BLOG POSTS about Microsoft and Apple are sometimes fake in the sense that they are marketing placements. We covered some examples before and there are many 'smoking guns' in the archives (Microsoft also pays for Wikipedia edits, so it's not just the press and the blogosphere which get corrupted like this). Regarding Microsoft we wrote some posts on the subject and submitted formal complaints to the FTC, e.g.:
Samantha is not clear in her initial email as to whether this is a transparent paid sponsorship or simply an under-the-table paid link placement scheme. The former is a reasonable proposition; the latter is not only sketchy: it's also illegal. The FTC now requires transparency in paid endorsements.
Gone are the days--and good riddance--when a company could buy significant credibility via positive attention from high profile bloggers. But that doesn't mean bloggers can't provide advertising space or even product endorsements. It just means you have to be honest about what you're doing.
So, if you're reviewing a product that a company sent you for free, tell your readers just that. A random search for FTC-compliant product reviews yielded this excellent example (with perhaps the greatest URL ever) and this one (ew), which will give you some ideas on how to be seamless and transparent.