WinInsider

ZD Net's Mary Jo Foley reported this week that Microsoft is working on a product called StartKey that will turn USB memory keys into "Windows companions" that users can cart around with them. These keys would include all of your Windows and Windows Live settings, so when you plugged one into a PC, it would be like you were sitting at your own PC. Obviously, this would require some support tech on the PCs you're accessing, so I'm guessing that part of the product will include a software update for Windows Vista. Still, it's an interesting idea, and not just for the emerging markets that are the obvious target market. Foley says that Microsoft began working on the project after agreeing with SanDisk in 2007 to develop something to replace the reviled U3 Smart Technology stuff that currently ships on so many USB keys.

For Internet Explorer platform architect Chris Wilson, IE8 is more than just a new version. It's the realization of an effort that began with IE7 to build the best Web browser for both developers and consumers.

"IE7 was the start to IE8," Wilson told BetaNews this afternoon in Las Vegas. It's not a secret that Microsoft largely abandoned its browser after IE6 and rebuilt the development team from scratch for IE7. Although it brought a number of much-needed improvements, version 7 was only a stepping stone for the company on the road to IE8.

Microsoft hopes to beef up online privacy with the acquisition of the U-Prove technology, the company announced on Thursday.

U-Prove was developed by Stefan Brands at Credentica as technology that allows Internet users to disclose only the minimum amount of personal information when conducting electronic transactions as a way to reduce the likelihood of privacy violations. U-Prove also employs cryptography to prevent systems from pulling together information about users from various sources.

Microsoft did not disclose a purchase price for the technology. Brands has joined Microsoft's Identity and Access Group along with his colleagues from Credentica, Greg Thompson and Christian Paquin.

Intel on Sunday announced that its Silverthorne and Diamondville microprocessors will be branded as the Intel Atom product family when they ship to PC and hardware makers in the second quarter of 2008. The chips target tiny, low-cost wireless devices and mini subnotebook computers, respectively.

"This is our smallest processor built with the world's smallest transistors," says Intel executive vice president Sean Maloney. "This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates fell to third place on Forbes' 2008 list of the world's richest people after 13 years at number one, due largely to Microsoft's bid for Yahoo , Forbes said Wednesday.

The magazine, which puts out annual lists of the world's richest people, blamed Gates' decline to the slide in Microsoft shares from the day before the company announced a $44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo, Jan. 31, to the day Forbes calculated stock prices into its rich list valuations, Feb. 11.

Had Microsoft shares not declined so much, Gates would have been in a close race with investing mogul Warren Buffett for the top spot on the list, Forbes said.

This is either a bit of unwarranted optimism or perhaps Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer knows more than he is letting on. Ballmer said Monday that the software giant's legal troubles in the European Union were at an end. Ballmer made the comments at the CeBIT computer trade show this week in Hannover, Germany.

"We received a fine last week for some interoperability issues in the past," he said. "I think it is well understood that with the agreements that we reached with the European Commission last fall, those issues are behind us. Of course we hope the interoperability principles prove valuable in the future, but that we will leave up to the Commission.

Moving forward with next-generation software in two critical realms, Microsoft released Wednesday initial public beta versions of its Silverlight 2 multimedia presentation technology and the Internet Explorer 8 browser.

The company announced the releases at its Mix08 conference in Las Vegas.

Implemented as a plug-in, Silverlight is Microsoft's horse in the industry's race to provide the most eye-catching visual effects; it competes with Adobe's Flash Player and related technologies. Silverlight is cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device, Microsoft said.

Microsoft Wednesday unveiled IE8 Wednesday and posted links to what the company called "Beta 1 for developers." Anyone, however, can download and install the preview.

"I am pleased to announce that Beta 1 for developers is available now," said Dean Hachamovitch, the IE group's general manager, in a presentation from MIX08, a Microsoft Web development conference that opened Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nev.

According to the download page published early Wednesday, IE8 Beta 1 will be available in separate versions for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft may have come up with a cure for the common pothole -- or at least an easier way for drivers to avoid one.

Watch a video of the LucidTouch prototype in action Researchers at the company have developed a way to use the technology embedded in mobile phones to automatically sense when a car brakes suddenly, hits a bump in the road or comes within earshot of honking horns. Their prototype can gather the data from accelerometers, GPS devices and microphones increasingly built into mobile phones.

Microsoft is expected to discuss several technologies pertaining to its Live Platform at the Mix08 conference in Las Vegas this week, including APIs for messaging and sharing contacts.

In his blog from last week, Microsoft's David Treadwell, corporate vice president for Live Platform services at Microsoft, noted several developments pertaining to Windows Live, which is Microsoft's hosted services platform. The company, he said, is opening up the Windows Live Messenger network for third-party Web sites to reach 300 million-plus Windows Live Messenger users.