TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

In the battle for television platforms, Microsoft Corp. is leading competitors with its Xbox.

According to the New York Times, a report by Forrester Research indicates Microsoft currently leads with Xbox users watching online video through their television sets and holding that audience’s attention for the longest amount of time, with half of all Xbox users connected to the internet.

Want a computer that runs Windows 7 without all the desktop clutter that usually comes with a PC? Microsoft will be happy to get rid of all that clutter, for $99.

Yahoo Inc. photo

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson

Yahoo Inc. CEO Scott Thompson agreed to resign over the weekend, and the company compromised with the activist shareholder who uncovered false academic claims Thompson had made.

The Sunnyvale-based Internet hub and hedge fund Third Point LLC announced the news on Sunday afternoon, 11 days after the discrepancies in Thompson's biography were made known. A report on Monday said another factor in the resignation was a recent cancer diagnosis that Thompson told the board about last week.

Media Chief Ross Levinsohn will be the interim CEO, the company said.

In a memo to Yahoo employees on Sunday, Levinsohn said, "Importantly, today's announcements lay to rest the unfortunate and serious distractions surrounding our senior leadership and the composition of our board going forward."

Microsoft Corp. saw its Bing search engine capture 15.4 percent of the market last month, but search giant Google Inc. leads the market by far with a 66.5 percent share in April.

Investor's Business Daily reports that in the past year, Microsoft has passed Yahoo Inc. in the search engine market race, and improved from last April's 14.1 percent share.

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates saw his wealth rise $35.5 million to $61.8 billion last week on Bloomberg's "Billionaire Index" while Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos saw his wealth fall $87.1 million to $21.3 billion.

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer is the "worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today," according to Forbes.

Ballmer, according to Forbes, has destroyed shareholder value and jobs at Microsoft and "singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets." He's also seen the company's share price drop from $60 when he took over more than 10 years ago to its current price in the low $30s.

This story was updated Friday afternoon to clarify details of the multiple Motorola-Microsoft lawsuits underway.

For the time being, Microsoft will not have to change or update its products before selling them to German consumers.

A German court has decided to hold off on allowing Motorola Mobility to enforce patents it owns that would affect a variety of Microsoft products distributed there.

The decision comes after the court ruled in Motorola’s favor on a different set of Motorola patents, agreeing that Microsoft’s products infringe on Motorola’s patents.

Now, the court is spending more time evaluating both companies' arguments in this case to determine whether to stop Microsoft from distributing products that use the patented technology until the company can reach a licensing deal with Motorola or change its products so it no longer needs the patented technology, something the company could do relatively easily.

Microsoft Corp. is upgrading its Bing search engine, which will incorporate closer ties to Facebook.

The New York Times reports Microsoft's Bing now will add the experiences of a user's Facebook friends to Bing searches, as the computer giant tries to make a dent in search engine king Google Inc.'s dominance.

Mozilla, the nonprofit organization that created the Firefox browser, is upset with Microsoft Corp. because the upcoming Windows 8 system designed for tablets will work only with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.

The Financial Times reports Microsoft is trying to compete with Apple Inc. in the tablet market, and one of its new Windows 8 systems, designed to work with ARM processors instead of Intel-based processors in the past, will exclude independent browsers such as Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Google Inc.'s Chrome. Microsoft's other new Windows 8 systems, designed for computers with Intel processors, will be compatible with all browsers.

Mozilla has yet to file a formal complaint with regulators.

Is Microsoft pitching Windows Phone to Facebook?

As Facebook prepares to make its initial public offering of stock, and Microsoft prepares to make more than $1 billion from an investment it made in the social network six years ago, there are rumors the two companies are working together on a smartphone.

The Puget Sound Business Journal explored the relationship between the two companies last week (subscription required), including Microsoft’s 1.6 percent share in Facebook and Microsoft’s recent sale of $550 million worth of patents and licenses to Facebook. Neither company was willing to comment on the relationship for the story.

But this week, rumors are flying that Microsoft is pitching its Windows Phone as the platform for Facebook to launch a smartphone of its own.

Students gather at the UW's Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, to hear Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates speak last fall.

You'd think the Seattle area would rank higher than No. 16 nationally for the percentage of young adults with college degrees, but you'd be wrong.

The percentage of college-educated young adults is larger in the Boston area than anywhere else in America.

Microsoft Corp. is expected to announce Tuesday a new program that will aim to lower the software giant's software emissions.

The Financial Times reports Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will use a unique "carbon fee chargeback" program that will charge company units a fee based on their emission levels. These fees will then be used to invest in renewable energy and other carbon reduction projects.

The judge hearing the Seattle court case between Microsoft Corp. and Motorola Mobility said the two companies are using the court as a "pawn" in their business negotiations.

The Seattle Times reports U.S. District Judge James Robart, who is hearing the case where Microsoft alleges that Motorola Mobility is demanding too much money — $4 billion — in patent royalties, said the conduct of the two companies "has been based on hubris" and the legal fees in the fight "could finance a small country." Robart is expected to issue a written ruling at a later date.

Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates

Ecolab Inc. moved on Monday to allow Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates to increase his ownership stake in the St. Paul company to as much as 25 percent.

Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) said in a news release that it has entered into an agreement with Cascade Investment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to allow the Gates investment vehicles to acquire up to 25 percent of the maker of hospital and restaurant cleaning products.

Gates, co-founder and chairman of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), currently owns nearly 11 percent of Ecolab. Cascade owns 9.3 percent of the company and the foundation owns 1.5 percent, Ecolab said.

Microsoft Corp. is reportedly already building the successor to the Xbox 360 gaming console, in Austin, Texas, according to an online report.

IGN reports that the company, Flextronics, is building Xbox development kits so game companies can develop new games for the console.