The “insanely awesome” but not quite available Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone

6558_phone_oneScreen_thumb_7FBDF462Lots of news around Xbox today, including news coming from a blog post on the Windows Phone blog that along with Xbox, Kinect, Bing, and a host of new entertainment providers, Windows Phone is joining the party with a …

By Kip Kniskern in News
October 5th, 2011 at 10:32 am

Microsoft, Entertainment Partners to “Transform TV” with Xbox Live

As expected, Microsoft announced in a press release today that it is expanding partnerships with entertainment providers to bring new services to Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 this holiday season.

Nearly 40 TV and entertainment providers from more …

By Kip Kniskern in Featured News
October 5th, 2011 at 10:16 am

Microsoft to announce Xbox LIVE TV today

Last Friday we heard reports from Bloomberg that Microsoft could be announcing details about their upcoming Xbox LIVE TV service sometime this week. Today an article on AllThingsD further confirms this, claiming that we could be hearing details about this …

By damaster in News
October 5th, 2011 at 5:44 am

Zune now not dead, situation officially bizarre

What is wrong with these people?  Yesterday, after a comedy of errors and false starts, a Zune.net notice went up announcing that “we will no longer be producing Zune players”.  Finally, we thought (and blogged), this charade of “will there

By Kip Kniskern in News
October 4th, 2011 at 9:13 pm

Hotmail “featured” in iOS5 Mail

Today is one of those days where it’s probably better to just go out and play.  Apple announced its new lineup of iOS updates and devices, and pretty much everything else has ground to a halt (including, for a time, …

By Kip Kniskern in News
October 4th, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Windows Phone “Tango” coming in early 2012?

With the Windows Phone “Mango” update just released to 50% of existing customers, news are already coming out for the next update codenamed “Tango”. The latest news came from Thailand’s Bangkok Post (via WMPU), where one of its …

By damaster in Mobile
October 4th, 2011 at 2:21 am

Zune Player: Still dead

Obviously this should come as no surprise to Microsoft watchers, but the Zune  players were finally laid to rest today in a notice on Zune.net:

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our

By Kip Kniskern in News
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:12 pm

Official Windows Live Hotmail app for Android released

Following the announcement of the new features coming to Hotmail Wave 5 this morning, Microsoft (in conjunction with SEVEN) released the official Windows Live Hotmail app for Android phones in the Android Market. According to the app’s entry, …

By damaster in Mobile
October 3rd, 2011 at 9:52 pm

Giving Hotmail another look

WP_000000We’re down here in San Francisco, at the Robert Fountain Studio, with Chris Jones, the Corporate VP of Windows Live Engineering, to talk about Hotmail, where it’s been and where it’s going, and to get a first look at a …

By Kip Kniskern in Featured News
October 3rd, 2011 at 12:22 pm

Microsoft’s deals with Nokia and Skype: are we waiting for Godot?

450px-Waiting_for_Godot_set_Theatre_Royal_Haymarket_2009Our friend Long Zheng spotted news of an upcoming Nokia Maps app for Windows Phone, apparently coming to (at least) Nokia Windows Phones when they begin to show up sometime shortly after Nokia World at the end of this …

By Kip Kniskern in Opinion
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:17 pm