Awhile ago, I punched you in the eye with a tidbit on Microsoft’s mystery device. That device, as you’re probably aware, turned out to be the Arc Touch mouse, and it now seems that German retailer notebooksbilliger has jumped the gun on unveiling the product proper. Oh, it looks like they got hip. But that certainly won’t stop me from punching you in the eye all over again. Stick your ice packs in the freezer, guys. A typical 2.4Ghz dongle hooks up what is, surprisingly, one of the sexiest-designed Microsoft peripherals to date.  The Arc Touch is, of all things, bendable, flattening out for easy transportation…

Fans of Microsoft Flight Simulator are all gathering today to hold hands and weep – the franchise, previously pronounced dead last year, will be resurrected in the form of Microsoft Flight. Though, while some weep with joy, others may be weeping for an entirely different reason. “Microsoft Flight will bring a new perspective to the long-standing genre,” raps the press release, “welcoming everyone, including long-time fans, to experience the magic of flight.” Magic, huh? I almost thought this was an Apple product for a moment. ‘Everyone’ is a very telling word, here. Previous incarnations…

When you start to remember the dawn of things, you’re getting old. I remember the dawn of Internet Explorer and, if you’re over 25, you probably do, too. Since August 16th, 1995, IE has touched the hearts and minds of heroic internet spelunkers everywhere (sometimes, in the worst way – we’re lookin’ at you, IE6), and to this day,  the browser still holds down a 60% market share to Firefox’s measly 23% (and Chrome’s 7%, if you’re wondering). But it wasn’t always that way. Initially a mod of Spyglass Mosaic (which I seem to also recall using in the Long Long Ago, when people used terms like ‘surfing the…

The music industry, while far from perfect, is finally beginning to take baby steps in the right direction. Nowadays, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” is easier than ever before because of the numerous music services that have sprung up recently. But with the competition heating up and changes on the horizon, an important question arises: which of these players will ultimately bring music to our ears? The music industry is transforming itself. The big boys are beginning to let up on crazy restrictions and realizing that giving everyone affordable access is the key to encouraging growth. Many changes,…

Microsoft just made a dumb move. I decided to recreate how I think the conversation went between the tech guy and his boss. Tech guy: It seems a lot of customers are complaining about the new Hotmail. Bugs throughout the site, some of them can’t even log in. Boss: Fix it. Tech guy: That will take a few weeks, what do we do in the mean time. Boss: It works fine on Google’s Chrome, get them to use that. Tech guy: I don’t know about that, don’t you think we should focus on Internet Explorer? Boss: Who’s the boss? Tech guy: You are… Boss: Exactly. After thousands of complaints from customers over their…

Since Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer’s announced that their ipad killer would in fact be tablet computers running the Windows OS, the same approach they’ve been failing at for nearly ten years, we’ve been watching closely for comparisons between iPads and tablet PCs. Of course, it’s a tricky task, because every time Ballmer stands up and announces a tablet device running Windows, the damn things get canceled. Well, here’s a video comparing a tablet that snuck out to market with an iPad. Considering the nature of the Apple Vs. PC debate, and the fact that, well, this is the internet, the video is surprisingly…

If there is one universal constant in the tech world, it’s that Microsoft doesn’t have much of a sense of humour, usually preferring to be all frowny-faced and bland in its delivery of product news. But this… this is downright cryptic. Over the past few days, Microsoft Hardware’s Twitter account has been hinting at a new product by posting fragments of a JPG. What it is is anyone’s guess, and the Twitter feed has only this to say: “Don’t be so touchy… flat is where it’s at.” Above are the two images stitched together. Is this a possible answer to Apple’s Magic Trackpad? That could be the side of a keyboard…

This is worthy of note because honestly, it simply doesn’t happen every day. Bing has actually beaten Google to a feature. Through its King of Bing Maps contest, Microsoft is getting its hands on some clever new tricks. One feature of particular note is Bing’s sudden ability to calculate cab fare. Simply select a region (for that city’s fare approximation), input directions as usual, and – bada-bing – your taxi fare is more or less on the nose. Y’know that thing you do, where you waver your hand to indicate ‘enh, so-so’? Yeah, it’s that. Personally, I don’t need an app to tell me my cab fare is going to…

Microsoft has announced pricing and release dates for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. After the preview a few weeks ago, Microsoft has announced that it’s Office for Mac software will be available for consumers in October. Pricing is predictably middle of the road, with the Home and Student version available for $119 and Office for Home and Business for $199 or $279 for two installs. An academic version is available for $99, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and Messenger. Office for Mac 2011 is the first Mac version of Office to ship with Outlook rather than Entourage for email since…

I’m totally a PC gamer, especially when it comes to first-person shooters. I play Team Fortress 2 most nights of my life (Heavy, if you’re wondering), and I’ve even been known to pick up the odd bout of Modern Warfare 2. So this news gives me a bit of a shit-eating grin. My apologies in advance to the Halo-folk reading this. Rahul Sood, whom you may or may not recognize as the founder of Voodoo, and also CTO of HP’s gaming affairs, recently sounded off on Microsoft’s decision to axe console/PC cross-platform gaming, and champion the Xbox as its gaming saviour. “There was a project that got killed at Microsoft….