Spotify has just landed on the Windows Phone 8 platform, giving Microsoft’s mobile users access to one of the world’s largest music streaming platforms.
Before today, the app was only available on iOS, Android, Symbian, and to legacy Windows Phone users, but Spotify has spread the love around to the newest version of the Windows Phone software. → Read More
A new feature from Microsoft allows people to share and edit documents from SkyDrive in Office Web Apps without the recipient having to sign in to their Microsoft account. → Read More
Hey Microsoft, 2004 called. It wants its privacy outrage debate back. Microsoft is on the rampage lately, aggressively attacking Google on search, shopping, and email, the latter which is now featured on Microsoft’s infamous “Scroogled” site where – get this! – Microsoft goes after Gmail because Google reads your email to target you with ads! Seriously. → Read More
One of the most-rumored features of the mythical Apple television set is Siri integration that would allow you to naturally ask questions and issue commands to your TV, but Microsoft may beat Apple to the punch, if a new report from The Verge is accurate. Microsoft already has some voice features built into the current generation Xbox, but the next-gen console will get much-improved abilities… → Read More
I come bearing glad tidings. After decades of OEM malaise, a constant parroting of the speeds and feeds mantra, and an aesthetic that was formulated in the back room of a dingy Staples office supply store, the PC is really back.
In short, the Surface Pro is so good that it could drive Windows 8 adoption with enough force to make people reconsider Microsoft’s odd new OS. Microsoft bet the farm… → Read More
The gap between a full-fledged PC and a touchscreen tablet has finally found a bridge in the Microsoft Surface Pro. The Windows 8 device will be available for purchase on February 9, but we got a sneak peek with the Surface Pro and took it for a test spin in the Fly Or Die studios.
So what’s the verdict? → Read More
When it comes to designing new hardware, most companies are pretty quiet about the design process. Microsoft, with its Surface tablets, is taking a far more open approach than many other companies. Just a few days ahead of the launch of the Intel-powered Surface Pro, I got a chance to sit down with Ralf Groene, Microsoft’s Director of Industrial Design, earlier this week to talk about the history… → Read More
I loathe using some websites. Twitter and Facebook are horrific on the web when compared to their iOS/Android apps. I simply refuse to use Zillow’s website; I’ll wait until my kids are done with the iPad to look for our new place. The same is true for Tumblr and other sites. The mobile first strategy is in full force and Microsoft needs to hop on board.
With Windows 8, Microsoft is forcefully… → Read More
In an effort to create more synergy between its products, Microsoft’s search platform Bing has announced that Office 365 Premium is now available to users. The five apps included in the add-on for the newly launched Office 365 and Office 2013 make it easier for users to insert information and images directly from Bing searches into their documents. They are: Bing Finance for Excel, Bing Maps for… → Read More
Even though Microsoft itself would prefer to change this, many users still rely on older versions of Internet Explorer. For developers, this means spending hours on testing their web apps to ensure they work on IE8 and IE7, for example. Microsoft, which has worked hard on making IE9 and IE10 compatible with standards like HTML5 and CSS3, is fully aware of this problem and today launched modern.IE… → Read More
Microsoft just made a major announcement that will likely take many developers by surprise. At the ALM Summit in Redmond, WA this morning, Microsoft Brian Harry just announced that its Team Foundation Server and hosted Team Foundation Service (TFS), as well as the complete Visual Studio 2012 suite (through a plugin the company is releasing today) will offer support for Git, the increasingly… → Read More
Microsoft is pinching CIOs by not providing an easy way to run the just released Microsoft Office 2013 on anything except Windows RT. With little cross-platform integration, Microsoft is creating an opening for vendors that have a more clear path for accessing documents on a mobile device. → Read More
In 2006, Google announced its first public release of what later became Google Docs, today known as Google Drive. It’s 2013, and only now does it feel like Microsoft is fighting back. Microsoft today announced the reinvention of its Office flagship application for consumers, with the debut of Office 365 Home Premium. The service – yes, it’s a subscription-based service – includes support for up to… → Read More
A roster of privacy advocates, Internet activists, journalists and other organizations have issued an open letter to Microsoft, calling on it to issue regular transparency reports about the release of Skype user information to third parties. → Read More
The outcry is deafening. “The Surface Pro is priced too high!” “I’ll just get a MacBook Air!” “Microsoft is the next RIM!” “I LOVE APPLES!”
