Business

Apple's much-hyped tablet computer could be on sale within a few months . But now Microsoft has responded by promoting its own tablet PC in partnership with HP. The Windows 7 Tablet: by HP Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off the device as part of ... his major address to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Wednesday night. The computer is effectively a Windows 7 notebook but in the form of a single touchscreen rather than a separate keyboard and display. Pricing isn't confirmed, though reports are that it will be sold for less than $500. The new device is produced by HP, and not Microsoft. ... (view more)

Microsoft is offering a whopping 50 per cent discount on the Professional edition of Windows 7. It's an attempt to gain ground among smaller businesses, some of whom need more features than the home user but aren't big enough for large-scale ... licensing. The firm has announced that customers of its "Open Value Subscription" licensing scheme will get upgrades to Windows 7 Professional for half-price until the end of June. They'll also qualify for a 50 per cent discount on Office 2010. About: Open Value Subscription "Open Value Subscription" is aimed at small and medium businesses (those with 5 ... (view more)

Word of Microsoft's upcoming video game console, MS Natal, broke last night but it didn't come during company CEO Steve Ballmer's much-anticipated speech in front of a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) crowd. Instead, news that Microsoft Natal will ... ship this year emerged thanks to a leaked video featuring former Xbox chief Robbie Bach. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hit the stage last night; the company had hoped it would be during his speech when further details about Natal were finally unveiled. Unfortunately, a video featuring Robbie Bach playing Natal was posted to Microsoft's Channel 9 ... (view more)

For those wondering if Apple will ever release a device to compete in the netbook / tablet / ultra portability market, then take notice: it's expected the company could unveil a sleek new tablet device this month, with the first shipments moving out ... as early as March. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple is preparing to announce a new tablet computer later this month. That's not the big news, although such rumors were first circulated in December by the Financial Times, which then said the Cupertino-based company had reserved a San Francisco location for a January 26 ... (view more)

Everything is just about set for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote address tomorrow night in front of a giddy Consumer Electronics Show (CES) crowd. Big news on upcoming products is expected -- however, a day before his speech, Microsoft ... yesterday unveiled pricing for its highly anticipated Office 2010. Microsoft Office is well known for its impressive suite of tools used by home and business users, including fan-favorite programs Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. The next edition of Office is due this June, but thanks to the recent announcement we now have an idea of how much Office 2010 will ... (view more)

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) group has reportedly revealed the design for a new computer aimed at connecting children in the developing world. The original XO-1 model, previously known as "The $100 Laptop," first went into production in 2007. The ... new design for the XO-3 replaces the proposed XO-2 that was first shown in 2008, but has since been scrapped by OLPC. Rumors suggest that XO-3 is a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC that will be available in 2012 and will cost less than $100. The laptops have been designed for use by school children in remote and harsh environments and ... (view more)

Small Canadian companies are having big success against even bigger opponents of late. Just a week after a U.S. judge confirmed Toronto tech firm i4i's claim against Microsoft's use of XML technology in Word, an Oakville, Ontario company has won its ... domain name case against search giant Google. For those who've missed the news, Microsoft last week lost its appeal over an August decision that forced it to remove XML functions in its very popular Word, a big part of Microsoft Office. On the winning side was small Toronto-based i4i; the court decision means Microsoft must remove the conflicting ... (view more)

Google makes tens of billions of dollars each year through advertising sales. Yet it has now allowed independent developers to produce tools which block ads from appearing on pages viewed with its Chrome browser. Since last month, the latest beta ... edition of Chrome has been able to run extensions, third-party tools which offer functions similar to those available for open-source browser Firefox (where they are known as add-ons). The current plan is to keep the extensions in the next full release of Chrome. Programmer, Student Create Ad Blocker An independent programmer from Athens, Georgia and ... (view more)

If you don't have any trouble reading deep into Microsoft job postings, it would appear that the Redmond-based company is preparing to bring its extremely popular Xbox Live online gaming network to Windows Mobile phones. The postings in question ... were for a principal program manager and for a software test engineer. The former was filled on December 23, 2009, but that doesn't really matter -- for the wider interests of techies, the devil is in the details. The job ads made several blatant references to Windows Mobile and the possibility of some level of integration with Xbox Live, currently ... (view more)