Microsoft

A recent update to the Xbox 360 dashboard has been preventing some owners from using their systems online, according to online reports, an issue Microsoft vows to "resolve ... as soon as possible."

Since Microsoft released its newly redesigned, video-packed Xbox dashboard earlier this month, some users have reported errors with code "801540B7" or "80070571" when they try to download their Xbox Live profile from Microsoft's servers. Without a valid Live profile, these users can't connect for online play, or access downloaded games and save data associated with the account.

In a statement to gaming blog Joystiq, Microsoft admitted that a "small number of Xbox Live members" have been receiving the errors. "We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to our loyal Xbox Live members and are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible."

But that might not be soon enough for some owners. The Verge points to a thread on the Xbox support forums where one user quotes an Xbox tech support representative saying it will take on average "approximately 10-12 days for the escalation team to respond" to these issues, meaning users could be unable to play during the upcoming holiday break.

Related stories:

• Xbox wants to be the one player to rule them all
• Rumor: The next Xbox will arrive in 2012
• HBO, Bravo, Comcast: Tons of TV coming to Xbox 360

Kyle Orland has written hundreds of thousands of words about gaming since he started a Mario fan site at the age of 14. You can follow him on Twitter or at his personal web site, KyleOrland.com.

Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

People walk past a Microsoft display before the opening of the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 6, 2010 in Las Vegas.

Microsoft says next month's 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the world's largest consumer technology trade show, will be its last as both a keynote presenter and exhibitor.

"We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing," said Frank X. Shaw, corporate vice president of Microsoft corporate communications, on the company's blog.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBCUniversal.)

Traditionally, Microsoft head honcho — in times past, Bill Gates, and now Steve Ballmer — has been the kick-off keynote speaker of the annual event, which drew more than 140,000 attendees last year, and will be held Jan. 9-13.

In a statement requested by msnbc.com, the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on CES, made it sound like more of a mutual decision:

In the fourteen years that we have invited Microsoft to deliver a keynote address at CES, the company has unveiled some great innovations, from operating systems to gaming platforms to mobile technologies,  Both CEA and Microsoft have agreed that the time has come to end this great run, and so Microsoft will not have a keynote at the 2013 CES. 

When Microsoft talks about not having a "booth," that's not insignificant — in the past, its booth has taken up pretty much an entire exhibit hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where part of CES is held. The company has also previously erected large tents on the convention center grounds as well.

Shaw said that Microsoft asked whether it was continuing to do the show "because it's the right thing to do, or because 'it's the way we've always done it?'"

The answer, he said, is, "As we look at all of the new ways we tell our consumer stories — from product momentum disclosures, to exciting events like our Big Windows Phone, to a range of consumer connection points like Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft.com and our retail stores — it feels like the right time to make this transition."

Steve Jobs made a similar decision for Apple, when he said starting in 2010 the company would no longer participate in the Macworld trade show. (Apple has never participated in CES, although its influence is definitely present.)

Microsoft, Shaw said, "has enjoyed a close-to-20-year working relationship with the Consumer Electronics Association," and "we look forward to working with CEA for many years to come."

Said CEA: "Microsoft is an important member of CEA and we wish them all the best as they evolve their plans for new ways to tell consumer stories. "

Related stories:

• Microsoft says ITC judge rules against Motorola
• IE 6 deep-sixed in Microsoft browser overhaul
• Apple's influence reigns over CES

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Microsoft

You may be waiting for the ball to drop for 2012, but Microsoft has another countdown underway that the company deems more urgent: Getting rid of Internet Explorer 6, a decade-old version of the Web browser that seems to have more security holes than Swiss cheese but is still in use by some.

"10 years ago a browser was born. Its name was Internet Explorer 6. Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern Web standards, it’s time to say goodbye," the company says on its IE 6 countdown site. 

More than 8 percent of the world still uses IE 6 (in the U.S., it's less than 1 percent), and the company would like to see global usage down to less than 1 percent worldwide. And soon.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

To help expedite the farewell (or rather, the execution) of its ancient Web browser, Microsoft says next month it will start to upgrade Windows customers automatically to the latest version of IE available for their computer.

