Microsoft

Is Your Nokia Lumia 920’s Battery Draining Too Fast?

According to the folks populating the WPCentral forums, Nokia’s new flagship Lumia 920 is having some pretty serious battery issues. There’s been a glut of users reporting in that their 920 is draining its entire charge in just a few hours. Others, though, are reporting no difference from the very good battery life we and…

Windows Phone 8 Won’t Hit Sprint Until Next Year

Just as Sprint was late to the iPhone party, it’ll also be the last major carrier to get a Windows Phone 8 handset. While AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all launching phones for the pretty darn good new version of Windows Phone this month, PCMag reports that Sprint won’t get a handset until some unspecified…

The President of Windows Steven Sinofsky Is Leaving Microsoft

In another big shake up of powerful tech executives, Steven Sinofsky, the President of the Windows Division at Microsoft, is out. AllThingsD is reporting that Sinofsky is leaving amidst “growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives”. He was once seen as the heir apparent at Microsoft, someone who could possibly become CEO. https://gizmodo.com/apple-ios-chief-leaves-jon-ive-takes-control-5955985 This…

Steve Ballmer: Surface Sales Are “Modest,” But Wait for Surface Pro

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is an able champion for his brand, but even he couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm over sales of his Surface RT tablet in a recent interview with a French newspaper. Unless something was seriously lost in translation, sales of Microsoft’s slate have been “modest” so far—but just you wait until its…

A preview version of Skype for Windows Phone 8 is now available. You can download it here. [WPCentral]

Here’s the Army of Celebs Microsoft Is Using to Pimp Windows Phone 8

Need to push your product on the masses? What better way to do it than with a vertable army of celebrity spokespeople? This seems to be Microsoft’s line of thinking when it comes to Windows Phone 8. They’ve lined up not just one or two celebrity endorsements, but closer to a half dozen, and those…

Is Nokia Committing Retail Suicide?

The Lumia 920, lauded and yearned for as the very savior of Windows Phone, goes on sale today for $100. It’s a pretty sweet phone! Not quite what we hoped it’d be, but a solid handset. But is the lower price a problem rather than a selling point? https://gizmodo.com/nokia-lumia-920-the-great-windows-phone-hope-5940599 Nokia—and really anyone trying to sell…

Report: The Surface’s Keyboard Cover Is Literally Coming Apart at the Seams

Above all else, it’s probably the keyboard-come-cover of Microsoft’s Surface that has garnered most attention since the tablet was first announced. Ironic, then, that some reports are cropping up that suggest it—quite literally—seems to be coming apart at the seams now it’s seeing some action. https://gizmodo.com/why-a-keyboard-not-a-processor-or-screen-or-anything-el-5919594 Reports are popping up on Surface Forums which suggest…

Microsoft Can Convert Your Voice Into Another Language

It’s unlikely that you speak Mandarin, but that doesn’t mean you won’t need to at some point. Now, Microsoft has created software that can analyze your speech, translate it and then spit out a new recording of your very own voice speaking in a different language. It isn’t witchcraft though: it’s just damned clever, and…

Microsoft Pranked People with a Live Floor Tile That Knocked Down a Wall in the Middle of a City

One of the coolest things about Windows 8 are the Live Tiles, which are like the beautiful love children of widgets and icons. Microsoft thinks so too so they created a hilarious prank that involved a light up floor tile (think Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean) and a collapsing wall. Directed by McCann Oslo, the live…

A Drunk Person Tries Windows 8 For the First Time

What happens when a computer-literate person gets drunk as hell and encounters Windows 8 for the first time? Frustration for them, hilarity for you. Thank you, drunk people, for telling it like it is through the thick veil of beers. The experiment in inebriation was put together by Three Sheets Market Research, which makes its…

Report: Microsoft Office Is Finally Coming to iOS and Android in Early 2013

The Verge is reporting that Microsoft Office is finally coming out for Android and iOS early next year. Like, for real this time. Apparently, it’s coming to iOS first in February or March, and will be available for Android soon thereafter in May. The Office software will reportedly require a Microsoft account, and will launch…

Xbox SmartGlass for iOS Is Now Available

After launching on Android over a week ago, Xbox SmartGlass is now available for iOS. Go grab it on your iPhone or iPad so you can control your Xbox in a whole new awesomer way. The new SmartGlass app is actually an update to the old Xbox Live app, which is a little weird but…

Microsoft Just Scored 12 Million Wi-Fi Hotspots for Windows Phone

Microsoft just hammered out a deal to get Windows Phones access to 12 million Wi-Fi hotspots from its new partner Devicescape. WP8 users can access the hotspots by using Data Sense, the new feature that helps limit your network usage (and thereby helps keep you under your data cap). You’ll be launched into a Bing…

Microsoft Is Turning Kinect Into a Narc

Kinect is tons of fun. Have you ever played Dance Central 3? Great game. But according to a newly discovered patent, the Xbox add-on is also maybe spying on you, which is totally not cool, man. This very big brother-y piece of intellectual property—Content Distribution Regulation by Viewing User—uses Kinect’s camera to count the number…

Report: Microsoft’s 7-inch Tablet Is Xbox Surface

According to the Verge, Microsoft has a 7-inch, gaming-centric tablet coming called the Xbox Surface, and its hardware is close to being finalized. Microsoft recently entered the tablet and PC manufacturing game with the Surface RT and forthcoming Surface Pro, and a smaller tablet makes total sense. Seven-ish inches has been popular enough that even…

This Is What Windows 8 Would Look Like on the Original Microsoft Surface

It was only a matter of time before someone installed Windows 8 on a touchscreen coffee table, just like Microsoft’s original Surface. Now they have and it looks… kind of awesome, actually. YouTube user slymick—otherwise known as Mick—is the man behind this video of Windows 8 running on a 40-inch multitouch coffee table. Let’s be…

Every Single Microsoft Device. Ever.

With the release of Surface, Microsoft is taking a serious dive into the wide world of hardware production. But this isn’t the first time Microsoft has gone down that road. In fact, Redmond has racked up a pretty impressive catalogue of devices. Here’s a list of all of them. [Editor’s note. You might notice this…

Microsoft Megalist Page 3

Sidewinder Gaming Hardware Sidewinder Gamepad Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder 3D pro Photo: Smirnoff103/Wikimedia Commons Sidewinder Precision Pro Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro Photo: MOS6502/Wikimedia Commons/Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 Photo: Microsoft/Jlochoap/Wikimedia Commons Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder Joystick Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Wheel Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander Photo: Microsoft Sidewinder Game Voice…

Microsoft Megalist Page 2

Xbox Hardware The Original Xbox Photo: Steve Wilson/Newsmakers)/Getty Images Xbox: Atari Edition Photo: Ebay Xbox: Launch Team Console Photo: seattlegoodwill/Ebay Xbox: Skeleton Black Photo: Microsoft Xbox: Panzer Dragoon Orta Edition Photo: PlayRight Xbox: Translucent Green Photo: Microsoft Xbox: Halo 2 Edition Photo: 1990gabe/Ebay Xbox: Kasumi-Chan Blue Photo: Microsoft Xbox: Mountain Dew Edition Photo: Graphicgiraffe/Wikimedia Commons…