Microsoft

Microsoft recently filed a formal complaint with the European Union’s competition regulator against Motorola.  Motorola which recently got bought by Google, holds key patents on technologies necessary to stream video content to TV Lift Cabinets and connect wirelessly to the internet.

"We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products," Dave Heiner, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, wrote in a blog post.

"Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the Web, and Google as its new owner doesn't seem to be willing to change course," Heiner added.

However, Motorola is claiming that both Microsoft and Apple Inc. are using their patents for their products without permission.  In fact, Motorola has legal cases against both companies filed in Europe and the United States.

Microsoft filed the complaint this week because they say that Motorola is overcharging them for patent usage.  The

Do you use your TV lift cabinet to Skype with loved ones in Europe?  Many Europeans and U.S. citizens are taking advantage of the free Skype service which allows Skype members to video online chat for free. In the last few months Microsoft acquired Skpe in an $8.5 billion acquisition.

Cisco, another networking technology giant is not happy with the terms of this merger.  In fact, Cisco has filed an appeal with the European Union today.  Cisco is worried about the interoperability of video communication.  As the deal is currently set forth, Microsoft will be able to exclusively integrate its Lync video and voice communication software with Skype video communication.  Cisco and other competing software similar to Microsoft will no not be compatible with Skype communication causing Microsoft to have a monopoly on the EU market.

“Imagine how difficult it would be if you were limited to calling people who only use the same carrier or if your phone could only call certain brands and

As the mega-international-tech conference, CES, draws to a close, many new fascinating products have been announced for 2011. Organized by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the CES trade show, held every January in Las Vegas, Nevada, brings together most of its 2,700+ member companies so developers, corporations and the press can give and get the first glimpse of many new gadgets. While most day-to-day consumers won’t ever attend the CES, there are ways to learn about what went on there and what to watch out for in the coming year.

Topping the list is the ability to watch all the keynote speeches from the show. Speakers included Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, Verizon’s CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, as well as Samsung’s President, Boo-Keun Yoon. Capping the event was the “Last Gadget Standing” contest, where product demos were reeled off live and at a fast pace to see whose product would reign supreme as “most likely to change the face of technology.” The contest can be viewed on the

Very likely, Microsoft beat its own quota for selling the Kinect this Christmas shopping season. Planning to sell five million units before December 25^th, it is estimated that sales actually topped six million units. Many customers even found the Kinect a hard item to locate in stores, but those who opened them on Christmas morning were likely spending the rest of the day moving and grooving to games like Dance Central or playing with their new pets on Kinectimals.

But now that the holidays are gone, and visiting families have traveled back to their homes (and work), the Kinect is giving people the opportunity to reconnect via video chat from the comfort of their own couch. Utilizing Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger and an active Xbox LIVE Gold membership, users can initiate a video chat with any one or more than 300 million Messenger users worldwide, which means the other party does not have to have a Kinect too, as long as they have a webcam and a computer with Internet access.

Now,

Microsoft’s Kinect, an extension for Xbox 360 gaming consoles that brings games to life by body movement, needing no controllers, wires or gadgets, just announced that it has sold more than one million units during the first 10 days of its release. This absolutely blows away its competition, the Sony Move for PlayStation3, which hasn’t sold a million units yet, and it has been on the market since September.

So what makes the Kinect such a hot commodity? It may have something to its futuristic capabilities to translate one’s body movements, even the sound of your voice, into digital movements. Want to drive a race car? Just grab an imaginary steering wheel and go for it. It’s the new wave of full body gaming, and it may charge in a new era of integrating gaming consoles into a majority of people’s households.

Of course, some of the Kinect’s fandom may be due to Oprah publicly embracing it on her show in October. Oprah, along with a few of her audience members, danced away to the Dance Central