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It comes in orange, yellow, bright green, white and black, has a ginormous 4.7-inch LCD display and is 4G LTE ready. It’s the Nokia Lumia 625.
The latest installment in the Halo franchise is available exclusively on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices. Released yesterday, “Halo: Spartan Assault” is a new top-down shooter designed specifically for touch devices. The highly anticipated game features simple controls and a more casual gaming experience designed to appeal to Halo newbies as well as hardcore gamers. It’s set between “Halo 3” and “Halo 4” in the franchise’s larger storyline, and lets you play as either Commander Sarah Palmer or Spartan Davis. Learn more over on Halo Waypoint, then download the app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 and enjoy.
Explore Microsoft’s Reliability Lab in the latest episode of “On the Whiteboard.” Host Pamela Woon takes you deep inside Microsoft’s top-secret Reliability Lab, where our products undergo dozens of stress tests designed to ensure that our devices meet the highest standards for durability. In the video above, the Surface tablet is one of the Reliability Lab’s latest “victims.” Take a look and you’ll be amazed at what it can endure. Learn more over on the News Center, and watch more episodes of “On the Whiteboard” here.
Xbox 360 maintained its position as the top console in the U.S. last month, selling more units than any other platform with 140,000 units, according to new data from The NPD Group. June marked the 30th consecutive month Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the U.S.
June highlights from NPD include:
In the latest episode of “On the Whiteboard,” Editor Pamela Woon goes inside Microsoft’s top secret Reliability Lab, where our products undergo dozens of tests to help ensure what our customers receive is sturdy, strong and resilient. In the video above, the Surface tablet is one of the Reliability Lab’s latest victims.
Billg came home.
Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates returned to the Redmond campus Monday, speaking to a packed house of academics at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit. His presence turned some of the world’s top university instructors into eager students who asked Gates about everything from online education to intellectual property to robotics.
Microsoft’s Redmond campus, already bursting with brainpower, is about to get another big infusion with the 14th annual Microsoft Research Faculty Summit.
Today and tomorrow, 400 elite academic researchers from 200 institutions and 29 countries will join Microsoft Research to explore hot trends and burning issues in computer science research. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will set the Summit’s tone by addressing how computing can help solve global problems as the event’s opening keynote speaker – the first time he’s been back in that role since 2005. He will also take questions from those attending the talk, as well as from online viewers.
In this edition of Weekend Reading, we take you to Houston for the Worldwide Partner Conference, then introduce the global CityNext initiative and the groundbreaking Nokia Lumia 1020 Windows Phone 8 device.
The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference showcased cloud computing and big data and updates about Windows 8. At WPC, which kicked off Monday in Houston, Satya Nadella, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, announced Cloud OS Accelerate. As part of this new program, Microsoft and key partners will invest more than $100 million to help put thousands of new private and hybrid cloud solutions into consumers’ hands. He also unveiled: offers for Windows Intune and the Windows Azure SQL Database, as well as a new self-service business intelligence (BI) solution for Office 365. Read more about these and other highlights in Nadella’s blog post. Microsoft also released a new study from IDC that shows the benefits of partners selling cloud-based solutions. WPC also shined the light on Windows 8’s momentum in selling 100 million licenses and added more details about the availability of Windows 8.1. Blogging Windows has the whole story.
The WPC was the perfect venue to unveil CityNext, a new global initiative that brings together an extensive ecosystem powered by Microsoft partner relationships and their technologies to help urban leaders find solutions to their problems using flexible cloud services, enterprise-grade devices and apps for city employees, and big data platforms. Great examples of CityNext’s potential are in Paris with the Autolib’ car-sharing service and in Seattle, with the High Performance Buildings Pilot Project.
It’s here and, as usual, it’s beautiful. We’re talking about the new Nokia Lumia 1020, which comes with a 41-megapixel sensor that puts the 1020’s camera on par with most digital SLRs.
“The phone—which comes in yellow, white, and black—will initially debut at AT&T for $299.99 with a two-year contract. AT&T kicks off online preorders on July 16. The phone, which runs on the carrier’s 4G LTE network, officially goes on sale July 26,” Windows Phone Blog Editor Michael Stroh reports in a post today.
