Tag: Microsoft

Posted on

It’s a Cloud Services World. We just pretend it’s about the hardware…

server rack front panelsWe all like to speculate about what’s coming down the pipe, what “THE FUTURE” will look like. One thing is becoming abundantly clear however, a good chunk of what’s coming is going to be delivered via networked, over the air, services. AKA The Cloud.

I know, shocking revelation. I’m sure none of you saw that coming, which is why it’s a good thing you read this blog, as I’m pretty terrific at delivering the obvious. All joking aside, we’re seeing some pretty exciting trends, and a few concerning ones.

Storage & File Delivery
This was essentially a proof of concept that basic data intensive services could work online. Putting larger files onto a server for easier delivery than email or “sneaker-net” style solutions. From YouSendIt to DropBox and everything else in between, we’ve flirted with the cloud primarily to sync and share information. It’s only been recently that data networks have gotten robust enough to offer…

Media Services
We’ve had Youtube for about nine years now. It’s made such a profound impact that it’s difficult to remember the internet without it. Of course, the push for HD video, and then competing services like Netflix and Hulu, really took hold over the last couple years. Online streaming radio is hot right now, and improved sharing and creation tools have lead to…

Collaborative Services
It’s not enough that we can upload a document. Multiple people can now work on it at the same time instead of emailing revisions back and forth. It’s not enough that I can vlog in front of a webcam, I can now broadcast to a live audience with multiple participants and have that automatically added to my Youtube channel.

So What Comes Next? Continue reading “It’s a Cloud Services World. We just pretend it’s about the hardware…”

Posted on

Microsoft Offering Free Nokia Lumia 1020 or 1520 with iPhone 4 or Galaxy S2 Trade in!

lumia 1520 1020 trade in your iphone 4 or galaxy s2 microsoftHere’s the scoop.

Trade in an iPhone 4, 4S, or a Galaxy S2 in good working condition.
Sign up for a new two year agreement on AT&T.
Walk out with either a Lumia 1020 or Lumia 1520 for free.

But seriously, if you were shopping a new phone, and were considering a Windows Phone, you can pick between the best smartphone camera on the market, or one of the best phablets available. All you have to do is turn over a phone which was likely destined for a recycling center.

Full details on the Microsoft Offers page!

nokia lumia 1020 pureview camera test video samples somegadgetguy

(via Baran Gercek, Analie Cruz)

Posted on

Long Term Review: Samsung ATIV S Neo on AT&T – 2 Months with a Non-Nokia Windows Phone…

I’m a fan of Windows Phone, but I’ve primarily used Nokia devices.

My one other experience with a Samsung WP was decent enough, so I felt it was time to revisit them with the ATIV S Neo on AT&T. I really wanted to give the phone a fair shake, and see if I liked Windows Phone, or if I just liked Nokia hardware.

The grand experiment. It didn’t go so well…

Continue reading “Long Term Review: Samsung ATIV S Neo on AT&T – 2 Months with a Non-Nokia Windows Phone…”

Posted on

Microsoft names Satya Nadella CEO, Gates steps down as Chairman

satya nadella microsoft ceoIt’s official! The rumors and speculation can finally end. Satya Nadella has been named the third CEO of Microsoft as Ballmer exits.

46 year old Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India, and has been with Microsoft for 22 years. He comes from Microsoft’s Servers and Tools Business, where he pushed cloud initiatives, supporting many other divisions within Microsoft including XBox, Bing, Office, and more. He’s an interesting pick, as his background would suggest Microsoft is focusing on bringing more cloud integration to consumer products. I personally hope to see more unification between various products, and cloud data is going to be key in delivering on a “One OS Per Person” strategy.

A New Chairman of the Board…

Bill Gates is also stepping down from his position of Chairman, and will be moving to a new position on the board. He’ll be “Founder and Technology Advisor”, and will be working directly with Nadella in shaping future Microsoft strategies.

John W Thompson Microsoft ChairmanJohn W. Thompson of Virtual Instruments (former CEO of Symantec, and former General Manager of IBM Americas) will move into the Chairman position on Microsoft’s Board of Directors. This appointment further reinforces their focus on cloud computing.

Following news of the announcement, trading has been quietly positive. At the time of this post, MSFT was up almost two tenths on the NASDAQ.

Microsoft has put together a wonderful Welcome Page for Nadella’s announcement with interviews and video, and you can read the full press release below.

Continue reading “Microsoft names Satya Nadella CEO, Gates steps down as Chairman”

Posted on

Tips and Tricks: Windows Phone 8 Keyboard

WP8keyboard copyThe keyboard on the Windows Phone 8 is pretty awesome and really easy to use especially if you know some of the tips and tricks that can make your keyboard much faster. Whether you are a seasoned pro or a newbie these tips and tricks are quite helpful. Let’s dig in!

 

1.       Word Flow

What is Word flow you might be asking yourself? Word Flow helps predict text as you are typing. If you have a word that you frequently use but it is not in your Windows Phone 8 Word Flow then here is a simple tip in order to add it. Type your word then click to select it. A plus sign will appear so go ahead and tap it to add it to Word Flow.

186

 

2.       Emoticons Continue reading “Tips and Tricks: Windows Phone 8 Keyboard”

Posted on

Editorial: HP’s Catastrophic Mistake – Bringing Windows 7 ‘back by popular demand’…

hp-logoHP has a bold new move to spark customer’s interest in PC’s again. They’re going BACKWARDS! That always works! People love a good nostalgia play!