Ignore the noise and look at the situation. The Surface Pro is priced just right. For its size and form, the Surface Pro is a powerhouse computing platform and priced to sell. It might not outsell the MacBook Air but that’s okay. → Read More
Microsoft has released an SDK for Windows Phone 7.8 — aka the last ever update for Windows Phone 7 handsets, which have been orphaned by the company’s platform shift to Windows Phone 8 (built on a different kernel). The SDK release was announced yesterday by Microsoft on the Windows Phone developer blog. Expect the 7.8 update to roll out soon — still due, says Microsoft, in “early 2013″. → Read More
UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesperson said:
The phrase R&D has been misinterpreted and Microsoft’s R&D is not moving from South Korea. Last month, after evaluations that the company regularly does, Microsoft made adjustments to its Office workforce in South Korea. With work completed in a particular product area, some roles have been redeployed to Office in their Redmond headquarters… → Read More
Microsoft is talking with Dell about financing its buyout. The deal is reported to be worth about $2 billion.
For the past few weeks there have been reports that Dell has been in talks with Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, to buy out the public shareholders. It has been reported that the buyout would be $13 to $14 per share. CNBC broke the Microsoft news this morning. → Read More
It’s about damn time. Microsoft announced the Surface product family on June 18th. After eight months of waiting, Microsoft announced that on February 9, the fully-capable, Windows 8-packing, Intel-powered, actually-really-novel Surface 8 Pro will finally hit stores in the U.S. and Canada. The Surface Pro is the big daddy in the Surface family. Unlike the $499 Surface with Windows RT, the… → Read More
Home video game consoles seem somewhat quaint at this point, and it’s not an issue of graphics capabilities or raw power, on which scales they both still beat out mobile devices. ‘More power’ will likely be the clarion call of the next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and new details leaked around Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor, codenamed Durango, suggest they’ll have specs to boast… → Read More
When a disaster happens, chances are you want to get in touch with your loved ones as soon as possible, either to tell them that you’re fine or to make sure they are. To make this easier, Microsoft is launching HelpBridge today, a mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. HelpBridge, which is based on Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform, lets you notify your friends and family by SMS, email or… → Read More
Microsoft Open Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, just announced the launch of VM Depot, “a community-driven catalog of open source virtual machine images for Windows Azure.” Azure, of course, already has a store that allows developers to deploy premium applications to its Azure cloud computing service. With VM Depot, Microsoft now also offers a service that’s similar to what… → Read More
Whether you’re a Microsoft user or not, you have to respect the fact that its install base for operating systems is massive. The company spans plenty of sectors, specifically enterprise, but of course in the home, too. Today, the company announced that its latest operating system, Windows 8, has sold 60 million licenses. Finding out how many of these licenses are consumer and how many have… → Read More
Microsoft just announced a number of updates to its SkyDrive cloud storage service. SkyDrive users can now, for example, get a better overview of who they shared documents with and who currently has access to a file. In addition, SkyDrive now features some improvements for users on touch devices (including, of course, Windows 8) and improved drag-and-drop support for all users. → Read More
Relations between Nokia and its former BFF Microsoft are evidently not as cosy as once they were. While the Finnish mobile maker has reiterated it’s “immediately focused” on Windows Phone for smartphones it has also indicated it is keeping an open mind about using alternatives to Microsoft’s mobile OS in future — potentially even considering a move to Android. → Read More
Rejoice, Windows Phone users: your daylong Google Maps crisis will soon be over.
After causing quite a kerfuffle the other day by effectively blocking Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps in-browser, Google has released a statement (obtained by The Next Web) clarifying its rationale and promising that it would soon fix the issue. → Read More
Late last year, it was reported that Microsoft, Apple and Google were all speaking to id8 Group R2 Studios Inc. about a potential acquisition of the startup, and now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft has indeed sealed the deal. R2 is a home automation and entertainment media startup, founded by Blake Krikorian, former founder of Sling Media. Microsoft hopes to use the startup’s… → Read More
On Microsoft’s public policy blog today, Microsoft VP & Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner has a post complaining about YouTube’s lack of support for its mobile platform and how that affects users. Microsoft has been trying to get a proper YouTube app working, and has developed its own app to bring a high-quality experience to Windows Phone, but YouTube has prevented Microsoft from doing so. → Read More
The mobile app economy continued to power ahead last year, with 43.6 billion downloads worldwide in the 12 months ending September 2012. And while first-mover Apple may have today had a setback in its attempts to fight off competitors with trademark complaints over the very use of the phrase “app store”, it continues to lead the market in the category, according to figures out today from ABI… → Read More
The enterprise — I get a sideways glance when I tell people it’s what I cover. People want to know why I find it so compelling. They ask because truly they have no goddamn clue what the hell the enterprise is in the first place. → Read More
New York City
New York City Meetup + Pitch-Off
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