Microsoft links new smartphones to Xbox Live services

Last month, Microsoft announced that it is bringing its video game expertise to the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 line - an attempt to capitalise on the success of the Xbox 360 as the software maker tries to compete with Apple's iPhone.
Microsoft said that a dedicated group within Microsoft Game Studios will develop video games for Windows phones, help outside game publishers, and scout out small, independent game makers. Video game companies will be able to use the same tools to make a game for a Windows phone as they do for the Xbox 360 console. Microsoft's Xbox initiative may help sway some phone buyers who are already into video games. The company is also hoping that Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 devices might get a boost from the upcoming launch of Kinect, a motion-sensing game controller for the Xbox 360. Like the Nintendo Wii, Kinect is expected to lure people who haven't traditionally been interested in video games.

Google planning to use wind energy to power data centres

Google Incorporated's energy unit entered a deal with NextEra Energy Inc to buy wind power for the next 20 years to power Google's data centres, Reuters reported. The deal came less than three months after Google invested 38.8 million US dollars in two wind farms in North Dakota, developed by NextEra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. The farms generate enough energy to power more than 55,000 homes.

In late 2007, the company said that it would invest in companies and do research of its own to produce affordable renewable energy — at a price less than burning coal - within a few years. The company's Google Energy unit, formed in December, allows the company to buy large volumes of renewable energy from the wholesale power market.

India is threatening to ban Blackberry!

According to multiple reports, last month, India threatened Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the BlackBerry smartphones, to address its security concerns or face having its services suspended.

India has asked for encrypted BlackBerry communications to be made easily available to its intelligence and law enforcement agencies, saying that the services could be used by militant groups to carry out attacks. The ministry also said that mobile phone operators would be obliged by law to shut its corporate e-mail and messaging services if RIM fails to meet the demands.

Officials said that RIM proposed tracking e-mails without sharing encryption details, but that was not enough. The demands followed RIM's deal with Saudi Arabia, which allowed government access to its encrypted data. But while Saudi Arabia only targeted the instant messaging service [read related story on page 58], India sought access to both e-mail and messenger.

Following issues with BlackBerry, many reports suggested that India was considering requesting Google Inc, Skype Inc and other online service providers to allow the country's law enforcement agencies access to private communications on their networks.