Hasta La Gadget!

Outlook.com’s 60 million-plus users will have another feature to take advantage of soon, as Skype is previewing built-in web access to its service. Currently available in the UK (headed to the US and Germany in “coming weeks,” — worldwide this summer) it lets users make calls directly from their inbox via a browser plugin available for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox. Users with existing Skype accounts will also need to link their account to to the website which will allow their contacts to be merged, with the idea of having more choices of how to reach out to close contacts. Gmail’s added easy access to hangouts and even Facebook has integrated Skype-connected video into its messaging so we suppose it’s necessary for feature parity, with the added bonus of Skype’s large install base. There are two demo videos embedded after the break, or you can head to Skype’s blog for more details.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

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Source: Skype Blog, Outlook Blog

Tired of that not-so-fresh-looking Outlook.com app on your Android device from all the way back in December 2012? Despair no longer, as Microsoft updated its Outlook Android app today, pushing new features and that distinctive, minimalist Windows Phone 8 aesthetic to its flagship mail program. And not just any new features, but hallmarks like “conversation threading, filters for unread and flagged mail, as well as the ability to mark messages as junk.” The update is already available in the Google Play store, and works with Android OS versions 2.1 to 2.3.3 and 4.0 to 4.1.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Microsoft

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Source: Google Play, Microsoft

Microsoft’s Outlook.com email service suffered a massive 16-hour outage yesterday, which saw users unable to access parts of SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Outlook, too. Microsoft has revealed that it was a result of a mischievous firmware upgrade—which caused “a rapid and substantial temperature spike in the datacenter”. More »

Do you remember when web email kicked off in the early days of dial up connectivity? Yes sir, everyone wanted and rushed for an email address, and the younger (and more foolish, I might add) ones among us realized that all of the cool email usernames were already taken, leaving us to agree to whatever the machine’s reasoning threw our way, such as younggirl1980@hotmail.com or boyscoutlover95@yahoo.com, where they all sound so wrong on different levels in this day and age. Embarrassing, even. Well, having said that, perhaps it might have been half a decade since you decided to log into your Hotmail account, but you might want to do so soon, as Microsoft has officially launched Outlook.com on Tuesday, which would mark the demise of its predecessor, Hotmail.

Yes sir, a minute of silence for the faithful departed please. Taking approximately 7 months after Microsoft unveiled a preview of the Outlook email service, the software giant decided to announced the end of its beta run over in a blog post. Having picked up Hotmail in 1997 (was it that long ago?), Microsoft claimed that they will switch users from Hotmail over to the new Outlook service “soon”, but it is a good thing that the Redmond, Washington company will not force these affected users to change their emails to an “outlook.com” address.

Be warned, though, change is definitely coming later this summer, so you might want to mentally prepare yourself for a jump over to the Outlook bandwagon after being in love with Hotmail for so long. Microsoft said, “Everything from their @hotmail.com email address, password, messages, folders, contacts, rules, vaation replies, etc. will stay the same, with no disruption in service.” With over 60 million folks who are actively using Outlook.com, hey, we certainly cannot argue with such levels of approval, can we? Do you think you will miss Hotmail?

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[ Outlook.com is now official copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

It’s been so long since Microsoft launched Outlook.com that we forgot it was technically in preview mode. Well, that ended today, at 12:01AM ET on the dot. The company just announced that the email service is no longer in beta, and that the site has racked up 60 million active users — over a third of whom came over from Gmail. If you decide to join today, you’ll be getting the same feature set announced last summer, just with a smoother, less glitchy experience (not that it was ever that buggy to begin with, if you ask us). To lure in even more users, Microsoft is launching a massive advertising campaign, one that will include TV and radio spots (see one of them after the break), online ads and even posters in subway stations. Basically, the sort of heavy promotion Microsoft is already doing for Surface.

Regardless of how much success Microsoft has in converting Gmail loyalists, though, a lot more people are about to become acquainted with Outlook’s clean UI: the company has said it plans to switch Hotmail users over to the Outlook interface by summertime. To be clear, Microsoft says it has no plans to shut down the hotmail.com domain, so your existing Hotmail email address is safe, and you don’t even have to register for an Outlook.com addy if you don’t want to. Additionally, all of your folders and settings will be preserved. It’s just that you’re soon going to have to say goodbye to the old Hotmail. Onward, we say.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

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Source: Microsoft