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All posts tagged "microsoft"


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Microsoft Releases bing App for iOS and Android!

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android News" @ 12:30 PM

http://informationweek.com/news/win...RSSfeed_IWK_All

"Microsoft said it has released an app that allows users of Apple and Android-based mobile devices to access its Bing search engine, a move that could expose Redmond's search technology to a wider audience but also raises questions about the company's confidence in its own platforms."

Think of it what you will, bing is a viable alternative to another very well known search engine, and now Android users have a new native app for it!


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Android Getting Windows Live

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 08:00 PM

http://androinica.com/2011/07/micro...-dont-know-why/

"According to a post on the Windows Team Blog, Microsoft has given developers the tools for Windows Live integration across all major mobile platforms, including our beloved Android. The team in Redmond is giving you a use for that Hotmail account you made in the 90s, and they are bringing Messenger and SkyDrive along with it."

Never mind the snarky tone of the article - this is good stuff for both Windows Live, Android and Windows Phone 7 (kinda). I'm reminded of Microsoft's 1990s move to port Office to the Mac. This widened the user base, but also helped make the user transition between Mac OS and Windows easier. Did MS lose users on the OS side? Certainly, but I'd bet they more than made up for it in sales of Office. Same thing here, mostly. Android's currently the bigger and more popular platform, so offering Live integration makes a lot of sense from a narrow business viewpoint. Would this impact adoption of WP7? As the late-comer I don't think so - Windows Live integration isn't that much of a differentiator for WP7, so the main effect would be to make the transition between WP7 and Android easier. But hey, I could just be blowing smoke here - what do you guys think?


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

8 Tech Companies Officially Come Out In Support of ProposedAT&T/T-Mobile Merger

Posted by Kevin Jackson in "Android Talk" @ 11:30 AM

http://www.tmonews.com/2011/06/micr...-mobile-merger/

"Microsoft joined with Facebook and 6 other technology companies in a filing to the FCC last night in a statement of support for the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. The deals supporters include Yahoo, Oracle, Research in Motion and VC firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Partners. Their argument is pretty much summed up by saying that the proposed deal is the best way for AT&T to expand their network capacity in order to serve a larger portion of America with high-speed wireless services."

Well, ain't this a kick in the head. Facebook, Microsoft, and others are now officially supporting the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. The first question that runs through my mind when I see news like this is "what is their motive." In other words, how is this proposed merger going to affect their bottom lines.

I, for one, am not in favor of this merger at all. I have been an AT&T customer and I am currently a T-Mobile customer and the quality of their respective customer service is worlds apart. T-Mobile consistently takes care of any issues that I have -- which are few and far between -- while the numerous issues I had with AT&T were rarely handled satisfactorily. That may have changed in the intervening years since I left them, but the bad taste is still there. If this merger goes through you can bet that I, for one, will be moving over to Sprint.

What do you think of the merger? How about the companies coming out in support of it? What do they stand to gain? Let us know in the forum.


Friday, December 31, 2010

What The Geeky Got for Gifts

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 05:30 PM

http://mashable.com/2010/12/31/ipad...-mashable-poll/

"If you got an iPad as a gift during the holidays, you certainly weren't alone. In a recent poll of holiday gift recipients, iPads accounted for a full 22.7% of all gadget or hardware gifts, making iPads the single largest category in our gift poll, outstripping the nearest runner-up by nearly 14% of votes. That runner-up was Amazon's Kindle - not surprising considering that the Kindle is the best-selling product in Amazon's history."

It's a relatively small sampling size - less than 2400 votes, and only from people who read Mashable - but among the geek-set, there are a couple of stand-out points: the iPad was the #1 gift, more people got Macs (60%) than Windows machines (40%), Android phones let the way in the smartphone category with a hefty 50.3% figure (iPhones were 30%), but Windows Phone 7 devices at 10.3% just eeked out Blackberry devices (9.4%). Not bad for a brand new platform that most people still haven't heard about! Lastly, the Xbox/Kinect one-two punch clobbered the PS3 with a 54.3% figure versus only 11.9% for the PS3. The Kinect really is driving the Xbox 360 to new heights of popularity!


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