News

Microsoft dropping “Nokia” brand? Not news, sorry

Yesterday, an independent tech blog, Geek On Gadgets, revealed, according to internal documents obtained by the site, that Microsoft will be dropping the Nokia brand in advertising this holiday season. In addition, according to the site, Microsoft will begin …

Is a Watch really what we need?

Yesterday Apple, to the surprise of not a single person, announced the Apple Watch, coming sometime next year. Short on specifics and long on another stab at Apple’s “one more thing” magic (Tim Cook actually said those word …

MSN goes back to the future: new look, Bing apps are now MSN apps

What comes around, goes around.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again.

Microsoft has just announced a new look and somewhat of a new direction for MSN, and …

Bye Bye Bing Image Widget

In late August, Bing introduced a beta of the Bing Image Widget, a way for websites to embed Bing Image search results in their web pages. You would set up a search query and some size parameters, and Bing …

On the Threshold of Windows 9: Preview said to arrive late September

“Threshold” is the code name of the next version of Windows, and according to a report today by Mary Jo Foley, it’s coming soon. Mary Jo reports that according to her multiple sources, the new OS will enter a …

Xbox an entertainment platform? So much for that idea

More fallout from Microsoft layoffs announcements came later in the day yesterday, this time with the news that Xbox Entertainment Studios (XES) would be closing. The Studios, headed by ex-CBS exec Nancy Tellem, who was hired in September 2012 …

Microsoft is cutting 18,000 jobs this year, realigning phones business – is it enough?

Today, as expected, Microsoft announced significant job cuts as it moves into the new fiscal year and continues to integrate Nokia’s phones businesses into the company. The majority of those cuts, some 12,000 over the next 12 months (with 13,000 …

The coming Microsoft job cuts: more than just numbers

According to a news report coming out of Bloomberg, Microsoft could be announcing its most significant job cuts since 2009, and that announcement could be coming as soon as this week. Although the cuts are widely expected to focus …

Nadella outlines changes coming to Microsoft in email to employees

It’s easy to take today’s email by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as not much more than a high level, buzzword filled, overly long communique from a CEO to his some 100,000 employees. In it, Nadella re-describes Microsoft’s core mission, refining …

Goodbye Street & Trips – Now, about Bing Maps…

Today, Microsoft quietly announced that both MapPoint, and its consumer facing subset Streets & Trips (the “#1 best-selling travel and map software for 13 years straight), would be coming to end of life as of the end of this …