Microsoft

Xbox Music users now can identify their music and listen to it across different PCs and mobile devices courtesy of Gracenote.

Buying a $10-per-month Xbox Music Pass entitles you to tap into the new service, which can identify albums and songs you already own and unlock your music online. All of your music can be unlocked, including songs bought through Amazon or Apple as well as those ripped from your CDs.

Gracenote, which is owned by Sony, also lets you edit the metadata for your Xbox Music collection and add missing album art. Finally, you can stream your tunes to … Read more

Comparing government surveillance to sophisticated malware and cyber attacks, Microsoft said late Wednesday it will encrypt Internet traffic traveling through its data centers.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, wrote in a company blog post that the software giant is taking steps to ensure that any government surveillance of the Internet is conducted legally rather than by a technological subterfuge. Not mentioning the National Security Agency by name, Smith said Microsoft was especially alarmed by allegations that "some governments" had collected customer data from the Internet without warrants.

"If true, these efforts threaten to seriously undermine confidence … Read more

Bargain-basement models from Hewlett-Packard and Dell topped the list of the most popular Black Friday laptops, according to a research note from a market researcher that tracks laptops at retail.

Dell's 15-inch 15RV-1952BLK, priced at $177 on Black Friday, topped the list, according to Gap Intelligence, which based its ranking on the number of "likes" each promotion received on deal-tracking website FatWallet.com.

"Dell made the largest gains of any manufacturer, nearly doubling its number of notebook ad hits from last year (17 vs. 9)," analyst Deron Kershaw said in a statement.

HP's HP'… Read more

The European Commission has given Microsoft's planned acquisition of Nokia's mobile device business the green light.

In a press release dated December 4, the Commission said it had investigated potential compeition concerns and found none.

"The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise any competition concerns, in particular because there are only modest overlaps between the parties' activities and the links between Microsoft's mobile operating systems, mobile applications, and enterprise mail server software with Nokia's smart mobile devices are unlikely to lead to competitors being shut out from the market," said the press … Read more

Following in the footsteps of Vine and Instagram, another well-liked Android and iOS app has made the leap to Windows Phone. This time it's Mint, which makes its debut on both Window Phone 8 and Windows 8 today.

If you're not familiar, Mint is an online service that pulls in transaction data from your bank accounts, credit cards, and loans to help you keep track of your spending and create financial goals, such as paying down debt or saving for a new home.

The Windows Phone app comes five years after Mint launched its first mobile app, for the iPhone, … Read more

Recent remarks by a Microsoft exec who noted there won't be three different Windows variants in the future have set off a storm of speculation  -- just about all of which is dead wrong.

Microsoft Executive Vice President Julie Larson-Green recently told attendees of a UBS technology conference that Microsoft was not going to have three different Windows SKUs (Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows 8.x). She didn't say how many Microsoft ultimately plans to have, but some believe the answer is one, given Microsoft's "One Microsoft" mission and creation this year of … Read more

At Microsoft Research Redmond -- one of 13 labs worldwide, with locations from Beijing and Banglaore to Cairo and Cambridge -- there exists Studio 99, an art space that mashes up data and coding with creative expression. It was a perfect place for James George, a computer scientist turned NYU video art professor, to embark on a three-month stint doing whatever he liked with the tools and staff available at one of the most advanced technology playgrounds on the planet.

"The first week I was here, I really had no plan," George explained in a Microsoft Research interview. &… Read more

Microsoft's Project Spark, an ambitious attempt on the company's part to turn gamers into developers, is making its debut on Windows 8.1 on Tuesday.

The app, which will be available later today in the Windows Store, according to The Verge, will be in beta when it's launched. In order to actually start using the app, users will need to download the program and then input a special beta key to activate it. Microsoft has not said how many people will be allowed to test the beta, but has a section on its Project Spark page letting … Read more

The US Department of Justice has given its approval to Microsoft's pending acquisition of Nokia's mobile devices and services business.

The transaction got the DOJ nod on November 29, according to the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition notification on December 2.

"We look forward to the date when our partners at Nokia will become members of the Microsoft family, and are pleased that the Department of Justice has cleared the deal unconditionally," said a Microsoft spokesperson in a prepared statement.

Last month, Nokia shareholders gave their approval to the deal during an extraordinary general … Read more