Just when you thought you couldn't waste enough time on your Xbox 360, Microsoft has decided to add another way to get you to stare at your tube for longer, by streaming movies and TV shows through its popular game console. The tech giant announced its partnership with the movie-rental company Netflix this week at the E3 video game convention in Los Angeles. While video-gamers were leaping for joy at the convention when Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360, avid movie fans were leaping even higher to hear about Microsoft's movie deal.

[ Read Full Story ]

Bill Gates is taking over the Olympics. The supposedly retired CEO of Microsoft has taken his antitrust antics to new heights with the launch of NBC Olympics on the Go. Using a dedicated video player provided by TVTonic, users can specify their viewing preferences and events will download automatically when they're available. Commuters taking public transit can even watch saved video without an internet connection.

[ Read Full Story ]

Speaking at yesterday's CEO Summit in Redmond, Washington, Bill Gates - that guy from Microsoft - demonstrated the TouchWall, a four foot by six foot touch-screen computer prototype. TouchWall uses infrared and laser technology to register your manual input, and turn it into action. One writer described it as a giant version of Microsoft's Surface technology oriented vertically.

[ Read Full Story ]

After much anticipation, Microsoft Research today released a new, free online tool designed to open up the world of astronomy to the masses. Microsoft describes the WorldWide Telescope as a "Web 2.0 Visualization Software Environment" - but don't worry, the tool is easier to use than it is to define.

[ Read Full Story ]

Remember Surface, the magic coffee table and massively multi-touch screen that we awarded a Best of Whats New award in December? Well it looks like its finally set to debut, as a shopping kiosk debuting at six AT&T cellular phone stores on April 17.

[ Read Full Story ]

Yahoo surprised analysts yesterday, announcing that it is on track to meet its expected earnings for 2008. This changes the fight between the Sunnyvale-based company and Microsoft, which recently offered to pay $42 billion to swallow it up. Now Yahoo has a bit more leverage, and may be able to convince investors that its not in such bad shape after all. The company says it expects to double its cash flow and increase its revenue by 50 percent, mostly from banner and video advertising.

[ Read Full Story ]

Touch-screen interfaces have an inherent problem—you can't see through your fingertips to see the spot you're trying to touch. After abandoning its controversial efforts to breed humans with transparent fingers, Microsoft came up with another novel solution, a system that lets you touch the back of a device and see an overlay of virtual fingertips on the front display.

[ Read Full Story ]

The ability to scatter lots of wireless sensors over a wide area has tremendous potential, whether it's tracking the melting of a glacier, the stress on a bridge span or the temperature in your home. The trick? Making them cheap enough so you can use plenty, and having them last long enough so you don't break the bank or your back changing batteries (those trips to the glacier add up). This week, Microsoft showed us a prototype version of a wireless sensor that tackles both challenges.

[ Read Full Story ]

Playing with Google Earth is an immensely gratifying experience. You swoop in like a superhero and pan around as though you're hovering over your own house. Imagine if you were able to do all that in the other direction, out into space. This spring, Microsoft is poised to release the World Wide Telescope, which promises to do just that and more, on a scale of galactic proportions.

Microsoft has assembled an application of tremendous depth and breadth using data from the Hubble and land-based telescopes around the world.

[ Read Full Story ]

The European Union slapped Microsoft with a $1.3 billion punishment yesterday for what it says amounted to unfair practices. Regulators contended that Microsoft charged developers who were hoping to make Windows-compatible products unreasonable fees for information about its software.

[ Read Full Story ]

Ford Sync, an in-car entertainment center running Microsoft software, has won praise as the first system to integrate hands-free calling, music playing from MP3 players and voice control of all functions. (PopSci was among the admirers, awarding Sync a Best of Whats New award.)

Despite all its cool functions, Sync doesnt cost much to build, according to a report today from research firm iSuppli.

Once again, our pals in El Segundo, CA ripped apart a perfectly good gadget to see what makes it tick. The answer: not much.

But do you get what you pay for? One of our editors had a hair-pulling-out experience with a Sync-equipped car last week. Ford insists it was an anomaly, and is sending us a new model to test. Stay tuned for our verdict.

Meanwhile, click ahead to see what components make the Sync work (or not work).

[ Read Full Story ]

It has been rumored for a while, and just became official. Microsoft made a bid to buy Yahoo. The price tag? A measly $44.6 billion.

[ Read Full Story ]

Are you looking for something to do as a nice holiday break approaches? Head over to MoDaCo and read/see the exploits of Paul. Paul claims to have installed Microsoft Windows Vista on an ASUS Eee PC. The post includes video and a fairly thorough tutorial on accomplishing the same feat on your very own Easy to Hack PC. —Dave Prochnow

(Image: MoDaCo)

[ Read Full Story ]

Launch the gallery by clicking the "Slideshow" button to the left.

Meet the ultra-mobile PC, a.k.a. UMPC: a seven-inch screen, Windows XP Tablet PC operating system, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, all in a book-size package that weighs less than two pounds. It´s the vision of the Origami Project team at Microsoft, which recently unveiled design concepts and software for the devices. All Origami-certified UMPCs will feature the Touch Pack, a
finger-friendly add-on to Windows XP with shortcut keys, large program icons and a split

[ Read Full Story ]

You bet. But first, a primer: Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) is a service from Microsoft that uses FM radio waves to send personalized text feeds-including news, stock quotes, weather, movie listings, appointments and instant messages-to SPOT-enabled wristwatches. A number of models are available from Suunto, Swatch, Tissot and others (see spotstop.com for a full list).
I've had a SPOT watch (two, actually, plus one for my wife) since their debut in 2004, and I love it.

[ Read Full Story ]