All Articles Tagged Microsoft

Julie Jacobson | 05/07 05:48 AM, 6 Comments

Last month, we learned Microsoft would not include Windows Media Center in the default version of Windows 8. Now we learn the company is dropping DVD playback software from the new OS. Consumers who want these two features will either have to pay Microsoft for an upgrade package or find alternative solutions. Windows Media Player will continue to be offered in all versions of Windows 8, but without DVD playback capability, reports PC World. And since Media Center is absent by default in Windows 8, users won’t have TV tuner… View this story

Robert Archer | 03/21 03:12 AM,

Whether it's in the home or at work, storage is an important consideration for anyone that requires a certain level of performance and functionality out of their computer network. Western Digital's (WD) new My Book Thunderbolt Duo line of products is the well-known company's latest line of storage solutions and these new drives incorporate the new data transfer technology that is currently being popularized by Apple: Thunderbolt. The drives are available in 4TB and 6TB versions, and they offer a choice of RAID 0, RAID 1 or JBOD hot-swapping backup… View this story

Tom LeBlanc | 02/03 09:24 AM, 10 Comments

Crestron grabbed some eyeballs at Integrated Systems Europe 2012 in Amsterdam by demonstrating how its control systems can read Microsoft Kinect gestures. Crestron says it has been testing a new technology by Microsoft that allows Kinect technology to be supported on any Windows-based system, and not just Xbox as in the past. From Crestron: Crestron engineers created, and are testing, gestures that integrate Kinect with Crestron control. Crestron control systems will read Kinect gestures so, for example, presenters can sweep their hands left or right to advance/reverse a PowerPoint Presentation… View this story

Steve Crowe | 01/10 02:18 PM, 0 Comments

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer delivered the opening keynote to CES 2012 on Monday night, the final CES keynote for Microsoft. In late 2011, Microsoft said CES 2012 would be its last because “our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.” After the keynote, many were saying it was quite obvious why Microsoft is pulling out of CES: it continues to fall further behind competitors in product development. The presentation revolved around Microsoft’s work on software, tablets and smartphones. Ballmer also discussed Metro, Microsoft's new user interface… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 12/21 12:44 PM, 0 Comments

In its “official blog,” Microsoft has announced that CES 2012 would be the last Consumer Electronics Show for the giant because “our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.” In the blog, Frank X. Shaw, corporate VP, corporate communications for Microsoft writes says 2012 would be the last year that Microsoft would present a keynote address and have an official booth at the show. Even so, he says, “We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 07/11 07:34 AM, 0 Comments

When both Google and Microsoft dropped their home energy initiatives earlier this month, many pundits proclaimed the death of home energy management (HEM). For example, in an article that has one of the best titles I’ve ever seen – Home Energy Management: Premature Jocularity – Richard Stuebi of CleantechBlog writes: At best, HEM is an idea before its time, dependent upon smart meters and other so-called “smart grid” technologies to enable a lot of the highest-value functionality of HEM. At worst, HEM is an idea whose time will never come… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 07/01 06:29 AM,

Nobody really wants to sit around examining bar charts of their energy usage. Google made that determination recently when it killed its PowerMeter energy monitoring application, and now Microsoft is dropping its own solution called Hohm. That’s not surprising. When it was launched in 2009, Hohm product unit manager Troy Battery could not provide a compelling case for the new service in a Q&A with CE Pro. We followed that interview with a story titled Microsoft Hohm Off to Rocky Start and another called Microsoft Hohm Still Silly Even with… View this story

Eyal Kattan | 06/08 09:14 AM, 3 Comments

There has been a lot of controversy over the release of Microsoft Windows 8. Will it succeed? Is it doomed for the same faith as Windows Vista? As we all know, Windows Vista failed to catch the attention of the market. OK, maybe it caught too much attention – negative attention – and was rejected by both home users and companies. Many would say Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, as Windows 7 was crowned as the most selling Windows OS ever within one year of its launch… View this story

Rachel Cericola | 03/11 09:18 AM, 6 Comments

Most young people would be completely content using a Kinect to play video games. Not Mike. This 27-year-old decided that he needed to play the home automation game. Mike is a bit secretive about his setup, only saying that it's a custom system that he's developing. "The media software is a simple HTPC front-end I hacked together years ago (with occasional tweaks since then) to run my home theater," Mike says on his YouTube page. The system in the video below uses halogen light bulbs. Also, with the exception of… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 11/29 09:17 AM, 2 Comments

I rarely go to malls, especially if it’s a big one like Mall of America (MOA) in Minneapolis, and especially if it’s in December – when the crazies come out to shop and the snow banks usurp precious parking space. But mall-hating techno-geeks like myself just might brave the crowds and the cold the week of December 8, when Panasonic spreads 3D joy at MOA and elsewhere throughout the country. The visit is part of Panasonic’s Unwrap 3D tour, landing at 14 different malls starting Dec. 1. The hands-on exhibit… View this story