Windows

While much of my conversation with Microsoft's Robbie Bach on Wednesday morning dealt with new parental controls for the Xbox, I did get a chance to get his thoughts on Google's phone plans.

"There's a ton of innovation going on in this space," said Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices unit. "They've made an announcement, now they have a product that they need to come and deliver."

But nothing in Google's plans was a surprise, Bach insisted. "It's a different direction than we are going, but it'… Read more

Microsoft unwraps Windows Live desktop suite

Microsoft's Windows Live services are living up to its name by going live, losing the "beta" label, and becoming available as a free, Windows suite of six Web-connected applications.

The suite includes Windows Live Mail, which integrates with Hotmail and supports POP and IMAP. Among the other complete desktop services are Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Writer for composing blog posts. Windows Live Photo Gallery manages picture albums that can be uploaded to Microsoft Spaces, MSN Soapbox, or Yahoo's Flickr.

Also final are Windows Live Spaces for blogging, the Windows Live Events invitation service, as … Read more

Live.com e-mail addresses up for grabs

The wait for Microsoft's Live.com e-mail addresses is over.

Microsoft is now taking sign-ups (or at least it was a few minutes ago) at get.live.com. The company released the final version of Windows Live Hotmail a little while back, but has held off on releasing the Live.com domain for a while, though some folks did manage to snag a few addresses before now.

What worked for me was going to that Web site (make sure you are logged out of Windows Live), clicking Hotmail, and then signing up. Some people in the newsroom have reported … Read more

Sony: Pricier notebooks sell best

Sony customers like different, but not too different.

Though Sony now offers midrange notebooks, the higher-end Vaios are selling much faster, according to Mike Abary, senior vice president of Sony's IT products division.

The options for colors and limited-edition designs from artists helped push a lot of Vaios out the door in the last quarter. Those artsy laptops also come with higher price tags, and for that reason, don't expect Sony to get into the low-end laptop race any time soon, Abary added.

The personalization trend in PCs that Sony has latched onto has overall been successful, but … Read more

Apple fixes seven Quicktime flaws

Apple on Monday released QuickTime version 7.3, addressing seven security vulnerablities for QuickTime 7.2 and earlier. Some of the flaws are serious and can be exploited by luring a victim to a Web site that contains a malicious crafted image or movie. The patches include both Mac OS X and Windows. A month ago, Apple patched another serious flaw within QuickTime for Windows. The latest version is available through the built-in software update feature of QuickTime or from the Apple Downloads site.

QuickTime (image description) This patch affects users of QuickTime 7.2 on Mac OS X v10.… Read more

How will Android affect the other mobile operating systems?

Like a number of my colleagues here at CNET, I had my ear pressed to the phone yesterday morning as the members of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), including Google, Motorola, and HTC, revealed their plans for Android, a new open platform for mobile devices. I'm not here to recap all the details of the event here--CNET News.com has a comprehensive story on that--but rather just to jot down some of my thoughts.

Looking at the big picture, I welcome today's news. I think it's a really interesting move for all the parties involved, and … Read more

Microsoft's Jones on OpenSocial, Apple

In my recent interview with Windows Live VP Chris Jones, I also got his take on whether Microsoft might take part in Google's just-announced OpenSocial platform as well as his thoughts on where the Mac fits into the Windows Live strategy. Here's what he had to say.

On OpenSocial: "I think on OpenSocial we're honestly just still looking at it. It's more of a gadget platform than a social-networking approach. It's a way to add gadgets to pages with a couple of extensions to it. That's been a very interesting thing for Facebook … Read more

The best of Japanese food technology: Ramen Radar

I have a bit of a noodle problem whenever I get to Japan--like I have to eat noodles at least once a day or I freak out. Today I had Udon for breakfast and we'll see what dinner brings.

In case you think that noodles are not serious business here you might be interested in this fancy new Ramen Radar application (Windows only, cursed beast) that tracks ramen shops based on peoples reports.

Just when the trains and crowds of Tokyo start to make you nuts, something like this comes along and renews my faith in humanity.

GetMobio gets Windows Mobile Love

If you've been a smartphone user running Windows Mobile and looking to play around with GetMobio's "lifestyle portal" for various Web 2.0 widgets, there's a new version made just for you. Windows Mobile users can grab it at http://www.GetMobio.com/nowwm, which will direct you towards a small download.

Both versions offer the same selection of the dozen built-in widgets, the most notable ones being a cheap gas finder, a lightweight and good looking version of Twitter, and an integrated RSS reader that remembers all your feeds. We did a hands-on with the service … Read more