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Last month, we talked about how IE9 had surpassed IE8 as the number one browser on Windows 7 worldwide.  This month that trend continues with IE9 growing worldwide on Windows 7.  New HTML5 experiences like Cut the Rope continue to show consumers what they can expect from a modern browser like IE9 - while developers have an HTML5 platform with IE9 that supports these rich, fluid experiences.

Many of you know I’m a big music fan, so I got pumped when I heard about a new offer from Windows Phone for some free music. The new Gentleman Hall album has been free the last few weeks, but tomorrow is the last day to download! Head over to the Zune Marketplace on your PC, or just login at Zune.net to stream or download.

Some people write apps for fun. Others for cash.

Here’s an early Valentine for game lovers. Today we’re unveiling the release schedule and pricing for the latest Must Have Games lineup, which we originally announced a few weeks ago at CES in Las Vegas.

There will be a new game to grab each week starting with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ($4.99) on February 1. Here’s the rest of the lineup:

BulletAsylum: February 8 ($2.99)

Today Microsoft and IDG hosted a webcast discussion where participants touched on a range of topics: from the flexible workstyles of today’s workforce to useful information on Windows 7 deployment. I found the conversation insightful so wanted to share a few key takeaways.

Yesterday at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference in New York – Samsung announced that the SUR40 for Microsoft Surface is now available and shipping to customers! At CES 2011, we first unveiled Microsoft Surface 2.0 in partnership with Samsung with the SUR40.

CES 2012 is taking place right now in Las Vegas and many of our OEMs are showing off really awesome PCs – some available right now and others that will hit the market soon. In a 2-part video series, we stopped by and visited some of our OEMs on the showroom floor at CES to get a peek at their PCs! Check out video #1 below!

The following PCs were highlighted in the video:

The sales for Kinect for the Xbox 360 have been amazing with 18 million sold this last year. The end result has been countless hours of incredible fun with family and friends dancing and playing sports in the confines of their living rooms. Kinect has also opened the door for developers and businesses to create new and innovative experiences through natural user interface (NUI) on the PC. The explosion of imaginative ideas that can be done with Kinect is something we call the Kinect Effect.

It’s big. It’s fast. It’s got a killer camera. The first major Windows Phone announcement to emerge from the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today was positively drool-worthy: The HTC Titan II, a new 4G LTE-equipped phone, is coming to AT&T.

Lenovo has made some announcements this week which include new thin and light PCs. First up is the 14-inch ThinkPad T430u. The ThinkPad T430u is Lenovo’s first business ultrabook.