Microsoft

Nokia delivers live traffic, geocoding to Bing

Nokia has brought a couple of its location-based services to Bing Maps.

The company announced yesterday that Bing Maps users will now have traffic information available to them from Nokia's Where platform. Where is available in 24 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. According to Nokia, users in the U.S. already had traffic information available to them, but this addition now includes support for side streets.

Nokia is also bringing geocoding to Bing Maps, allowing the platform to take latitude and longitude information, and connect that to a readable address.

"It's how we more

No, half a billion people won't be using Windows 8 next year

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer didn't actually say that there will a half-billion Windows 8 users next year, despite earlier reports.

Earlier this week, AFP reported that Ballmer told attendees at the Seoul Digital Forum in Korea that there could be 500 million Windows 8 users worldwide next year. As one might expect, the online world was set ablaze by the news, since it took Windows 7 some 18 months to hit only 350 million licenses.

However, soon after the report was published, Microsoft issued a statement to Computerworld saying that Ballmer's comments were taken out of context, and more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Dell preps 10.8-inch Windows 8 tablet, says report

Dell's upcoming Windows 8 tablet will break the 10.1-screen-size mold, spanning a roomy 10.8 inches, according to a report. And it's targeted at business -- a market that Microsoft and its coterie of Windows device makers know well.

The "Dell Latitude 10," as reported by Neowin, has some brawny PC-like specs, including a 128GB solid-state drive and up to 2GB of memory -- which, by the way, is what Dell currently offers on its 10.1-inch Latitude ST, also targeted at corporate "enterprise" customers.

A source familiar with upcoming Windows 8 tablets and hybrids told CNET more

Microsoft gives Flash a reprieve in IE10

It appears that ditching Adobe System' Flash Player wasn't as easy as Microsoft thought earlier this year.

Because screenshots from WinUnleaked show the browser plug-in working even in the Metro version of IE10 where Microsoft had earlier said plug-ins would be barred.

Microsoft and Adobe declined to comment for this story. But a source familiar with the plans said IE10 will build in a version of Flash Player optimized for Windows 8 matters such as touch-screen interfaces, power consumption, and security.

The reason, the source said: browsers just aren't ready yet to ditch Flash, so Microsoft will give more

Bunch of Windows 8 devices coming from Dell

Dell is preparing a raft of tablets, hybrids, and ultrabooks for the Windows 8 launch later this year.

"The addition of capacitive touch capability into Windows 8, we think, will be a welcome addition...and will have a full complement of products at time of launch," Michael Dell said today during the company's first-quarter 2013 earnings conference call, in response to an analyst's question.

"We're totally lined up with Windows 8. You'll see us introduce tablets," he added.

And he suggests that Windows 8 touch-centric interface means that current PCs will not be a good fit. more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Windows Phone users must update to 7.5 or else...

Anyone with a Windows Phone that hasn't been upgraded to version 7.5 won't be able to use Microsoft's Marketplace app store as of today.

Microsoft announced today that in order to download, buy, update, or review apps in Marketplace, users have to be running Windows Phone 7.5. This change is required for both the phone and web Marketplace storefronts.

"Most phones are already running Windows Phone 7.5, which was released last fall, and so most of you won't notice anything different about how the Marketplace works," Microsoft's director of program management, Mazhar more

Is it a problem if Windows 8 boots too quickly?

Really fast boot times on Windows 8 hardly sounds like a problem. But it is. Here's why.

Startup can be so fast that you whiz by familiar sign posts that prompt for input, wrote Chris Clark, a program manager in the Windows User Experience team, today in a Building Windows 8 blog post.

"When you turn on a Windows 8 PC, there's no longer [enough time] to detect keystrokes like F2 or F8, much less time to read a message such as 'Press F2 for Setup'," Clark said.

On a solid-state drive-equipped ultrabook, for example, Windows 8 can more

Microsoft: 350 million Windows 7 devices to be shipped in 2012

Although Windows 8 is expected to hit store shelves later this year, Microsoft believes its current operating system, Windows 7, will have an awfully good year.

Speaking at a forum in Seoul this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that his company expects 350 million Windows 7-based devices to be shipped this year. Bloomberg, which was in attendance at the event, was first to report on the news. Ballmer said that the operating system's success "makes Windows the most popular single system."

If that many Windows 7 devices are actually shipped this year, it would indicate accelerated demand for more

Intel vs. AMD: Who's got the fastest chip now?

Advanced Micro Devices new Trinity chip doesn't deliver the performance trifecta necessary to threaten Intel's market-leading position, according to most initial evaluations.

It's an old story line now: AMD comes out with a new processor that offers better graphics performance, but, overall, does little to change Intel-AMD market dynamics -- which of course heavily favors Intel.

And AMD has done it again. Tapping into the graphics processing unit (GPU) expertise it got when after acquiring ATI in 2006, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company continues to ding Intel on GPU performance.

But AMD fails to threaten Intel on more

Windows 8 tinkering points to news, sports apps

With a June unveiling fast approaching, Microsoft continues to refine its Release Preview for Windows 8.

The latest tidbit to emerge about the early version of the forthcoming Windows interface is the apparent inclusion of Metro-style apps for news, sports, and travel, according to The Verge, which cites a screenshot posted to WinUnleaked.tk (registration required). For those of you keeping track, this is from Windows 8 Release Preview with Media Center Build 8400.0.x86fre.winmain_win8rc.120518-1423, according to WinUnleaked.

Last week, we learned of other tweaks and changes in recent internal builds of Windows 8, including the removal more