Tag: microsoft

Check Out What Microsoft’s New Browser ‘Spartan’ Has to Offer

Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned in building its upcoming operating system Windows 10 and the company is presently working on overhauling the browser of its forthcoming Windows. According to a recent revelation, the new browser, tentatively titled ‘Spartan’, is said to have some exceptional features. These features are not contained in any other browser till date.

The first major feature of Spartan is the inking support through which Windows 10 users hold support to the web note service. Through this, users can add web pages and send notes to a friend with the help of a stylus. The personal notes written by you gets stored on a copy of the web page, which can later be seen at any browser. As all the browsers support this service, the messages can be easily be read by any of your friend or colleague using a different version or OS.

The second major advancement is the group tab feature in which users can categorize tabs as per their choice. One can split work tab from personal tab to declutter the messy screen. The company has also hinted at launching custom themes with Spartan, but they may arrive as future updates of Spartan.

COnsidering the initial presentation of Windows 10, it seems like Lumia phones are only going to get better

Another important feature of the up-and-coming web browser its assimilation with the company’s digital assistance, Cortana. Windows 10 users will be able to get information on flights, hotel bookings and other vital data in the browser. One can track a particular flight just by typing its name and all the data like departure time, arrival time and current status will appear before the user.

Unlike the previous OS by Microsoft, this time it is going to be a single browser for all platforms whether computer, handset or tablet. For the latter two devices, it will be available as an app on the Microsoft Store. It was earlier reported that Microsoft will be bringing back Internet Explorer with the Windows 10. Microsoft as well as the audience, has high hopes from the latest Windows as its preceding version. Windows 8, was a big blunder; we hope that the Windows 10, Spartan and Cortana stand up to their expectations.

January 9, 2015
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Meets PM Modi to Discuss the Digital India Project

Narendra Modi has a long list of high-profile guests flying over to India to meet him. The recent addition to the list was Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.

Nadella after meeting the PM at his office on Friday commented, “it’s always fantastic for me personally to be in India and the conversation I had with the minister was wide ranging,”

Nadella is the third major tech executive to meet PM Modi, after Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. While it is largely being dubbed as a personal visit for the India-born chief executive of the American software giant, he was also supposed to address Microsoft’s employees in India on Friday.

Earlier in the day Nadella met PM Narendra Modi and communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. “I have an aspiration that in this mobile and cloud world, we can empower every individual citizen of India and every business organization and institution in India to be able to try with new technology. So, I am looking forward to be a part of both the Digital India and Make in India,” he said.

CEO, Microsoft, Shri @satyanadella met PM @narendramodi. pic.twitter.com/wnndimo9sE

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 26, 2014

One of the major highlight of this high-profile meeting was the talks between Nadella and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad where he urged the telecom minister to allow Microsoft to pilot its ‘White-Fi’ technology to provide internet connectivity in remote villages in the country.

Microsoft India, since last month, has been seeking approvals to deploy a project that will enable Internet connectivity using ‘White Space’ spectrum that is currently used for television transmission by Doordarshan. White space technology has previously been deployed in South Africa, Ghana, and the UK, although to this point, white space broadband hasn’t been deployed at a commercially meaningful scale.

This was the second courtesy call of the Microsoft CEO to PM Narendra Modi. Nadella met the Prime Minister earlier during his first India visit after taking charge as boss of the top software company.

December 27, 2014
Microsoft Launches the 4G-Capable Nokia Lumia 638 at an Affordable Price

Redmond giant Microsoft has launched its budget 4G compatible smartphone, called the Nokia Lumia 638. The phone will be available exclusively at the company’s new Microsoft Brand store on Amazon India and is priced at Rs. 8,299. Pre-orders for the Nokia Lumia 638 will kick-ff from tomorrow.

Specs on the smartphone include a 4.5 inch FWVGA (480×854 pixels) ClearBlack LCD display with Gorilla Glass 3, a 1.2 Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 400 SOC chipset along with 1 GB of RAM. Optics will just include a 5 MP rear auto focus camera. On the memory front, there’s an 8GB of internal storage with microSD card compatibility (up to 128GB). Powering the smartphone would be a 1830 mAh battery while the OS on board would be Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim update.

Commenting on the launch, Raghuvesh Sarup, Director – Marketing, Nokia India Sales Pvt. Ltd. (a subsidiary of Microsoft Mobile Oy), said, “With the Lumia range we have always focused on delivering new experiences and features to our consumers at affordable price points. Now, we are introducing Lumia 638 which is the most affordable 4G smartphone on Windows Phone 8.1. It builds on the success of the Lumia range in the fast growing affordable smartphone segment and aims to address the consumers’ demand for a device that lets them enjoy uninterrupted video content. We are confident of the success of the Lumia 638 as a comprehensive package and are certain that the device will help us consolidate our position in the affordable smartphones segment further.”

