Microsoft

• Microsoft Corp. has brushed off an offer by Motorola, the phone maker bought by Google Inc., to settle patent disputes with Motorola that are threatening to halt imports of Android devices and Xbox game consoles into the United States.
(Chicago Tribune)
• June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. may be developing its own Windows Phone handsets, departing from its current practice of working only with partners like Nokia Oyj, according to Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc.
(San Francisco Gate)
• Is the new Microsoft tablet going to be something that will be worth considering vs an iPad? - Tanya The natural inclination with any new tablet that hits the market is to begin by comparing it to the leader of the pack; the iPad.
(AZFamily)
• Microsoft is preparing to open its first retail store in Canada. According to a report from The Star, the Redmond giant is heading to Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre and has apparently already cleared the paperwork needed to push this forward.
(Intomobile.com)
• It was a rousing week in tech. Mobile devices got the spotlight in Microsofts two big announcements—a tablet and an upgrade for Windows phones.
(Ars Technica)
• Microsoft is attempting to lay the groundwork for a resurgence, announcing its biggest strategy shifts since Windows 95 in a do-or-die effort to stem Apple's mobile dominance.
(Boston Herald)
• Microsoft this week announced that each of the three finalists in the BlueHat Prize $250,000 security contest came up with ways to detect and stymie one of the most effective exploit methods now being used by hackers.
(PC World)
• Google is very likely to launch a cloud services platform at its annual developer conference, Google I/O next week in San Francisco. It was one of the topics of discussion in the hallways of our Structure 2012 conference.
(Gigaom.com)
• RIO DE JANEIRO — Burdened by low expectations, snarled by endless traffic congestion and shunned by President Obama, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development ended as it began, under a shroud of withering criticism.
(Seattle Times)
• Microsoft's Hollywood announcement Monday of its two Surface tablet computers was a tactical triumph but had no strategic value for the world's largest software company because the event left too many questions unanswered.
(Beta News)