Latest About  Microsoft

Intel delivers USB 3.0 in its chips, finally

In Silicon Valley time, it's been eons but USB 3.0 support has finally landed in Intel chips.
Intel -- somewhat stealthily -- announced today that its 7-series chipset family is now available and "shipping in mobile and desktop OEM systems and motherboards worldwide...[and] they also integrate USB 3.0."
The new chipsets -- companion silicon to the main processor -- support both 2nd Generation Intel Core processors, aka Sandy Bridge, and 3rd Generation Intel Core chips, aka Ivy Bridge.
With today's announcement of availability, it's been roughly ten years since Intel announced support for USB

Why Microsoft spent $1 billion on AOL's patents

Microsoft dropped an eye-popping $1 billion on 800 AOL patents today, an astonishing amount likely spent to keep the intellectual property trove away from rival Google.
But according to a source close to the situation, Google didn't even bid on the portfolio.
That makes Microsoft's lavish bid, which averages $1.25 million per patent, all the more astounding. Still, even without Google, there was good reason: according to data crunched by MDB Capital Group, an investment banking firm that focuses on intellectual property, the AOL patents have far more relevance to Microsoft than to any other company.

AOL to make over $1 billion in patent sale to Microsoft

AOL is starting off the week with a bang -- and a billion-dollar jolt to its financials.
The company today announced that it has inked a deal with Microsoft that will see the online firm sell 800 of its patents and their related patent applications. In addition, Microsoft will be granted a non-exclusive license to the patents that AOL retains. The deal will cost Microsoft $1.056 billion in cash.
After the deal is done, AOL will hold 300 patents and patent applications related to advertising, search, and other technologies. It has also agreed to sign a license to use.

Microsoft store coming to an Apple Store near you?

Are we seeing a trend of Microsoft setting up shop next to Apple Stores?
If so, it's not a bad trend. Even a necessary one to check the Apple consumer Juggernaut.
At the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, the Apple and Microsoft stores are close enough that when you leave one you'll almost immediately see the other.
That's helpful for consumers interested in exploring both rival camps. The Apple Store is a known quantity. The Microsoft Store isn't, for many people. That's too bad, because a Microsoft store offers a much better snapshot

Nvidia Tegra 4 chip leak whets appetite for non-iOS tablets

A roadmap of Nvidia's next chip, the Tegra 4, could also be a blueprint for the internals of future Android and Windows tablets.
If VR-ZONE's (in this case, VR-ZONE's Chinese-language site) sources speak the truth, then we've got plenty of tablets packing quad-core A15 chips to look forward to.
What's an A15 you ask? That's the next chip design -- officially the Cortex A15 -- from tablet and smartphone chip design powerhouse ARM.
Think of it this way: Four A15s are faster than the four Nvidia Tegra 3 Cortex-A9s now found in the Asus 

Intel SSD to boost Windows 8 boot, wake times

New Intel solid-state drives are aimed at boosting Windows startup and wake times, making them a hardware feature that will be especially applicable to Windows 8.
The Intel SSD 313 Series offers what is in effect a solid-state drive cache, increasing the "responsiveness" of PCs that are based on hard disk drives -- that being a word Intel and Microsoft throw around a lot these days.
Responsiveness is code for the kind of instant-on experience you get on a tablet or smartphone.
And both Windows 8 PCs (think: ultrabooks) and tablets should offer that kind of responsiveness as long as 

Microsoft still paying developers to create Windows Phone apps

Microsoft has in the past acknowledged that it pays mobile developers to help them create apps for its Windows Phone platform.
That practice is now even more alive and well as both Microsoft and Nokia struggle to make a dent in a competitive marketplace with Windows Phone and the new Lumia lineup, according to the New York Times.
Microsoft has eagerly contributed money to developers, anywhere from $60,000 to $600,000, to help build apps. That's the type of cash the developers themselves could never raise on their own.

To succeed, ultrabooks need displays like the iPad, MacBook

For ultrabooks to succeed, the display needs to approach an iPad's quality or least match that of a MacBook--which uses higher-end displays.
A lower quality display can be a deal breaker for consumers in the age of the iPad, which boasts a high-quality, high-resolution in-plane switching (IPS) display.
IPS and high-quality TN displays offer viewing angles and contrast typically better than those used on most ultrabooks today.
This shortcoming has become apparent in more than a few reviews of the Dell XPS 13 ultrabook, which in almost every other respect is generally considered an excellent design.

Intel revs up ultrabook campaign: A better MacBook?

With Intel's latest silicon due soon, the chipmaker is cranking up the marketing volume for ultrabooks, saying the skinny laptops usher in a "a new era of computing."
The marketing campaign launched this week is the biggest in about a decade, spanning television, online, and print ads, the company said today. And Intel is putting its proverbial money where its mouth is.
Hundreds of millions of dollars will be allocated for the "largest marketing spend for the company since launching Intel Centrino in 2003," Intel said in a statement. 
 

IE10 in Windows 8: Can pinned Web sites truly replace Favorites?

Internet Explorer users accustomed to working with Favorites will find life a bit different in the new Windows 8 Metro version of the browser.

The desktop flavor of IE10 still lets you create Favorites to manage your Web sites, but the Metro edition does away with such legacy options. Instead, you're given the option of pinning often-used Web sites, as described in a new Microsoft blog. Pinning a site places a tile for it on both the Metro Start screen and in the browser when you click in the address bar.