As a generation of people, we should consider ourselves extremely lucky to live in a age which represents the cutting edge of technological breakthroughs and advancements. Rarely a day seems to go by without some new technology-based product being released to the public, whether this is a new smartphone or tablet, a new flat screen high definition television set or hopefully something more out there and unique in the not too distant future like the proposed Google’s virtual reality goggles.
Ah Skype, the world wide web’s voice-over-internet protocol of choice and probably the most well known brand name to offer VoIP services. When Niklas Zennström originally created the Skype service, I often wondered if he had any idea that it would become such a popular platform around the world and that the might of Microsoft would ultimately come in and acquire the company like it did last year. For those that may have been living under a rather large rock for the last few years, Skype allows registered users to make worldwide voice calls via the internet as well as offering instant messaging-type services and is available on multiple platforms.
It has been just over twelve months since Finnish communications company, Nokia, joined forces with the might of Microsoft in an attempt to boost their falling worldwide mobile phone sales by manufacturing devices featuring the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The move represented a somewhat bumpy journey into the unknown for Nokia but was seen as an attempt to try and break the stranglehold that Android and iOS powered devices have over the industry.
We already knew that Microsoft was hard at work developing an iPad version of the still popular Office suite of apps, and now The Daily has managed to get some hands-on time with it.
Over the weekend, there were two leaks revealing that a major SkyDrive update is in the works. The first one revealed that SkyDrive will be offering three tiers of additional storage -- 20GB, 50GB, and 100GB upgrades to the existing 25GB for $10, $25, and $50, respectively, along with a desktop client for Windows and OS X -- and the second revealed that SkyDrive will be getting URL shortening, direct sharing to Twitter, an increase of the individual file limit to 300MB (on par with Dropbox), support for OpenDocument formats, and the ability to manage BitLocker recovery keys. All in all, a pretty major upgrade showing that Microsoft is taking its cloud file storage service seriously.
Now, this is a fairly spontaneous rumor with little proof, so this one must be taken with a grain of salt: Microsoft is reportedly in talks with record labels on creating a new music service that caters to the Xbox and "an upcoming Windows-based phone".
A day after Apple presented its forthcoming Mountain Lion OS to the world, Microsoft has given PC users something to mull over by unveiling the Metro-themed Windows 8 Logo.
Microsoft's Kinect was originally launched as a novel way of playing games which took the motion control gaming of the Nintendo Wii and made it truly controller-free. Using a camera and microphone, the Kinect changed the way we interact with our Xbox 360s, though whether much more than a novelty or a gimmick remains to be seen.
With Microsoft desperately trying to make Windows Phone into a real competitor for Apple's iOS and Google's Android, the platform finds itself suffering the same issues that Android was lamented for during its infancy - a severe lack of quality apps.
With the release of any new piece of consumer technology, especially an eagerly anticipated release, we expect a certain amount of rumors and speculations going side by side with it. However, as the conjecture flies in from all different angles, it sometimes becomes difficult to establish what is actually based on some form of reality and what is purely fabrication. The release of the next generation Xbox console is hot news, and rightly so in our opinion considering the current 360 is one of the world’s most popular consoles with millions of gamers around the world using it on a daily basis.
