Microsoft now has a child friendly browser thanks to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Actually it is a child friendly version of it’s Internet Explorer 9 browser. The company created the browser as a way for parents and their children to have access to information that will help them to browse the internet safely. It also gives them tools to report any possible dangers to CEOP.
Microsoft’s Business Plan Collaborative Challenge 2012 is now underway. But this isn’t a competition open to any college student. No you have to be attending one of only ten colleges whose students are allowed to participate. Those colleges are: Berkeley, Columbia, MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, Stanford, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, or the University of Washington.
While Ballmer’s CES keynote was as lacking in excitement as expected, there was one interesting announcement from Microsoft for PC owners. Kinect for PC aka Kinect for Windows will be coming out February 1st of this year. While that may seem to be a boon for PC owners the world over, there is one little catch. Kinect for PC will require new hardware and not just software.
Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it was no longer going to have a booth nor deliver the keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show better known as CES after 2012. Instead Microsoft will still attend but won’t have the same role or presence that they have had for almost 20 years. During its last big show Microsoft will focus on the Xbox and Windows Phone.
Nokia has opted out of any significant holiday phone sales. Most of the Windows Phone 7 handsets on the market are at least a few months old and low to middle of the market. Unlike Samsung with its high end Galaxy Nexus Android phone or Motorola with its Droid Razr, there aren’t any really dazzling high end Windows Phone 7 handsets hitting the market anytime soon. The closest is the Samsung Focus S that recently hit AT&T. The other high end handset, the Nokia 800 isn’t expected in the United States anytime soon.
Microsoft has ported Windows Phone 7’s tiles to Xbox LIVE as well as a host of new interactive features. The latest software upgrade allows you to use voice commands to find your favorite shows, pause them while you take a break and even save them to be shown using a different console.
Many people consider the arrival of a new Windows operating system (OS) as time for a new computer. Others of us brave the process of installing it ourselves. Well, apparently Microsoft is trying to make that step easier. Since some predict that Windows 8 will appear next year, its nice to know it will be less of a nightmare to upgrade.
For a company that has it’s operating system on over 80 percent of the computers in the world, you have to wonder why their phone selection is so pitiful. Really, try to find a Windows Phone 7 device made by more than two companies and you are out of luck in the US. If you try to buy one at Verizon the countries largest carrier, you have one choice.
While Apple is constantly updating it’s software to make jailbreaking harder, Microsoft has sanctioned Chevron WP7’s ability to jail break it’s smartphone operating system. Of course for your $9 it is a limited jailbreak.
Mango is Microsoft’s code name for the latest update to Windows Phone 7. Handsets are beginning to hit the market. Since Windows Phone 7 handsets must be competitive, they have to have two cameras, one for videocalls. The first Mango handsets will have Tango available as the standard videocalling app, not newly acquired Skype.
Researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon have developed a wearable technology that will turn just about any surface into a touch screen. That means that you can use any body part, home surface, car surface or consenting friend as a touch screen. Not bad. Except for looking dorky, it’s a great idea. Anything or anyone can become the equivalent of an iPad.
The demise of the Zune has been rumored for months. It has been discussed on Microsoft Answers and on prominent electronics news websites since March of this year. A notice was published on the Zune support website yesterday that seems to be gone today. It looks as if Microsoft found a way to get Zune in the news at the same time that the Apple 4S was released.
Currently, Windows phone 7 has approximately 1.6 percent of the smartphone market. You can get smaller than that but no one wants to. As it stands, Windows Phone 7 is well behind Android and iOS in market share, but it looks as if that might be changing.
While much has been made of Windows 8′s Metro-style tiles interface, there is another aspect to the new OS that has not been mentioned. Windows 8 and Windows Server 8 will be “optimized for new hardware form factors and cloud services.”
What can you say when the largest software company in the world expresses its ongoing fondness for one of the major social media players. Well, you could say “Get a room, you two!” which is what one twitter follower did say.
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