Well, there have been rumors circulating about Facebook purchasing the internet telephony company Skype and recently Microsoft rumors of the same ilk, but nothing official until this fine Tuesday morning.

Software giant Microsoft is in talks to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cold hard cash.  Of course, Xbox and Kinect support have been mentioned as part of the agreement, as well as Windows Phone integration.

A new Microsoft Skype Division will now be opened up to accommodate the newcomers, with current Skype CEO Tony Bates becoming president of that operation and reporting directly to Ballmer. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

This should not effect current Skype holders at all this year, but look for changes in the early start of 2012.  Coincidentally the year the Mayans said the world would end?  We think not.

If only we had a time machine so we could go back and bet on a sorta far fetched Nokia and Microsoft partnership, talk about some wining dough!

With Android OS pretty much taking over and wowing the world, both Nokia and Microsoft thought it was high time to throw down on something better, hence a brand new tech partnership was born.

So, what will this new strategic partnership bring to a new global mobile ecosystem?  Well, we’ve got some answers for you on that score.

* Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its main smartphone strategy, so expect Windows Phone 7-powered Nokia devices
* Nokia will help drive the future of Windows Phone, offering its expertise in hardware design, language support and mor
* Bing will power Nokia’s search services, which is definitely news that will disappoint Google
* Nokia Maps will become a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services, and Maps will be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine
* Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with the Microsoft Marketplace

Now specifically designed to be used with the new Kinect Xbox 360 motion controller, the fun will never end with Milo.  Designed by infamous UK games designer Peter Molyneux, Milo was created to seem as real as possible, with Molyneux saying, he wanted a character “that seemed alive, that would look me in the eyes, and feel real.”

Microsoft just revealed Milo interacting with the Kinect controller and it will be pretty fascinating to see how this will play out in the future of gaming.  Hell, maybe we don’t even have to have kids now that Milo is here….

Microsoft has just announced that they are killing off the KIN mobile line just as quickly as they came on the market.  Due to slow to none US sales, the KINs will be killed off even before they were introduced to the European market.

Microsoft looks as though they prefer to hedge their bets on Windows Phone 7 which is slated to hit handsets later this year. Hopefully a descendant of the KIN user log will live on and make its way to the next version of Windows Phone 7. RIP KIN, we hardly knew thee. Has the next of kin (pun intended) been informed?

Starting Tuesday the latest version of Office, Office Home and Student 2010, will be available, with the most basic bundle priced at $150.  The suite can be installed on as many as three home computers, making multi-PC families breathe a sigh of relief, even though you can take advantage of Google’s free set of programs.

A $280 version also includes the Outlook e-mail program. A $500 bundle adds Publisher, a desktop publishing program, and Access, a database.

Those prices are for traditional packaged software. People can also buy licenses, called product key cards, to download the same sets of programs for $120, $200 and $350.

For the first time, Microsoft is also launching free Web-based versions of the four core Office programs. They will have fewer features than the desktop software.

Bing’s cashback feature will be ending on July 30, 2010, while you can still continue to earn rewards normally for more than a month, come the 30th those offers will go away all together.

Microsoft seems to view the program as a limited success. For the uninitiated, cashback was a feature on Bing Shopping, wherein advertisers could offer financial incentives for shoppers who bought certain products advertised on the site. We’re not talking pennies. As I write this, Macy’s is still offering 4 percent cash back on eligible products storewide, and Tiger Direct is offering 12 percent. That kind of savings isn’t anything to sneeze at. Shoppers had to wait for 60 days after a purchase to get their money out, after which they would receive a check or a Paypal transfer — up to $2,500 every year.

But not enough merchants signed up for the program, says Microsoft, so it’s putting its efforts into “some new programs for you and our advertisers designed to provide amazing shopping experiences for consumers and great opportunities for advertisers.”

If you have money in your cashback account — even less than the site’s $5 minimum for a payout — you can still get your money out through the normal redemption process. Just follow the regular payment-request procedure after July 31 if you have less than $5 in your account and you’ll still receive your check. You have one year to claim your money, so don’t dilly-dally!

Reportedly Microsoft’s latest policies for their Windows Phone Marketplace will not allow porn-related content so you’re going to have to say goodbye to all those adult apps you love so much.

Sheesh, it’s just one more reason to go Android, isn’t it?

Here’s the scoop on Microsoft’s new policies:

* Sex / Nudity – Images that are suggestive or sexual (e.g. sexually provocative touching, bondage, masturbation) or provocative images that reveal nipples, genitals, buttocks, or pubic hair.
* Any adult and/or borderline adult content (images or text).
* Content that generally falls under the category of pornography.
* Content that depicts or suggests prostitution.
* Any content depicting sexual fetishes.
* Any content of a sexual nature depicting children or animals.

Microsoft, god bless ‘em, is on a mission to somehow make Hotmail cool again, though the prospect may be too little too late in our opinion, damage done.

But this isn’t stopping Microsoft from trying to compete with rivals Google and Yahoo and come late this summer the company will be rolling out an overhauling upgrade that will feature new digs such as automatically sorting incoming messages into different categories for you, provide previews of incoming photos, tools to make attaching pics and vids easier, ability to sync your mobile to Hotmail with ease (yeah right) and a whole host of other new additions that will make you feel, well, like you’re using Gmail….

Poor Microsoft, they sorta just got left in the proverbial dust on this front.

On Wednesday Microsoft reported that they had reached a deal that will allow HTC to use use technology covered by Microsoft’s current patents.  Although no financial terms were disclosed, you know it had to be for a pretty penny.

This deal comes just one month after Apple sued HTC over claims that the company was violating iPhone patents.  Well, point goes to Microsoft.

Soon students will be able to go ahead and pre-order their copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, with the only requirement being you have a college email address.  This offer is good until January 3, 2010.