Announced recently on their site and through an email blitz, HP proudly proclaimed they’re “listening to the consumer” and offering up systems running Microsoft’s last popular OS. It’s a desperate move from a company which has been struggling recently to adapt to a post-PC market. The parallels with Blackberry here are astounding. As BB was caught unprepared for consumers buying pretty smartphones, HP hasn’t been able to figure out their offerings in a world where iPads exist.

Pandering to a media narrative which is all too ready to baselessly criticize Windows 8, HP seems to be banking on the technology “hater” market to pull them out of their slump. You know, that group of people who rail against change and spend TONS of money on things like old laptops. That last sentence was sarcasm by the way. Regardless, I’m sure this will prove a winning strategy for the beleaguered tech firm (also sarcasm).

lenovo 2012-13 salesHere’s the fault in their logic. With all the haterade being dumped on Windows 8, You’d think every manufacturer would be in trouble. As a whole the entire industry is down 15-20% depending on who you ask to track the sales. Unfortunately for those taking glee in Microsoft’s stumble, companies like Asus and Lenovo exist, and both are actually improving their sales during this transition which is unprecedented. Built on the backs of innovative and creative design, Lenovo profits over the 2012/13 fiscal year were up almost 18% over the 2011/12 fiscal year. Embracing Windows 8, and providing consumers innovative products at competitive prices, seems to have worked for Lenovo.

The other major problem with HP’s reasoning is Apple. Continue reading “Editorial: HP’s Catastrophic Mistake – Bringing Windows 7 ‘back by popular demand’…”

Posted on

Microsoft Extending Anti-Malware Support for Windows XP through July 2015

windows_xp_logoSeriously folks. If this article is relevant to you, you desperately need to move on. No Joke.

April 8, 2014 is becoming something of a doomsday date. That’s the day official support and updates stop for Windows XP. The OS is over 12 years old now, and a shocking number of computers still run it. After that date, the more dramatic tech commentators among us are expecting calamity as holes, bugs, and exploits will no longer be fixed by Microsoft. There’s a certain expectation that waves of malware will be introduced into the ecosystem, preying on folks who probably aren’t the tech-savviest users on the net.

Microsoft is in a difficult situation. As a profit generating corporation, they genuinely need more people to update to newer software and hardware. They also have a responsibility to not allow one of their most successful products to become a malware infested zombie hulk of an operating system. It’s a scary proposition as some estimates place XP at 30% of the consumer computing market. XP by itself still outpaces OSX and Linux combined in households. Microsoft would be perfectly within their rights to hold to their current support plans, but it would leave a lot of people in the lurch.

And this brings us to the current farce of moving the goal posts. Official support is still ending in April, but now Microsoft is announcing an extension to certificates and anti-malware support through July 14, 2015. This move could backfire, providing XP users a false sense of security. It’s not particularly clear how effective anti-malware support will be on an OS receiving no updates.

And those users might be in for a shock if the upgrade now. The move from XP to Win7, they still would’ve recognized most of how the OS was organized. Now a move to Windows 8 will be more of a culture shock on first boot. It’s a testament to how good XP was that so many people continue using it, but all good things must come to an end.

Full PR below:

Continue reading “Microsoft Extending Anti-Malware Support for Windows XP through July 2015”

Posted on

User Experience: Google vs. Microsoft – A Battle of Apps

gvsm

I totally understand healthy competition however what about user experience for Windows Phone 8 users that would like to use Google powered apps such as Google+, Google maps, YouTube and Google Hangouts.

Back in October Google decided to pull it’s access key from Microsoft’s official YouTube app leaving us with a barebones user experience. Luckily there is YouTubeHD that gives us a great YouTube experience.  As far as maps go, gMaps is right on the mark for all your navigation needs, if you’re not a fan of HERE maps. Gchat is a great instant messaging app for your Google+ friends and contacts in your Gmail. As far as Google+ and Google Hangouts go, the apps I found did not work very well. All of the Google+ apps I tried were just shells or opened up in the browser and anytime I tried to upload photos using these Google+ apps it never worked. Speaking of browsers, I did download the UC Browser and if you like Google+ this is about as close as you will come to a Google+ app like experience. The UC Browser will let you upload photos to your Google+ account.

Finally Google Hangouts. I have tried some of these apps and there were pretty poorly designed.  A friend of mine asked me how I felt about this seen as they know I really like using Google+ over Facebook. It’s a little disappointing that there is no official Google apps for us Windows Phone 8 users. The developers of these third party Google apps really took the time to give us a close Google experience.

Whether you have iOS, Android, or Windows Phone 8 I would think we all would be in the same boat and want a great user experience. Sure Microsoft and Google may never get along but they really should think of us consumers. We buy all our everyday items from reading reviews or past purchases. I wish these two giants would just drop the “I am better than you” buffoonery and really think of the consumers who buy their products. I have had both Android and WP8. 6 months ago Juan was kind enough to tell me about the Nokia Lumia which I now use. It was definitely different going from an Android phone to a Windows Phone. I read reviews and watched videos on the Nokia Lumia 521. It’s a great work horse of a phone.

Though I do miss the official Google apps that are available on Google Play. I was even thinking of contacting Rudy Huyn who is the developer behind the super rad 6tag Instagram app to see if he would make a Google+ and Google Hangouts app for us Windows Phone users. Maybe start a Kickstarter to raise some funds for him to develop some sweet Google apps for us. Even if Google seems intent on shutting down 3rd party app development.

So Google and Microsoft it’s a new year and both of you really should get along and collectively collaborate on apps to make a better and brighter user experience for all.  Can we have official Google apps brought to the WP8 community? What do you say Google and Microsoft?

Continue reading “User Experience: Google vs. Microsoft – A Battle of Apps”

Proudly powered by WordPress