microsoft

When a product becomes a brand, it brings with it emotional values that seep into your pores and make you feel good all over.

This is something Jamen Shively hopes to do for a product that has something of a start -- in that it already seeps into your pores and makes you feel good all over.

Or so I am told.

Shively, once upon a time, was a corporate strategy manager for Microsoft. Now the 45-year-old wants to create the nation's first brand of marijuana.

His idea, as he explained to the Seattle Times, is to buy his … Read more

Chances are it'll be quite a few months before most of us have a chance to go hands-on with the Xbox One. Until then, you can at least get a very in-depth look at what to expect, thanks to this rotatable 3D model from Microsoft.

You'll see the full Xbox One kit -- console, Kinect 2.0, and new-look controller -- and you can zoom in and out on any part of it to your heart's content.

It's embedded below, or you can click here for a full-size version. … Read more

To hear former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky tell it, Windows 8 is doing just fine, despite analyst reports that PC sales have declined, in part, because of tepid consumer interest in the 7-month-old operating system.

"It's hard for me to look at selling 100 million of something and not be happy," Sinofsky said at the D11 conference Thursday, according to AllThingsD's live blog of his conversation. (Microsoft said earlier this month it had sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses in the six months since Win 8's introduction.)

Asked why those Windows 8 sales haven't … Read more

Windows Phone 8 users can now add more music to their lives, courtesy of Shazam.

Officially unveiled Thursday in the Windows Phone store, the Shazam app works its musical magic by identifying the song currently being played in proximity to your phone. You can then buy the song through Microsoft's Xbox Music service or through Nokia Music if you're using a Nokia Lumia phone.

Shazam adds a social aspect as well. You can share and comment on your musical discoveries with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. You can also tag any song so that other people can … Read more

When Microsoft rolls out Windows 8.1, the update to its struggling, 7-month-old operating system franchise, the company will not be bringing back the Start button as many users have been requesting.

But the company has acquiesced some. The company announced this morning that it will introduce something that a person close to Windows engineering is calling a "Start tip" that users can click on to go back to the Start screen in Windows 8.1. The "tip" is a Windows logo that that sits on the left hand side of the toolbar when Windows 8 … Read more

Microsoft has reached the 1 million subscriber mark with its Office 365 Home Premium product, company officials said on May 29.

The company launched Office 365 Home Premium on January 29. For $100 per year, Office 365 Home Premium allows users to install Office client apps on up to five PCs and/or Macs in total. Users who subscribe rather than buy the single-use Office 2013 complement outright, also are supposed to receive regular feature updates and synchronization capabilities by signing in through Office.com.

Microsoft is trying to convince more users to subscribe to its software as if it … Read more

I know there are still doubters out there, but from everything I've heard, the rumored Start Button is going to be part of Windows Blue, aka Windows 8.1.

I've heard from one of my good sources that the Start Button, as well as a new boot-straight-to-desktop option are included in the most recent internal "Milestone Preview" builds of Windows 8.1.

What we haven't heard many leaks about is how this new Start Button will work. While sources have emphasized that the Start Button won't work the way the current Windows Start Button … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox One controller will be one hardened piece of hardware.

Speaking to tech news site Pocket-lint in an interview published Wednesday, Microsoft accessories and hardware manager Bob Brown said his company has been testing the Xbox One's controller by pressing its buttons "over and over, between 4-5 times a second." Twenty controllers are being mashed with 2 million button presses each, according to Pocket-lint.

As each button is pressed, a computer analyzes its function to ensure it's sending a signal back to a console. If it doesn't operate correctly anymore, its errors are … Read more

A 256GB version of Microsoft's Surface Pro will be available to Japanese consumers, starting June 7.

Microsoft's Japanese Surface Web site already lists the tablet with the 256GB version selling for 119,800 yen ($1,171) and the 128GB version going for 99,800 yen ($975). The 256GB edition will make its debut in Japan, while the 64GB model apparently won't be sold in the country at all.

Both versions come with Windows 8 Pro and Office Home and Business 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook). The Surface Pro tablet will also treat Japanese buyers to … Read more