Laura Sydell

With New Xbox, Microsoft Makes A Bigger Play For Living Room

Laura Sydell — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Microsoft hasn't exactly had a great couple of years.

Its new Windows 8 operating system was held responsible for the drop in PC sales last quarter. Sales of its Windows Phones lag far behind both the iPhone and Google's Android phones.

The light in the darkness for Microsoft has been the Xbox 360, which has been the top-selling game console for over two years — beating out both the Nintendo Wii and Sony's PlayStation.

Google Launches A Streaming Music Service

Laura Sydell — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:47:00 +0000

The competition for your ears — and dollars — just got a little tougher. On Wednesday, Google launched a paid music subscription service that will put it in direct competition with other streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. The announcement may just be the beginning for Google.

As it gets easier to access the Internet, more fans are streaming their music — not downloading it.

Consumers Facing Subscription Service Overload Will Only Get More Choices

Laura Sydell — Thu, 09 May 2013 07:33:00 +0000

YouTube is expected to announce in the coming days that it will launch paid subscription channels, a first for the online video platform that's been around since 2005. But, with the growing number of subscription services available for entertainment, shopping and news, some consumers say they're reaching digital subscription overload.

Mary Gaughan and her husband get near that point when they think about what movie or TV show they want to watch on free evenings at home. "Where do we get it?

Blazing The Trail For Female Programmers

Laura Sydell — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:25:00 +0000

This story is part of our series, The Changing Lives of Women.

Sarah Allen has been the only woman on a team of computer programmers a few times in the more than two decades she has worked in the field.

Crowdsourcing Creativity At The Cinema

Laura Sydell — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:57:00 +0000

These days, if they can't find a producer to fund their latest film, a lot of artists turn to crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter to raise money for production.

But here's a new twist: a project headed up by director Ron Howard that is crowdsourcing the inspiration.

Directors get a lot of credit for great films. Hitchcock, Goddard, Scorsese, Bigelow — they're auteurs, creative visionaries. On that list, some might also include Howard, who directed such films as Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code and A Beautiful Mind.