Microsoft

Three years ago, the word “gamification” would have turned up zero Google results. Today, that same search yields 13 million entries. Clearly, the idea of using game thinking and mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems is gaining appeal. Tech companies like Oracle and Salesforce have made sizable gamification acquisitions, while social infrastructure start-ups like Gigya ($15.3 Continue Reading →

Despite already being a massive success story on the Android and iOS platforms, Rovio’s clearly not planning on slowing down its Angry Birds adventure any time soon. Speaking to IGN earlier today, the company’s Executive Vice President of Games, Petri Järvilehto, told the site that the Angry Birds Trilogy is headed — in physical form, Continue Reading →

Cybercrime has taken a dangerous turn heralding the emergence of a new generation of attacks focused on corporate and government espionage. These attacks are targeted and persistent leading to leakage of vital state secrets and critical corporate data. These threats have been labeled as Advanced Persistent Threats (APT). A number of recent high profile attacks Continue Reading →

Get fit playing “Star Wars?” That’s the dream, isn’t it? Microsoft is looking to make that dream a reality with its Kinect PlayFit, a new fitness dashboard for the Xbox Live that helps users track burned calories across Kinect titles like “Dance Central 2,” “Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012” and, yes, “Kinect Star Wars.” The Continue Reading →

Microsoft announced on Monday during its annual Worldwide Partner Conference that its next-generation Windows 8 operating system will launch this October. The company confirmed that the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of its operating system is on track to be released to partners in August, and the final consumer version will be released in late Continue Reading →

Samsung’s early involvement with Windows 8 tablets suggests that the South Korea-based consumer electronics giant intends to play a big role in the launch of the new OS — early Windows 8 tablet prototypes supplied by Microsoft to the press for review were built by Samsung — so it should come as no surprise that Continue Reading →

Beleaguered electronics retailer Best Buy is taking a tentative step to turn its fortunes around by cribbing from Apple’s playbook. The Wall Street Journal reports that the chain is testing a prototype store near its Minnesota-based headquarters that mimics signature Apple features such as its Genius Bar. Best Buy’s “Solution Central” will be manned by Continue Reading →

According to a report from the Win8China publication, in the latest of internal Windows 8 builds, desktop widgets have been given the axe. If you have forgotten just what a desktop widget is, I present the following image of Windows 7. Yeah, those things. Here’s the rub: they are completely unnecessary in Windows 8. Why? Continue Reading →

Fresh out of a report on Fusible, the news is that Microsoft has picked up several Xbox8.XX domain names. Cue the hype wagons. Before we get away from ourselves, let’s go over what we know about the coming Xbox console: Not very much; It’s coming out in 2013. Moving into the realm of conjecture, it’s Continue Reading →

Microsoft may be going it alone in making its first tablet but company chairman and founder Bill Gates says that Windows PC original equipment manufacturers shouldn’t feel spurned. As Julie Bort of Business Insider notes, Gates was interviewed by PBS’s Charlie Rose on Monday night and was asked about the advantages of a software company Continue Reading →