Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on June 27, 2008 by CyberNet.

Today is the day that Bill Gates walks away from his roll at Microsoft to move on to his philanthropic work. After 30 years, his final day at the company he founded is here. Microsoft has been planning his departure for the last two years and have done various things to celebrate Gates’ time with the company. Many of you have probably already seen the video shown at CES about Gates’s last day, but we thought it was worth showing again:

Once his day is over, he’ll be spending the evening with all of his pals from Microsoft who will be celebrating his work and time at the company at a gala dinner. The three men that have already taken over his various roles include Steve Ballmer (CEO), Ray Ozzie (Chief Software Architect), and Craig Mundie (chief research and strategy officer).

So what will Bill be doing over at the Foundation? Not leading, that’s for sure. According to the Associated Press, Gates has no intention of taking on a leadership roll, instead he plans on being involved with strategy and advocacy, and helping people become aware of the problems out there.

Farewell Bill, Microsoft and the CES Keynotes will not be the same without you!

Source

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

Has the Zune Phone really been confirmed? Well, as the title of this article says, not yet. But there are major hints that Microsoft has something up its sleeve.  Whether it’s a Zune Phone or something completely different, that’s yet to be determined. Here’s what we know:

On Monday, Microsoft submitted a filing with the FCC which has lead to rumors, and more rumors about what Microsoft has brewing in Redmond. Ever since the iPhone was unveiled, there have been countless jokes that Microsoft would turn their Zune into a phone “copying” off of Apple.

In January not long after CES where the iPhone was unveiled, we asked the question, How will Microsoft Compete with the iPhone? Our question just might be answered, well, maybe.

According to Market Watch, the filing describes “a wireless device that utilizes OFDM, a technology that can be used to route digital TV and voice calls among devices.” Microsoft says the intended use of the device is “Consumer Broadband Access and Networking. A VOIP enabled Zune would be much, much different than the iPhone, steering clear of cellular providers.

Crunch Gear expanded on what Market Watch had to say, saying:

If this all fits together, it looks like MS is working on a mobile WiMax-enabled Zune Phone, which would have download speeds of up to 2Mbps, fast enough for the Xbox-to-Zune streaming we’ve heard about, and fast enough for just about anything else the Zune Phone might be used for.

Hmm… fast enough for Xbox-to-Zune streaming. Interesting…

They continue saying that they have an “inside” source that says an iPhone competitor isn’t anything new. It’s been in the works for a while, and that  “the idea of branding it as part of the Zune ecosystem, from the brown color through the interface, came as a recent decision as a response to Apple’s iPhone. ”

So while all of this was settling with me, I came across this article which says that the filing doesn’t mention the Zune, and that a Microsoft rep says that the recent filing which everyone is buzzing about is not Zune-related at all. Instead, they point to a prototype that Microsoft, Google, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Philips are in cahoots with that would “provide consumer broadband access and networking.” The actual letter to the FCC was submitted on behalf of each of the listed companies above.

As Todd Bishop of Seattle PI says, this wireless technology could potentially be used in the Zune, or another type of “Phone” device sometime down the road, but the recent filing that led CrunchGear to expand in leaps and bounds how this filing points to a Zune Phone really had nothing to do with that.

This prototype that Microsoft, Google, and the rest are involved in has left more unanswered questions. This my friends, is where patience comes in.

Sources: Market Watch, Crunch Gear, Seattle PI

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Whether you’re a spendthrift or just happened to be down at the shops, Phones4U had an extra early bird special this past weekend. Turns out the mobile retailer had received stock of both the HTC Titan and Radar ahead of the planned October 7th launch date, and did what any good commercial enterprise would — they put’em up for sale. If you’re down with carrier chains, you can snatch both handsets in-store or online gratis, with a contracted monthly fee on Orange, T-Mobile or Vodafone (for the Titan only). For the no SIM attached route, you’ll have to practice a wee bit more patience, and wait until this Friday when Clove will offer the Mango phones at full price — £489 and £329, respectively. Statesiders, take a deep breath, your crack at this first wave of Windows Phone 7.5 devices is close at hand.

