Microsoft retail stores coming soon to a strip mall near you

Microsoft is preparing to launch a chain of retail stores. Apple has had its own stores for a while, but while Apple has a whole line of hardware and software products to sell, Microsoft is first and foremost a software company. Sure, Microsoft could fill store shelves with Zune portable media players and Xbox 360 video game consoles. But it sounds like Microsoft will work out partnerships with hardware makers to sell computers and peripherals capable of running Microsoft products in addition to boxed Microosft software.
Still, I can't help but wonder why Microsoft thinks operating its own stores will be more profitable than selling software downloads and getting physical copies of its software into existing retail outlets. Maybe this is really just a branding initiative, since that whole Seinfeld thing didn't really work out.
Microsoft announced yesteday that it's hired former DreamWorks exec David Porter to head the company's retail store unit.



[ Source: Engadget ]

[ Tag: microsoft-store, retail, store ]

• Google penalizes itself for paid-blog promotion
• Opera commercializes its server-side web compression with Opera Turbo

Opera commercializes its server-side web compression with Opera Turbo

Part of the reason why Opera Mini is so dang good at what it does -- provide desktop-esque web experiences to devices with limited horsepower and bandwidth -- is because Opera has become really good at acting as a proxy, compressing each and every nugget of data before it's sent down to the phone. The company's now looking to capitalize on that expertise, announcing its Opera Turbo initiative that's being pitched to both carriers and device manufacturers as an easy way to reduce bandwidth consumption by up to 80 percent. We love you, Opera, but if this gives carriers a good excuse to delay 4G rollouts, we hate you.


[ Source: Engadgetmobile ]

[ Tag: ]

• Windows Movie Maker 2.6 available for Vista, Windows 7
• LawMail.org looks too much like Google for comfort

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 available for Vista, Windows 7

Those of you who have run a recent Windows Live installation may have seen Windows Live Movie Maker. It's an attractive update, and a very simple way to put put together home video on your Windows computer. It does, however, lack some features users of good old Windows Movie Maker enjoyed.
If you've been waiting for an updated version to appear, you're in luck.
Microsoft has made version 2.6 of Movie Maker available for download, and it runs on both Windows Vista and Windows 7. While advanced users are likely using a more sophisticated video editing program, there's no denying that Movie Maker is an excellent, full-featured option for the average home user.



[ Source: Channel 10 ]

[ Tag: desktop-video, video-editing, windows-movie-maker ]

LawMail.org looks too much like Google for comfort

This is a software blog, not a clearinghouse for legal advice, but I have to say that I'd probably change my site design around a bit if I owned lawmail.org. Law Mail is a certified email service -- for lawyers! -- that provides secure, private, tracked messaging for the transmission of legal documents. Good idea. The legal profession is largely still mired in the dark ages of faxes and snail-mail because of the need to verify important documents.
Here's the bad idea: the Law Mail site might look a bit familiar to you at first glance. Specifically, it might look a heck of a lot like Google. From the primary-colored serif logo to the barely modified Gmail favicon, everything about this site added up to confuse me about whether it was actually a new service from Google. And that's not even mentioning that the phrase "powered by Google" shows up all over the Law Mail site. Sure, tech-savvy people know that "powered by" doesn't mean "owned by," but it throws you off for a second.
Law Mail is a pretty good idea for a service, but it's an idea that needs credibility to function. Whether or not you think they're trying to borrow some credibiity from Google, the fact that you have to think about it means they're dead in the water. It's not too late to rebrand and hire a savvy designer, and I hope that's what Law Mail will do. It would certainly keep them from getting a few Law Mails of their own from Google's attorneys.


[ Source: Download Squad ]

[ Tag: google, law, law-mail, lawmail, lawyers, ripoff ]

• Old school fun: WindowBlinds skin turns Vista, XP into Windows 3.11

Google penalizes itself for paid-blog promotion

Google has penalized the clout that its own Japanese site has in search results after a promotion that violated the company's own search policies.

Busted: Google slapped down the PageRank score for its Japanese Web site.(Credit: Google) Earlier this week, Google canceled a promotion in Japan that paid bloggers to write about a new feature that showed popular new search terms on Google's Japanese home page. Now Google is administering the same punishment to its Japanese site that it hands out to others who similarly violate its policies. "Google.co.jp PageRank is now ~5 instead of ~9. I expect that to remain for a while," said Matt Cutts, who leads Google's efforts to screen bogus Web sites from Google's search, in a Twitter post on Wednesday. A site with a higher PageRank score gets more prominence in search results and can boost the prominence of other sites to which it links. Through Google's PageRank algorithm, a site to which many other sites link gets higher placement in search results, and Google works hard to ensure its search results aren't skewed by sites with inappropriate paid links. That would let sites simply pay for higher search results; Google wants the quality and relevance of the site's content to determine such placement.

[ Source: cnet.com ]

[ Tag: ]

Old school fun: WindowBlinds skin turns Vista, XP into Windows 3.11

The last two versions of Windows we've seen (Vista and 7) have clearly gotten a little more attention in the aesthetics department. They've certainly come a long way from the blocky grayness that we grew accustomed to up until 2000.
While you'd normally use a program like Stardock's WindowBlinds to improve the overall look of your desktop, there's something oddly attractive about using it to create a Windows 3.11 throwback.
DeviantArt user ^mrrste has done the legwork for you, all you need to do is download the files: the Vista version is here, and XP users will need this one.
You will, of course, need WindowBlinds as well. You can grab the free version or the enhanced trial of it from Stardock.
Now, if only someone would put together Hot Dog Stand for us.



[ Source: Download Squad ]

[ Tag: old-school, themes, vintage, vista, windows-3.11 ]

• Wreck your team's afternoon with SNK League Bowling - Time Waster

Wreck your team's afternoon with SNK League Bowling - Time Waster

There's no reason that you should be alone in your Time Waster-ing. If you're feeling social and want to bring your teammates down with you, head over to GetBack's arcade and go for 300 in SNK League Bowling.
Yep, it's the classic NeoGeo title done up for your browser. I still remember drooling over ads for the console and thinking that the NeoGeo was probably the best at home arcade system I'd ever see. Well, so much for that.
Still, League Bowling is a fun way to kill some time at work with your buddies.
Grab up to three friends and compete for bragging rights, or play on your own if you prefer. The controls are simple: position your bowler along the line using the arrow keys. Use the a key to set your aim and s for power. It's all about timing - stop the indicator at the wrong time, and your ball is headed straight for the gutter.


[ Source: Download Squad ]

[ Tag: bowling, emulator, flash-game, multiplayer, neogeo ]