Microsoft

Report: Yahoo and Microsoft fighting to supplant Google search on iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2014

According to a report Tuesday by The Information, a technology website started by The Wall Street Journal writer Jessica Lessin, both Microsoft and Google are “fighting” to boot Google search from the iPhone and other Apple devices.

If true, the move wouldn't be unheard of: Apple teams up with alternate search providers in markets like China.

Apple earns a small commission from search ad revenue each time a user performs a Google search from Safari's address bar on the Mac, iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

With that deal expiring sometime in 2015, Microsoft and Yahoo are now hoping the Cupertino firm won't renew it and will instead make their respective service the default search choice on iOS.

New Microsoft ad says iPhone 6 Plus only makes Siri bigger, not smarter

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 6, 2017

Friday, Windows giant Microsoft published a new Apple-bashing ad on its YouTube channel.

The 30-second television commercial shows off the latest version of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri-like personal assistant, running on the Lumia 830 and interacting with a bunch of built-in applications.

Cortana amusingly brags to Siri about being able to perform functions Apple's personal assistant can't, like alert users to leave early for an appointment using traffic alerts, remind them of things based on who calls or texts and more.

Microsoft disses Apple in Christmas Surface ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Software giant Microsoft is no stranger to Apple bashing. Every once in a while, the Redmond giant take aim at Apple's iPad tablets and MacBook Air ultra-thin notebooks by putting out aggressively conceived television commercials for its Surface tablets.

Just in time for the looming holiday shopping season, Microsoft started airing a brand new Surface Pro ad that argues that its tablet convertible with a kickstand, keyboard cover and desktop apps is a better deal than the MacBook Air.

Microsoft’s latest Skype ad promotes Apple gear

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2014

Microsoft Canada on Friday published an interesting commercial on its Facebook Page depicting “the world's first wireless orchestra” comprised of New York City's celebrated subway musicians kept in sync with a remote conductor thanks to Skype.

The video features a bunch of Apple's MacBook Pro notebooks that run the Skype software, while iPhones make a few notable appearances as well.

Someone in Cupertino should send marketing wizards in Redmond a thank you note for advertising for Apple.

Details of Telltale’s upcoming game based on HBO’s Game of Thrones series leak

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2014

Before revealing the first story details and premier trailer of “Tales from the Borderlands”, its upcoming adventure game based on on Gearbox and 2K’s Borderlands 2, Telltale yesterday offered a glimpse into an upcoming “Game of Thrones” game based on HBO’s award-winning fantasy drama television series, itself adapted from of “A Song of Ice and Fire”, George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels.

Filing as another episodic adventure game, the game follows the storyline of House Forrester detailed in the book “A Dance with Dragons,” the fifth book of the series, with an interesting twist: players will be permitted to assume the role of any of the five members of House Forrester in various locations around Westeros and Essos.

Needless to say, your actions affect the rest of House Forrester. “Multiply the actions of one character by five, and you’re truly playing the Game of Thrones … where you win, or you die,” notes the blurb.

Microsoft launches Skype for Web beta

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2014

In a pretty significant move Microsoft on Friday announced Skype for Web, an upcoming web application that lets the popular instant messaging and VoIP service run directly in a desktop browser, no plug-in needed, making Skype readily available across desktop, mobile and on the web.

Supported browsers include Microsoft's Internet Explorer 10, Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox or Apple's Safari 6.

Unfortunately, Chrome for Windows is the only supported version of Chrome so Mac users on Google's browser (and Chromebook owners) are left out in the cold for the time being. Chatting and video/voice messaging don't require a browser plug-in. “With WebRTC, there won’t be any downloads or installs – you can just get straight to your conversation”, the software giant said.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint hit iPhone: Dropbox support, new features, basic editing now free

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 6, 2014

Thursday, software maker Microsoft announced immediate availability of Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for the iPhone following the release of Office for iPad applications back in March 2014.

Moreover, the company has refreshed the entire iOS Office suite with Dropbox integration and adding other new features to “ensure a consistently beautiful and productive Office experience on every device”.

In addition to the new Office for iPhone and update iPad apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are coming to Android tablets with the start of Microsoft's Office for Android tablet Preview program. Finally, brand new, touch-optimized Office apps for Windows 10 are in the works and “we’ll have more to share soon”.

Universal Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are free in the App Store.

Office mobile apps will soon sync to Dropbox

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Software giant Microsoft has partnered with Dropbox, the hot cloud-storage startup that Steve Jobs once wanted to buy for $800+ million, to give Office users across desktop, mobile and the web built-in access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in their Dropbox, the firms said Tuesday.

Soon, Dropbox users will be able to link their account directly to the Word, Excel and PowerPoint iPad apps.

As a result, customers will be able to edit Office documents right from their Dropbox mobile app, and access their Dropbox from within their mobile Office apps.

Rumor: Microsoft developing next-generation Surface Pro with 13″ to 14″ screen

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 4, 2014

Software giant Microsoft is reportedly considering developing a bigger Surface Pro tablet with a thirteen to fourteen-inch screen that should appeal to business users for whom productivity is the chief concern, according to a rumor Tuesday out of Taiwan.

As reported by DigiTimes, a Taiwanese trade publication, success of the current twelve-inch Surface Pro 3 — Surface business revenues surged 127 percent to $908 million in the third quarter of 2014 — has encouraged decisions makers at the Redmond firm to consider an even bigger tablet.

Microsoft starts signing up early adopters for Skype Translator early preview

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 3, 2014

Windows giant Microsoft, which owns the popular VoIP platform Skype, on Monday announced it's started taking sign-ups for an early preview of Skype Translator, an awesome real-time voice translation feature coming to Skype that was shown off at Recode’s Code Conference back in May 2014.

The Redmond headquartered software giant said that it's started accepting submissions for a Skype Translator Early Preview, which will be released later this year, via a sign-up page.

New Microsoft ad pits Lenovo’s Yoga 3 Pro convertible to MacBook Air

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Microsoft's Windows channel on YouTube yesterday released a new commercial painting Lenovo's Yoga Pro 3 convertible laptop as a better portable computer overall than Apple's ultra-thin MacBook Air.

Titled 'Let's Dance', the 30-second commercial is critical of the Apple machine's lack of a touchscreen while praising multi-mode flexibility of the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, concluding that once you add the touchscreen to the mix, “it’s game over” because the Yoga 3 Pro proves there’s “more than one way to do what you want”.

Microsoft revamps Outlook for OS X ahead of new Office for Mac version in H2 2015

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 31, 2014

Microsoft in a post Friday over at the official Office blog announced immediate availability of a redesigned version of Outlook for Mac while confirming that a new version of Office for Mac will be ready in the first half of 2015 as a public beta, and in the second half of 2015 for public consumption.

Office 365 subscribers will get the next version of Office (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) at no additional cost, the Windows giant said and added that it will release a perpetual license of Office for Mac in the same timeframe.