In addition, consumers on Airtel postpaid in Bengaluru can avail upto 5GB of free data on 4G for 2 months. The offer will be valid until 31st March 2015. The Nokia Lumia 638 is being touted as the most affordable 4G compatible smartphone yet.

December 16, 2014
Microsoft Lumia 535: Attractive, yet Affordable

Microsoft is going for an aggressive push for its Windows phone family. Since the acquisition of the Nokia mobile business, the company has gone ahead to replace the iconic brand name with its own. The new line of devices have garnered some praise for their unique designs and fast performance. In the affordable line of Windows devices stands the Lumia 535 which is a great Windows 8.1 device.

The Microsoft Lumia 535 gets its processing provice from a quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 processor. It features 1 GB of RAM and an internal storage of 8 GB that is expandable up to 128 GB; storage is literally no issue on this device. To make life even easier, the device comes with 15 GB of cloud storage. The device is juiced up through a 1905 mAh battery.

The display on the device might be a slight letdown. It has a 5-inch qHD (960 x 540) with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. You can find multiple devices offering 720p HD displays in lower price points. On the camera front, the device gets its image capturing abilities from Nokia’s exceptional legacy in phone cameras. The device has a 5 MP camera on the back and a wide angle lens for selfies in the front.

The device also carries Nokia’s Here maps system that is considered one of the best navigation apps out there. The device comes with special offers that might make it inviting. There are multiple color options available for the Lumia, which makes the device appear quite youthful.

The Smartphone in its entirety is a worthy purchase, but it comes for a price of Rs.9,199. Microsoft should consider slicing the prices as much as it can so that people who want to give it a try wouldn’t have to think twice before going for it.

This is a sponsored post

December 16, 2014
Microsoft Opens its Official Retail Store on Amazon

It’s been long since the multinational company Microsoft has been functional in India, but only now has it set up a store here. Microsoft has joined hands with popular e-commerce website Amazon to trade its hardware and software products within the country.

The initiative is commenced to bring all Microsoft products under one roof and provide customers with best offers. The company made an official announcement,

Consumers buying Microsoft products at the Microsoft Brand Store on Amazon.in would enjoy a number of benefits, including exclusive products across various Microsoft product categories. Consumers will also have access to unique bundles available only at the Microsoft Brand Store.

The brand store has the following six categories under which you can select a product and make a purchase. These categories are Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows 8.1, Office, Accessories and Laptops & Tablets.

The exclusive offer on the brand store includes Xbox One Assassin’s Creed Bundle. It includes three free games – Unity, Black Flag and Dance Central Spotlight and an additional wireless controller free worth Rs. 3,999. Another exclusive offering includes Xbox One FIFA Bundle free FIFA 15 and a free wireless controller for Rs. 34,990.

The list adds Microsoft’s recent release Lumia 535. The store offers no discount on the device and it comes at the launch price of Rs. 9,199. Another deal that is tempting is the offering Nokia Lumia 1320 at a massive discount of Rs. 9,000, a price cut from Rs. 23,999 to Rs. 14,999. The device has an impressive 6-inch HD display and a 5MP camera to capture pictures.

Yet another surprise by the company in the store is the Nokia Lumia 730, a phone with 5-inch qHD LCD display. It houses a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor clocked at 1.2GHz together with 1 GB of RAM. It sports a 5MP front and rear camera. The 8 GB of internal storage capacity along with 15GB of free OneDrive cloud storage makes the phone a nice pick.

There are many more options to choose from.

December 15, 2014
Microsoft Likely to Push Back Windows 10 Release to Late Next Summer

Well, everyone has been waiting eagerly for the Microsoft’s new OS Windows 10 but unfortunately we might not see it anytime soon. The new version, which is a significant upgrade from Windows 8, is now expected to launch next year in spring. That means, we will have to wait until late summer of next year to get our hands on it.

Mary Jo Foley, an influential ZDNet reporter, has revealed that Microsoft might delay the launch of the new OS to next year’s late summer or early fall. The report also added that the new Technical Preview of Windows 10 will be coming early summer.

Microsoft is also expected to roll out Windows 10 Mobile SKU, which is compatible with Windows Phones, ARM tablets and Intel tablets, late January, along with the consumer preview of Windows 10 which will integrate Cortana into desktop OS. The mobile version of Windows is believed to integrate itself into the desktop OS.