"This is an important step in helping to move the Web forward," wrote Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager of Internet Explorer business and marketing, on a company blog. "We will start in January for customers in Australia and Brazil who have turned on automatic updating via Windows Update. Similar to our release of IE 9 earlier this year, we will take a measured approach, scaling up over time."

And, he wrote:

For consumers, the safety benefits are one of the key reasons that the industry has been moving towards automatic updates as the norm. This is increasingly important since the biggest online threat these days is socially engineered malware, which typically targets outdated software like Web browsers. The latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, which is based on data from over 600 million systems in over 100 countries, is good reading to give you a sense of risks that stem from outdated software.

But what if you don't want to update your version of Internet Explorer? Under a section of the post called "Respecting Customer Choice and Control," Gavin says that IE 8 and IE 9 Automatic Update Blocker toolkits "prevent automatic upgrades of IE for Windows customers who do not want them. Of course, we firmly believe that IE 9 is the most compelling browser for business customers, and we want them to make the decision to upgrade at their convenience."

Customers "who have declined previous installations of IE 8 or IE 9 through Windows Update will not be automatically updated," he wrote. "Customers have the ability to uninstall updates and continue to receive support for the version of IE that came with their copy of Windows. And similar to organizations, consumers can block the update all together and upgrade on their own. Finally, future versions of IE will provide an option in the product for consumers to opt out of automatic upgrading."

But say good-bye to IE 6 if you have it. And some of you may already be saying good-bye to IE in general. Google's Chrome appears to be gaining more of a foothold among users, as IE's market share continues to drop.

Related stories:

• Internet Explorer still sliding as Chrome rises
• Internet Explorer 9 safest Web browser?
• Internet Explorer 9 downloads: 2.3 million in first 24 hours
• Death to Internet Explorer 6: Microsoft Calls for Browser's End

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Microsoft is certainly working all angles to lure mobile customers via software or hardware: It's now offering iPhone users 25GB free of its cloud-based, SkyDrive to store documents, photos or videos. Earlier this week the company said it would offer a free Windows phone to Android customers who have been victims of malware.

The folks in Redmond just started offering the SkyDrive app for iPhone, and the 25GB carrot is a tempting one. (Msnbc.com is a Microsoft-NBC Universal joint venture.)

Those 25GBs are a bigger offering than Apple's iCloud, which gives users 5GB of storage free. Box.net, another popular service, also offers 5GB storage for free; Dropbox does 2GB free.

SkyDrive is also, of course, available to Windows Phone users, but Microsoft is getting — at last? — that the majority of smartphone users in the U.S. have iPhones or Android devices (no word yet on SkyDrive for Android).

"We view device access as 'table stakes' for personal cloud storage," wrote Mike Torres, group program manager for SkyDrive Devices and Roaming, on the Inside Windows Live blog.

"People are choosing where to put their files based on how portable and accessible they are across the various devices they use; therefore, it’s critical that we continue to extend the SkyDrive experience to the devices you use every day."

SkyDrive requires iOS 4.0 or later, and also works with the iPod Touch as well as the iPad.

Related stories:

• Report: More mobile malware expected in 2012
• Microsoft offers Windows Phones to angry Android users
• McAfee: Malware loves Android

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

According to "sources," The Daily is reporting that Microsoft will launch Office for iPad, as well as a new Mac edition.

The notion that Microsoft is at work on this wouldn't be farfetched — Office has thrived on the Mac, and Microsoft doesn't ignore huge markets. As for timing, The Daily's Matt Hickey reports that a new Office for Mac and an Office for Windows 8 would launch near the end of 2012, presumably when Windows 8 itself launches. Meanwhile, the iPad version could launch "well ahead of that date."

As for Microsoft (which, along with NBC Universal, is a co-owner of msnbc.com), a spokesperson could only tell us, "We have nothing to share at this time."

Sure, it's a rumor, but it's a juicy one, and one we'd like to see come true. Here's hoping.

