After much anticipation, Microsoft Research today released a new, free online tool designed to open up the world of astronomy to the masses. Microsoft describes the WorldWide Telescope as a "Web 2.0 Visualization Software Environment" - but don't worry, the tool is easier to use than it is to define.

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Remember Surface, the magic coffee table and massively multi-touch screen that we awarded a Best of What’s New award in December? Well it looks like it’s finally set to debut, as a shopping kiosk debuting at six AT&T cellular phone stores on April 17.

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Yahoo surprised analysts yesterday, announcing that it is on track to meet its expected earnings for 2008. This changes the fight between the Sunnyvale-based company and Microsoft, which recently offered to pay $42 billion to swallow it up. Now Yahoo has a bit more leverage, and may be able to convince investors that it’s not in such bad shape after all. The company says it expects to double its cash flow and increase its revenue by 50 percent, mostly from banner and video advertising.

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Touch-screen interfaces have an inherent problem—you can't see through your fingertips to see the spot you're trying to touch. After abandoning its controversial efforts to breed humans with transparent fingers, Microsoft came up with another novel solution, a system that lets you touch the back of a device and see an overlay of virtual fingertips on the front display.

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The ability to scatter lots of wireless sensors over a wide area has tremendous potential, whether it's tracking the melting of a glacier, the stress on a bridge span or the temperature in your home. The trick? Making them cheap enough so you can use plenty, and having them last long enough so you don't break the bank or your back changing batteries (those trips to the glacier add up). This week, Microsoft showed us a prototype version of a wireless sensor that tackles both challenges.

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Playing with Google Earth is an immensely gratifying experience. You swoop in like a superhero and pan around as though you're hovering over your own house. Imagine if you were able to do all that in the other direction, out into space. This spring, Microsoft is poised to release the World Wide Telescope, which promises to do just that and more, on a scale of galactic proportions.

Microsoft has assembled an application of tremendous depth and breadth using data from the Hubble and land-based telescopes around the world.

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The European Union slapped Microsoft with a $1.3 billion punishment yesterday for what it says amounted to unfair practices. Regulators contended that Microsoft charged developers who were hoping to make Windows-compatible products unreasonable fees for information about its software.

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Ford Sync, an in-car entertainment center running Microsoft software, has won praise as the first system to integrate hands-free calling, music playing from MP3 players and voice control of all functions. (PopSci was among the admirers, awarding Sync a Best of What’s New award.)

Despite all its cool functions, Sync doesn’t cost much to build, according to a report today from research firm iSuppli.

Once again, our pals in El Segundo, CA ripped apart a perfectly good gadget to see what makes it tick. The answer: not much.

But do you get what you pay for? One of our editors had a hair-pulling-out experience with a Sync-equipped car last week. Ford insists it was an anomaly, and is sending us a new model to test. Stay tuned for our verdict.

Meanwhile, click ahead to see what components make the Sync work (or not work).

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It has been rumored for a while, and just became official. Microsoft made a bid to buy Yahoo. The price tag? A measly $44.6 billion.

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Are you looking for something to do as a nice holiday break approaches? Head over to MoDaCo and read/see the exploits of Paul. Paul claims to have installed Microsoft Windows Vista on an ASUS Eee PC. The post includes video and a fairly thorough tutorial on accomplishing the same feat on your very own “Easy to Hack” PC. —Dave Prochnow

(Image: MoDaCo)

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