Technknowledge

Yahoo and Microsoft have finalized their agreement to install Microsoft as the exclusive search provider for Yahoo's network of sites, the companies announced Friday.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer first approved a search deal in July, but the matter took a little extra time to complete.
(Credit: Yahoo/Microsoft)

The deal, first reached in July, still needs to be approved by the U.S. government before it becomes final. But the companies said in October that they needed more time to complete the deal due to the "complex nature of this transaction," and Friday's announcement is likely the result of hundreds of hours of painstaking review from expensive lawyers.

At least company executives didn't have to rack up the frequent-flier miles to finalize this year; they signed it virtually, with Microsoft's Qi Lu and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz representing their respective companies on the licensing agreement and Ballmer and Bartz inking the definitive agreement, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will provide search technology to Yahoo for up to 10 years, also gaining access to Yahoo's search technology assets and several hundred employees. It will then pay Yahoo a significant portion of the ad revenue generated alongside those searches.

A Yahoo representative declined to comment on the specifics of what held up the final approval of the deal. Both parties said they still expect the deal to become final in early 2010, although the government is sure to take a long hard look.

Ina Fried contributed to this report.

Microsoft's new street-level imagery in Bing Maps takes advantage of Silverlight to do things Web applications can't, according to the company.

Microsoft is kicking Bing Maps into a higher gear, announcing a beta version of Bing Maps that uses Silverlight to display 3D images and its own version of street-level images.

The company announced the new beta Wednesday amid a discussion of other improvements to Bing Thursday at its San Francisco offices in a presentation for the media. Bing Maps Beta is rolling out Thursday along with several other new features in the main Bing search results.

Bing Maps Beta requires Microsoft Silverlight to deliver very smooth three-dimensional transitions between satellite and street-view imagery. Like Google Street View, Microsoft has driven the streets of major cities such as San Francisco and assembled its own library of map-related images.

The new beta service can also find images of items inside popular destinations, such as art exhibits inside museums and other geotagged images available on the Internet through Microsoft Photosynth. Developers can also create Web applications to run inside the Bing Maps Beta, such as an application that works with Newseum to index local papers inside maps and let Bing users see the front pages of newspapers across the country.

In addition, Bing Maps Beta users will be able to see local tweets through a partnership with Twitter demonstrated during the event. Twitter recently rolled out a geolocation service.

Updated 11:29 a.m. PST: Microsoft has street-level imagery for around 100 U.S. cities, it said, and is adding more imagery on a constant basis.

Updated 12:28 p.m. PST: Microsoft also talked about new enhancements to Bing called "entity cards," which are sections on the top of a search results page that contain a mix of structured and crawled data on a given topic. For example, searching on "Coldplay" will bring up an official photo of the band with a link to their Web page, tour dates, additional photos, and other information all displayed before your eyes scroll down to the search results themselves.

Similar enhancements will appear on searches for specific cities, with photos and weather information, as well as searches for companies, where financial information and news will appear. At some point in the future, Microsoft also plans to let searches hook up with their Facebook accounts to search for photos, upcoming birthdays, and status updates.

Microsoft said Tuesday that its investigation has turned up no evidence that anything in its November security updates should be causing users to encounter a so-called "black screen of death."

"Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that that are resulting in system issues for some customers," Microsoft security response communications lead Christopher Budd said in a statement. "The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports."

Microsoft said it was not contacted by British security firm Prevx before that company went public with its claims. Microsoft said it has reached out to them to let them know the results of its investigation.

The company said on Monday that it would look into the matter, but issued an update later in the day saying it could not verify any issues.

"Our support organization is also not seeing this as an issue," Budd said on Tuesday. "The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in the security bulletins or (knowledge base) articles.

Update, 3:15 p.m. PT: Prevx posted an updated blog saying that it has done additional testing.

"Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we've done quite a bit of testing and re-testing on the recent Windows patches," the comapny said. "Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor."

The company also offered up a mea culpa to Redmond and said it also recommends users keep patching their systems promptly. "We apologize to Microsoft for any inconvenience our blog may have caused."

Yesterday the Microsoft Office Vice President Kurt Delbene confirmed the rumors that the Windows Mobile 7 announcement is scheduled to Q1 2010 and more specifically it will take place during the Microsoft MIX 2010 conference in March.

This is really good news. It turns out the rumors for the Q1 2010 announcement are true and the Windows Mobile 7 will show its face in less than half an year. We really hope that it won't take another half an year before we see actual devices running it, but it will probably be the case with Q3 2010 rumored as a release date.