Foley also confirmed that Microsoft will be holding its Build 2015 Conference late april, where it is expected to launch the enterprise version of the Windows 10, which will be constantly updated and tweaked until it gets ready for the public roll out.

Foley further stated that we could expect the touch version of Office 365 to launch with the Windows 10. Microsoft has made a great deal of iterations with the new OS. The company has emphasised on the return of the Start Menu, and the Continuum mode which detects whether the keyboard and mouse are hooked to the desktop or not and provides you suitable UI.

December 6, 2014
Here’s the First Look at Cortana Running on Windows 10

Well, it has been a month since the technical preview of Windows 10 is out; although, it doesn’t run Cortana as for now. Cortana is Microsoft’s obvious response to Apple’s Siri, and with Apple looking to integrate Siri into OS X, Microsoft desperately needs to do it right. Right now, Cortana doesn’t have much of a personality in Windows 10, but we expect that it will be there by the time the company rolls it out to the public.

Anyway, it is pretty much clear and evident that Cortana be will coming to desktops once Windows 10 is available commercially. We are still waiting to see Cortana in action on desktops.

In a recent video post, WinBeta got access to Cortana on Windows 10. The early version of the Microsoft’s virtual assistant isn’t pretty, however, we can expect Microsoft to tweak it before the roll out of public version.

This early version, which the popular publication got hold off, got most of the basic stuff in place, such as calling Skype contacts, reading out your calendar and setting reminders just like on Windows Phone. The hard truth is, there are not many Windows Phone users out there and so, this might be the golden chance for the company to push out Cortana to a larger user base.

Google Now has been available on Chrome and other platforms for some time now. These companies’ devotion towards virtual assistants shows how important they have become. The mere fact that all the big names have come up with their virtual assistants and are looking out to integrate them into desktops defines the future of personal computing.

December 6, 2014
Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

On 4th February 2014 Satya Nadella was announced the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation. He joined Microsoft in 1992 and served leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across Microsoft for over 22 years. He served as Executive Vice President of Cloud & Enterprise Group and President of Server & Tools at Microsoft Corporation until 4th February, 2014. He led the transformation to the cloud infrastructure and services business. Satya Nadella joined the growing list of India-born executives heading major global corporations. The list already includes PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and Deutsche Bank co-CEO Anshu Jain.

We are listing 8 facts about Satya Nadella you ought to know:

1. Love for Cricket

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Satya Nadella”]

I think playing cricket taught me more about working in teams and leadership that has stayed with me throughout my career.

[/quote]

He has grown up as a passionate cricketer and has played for his school and college teams.

2. He was Initially Against the Nokia-Microsoft Collaboration

Some reports say that during the on going talks about the deal had hinted that Microsoft founder Bill Gates and new CEO Satya Nadella were against the Nokia buyout, as was Skype founder Tony Bates and many other unnamed board members. Later, Nadella changed his stance and supported the deal.

3. Love for Poetry

Nadella says he loves to sit back and read poetry, which, according to him, is like a code.

[quote text_size=”small”]

You’re trying to take something that can be described in many, many sentences and pages of prose, but you can convert it into a couple lines of poetry and you still get the essence, so it’s that compression. The best code is poetry.

[/quote]

4. Microsoft’s 3rd CEO

In the 38 years of Microsoft’s history, only three people have held the position of CEO and Nadella is one of them. Former CEOs were Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

5. An Engineer by Education

Unlike Steve Ballmer, who comes from a managing background and had served as an Assistant Product Manager at Procter & Gamble before joining Microsoft in 1980, Nadella started out as an engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from Manipal University and a master’s in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin.

6. Roots and Wings

Nadella’s hometown Hyderabad is a technology hub and houses one of the biggest Microsoft Research and Development Centres outside of the United States. His father, B.N. Yugandhar, still lives in Hyderabad. Nadella’s father has been a member of the elite Indian Administrative Service and a member of the Planning Commission during 2004-2009 under the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

7. His major role in Microsoft’s transition to cloud

Before becoming the CEO of Microsoft, he was Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise Group and was responsible for building and running the company’s Computing Platforms, Developer Tools and Cloud Computing Services. Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft is on its way to become as good at web-based services as it ever was at PC software.

8. One of the most promoted employees in Microsoft

Among his other high-level positions before he served as the Executive Vice President for the Cloud and Enterprise Group last year are President of the Server and Tools Business, Senior VP of R&D for the Online Services Division, VP of the Business Division, Corporate VP of Business Solutions and Search & Advertising Platform Group, Executive VP of Development of Cloud and Enterprise Group.

