The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will increase its contribution to a global health initiative by $250 million, the Microsoft chairman said Monday.
The change means the foundation will more than double the size of its contribution to Grand Challenges in Global Health, bringing its total commitment to $450 million.
The initiative, which was founded in 2003 with a Gates Foundation grant, is jointly administered by the Gates organization and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. The Grand Challenges initiative focuses on 14 major scientific challenges, such as "Prepare vaccines that do not require refrigeration" and "Create a full range of optimal, bioavailable nutrients in a single staple plant species."
Microsoft is finding customers for its cell phone location server.
Junk remover 1-800-Got-Junk is among the first to use a specialized Microsoft server to incorporate real-time location information into maps and driving directions generated by Microsoft MapPoint Web Service, the companies announced Monday.
Microsoft is making the package available in the United States through cell phone operator Sprint, which has integrated the MapPoint Location Server into its network and sells handsets with GPS (Global Positioning System) location capabilities.
Tucked down a tree-lined lane in London's swanky Notting Hill lies what appears to be Microsoft's version of a domestic dream: a family home where no one has to talk to each other -- really.
"Mom" wakes up and makes a bee-line to the built-in Activemirror (the dual mirror/computer that allows Mom to see both her image and a transparent screen). While she is busy primping, news headlines scroll across the mirror. She can also listen to music and check appointments by voice command.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer development team acknowledged Monday that it was a mistake not to build tabs into IE earlier. But the team's not rushing into updating: the tab feature in the next version of the popular browser will on the "basic" side.
"The Tabbed browsing experience in the upcoming IE7 beta is pretty basic," wrote Dean Hachamovitch, IE's product manager, in a post to the team's blog. "Expect additional end-user functionality to come in after the beta," he went on.
After it ships the "Whidbey" and "Orcas" versions of its popular Visual Studio tool set, Microsoft's Visual Studio development team is headed for "Hawaii."
Hawaii is the code name for a version of Microsoft's Visual Studio tool set two versions beyond Whidbey, also known as Visual Studio 2005, according to sources familiar with Microsoft's plans. Hawaii will be a completely redesigned tool set, aimed at taking developers well beyond current capabilities, the sources said.
Although Microsoft had been using the names of Pacific Northwest islands, such as Whidbey and Orcas, to code-name new versions of Visual Studio, developers chose the code name Hawaii because it takes developers much further than the other two versions and also because the team plans to celebrate redesigning the IDE in Hawaii, sources close to the company said.
Microsoft is set to release on Monday an upgrade to its MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search that adds a number of enhancements, including the ability to preview documents on users' hard drives.
This upgraded version of the search toolbar, which requires Windows XP or Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or later versions, features a new preview pane to let users view documents retrieved from their PCs.
Another enhancement is an increased capability to determine which files in a user's PC the toolbar should index. Microsoft has also created a Web site at http://addins.msn.com/, where users will find components created by third parties to extend the toolbar's desktop search functionality. Finally, the upgraded version getting unveiled Monday features new wizard-like setup tools as well as improved performance.
Microsoft is readying a new consumer security product that offers virus and spyware protection, a new firewall and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs, a move that pits the software giant squarely against traditional security software vendors.
The product, dubbed Windows OneCare, will be tested internally at Microsoft starting this week. A public test, or beta, version is scheduled to be available by year's end, Microsoft said in a statement this week. The final product will be offered as a subscription service, the Redmond, Washington, software maker says.
As if the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" that plagues users of existing Windows variants weren't enough, some beta testers are reporting that they've encountered a new "Red Screen of Death" in early versions of Longhorn.
The first Red Screen of Death (RSOD) reports surfaced this past weekend on various Web logs, including one written by a Microsoft employee.
Michael Kaplan, a technical lead with Microsoft's Globalization Infrastructure, Fonts, and Tools unit, posted a screen shot of the RSOD in Longhorn on his blog on May 7.
Even as Microsoft took the wraps off its new Xbox 360 video-game console last night, the company left a major question unanswered: Will the new Xbox play games made for the old?
The issue, known as backward compatibility, is a key one for game developers and console owners hoping to bring their existing libraries of games along with them to the next generation. One of the reasons commonly credited for the success of Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 is its ability to play games that were originally made for its predecessor.
Microsoft has added a key wireless LAN security specification to Windows XP, the company announced this week.
The specification, called Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 or WPA2, requires a Wi-Fi client to include the AES algorithm for encrypting data traversing a Wi-Fi network. AES is the type of encryption used in many government agencies and security-conscious industries.
WPA2 is an implementation of IEEE 802.11i, the wireless LAN security standard established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which oversees wireless LAN standards. The new, free software from Microsoft supports all features of WPA2, according to Taranjeet Athwal, a Microsoft program manager.