Microsoft has created a new corporate vice president position overseeing its education products. L. Michael Golden, most recently a senior vice president at education services company Pearson School, is filling the role, a spokeswoman said in an email.

Today, Microsoft began rolling out a new look for its Live Search start page. The company is going away from the spartan search box on a mostly empty white page -- the design most-closely associated with Google's world-beating search engine -- in favor of a look that leaves room for it to highlight various features of its search and online services offerings. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last week that he was no fan of the blank start page.

I didn't have space in today's print story to share an update on Microsoft's translation efforts, which have been in the market -- quietly -- for nearly a year. The Microsoft Translator group is somewhat unique in that it's still part of the Microsoft Research team, even though it's a live product. That's also why it was on display at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit yesterday.