Microsoft, at the proverbial eleventh hour, hasreleased a workaroundthat allows users of the ‘Vail’ Home Server beta to continue using the product. Vail is the next version of Windows Home Server and is expected to go on sale in the first half of 2011. The latest edition of the beta had been scheduled to expire for several weeks in between versions starting on January 10th, but can now be extended until the middle of March....

Microsoft has made available a new toolkit for the use of its Azure cloud offerings inside of and in conjunction with mobile applications that are built for the Windows Phone 7 platform. The move is hardly surprising, after all, the more that Microsoft ties together its products, the more they can cross-pollinate. That fact is especially true with Azure and WP7, two projects that Microsoft is determined to build developer momentum behind....

Today Microsoft made plain its intention to release an early edition of Windows 8 in the near future:“We’ve been hard at work designing and building Windows 8, and today we want to begin an open dialog with those of you whowill be trying out the pre-release version over the coming months.” [Emphasis TNW] It is now all but certain that the public testing cycle of Windows 8 will commence in 2011....

The Kinect has been a screaming hit for Microsoft, shifting more than10 million unitsthus far, and in the process becoming thefastest selling consumer gadget of all time. All eyes of the console world are fixed on the motion sensing controller, trying to glean its reasons for success, and perhaps even its secrets, hoping to replicate its massive launch and popularity. Microsoft, however, already appears to be working on its successor. Yes, the Kinect 2 seems to be already underway....

Microsoft is working hard to ensure that Internet Explorer 9 can handle HTML5better than any other browser, but that is not enough for Redmond: the company is now giving away tens of thousands of dollars in a contest to promote HTML5 development. Called ‘Dev Unplugged,’ the Microsoft hosted challenge is for “web developers to push the limits of a modern browser without the use of plug-ins.” Top prize is $9,000, and includes exposure of the winning entry on the popular Microsoft propertiestheFWA....