Say you want to buy a game that costs 1000 Microsoft points, and you have none.
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Microsoft has not yet disclosed pricing for downloads, but it will be in Microsoft points.
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Full access to the entire library is available for blocks of 2, 6 or 24 hours by redeeming Microsoft Points.
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Microsoft Points are a current staple of the Xbox Live experience, but almost no one would describe them as particularly pleasurable to use.
FORBES: Microsoft May Be Ditching Their Points System on Xbox Live
Additionally, Microsoft points out on its blog that photo metadata is retained when users upload to SkyDrive, and opening and saving files to SkyDrive works better with other apps on iOS devices.
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The service is called Xbox Live Video, and the fall update enables customers to spend their Microsoft points on standard and HD television from CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Turner, and UFC, as well as HD movies from Warner Bros.
ENGADGET: Microsoft's Xbox Live Video: HDTV and HD movie downloads for your 360
Daily prizes of 4, 000 Microsoft gaming points will be awarded to five winners per day, from Nov. 29 - Dec. 8.
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Microsoft makes money selling them points they can use to rent videos or download games.
Donovan Gow, an analyst at American Technology Research points out that Microsoft has about 10% of the market while Google has more than 50%.
He also points out that Microsoft and Oracle are trading near trough levels, and both firms have new product cycles set to debut, which may mean upside for investors despite the macro slow-down.
He also points to plans at Microsoft to introduce VoIP applications into upcoming software as a sign that the technology's security issues are reaching a tipping point.
He also points to plans at Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) to introduce VoIP applications into upcoming software as a sign that the technology's security issues are reaching a tipping point.
And Peter Kim of Forrester, a consultancy, points out that when Microsoft sent laptops loaded with its new Windows Vista software to influential bloggers in an effort to get them to write about it, the resulting online discussion ignored Vista and focused instead on the morality of accepting gifts and the ethics of word-of-mouth marketing.
Microsoft said its mapping services provide other measurement points about online sales such as the amount of space the ad takes up on a Web page and how many times a user sees an ad.
And there are, he points out, advantages to working with Microsoft: it can invest to offset risks and to help firms speed up broadband deployment.
In the past 18 months, Microsoft has quietly conceded most of Mr Ellison's points, with one glaring exception.
And he points out that there are also non-Microsoft products in the space, like the Google Chromebook, the leading clam-shell style notebook on Amazon.com.
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Krulwich counted at least five Microsoft patents related to determining phone location using wireless access points, radio beacons, device movements and other radio signals.
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Whether you accept Tyler's points or just consider this a sign of Microsoft copping some 1080p pleas, it's clear that just like ESPN and ABC they have picked 720p as their target resolution for HDTV, but whether that is high definition enough to satisfy consumers remains to be seen.
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She points out that search engines run by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!
By offering the same functionality to anyone with a Windows-powered phone or tablet, Microsoft takes away one of the Wii U s unique selling points.
Helm points to Elop's experience at Macromedia, a Microsoft rival that managed to build up a loyal cadre of developers, as something that could be key to Microsoft's strategy going forward as it tries to encourage its customers to build their businesses around its tools.
The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Microsoft Corporation, and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.
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With the losses from DuPont and 3M, the 30-stock Dow was 216 points, or 1.6%, lower at 13, 130, with only Microsoft and Intel in positive territory.
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