The following is a post from Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President of Developer Platform & Evangelism at Microsoft.
Many people know Microsoft as a world-leading global corporation. But at its heart, Microsoft is a student startup founded by a couple of passionate young innovators with an idea. Students are often vanguards for the future of technology – and with the right tools and support, they have the potential to create innovations that can redefine our lives. It’s in that spirit that Microsoft launched the Imagine Cup student technology competition in 2003.
Now in its eleventh year, the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals are underway this week in St. Petersburg, Russia. The finals event is the culmination of a year of hard work, with more than 300 students from 71 countries advancing to the finals from local, regional and online competitions. We are thrilled to see these student technologists and entrepreneurs take center stage as they demonstrate their amazing ideas brought to life through software.
Today’s students are digital natives who easily see beyond a single technology or app to envision how software, hardware and the cloud can work together in new and inventive ways. More than a third of this year’s Worldwide Finalists are using Windows, Windows Phone and Windows Azure together across platforms and devices. Following on the heels of Build, there are even more ways that developers can use an integrated devices and services platform across Windows.
The following is a post from Satya Nadella, President of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft.
Today, at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), I am excited to announce new programs and services that are designed to help our partners and customers embrace the challenges and opportunities associated with cloud computing and big data.
The first new program we are announcing is Cloud OS Accelerate. As part of this new program, Microsoft and key partners – Cisco, NetApp, Hitachi Data Systems, HP and Dell – will invest more than $100 million to help put thousands of new private and hybrid cloud solutions into the hands of customers. We are also announcing a new Windows Intune offer, effective Sept. 1, that will help connect partners and customers with the latest in cloud connected management at a 30 percent discount. These new programs, and others you will hear about throughout the Worldwide Partner Conference, are designed to help our partners realize the opportunities in cloud computing – today.
Today at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Microsoft released a new study from IDC that shows partners selling cloud-based solutions benefit from higher gross profit, more new customers, higher revenue per employee and faster overall business growth.
The study also revealed customer buying preferences that highlight the importance of the role of partners in the overall industry cloud transition:
· Sixty-three percent of customers expect to have a single cloud service provider to meet their needs
· Sixty-seven percent expect to purchase a wide variety of cloud services from a single vendor
· Seventy-four percent expect their cloud service provider to be able to move a cloud offering back on-premises if needed
In this edition of Weekend Reading, you’ll hear about big apps that just hit Windows Phone 8, the first version of a Web-based Xbox Music experience and the Xbox exclusive game “Titanfall” setting records at the Game Critics Awards “Best of E3."
Fans of the big and small-screen and live radio can now find apps like Redbox and iHeartRadio on Windows Phone 8, as well as a major facelift for the Facebook app. For those who need help naming that tune, Bing Audio for Windows Phone rolls out to 14 more countries. Windows Phone app developers who need a recap on Build 2013 or who might have missed some sessions can catch up through the Build 2013 Windows Phone Session Round-Up. Now available for the Windows Phone: video update app Keek and tech news must-have GeekWire; and for Windows 8, a Nook update. SkyDrive Pro apps are now available for Windows 8 and Apple iOS for SharePoint Online users in Office 365.
The following is a post from Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft.
I’ve spent the last 48 hours or so at the Moscone Center. After the past 45 days, I bet the staff there could crank out some code on their own.
As I watched our keynotes and attended sessions, it struck me that within the past 45 days more than 15,000 developers from all around the world have made the very same pilgrimage to San Francisco, and had a very similar experience. Hotel room-to-Moscone-Center-to-hotel-room-to-Moscone Center…
You get the picture. Not many tans among these crowds. But LOTS of optimism.
That’s what’s great about our industry. No matter economic conditions or political strife in whatever regions of the world, the developers who’ve traveled to the Moscone Center recently, first for Google I/O, then for Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, and this week for Microsoft’s Build conference, have come with an underlying sense of optimism and a belief that the strings of code they write can improve people’s lives.
Today, Microsoft announced a new partnership with Time Warner Cable that will see the TWC TV app coming to Xbox 360 later this summer.
