microsoft

Several prominent privacy groups say they're now concerned about the amount of user information that Skype, purchased by Microsoft in October 2011 for $8.5 billion, is collecting and sharing with other parties. In a recent open letter to Microsoft ... officials, a large number of privacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Reporters Without Borders, and GreatFire.org, have pressed Microsoft to publicly discuss exactly how much Skype user information it currently shares with third parties. The letter makes clear that those third parties to which Microsoft is handing private ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced its Surface Pro tablet computer will be available for purchase in the United States and Canada starting Saturday, February 9, 2013. The Surface Pro is an enhanced version of the standard Surface tablet PC that Microsoft ... released late in 2012. The original Surface, called the Surface RT , runs Windows RT, a trimmed-down version of Windows 8. Priced at $499 (and up), the Surface RT's hardware specifications include 16GB or 32GB of main storage, 2GB of RAM, and an ARM-architecture processor. Surface Pro: Core i5 CPU, Windows 8 Pro The Surface Pro, by contrast, includes ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed a new video game technology that turns the space around a television set into an extension of the screen, completely altering the gaming experience for the people playing. During this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las ... Vegas, Microsoft unveiled 'IllumiRoom.' It's a new technology that draws part of the room into the gaming experience and delivers additional game content. The 'IllumiRoom' technology relies on Microsoft's Xbox 360-based Kinect device and a projector. IllumiRoom uses the Kinect peripheral to capture the geometry of the gamer's surroundings and ... (view more)

Last week, Infopackets reported a story about California cat burglars stealing only Apple iPads from a Microsoft office in Silicon Valley. Left behind, according to reports, were many Microsoft-brand smartphones and tablet devices. Now here's more ... bad publicity for Microsoft: Samsung says it has decided to cancel plans to build a tablet computer running Microsoft's Windows RT operating system. Samsung first announced plans for its 10.1-inch ATIV Tab tablet computer last year. The firm said it would build the device around an ARM-based processor and Microsoft's Windows RT operating system, ... (view more)

A hacker has figured out how to run Windows 8 software on the Windows RT operating system, installed on Microsoft's Surface and other tablet computers. According to the hacker, any differences between Windows RT and Windows 8 are entirely artificial ... and for marketing purposes only. Windows RT is described as similar to Windows 8 but is supposedly designed exclusively for portable devices built around ARM processors. These chips can greatly extend battery life, but are said to lack the computing power needed for a robust operating system like Windows 8. Users of Windows RT notice one major ... (view more)

Microsoft says it has now sold more than 60 million licenses for its new Windows 8 operating system (OS). However, some observers still contend consumers are receiving the new OS more slowly than they did Windows 7. Windows Chief Marketing Officer ... and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller recently made her announcement about sales of the new OS at a J.P. Morgan Tech Forum that was part of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Reller claimed the 60 million Windows 8 licenses include those sold directly to home and business users, as well as upgrades and bulk sales to computer ... (view more)

People looking for proof that Microsoft is having a hard time convincing consumers to choose its Surface tablet over the Apple iPad can point to the recent actions of a California cat burglar, who broke into a Microsoft Silicon Valley office and ... stole only Apple products. According to reports, the burglar entered Microsoft's Mountain View, California, research and development center sometime during the company's Christmas break (December 19 to December 26, 2012) and stole five Apple iPads worth a total of $3,000. Reports indicate the thief took two iPad 2s, two iPad 3s, and one iPad 4. The ... (view more)

Microsoft's January 8, 2013 Patch Tuesday includes a total of seven patches, two of which Microsoft is labeling 'critical,' the firm's highest security rating. Notably absent from the lineup of fixes will be a patch for a recently-outed Internet ... Explorer security flaw. This Patch Tuesday's critical fixes address security vulnerabilities that, like so many other previously patched vulnerabilities, could potentially allow a hacker to remotely execute malicious files and take control of an unpatched computer. As usual, hackers could do this by convincing a computer user to visit a malicious ... (view more)

In recent days, Infopackets.com has received several inquires like this one: "Dear Infopackets team: I recently made the switch to Windows 8 and love most of the new features. I understand that Microsoft occasionally releases patches and updates as ... part of their continued improvement to the operating system. Are these updates even important? Is there any way I can stop these updates from automatically downloading and appearing on my system without my knowledge? Love your site! Christopher D." My reply: You might be able to stop the patches, but you really don't want to. Regularly updating ... (view more)

Google says it's preparing to challenge Microsoft in the corporate market by offering more accessible business programs than Microsoft's highly popular Office suite of productivity software. However, Microsoft executives say they're not worried ... about Google stealing the software giant's enterprise customers any day soon. They're apparently responding to a recent interview in which Google vice president Amit Singh said his company intends to lure business users away from Microsoft Office. To do that, Singh indicated that Google will offer business software that is easier to use than Microsoft' ... (view more)