December 3, 2014
You Can Now Edit Microsoft Office Documents Directly from Your Gmail Inbox

Google has recently added another feature to the web-version of its popular email service, Gmail. Now, Gmail inbox allows users to edit Microsoft Office documents sent as email attachments. With Microsoft increasing its popularity in cloud space, Google has taken a right step forward.

This doesn’t seem like a major update, however, the new feature is a part of Google’s strategy to make its cloud service more universal and make it a one-stop from enterprise workspace. The new feature adds a Google Drive edit icon to Gmail attachments that says ‘Edit with Google Docs’. By clicking on this, the Office files get automatically converted into Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

Clicking this ‘edit’ option on an Office file attachment will convert the file to the preferred Google format, saving it in Google Drive to allow for continuous editing and sharing. Google has also increased the amount of Office file formats so as it can be imported to Docs to make the process easier. The list now includes 15 less-used Office formats including .pps and .ppsx.

The formats will be converted into Google formats according to their extensions such as dot, dotx, dotm*, docm* will convert into Google Docs; xlt, xltx, xltm*, xlsm* into Google Sheets and pot, potx, potm*, pptm*, pps, ppsx, ppsm* into Google Slides.

If you don’t want to change your file type, Google has a solution for that too. Google suggests you to use its Office Editing Chrome extension. It is also promising ‘improved charts, images, and tables support for these file formats, but didn’t go into detail.

December 3, 2014
Microsoft to Unveil the Consumer Preview of Windows 10

Everyone is excited about the upcoming Windows 10. Not only is Microsoft bringing back the familiar look that we have come to love and appreciate, it is bound to come with better features than ever before. The company already unveiled a beta version for developers, and it touched on the basic tweaks. But coming January, the company will be unveiling a preview for the consumers and will give more details of its arrival in the market.

The Verge reports that Microsoft is expected to hold its press conference to unveil the product by the end of January. The preview by Microsoft seems to be taking things to a new level. The best bit of this new OS update is that it works across multiple platforms as one operating system. They have also introduced a feature called ‘Continuum’ that makes it easier to switch from touch to non-touch devices.

Windows 10 Start menu

The other important upgrades in the upcoming version include the return of the much-missed Start menu. This time around, the menu is empowered with Windows 8 style live tiles and is customisable. Taking cues from Mac OS X, the company is also adding multiple desktops to Windows 10. For the nerds out there, Microsoft has made it easy to use Command prompt in this version, well about time.

Microsoft has also said that Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for personal users, which is just fantastic. The company will be making an official announcements on dates by the end of the year, and we’ll get you all the latest on its arrival.

November 28, 2014
Selfie-Friendly Microsoft Lumia 535 Comes to India at Rs. 9,199

Microsoft has today launched the Lumia 535 in India. The first ever non-Nokia Lumia smartphone will be available from 28th November onwards at a price of Rs. 9,199.

The global release of the smartphone held earlier this month. Lumia 535 is an affordable smartphone which will stand against Android blockbusters like Moto E, Zenfone 5 among other. Apart from the affordable price, Microsoft has targeted the selfie market with the 5 MP wide-angle selfie camera at the front. There is also a 5MP camera at the back, which is accompanied by flash.

As for specifications, the Lumia 535 flaunts a 5-inch QHD (960×540 pixels) display and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor paired with 1 GB of RAM. Also included is 8 GB internal storage that can be further expanded up to 128 GB using a microSD card.

The company is offering 15 GB free OneDrive storage with the phone. The device packs a 1905mAh battery, which the company claims is good enough for 11 hours of talk time and up to 23 days on standby mode. Connectivity options include dual-SIM card slots, 3G support, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and on the software front, it runs on Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim update.

In the launch, Microsoft announced a handful of offers with the Lumia 535. These include 500 MB of free data for Vodafone users for a period of two months, Jabong gift vouchers worth Rs. 6,000 applicable for three months, Flipkart eBooks worth Rs. 1,500 and two months of BoxTv subscription worth Rs. 720.

November 26, 2014
Dropbox Gets Exclusive Real Estate on Microsoft Office Apps

Couple of weeks ago, Microsoft and Dropbox announced the plan to integrate Office and Dropbox within their web and mobile apps. The feature is now available in its latest app updates for iOS and Android. The move has come as a great surprise for Office users as they can access and edit Office documents from within the Dropbox.

Along with the ability to edit documents right from the Dropbox, users can also access Dropbox from Office apps and share new or edited files from the Office apps using Dropbox’s Share functionality. Dropbox has instructions on how to use the new integration with Microsoft’s Office apps on its website.