More on Microsoft from msnbc.com:

• Can Windows 8 save the PC?
• Microsoft builds six-story, live-action Windows Phone in NYC
• Nokia's first Windows Phones see light of day

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

YouTube

I've watched Apple fanboys declare their love for all things iOS and iPhone in a lot of strange ways while pretending that those who favor other mobile platforms would never do anything silly. But today the pretense is over — because there's simply no way to ignore the existence of rapping Windows Phone fangirls.

Yes, you read that right.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

For whatever reason a group of girls — who call themselves Carly, E-Town, Elise, and Emily — decided to express their love for Windows Phone in an absolutely ridiculous rap video. As someone who would never have the guts to make such a video, I've got a lot of respect for the girls' bravery and envy them for the fun they appear to be having.

But there's just no way to take lines such as "keep my phone in my back pocket, Powerpoint's always on my hip socket" seriously.

Watch the full video and you'll see what I mean:

Related stories:

• Remember when Steve Jobs prank-called Starbucks?
• Silly video makers turn serious to honor Steve Jobs
• What if our computer problems were more literal?

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Sony

According to a new report, Sony wants your PlayStation 3 to be your cable TV provider.

In a move that mirrors what some of its rivals are up to, Sony is reportedly planning to circumvent big cable providers and bring live TV programming to its home devices via the Internet.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, "people familiar with the situation" have told them that Sony has reached out to "several big media companies to negotiate the rights to offer their TV channels over the Web in the U.S."

Sony would deliver the TV programming via the internet to its home electronics devices — TVs, Blu-ray players and, of course, PlayStation 3 game consoles.

According to the WSJ's sources, Sony hopes to license smaller bundles of channels than the big cable operators typically offer — which would be nice for those of us who don't want all the garbage that often comes packaged with the good stuff.

It certainly sounds a lot like what Microsoft has been working on for some time now. The maker of the rival Xbox 360 game machine earlier this year revealed that, starting this holiday, it will offer a host of TV programming — HBO, Bravo, Syfy — to those who own the game machine and have an online Xbox Live account.

Internet-connected Xboxes, PlayStations and Wii game machines have already proven very popular devices for accessing TV and movie content via Netflix and Hulu.

Bringing more TV programming options to game machines via the Internet simply makes good sense. According to a recent study from research firm Strategy Analytics, home game consoles have become the most popular device for U.S. consumers to watch online content on their TV screens.

Strategy Analytics found that 65 percent of Xbox 360 users under the age of 25 access online TV shows and movies primarily via their games consoles — even more than they do on desktop or notebook PC screens.

"These findings indicate significant levels of consumer demand for such services," said Senior Analyst Jia Wu in his report. "The upcoming Xbox TV launch for the holiday season will demonstrate an expansion of the partnership between the games consoles and the online TV and video industries. Games consoles have already become the key media hub in US households."

No wonder Sony wants in on this action.

For more tech and game news, check out:

• HBO, Bravo, Comcast: Tons of TV coming to Xbox 360
• Half of Netflix users tune in with video game machines
• Beleaguered Call of Duty Elite service continues to struggle
• Five reasons to leap into 'Super Mario 3D Land'

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.

Appcelerator / IDC

Before even hitting the market, Amazon's Kindle Fire has captured the hearts of tech enthusiasts and the minds of software developers in a way that no Android tablet before it could. We were pretty sure this was the case, but a newly minted study confirms it.

The latest installment in a quarterly survey of developers conducted by Appcelerator and IDC has just been released. It shows that the Kindle Fire has shoved aside all other Android tablets in North America as the Android device developers most want to create apps for, and it's gaining ground in Europe and Asia as well. The catch is, to develop for the Kindle Fire, apps need to be submitted to Amazon, not to Google, so if this trajectory continues, Google will lose control of its own mobile OS, at least as far as tablets are concerned.

Appcelerator / IDC

Of course, price is what everyone cares most about. It is always cited as the main way Android devices can compete against the industry-leading Apple ones. As such, the Kindle Fire's $199 price is still the Number One reason developers say it matters. But the Fire's secondary allures — Amazon's huge content library and its growing app store — are what will keep it out in front.

