-compatible machines, the OS will be available in two versions – Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. And for those with devices, largely tablets, powered by ARM-designed chips there will be a Windows RT version. [...]
