Skyrim, the highly popular RPG from Bethesda, is set to get some new features in the form of Kinect integration and voice commands. I’m glad some developers are including Kinect users in their standard games, it makes the Kinect a get piece of hardware that I can actually use!

Presumably, all 24 of the Dragon Shouts will be available via voice commands. Other voice commands will include menu options, such as the ability to save and load games as well as commands for accessing inventory. The voice commands will also support a number of commands for followers and hotkey equipping. The full list of voice commands is expected to be the released by developer Bethesda in the coming weeks.

Today marks the day that Microsoft ends mainstream support for Windows Vista. Extended support goes another 5 years, until April 11th, 2017. For those without an extended support contract, it may be time to look ahead and upgrade to Windows 7 or wait it out and upgrade to Windows 8 on release. XP has already passed the Mainstream support period and is nearing it’s final death toll, ending the extended support in 2014.

Every Windows product has a lifecycle. The lifecycle begins when a product is released and ends when it’s no longer supported or sold. Knowing key dates in this lifecycle helps you make informed decisions about when to upgrade or make other changes to your software. Here are the rights and limits of the Windows lifecycle.

While not directly related to Microsoft, I’m sure Microsoft has a lot to thank Mr. Tamiel for – from Commodore to Atari, he was a great man. A great loss. This man went through a lot. If you have any interest in video games or computing, I suggest reading about this man. I read about him in a history of video games book as well as a book called “Commodork”.

In America, Tramiel founded a typewriter repair business. Staying on the forefront of technology, his typewriters morphed into calculators, and later computers. In 1982, Commodore International launched the Commodore 64, which went on to the best-selling personal computer of all time. Tramiel also founded Atari Inc. in 1984.

Sounds like my Grandpa wrote this article. Apparently, Microsoft is hip again with all these new fangled companies getting some bogus news stories. Bummer, Daddy-o. As long as they don’t start attracting the hipsters, we’ll all be good. That’s one thing Microsoft doesn’t need is a lot of poseur hipsters writing novels (playing Farmville on Facebook) on their new Dell sitting at Starbucks sipping their vegan vente cappuccino.

Which brings us to the other aspect of Microsoft’s renaissance: good timing. The once-hipper than Microsoft foes, Google and Apple haven’t looked so good these days. Google, the once beloved search company, has users uneasy with its Google+ integration, privacy issues and anti-trust concerns. Even Googlers aren’t too sure of Google’s mission, these days.

The next version of the Kinect for Windows will be available late May, according to Microsoft. Several new features were announced, from Kinect Studio, a new seated or 10 joint skeletal system. Still available at $250, it is a bit rich for my blood unless an onslaught of Kinect for Windows software is forthcoming. Also, later this year a $149 academic version is going to be released.

Eisler also promised four new languages for speech recognition – French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. On that front, Kinect for Windows will also get new language packs that take into account how a language is spoken in different regions – like American vs. British English or France vs. Canadian French.

Microsoft China has made the prediction that the Windows Phone 7 will overtake the mighty iPhone in the Chinese market. While the iPhone only has 12% of the market share in China, Microsoft’s phone is only at 7.5. Cheap phones, advertising campaigns and more will attempt to take over the iPhone, and remove some of the huge 70% market share from Android. Can they do it? Are they being overly optimistic… Again?

“The Windows Phone ramp-up in China won’t really begin until the second quarter, so the numbers are still low,” Wong said. “From next year the ramp-up will be more rapid.”

By 2016, Windows Phone is forecast to have a 20 percent share in China, ahead of Apple’s 16 percent and trailing Google’s 60 percent, Wong said.

Apple users usually say they dislike Microsoft because they are the “Evil Corporation” and they love Apple because they do good. Well, Microsoft has made it on the list of the most ethical companies – but Apple did not. Microsoft hasn’t been the evil corporation, and the time when it was cool to hate Microsoft is over. Do you think Microsoft deserves the designation or Apple should get some recognition for their “efforts” in ethics?

The World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies designation recognizes companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business "ethically" and translate those words into action. WME honorees not only promote ethical business standards and practices internally, they exceed legal compliance minimums and shape future industry standards by introducing best practices today.

Bloomberg’s sources have verified what we’ve known all along: Windows 8 should RTM in October of this year. We’ve been saying that for a while, and it seems to follow the same time frame as Windows 7 did. I’m not sure who their sources are, but hopefully they are a bit closer to Microsoft than just those that follow Microsoft and their OS schedule.

The timing would let Microsoft target Christmas shoppers with the new software, which works with touch-screen devices as well as laptops and desktop PCs. The Redmond, Washington-based company, which hasn’t announced timing for the Windows 8 release, aims to take back sales lost to the iPad and reinvigorate the sluggish PC market. Apple (AAPL) released the third version of the iPad this month, creating an even bigger challenge for Microsoft.

Would you buy a Windows 8 Metro UI style e-reader? I would, if the price was right. It would have to be very competitive to make it a must-buy. As a strict e-reader, it has to do it right. It has to be very easy to find books, buy them, transfer and read them. It should be as simple as possible. Metro UI can be simple, but it can also be way too much for a simple e-reader. I wouldn’t pay any more for a Windows powered e-reader than a Nook or a Kindle. Tablets are completely different – e-readers would be a black and white e-ink powered device. I’m just not sure they can pull it off. Microsoft seems very stiff on keeping the Windows price high and not budging. This could be their losing point on the tablet and e-reader market.

I think a lot of us have been in this boat: Internet Explorer sucks. For those of you that haven’t tried it in a while, it might be time to check it out again. I don’t use it exclusively, but I use it a lot. It runs a lot better than it used to, doesn’t crash as often as Firefox, less memory footprint than Firefox. But, this psychologist doesn’t like his IE problem, but doesn’t care for the guys style? With a haircut like that, glasses and the dorky shirt, I’m sure he would be using Safari on a Macbook Air. Ouch.