HTC Titan, Radar on sale now at Phones4U, blow a raspberry at ‘launch date’ nonsense originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bring. It. On. Rolling out a phone update tends to take a few weeks before it’s available to everyone, so we were expecting Windows Phone to have its share of hiccups when doling Mango out to several different models simultaneously across the globe. As it turns out, Redmond’s just as surprised at its silky smooth outcome as everyone else; in fact, it’s going so well that the team’s decided to open the floodgates ahead of schedule and make the refresh available to no less than half of all Windows Phone devices. According to Microsoft, the update still isn’t ready to be unleashed to the masses because it’s still “collecting and analyzing installation data from [their] smaller operators, and need to watch it a bit longer.” The team also mentions that this information gets collected as more users download their updates, which means the fate of the unlucky half rests solely on the fortunate 50 percent. Those of you who can download Mango and still haven’t, think of the tremendous power — and awesome responsibility — now resting in your tiny hands.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Continue reading Mango rollout going smoothly, now available to half of all Windows Phones

Mango rollout going smoothly, now available to half of all Windows Phones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This article was written on April 16, 2007 by CyberNet.

It was almost a year ago when Microsoft and Adobe went head-to-head because of the built-in PDF functionality that Office 2007 was supposed to include. Adobe was obviously afraid that by Microsoft incorporating the ability to save a document as a PDF, that they could lose out on people needing their tools. In the end Microsoft had to provide the feature as an add-on that can be downloaded at no cost.

Now they are both at it again because Microsoft is launching a new technology called Silverlight and Adobe introduced a media player. Both of the offerings aim to make the user’s media experience on the Web more feature-rich while also making the media transfer more efficient.

Here are some snippets from Microsoft’s press release on Silverlight:

Microsoft Silverlight, previously called Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E), integrates with existing Web technologies and assets to provide higher-quality experiences with lower costs for media delivery. Delivered to end users through a seamless, fast installation, Silverlight offers consistent experiences to both Macintosh and Windows users on a variety of browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.
…
Leading media companies and solution providers have announced support for Silverlight including Akamai Technologies, Brightcove, Eyeblaster, Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball, NaviSite Inc., Netflix, Pinnacle Systems Inc., Rhozet Corp., Skinkers, Sonic Solutions, Tarari Inc., Telestream Inc. and Winnov. All have indicated plans to deliver Silverlight-based experiences for their viewers and customers.
…
“Netflix is leading the way for people to rent movies for instant viewing over the Internet,” said Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. “With 6.3 million members now and millions more in the next few years, Netflix needs rapid and reliable scalability so all members can enjoy DVD-quality movies immediately on our instant-viewing feature. We depend on Microsoft Windows Media technologies, and we’re excited about Microsoft Silverlight as a platform to enable instant watching of great content for all our members, on multiple platforms.”

Adobe plans on doing just about the same thing with their media player, and they even plan on dipping their hands in some Flash DRM! As NewTeeVee points out this will essentially be a video RSS Reader that retrieves the video listings from feeds. Here is what Adobe has to say about the media player in their press release:

For viewers, Adobe Media Player enables higher quality Flash format playback, the ability to download and view videos offline, ways to discover interesting new shows, full screen playback, one-click viewer ratings, and a powerful Favorites feature that automatically downloads new episodes of favorite TV shows or video podcasts. The player is cross-platform, based on open standards – including RSS and SMIL – and brings viewers the highly desired ability to play the Web’s most popular video format outside of their browser.

For content publishers, Adobe Media Player enables better ways to deliver, monetize, brand, track and protect video content. It provides an array of video delivery options for high-quality online and offline playback, including on-demand streaming, live streaming, progressive download, and protected download-and-play. The Adobe Media Player enables a wider selection of monetization and branding options including viewer-centric dynamic advertising and the ability to customize the look and feel of the player on the fly to match the brand or theme of the currently playing content.

Unlike Microsoft, Adobe is yet to announce any partnerships that they have already setup. Either they don’t want to tip off Microsoft as to companies that are looking for a better online media solution, or they don’t have any big companies like Microsoft.

One thing is for sure and it’s that this will be one big cat fight. Normally when two companies compete like this, the consumer is always the winner because they are constantly updating and innovating their technology.

Source: GigaOm

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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