The upcoming version of Windows Live, aka Windows Live “Wave 4,” will get its own service status dashboard, according to Jamie Thomson, who reveals this previously undisclosed nugget, along with 9 other things you may not have known about Windows Live’s latest update. In his new post “10 Secrets…

No more waiting, the highly-anticipated Office Web Apps are now live. If you live in the U.S., the U.K., Canada or Ireland*, you’re the first to have access to the new web-based versions of Microsoft Office’s most popular programs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Just head over to…

At this week’s TechEd 2010 conference, Microsoft officially announced the impending arrival of Windows 7 Service Pack 1. The update, expected to arrive in July, includes a combination of updates available now through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on customer and partner feedback.…

One of the more notable features of the upcoming version of Windows Phone 7 operating system was just detailed in a recent post on the Windows Phone Developer blog. Called “private beta distribution,” this new feature lets developers or IT admins distribute smartphone applications in private, test…

In October, Bing received access to the Twitter “firehose” and launched a specialized Twitter search site at bing.com/twitter. Now, a new search portal is launching, Bing Social Search, available at bing.com/social, and it will feature both Twitter posts and publicly available Facebook posts too. …

In March, Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar” Award, a contest for student developers looking to build a top-of-the-line mobile application for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform, using either Silverlight or the XNA framework. Since the contest’s launch, 131 teams submitted…

With the launch of Office 2010, there are a number of new features found in the popular productivity programs, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and others. From a now fully-customizable ribbon interface that extends across all programs to a whole new way to copy-and-paste (preview before…

Microsoft is sponsoring a new Windows Phone contest called “I Need this App!” which lets anyone pitch their Windows Phone 7 app idea for a chance to win $5000 and a free Windows Phone 7. Even better, the winning application will actually be built and then made available as a free download on the…

Bing is going to release a World Cup badge on the location-based mobile “check in” service Foursquare which can only be unlocked by those who follow the Bing account on the service, reports TechCrunch.  To earn the badge, Foursquare users have to check into local hotspots like bars,…

On Bing’s Facebook page, there’s a new application for World Cup fans called “Fan Flair.” With this app, you can decorate one of your own Facebook photos with “flair” that shows your support for your national team. Decorations include a flag, a ball with your flag’s colors and a scarf.   You…