In yet another example of its growing emphasis on remaking itself as a devices and services company, Microsoft looks to be developing a pay-per-use "Windows desktop as a service" that will run on Windows Azure.

The desktop virtualization service, codenamed Mohoro, that's in very early development phase, from what I've heard from sources. I don't know the final launch target, but wouldn't be surprised if it isn't until the second half of 2014.

Mohoro is a town located on island of Grande Comore in the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean. Given members … Read more

When trying to survive a harrowing near-death situation in a video game, it's likely that looking away from the action -- even just for a moment to check your health -- could mean certain doom. To avoid this gaming conundrum, Reddit user Bfayer created his own real-life video game status bar in the form of a 3-foot transparent tube filled with water and color-changing lights that shift based on his character's health (or mana, etc).

Bfayer calls his device the "Liquid Lifebar," which currently only works with the side-scrolling exploration game Terraria. The demo video shows the creation of the Lifebar and how the water rises, falls, and changes color according to his character's status as he fights monsters. … Read more

For many, the first kitchen appliance of the day is the coffeemaker. But that's not the only drink-dispensing machine in town these days. Sure, there are tea makers that are dedicated standalone devices as well as those that are integrated into standard coffee makers, but there is another beverage trying to muscle in on the kitchen countertop scene. Time to make room for soda (or, depending where you live, pop, tonic, or soft drinks, etc.).

The Sprizzi Drink Machine aims to define a new generation of everyday beverage dispensers. Currently a Kickstarter project, the device ups the ante by … Read more

Amid the hubub about Panasonic's financial trouble and questions about how it will affect the future of plasma TV, it's easy to forget about Samsung. The world's No. 1 TV maker has invested substantially in plasma research and production, and has managed to compete strongly against Panasonic for the hearts of the video-quality-obsessed.

The Samsung F8500 series continues the tradition beautifully, delivering the best picture quality we've ever tested in a Samsung TV. It's not quite as good overall as Panasonic's best 2013 efforts, such as the like-priced VT60, but it does offer one … Read more

For a mobile payments platform whose future success is tied to its ability to be accepted by as many retailers as possible, a company like Square has to have someone leading the charge toward such deals.

That's why Square -- the San Francisco startup founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey -- has just hired its first vice president of partnerships. It said today that it has tapped Alex Petrov, former PayPal vice president of retail marketing, for the job. Petrov also previously held the position of vice president of consumer brands at supermarket giant Safeway.

It will be Petrov'… Read more

LG has announced availability for the 55-inch curved OLED TV in Australia, which is the first country to be confirmed outside of South Korea, and introduced Ewan McGregor as its new brand ambassador.

Though pricing wasn't announced at the Australian launch of the LG 2013 range, the company said the TV will arrive before the end of the year. The set was announced for Korea at 15 million won (around AU$13,100); there is no availability or pricing for other regions, including the U.S.

LG Australia's marketing general manager Lambro Skropidis told CNET Australia that he … Read more

Danish artist Kristian von Hornsleth is going to send human blood and hair sealed in a spooky-looking capsule to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

Something about this strikes us as a phenomenally bad idea. It could be that the artist's name, "Hornsleth," sounds a little too close to "Innsmouth." It could be the strange, spiky, angled sculpture loaded up with human body parts. It could be that those body parts are headed for the deepest part of the ocean.

Either way, it's hard to know if any of those things have occurred to the artist, who has spent years building the Deep Storage Project. He says that his plan is that the 8-meter-cubed sculpture will give eternal life to the more than 5,000 volunteers who surrendered a drop of their blood and a hair from their head. … Read more

Who among us hasn't -- just once in our lives -- put a couple of things in a test tube, a bottle, or our mouths and wondered what might happen?

Occasionally, this might have difficult consequences. But rarely does someone try to arrest us for it.

16-year-old Kiera Wilmot wasn't so lucky.

This student at Bartow High School in Florida allegedly thought she'd put a couple of household chemicals in an 8-ounce water bottle, just to see the reaction.

The reaction was that she was expelled and marched off in handcuffs, accused of felony possession/discharge of a dangerous weapon.… Read more

It's hard to know whether those who can't spell are stressed, oppressed by excess multitasking, or merely uneducated.

The people behind the highly nutritious Snickers bar decided to prove that it might be none of the above.

It is, they posited, merely hunger that drives you to ignorance.

So, as AdAge reports, Snickers got together with Google to see whether they could encourage better spelling of Google search terms, as misspelling was causing Google's servers to seize up and spew smoke and curses.

I made up that last part.

As part of the campaign, the Snickers-sponsored machines … Read more