microsoft

Andy Lees, Microsoft's vice president of corporate strategy and development and a rising star within the company, has stepped down from the post just months after getting it, according to a new report.

Lees won't be leaving Microsoft altogether, but will go on sabbatical to return to his family in the U.K., All Things Digital is reporting. When he returns, Lees will have a new position within Microsoft. What that position will be, however, is unknown at this point.

Prior to being promoted to vice president to head up corporate development and strategy, Lees led Microsoft's … Read more

The gaming world is all aflutter with the impending debut of the latest and greatest gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony. It's been fun debating their strengths and weaknesses and design aesthetics, but this could potentially be the last go-round for the dedicated living room gaming console.

CNET Senior Editor Dan Ackerman talks about why he thinks the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 may be the last of their kind. One major factor is the move away from gaming on discs and the shift of entertainment consumption over to streaming services like Netflix.… Read more

We can now safely say that rumors that Microsoft was working on a version of Office for Apple's iOS platform weren't false. They were just early.

But boy has it been a long road to Friday, when Microsoft made it official by releasing its Office Mobile for iPhone app -- which is officially dubbed "Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers" in the iTunes Store.

Reports that Microsoft was aiming to bring a version of its productivity software to Apple's mobile platform date all the way back to February 2010, just a few weeks after the … Read more

Microsoft inched a bit closer today to bringing the one app to the iPhone that's long been missing: Office.

The software giant on Friday released Office Mobile for iPhone in the iTunes Store. But don't get too excited, Office fans. While it's a free download, Office Mobile for iPhone will only work for subscribers to Microsoft's Office 365 Home Premium and ProPlus service. And it's optimized for the iPhone, not Apple's larger iPads.

"We don't view this as a standalone app," said Chris Schneider, a marketing manager in Microsoft's Office … Read more

This year is one of the most exciting years for the video game industry in recent memory. Two new consoles are launching this year, which is exciting for the industry and gamers alike. This drastic upheaval of the current video-gaming status quo gives us an opportunity to predict where the industry is headed over the next few years.

At E3 2013, we tracked the major (but maybe not so obvious) trends happening within the console industry. Here's what we learned.

People are passionate about their digital rights This week, Sony pushed in the knife Microsoft had already slipped and … Read more

NEW YORK -- Megan Boken was on her phone checking in with her family as she got into her car when the line went silent.

The 23-year-old former volleyball star was back at her alma mater, St. Louis University, as part of an alumni-student game. A popular and likeable person, her parents assumed she ran into an old friend and got distracted.

Boken, however, had been shot twice and killed in a robbery. The only item missing: her phone.

Boken's father, Paul, and sister, Annie Palazzolo, shared the details of Megan's death, which occurred in August last year, … Read more

Microsoft has cut a deal to open Windows stores within 500 Best Buy locations in the United States and 100 more Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada.

The store-within-a-store sites, which will be 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, will offer a wide selection of Windows tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, and Xbox consoles. There will also be space set aside specifically for Microsoft's Surface tablet computers.

The deal, announced Thursday, also calls for more than 1,200 Best Buy sales staff to receive Microsoft training, in addition to the Microsoft specialists … Read more

Excited about the high-tech look and feel of the upcoming Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4? Better enjoy them while you can, because this might be the final generation of big, dedicated living room game console hardware.

Based on the cheers and jeers coming out of this week's E3 video game trade show about the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, you'd think we were about to enter a new era of cutting-edge game machines, complete with a new arms race of processors, GPUs, and other features. But if you look at how media consumption has changed rapidly … Read more

When Internet companies were recently accused of allowing the National Security Agency direct access to their servers, they strenuously denied it. But when AT&T was accused of allowing the NSA direct access to its network, it did the opposite.

Mark Klein, who worked as an AT&T technician for over 22 years, disclosed in 2006 (PDF) that he met with NSA officials and witnessed domestic Internet traffic being "diverted" through a "splitter cabinet" to secure room 641A in one of the company's San Francisco facilities. Only NSA-cleared technicians were allowed to work … Read more