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Category: Microsoft

Search 1.0: Search Engines Still Lack Simple Features

Posted on February 4, 2008July 13, 2008 By Bob Caswell 10 Comments on Search 1.0: Search Engines Still Lack Simple Features

Search EnginesI have a sister who, over the weekend, pointed out a major shortcoming of search engines. It’s so obvious that I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it first. And keep in mind that this is my sister, which arguably boosts the creditability of this anecdotal story. That is, this isn’t some nerd’s dream come true; rather, she’s fairly representative of “regular” people trying to utilize the Internet practically. So here it is:

Why can’t you organize your results by date? And why don’t the search results themselves include the date each entry was published/updated?

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Google, Internet, Microsoft, Web 2.0, Yahoo

Breaking: Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo

Posted on February 1, 2008August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 11 Comments on Breaking: Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo

Microsoft YahooThe rumors of this kind of deal have been around for a while but never seemed to materialize. Microsoft will hold a conference call to discuss the details of the proposal, though CEO Steve Ballmer has already laid it out pretty clearly in his public letter to Yahoo (see below for full text). One aspect of the letter to note:

“Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.”

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Internet, Microsoft, Tech News, Web 2.0, Yahoo

How Much Is All Your Email Worth? Answer: $50

Posted on January 26, 2008 By Bob Caswell 16 Comments on How Much Is All Your Email Worth? Answer: $50

EmailThis past week a national cable and high-speed Internet provider by the name of Charter Communications accidentally deleted all the contents of 14,000 active email accounts. A spokeswoman for the company explained that there is no way for them to retrieve anything that was erased. The spokeswoman offered this explanation and apology:

“We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error… During this maintenance we erroneously deleted active accounts along with the others. It’s never happened before. They are taking steps to make sure it never happens again.”

Read More “How Much Is All Your Email Worth? Answer: $50” »

Internet, Microsoft, Privacy, Tech News, Web 2.0, Yahoo

The New Format Wars: Forget About HD DVD & Blu-ray

Posted on January 19, 2008August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 7 Comments on The New Format Wars: Forget About HD DVD & Blu-ray

HD DVD vs. Blu-rayOnce upon a time, earlier in the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray, supporters of each side loved to point out the major tech company backing each format to strengthen their positions. It made sense, after all, how could HD DVD fail if Microsoft was behind it? And, of course, Blu-ray would win if Apple was there beside it.

But then, neither company will be affected much if both formats eventually fail. And that’s because, in the end, both Microsoft and Apple minimized their involvement with either format.

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Apple, Gaming, Media, Microsoft, Tech News, Web 2.0

Internet Video & TV: Can they ever join forces successfully?

Posted on December 12, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 1 Comment on Internet Video & TV: Can they ever join forces successfully?

Sony TVWe here at TechConsumer are no strangers to trying new ways of getting quality entertainment onto our living room big screens. Regular old cable TV doesn’t cut it, what with frequent commercial breaks, horrible selection, and inopportune timing. Surprisingly (at least to us), though, cable TV is what most of the free world uses (the part of the free world with TVs, that is).

To recap, Logan reviewed using Amazon Unbox on TiVo without a computer, Paul reviewed using both CinemaNow and Vongo on the Xbox 360, and each of us took a turn at pointing out why Netflix is amazing. But each service has its disadvantage ranging from “too complicated” to “inconvenient” with “too expensive” and “too slow” somewhere in the middle.

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Amazon, Apple, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Media, Microsoft, Netflix, Tech Reviews, Web 2.0

Microsoft Hopes to Release Windows for $100 Laptop Next Year

Posted on December 6, 2007 By Bob Caswell 1 Comment on Microsoft Hopes to Release Windows for $100 Laptop Next Year

OLPCThe One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program started at MIT was developed with the intention of getting $100 laptops to kids in developing nations. While the price tag is almost twice that, they’re still working to get it down.

The laptop, currently called the XO Laptop, has had some success with the recently announced “Give One, Get One” program. For just $399, the deal buys both yourself and a child from a developing nation new XOs. The non-profit is reporting about $2 Million worth of donations each day.

Now the latest news has Microsoft coming out with a statement saying it is trying to rework Windows XP to run on XO laptops. The company has outlined the challenges (a good rundown of them can be found here) it faces in this unusual project. The biggest challenge cited is the fact that the XO laptop uses flash memory rather than a traditional hard drive, which is what Windows normally needs.

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Internet, Microsoft, Tech News

Google GDrive Coming Soon But Facing Serious Issues

Posted on November 27, 2007July 13, 2008 By Bob Caswell 8 Comments on Google GDrive Coming Soon But Facing Serious Issues

Google LogoThe Wall Street Journal has the scoop on the latest Google news. Google is hoping to offer consumers a new way to store and access files online. The search giant is working on a service that would let you store essentially all of your files online (documents, music, photos, videos, etc.).

I already do this with Mozy for free. But Mozy works more as a backup that I generally access only when I need to restore files. Google wants to simplify the process of transferring and opening files such that you would actually be using your online files actively.

Read More “Google GDrive Coming Soon But Facing Serious Issues” »

Google, Internet, Microsoft, Music, Privacy, Tech News, Web 2.0

Help Me Decide: HD DVD or Blu-ray?

Posted on November 13, 2007August 20, 2008 By Bob Caswell 9 Comments on Help Me Decide: HD DVD or Blu-ray?

HD-DVD vs. Blu-rayA few months back I purchased a high-definition television (HD-TV) but have yet to experience its true capacity (sharper images, etc.). The apartment complex I live in has me locked into one satellite provider which does not offer any HD broadcasting. And I have been reluctant to purchase a next generation DVD player because of the format wars.

For those not up to speed, Sony’s next generation DVD is called Blu-ray whereas Microsoft and Toshiba have a format called HD DVD. The two are comparable in terms of the higher picture quality they offer (unless you want to nitpick) but are, of course, incompatible with each other. To make matters worse, most movies are only released in one format or the other. For instance, Disney movies are only available in Blu-ray whereas Universal Studios movies are only in HD DVD.

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Do-It-Yourself Tech, Media, Microsoft, Sony

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