Windows Phone wins over Delta, 19,000 flight attendants get new handsets
Windows Phone has been struggling up the long road to success, recently surpassing Blackberry as the number three mobile operating system. Now the platform takes another major step forward, scoring a victory in signing up a large corporation to provide Windows Phone devices to its employees.
Microsoft and Delta have announced a partnership which will place Windows Phone in the hands of its flight attendants. "Windows Phone is about to rack up some serious frequent flier miles. Delta Air Lines today said that it’s equipped 19,000 flight attendants with Windows Phone 8-powered Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones", says Microsoft's Michael Stroh.
Lenovo partners with Pokki -- Microsoft should be worried
While many people dislike the Windows 8 Modern UI, it is easily avoidable by installing a third-party Start menu replacement like Classic Shell. However, this is generally bad for Microsoft as it fragments the user experience and potentially steers users from the Microsoft Store. Today, the software giant was dealt another blow as Lenovo partners with Pokki to pre-install that company's Start-menu replacement software on the ThinkPad and IdeaPad line of computers.
"We’re excited to announce that the #1 PC maker in the world, Lenovo, will be shipping Pokki on new Windows 8 devices worldwide! In other words, you’ll soon be able to buy a brand new Lenovo laptop or desktop with our full Pokki software suite integrated and ready to use out-of-the-box!", says Pokki. Yikes, Microsoft cannot be happy!
Microsoft offers preview of new Lumia 1020 ad
Back in April, Microsoft released a Windows Phone 'wedding' ad that may have finally brought the tech giant out of the advertising dog house it has been in -- remember Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? Now the company follows it up with a brand new offering, depicting a children's recital that takes a turn for the worse.
Without giving too much of a spoiler, and I honestly can't because this needs to be seen to be appreciated, the ad contains a scene of a recital that, in 30-seconds, goes from opening curtain to total destruction.
Ubuntu Edge smartphone falls far short of its $32 million funding target
When Canonical launched its crowdfunded Ubuntu Edge campaign on Indiegogo, few people expected it to succeed. Building a "smartphone and desktop PC in one state-of-the-art device" was a noble and ambitious aim, but seeking $32 million to do it meant the project had little chance of victory.
Before Ubuntu Edge, the most funding a single project had raised on Indiegogo was $1,665,380, for a Tricorder-style medical scanner. Rival Kickstarter’s record was $10,266,845 for the Pebble smartwatch. Ubuntu Edge did manage to eclipse both, which was an impressive achievement in itself.
Outlook.com gets improved alias management
Now that Outlook.com is actually working, Microsoft can redirect its focus on improving the service rather than fixing it. Today, the tech-giant announces that they have improved the management of aliases on the web-based email service.
"Several years ago we launched the ability to rename or to add aliases to your account, which gave important flexibility to manage these changes. But we found that these tasks were a little too monolithic. For example, sometimes you wanted to sign in with one alias but use another to send mail or display on your Xbox. So we started working to break these tasks down to give you more flexibility", says Eric Doerr, Group Program Manager for Microsoft account.
Tumblr ‘hack’ leads to a spate of undeletable posts
Tumblr is downplaying a suspected hack attack that left users facing the appearance of a series of undeletable posts in their blogs. Reports of problems spread through Tumblr itself as well as Twitter. The problem is not just that posts are undeletable, but also that they were not created by the blog owners.
While some of the content is fairly tame, some users have complained about the appearance of pornographic posts. Researchers at ThreatTrack Security Labs are advising users to change their account passwords, as bloggers are left facing not only undeletable posts, but many also finding themselves unable to access their dashboards.
Google Street View takes you to the zoo
"Someone told me it's all happening at the Zoo". Google's Street View team has traveled around the world from coral reefs to canyons and down the trails of National Parks. This time the trekkers caught a break with something a bit more relaxing than a miles long hike or a dive in an area known for its sharks.
Now the team visits zoos, allowing you to get a sneak peak of a place you wish to visit, or simply enjoy the view from the comfort of your chair. "Lions and tigers may be standard attractions, but starting today, you can also use Street View to see the panda bears noshing on bamboo and tumbling around the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. More than 30 percent of this endangered species calls this important conservation and breeding facility home", says Deanna Yick, Street View Program Manager.
