In case you missed it, here's the pre-CES keynote by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs on January 7th. The theme: What does it mean to be born mobile? Highlights, as you can watch below, include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (who has given the pre-CES keynote in previous years) plus Big Bird, Star Trek actress Alice Eve and Rolls Royce.Continue reading...

You know the launch of the Windows 8 operating system, Windows Phone 8 and the Surface tablet is a big deal for Microsoft when it pulls out the big guns — chairman Bill Gates — to talk about why this week, with Friday's launch of Windows 8 globally and these new devices, represents a game-changer for the company and the brand. 

Microsoft is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and is the brand’s largest sustained global marketing activity in its 37-year history, including opening pop-up stores around the world in the brand's biggest retail activation to date. 

The Times Square holiday store in New York, for example, will give the first 100 people a year’s Xbox Music Pass (value $99.90) with purchase. The Big Apple will also be home to Microsoft's Microtropolis, a major interactive installation at Pier 57 on the Hudson River. Opening Friday, it's described as:

a stylized one hundred and sixty foot version of NYC in an art installation we are calling Microtropolis. Microtropolis is Manhattan experienced through Windows. It creates the ultimate hands-on demonstration of Windows 8, with the city of NYC as the backdrop. As you walk into the installation, you are literally walking through the avenues and streets with skyscrapers towering above. This interactive experience has hundreds of devices placed on rooftops within the city, customized to the neighborhoods in which they are placed.Continue reading...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is an excitable guy and if there is one thing that excites more than anything else (as far as we know), it is his employer. Ballmer threw his energy behind a letter to stockholders that was released on Monday, informing the investment community that Microsoft was in the midst of a changing world and now considers itself a devices and services company.

In other words, Microsoft is following in the footsteps of Apple. Don’t worry, Microsoft, as the master brand, will still be producing great software, but the company wants to push its device products, such as the soon-to-be-released Surface tablet. But, as Ballmer says in his letter, the company will be putting extra emphasis on "new form factors that have increasingly natural ways to use them including touch, gestures and speech."Continue reading...

7-Eleven, JetBlue and Bliss go presidential with "poll" promotions as Pizza Hut comes up with a controversial dare ahead of next week's debate.

Toyota recalls 7.4 million vehicles globally for power-window glitch and 2.5 million Lexus vehicles, as it plugs Prius on the Home Shopping Network.

Samsung signs TV deal with Spotify.

BAE and EADS terminate merger talks.

Bain Capital buys maker of Craftsman Tools.

Ballmer touts new era at Microsoft as bonus trimmed.

Cadbury tells bishop it's not precious about purple.

Chevron is rejected by Supreme Court in Ecuadorian case.Continue reading...

PaidContent felt that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer phoned in his CES kick-off last night — the company's last hurrah at the show. While Ballmer's CES Keynote wasn't as lively as the tribute video showing Microsoft's past CES kick-offs above, he did generate buzz with a preview of product developments coming this year.

Check out Microsoft's blog post for more of the highlights from Ballmer's presentation, including Kinect coming to Window, or watch some highlights of Ballmer's CES farewell below, including a Kinect demo with Sesame Street and one of the odder moments of the keynote: a tweet choir.Continue reading...

Microsoft's announcement today that the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be its last took the tech world, and particularly tech journalists and bloggers, by surprise.

The kick-off CES keynote addresses by Bill Gates and then Steve Ballmer (who last January talked up Kinect, among other big product launches for the company) were always highly anticipated as agenda-setting events for the global consumer electronics industry, while a massive Microsoft booth typically dominated the show floor.

Starting in 2013, neither will be present.Continue reading...

Arris looks at buying SeaChange.

Carrefour and Walmart closer to India greenlight.

Ford gears up for EV launch.

HP shakes up executive ranks.

Lady Gaga promotes AIDS awareness via social campaign with MAC.

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer talks up China opportunity.

Mike Tyson updates app to incorporate The Hangover 2.Continue reading...

Microsoft and Toyota today announced a partnership to build a global platform for Toyota's next-generation telematics services using the Windows Azure platform.Continue reading...