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Xbox 360 kept its lead in the U.S. console market in September, marking the 21st month in a row as the top-selling current-generation console in the U.S.
September 2012 U.S. NPD highlights include:
· Xbox 360 sold 270,000 units in September, more units than any other current-generation console, and held 49 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S. This marks the 19th consecutive month that Xbox 360 has held more than a 40 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S.
Earlier this morning, we released our annual Citizenship Report, which provides an overview of our citizenship work over the past fiscal year, from July 2011 to June 2012. This is the third year in a row that we have released the Citizenship Report at the same time as our annual financial report. Together, these two milestones give our shareholders, customers, employees and many community partners a full view of Microsoft’s financial and non-financial performance across all business operations. Read more about it over on Microsoft on the Issues.
Also this morning, it was announced that the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (EPHEC), a university college renowned for its business curriculum is adopting Microsoft Office 365 for education.
In this edition of The Midweek Download, we’ve got stories on Windows 8 General Availability, the Multilingual App Toolkit for developing Windows 8 apps, plus tips for designing Windows Phone apps.
Countdown to Windows 8…On Oct. 26, Windows 8 will be available to people worldwide. And we’re excited! To celebrate, we have several events taking place in cities all around the world. Just a few weeks ago, we held a coding marathon with developers in Bangalore, India—which set the Guinness World Record for Most Participants in a Software Development Marathon in One Location. Coming up, there are launch events happening in cities around the world including Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris, New York City and many more. Don’t worry if you didn’t get an invite, we’ll be doing a live webcast of the event, too! To see what else is in store, head over to this post from Brandon LeBlanc on Blogging Windows.
Updating our built-in apps for Windows 8. We’re super excited to be approaching general availability (GA) of Windows 8 and Windows RT. With thousands of new apps in the Store, there are a lot to choose from, and tens of thousands of developers have been very busy around the world creating new apps. Across Microsoft, we’ve been busy since August adding new features and improving the apps that come with Windows, and will be updating these apps before GA. Gabriel Aul from our program management team details the lineup of built-in apps and their features in his post on Building Windows 8.
Two big stories today in The Official Microsoft Blog’s Daily Update:
After a busy summer with The Find, Pulse and Atari, Internet Explorer 10 today brings another well-known gaming experience to the Web in HTML5. The experience immerses users into a game rich with artistry and music, all while main character Petit – the one-eyed creature – seeks to save his love, The Rose. This world is "Contre Jour," which is now available to play online as an interactive multitouch experience on the Web with Internet Explorer 10. You can read more about it on the Exploring IE Blog. Check out the video below.
Today, Microsoft announced two new holiday stores scheduled to open on Oct. 26 in New York City’s Times Square and at the Shops at North Bridge in Chicago. These stores will carry a variety of Microsoft-enabled products and offerings, in addition to Answer Desk services. Customers can learn how to get the most out of their software, as well as personalize their Microsoft devices.
Beginning Oct. 26, consumers can shop at the holiday store locations, designed to meet the expected demand for new Microsoft technology available this fall.
In today’s edition of The Official Microsoft Blog’s Daily update, we have two big stories for you:
· The latest Kinect for Windows runtime and software development kit (SDK) was released today and the Kinect for Windows sensor is now available in China. The updated SDK gives developers more powerful sensor data tools and better ease of use, while offering businesses the ability to deploy in more places. Also, over the next few months we will be making Kinect for Windows sensors available in seven more markets: Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Puerto Rico.
Two great stories from Microsoft today:
First: Halo fans, it’s finally here – Episode one of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. You can watch it over on Halo Waypoint.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action digital series that takes you back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leads directly into the events of Halo 4. Be sure to tune in every Friday to Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime, where you can watch the story unfold through a series of five episodes.
In this edition of Weekend Reading, we’ve got stories on schools that are transforming education, more Halo 4, and, in case you missed it, the unveiling of MSN for Windows 8 and news that the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 are headed to AT&T.
Halo 4 soundtrack remix contest. Halo 4 is just around the corner and Next at Microsoft Editor Steve Clayton confesses he’s almost as excited about the soundtrack as the game. With Neil Davidge at the helm of the audio accompaniment to the game, it promises to be epic and will be available on October 22. And now you have the chance to create your own bit of epic by remixing one of three tracks Davidge has laid down. Prize winning remixes will be announced Oct. 29 and some sweet Halo 4 gear will get doled out. Head over to Next at Microsoft for details and watch this video to see artists who have already remixed the soundtrack.
Windows Phone fans, have we got some news for you today. AT&T just announced that the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 are officially part of the carrier’s fall lineup. As Ben Rudolph tells you in a Windows Phone Blog post this morning, “You’re going to be able to get the Lumia 920 in-store in Red, Black and White, and through direct order (i.e., online) in Yellow and Cyan.” To the right is a screenshot of the Lumia 920 and 820.
Today’s edition of the Daily Update has a stories on Skype as well as profiles on some of the employees involved with the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, which is being held in Baltimore, Maryland from Oct. 3 to Oct. 6.
In this edition of The Midweek Download, we’ve got stories on pricing strategies for Windows Phone 8 app developers, a new programming language that gets JavaScript development to scale and more.
How I price my Windows Phone apps. One key question some Windows Phone developers struggle with when putting an app on sale is: how much should I charge? This post from Bernardo Zamora will help you get started. The Windows Phone Dev Center gives developers more control over pricing because Dev Center now lets developers set a unique price for every country or region where paid apps can be sold. This capability, not found in all major app stores, provides an exciting new way to fine-tune your sales strategy. And now that you can price by country and region, you might want to pay closer attention to user reviews from around the world – easily accomplished, thanks to the new translation feature you’ll find at the Dev Center.
TypeScript: JavaScript development at application scale. In addition to supporting industry-standard programming languages, such as C++, Python, and JavaScript, Microsoft has always been at the forefront of creating great programming languages – Visual Basic, C#, and F# being the most recent examples. We create programming languages to solve problems and to enable a broad set of people to build software. On Monday, we introduced a new programming language that solves a very specific problem – getting JavaScript development to scale. That language is TypeScript. Head over to S. Somasegar’s blog to learn more about the TypeScript project, get links to the early preview, online playground and watch the “Introducing TypeScript” video (also below).
In September, Microsoft announced the launch of more than 30 U.S. and Canadian pop-up stores for the holiday season. Today, we are pleased to announce that all Microsoft holiday stores will be open on Oct. 26.
More information about specific store locations and hours can be found here. Additional details about the holiday stores will be made available soon.
Posted by Jeff MeisnerEditor, The Official Microsoft Blog
Two big stories out of Microsoft today:
· Today, in front of 2,000 students and teachers at Federal Way High School in Washington state, Microsoft General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Legal & Corporate Affairs Brad Smith joined Free The Children founder Craig Kielburger and Seattle Seahawks’ Head Coach Pete Carroll to announce We Day Seattle - an exciting new, year-long program at that will educate, engage and empower 15,000 youth in Washington to become involved global citizens. To get the rest of this story, read Brad’s post over on the Microsoft Corporate Citizenship Blog.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about how a Microsoft study looking into unsecure supply chains led to the discovery of the emerging Nitol botnet, which was hosted by the 3322.org domain. In order to address this threat, Microsoft filed suit to take control of the 70,000 malicious subdomains hosted on 3322.org.
Today, I am pleased to announce that Microsoft has resolved the issues in the case and has dismissed the lawsuit pursuant to the agreement.
It’s the start of a new month today, so what better way to mark the occasion than to lift the veil on a new look for one of the best known destinations on the Web?