Alan Buckingham

Evernote continues to evolve in its quest to keep up with (and even outpace) Microsoft's OneNote. The service is already available on all the major platforms, and today adds a new feature which a lot of users have been asking about for some time -- Reminders.

"For the millions and millions of people around the world that use Evernote everyday to achieve their goals, we’re excited to announce a new part of Evernote that will keep you on track every step of the way. Reminders are here", says Evernote's Andrew Sinkov.

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Microsoft has announced the long-awaited successor to the Xbox 360, naming it the Xbox One, but news does not stop there. Major game announcements at E3 were alluded to during the presentation, and today subsidiary Skype officially throws its hat in the ring, announcing it will bring additional functionality to the next-generation console.

This may not be a surprise, but Skype explains its plans for the new Xbox and those ideas are ambitious. "Skype for Xbox One lets you enjoy your Xbox games, apps and live TV with friends and family as if they were right there with you in the living room, all through features such as group video calling and Snap", says Microsoft's Tony Bates.

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The competition for your cloud business continues between Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox, Box and other competitors. Today Google takes its next step, with an attempt to make the experience better for Android customers with, what it terms, a "smoother" experience.

The search giant claims that Drive files will now be displayed in a clean, simple card-style. This will allow users to swipe between files to see large previews that will permit them to quickly review and discover the information they are looking for. If a customer wishes to keep some Drive files on his or her Android device, they will now be able to "download a copy" from the actions menu inside settings.

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Connected living room devices are here to stay. Smart TV's, set-top boxes like Apple TV, Roku and Google TV all aim to make sure of this. Opera, known mostly as a web browser, has been branching out into this market as well, with its Mediaworks project. However, instead of apps, and despite the name, Mediaworks is an advertising network.

Now the company's subsidiary, AdMarvel, announces what it calls "a forward step in the evolution of online video advertising into the connected TV space". Opera explains that "AdMarvel for Connected TVs will provide publishers and advertisers with a dynamic, rich ad-serving platform combined with sophisticated ad exchange, ad serving and ad management functionality on connected TVs".

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It may not be entirely what we hoped for, but today the NFL makes strides towards greeting the twenty-first century. Earlier we saw the big Xbox reveal which, among other things, reveals a partnership with the National Football League. The sport is the last holdout of major U.S. leagues to embrace the internet, but better late than never, I suppose.

Today's show in Redmond, Wash. features a short video-taped appearance by commissioner Roger Goodell to talk of the new features that Xbox One customers can expect. However, it is only half of the story. Later in the day, the Surface team announces that the NFL will also be available to customers of the Microsoft tablet.

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The Xbox 360 has been around since 2005 and, despite retaining its popularity, the console grows long in the tooth. That changes today, as Microsoft announces a new generation of its stealth living room takeover device. Speculation around what was coming has been growing for sometime and reached a crescendo when the company finally unveiled the event date.

Don Mattrick, President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, kicked off the event unveiling the Xbox One, a name that dispelled many myths about Infinity, 720 and 8.

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Today, one of the best music streaming services (excuse the opinion) gets just a bit better. Pandora has been around since 2000, offering customers free and paid solutions for creating custom stations and discovering new music. Now the streaming service wishes to offer more to its customers.

Pandora founder Tim Westergram announces the debut of Pandora Premieres, a new station that brings unreleased music to customers a week in advance.

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The big day is almost here. Microsoft reveals the new Xbox at an event held on its Redmond, Wash.-based campus tomorrow, and speculation runs rampant around the web. We do not even know the name of this next-generation console, let alone what capabilities the device will come with.

However, if you can not wait for the news stories to break then there is good news if you should happen to be a Windows Phone 8 user. The software giant announces a special app for its smartphone operating system that enables users to watch the event live right from wherever they happen to be -- which will be the workplace for many. Sorry employers.

