Microsoft Corporation

Patent Trolls and the War on Innovation

On the front line of the costliest battle in the high-tech world.

The 10 Most Corrupt Tax Loopholes

If Mitt Romney won't tell you which need to be closed, we will

Five Ways We Might Be Listening To Music In the Future

The human race will remember 2012 as the year that birthed a new kind of hologram, but that technology is just the jumping-off point in this exciting era of interactive music experience. New research allows us to look into technology that might shape the way we listen to music in the next few decade ... More >>

The Problem With... Katy Perry's "Firework"

It seems, much as we try, no one can avoid Katy Perry. Hell, she's pretty much everywhere these days, between awards shows, popping up (or not at all, turn out) on Sesame Street. She even lashed out at Microsoft over their closed-source softw... no, actually, her fans just wanted free booze in tha ... More >>

Bonfire Goes Zynga, or: You Can't Keep a Local Gaming Company Down on the Farmville

​Hard to believe it's been almost two years since we posted that item about the two local companies to rise from the ashes of Ensemble Studios -- Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios, each consisting of ex-Microsofties scattered to the virtual winds after Ensemble's September '08 demise. Robot' ... More >>

With NASA's Future Uncertain, Dallas Rocketeers at Armadillo Aerospace Compete In The Race To Privatize The Final Frontier

Halo Wars: A Top Video Game Designer Moves From One Local Company to Another

Dave Pottinger, back when he was still at Robot earlier this year​It's been more than a year since Microsoft shuttered Dallas-based Ensemble Studios, which was responsible for, among others, such top-selling titles as Age of Empires, Age of Mythology and Halo Wars for Xbox 360. From that wreckage ... More >>

The Gourds Keep On Keeping On

Rocket Men From Mesquite's Armadillo Aerospace Are in Line For $1 Million X Prize

Photos by Patrick MichelsArmadillo Aerospace's Neil Milburn guides Scorpius off a trailer bed after its successful launches Saturday afternoon.​ Check out more photos from the launch day in our slide show.He'd just guided his 1,900-pound rocket to a successful simulated moon landing, but while his ... More >>

Today In Music News: The Zune Lives, Jay-Z Gets Closer To Sony, and Chris Brown Wants Us To Know...

Your daily dose of national music news for Wednesday, April 29, 2009... What do you do when your competition has about 90 percent of the market? You make your product link to the Xbox. Yep, Microsoft isn't ready to give up on the ol' Zune yet; it will launch the Zune HD in the fall. Looks like ... More >>

Stephen Rippy Sets Halo Wars High Score

From Ensemble's Ashes, a New Bonfire

Aw, dang. Had hoped to break this in the paper version of Unfair Park next week, where we profile former Ensemble Studios music-maker Stephen Rippy; but, oh, well, no such luck. Regardless, the September shuttering of Ensemble Studios -- the former Dallas-based indie-studio-turned-Microsoft property ... More >>

Amid More Oops, Lucille Hester's Story is On the Ropes

DNA test? Maybe. Smell test? No way.Look, I love Lucille Hester "as my big sister", but this thing's gone too far for too long. With new discrepancies in her story cropping up on the hour every hour, if I'm in her corner I throw in the white towel. Watching a sweet, old forgetful/ma ... More >>

As You Lock and Load Your Halo Wars Demo, Keep An Ear Out For Plano's Stephen Rippy

Xbox-ers are no doubt anxiously awaiting tomorrow, when Microsoft finally unleashes its Halo Wars demo in advance of the game's March 3 release date. (Am I the only person who misses Tempest? Ooooh -- thanks, Atari!) I digress. So happens there's an extremely local connection to the Halo spin-off: T ... More >>

Could Cell Phones Topple iPods?

Could your cellphone's ability to stream music render the iPod obsolete? Quite possibly.

Ring In The Laughs

Spend New Year's Eve with some local comedians

From Dallas, a Potentially Killer App For the iPhone -- If You Play Chess

Wired brings what could be big news out of a small start-up in Dallas that has the potential to become a strong player amongst those creating applications for iPhones. Newtoy mays be a new company, but its founders are familiar faces in the gaming industry: As Paul and David Bettner write on the ... More >>

Study Figures Dallas-Fort Worth Has Fifth-Worst Traffic in U.S.

Dallas, Now Virtually Improved

Guitar Hero Will Save the Economy

Text Adventure

Words get in the way of an otherwise stellar Lost Odyssey

Kelly Law-Yone is Queen of Fake Rock

Ask a Mexican

Welcome to the United States, Mexicans. Now, how'd you like some new underwear?

French Lessons (From Mrs. Bill Gates)

Future Shock

Mass Effect is riveting — and a bit aggravating too.

Hype Machine

Does Halo 3 live up to its billing?

Halo 3: Dallas Finishes the Fight

Land of Opportunity...

...For many skilled immigrants, it's not here, it's home

Geekology 101

Judd Apatow explains himself

Three's a Charm

A promising glimpse of the next Halo

Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath), Megadeth, Machine Head

Thursday, May 3, at Nokia Theatre

Next Big Things

The five biggest attention-getters at E3.

Back to the Future

The Xbox Live Arcade is a high-tech twist on the old-fashioned coin-op.

Ryan Adams

29 (Lost Highway)

Keeps Going

Familiar, comfortable food soldiers on at The Bronx

Near Perfect

Perfect Dark Zero isn't a bull's-eye, but it hits the target.

Lemonade

Mark Cuban, you so smart!

Out of Africa

Kwanzaa is community, not characters and catchphrases

House of Pain

It's Kingsley vs. Connelly in a heart-wrenching real estate battle

Barrel of Style

Hope springs for Mercy

Do the Math

The music industry says online piracy's killing the biz. A UTD prof says it ain't.

Flaming Wreck

Owen Wilson goes down Behind Enemy Lines and lands in familiar terrain

E-publish or perish

Move over Mr. Gutenberg -- Dallas Internet entrepeneur Patrick Seaman is hunting for the "killer app" to create the next revolution in publishing

Invasion of the bodyshoppers

A shortage of American engineers and programmers spells boom times for brokers who peddle skilled foreign workers at bargain prices. Is it exploitation, or just good business?

Life in the slow lane

The Information Age meets the technological Stone Age at Dallas schools

GROUND ZERO

Atomic Cafe filmmaker Jayne Loader has won raves for her CD-ROM Public Shelter, but calls the 'new medium' a dud

Buzz

Wish Woman

She hasn't got money or connections. But straight-shooting Linda Terrell is helping dying grownups live their dreams.

The unusual suspects

At South by Southwest, the magic moments count the most

Gold diggers

The telecommunications bill brings out the greed in all of us