After last week's uproar over Microsoft's 2012 snooping in a blogger's Hotmail account, the company says it will no longer perform its own email snooping in criminal cases. In an official blog post today, Microsoft Executive Vice President Brad Smith said that, effective immediately, when investigations occur, "we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves. Instead, we will refer the matter to law enforcement if further action is required." Which sounds like what should've been protocol in the first place. Read More >>

Developers looking to free the second-gen Kinect sensor from its Xbox One shackles won't have long to wait. Microsoft has just revealed the final hardware look for Kinect for Windows v2, and it'll be very familiar to next-gen gaming fans. Read More >>

After Office for iOS proved itself a pretty big disappointment to anyone who was hoping to actually do things with the app, the long-anticipated Office for iPad has finally hit the App Store. It's ok; you can let out a sigh of relief. This time, Microsoft got it right. Read More >>

It's coming up on a year(ish) since the original release of Microsoft Office for iOS, but in all that time there's been no iPad-specific version to be found. And now it's here as of noon today (PST), as a gift from Microsoft's new cloud-guru CEO Satya Nadella. Read More >>

Xbox Live is one of the biggest draws to Microsoft's Xbox One console -- even with the advancements in Sony's PlayStation Network, Microsoft still retains the most loyal and competitive multiplayer community. The next step for the new console will be an updated reputation system, rolling out this month. And bad behaviour could be harshly penalised. Read More >>

Microsoft has identified a very silly bug inside Windows 8.1, one that means you "...cannot update drivers and firmware" after performing a system restore. There's an update out there to fix it, should you be in the habit of breaking your PC so badly it needs regular system restores via Windows 8's push-button reset tool. [Microsoft via The Register] Read More >>

An indictment filed in federal court a today reveals that Microsoft snooped through a blogger's Hotmail account trying to plug an internal leak of pre-release Windows 8 software. That sounds like an outrageous violation of privacy. Microsoft claims they had the legal right under its terms of service. Read More >>

The White House has announced that it's teaming up with Google and Microsoft to centralise its climate change data—and make it more accessible for public and researchers alike. Read More >>

Having pushed out the March update in time for the Titanfall carnage, Microsoft's next step in its quest for gaming domination will be to make the Xbox One a friendlier place. The forthcoming April update will focus on improving the console's notifications system to make it clearer when your pals are on and ready to game. Read More >>

Facebook's astonishing big-money buy of WhatsApp seems to have won the admiration of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who admitted he sees the deal as being a solid one for Facebook, also suggesting that: "Microsoft would have been willing to buy it, too." Read More >>

A report by the Wall Street Journal claims that Intel's grand plans to stuff Android and Windows into the same tablet have hit a brick wall: neither Google nor Microsoft want hardware to sport the competitor's OS alongside their own. Read More >>

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have agreed to scale back their digital-reading partnership, which means that the bookseller will no longer develop its Nook e-reading app for Microsoft software. Read More >>

Dual booting is the latest mobile fad, and by all accounts it won't be long before it arrives: according to Huawei, the first examples will be available in the US as early as this spring. Read More >>

Desperate times, desperate measures: the Times of India is reporting that Microsoft is starting to give its Windows Phone OS away to phone manufacturers for free. Read More >>

At this year's Build conference in April, Microsoft is expected to reveal Windows 9. After dividing its audience with Windows 8, I have one suggestion for the new OS: bring back the Windows 98 desktop themes. Seriously. Just look how amazing they were... Read More >>

Tech companies don't exactly have have the best track record when it comes to marketing to womenfolk—obviously. But after running damage control on horrible campaign after horrible campaign, you'd think they'd try to avoid making the same mistakes again—and you'd be wrong. Enter Microsoft's new all-in-one lady commercial. Read More >>