Microsoft has been updating itself constantly to offer more to the public. As such, we have gathered some of the most interesting and useful Microsoft Updates for you to learn more about the going ons in the world of Microsoft.

MICROSOFT POPFLY GETS A FUN GAME BUILDER
Cnet News came across a feature of Popfly where users are invited to create and play some of the most classic computer games with a modern touch.

The new feature: an environment for building casual games (think Solitaire, not Half-Life), called Game Creator. There are several templates with generic titles to start from (personal favorite: “Badly built wall”) or users can create their own games from scratch using a scripting system and a built-in, and entertaining, library of graphics and sounds.

MICROSOFT’S DAILY-CHANGING CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Either it is part of the corporate strategy to constantly change its strategies or momentary business partnerships, or Bill Gates is simply trying to gain further attention from those such as TechCrunch:

If Gates is out telling the world, as he did on Monday, that they need to acquire other companies to fix their Internet strategy, it doesn’t take very long to figure out that there isn’t another Yahoo out there on the market. Microsoft has a long term problem on its hands, and Yahoo may be the only remedy. So when Gates says Microsoft isn’t pursuing deals, what I translate that to is “We really, really want to buy Yahoo.”

 

MICROSOFT RESEARCH LAUNCHES WORLDWIDE TELESCOPE
Imagine star-treking on your PC or Laptop without having a telescope or being in an observatory centre. That’s exactly what this unique feature can do for you, and is the device that put Scoble into tears, as (not the Scoble part) reported by Cnet News:

WorldWide Telescope is a desktop application for Windows which does exactly what you would think. It essentially turns your computer into a telescope. You can choose from a variety of options from roaming the universe freely, to guided tours of various celestial features. You can join communities of stargazers and also connect your own telescope to your computer and control it with this application. Another option is to change your source of imagery to gain a different perspective.

WINDOWS 7: THE NEWS SO FAR, SPECULATIONS AND A PEAK AT WHAT TO EXPECT
4Sysops shed some light on the latest news regarding the much awaited Windows 7 and certain speculations about Microsoft.

The demo just shows some basic enhancements of Windows Explorer, a Screen & Animation Capture tool, a new Disk Usage Analyzer, an enhanced Task Manager, a short demo about Virtual Drive and the new Website, Blog and Portal Designer. The new Windows Explorer will get tabs and will allow you to display two folders side-by-side. Two features I have been waiting for a long time. This Virtual Drive thing seems to be interesting, too.

Speaking of Windows 7, Crunch Gear’s article gave us a sneak peak at what the whole new operating system would look like. If it is as good as it looks, Windows Vista should then be finally and most thankfully put to bed; chalked-off as a bad nightmare.

We can confirm these are indeed screen shots of the current build of Windows 7 as it will be introduced in 2010, but keep in mind that’s three years away and many changes might be made.

MICROSOFT CEO SUMMIT 2008 VIRTUAL PRESSROOM
This virtual pressroom was used for Microsoft Corp’s 12th CEO Summit. This is more or less like a giant projector for Microsoft CEOs to use during the conference, discussing issues and debate varieties.

Welcome to the virtual pressroom for Microsoft Corp.’s 12th annual CEO Summit. Established in 1997, the forum allows business leaders to discuss the most pressing issues affecting global business today. From May 13 to May 15, more than 115 CEOs from Global 1000 companies in 26 countries will gather on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus for discussion, debate and interactive sessions in topics that include decoding financial markets, establishing cultures of execution and exploring how the Internet will evolve over the next five years.

MICROSOFT SURFACE IN LAS VEGAS
One of the most unique interactive touch-screen technologies has just hit the Viva Las Vegas heat, and The Inquisitr captured its flirtatious side with this cool video showcasing its benefits. In this case, it is used as a cool date hunting strategy.

We can certainly look forward to an interesting evolution of dating services and clubbing experiences through this unique piece of technology.

MICROSOFT CREATING TOWNSQUARE: AN ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORK
Facebook started it, but Microsoft hopes they can take it to the next level, as Cnet News discovered the revealing of TownSquare. Instead of friends interacting with each other, this is designed for businessmen - nothing much really, but interesting nonetheless to see that there is no stone unturned that Microsoft do not want a part of…

The service is reportedly similar to Facebook, in which Microsoft has a $240 million stake. Users can see others’ feeds of what they are doing, upload and view photos, and connect with each other in teams. The site has been in use at Microsoft since Janurary, the story said.

TownSquare also reads in news feeds from the Web and workflow information from the SharePoint groupware platform, Computerworld said.

Another Microsoft social network experiement, Wallop, spun out of the company in 2006 and more recently rebuilt itself as a creator of social applications for other, larger social platforms.

MICROSOFT GETS INTO INTERACTIVE TV ADS; PURCHASES NAVIC NETWORKS.
TechCrunch discovered that Microsoft are certainly making sure it gets the best out of Interactive TV Ads through purchasing an entire company known as Navic Networks, which feature online video customization and interactivity.

Navic’s ads are interactive overlays similar to what some advertisers are trying with online video. Except that they are targeted by zipcode to each cable subscriber. As you are watching a regular TV commercial, for instance, you could click on an overlay that opens up a window with more information on the screen, or ask for a brochure to be sent to you via e-mail or regular mail (since the cable company has your address, that should be easy).

TV still represents the majority of advertising spending, and Microsoft needs to be a player there if it wants advertising to become a significant portion of its revenues. While Navic brings interactivity to TV advertising, it does not yet tie back into online advertising campaigns. Microsoft could bridge that gap.

MICROSOFT TO ACQUIRE POWERSET FOR $100 MILLION: THE TRUE RUMOUR
RWW came across a rumour regarding Microsoft’s interest to acquire the San Francisco based semantic search engine Powerset for an estimated $100 Million.

Rumors about Microsoft’s interest in Powerset had been swirling around the Valley since last month, when Dan Farber first brought up the possibility in a post on CNet.

Powerset launched The consumer-facing side of Powerset currently only searches Wikipedia articles, but Microsoft is most likely more interested in using the underlying technology for its own search products like Live Search. Powerset’s specialty iproviding answers through natural language queries like “When was Henry VIII born?” Powerset licensed this technology from Xerox PARC.

Having backing from Microsoft could help the small company to expand beyond Wikipedia and start indexing more of the Internet. Powerset’s technology is still unproven to work well for anything but Wikipedia, but if Powerset does manage to scale beyond this, then it would allow users to by-pass Google’s keyword driven search in favor of just getting a direct answer to a large number of their questions.

Not long after this, The Inquisitr discovered that the rumour turned out to be true, and Microsoft made the move to acquire Powerset.

Word of the acquisition first surfaced last week. Today, Microsoft confirms the San Francisco natural language search company will become part of its “Search Relevance team.” The announcement at Microsoft’s Live Search blog seems to imply that most, if not all, of the Powerset team will survive the transition.