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Here’s a fun tidbit we just learned from Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore: in order to focus Windows Phone 7 Series on the idea of best serving end users, the team actually created two fictional targets consumers named “Miles” and “Anna,” a pair of married 38-year old “life maximizers” who demand the most from their devices. Yes, it’s a little strange and hilariously specific on the surface — Anna just scaled back her PR job to part-time so she can take care of the kids! Miles like to take pictures and use Facebook to share them with his parents in Europe! — but it makes a certain …

Bad news, HTC HD2 owners: Microsoft has finally come right out and confirmed our suspicions that the mighty HTC HD2 won’t be upgraded to Windows Phone 7 Series. Joe Belfiore just told us that the HD2 is “not compliant with the Windows Phone 7 Series hardware specifications ,” which should end any of the lingering doubt that’s clouded this issue since MWC. That certainly puts a damper on the HD2’s upcoming launch on T-Mobile , but hey — every Microsoft employee here at MIX is carrying one, so it’s clearly the WinMo handset to get until it’s eclipsed by 7 late in the year. Pour one out for the king, friends. Confirmed: HTC HD2 will not be upgraded to…

On November 19th, 2006, Nintendo launched its fifth home console to the world. The Nintendo Wii was both ridiculed and praised for its unique controller system — the Wiimote — which detects movements in three dimensions. Three and a half years later, the Wii has dominated the market, shattered sales records, and put its two main rivals, Microsoft and Sony, on the defensive. Both companies are responding with motion-based controllers of their own though. Microsoft has generated some big buzz with the revelation of Project Natal , a new camera-based system that requires no controller, just the movement of your body to function. And yesterday, Sony officially announced PlayStation Move , a controller setup that utilizes a camera and a remote…

Topics: Apple Corporate , Rumors The Seattle Times is reporting that Steve Ballmer, who notoriously laughed at the iPhone, had some good things to say about it last week in a speech he gave at the computer-science building at the University of Washington. “Apple’s done a very nice job that allows people to monetize and commercialize their intellectual property,” he said. Ordinarily, a comment like this might not be significant, but in this case it adds fuel to the fire that Apple will replace Google with Bing as the default search engine in the next iPhone OS. Google and Apple are increasingly at odds and it’s possible that Apple may see an alliance with Microsoft …

Turns out Steve Ballmer’s talk up at the University of Washington delivered even more saucy info than we were initially led to believe. In a transcript of the subsequent Q&A session, Steve is shown to have delivered the following statement on the topic of large-screen televisions and Microsoft’s related hardware strategy: For that big screen device … there’s no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it’s going to [be] important. It’s safe to assume new form factors point to a smaller rather than …

So Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel posted up a long blog post about Windows Phone 7 Series and app development just now, and we couldn’t help but notice the WP7S device mockup he used is noticeably different from the stock press shots we’ve been seeing and the actual devices we’ve gotten to play with . That’s a totally different hardware trim, for starters, and there’s a Zune-like menu on the right– on the builds we’ve seen scrolling to the right reveals the app list. And that map on the bottom has been moved up a couple rows from where we’ve seen it on demo builds — which is unfortunate because it’s so wildly ugly in comparison to the rest of the 7 Series interface. Now, …

Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman just pulled off a little surprise here at The Engadget Show: he brought out LG’s Windows Phone 7 Series pre-production prototype! The QWERTY slider is the first branded Windows Phone 7 Series device the world’s ever seen, and while the hardware and software are both obviously early, we can tell you a few things about it: it’s just a hair thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, there are dedicated hardware camera, volume, and power buttons in addition to the back, home, and search buttons dictated by Windows Phone 7 Series, and we noticed a five megapixel camera with a flash on the back, along with a headphone jack. Can’t say much apart from that right now, since things are so early and everything is …

Microsoft’s anti-ghosting claims were recently put to the test by the good folks over at Tom’s Guide , and if you’ve been holding off on pulling the trigger to make sure it really lives up to the hype, you can finally cut loose and part ways with your hard-earned Greenbacks — maybe, anyway. For those unaware, Microsoft designed the SideWinder X4 to handle up to 26 key presses at once (it’s a “pro gamer” thing, we’re told), but it also allows for macro recording and profile / mode switching. According to the critics, the X4 is a step backwards in terms of design, particularly when compared to the flagship SideWinder X6 (which can be had for around …

Windows Mobile 7 err Windows Phone 7 Series is just over the horizon which means talks over what the first devices to have the phone will be. Well, if rumors are to be believed Microsoft will be doing what other handset manufacturers are doing (read: Apple ) and limiting the operating system to just one device at launch. There’s pretty much no official word on this device but it’s codenamed Chassis 1 and supposedly features a touchscreen, 1GHz processor and a dedicated graphics chip. This leads us to believe that Microsoft would then go on to release the Chassis 2, 3, 4 etc. after the first device hit. If this rumor pans out, it would …

Now that Microsoft’s browser selection story story is all but settled, it looks like the European Union is gearing up for a new antitrust probe, with its crosshairs aimed generally in Google’s direction. According to the search giant’s Senior Competition Counsel Julia Holtz (via its European Public Policy Blog), complaints from three European internet companies — legal search group EJustice.fr , price comparison site Foundem.co.uk , and German-based Microsoft subsidiary Ciao.de — have prompted the European Commission to launch a preliminary, fact-finding probe. The charges? Anticompetitive practices stemming from unfair downranking of its competitors in search results. Google denies any wrongdoing, while adding ,”we are also the first to admit that our search is not…