Time Warner Cable subscribers with an Xbox Live Gold membership will be able to watch up to 300 live TV channels right from their Xbox 360 — including favorites like AMC, BBC World News, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, HGTV and more. And unlike any other platform, you’ll be able to control your entertainment using your voice via Kinect for Xbox 360.
In this edition of Weekend Reading, the Build 2013 conference showed off the Windows 8.1 Preview and a bevy of other major developments, TechEd Europe continued the momentum of Microsoft’s cloud progress and a new strategic partnership emerged with Oracle.
Microsoft’s Build 2013 conference in San Francisco delivers a deluge of previews. Build 2013 opened Wednesday to a packed house of 6,000 developers and IT professionals and gave them a free public preview of Windows 8.1, as well as the Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Release Preview. The Surface team couldn’t wait to try out the former, so check out what they found. Also included in the Windows 8.1 Preview is a preview version of Internet Explorer 11. Also now out: the Visual Studio 2013 Preview. Build also revealed built-in 3D printing support in the Windows 8.1 update that will put “a factory on every desktop,” two new Bing apps, a redesigned Xbox Music and two new Windows Phone 8 models coming to Sprint. During his keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Facebook, Flipboard and NFL apps will soon arrive for Windows. The conference also saw the announcement of an upcoming developer kit program aligned to the recently-announced new generation Kinect for Windows sensor and SDK refresh. Attendees didn’t just get more information at the conference; they also walked away with a free Surface Pro and 8-inch Acer Iconia W3 Windows 8 tablet. Read all about Build over on the Microsoft News Center.
At Day Two of the Build 2013 conference in San Francisco, Microsoft showed the thousands of developers in attendance (and thousands more online) the opportunity for creating new apps and services on the Windows platform.
Server and Tools Business President Satya Nadella and Corporate Vice President of Developer Platform Evangelism Steve Guggenheimer both delivered keynotes focused on how commonality across the Windows platform enables developers of all types to build compelling apps and experiences spanning devices and services.
Here’s a recap of the major news announced today:
General Availability of Windows Azure Mobile Services and Windows Azure Web Sites. Mobile Services makes it fast and easy to create a mobile backend for every device. Mobile Services simplifies user authentication, push notification, server side data and business logic so you can get your mobile application in market fast. Mobile Services provides native SDKs for Windows Store, Windows Phone, Android, iOS and HTML5 as well as REST APIs. Starting today, Mobile Services is Generally Available (GA) in three tiers—Free, Standard and Premium. Windows Azure Web Sites is the fastest way to build, scale and manage business-grade Web applications. Windows Azure Web Sites is open and flexible with support for multiple languages and frameworks including ASP.NET, PHP, Node.JS and Python, multiple open-source applications including WordPress, Drupal and even multiple databases. ASP.NET developers can easily create new or move existing websites to Windows Azure from directly inside Visual Studio. Read more about it over on the Windows Azure Blog.
The Build 2013 keynote begins at 9 a.m. PT today and can be viewed over on Channel 9.
Build 2013, kicked off Wednesday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and continues through June 28. There Microsoft will share the latest updates and talk about what's next for Windows, Windows Server, Windows Azure, Visual Studio and more.
Microsoft’s Build conference for developers kicked off in San Francisco today, and this morning’s keynote was packed with major news announcements from execs Steve Ballmer, Julie Larson-Green and Antoine Leblond. Here’s a recap:
You can now download a free public preview of Windows 8.1 and get a sneak peek at the latest features and enhancements coming later this year, including the return of the Start button, the ability to boot directly to the desktop, a preview version of Internet Explorer 11, two new Live Tile sizes, a new Mail app and a reimagined search experience powered by Bing. Oh yeah, and built-in 3D printing support that will put “a factory on every desktop,” as Shanen Boettcher of Microsoft’s Startup Business Group put it in a blog post this morning. Yowza. You can read lots more about Windows 8.1 in this post on Blogging Windows. To download the free preview and see it for yourself, head to the official download page.
The following is a post from Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of the Startup Business Group at Microsoft.
Remember when we said there’d be a PC on every desktop? How about this -- a factory on every desktop!
Today, we announced that the Windows 8.1 update will have built-in support for 3D printing. Making a 3D object on your PC will be as easy as writing a document in Word and sending it to print. Just as desktop publishing transformed how we write, we think desktop manufacturing will transform how we create.
