Last year with the economy doing so poorly lots of big and small technology firms ended up laying off lots of workers and closing doors. Microsoft was forced to shed about 5,000 workers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is now getting ready to make new “small” cuts in its workforce. The WSJ source says that these “small” cuts will not be as large as the 5,000 canned last year.

The Microsoft Kin is now dead just six short weeks after the launch. The Kin range has been officially dropped. Apparently the handsets had staggeringly low sales figures. One rumor claimed that only 500 Kins had been sold.

Pricing was also likely an issue as Verizon positioned it with smartphone-like pricing. Microsoft’s official statement simply said that their Kin team would be integrated into the Windows Mobile 7 team and that they were not going to ship the KIN range in Europe.

While Apple has been breaking records with iPad sales, Microsoft has been counting their numbers as well. They just announced that they have sold over 150 million Windows 7 licenses since it went on sale. That number is up considerably from the 100 Million copies that they had sold back in April.

In fact, Windows 7 is Microsoft’s fastest selling OS. They are selling about seven copies of Windows 7 every second. Pew Pew Pew. Sales should continue to rise as many more PC users move to Windows 7.

Many of us keep our work or home PC’s on when not in use. It’s convenient, but it increases our power consumption. So Microsoft has designed a new sleep proxy system that will allow you to switch off your PC or put it in Stand By and still access everything you need whenever you need it remotely.

This will cut power consumption by 60 to 80 percent. That’s awesome news. It’s good for the environment and it will save you some money as well. We like this one a lot.

To boldly go where no man has gone before…And occasionally beam into Microsoft. Microsoft has an amazing Star Trek sculpture in the lobby of their Studio D office, that continually gives the appearance that Kirk, Spock and the rest are materializing. How cool is that?

The illusion is simple. Beads.The installation was inspired by the classic 1967 episode “Mirror, Mirror,” and was created by Devorah Sperber, an artist known for creating illusions using unconventional materials. This artwork is made up of spools, chenille stems, and semi-translucent beads.

Microsoft has had its cool Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 on the market for a while now. The portable mouse uses a tiny nano receiver that you can plug in and forget about. It also uses the Microsoft BlueTrack sensor.

Microsoft claims that a single set of batteries in the mouse will last for eight months thanks to an on/off switch. The mouse originally came in gray and pink colors. The mouse has an ambidextrous design for any user. Microsoft announced three new patterns of the mouse today that looks really good.

The HP Slate isn’t the only future gadget we have been hearing a lot about that was killed off this week. Microsoft has terminated the slick dual screen Courier tablet project.

The odd thing is that we had been hearing that the Courier would be coming to market in 2011. I think that perhaps some of the companies are figuring out that an expensive device that is only a netbook minus a keyboard simply won’t sell.

Microsoft launched the cool Arc mouse with an interesting foldable design a long time ago. Microsoft came back later and offered the Arc Keyboard for users wanting a full wireless desktop with style.

The original Arc keyboard was available in glossy black color only. Microsoft has now come back and offered a white version of the Arc Keyboard with a lime green bottom. Other than the color, the keyboard is the same as the original.

This was an April Fools joke. Looks like many of you fell for it too. Silly fools. Okay, they got me too. Don’t you hate April 1st?
Expecting some replacable batteries in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 handsets? Don’t. Microsoft is disallowing user-replaceable batteries. And why not? Apple already does this and sales are just fine. So they are following suit.

It’s annoying, but the end result is apparently that it helps in creating a better looking handset. So if you were hoping for a phone that is the opposite of Apple’s, forget it. How do you feel about the whole swappable/non-swappable battery issue?

I have all three game consoles in my house and my son and his friends spend lots of time playing games around here most weeks. When it comes time to play games they all typically want to play the PS3 the most. The Wii is the second choice and they rarely play the Xbox 360.

Despite the preferences of a bunch of 7-year-olds, the Xbox 360 has taken the top spot for sales in February according to NPD. NPD’s numbers show that Microsoft sold 422,000 Xbox 360 consoles; the Wii was second with 397,900 units sold.

Some new pics have surfaced of Microsoft’s dual-screen Courier, and it looks like it should be a decent competitor to the iPad. Some new details accompany the new pics as well. The device is less than inch thick, weighs just over a pound, and the two screens are about the size of a 5 x 7 photo.

There’s apparently a built-in camera and the NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics processor will be driving a version of the Zune HD and Windows Phone 7 interfaces.

Microsoft has officially launched the Windows Phone 7 and with it the Windows Phone Series, with the promise that we’ll see the first devices on the market by the holiday 2010 shopping season. Windows Phone 7 most definitely has the user in mind with Zune and Xbox integration.

And it looks and presumably feels more like an iPhone. The UI is simple and elegant. The folks over at MSDN have a 22 minute video walkthrough that explains everything. It looks like Microsoft has really nailed it here. Hit the link below to check it out.

Other than that slick SideWinder gaming keyboard with the number pad that can be put on either side, none of the products from Microsoft typically stand out in my eyes as far as design goes. A new design concept over at Yanko Design has tipped up with the Microsoft brand.

The device is called the eVouse and it combines touch tech from a tablet computer, mouse tech for navigation, and digital pen for drawing with design software. The device is shaped like a “V” and when used as a mouse the front buttons are touch sensitive and glow when pressed.

There are probably many gamers out there who still play games on their original Xbox console or still play original Xbox titles on the Xbox 360. Microsoft is announced that starting on April 15 the Xbox Live service for original games and consoles is being shut down.

The decision wasn’t made lightly according to Marc Whitten. The reason for stopping the service for the old titles and consoles is that updates need to be made to the service to support future plans. Those updates are said to not be supported by the original console and games.

We can never really have enough storage on our computers and other devices where we store the media that we generate and use each day. With digital cameras, camcorders and music proliferating along with digital download games and other content we can run out of space quickly on media servers and game consoles.

PC World reports that Microsoft is set to release a new add-on HDD for the Xbox 360 in Japan that has 250GB of storage space. The drive will also be offered in a stand-alone version as well. The new drive has previously been offered only in a bundle with a new console.