Microsoft May Rename Live Search ‘Bing’: Massive Ad Campaign Planned
May 28, 2009 by NetCrunch
Filed under Search Engines, Top Stories
Microsoft’s new search engine is reportedly dumping its codename, Kumo, in favor of the brand name Bing. To get the word out, Microsoft is planning a massive advertising campaign to launch its new search brand. Bing’s debut will feature a $80 to $100 million online, TV, print, and radio advertising campaign, according to AdvertisingAge. To put that number in perspective, Google’s entire advertising budget for all of 2008 was $25 million, AdAge says. Microsoft is hoping a major ad push will take a chunk out of Google — the number one online search brand — in favor of Bing, the same way Microsoft’s laptop hunter ads helped in its fight against Apple.
Microsoft’s iPhone Rival
April 29, 2009 by NetCrunch
Filed under Top Stories, Wireless
According to The Wall Street Journal Microsoft Corp. and Verizon Wireless are in talks to launch a touch-screen multimedia cellphone code name “Pink”, in an ambitious effort to challenge Apple Inc.’s iPhone, according to people familiar with the matter.
Rumors of an iPhone on the Verizon Wireless network have been stirred before, and last week received a fresh turn. The Wall Street Journal, interviewing Verizon’s chief executive Ivan Seidenberg, said Verizon was likely to get access to the iPhone in the coming years, as it converts its 3G network over to 4G, or LTE.
Former Microsoft Executive returns from Space
A former Microsoft Corp. executive Charles Simonyi has safely returned from his 12-day “vacation” on the International Space Stati, It was the last trip on which nonastronauts could hitch a ride on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Simonyi blasted off March 26 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with two crew members, Russian cosmonaut Gennadiy Padalka and American astronaut Michael Barratt. He took the only route available to space tourists: making a reservation for the Soyuz through US-based Space Adventures Ltd.
Microsoft’s Latest Anti-Apple Ads
Microsoft’s latest, anti-Apple ads are all over the Web and broadcast TV. The new Microsoft “Laptop Hunters-Lauren” commercial suggests that there is only one Apple laptop under $1,000 and it has a 13-inch screen. For the same money, it claims, you can get a better Windows-based laptop with a 17-inch screen. True? It is, but that isn’t the whole story.
Computer Worm to attack on April Fool’s Day
March 27, 2009 by NetCrunch
Filed under Internet Security, Top Stories
Rumors has it, the dreaded fast-moving computer that infected at least 3 million computers, is set to attack again on April 1, 2009.
The army of Conficker-infected machines, known as a “botnet,” could be one of the greatest cybercrime tools ever assembled. Conficker’s authors just need to figure out a way to reliably communicate with it.
Infected Machines need commands to come alive. So far, Conficker-infected PC’s have been trying to connect each day to 250 Internet domains. The hackers needs to get just one of those sites under their control to send their commands to the botnet. (The name Conficker comes from rearranging letters in the name of one of the original sites the worm was connecting to.)
Firefox gaining Grounds
March 21, 2009 by NetCrunch
Filed under Statistics, Top Stories
According to vnunet.com, Firefox Web browser is gaining popularity, while other web browsers continued to wane.
The figures, published by web developers’ portal W3Schools, shows Firefox with 46.4 per cent, up nearly one percent from January, while various versions of IE, when taken together, dropped by 1.2 per cent to 43.6 per cent. Google’s Chrome browser rose slightly to four per cent.
However, as W3Schools explains, it is primarily a site for people with an interest in web technologies. These users are therefore “more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user” and so not fully representative of the general market.
