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Microsoft executive allegedly attempted to embezzle $1.5 million
Jeff Tran, Microsoft's former director of sports marketing and alliances, was charged with five counts of wire fraud this week for allegedly trying to embezzle $1.5 million from his former employer. He's also accused of stealing and selling more than 60 Super Bowl tickets belonging to Microsoft, pocketing over $200,000 in the process.
Microsoft may release a lower-cost Surface tablet this year
Microsoft will try making another inexpensive tablet. Redmond is rumored to launch a new, cheaper slate to compete with the iPad this year, according to Bloomberg's sources. Like Apple's tablet, the device will have rounded corners and a 10-inch screen, along with a kickstand and a USB C port for charging and syncing. It'll cost around $400, or half that of a Surface Pro.
Microsoft turns Surface tablet into a skateboard, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky takes it for a spin
Gorilla Glass 2 and a chassis forged from magnesium lend Microsoft's Surface slates some durability, but the firm's decided to prove just how tough its tablets are by turning one into a skateboard. The wheeled slice of Windows 8 is said to have been rolled out during a tour of Redmond's Surface skunkworks, but Windows chief Steven Sinofksy couldn't resist hopping on the board today and tweeting a pair of photos. You can pre-order your deck now, though something tells us this mod isn't covered under Ballmer and Co.'s warranty.
Microsoft Surface Windows 8 RT tablet hits the FCC?
Well well, it looks like Microsoft's getting all its Windows 8 ducks in a row today. First, it sends out the invite for the Windows 8 launch event and a save the date for a Windows Phone 8 party, and now it looks like one of its Surface tablets has garnered FCC approval. Dubbed the Model 1516, the device in question can't be confirmed as a Surface slate, but we do know it's running Windows RT and has a membrane keyboard peripheral thanks to the docs submitted to Uncle Sam. We also know that it's got a stand, as the FCC label will be residing on the back panel beneath it, and the radios on board are of the Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi variety. Does that add up to a Surface RT tablet? We sure think so, but see the evidence for yourself at the source link below.
Switched On: Surface damage
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. As Switched On discussed a few weeks ago, and as Microsoft noted in its recent 10-K filing, it is an unavoidable truth that the company getting into the hardware market will cause conflict with its partners. The extent of that conflict, though, depends on many variables and Microsoft can -- and must -- take steps to ameliorate it.
Microsoft: "Post-PC" is the wrong idea
The Verge has a piece contrasting the Microsoft and Apple diverging views on what Apple calls the 'post-PC world'. The Microsoft view is there is no post-PC world, just what the company calls the 'PC+' world. Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner discussed this at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference. "Apple makes great hardware," Turner said. "The reality is in the OS we see things differently." Turner discussed OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and some mixed press reaction to the future of OS X. "We believe that Apple has it wrong," Turner said. "They've talked about it being the post-PC era, they talk about the tablet and PC being different, the reality in our world is that we think that's completely incorrect." It contrasts with the view espoused by the late Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Cook has not endorsed the "one device fits all" approach and thinks there are advantages to a laptop, a desktop PC and a tablet and smartphone, but trying to make a single device do everything is not the way to go. In May, Cook said, "Products are about trade-offs. And you have to make tough decisions, you have to choose. The fact is, the more you look at a tablet as a PC, the more the baggage from the past affects the product." It followed Cook's famous metaphor about merging a toaster and a refrigerator. Even former Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie warned that computing devices would get simpler, and more like appliances. Of course the differences aren't so simple or as easily delineated. Microsoft wants to continue to sell an OS for desktops, laptops, tablets and phones too, but they certainly seem to believe that the newly announced Surface tablet can be a complete solution for many users. The only way to see whose argument wins is to watch the evolution of products and sales from both Microsoft and its partners and Apple. Is the PC era over? Or are new form factors just another iteration of the PC? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