To get started, make sure your Dropbox app is up to date on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, then open any Office doc, spreadsheet, or presentation in your Dropbox. Tap the new Edit icon (shown above) to start editing in the latest Office apps. When you’re done, your changes will be saved back to Dropbox automatically.

Under the partnership, Dropbox gets a prime space that is used by more than a billion people, and the potential to make an even bigger name for itself particularly in the business enterprises. Notably, Microsoft has its own cloud service called OneDrive which will co-exist with Dropbox in the Office for iPad apps, letting users natively browse, open and edit Office documents uploaded on the Dropbox directly within the app.

You can get the new features through the latest Dropbox app for iOS starting today and the latest versions of Microsoft’s Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Office apps. The integration is also expected to arrive for web users early next year.

November 26, 2014
Microsoft is Offering Lumia Smartphones for a Free Two-Week Trial

Microsoft is giving its consumers a chance to try out Lumia smartphones for free on a trial basis. After ending the Nokia brand, the Redmond based giant is attempting to increase the popularity of its devices by giving customers a free two-week trial of its Lumia range.

To avail this trial, all you need to do is to fill in your name along with some other details on a web form and mention why you want to try out the device. The devices that are a part of this initiative include Lumia 630, Lumia 735, Lumia 930, Lumia 830, Lumia 1520 and Nokia X (a non-Lumia device and instead runs a forked version of Android.)

The ‘Terms and Conditions’ further states that the devices will be given out on a trial period of two weeks with an age requirement being 16 years or more. To sign up for this trial offer, head over to the Lumia conversations blog and fill in the details provided by the company.

Want to try your luck? You can sign up here.

November 17, 2014
Microsoft to Bring Out a Web Version of Skype in the Coming Months

Microsoft seems to focus on Skype a lot these days. A few days ago, the company announced that it will rebrand Lync, enterprise video conferencing software, as Skype For Business. Now, Microsoft announced on Friday that it will soon launch a web-based version of the video-conferencing platform.

Microsoft has gradually started to bring Skype to the web through its Outlook.com service, however, this web-version will work across latest versions of Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari without the need to use Outlook.com. The new version of Skype, which is still in beta, allows users to log in to their existing accounts from Skype’s website.

The official blogpost reads: “Skype for Web makes it quicker and easier than ever before to connect with friends, family and colleagues around the world, for free – directly from Skype.com. It’s perfect if you prefer using the web rather than an app: perhaps you’re sitting at a computer that doesn’t already have Skype downloaded. Or maybe you’re on the go and using an internet café or hotel computer whilst on vacation where you can’t download Skype at all. Using Skype for Web makes it more convenient to get to your conversations.”

Microsoft is planning to take advantage of Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) APIs to enable browser-to-browser voice calling, video chat, and instant messaging in the future. However, for now, you need a small plug-in to enable the service until WebRTC version is ready.

The Skype for Web is still in beta stage, the company acknowledged some glitches with Skype’s current web-based version. Microsoft said that Mac users may experience an “issue with battery consumption,” and outgoing video calls may take longer than normal to connect for all web users.

According to the blog, the company is rolling out the services to limited people at first with a larger rollout to follow in coming months. It is not clear how many users would be a part of the initial process, however, the selected ones will see an invitation when they log in to their Skype account from Skype.com.

November 15, 2014
Microsoft Plans to Upgrade All Windows Phone 8 Devices to Windows 10

There is no place for silly mistakes in the tech industry and Microsoft has realised that. After dropping the Nokia brand completely, the company has a lot of work to do in terms of brand image as all its key smartphone components are at stake. Windows Phone OS is one of them.

The company, responding to a customer’s query on Twitter, has made it clear that it “plans to upgrade all Windows Phone 8 devices to Windows 10 in the future.” This also includes the Windows 8 devices launched under the name of Nokia. The next big Windows OS, Windows 10, is still in the early development stage, hence, Microsoft is tight-lipped about the arrival of the new OS.

@Kalars07 We plan to upgrade all Windows Phone 8 devices to Windows 10 in the future :)

— Lumia (@lumia) November 13, 2014

However, it is a sign of relief to the Nokia Lumia owners who felt backstabbed when the company completely dropped the Nokia branding. Earlier in 2012, Windows lovers were disappointed when Microsoft decided that the existing devices wouldn’t make the jump to Windows Phone 8.

The new operating system was unveiled at San Francisco for Business customers. Microsoft has already released a technical preview version for selected users. It is expected to unveil new consumer features early next year. Windows 10 is expected to reach the market by mid-2015. Considering Microsoft nails its flagship operating system in every alternate release, we have a lot of hopes with this one.

November 14, 2014