In a surprising move, Microsoft has just made Office completely free for iPad, iPhone and Android. Microsoft wants users to stick to the Office platform on their mobile devices, and apparently this is the way to achieve that.
You know what they say about the best laid plans, right? Microsoft's PR wing will be licking its wounds after what appeared to be quite a handy piece of product placement went a tad awry.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer may not be everyone's first choice when it comes to picking a browser, but despite having conceded quite a bit of its market share to Chrome and Firefox in its time, the software maker has made some significant improvements of late both in terms of functionality and reach. Given that IE is only available on the software maker's own platforms, though, it's somewhat limited to a particular audience, and so in order to rectify this situation, Microsoft has launched a new system that allows users to test the most recent edition of its Web-surfing app through the likes of OS X and iOS as well as Google's Android.
The tech. world has been rocked by a series of high-profile acquisitions over the past couple of years, but whilst Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp is perhaps the most memorable, Microsoft's buyout of Finnish telecoms giant Nokia last September is right up there. We always knew that the Nokia branding would eventually make way for something a little more reflective of the new ownership, a notion that was recently confirmed with the announcement that high-end Lumia handsets would change from Nokia Lumia to Microsoft Lumia. Now, for the first time, a leak out of China gives us an idea of what these devices will look like with their new logo.
The world of fitness accessories that talk to smartphones is starting to get interesting, and not just because Apple's upcoming Apple Watch is going to have the sensors required to make HealthKit truly useful. Fitbit is one company that already has skin in the wearable game, and it's not about to stand still while the competition eats its lunch.
Screenshots of Office for Mac 2015 have just been leaked onto the Internet. It has been a while since Microsoft last updated the Office suite, and it seems like the newer version carries a design language that is heavily borrowed from its Windows counterpart.
Microsoft's Office suite has been the subject of much expansion over the past few years, and the occasions when Bill Gates would gripe at the fact that the Apple iPad disadvantaged by its lack of Office support seems a long time ago now. But while the productivity software is not as popular on OS X as it is on Windows, the software maker has continued to offer support, and off the back of several claims that a new version of Office for Mac would be arriving in the near future, a series of legit-looking screenshots, allegedly from Office 16, give us an apparent glimpse at these endeavors.
Microsoft might have won the battle of the last-gen console wars, with its Xbox 360 having narrowly claimed victory over Sony's PlayStation 3, but this time around, things haven't gone entirely the software company’s way. The PlayStation 4 has had a great start since both it and the Xbox One rolled out late last year, and while the former's more powerful hardware will no doubt have helped to reel in the purists, pricing has certainly played a part in these early stages. The Xbox One, after all, launched at a higher price than its Japanese competitor, but with the Windows maker having already made the console cheaper by selling it without the Kinect sensor, it's now in line for its very first price drop later on this year.
The team at Microsoft Garage just released three apps for Google's Android platform. The 'Next Lock Screen', 'Journeys and Notes', and 'Torque' apps coming in from the team signify the direction that Microsoft Garage is taking, by letting employees create cross-platform apps in their spare time.
Windows users can now use their Kinect sensor for Xbox One with their PC thanks to an official adapter kit which Microsoft has just launched. The $49.99 adapter will make the Xbox One version of Kinect not only compatible with just PCs, but tablets as well, as long as they're running Windows 8 or later.
