Windows

Microsoft's mobile phone strategy and its digital media strategy often seem to be in different worlds. For mobile phones, the company has focused primarily on the Windows Mobile OS, a few mobile applications (Outlook being the most useful one), and--more recently--online services such as Live Search that can be used on many mobile platforms, including (gasp) the BlackBerry (the No. 1 competitor that Windows Mobile has in its sights).

For digital media, the company first pursued its partner-driven approach, promoting the Windows Media Platform for both online stores and devices, and then went with the end-to-end approach of Zune. … Read more

Microsoft plans to release a trio of updates for Windows Vista this week, a move the company said should help ease some of the top complaints leveled against the operating system.

The patches, expected to be issued Tuesday, address core issues like performance, reliability, and stability of the nearly year-old operating system.

One update aims to improve battery life on mobile devices, boost stability of wireless connections, and improve the operating system's response time following a period of inactivity.

A second patch deals with the operating system's interactions with USB ports, in particular when systems wake from sleep … Read more

Windows Marketplace is a bit like the Red Hat Exchange: it's a place to learn about, download, and try applications that run on Windows. It's a Microsoft site that aims to increase use of Windows.

It's not, however, limited to Microsoft and its proprietary friends, as this picture shows:… Read more

The big news out of Redmond today is that Microsoft is working on a Flickr competitor.

A job posting on the software giant's career site reveals that the Digital Memories Experience Team is trying to recruit a program manager to lead the project.

"This feature team is building a next-generation photo and video-sharing service that will compete with Flickr, SmugMug, and other photo Web solutions today," according to the posting. It's clear who the competition is.

Flickr has a really strong and popular product right now, so if Microsoft wants to be competitive in this space, … Read more

Software crashes all too often, and since misery loves company, computer users often swap horror stories. Back on Halloween, Lee Gomes did so publicly in the Wall Street Journal. His problem was with the Adobe Premiere Pro, a video editing program and, while I found it interesting, the article didn't offer advice for avoiding or dealing with software crashes. That's what I hope to do here. First though, defending your privacy.

ERROR REPORTING

When applications crash, a window often pops up asking if you want to report the problem to Microsoft. Gomes writes that the Microsoft employees who … Read more

Under a new program announced Friday, large companies that sell refurbished PCs can get a brand spanking new copy of Windows to put on the machines--provided they pay Microsoft for the privilege.

The initiative, which provides refurbishers with a special version of Windows XP, could help save more machines from heading to the landfill. In many cases, though, it means Microsoft will be getting paid twice for putting Windows on the same PC.

That's because, to properly resell a refurbished PC using its original copy of Windows, Microsoft requires that resellers have either the "certificate of authenticity" … Read more

The past month has seen Windows Live services gathering force. At the CTIA conference (coverage) in late October, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrated a new feature in Windows Live Search for Mobile: voice-activated search (see interview with CNET News.com.) This past week, CNET editor Elsa Wenzel reviewed Microsoft's suite of Windows Live services for the desktop. In the video below, I give you a first look at Windows Live Search for Mobile in action. 5...4...3...2...1...

The Philips Dynamic Daylight Window opens a window (pun intended) to an innovative idea. It's almost like the Transitions eyewear folks had a Vulcan mind meld with Philips' Ambilight engineers: The result is a window that lets you control how much lighting you want to let through, with part of the adjustment creating an artificial window-blind effect, according to Coolest-Gadgets, and the other adjusting the light itself so the sky can look a different color. Besides everyday use for homes in sunny climes, it could help with such setbacks as jet lag and Seasonal Affective Disorder. The only catch … Read more

While Windows Vista is slowly adopted, subsequent waves of users may make the mistake of downloading the latest version of ActiveSync to hook up their Windows Mobile device.

This is a bad idea. ActiveSync withers when it comes into contact with Vista's radiant style sheets. Instead of creating ActiveVista, or some similarly named offshoot, Microsoft opted for an overhaul. And lo, Windows Mobile Device Center was born.

Sadly, Windows Mobile Device Center (for 32-bit and 64-bit desktops) only syncs your cell with up to two computers; hard luck for someone with an office rig, a laptop, and a desktop (… Read more