Microsoft

Office for iPad updated: AirPrint, SmartGuides in PowerPoint, AutoFit in Excel

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 29, 2014

A glaring omission from the initial release of the free Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Apple's iPad, printing has now been added to these apps via Microsoft’s first major update to the Office for iPad suite. The software update has arrived on Tuesday, a little more than a month into the suite's iPad launch last month.

Besides printing support across all Office for iPad apps, SmartGuides are now available in PowerPoint making it easy to align the elements of your presentation.

Moreover, Excel users will be happy to learn that a new AutoFit feature has been added to both Excel for iPad and its desktop counterpart. This feature allows you to adjust the width and height of multiple rows and columns at once...

Microsoft’s first Nokia ad positions Windows Phone as something different

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

Following Microsoft's finalized acquisition of Nokia's Devices and Services unit last week, 25,000 Nokia employees get to join the Windows giant today. To celebrate the merger, the Windows giant has just published its very first Nokia television commercial with Microsoft branding.

Windows Phone often gets relegated to the Others category in global smartphone surveys: currently, it's a distant third, after Android and iOS. The new ad, entitled 'Not Like Everybody Else,' plays on Microsoft's underdog status by promising a bunch of colorful smartphones and tablets that should draw attention and make heads turn...

Skype makes group video calling free on OS X, Windows and Xbox One, coming soon to iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 28, 2014

One-on-one video calls have always been free on Skype and now the Microsoft-owned communication platform is making the group video calling feature, unveiled in 2010, available free of charge to desktop users running OS X or Microsoft Windows, with no expiration date, as well as to owners of the Xbox One console which has Skype deeply integrated.

Up until now, group video calling used to be limited to Skype's Premium users on Windows desktop and Mac, which costs $4.99 for a day pass or $8.99 per month. Microsoft has said it will make the feature free on all platforms "in the future"...

$7 per month Office 365 Personal subscription plan launches with iPad editing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

Microsoft last month released its native and rather nicely done Word, PowerPoint and Excel iPad apps as free downloads from the App Store. You're limited to using these apps to view Microsoft Office documents on your tablet as editing and creating new ones requires one of the many Office 365 subscriptions available.

The iPad apps launched with Microsoft's entry-level Office 365 Home subscription plan costing $9.99 per month. If you don't want to pay ten bucks per month just to edit Office documents, Microsoft now offers a more affordable Personal plan for $6.99 per month...

Windows Phone 8.1 update introduces native Passbook support

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 14, 2014

Microsoft today released a developer preview of its forthcoming upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 software update and one outlet has spotted an interesting new feature allowing folks to import Passbook items into the Microsoft Wallet app.

Announced at WWDC last summer, Passbook lets you store coupons, boarding passes, event tickets, store cards and more into the stock iOS Passbook app and sync these items across other iOS and Mac devices through iCloud.

Apple has envisioned Passbook as an iOS feature, but several Android apps now support the feature, like PassWallet. And now people on Microsoft's mobile platform will soon be able to use Passbook on their Windows Phone devices as well...

Apple will no longer invest in patent troll Intellectual Ventures

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 11, 2014

Apple has chosen to pass on the opportunity to pour fresh money into Intellectual Ventures, a patent buying and assertion company founded and led by its chief executive officer Nathan Myhrvold. Following in Apple's footsteps, chip giant Intel has distanced itself too from the controversial patent holding firm and declined further investment

Intellectual Ventures was one of the top-five owners of U.S. patents in 2011. The patent assertion entity, however, has managed to persuade the Japanese consumer electronics maker Sony and the Windows maker Microsoft to invest in its latest acquisition fund, a move that will create a fresh war chest for Intellectual Ventures to buy new patents...

Microsoft’s own CarPlay is predictably called Windows in the car

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 7, 2014

At the annual Build conference in San Francisco last week, software giant Microsoft unveiled its upcoming new platform for automotive, Windows in the car. The software, which appears to have borrowed some ideas from Apple's CarPlay, could succeed Sync, Microsoft's ill-fated in-car solution running on the Windows Embedded Automotive operating system.

Microsoft's largest partner for Sync, Ford, in February announced plans to stop producing Sync-equipped vehicles. Seeing where things were heading, coupled with weak support from car manufacturers, probably played an important factor in the decision to come up with a connected car software of the future, from scratch...

Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for iPad hit 12M downloads

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Seven days into the Office for iPad release on Apple's platform, the native Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications for the iPad have been downloaded twelve million times, the Windows giant confirmed on Twitter this morning.

Microsoft released Word, Excel and PowerPoint as individual downloads for the iPad on March 27, 2014. The software giant's note-taking app, OneNote, hit the App Store ten days earlier, on March 17, 2014.

OneNote got refreshed the same day native Word, Excel and PowerPoint debuted on the App Store to bring it in line with the rest of the Office for iPad suite. You can download Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote individually in the App Store, for free...

Microsoft finally unveils its Siri competitor ‘Cortana’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

It's been nearly three years since Apple unveiled Siri on its iPhone 4s, and Microsoft finally has its answer to the digital assistant: Cortana. Named after a virtual character in the company's popular Halo gaming franchise, the feature is powered by Bing and offers a mix of Google Now-ish and Siri-like characteristics.

We first got a glimpse of Cortana earlier this year courtesy of a developer leak, but Microsoft officially unveiled her this morning at its Build Developer Conference in San Francisco. The assistant will ship alongside several other new features in the Windows Phone 8.1 update, expected to launch in the next few months...

Microsoft Stores offering free 1-year Office 365 subscriptions, Amazon taking 33% off

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 28, 2014

If you visit a Microsoft Store today and bring your iPad with you, Microsoft may give you a free one-year subscription to Office 365, a $99 value.

Following yesterday's release of Office for iPad with native Excel, Word and PowerPoint applications, the Windows giant's retail stores are now promoting the apps by giving away a 1-year Office 365 subscription to the first 50 people who turn up at the door and bring in an iPad with them.

If you don't have the time to visit your nearby Microsoft Store or there's no store in your area, Amazon is now offering a discounted annual Office 365 subscription for $67...

Microsoft updates OneNote for iPad, bringing it in line with new Office apps

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

As you've probably heard by now, Microsoft finally launched its Office apps on the iPad today. You can now download touch-friendly versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint to your Apple-flavored tablet for free, although some features will cost you.

The initial reaction has been pretty positive thus far, with many reviewers saying that Office for iPad is both functional and well-designed. And this afternoon, Microsoft brought that popular new design to its OneNote iPad app by way of an update...

Apple getting its standard 30 percent cut on Office for iPad subscriptions

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 27, 2014

Following today's long expected release of the Office for iPad applications, Apple's boss Tim Cook issued a nice tweet welcoming Word, Excel and PowerPoint into the App Store. Returning the favor, Microsoft's newly installed chief executive Satya Nadella took to Twitter to thank Cook, saying he was "excited to bring the magic of Office to iPad customers".

Redmond couldn't have wished for a better endorsement than this!

So, why are these powerful Silicon Valley executives droning politely on to each other, do you think? And how come Cook is promoting Office for iPad even though the software competes squarely with Apple's own iWork suite, free with iDevice purchases?

Could it be because folks at Cupertino are getting their standard 30 percent cut on Office 365 subscriptions sold within the app...