Windows Live

We think it’s critical that our customers can use Hotmail from any device they choose. So, in addition to making Hotmail work great on devices running Windows, we’ll continue to invest in great experiences on other major device platforms. The recent release of iOS5 and our Hotmail application for Android has made it even easier to use Hotmail on those devices, and the result has been over 12 million active Hotmail users on iOS and over 3 million active users of our Android application.

10 years ago this week, Bill Gates sent this Trustworthy Computing (TwC) memo to all employees. The memo called for the company to rethink its approach to products – putting security at the forefront. To capture the journey we’ve made in Trustworthy Computing over the last 10 years – the Trustworthy Computing (or TwC) Team has created this infographic on Microsoft News Center I recommend checking out.

Who’s picking the kids up? When’s that dinner party? When were you planning to tell me that you’re going on a month-long business trip to Asia?

You might have seen my post this morning about setting goals for 2012. If so, you know that I’m all about creating and setting goals for the New Year, but more so, for your lifetime. There are a lot of different ways that your PC can help you to create a new year (not just for today) but for always. So, this tech chat we’re going to talk about revival of your old PC or your old PC skills, about organization and about health and fitness planning. Plus, we’ll be giving away 4 Xbox Live Gold Membership to people who answer Q1 through Q4.

To prepare:

Two handy and much-anticipated new Microsoft apps for Windows Phone were headed to Marketplace this week. Here’s a peek:

SkyDrive

When you think of taking and creating great family photos, you might not immediately think of your Windows 7 PC as the central destination point. But with your Windows 7 PC combined with Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can manage, edit and share all those great holiday portraits. That is one of the reasons why Windows partnered with Southwest airlines to bring you the opportunity to take holiday photos while in malls and airports across America.

Last week I told you how to conjure up a bunch of cool emoticons in Windows Phone 7.5. Here’s a bunch more to start playing with when you’re texting friends. (Miss last week's list?)

The Hotmail team got some great (and humbling) news recently – Hotmail was named best web application of 2011 by PC Magazine.

If you woke up this morning, checked your phone’s Office Hub, and didn’t see some of your OneNote notebooks or Office docs—don’t panic. As the Windows Live team explained on its blog yesterday, a recent SkyDrive upgrade is causing some Windows Phone owners to see a message saying their Office documents were deleted from the SkyDrive servers or can’t be downloaded.

Everyone I know in the United States is already starting to feel maxed out on holiday. There are tons of things to do: buy a turkey, buy presents, plan festive seasonal parties, get a New Year’s Eve plan in place, take family photos and the list goes on. So, we thought maybe there is one thing we can do this year to decrease all the things on your plate – we’ll take your family photos (if you live in the US, Canada or France) and we’ll do it while you are already on the move.