Report: Zune phone coming at CES? |
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Report: Zune phone coming at CES?
Will Microsoft unveil its long-awaited but never-confirmed Zune phone at the Consumer Electronics Show in January? That's the prediction from analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, as reported earlier today by Eric Savitz of Barron's Tech Trader Daily. It's the latest in a long series of rumors about the mystery project, which is said to be connected to Microsoft's acquisition of Danger Inc., the company behind T-Mobile's Sidekick device. (Via Alley Insider.)
How's this for a product endorsement? Netflix said over the weekend that Microsoft's Silverlight online streaming technology has turned out to be so easy for its customers to use that the company no longer needs about 50 customer support specialists, who will be let go in early January. (Via Seattle Times and Wall Street Journal.)
Microsoft today announced Oxite, an open-source blogging platform and content-management system that it's using to run the conference site for its annual Mix event. Joe Wilcox analyzes the project in this post at Microsoft Watch.
Responding to online privacy concerns in Europe, Microsoft today said it was prepared to reduce to six months the amount of time it retains data on searches by its users. But the company says that's conditioned on Google and Yahoo doing the same, so that it won't be at a competitive disadvantage. They say no for now, the New York Times reports. (Via Seattle P-I.)
The guys at Penny Arcade get to the bottom of the Barack Obama Zune mystery today in this comic strip. (Via Steve Clayton.)
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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