Bear in mind, Amazon and Barnes & Noble use Android as the basis for their media tablets, but they don't ask for Google's seal of approval. Because of this, they waive the right to install Google's mobile apps and Android Market portal on their devices. So far, this choice does not appear to hurt the dissidents. 

(It's worth noting that while the Kindle Fire is the clear winner of mindshare here, the Nook tablets do appear on the developer short list for North America, where B&N has the most reach; they are not as much of a draw outside of the U.S.)

What's a tablet for?
Amazon and Barnes & Noble understand what the Google-backed Android tablet makers seems unable to grasp, that content and services — what you do with the thing — needs to be part of the sell. A phone is a phone, you have to have one, so why not have one that does email and Web and all that? But a tablet? Who needs them? Like Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble actually have an answer to that question.

The fact that they're Android devices is almost buried in their stories. "They're keeping laser focused on the most important priority: appealing to their base,"  Appcelerator marketing VP Scott Schwarzhoff told me. "And their base could care less about Android." 

Amazon is likely to soon join Apple out in front, in part because owning the commerce system is increasingly key to accumulating power. "It's the commerce identity systems that are competing against each other," Schwarzhoff said. And when it comes to regularly handling online transactions for tens or hundreds of millions of customers, Apple and Amazon are well ahead of any other hardware competitors.

(It's also about trust, something Google — and Facebook — would also have a harder time with, but that isn't part of the survey, and is a discussion for another time.)

Developers do have concerns about the Kindle Fire. There's no camera or GPS or other high-end tablet perks, and Amazon's app store is a little trickier to deal with than Google's. But the biggest fear is that the Kindle Fire's success will destabilize the Android camp even more. This is a valid fear. My guess is that soon Amazon will have its own camp. And its tents will be way nicer.

Good news for Windows Phone
The Appcelerator survey backed up another bit of mobile industry conventional wisdom: Windows Phone is indeed pulling ahead of BlackBerry and the other lower tier operating systems. Thirty eight percent of developers said they were "very interested" in working on the platform. 

Appcelerator / IDC

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

As such, this is good news for Nokia, whose previous smartphone platforms were met with disdain by developers. Windows Phone on Nokia means more interest in apps for Nokia devices, says the survey. But Nokia helps Microsoft too. That partnership, as well as an improved Windows Phone experience and the coming of a mobile-friendly Windows 8, are cited as reasons for the heightened interest.

What developers are clearly NOT interested in is BlackBerry. Both the BlackBerry OS and the PlayBook platform saw dips, down to 21 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Even though Windows Phone has low single-digit market share, it manages to seem more of a safe bet than the massive but aging population of BlackBerry devices.

More on Kindle Fire, B&N Nook and iPad:

• Q&A: Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet vs. iPad
• Amazon's Kindle Fire apps show Apple-like strategy
• Tablet war 2011: Nook vs. Kindle vs. iPad
• Barnes & Noble confirms Nook Tablet for $249

More on Windows Phone:

• Nokia's first Windows Phones see light of day
• Windows Phone is improved, but is it enough?

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Microsoft

Will we meet the next Xbox next year? The Magic 8 Ball -- and some inside tipsters -- say: "Signs point to yes."

Rumors about the next incarnation of the Xbox have been coming fast and furious this week.

It seems multiple nameless tipsters have been offering various tech reporters the supposed skinny on Microsoft's sequel to the Xbox 360.

Perhaps the most interesting (and credible) of these tip-offs arrived via the Windows Weekly podcast in which tech reporter Paul Thurrott says he's been told that the next Xbox — codenamed "Project Ten" — is coming next year. That's much sooner than the 2014 date previously rumored.

"The interesting thing about it is that I'm hearing that it will come out for the holidays next year, meaning that they would almost have to announce this at CES," he said in his podcast, referring to the January 2012 electronics trade show where Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will give the opening keynote address.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft, maker of the Xbox.)

Thurrott said he was also told that the next Xbox will feature the Metro UI design that got its start with Windows Phones and include embedded Silverlight. He added that Microsoft is "going the Apple route," meaning that it would integrate closely with Windows 8 and Windows Phone.

