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Microsoft announces plans for 32 holiday pop-up stores

Microsoft officials have gone public with the full list of its planned 32 holiday pop-up brick-and-mortar stores.

We knew about a dozen or so of these from earlier leaks. But there are going to be more pop-ups than we expected in both the U.S. and Canada.

Other than saying these stores will open "this fall," Microsoft isn't providing exact dates as to when they will go live. I asked if any of them would be open by October 26, as this is the launch date for Windows 8 and Microsoft's ARM-based Surface RT tablets, but … Read more

Microsoft pop-up stores coming this holiday season

Microsoft officials said earlier this summer that they planned to open a number of temporary "pop-up" holiday stores this year. At the time, they didn't specify where these stores would be.

Braintree, Mass. Chicago (downtown) Cleveland, Ohio Manhattan, N.Y. Miami, Fla. Natick, Mass. Portland, Ore. San Antonio, Texas San Francisco St. Louis, Mo. Vancouver, B.C.

Microsoft Stores sell Windows PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft and third-party software, games, peripherals and more. Microsoft also is going to sell its recently announced Surface PC/tablets through its Microsoft Stores in the U.S. and through select online Microsoft … Read more

Keep track of important events with Multi Reminders

Gone are the days of keeping track of bills, birthdays, and appointments with pencil and a datebook -- or at least, gone are the days when that was your only option. Multi Reminders is one of many options for maintaining your schedule on your computer. It's not the most sophisticated program we've ever seen, but it does have some interesting features that make it appealing.

Multi Reminders has a straightforward interface for creating new events. You enter the event's name, date, frequency, and number of days in advance they want to be reminded of it. We liked … Read more

Five great Mother's Day tech gifts under $100

Flowers are all well and good this Mother's Day, but let's face it: they're ephemeral. And cliche. And not terribly practical. That's probably why a recent survey showed that moms covet tech gear nearly as much as they do spa trips and jewelry.

If you want to get Mom something that's useful, entertaining, and long-lasting, look no further than the tech department. I've rounded up five gadgets, all priced below $100, that should make Mom a happy camper this year -- and on into next.

ChicBuds Most earbuds are basic black or Apple white … Read more

More than half of Verizon smartphone sales in Q4 were iPhones

Holiday earnings reports are being posted, and Verizon's indicates that more than half of its smartphone sales were iPhones.

This resulted in a revenue surge for its wireless division, but because of heavy subsidies, an overall decline in profits.

Verizon's Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said in a report by CNNMoney the loss is OK in Verizon's eyes, noting that Verizon's business deal with Apple to get the iPhone will likely be a losing effort until 2015.

Shammo otherwise assured investors that profit margins are on the rise and should continue to grow as current customers … Read more

eBay earnings soar after strong holiday quarter

Following strong results this past holiday season from online (and offline) retailers, eBay was expected to deliver strong earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011--and it did.

eBay reported a fourth quarter net income of $2.0 billion, or $1.51 a share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 60 cents a share on a revenue of $3.38 billion and a non-GAAP net income of $788.6 million.

Wall Street was expecting eBay to report fourth quarter earnings of 54 cents a share on revenue of $3.32 billion.

For 2011 overall, eBay produced $11.7 billion in revenue--a 27 percent … Read more

Kindle Fire burned up some holiday iPad sales

Amazon.com's Kindle Fire took a bite out of iPad sales over the holiday season, according to a research note today from investment bank Morgan Keegan.

The bank reduced its iPad shipment estimates on Tuesday. "We are lowering our unit shipment estimates for iPad in the [December] quarter from 16 million to 13 million. Based on data from Amazon, we believe the Amazon Fire likely sold 4 [million to] 5 million units this holiday season," wrote Tavis McCourt, a Morgan Keegan analyst.

As a result, the Kindle Fire took away "maybe 1 [million to] 2 million&… Read more

U.S. online holiday spending hits $35.3 billion

U.S. consumers spent a total of $35.3 billion online this holiday season, hitting a record for holiday sales, ComScore said today.

The 56-day holiday shopping period from November 1 to December 26 marked a 15 percent jump in spending over last year's season. The week ending December 25 alone saw $2.8 billion in online sales, a rise of 16 percent compared with the same week last year.

And the spending spree continued on into Christmas Day.

On December 25 there was a surge in sales of digital content and subscriptions, an area that includes downloads of … Read more

Google's holiday doodle serenades with 'Jingle Bells'

As it's done in years past, Google's put a bit of holiday cheer on its usually stark white search page.

The new design went live today ahead of Christmas. The doodle changes colors and plays "Jingle Bells" after users light up each note with their mouse. Clicking on the page itself does a search for "happy holidays."

The design itself is strongly reminiscent of the glowing Lite-Brite toys, which light up in various colors after being poked through thick, black construction paper. Once animated it looks like plain old holiday lights.

Last year's doodle … Read more