Back in June, an act hired to entertain a Microsoft ensemble, decided to engage in some four-letter jokes, which caused the software giant some embarrassment. Now it's emerged that an ‘in joke' from its HyperV Virtualisation team has caused an issue. KitGuru examines this boob for size and impact. Someone …
Read More »Microsoft buys multi-touch firm
Software giant Microsoft has a new company to merge with its already multitudinous collection: Perceptive Pixel. Specialising in multi-touch displays and software development, the company was announced as a new Microsoft acquisition by Steve Ballmer, with it being made clear that the buy was part of Microsoft's Windows 8 release …
Read More »Xbox Live is down
Microsoft's Xbox Live platform has gone down. Apparently the software giant is aware of the problem as the service status page has been updated with errors and explanations, but no reason has been given for the downtime as of yet. It appears to have been unintended. At the time of …
Read More »Microsoft $6.3 billion aQuantive disaster
Microsoft bought online advertising service aQuantive in 2007 for a staggering $6.2 billion. The plan was to be in a position to take on Internet search leader Google Inc. Microsoft have acknowledged that the aQuantive deal didn't make as much online advertising as first thought, forcing the management to write …
Read More »Windows 8 disaster? More broken than you might think?
Interesting morning here at KitGuru central. While we do know several people who have managed to download and install Windows 8, many of us had not given it any thought yet – waiting instead for something closer to a Release Candidate. But, this morning, we thought “What the hell” and …
Read More »Microsoft begs Facebook, please don’t bounce Bing
While Google is certainly a monster in many ways, there is at least one ‘Sully in the closet' for the search engine super champ – and that's the idea of Facebook launching its own search engine. While that prospect might make Google worried enough to look under the bed at …
Read More »KitGuru Gaming – Weekly Round Up
If you have missed our gaming coverage, then below is a recap of some of the more interesting editorials we have published in the last week. “IGN and the GAME British Academy Stream Annual Video Game Award Show this Friday” Check out the nominees for the video game award show. …
Read More »Nokia reportedly working on a Windows 8 tablet
Rumour has surfaced that Finnish phone maker Nokia is planning to hit up the tablet PC market later this year with a Windows 8 + ARM entrant. Very little was said / known by the source about the tablet's specs at this early stage other than it supposedly being 10-inches …
Read More »Windows Mobile Marketplace shutting down in May
Microsoft has recently sent out emails to Windows Mobile 6.x users stating that the marketplace will soon be shutting down in early May. Windows Mobile 6.x is not to be mistaken with Microsoft's current Windows Phone 7 platform. Starting from the 9th of May users rocking Microsoft's old mobile operating …
Read More »Stardock keeps Start Menu lovers out of the cold in Windows 8
Following the release of the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 and with many folks trying it and feeling terribly lost without their beloved Start Menu, a third party has come to the rescue and provided a free substitute that does its best to mimic the Start Menu as closely as …
Read More »Nokia’s Lumia 800 bundle now listed at MS’ Online Store
You can now pick up Nokia's Lumia 800 smartphone in the U.S. from Microsoft's online store which comes bundled with a number of additional accessories for US $899, SIM free and unlocked. This option comes days after Microsoft started selling the bundle at its 16 brick and mortar stores across …
Read More »SkyDrive to receive paid storage and PC apps
Microsoft has been keen to upgrade Skydrive to the point where it can compete with the likes of Google and Dropbox and it looks as if they're about to take that extra step. Information discovered recently shows that Microsoft plans to introduce paid upgrade options. This storage will be added …
Read More »Android takes over but Nokia still sells the most phones
Research firm Gartner has just released their data for sales of smartphones in the last quarter of 2011 and to be honest it doesn't really hold many surprises. In Q4 2011 over 75 million Android smartphones were sold worldwide which gives them the dominant market share of 50.9%. This number …
Read More »ViewSonic to roll out Windows 8 tablets by Q3
According to ViewSonic's product marketing director in the Asia Pacific region, Max Liu, ViewSonic is planning to expand on its ViewPad line of Android-powered tablets and bring some Windows 8-based models to market later this year when Microsoft outs its next Metro UI wielding OS. During his brief discussion with …
Read More »Nokia admits there is no Plan B if Windows Phone 7 flops
Windows Phone 7, the fairly capable mobile operating system is currently Microsoft's only existing product in the mobile space. The same statement now appears as if it applies to Nokia as well. Recently Nokia Europe's Senior Vice President, Victor Saeijs told a Swedish newspaper that there is no fall back …
Read More »ARM based Windows 8 devices will have desktop UI, Office 15
