Microsoft

LAS VEGAS--Ideas can come from anywhere.

The only question that rattles my Starbucks latte this morning is which interesting, imaginative cranium was the home for this one.

At last night's farewell, never to return, it's-been-great-having-you Microsoft CES 2012 keynote, the stage was graced by hubble, bubble, toil, and trouble.

No, these were not four members of Microsoft's senior management team. Rather, these were many, many singers dressed in long cloaks. Their job was not to sing a dirge, nor a classic Southside Johnny's opus of sadness like "Lights Don't Shine" or "Hearts of Stone."

No, more

The federal organization overseeing the administration of funds from the 2008 bailout has cracked down on alleged scams that used Bing and Yahoo to lure vulnerable homeowners with ads for bogus mortgage modification deals.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP, last week shut down 85 alleged online mortgage scams that advertised with Google and targeted struggling homeowners.

In the deal announced today (PDF), Microsoft, which owns Bing and powers ads that run in the United States on Yahoo, blocked all future advertising associated with the 125 scams identified by SIGTARP.

In more

Microsoft today launched a Web site, The Art of Touch, that lets Netizens create their own digital paintings.

On the site, which uses HTML5, users can select three different width paint brushes as well as six effects that alter each "brush stroke" with mouse movements. The palette of pastel colors are pre-selected, generated as would-be artists move their mice at different speeds. So when users slide their mouse slowly, for example, they can create a ribbon of red surrounded by starbursts of blue and yellow.

For Microsoft, the idea is to generate interest in its "Touch" series of mice, though, more

Microsoft isn't half as bad as it sometimes makes itself out to be.

Within its many bosoms there hide fine, even innovative, products. It's just that somehow, some of those products--like Xbox and Kinect--have been kept a little separate. So that you don't think they're from the big, bad wolfish Microsoft.

Now, the wolf wants you to believe that he really is Red Riding Hood. He really is a cute little pet for all the family to pet and play with. And he has so many fangs to his teeth. You know, like Apple. Microsoft really more

Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL are teaming up to sell one another's online ads.

Hoping to grab more of the ad dollars now spent at Google and on online advertising networks, the three companies will start selling ad inventory on one another's sites, according to AllThingsD's Peter Kafka. Specifically, the three will sell one another's "Class 2 display" ad inventory, or graphic ads that they either can't sell on their own or typically turn over to ad networks to handle.

Presenting their plan at a dinner briefing in New York City last night, the companies said

The team at Skype recently published an infographic that shows the vast usage numbers associated with its free calling services.

According to the infographic, based on daily stats gathered in July, Skype usage represents more than 255 billion minutes (or 4.25 billion hours) of calls annually, which is roughly four times more than the service saw in 2008.

Despite the tremendous growth in usage, Skype may have as many detractors as it does proponents. Its services have suffered from a number of hiccups over the last few years, including a serious bout of downtime in December 2010.

For many more

The day after Google launched its site dedicated to helping to convert non-Gmail users with tongue-in-cheek "interventions," a Microsoft video has surfaced taking jabs at Google's mail service for its contextual advertising program.

Mary Jo Foley over at CNET sister site ZDNet posted the video spoof today, which was shown to attendees at Microsoft's annual Global Exchange sales conference earlier this month. In it, the company takes a crack at Google's AdWords program, which serves up contextual advertising based on the content of e-mail messages. That's accomplished by mimicking what the practice would be like with more

Microsoft is launching its latest Windows ad campaign tonight, the company has confirmed to CNET.

Starting at prime time, Microsoft's new ads, which were developed by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky agency, will expand upon the firm's "I'm a PC" campaign. Tonight's ad highlights "Julie," who says that she doesn't want a new computer because she doesn't believe "there's something out there better than what I've got now." After learning about the different PC options available to her, she chooses a PC running Windows 7.

The ad will be one of many featuring "

At Microsoft, the problem isn't marketing. Just last week, BrandFinance ranked Microsoft as the second most valuable brand in the world. But it continues to lose ground in consumer markets to hipper brands with cooler products.

That's really the challenge that faces the next leader of Microsoft marketing operations. Late Tuesday, the current boss, Senior Vice President Mich Mathews, told Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner that she was planning to leave this summer, in news broken by AdAge. Microsoft remains one of the best known global brands. Its Windows is the most more