Tech pioneer Bill Gates still lugs around a giant bag of paper books

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It’s always interesting to keep track of what Bill Gates is reading, and for some reason I envisioned him taking advantage of an e-reader or tablet — or at least something digital — to read and process all that material. Nope. It turns out he carries a giant tote bag of old-fashioned books when he’s… Read More…

Microsoft: Don’t compare Windows 8 to a can of soda

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When The Coca-Cola Company tried to introduce “New Coke” to the market back in 1985, it was considered one of the worst product decisions known to mankind. Now, some analysts are comparing Coke’s mistakes to Microsoft and Windows 8, based on the negative reaction to radical changes in the operating system, and Microsoft’s upcoming move to address “customer feedback”… Read More…

Microsoft posts weird Windows 8 commercials, then promptly takes them down

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Update: Microsoft’s crazy, brilliant Windows 8 ads are now live It appears Microsoft either made a mistake by posting new Windows commercials or was just flat-out embarrassed by the initial response. On Wednesday afternoon, both Neowin and WPCentral noticed that Microsoft uploaded three new spots to the official Windows YouTube channel. The ads, titled “Windows 8 Training… Read More…

Klout Experts: A new Q+A platform that appears atop Bing search results

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Social media metrics company Klout is making a move into the social question-and-answer space and is getting some distribution help from Bing to make it happen. Klout, a platform which measures your social media influence, today introduced Klout Experts. Here’s how it works: Klout “experts,” or those who have heavy influence in certain areas like technology and food,… Read More…

Microsoft names Amy Hood its new chief financial officer

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Microsoft just named Amy Hood its new chief financial officer, replacing its departing CFO Peter Klein, who announced his plan to leave the company last month. She becomes the first woman to hold the position at Microsoft. The announcement follows a report by Bloomberg News earlier today that said Hood was up against Windows finance… Read More…

Former Microsoft CFO John Connors named to Midas List for top investors

John Connors

John Connors, a venture capitalist at Bellevue-based Ignition Partners who previously served as CFO of Microsoft, was named to Forbes’ 2013 Midas List that honors tech’s top investors. Connors has made a number of good investments in companies like Splunk, which went public last April, Heroku, XenSource and Parse, which was just acquired by Facebook. Connors, who… Read More…

Nokia touts Lumia 928 camera against competition with roller coaster video

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Nokia has yet to officially announce its newest flagship Lumia 928 smartphone, but that isn’t stopping the manufacturer from touting the device’s features against industry competition. In a new promo video on the landing page for the phone, Nokia shows video footage from the Lumia 928, iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 — interestingly not the Galaxy… Read More…

Verizon CEO: Windows Phone will play a crucial role in the mobile industry

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At least one high-level mobile exec is optimistic about the long-term success of the Windows Phone. Verizon CEO Dan Mead said today that the Windows Phone has received good traction with OEM’s and thinks both Windows and Blackberry will play a crucial role in the mobile industry. Mead added that there needs to be more… Read More…

Microsoft hunts internally for CFO: Report suggests it’s Tami Reller vs. Amy Hood

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Microsoft is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer, and a report out from Bloomberg suggests that two internal candidates are in the running. Citing people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reports that Tami Reller — the finance chief for the Windows division — and Amy Hood — the finance chief for… Read More…