Starting with CES 2010, you’ll be able to access the new News Center at the old PressPass URL (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass), and starting Wednesday, you’ll also be able to access via http://www.microsoft.com/news.
The News Center site has several new features that will enable the company to tell its story more effectively, including SmoothStreaming video, a rapid response capability, a corporate blog, and numerous design changes to allow us to more effectively present packages of digital content in context, versus providing just a menu of content.
Microsoft has been experimenting with new storytelling techniques over the past few months – see, for example Craig Mundie college tour, PhotoDNA child safety efforts, Bing Maps, Windows 7, and ofcourse the CES coverage on the News Center: http://www.microsoft.com/ces.
As an element of the News Center, Microsoft has also launched a cross-company blog this week. Obviously the company is already very active with multiple team and individual blogs. The intent of this new Microsoft blog is to complement these existing blogs (including highlighting interesting posts from across the company).
Like other cross-company blogs, you’ll see contributions from a range of different people rather than a single individual. Each blog will be signed by the person who authored it.