In a recent Windows 8 blog post Microsoft has revealed some very interesting information on the upcoming ARM edition of Windows 8, currently dubbed as Windows on ARM. They are saying that Windows on ARM (WOA) is still under development but should ship at the same time as x86/x64 PCs later …
Read More »Even Microsoft thinks patent lawsuits are silly
Microsoft has always appears to be against patent lawsuits and attempting to get injunctions against competitors' products. So much so, earlier this year we learnt that Microsoft turns over more revenue from patent licencing fees from the likes of Samsung and HTC than it gets from its own Windows Phone 7 …
Read More »App Suspension coming to Windows 8, saving you battery life
We're hearing of another new feature Microsoft is working on rolling into Windows 8 with the primary objective being to extend battery life further while also improving the OS' performance – App Suspension. Essentially it's an optimization within the kernel whereby any applications currently running in the background that show …
Read More »Star Wars Xbox 360 Bundle set to arrive April 3
Over half a year later we've finally been granted a solid date for the arrival of Microsoft's Star Wars Xbox 360 bundle which we first laid eyes on during Comic Con back in July last year. Major Nelson has leaked news via a series of tweets that this Star Wars-themed …
Read More »Say goodbye to the Start Orb in Windows 8
Some fresh screenshots shared online of one of the latest builds of Windows 8 (8220) give one significant point of interest and difference in relation to past builds; that being in the way of our beloved Start Menu that has only had subtle changes over many years of Windows releases. …
Read More »Microsoft confirms Metro-style IE 10 will not support plug-ins
Microsoft provided a brief overview on Tuesday of its Internet Explorer 10 web browser that will be a part of Windows 8. The details shared confirm that there will be two versions of it; a normal Windows application not unlike existing versions of IE, and a second “Metro-style” touch-friendly browser …
Read More »Microsoft ‘Office 15’ reaches Technical Preview stage
Alongside Windows 8 development, the next version of Microsoft Office (codenamed Office 15) is also right on track with a Technical Preview having just been distributed to a select group of customers under non-disclosure agreements for testing. PJ Hough whom is CVP of Development for Microsoft's Office Division said, “At …
Read More »Kinect-enabled laptops said to be not far away
We've known for a while now that Kinect will be making its way to PCs as software developers have been given access to Kinect for Windows SDK. But what's of particular interest is in the way it will be used with notebooks. You're probably quick to picture a large awkward …
Read More »Windows 8 Final Beta to surface in days
Things look to be moving well for Microsoft's Windows 8 developer team with indication on a Windows developer build tracking site that the next Microsoft OS has just reached final pre-beta build (8189.0.winmain.120120-1830) status; another big milestone met in timely order. The next step in the works requires Microsoft's own …
Read More »Next-gen Xbox will gain Blu-ray, but to be barred from used games
If there's one thing we expect to be a definitive change with the next-gen Xbox (720?), it would be the inclusion of Blu-ray support in order to handle games made up of data far beyond the limits of DVD's 9GB. And sure enough, sources have just made it known this is …
Read More »Windows 8 to provide native mobile networking
One of MSDN's most recent blogs goes into detail about Microsoft's efforts to vastly improve wireless connectivity in Windows 8 to the point of even providing native connectivity support for 3G and 4G networking. As it stands now, specialized applications from hardware providers are required for mobile connectivity. The idea …
Read More »Duqu Virus exploited Windows vulnerability say Microsoft
Microsoft have admitted that a security flaw in Windows operating systems have allowed the Duqu virus to run amok. Microsoft issued a statement which reads “We are working diligently to address this issue and will release a security update for customers.” Symantec found the virus in October and has been …
Read More »Mozilla support Microsoft with custom ‘Bing’ version
Mozilla issued a statement yesterday which claims that they will be supporting Microsoft's Bing search engine with a custom Firefox version. Bing will be configured as the default search engine. Mozilla said “Mozilla and Bing are pleased to make available Firefox with Bing, a customized version of Firefox that sets …
Read More »Google investigated for ad rates to Microsoft
The strained relationship between Microsoft and Google has came to a head with news today that U.S. antitrust officers are looking into Google practices on advertising rates for Microsoft. According to the Bloomberg report, Google have been accused of illegally increasing their advertising rates by 50 times to the rival …
Read More »Template Monster survey explorers browser habits
The stunning simplicity of working with Template Monster product reminds you of first time you saw sliced bread, round wheels or the Facebook. The idea is so obvious that it is painful. Smart folks develop thousands of working web site templates and then make them available for a handful of …
Read More »