Microsoft Pays $240 Million for 1.6% Stake in Facebook

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will pay $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, which puts a $15 billion valuation on the less than four-year-old online social network.

Microsoft also sells online ads for Facebook.

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Halo 3 Hype Builds for Tuesday Release

According to Microsoft, more than 10,000 stores in the US will open their doors at midnight next Tuesday, the first day 'Halo 3' will be on sale. The midnight mayhem includes four major events in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami.

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Xbox 360 price is down by $50 dollars

Due to slowdown in sales, Microsoft announced a drop in the estimated retail price of their Xbox 360 console, by up to $50 to $349, as of Aug. 8, 2007. Two other configurations of the Xbox 360 will be cut by $20 and $30.

Microsoft to buy Yahoo

The New York Post reports that Microsoft is urgently trying to buy Yahoo in part because it lost the opportunity to buy DoubleClick.

"They're getting tired of being left at the altar," said one banking source who has recently had talks with Microsoft. "They now seem more willing to extend themselves via a transaction to get into the game."

Wall Street sources put a roughly $50 billion price tag on Yahoo!

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Google Buys DoublClick for 3.1 billion

It's not Microsoft it's Google who buys DoubleClick.

Google announced on Friday that it will acquire Internet advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash.

The deal, expected to close by the end of 2007, is the largest acquisition in the company's history, coming six months after Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube.

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Microsoft Adds Instant Messaging To Xbox

Microsoft will be integrating Live Messenger into the Xbox platform on May 7, linking 260 million Live Messenger PC and Smartphone users with 6 million Xbox Live users.

Xbox Live users will be able to chat with up to six contacts simultaneously by plugging a USB keyboard into the Xbox.

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Microsoft announces Xbox 360 Elite

The Xbox 360 Elite, fully updated and revised version of its Xbox 360 console, will go on sale in the US on April 29 for $479.99 with a UK release expected later in the year.

Xbox 360 Elite will include a 120Gb hard drive, Xbox Live Headset, an HDMI port and bundled HDMI cable allowing for 1080p High-Definition visuals to be displayed on an HD-ready television.

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Microsoft to Buy DoubleClick?

Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is in talks to buy DoubleClick. Double Click owners Hellman & Friedman are seeking a $2 billion.

"The purchase would give Microsoft tools to battle Google Inc. for ads that appear on Web sites. DoubleClick works with advertisers to create online campaigns, such as streaming video clips to promote New Line Cinema's movie "The Number 23." The New York-based company's Dart technology monitors the performance of Internet ads for marketing companies."

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Yahoo to Offer Unlimited Storage on Free E-Mail Accounts

Yahoo has announced plans to offer unlimited e-mail storage to its customers starting in May, upping the ante in the free e-mail space where Google offers 2.8GB for free and Microsoft 2GB.

"We are giving them no reason to ever have to delete old e-mails," Yahoo co-founder David Filo told Reuters. "You can keep stuff forever."

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Build your own Games from Microsoft

Microsoft on Monday launched new software and an accompanying service that will let aspiring game developers create games and post them to share with one another. The XNA Game Studio Express software is available to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC. The company's new XNA Creators Club -- available for $49 for a four-month subscription or $99 annually -- provides amateur developers on the Xbox 360 with access to thousands of game assets, white papers, starter kits and technical product support. Microsoft also announced details of its "Dream-Build-Play" contest, which will publish the best amateur-developed game titles on the Xbox Live Arcade service.

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