Google has issued a new report showing that it receives more than 1.2 million takedown requests for search results each month. The chief complainer, by a wide margin, is Microsoft, who claimed a copyright violation on over 500,000 of those infringing search results. But using Google's new transparency tool, which lets anyone sift through the takedown requests, Techdirt discovered that links to pirated Xbox content, which Google took down at Microsoft's request, remain alive and well on Microsoft's Bing search engine. Over the last year the number of takedown notices sent to Google each week has practically doubled. The number one organization demanding takedowns from Google is one of Microsoft's neighbors in Redmond, Washington, a firm called Marketly, which is also employed by Microsoft. Marketly ... Continue reading →

The BBC's iPlayer video on demand service has been released on a variety of platforms over the last months, including iOS and the Xbox 360, and now it's reportedly set to hit Windows Phone soon. According to The Inquirer, a Nokia representative confirmed that the app will show up in the WIndows Phone Marketplace "in the next few weeks." Microsoft had previously confirmed that the iPlayer would come to Windows Phone eventually, but now we have at least a rough timeline as to when the app will debut. While a Nokia representative was the one who tipped off The Inquirer to the iPlayer's impending launch, it doesn't sound like it'll be an exclusive to Nokia handsets, unlike a number of other Windows Phone apps the ... Continue reading →

When we saw an 82-inch Windows 8 machine at Mobile World Congress earlier year we never imagined that Microsoft might be considering selling such a display, but it appears that's one way Windows 8 will enter the market later this year. Speaking to Wired UK, Microsoft's Frank Shaw revealed that CEO Steve Ballmer has an 80-inch Windows 8 tablet in his office, hung on his wall. "He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper. It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall," said Shaw. Although Ballmer's 80-inch Windows 8 display isn't the same as the one shown at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft does have plans to sell it. "It's a device we're going to sell," says Shaw, explaining that Ballmer ... Continue reading →

When we saw an 82-inch Windows 8 machine at Mobile World Congress earlier year we never imagined that Microsoft might be considering selling such a display, but it appears that's one way Windows 8 will enter the market later this year. Speaking to Wired UK, Microsoft's Frank Shaw revealed that CEO Steve Ballmer has an 80-inch Windows 8 tablet in his office, hung on his wall. "He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper. It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall," said Shaw. Although Ballmer's 80-inch Windows 8 display isn't the same as the one shown at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft does have plans to sell it. "It's a device we're going to sell," says Shaw, explaining that Ballmer ... Continue reading →

Swedish developer Martin Ström, filmmaker Ruben Broman, and photographer Erik Wåhlström have teamed up to create a unique filter system for your iPhone images, using a real-world 1-inch CRT monitor. InstaCRT takes a typical iPhone camera image and instead of applying a software filter, it sends the photo to a machine in Sweden where it's projected onto a 1-inch CRT screen (from a VHS camera) and a modern DSLR snaps a photo of the screen and sends it back to your iPhone. Described as "the world's first real world camera filter," the developers created the unique filter as a "response to all the faux photoshoppn' filters out there." It takes around 20-30 seconds to process each photo, based on a Ruby script created by Martin ... Continue reading →

Microsoft's core focus with Windows 8 is to introduce a new set of applications that are touch friendly, fullscreen, and designed to match the company's Metro design. Windows developers who wish to create Metro style apps will be able to take advantage of Microsoft's free-to-use Visual Studio 11 Express, but those who want to keep creating desktop applications may need to pay for the privilege. Ars Technica reports that Microsoft's free upcoming Visual Studio 11 Express environment will only let developers create Metro style applications and nothing desktop-related. The change demonstrates Microsoft's focus on Metro style apps, but there's concern that the barrier to building Windows 8 desktop applications is now high. Previously, developers could build desktop apps using the free-to-use Visual C++ 2010 Express ... Continue reading →

The new NBC series, set in Chicago in the 1960s, which premieres Sept. 19 at 10 p.m., is about much more than just getting down and dirty, the cast and producers said at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour on Monday. So what else is there? Continue reading →

NBCUniversal is reportedly exploring the idea of buying MSNBC.com from Microsoft. Citing several sources with "first-hand knowledge" of the negotiations, Adweek says NBCUniversal is discussing a buyback play with Microsoft. MSNBC.com was originally launched as a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft back in 1996 alongside the MSNBC network. Although NBC now owns the majority of Microsoft's stake in the MSNBC network, the MSNBC.com site is still a joint venture between the two firms. Adweek says the partnership could be unwound by the summer with a deal to ensure MSNBC.com keeps its placement on Microsoft's MSN portal at MSN.com. NBCUniversal parent company Comcast is reportedly conducting its due diligence, suggesting that the talks have progressed somewhat. MSNBC.com and NBCUniversal spokespeople refused to comment on the ... Continue reading →

Although we're still not sure exactly how Google's Project Glass wearable glasses work, the company has been testing them in very public ways over the past couple of months. Google co-founder Sergey Brin showed off the glasses at a charity event in April and a bunch of Google employees have published a series of photos from an even more recent "Google Glass Walk" this week. The photos show Sergey Brin, Colby Brown, Peter Hurley, and other Google employees using the prototype glasses in public — something that appears to be more common as the project moves out of the lab with its first batch of prototype test designs. In a separate gallery, posted to Google+, the company has also included a sample video from its ... Continue reading →

While Dell has previously promised a Windows 8 enterprise tablet "on the exact day" the new operating system debuts, we haven't heard any firm plans for its consumer offerings. Neowin has posted two separate images of what it claims are Dell's two Windows 8 tablets. The XPS 12 is said to be a convertible 12.5-inch tablet (similar to the company's Inspiron Duo) with an edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass display, due in late 2012. The second tablet, a Dell Latitude 10, looks to be a 10-inch tablet running on Intel's Clover Trail dual core Atom chip with up to 12 hour battery life thanks to a larger swappable battery. Although we can't confirm either tablet is real, the imagery appears to be based on some early Windows ... Continue reading →

Facebook today pushed out version 2.5 of its Windows Phone app, with the latest update focused around usability improvements along with small feature additions like the ability to like comments and threaded messaging. Tagging has seen minor enhancements, too: you can now tag friends and locations using the "with" and "at" format that has been available on Android and iOS for some time now. Facebook has also added tap-and-hold functionality to wall interactions, which speeds up the process of deleting unwanted posts. You can now "like" comments in much the same way, though the execution of the long-press mechanism seems a bit sloppy to us. Rather than displaying available options below the post in question, a blue bar simply appears directly overtop of comments and ... Continue reading →