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When I was young, and I dare not discuss when that was, I owned a Fiat X1/9.  The relationship with that car ended badly, but I shall always remember it as the car I was driving when I met my wife. Fast-forward a few (okay, more than a few) years and the car company is regaining popularity, but no longer as the little sports car I referred to as the "poor man's Ferrari". Today the company announces a new partnership with Microsoft to bring Windows EmbeddedAutootive to its vehicles.

Despite the polarized reactions to Windows 8, Microsoft continues to see success with the Embedded version of the operating system, with Home Depot announcing adoption of Embedded 8, and now the Italian car maker.

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It may not be 'America's pastime', but Microsoft still proudly announces that it is making a deal with Major League Soccer to bring the sport to its Windows 8 customers.  The sport known as soccer in the US, but football to most of the rest of the world, joins the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey Leagues on Microsoft's latest operating system.

The announcement came at yesterday's game between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls held at Red Bull Arena. The MLS Match Day app is not new, only "improved". This new version features exclusive content and this season’s schedule, standings, highlights, play-by-play, roster lineups, game stats, goals, cards and substitutions.

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Only a mere twelve years after the first console launched, Microsoft finally decides that its Xbox platform may just be a success and that, just perhaps, customers may wish to know what is going on with it. This has not been so much an issue, thanks to Major Nelson and third-party gaming sites, but it is still a nice, and much needed, touch.

The new site, simply named Xbox Wire, is being run by Lisa Gurry, Senior Director of Public Relations for Xbox. Gurry kicks off the new site with a welcome message to all fans of the popular gaming platform. "In preparation, we’re launching Xbox Wire -- a news blog to help you keep up with the latest Xbox news. You will be able to follow our journey as we bring you the best in games and entertainment and along the way we’ll introduce you to the people, places and technology that bring it all to life" Gurry writes.

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With Google I/O in full swing, and Glass a hot topic of discussion these days, two companies have revealed plans to release apps for Google's new wearable computing system. Social network Twitter and note-taking giant Evernote are both on board with the intriguing futuristic gadget.

Evernote's Andrew Sinkov announces that the company is "excited to unveil a first look at the Evernote experience on Glass". Sinkove goes on to explain "our current implementation focuses on two actions. First, you’ll be able to quickly capture a photo or short video and send it to your Evernote account from the Google Glass sharing menu. Second, you can choose a note from Evernote Web and send it directly into the Glass Timeline so that you have it available right in your field of view when you need it".

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We don't often cover leaks here at BetaNews -- we want confirmation on things. So, when I saw a Microsoft Scroogled video making the rounds I was initially skeptical, though it looked authentic enough. It turns out the video is real and a Microsoft spokesperson I contacted, while refusing to issue a statement, did acknowledge as much.

"It was an internal video that was leaked" I was told, but further comment was refused. I am not sure why because while I found the last two releases of Scroogled videos to be ridiculous -- simply jokes depicting Office beating up on Google Docs and giving consumers no reason why to choose Office 365 over the Google Solution.

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We already knew that Surface Pro was coming to Europe, but what we didn't know was exactly when. The company today announces the dates for availability, and the rollout begins in France on  May 17, continuing to the United Kingdom on May 23. It wraps up with a broad May 30 release in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, and one more big day in Germany on May 31.

There's more to come, but Brian Hall, General Manager of the Microsoft Surface team concedes that "some markets are still confirming timing so aren’t included here".

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While Microsoft continues to attack Google using its "Scroogled" campaign, the company also adds to its corporate user base at a steady, and perhaps increasing, rate. Ironically, less than a week after taking on Google Docs with not one, but two videos, Microsoft adds another major corporation to its Office 365 subscriber list, this time in the form of Telefónica, a major provider of integrated communication solutions.

Telefónica will add 130,000 employees to the Microsoft cloud solution, not only using Office 365, but also Yammer. "Over the past 18 months, we have built very strong foundations and are now ready to move to the cloud," said Adrian Steel, the European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica. Steel goes on to explain "Deploying Office 365 and Yammer is this next step in bringing our global workforce to the forefront of seamless communication and collaboration while still operating at the level of speed and execution we’re known for".

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