Box doubles free storage, announces business Starter Plan
The cloud storage business is the hot commodity in technology right now, or at least one of the hottest. Box is one of several of the big players competing with the likes of SkyDrive, Dropbox and more. Today the company celebrates its success by rewarding those with free accounts and adding a new tier aimed at small business.
In the past, individuals with free accounts received five-gigabytes of storage space, which is standard practice with many of these services. However, that is now changing. Aaron Levie announces that the company is "doubling the free storage in our Personal plan from five-GB to ten-GB".
Microsoft targets parents of back to schoolers with new Office 365 ads
Microsoft is on something of a roll with advertisements at the moment. After taking a swipe at iPads and Google, the latest round of ads, this time for Office 365, takes a slightly different approach -- tugging on the heartstrings of parents about to wave offspring off to university.
The two advertisements examine father-son and mother-daughter relationships and push the collaborative and cloud-working features to be found in Office 365.
Independent test rates Mac security products
The myth of Mac invulnerability has been looking shaky for a while and received a further blow in February when some machines used by Apple's own staff were hijacked and used to launch an attack on Facebook.
Growing numbers of Macs mean that the platform is increasingly attractive to cybercriminals and even if the number of attacks remains small compared to Windows it's still a threat that needs to be taken seriously. With this in mind independent testing company AV-Comparatives has been looking at security software for OS X Mountain Lion.
Netflix solves another problem with 'My List' feature
If you are a Netflix customer with a family, you will likely have encountered some flaws in the service's design. When you visit your queue in order to locate a movie you added you will firstly need to scroll through everything your spouse has added, and if you have kids then the task becomes even tougher. After solving this problem earlier in the month with individual profiles, the company is turning to another problem in need of solving.
Today Netflix announces what is essentially an improvement on the queue, calling it "My List". Michael Spiegelman, director of product innovation at Netflix explains: "We’ve designed a better way to help you easily find and watch those titles you picked to watch on Netflix and are happy to introduce My List to all our streaming members globally. With My List you can now quickly go to your own row or gallery on Netflix and instantly find those titles you already picked to watch".
Microsoft announces ad-free Bing for Schools
Microsoft already seems to spend a lot of time pushing Office 365 into schools, but the company is beginning to now move down the same path with Bing. Today the company announces a brand new initiative named, unimaginatively but accurately, Bing for Schools.
What's more, the search engine is taking a philanthropic approach, claiming this is "designed to improve digital literacy for students by putting technology in classrooms, helping students learn how to use the power of search, and making sure they can do it in a safer, ad-free environment".
Mark Zuckerberg launches Internet.org to help bring web access to the whole world
The Internet is thought of as being a global infrastructure that breaks down barriers, blurs physical boundaries and renders distance meaningless. But for two thirds of the world, Internet access is just not available, and this is something that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to change.
Working in conjunction with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung, Internet.org is an initiative that aims to help bring web access to the five billion people who are not yet connected.
Google Helpouts let you get -- or offer -- video guidance on any topic
Google is testing a new Hangout-based feature which will allow experts to offer video tips and advice. So if your computer isn’t working, you’re looking for effective ways to get fit, or you’re not sure when’s the best time of year to prune a fruit tree, you can go online and ask for help.
According to Google, “Helpouts is a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere”. Topics which will be covered include Arts and Music, Computers and Electronics, Cooking, Education, Fashion and Beauty, Fitness and Nutrition, Health and Counseling, and Home and Garden.
Google adds new 'reset to default' option to Chrome
If your current browser isn’t working as it should then you’ll appreciate the new "Reset browser settings" option (Settings > Advanced) Google has added to Chrome 29 FINAL. This restores the original default browser settings, while leaving apps, bookmarks and themes untouched.
As promised in the previous release, rich notifications (the system where alerts from apps and extensions can appear in a separate window, even when the browser isn’t running) is now available for Mac, as well as Windows. Check the Chrome 28 release post for settings guidance if this isn’t working for you.
Most Commented Stories
© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.