I was out with my five-year-old son this afternoon getting his first library card, when what do we see: the fall issue of Robot magazine ... That's none other than our own Tandy Trower , GM from the Microsoft Robotics Group . The Microsoft Robotics...

A box o' Zunes... see more at this link from ZuneInsider : Thanks for the note, n4cer1 . Tags: microsoft , Zune , iPod .

First off, let me say that I remember when unpacking a Mac was an experience like opening any other consumer electronic (c. 1985). Except that it was a computer... you know, the things that at the time arrived in shipping crates on pallets. Opening up...

Thanks to Reeve's blog, I found this lovely item which has absolutely nothing to do with customer satisfaction, save the fact that when my son sees this luggable Xbox 360 laptop, he'll be quite satisfied in adding this item to his Christmas list... ...

Interesting article on Slate today, on Idiotic Corporate Penny-Pinching ... "Such coffee cutbacks aren't just petty, they're self-defeating. Companies get a lot of bang for the buck by providing coffee—a legal drug that keeps employees pepped up...

BTW, a word of praise: we just purchased a copy of the latest installment of Lego Star Wars 2 for Xbox 360 has our boys glued to the controllers, and (thankfully) burning energy by acting out scenes in the living room and outside. More on Wired at...

(It's been a busy week with mails, reviews, meetings and running the latest Vista and Offce builds on my machine at the office.) In the latest print edition of Wired (not yet on the web - update 100806: the article, Rebuilding Microsoft , is now available...

On Channel9 is an inteview with Kathleen Hogan , corporate VP of Microsoft Customer Service and Support, and is responsible for the strategy and delivery of technical support for Microsoft. Kathleen is also one of our execs sponsoring the cross-company...

Many thanks to my friend in support for the link to http://buzzcustomer.com/ which covers the good, the bad and the ugly of customer service: "All customers have experiences. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. All of them matter. BuzzCustomer...

No secret that the annual company meeting was held yesterday in downtown Seattle. "About 14,000 of Microsoft's faithful — many decked out in color-coordinated company regalia — gave Bill Gates a standing ovation during his afternoon presentation...

The PC enthusiast site ArsTechnica reports this week that RealNetworks will use their own digital rights management (DRM) technology, dubbed Rhapsody DNA, on the Rhapsody music and media service . It will be available intially on the Sansa Rhapsody...

Today, CNET has has a suite of photos on the new Microsoft Zune digital media player . This is a link off of their article on "Microsoft unwraps Zune for holiday season." "The Zune in all three of its colors: white, brown and black. With its built...

Not all the devices are featured on the corporate web site yet, but click here to see some of the new hardware and peripherals from the hardware group in the Entertainment & Devices division. This is in addition to the new cameras I mentioned previously...

As a follow up to my , the New York Times has on article on Apple's Plans to Inhabit Living Room. " Steven P. Jobs , Apple Computer ’s chief executive, concluded a much-anticipated company event on Tuesday with his usual tease, noting that he had...

It was announced today that Doug Burgum is stepping down as head of Microsoft Business Sollutions, and will leave Microsoft next June. (See the story on the Seattle Times Microsoft page today. ) Replacing him in the top spot is Satya Nadella, the corporate...

As I mused in my guess on Apple's next "showtime" , Apple did announce today an upgrade to iTunes, some new iPods (including a new iPod, iPod shuffle and iPod nano ) as well as a device to stream television programming to the TV with Apple's "iTV"......

See this link to Michael Dell's talk at the Austin Game Conference . "Yesterday, Michael was featured in a moderated discussion with game developers who came to Texas for the Austin Game Conference .... In his first vlog appearance on Direct2Dell...

As noted earlier this summer, my wife's hard drive failed. And tonite I read that Guy Kawasaki's MacBook’s hard disk was "quasi hosed. " When I worked at an Apple developer in the mid 80's, Guy was one of those driving forces that made you believe...

Today in the Seattle Times, an article on Vista PC design , highlighting that "Microsoft has offered computer manufacturers guidelines on color, shape and other design elements for PCs that will run Windows Vista." (Also of interest is the graphic...

As I noted previously, I moved our home desktop PCs to Vista. More accurately, to dual boot on two of three PCs - I am still holding off the migration of the kid's PC (lots of legacy games installed there), family laptops and Media Center (due to a known...

News.com reports that Apple Computer has invited the press for a "Special Event" next week in San Francisco. News and most reports following Amazon's Amazon.com's Unbox Internet movies and TV show service guess that... "The early bet seems to be...

Leave it to Apple to help us make priorities on our peripheral purchases: as noted on Slate yesterday , Apple has posted a study by Pfeiffer Consulting promoting ultra-large monitors (or monitors >24") as a boon to productivity. Say's Slate: ...

As I noted previously re: Windows Visa Upgrade Pricing, I received some spirited comments and mails. As I mentioned, I haven't seen an announcement of UK or EU prices for Vista, but will post a link to them when I see them. As for the pricing on...

MSNBC reported that Windows Vista pricing is now live on the Microsoft corporate after a busy week in the press on pricing last week. You'll find the retail details on the Windows Vista site. Overall you'll find that the cost for a Windows Vista...

One small step... deep breath. This weekend I'm reimaging a couple of Windows XP-based OEM machines with the latest Windows Vista software, and I'm following the details on setting up a dual-boot system with Windows Vista., as outlined on the Windows...