By Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications
Every year at this time there’s a glut of “year in review” and “best of” lists that come out. Last night I was reading the Rolling Stone “best songs/albums/movies” issue, and was gratified to note that some albums/artists/movies I saw and liked made the list. I feel relevant. 
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*Windows and Southwest Airlines team up to offer free holiday photos at select airports and shopping malls across the country.*
REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 12, 2011 — The holiday rush can be overwhelming. With shopping, traveling and holiday parties galore, people run around like crazy and still don’t have enough time to do everything they’d like with friends and family.
But with a little help from Santa, Windows and Southwest Airlines are hoping to relieve that stress and bring families some holiday cheer this season. With A Picture Perfect Holiday, Microsoft and Southwest Airlines are partnering to offer free holiday photos in convenient locations for the second year in a row. (more…)
*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for October 2011*
LONDON, UK, 9 December 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet 
usage in Europe, showing 376.6 million unique visitors went online in October 2011 for an average of 27.8 hours per person. This study highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. The study also analysed the online behaviour of mothers, defined as females age 25 and older with children in the household, showing their heavy propensity to visit retail sites. (more…)
A new software tool developed by the HiRISE team in the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Lab allows members of the public to download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously and explore the surface of the Red Planet from their own desktops.
Imagine zooming in over the surface of Mars, sweeping over sand dunes and circling around the rims of craters – all from your home desktop.
With HiView, the image-viewing tool recently released by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, team at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab, you can do just that. (more…)
*iPhone takes the top spot in 2011; Casey Anthony pled her way onto the list; Kim Kardashian joins the list again; and Osama bin Laden’s death captivated the world*
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)— Today Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, announced the 10th anniversary edition of its Year in Review (yearinreview.yahoo.com), the highly-anticipated annual look-back that identifies the top stories and trends of the year based on nearly 700 million monthly unique visitorsi activity on the network and billions of consumer searches. The annual look-back of aggregated visitor activity is a gauge for worldwide interests. The 2011 Year in Review is available in 17 versions including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United Statesii.
The top search term of 2011 didn’t go to a person or a news event, but to a technological marvel. The iPhone led the 2011 search queries, bypassing a reality TV star’s marriage and pending divorce, a notorious criminal defendant, and America’s most wanted terrorist. (more…)
RIM Continues to Lead Smartphone Market, with Apple a Close Second
Google Android Doubles its Smartphone Market Share in Past Six Months to 25 Percent
TORONTO, CA, November 30, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the 
comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the Canada mobile phone industry for September 2011. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in Canada according to their share of current mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber’s primary mobile phone. The September report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.2 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 35.8 percent share of that market segment. (more…)
*From royal weddings and rising pop superstars to concerns for human tragedy and the global economy, Bing’s most-searched terms of the year capture America’s mood in 2011.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Nov. 28, 2011 – What do pop superstar Justin Bieber, new duchess Kate Middleton, and consumer electronics king Xbox have in common? No, they’re not all part of a wildly anticipated Hollywood sci-fi flick (at least not yet); they were some of the most popular search terms typed this past year on Bing. (more…)
REDMOND, Wash., and SAN MATEO, Calif. — Nov. 22, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. has announced the acquisition of California-based video discovery technology company VideoSurf Inc.
Founded in 2006, VideoSurf offers a back-end computer vision technology that “sees” frames inside videos to make discovering content fast, easy and accurate. Over time, Microsoft will integrate this technology across its entertainment platform to augment the Xbox 360 ecosystem and evolve search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox LIVE. (more…)
