Microsoft Garage is an initiative at Microsoft that works like an internal accelerator, taking ideas that employees have outside of their ordinary day jobs and turning them into real apps. The first batch broke cover last October, and now there are nine new projects making their official debut today.

These include a mobile app that lets software engineers check in on Visual Studio Online projects in a secure manner without having to be on the company intranet on their notebook; a weather app designed for use in China that offers air quality reports customized for each user; and a conference call management app that can pull meeting ID and pins from invites and automatically enter the details to connect you to your call with a simple tap or voice command.

Microsoft has made a quiet change to the way it serves Windows 7 ISOs to users who want to perform a clean install or to IT admins who need to work with computers without an Internet connection, as the files are no longer available via Digital River.

Instead, the company has launched what is being called the Microsoft Software Recovery center that provides you with information about your download but also allows you to get the necessary files just like before, but with one additional step: you now have to provide your product key before actually downloading the ISOs, so Microsoft can verify if the license is valid or not.

China isn't really the friendliest business climate for Microsoft, but the tech giant isn't yet ready to abandon this market and is still looking for ways to benefit from the growing appetite for technology in the country. This time, a new report claims that Microsoft is planning to place more orders for phone parts in China, as it's looking into ways to cut costs and thus bring more affordable devices to the market.

Ramnit, a botnet that infected millions of computers around the world, has been tamed, thanks in part to Microsoft Malware Protection Center. The takedown operation was a collaboration between Microsoft, Europol, Symantec and others, and it successfully stopped the malware which worked by disabling virus protection before stealing banking details and personal information from infected machines.

With an estimated 3.2 million computers infected globally, Ramnit has been used by cybercriminals the world over, but the majority of infections were found in Britain. The botnet was brought under control by shutting down several servers used by the group responsible for Ramnit.

Microsoft today announced the release of the new OneDrive API, which allows developers to integrate OneDrive into their apps to store and manage user data across all major platforms, including Windows, the web, iOS, and Android. Microsoft is already using this new APIs in all their internal apps. Whenever, they develop a new API for using it internally, it will be made available to other developers too.

Deals with Gold lets fans save up to 75% on games in the Xbox Store each week, with six titles currently being offered on the Xbox 360 at lower prices. Some gamers are currently receiving a free one-month extension to their Xbox Live Gold Membership, following the troubles encountered with the release of last year's Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Fans who bought the exclusive bundle have been given the bonus after facing months of online matchmaking issues and stability problems.

Microsoft rolled out its first major update to the Microsoft Band on Monday, a sign that the company is serious about its foray into wearable computers. It's a technology most seem to agree is about to take off, as Apple prepares to release its much-anticipated Apple Watch in April. Other industry giants like Samsung, whose U.S. telecom headquarters is in Richardson, and Sony have already released smart watches of their own.

Microsoft Corp. could locate a large new data center in Phoenix. A commercial real estate official said the Microsoft data center could be landing at Union Hills Drive near Interstate 17 in Phoenix. The project could total as much as 575,000 square feet and the transaction may be completed via private equity firms and other data center entities even though it will be Microsoft operations, according to the industry executive who asked not to be named.

In an interview to Business Insider, Microsoft Chairman John Thompson discussed about his work relationship with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. He said that his job is to manage the relationship between the board and the management team, the board and some of investors. He revealed that he spends time with him on mentoring-like things as opposed to board-like things. He thinkg that’s helpful for Satya and also helpful to him because some of the things Satya’s doing are issues that he have to deal with at his little startup.

How do Cortana and Siri feel about each other? Microsoft recently released a website and has released multiple advertisements comparing their own Cortana and Apple’s Siri. All of them unsurprisingly favor Cortana but if you ask Cortana herself, she is less critical of Apple’s digital assistant.

The semi-regular updates to Windows 10 builds keep on coming, bringing interesting and often asked-for features. As Neowin reports, the latest build brings significant changes to the search function within Windows and its relation to the virtual assistant Cortana. Currently, search is a standalone feature written with Direct UI, and when you search for something, you get a pop-up window which overlays most of the desktop.

If you’re still on the fence about making the plunge for either an Xbox One or a PS4, this might be a good time to do it. Amazon is offering a pretty impressive bundle for Microsoft’s console: for $349, you get an Xbox One, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Assassin’s: Black Flag, Wolfenstein: The New Order and an extra controller for those rare moments of local co-op left in our modern video game world. So that’s two excellent games and one more or less fine game, a controller and a console for $349. Not bad. Microsoft MSFT +0.68% may have momentarily jacked the price of its machine back up to $399 after the holidays, but things like this bundle prove that the company is as committed as ever to its aggressive pricing strategy.

Microsoft has announced a huge update to the Microsoft Band, allowing consumers to live healthier and be more productive. Thanks to user feedback, Microsoft is rolling out a web dashboard, biking functionality for the Microsoft Band, new ways to scan and respond to incoming notifications, and integration with Microsoft HealthVault and MapMyFitness.

“For the last three months, we’ve monitored feedback carefully from customers, partners and media. While the response has been overwhelmingly positive, we are continuing to listen to our customers and make improvements based on their feedback,” said Matt Barlow, General Manager of New Devices Marketing. “This feedback is at the heart of the decisions we make, and today we’re pleased to take our first steps in launching new features and functionality for Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health that address what we’re hearing.”

After introducing the first version of the Microsoft fitness Band four months ago Microsoft is delivering some new software and service features, as well as a preview of the developer kit for the device. (Before anyone asks, I have no information on if/when Microsoft plans to restock the version one Bands or if/when the company plans to make available a second-generation Band.)

Microsoft’s Bing has correctly predicted the Super Bowl and World Cup winners; more recently Microsoft turned its attention to Sunday’s Academy Awards. Bing and Microsoft Research teamed up to create a constantly updated Oscar predictions list leading up to last night’s big awards show, and the duo proved pretty darn prescient.

It appears that Microsoft is working on a new app that will allow users to chat and share their location with friends and family. Called People Sense, the app was detailed by Spanish site Microsoft Place, which managed to get a short hands-on with it, seen in the video above. Microsoft Place notes that People Sense, currently codenamed Buddy Aware, will allow you to specify a group of people with which to share your location, and will even offer integration with third-party applications for communication and navigation purposes.

Lenovo has been justifiably catching a lot of grief this week for preloading dangerous adware called Superfish onto its computers that hijacks HTTPS traffic to inject ads onto encrypted websites. While there are plenty of ways to remove this obnoxious adware yourself, Neowin reports that Microsoft may have just done the job for you.

Earlier today, evidence came forward for an unreleased RM-1109 Lumia phone destined for Brazil. Unfortunately, no other information about the device was found except something related to battery size. Speculation suggested it could be the rumored 'Lumia 1330'. Now, the same site that trekked through Anatel's documents have churned up another record connecting RM-1109 to the unannounced Lumia 640. Janela Tech is reporting that this device is dual SIM and sports integrated digital television (DTV), something that is increasingly popular in that region.

The internet has been blowing up recently with a released report from Strategy Analytics on the sales trends of the current console generation. In that report, analysts predict by the end of 2018 Sony will have sold 80 million PlayStation 4's while Microsoft will muster up only 57 million Xbox One's. Using, statistical analysis in a number of media, content and technology sectors, the analysts predict that Sony's on par to replicate their PlayStation 2 console success and just for reference, the PlayStation 2 sold more than 150 million units in its lifespan.