3D printing has been around for a while but has mainly been used by manufacturing companies – car makers, aerospace companies, toymakers, and hardware companies, including Microsoft, to make prototypes. Using big, very expensive machines, manufacturers build 3D models using a variety of materials, from plastic to metal. Recently, the popularity of 3D printing has exploded among the “maker” community – do-it-yourself hobbyists, inventors and design enthusiasts who make everything from jewelry and clothing to robotics and games. Many experts think 3D printing could help spark a manufacturing renaissance, and some market analysts predict that the global 3D printing market will reach $3.1 billion by 2016.
Today, Microsoft announced at Build 2013 that the Windows 8.1 Preview is here.
Some of the new features you’ll find in the Windows 8.1 preview include two new tile sizes (large and small) and the ability to sync customizations, apps and files across all your Windows 8.1 devices. In other words, if you change your Start screen, install new apps, pin new apps to your Start screen on one PC – all those changes are synced to your other PCs. Also, the Windows Store has been redesigned to make it easier to find the apps you want.
Sprint customers will finally be able to get their hands on a Windows Phone 8 device later this summer. The carrier announced today that the HTC 8XT and Samsung ATIV S Neo will be the first two Windows Phone 8 models available on its 4G LTE network.
The Build 2013 keynote will begin at 9 a.m. PT today and can be viewed over on Channel 9.
Build 2013, which takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco starting today until June 28, is where we'll share the latest updates and talk about what's next for Windows, Windows Server, Windows Azure, Visual Studio and more.
Build will showcase how developers can take advantage of the future of Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Azure, Visual Studio and much more. The Microsoft News Center will publish updates and announcements for press and analysts throughout the event, which you can find here. Additional event information will be available at http://www.buildwindows.com/.
The following is a post from Rahul Sood, general manager of Microsoft Startups.
Entrepreneurship is an increasingly global phenomenon. We know that the barriers to turn an idea into a business have never been lower. At the same time, entrepreneurs at any maturity level still need a lot of assistance, and there are more resources than ever available to help them. As ecosystems become more fractured, paths to innovation shift and evolve, often requiring support tailored to that particular market to spur meaningful growth. To meet these growing sets of needs across mature and emerging markets alike, we are strengthening the resources we provide entrepreneurs.
Today, Microsoft is announcing the creation of Microsoft Ventures, a coordinated global effort that offers the tools, resources, expertise and routes to market by providing mentorship, technology guidance, seed funding, joint selling opportunities and other benefits. Microsoft isn’t new to working with startups. Since 2008, more than 75,000 startups from over 100 countries have received access to tools and resources through the BizSpark program. Since launching our accelerator programs two years ago, 114 startups have graduated, and nearly all that sought a subsequent round of funding received it. We launched the Bing Fund in 2012 to make seed investments in startups, and help them build their business and improve their technology.
The following is a post from David Sacks, Corporate Vice President, Yammer.
One year ago today, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Yammer. In just 12 months, we have made tremendous progress in accelerating the adoption of enterprise social, driving innovation within the Yammer service and beginning to integrate with Office 365. Today, we are providing additional visibility into our product plans through an enterprise social roadmap update and by highlighting significant momentum over the last year, including
These numbers build on our February 20 announcement regarding sales and customer momentum, showing the continued growth and adoption of enterprise social. This level of adoption is particularly impressive for a service that is just 5 years old.
The following is a post from Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President of Windows Server & System Center at Microsoft.
I am absolutely thrilled to be delivering the Day 1 keynote at TechEd Europe for the third straight year. This is consistently an amazing event with the very best and brightest companies and IT pros across Europe, not to mention some equally amazing products to highlight and demonstrate.
There were some big announcements at TechEd North America (e.g., a refresh of our key enterprise IT solutions like Windows Server & System Center 2012 R2, Windows Intune and SQL Server 2014, as well as Visual Studio 2013, new Windows Azure BizTalk services, Azure per-minute pricing, new MSDN subscriber benefits, etc.), and TechEd Europe is going to have some surprises of its own.
In particular, I’ll continue telling the story that began at TechEd North America in New Orleans by announcing the immediate availability of preview software for Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014.