Today Microsoft also released the beta versions of both desktop and mobile Office 2010. If you own a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, you are welcomed to download the beta from the Windows Marketplace (it's free).

What's more interesting is a posted and then removed screenshot of the Office Mobile 10 on its official page. It shows a UI, we already saw a couple of months ago, claiming it is from the Windows Mobile 7. Well, nowadays it still looks outdated, but no one knows for sure if it is actually from the Windows 7 or just some mock up interface for media use.

The previously leaked Windows Mobile 7 screenshots

Anyway, we are all waiting to see the next Windows Mobile installment in March 2010.

Source

Steven Sinofsky may not be talking about Microsoft's future Windows plans, but the Windows Server team appears to see more value in letting customers know its road map.

In at least two slides apparently shown at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles this week, Microsoft suggests that a major release update to Windows Server is due around 2012, with one of the slides confirming the Windows 8 code name.

I've asked both the desktop and server teams for more context on the slides, which were noted this week by blogger Stephen Chapman. A similar slide cropped up--that time in Italian-- in August.

For his part, Sinofsky sat completely stone-faced when I asked him in our interview Wednesday where Microsoft was at relative to Windows 8--later noting that he hadn't even used the word Windows next to the numeral 8.

"I didn't say any of the words--Windows 8--those were all your words," he said

The 2012 time frame would roughly coincide with Windows Server's plans of having a minor release every two years or so and a major release every four years. It released Windows Server 2008 R2, a minor update, earlier this year as the desktop team released Windows 7.

In recent years, Microsoft has tended to line up its desktop and server releases fairly closely, although in this case the desktop OS was probably a more significant release than its server counterpart.

The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 doesn't leave much room for complaint. It fits comfortably in your hand and works on almost any surface, thanks to Microsoft's BlueTrack sensor technology. It would make a useful addition to your mobile arsenal.

The Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 is Microsoft's latest travel mouse. It offers many of the same features as the Explorer Mini Mouse, but costs less. This AU$69.95 device also uses BlueTrack sensing technology, which lets you use it accurately on a variety of surfaces that a normal laser mouse can't handle. Although less ergonomic, the 4000 fixes several of the Mini's flaws, including the omission of a power-saving off switch and the right-hand-only design.
Plug-and-play design

The 4000's plug-and-play hardware design makes it easy to pair it with a host computer. A small USB-powered wireless transceiver pops out from its hiding spot in the undercarriage, which also houses the power switch, as well as a slot for an AA battery. While we normally prefer rechargeable mice, Microsoft claims the mouse will work flawlessly for up to 10 months on a single battery. The top of the mouse also houses a small red LED that alerts you when battery power is low. Microsoft offers the mouse in five colours: blue, pink, green, black and white.

Microsoft includes its IntelliPoint 7 software for both PC and Mac. You'll find settings for button assignments, and scroll and click speed, as well as help files, in an easy-to-use program. If you don't have the CD with you while you're travelling, you can still use the mouse with your computer's internal settings — no external drivers are required.

One of our major complaints with the Mini was its right-hand-only design — its contours made it uncomfortable for lefties to use. Thankfully, the 4000 is symmetrically shaped, making it equally easy for left-handed users to scroll and click the four buttons. The entire mouse is covered with soft textured plastic for extra grip.

The scroll wheel sits between the two main buttons and moves from side to side, as well as up and down. There's one minor tactile difference between the two scroll modes: horizontal scrolling with the dial results in a tangible click as each page moves, but up and down scrolling is completely smooth, with no tactile feedback. We prefer the ratcheting feel of a click wheel for scrolling through individual pages. The smooth dial that Microsoft incorporates into its mice feels awkward. The scroll button itself is preset to activate the new Windows Vista Flip 3D overlay, in which you can quickly view all of your open windows in a digitally organised stack. As with most mice, you can reassign all the buttons with the IntelliPoint software.
Versatile and convenient

At just 103mm long and 61mm wide, the 4000 tucks easily into a laptop case or bag. The wireless transceiver can supposedly deliver an uninterrupted connection up to 9m away. The promise of cable-free trips is definitely a plus for mobile professionals and travelling Web surfers.

The technical highlight of the 4000 is Microsoft's proprietary BlueTrack technology, which combines the precision of laser tracking with the wide coverage of a standard optical mouse. The 4000 scrolls beautifully on virtually any surface, with the exception of clear glass and mirrored surfaces. This versatility should come as a relief for jet-setters who don't want to lug a mouse pad around with their hardware.
Conclusion

The Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 is a very capable travel mouse that's well worthy of our recommendation. Convenient, versatile and reasonably priced, it doesn't leave much room for complaint.