Thurrott's information certainly makes a lot of sense. We've already seen Microsoft pushing to make its Windows Phone play nice with the current-generation Xbox 360. And the soon-to-launch dashboard update for the Xbox 360 will feature a Metro-style UI as will Xbox.com, which is getting revamped in the coming days.

Meanwhile, as far as the 2012 launch date rumor goes, of the current generation of competing game consoles (Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3) the Xbox 360 is the oldest, having launched in 2005. And with Nintendo already announcing that it will release its next machine — the Wii U — in 2012, it makes sense that Microsoft might want to do the same.

His information also somewhat matches previous rumors that Microsoft is planning to unveil its next Xbox at next year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Meanwhile, earlier this year, rumors out of Taiwan claimed the PlayStation 4 would be arriving in 2012 as well.

But Thurrott isn't the only one claiming inside info on Microsoft's next Xbox. A far less credible — but no less thrilling — account comes from a blogger over at MS Nerd, basing his piece on "a heady mix of rumors, tips and speculation:"

... Xbox codename “loop” (the erstwhile Xbox TV) will indeed debut a modified Win 9 core. It will use a Zune HD-like hardware platform — a “main” processor with multiple dedicated assistive cores for graphics, AI, physics, sound, networking, encryption and sensors. It will be custom designed by Microsoft and two partners based on the ARM architecture. It will be cheaper than the 360, further enabling Kinect adoption. And it will be far smaller than the 360.

It doesn't seems far-fetched to suggest the next Xbox will be smaller than the current Xbox 360 and perhaps even cheaper ... but Windows 9? If Windows 8 ships in fall 2012 as planned, the earliest we'd see Windows 9 is 2015, and nobody wants to wait that long.

Whatever the case, whether it's codenamed Loop or Project Ten, the next Xbox is most certainly in the works. But as long as we're speculating about what the future Xbox has in store for us ... what do you hope to see from Microsoft's next game machine?

For more game news, check out:

• Windows Phones will bring cats, control to Xbox 360
• Avert your eyes! 'Mass Effect 3' story leaked
• Battlefield vs. Call of Duty war gets graphic
• 'Modern Warfare 3' courts controversy with child death

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.

Microsoft

Far East Movement performs inside the six-story Windows Phone in New York's Herald Square.

By Todd Bishop

GeekWire

Microsoft grabbed some attention over the weekend by constructing a giant Windows Phone in New York City’s Herald Square to promote the release of new Windows Phones on AT&T and T-Mobile.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal)

But it turns out it’s not a static display.

Throughout the day, the company is planning to stage different scenes in the various tiles on the oversized phones — including a "life-size" Plants vs. Zombies game inside the gaming tile, a performance by the band Far East Movement in the music and video hub, weather reports and a man proposing to his girlfriend inside the phone’s “Me” tile.

Here's a time-lapse video of the phone going up.

It’s part of a broader attempt by Microsoft to build buzz for its well-reviewed Windows Phone 7.5 update, seeking to bounce back from a sharp decline in its share of the U.S. mobile market over the past two years.

In related news, Microsoft today announced the imminent release of a Spotify music app for the Windows Phone. (The popular music service is already available for iPhone and Android.)

Windows Phones being launched today include the $50 Samsung Focus Flash from AT&T, an effort by Microsoft to get existing users of standard cell phones to upgrade to Windows Phones. AT&T is also releasing the Samsung Focus S Windows Phone, for $199 with contract. T-Mobile is offering the HTC Radar 4G Windows Phone for $99 with contract, after rebate.

Microsoft also confirmed a holiday release timeframe for the HTC Titan on AT&T but didn’t give a specific price or date. With a 4.7-inch screen, the Titan will be the largest Windows Phone yet — unless you count that giant live-action device in New York today.

More from GeekWire

• Amazon Prime's new killer app: Kindle books by subscription
• Latest Windows Phone data: Nowhere to go but up ... right?
• Top 10 reasons why Darth Vader was an amazing project manager

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Twitter and Facebook.