Sales of Lumia branded smartphones on the second quarter of calendar 2014 were up sequentially and year-over-year, but remained generally low. Despite of efforts by Nokia Corp. and Microsoft Corp., sales of Windows Phone-based Lumia handsets are below shipments of Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones several years ago. Microsoft on Tuesday said …
Read More »Lenovo denies plans to cease selling small Windows tablets
Lenovo Group has issued a special statement denying plans to cease selling Microsoft Windows-based media tablets with displays smaller than 10” in the U.S. and Canada. Apparently, the company is working on new tablets with smaller screens for the aforementioned markets. The slates are projected to become available later this year. …
Read More »Apple-IBM deal: good news for Apple and IBM, bad news for BlackBerry and Microsoft
The agreement between Apple and IBM will inevitably have a lot of effects on the industry of personal computers as well as mobile devices. For example, BlackBerry and Microsoft Corp. will clearly lose sales because of the new collaboration. Meanwhile, the partnership essentially brings IBM back to the personal computing …
Read More »Microsoft shutting down Xbox Entertainment Studios
Microsoft's original programming plans have been cut short as it has been revealed that Xbox Entertainment Studios will be shutting down as part of the mass job cuts taking place at the company. The studio was in charge of the upcoming live action Halo projects and the Atari E.T landfill documentary. …
Read More »Lenovo discontinues small-screen Windows tablets in North America
Several months after Microsoft Corp. made its Windows operating system free for devices with displays smaller than 9”, Lenovo Group decided to discontinue its Windows-based tablets with 8” screens in the U.S. because of the lack of interest from the end-users. The same actions can follow in other parts of …
Read More »Microsoft to phase-out Nokia X Android-based smartphones
As part of its major restructuring plan announced on Thursday, Microsoft Corp. will phase out its Google Android-based smartphones and will offer more affordable Lumia devices in order to address customers in budget as well as developing markets. Additionally, Microsoft announced plans to focus on higher-end smartphones and fight against …
Read More »Microsoft set to cut 18,000 jobs by March 31st 2015
Microsoft has officially announced its plan to cut 18,000 jobs by the 31st of March next year. However, it's the company's recently acquired Nokia device and services division that will be hit the hardest, receiving around 12,500 of the overall job cuts. The mass job cuts were announced by Microsoft …
Read More »US Xbox One sales doubled in June
Microsoft's decision to sell a cheaper, Kinecless Xbox One bundle is already paying off as US sales of the console actually doubled in June. The jump in sales could also be partially attributed to the holiday lineup of games announced at E3, including The Master Chief Collection and Sunset Overdrive. …
Read More »Intel: replacement of Windows XP-based PCs will help us in 2014
Chief executive officer of Intel Corp. said that replacement of Windows XP-based personal computers by businesses and enterprises will help the company to sell more microprocessors this fiscal year. While the company does not want to make predictions regarding next year, it does not exclude the possibility that the replacements …
Read More »Obama still wants access to all the world’s data
Despite the drumming that trust in government spy agencies has taken over the past year thanks to Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA and GCHQ data collection and retention schemes, US president Obama's administration is still pushing its luck with the kind of data it's allowed to collect. In its …
Read More »Microsoft to announce huge job cuts this this week – report
Chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp. has already implied on strategy changes at the software giant. As it usually happens, strategic shifts happen in a combination with massive layoffs. A media report suggests that the job cuts will be announced as soon as this week. After Microsoft added 30 thousand …
Read More »Microsoft: ultra-affordable Windows devices are incoming
At its annual worldwide partners conference Microsoft Corp. said that later this year its partners will release ultra-affordable devices running the company’s Windows operating system. The family of such devices will include notebooks that cost $199 – $249 and tablets that are priced at $99. Microsoft’s most important rivals these …
Read More »Satya Nadella: Microsoft is the productivity and platform company
Microsoft Corp. may be just one step before of another major strategy shift. Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of the company, said that giant's goal is not only to provide devices and services, something that his predecessor wanted to do in 2013, but to provide productivity opportunities in the new …
Read More »Xbox exec doesn’t think you can tell the difference between 30 or 60 fps
The UK marketing boss of Xbox doesn't think its possible to see differences in frame rate or resolution on screens smaller than 60 inches, in-fact he even went as far as to say “I defy you to really see the difference.” Speaking to CVG, Harvey Eagle said that one of …
Read More »Satya Nadella vows to ’innovate and delight gamers with Xbox’
Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., on Thursday wrote an open letter to the company’s employees revealing some of his thoughts about the future of the company and the world we are heading to. Among other things the CEO of the world’s largest software developer said that the …
Read More »Microsoft’s Cortana continues World Cup prediction streak
There's a lot of nonsense prediction engines that show up during big sporting events, usually animal based. Whether it's an elephant eating this over that, or an octopus that goes for that fish over this one, it's all pretty random and any real correct predictions are likely based on the …
Read More »Microsoft to end mainstream support of Windows 7 in early 2015
Although Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7 operating system is nearly five years old and it has been almost two years since the release of the Windows 8 OS, the Win7 is still the world’s most popular operating system, according to Netmarketshare. Moreover, some PC makers continue to install it on new PCs. Still, …
Read More »Microsoft offering $75 credit to Xbox One buyers
Microsoft's Xbox One sales are on the rise but the console still needs a bit of a kick if it is going to catch up to the Playstation 4 this year. Microsoft is currently offering select Xbox 360 owners $75 of credit to put towards games, DLC or even movies as …
Read More »Microsoft readies “Nokia by Microsoft” branding
Although Microsoft Corp. has rights to use the Nokia name for several years, it cannot use it forever. According to a leaked image, Microsoft will start to prepare its smartphones for transition to its own brand shortly. Initially the firm will introduce the “Nokia by Microsoft” trademark, but eventually the …
Read More »Canon and Microsoft sign broad cross-licensing agreement
Microsoft Corp. and Canon on Wednesday said that they have signed a broad patent cross-licensing agreement. Thanks to the new pact the two companies gain licenses to each other’s highly valued and growing patent portfolios. Theoretically, Canon’s licensing of Microsoft patents may indicate that the company is preparing a family …
Read More »Windows 9 preview could arrive this year
Rumor has it that Microsoft is preparing a Windows 9 preview for the end of this year ahead of the Operating System's full release next year. It is currently believed that the next iteration of Windows will mainly target those still using Windows 7. “Before Threshold is released next spring, Microsoft …
Read More »Microsoft cancels Surface Mini media tablet
Microsoft Corp. has reportedly called off its plans to introduce Surface Mini media tablet. The company decided not to enter the market of smaller slates because it is already very crowded. Nonetheless, the software giant may reconsider its plans regarding smaller tablets if market conditions change. Microsoft was expected to …
Read More »Xbox One could cost the most in China
Considering most of the world's electronics are manufactured in China, you'd assume that the locals would get the best deals on it. That's not often the case though and it certainly doesn't look like it'll be for the Xbox One either. While it's unconfirmed and “expected” at the moment, rather …
Read More »Microsoft Mobile reveals Android-based Nokia X2 with new software
Microsoft Mobile on Thursday introduced Nokia X2, its new smartphone based on a modified version of Google Android operating system aimed at customers in budget. The new handset weds Windows Phone-like experience with Google Android applications. The device features numerous software and hardware enhancements compared to the original Nokia X1. …
Read More »Intel approached AMD about access to Mantle
Intel Corp. has asked its arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices to provide it access to the Mantle application programming interface (API), AMD said last week. While in its current form Mantle can hardly bring any tangible benefits to Intel, the latter could redesign the API in order to allow software developers …
Read More »Games for Windows Live isn’t shutting down after all
It turns out that Microsoft's Games for Windows Live PC gaming service isn't going anywhere, despite many assuming that it was being killed off. Even developers thought it was shutting down at the start of July as plenty of games switched from Microsoft's service to alternatives like Steam Works. Rumors …
Read More »Ubisoft: Far Cry 4 with ultra-high settings will look the same on PC, PS4 and XB1
Far Cry 4 is expected to be one of the best-looking video games ever made, judging by the trailers that Ubisoft published earlier this month. What is somewhat surprising is that according to a representative of the game developer, the game will look equally good on all modern platforms, including …
Read More »Android and Windows Phone will add ability to remote brick device
The call for Google and Microsoft to offer a remote “kill switch,” on their smartphone handsets seems to have been heard, as both manufacturers have announced that future versions of their respective operating systems would include the ability to brick your device by choice, remotely, thereby rendering a stolen phone …
Read More »Ubisoft expects new console cycle to be shorter and prices to be lower
The launches of both Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 were pretty successful since gamers had waited many years for the systems to arrive. While it remains to be seen how successful the XB1 and the PS4 will eventually be, Yves Guillemot, the chief executive officer of Ubisoft, believes …
Read More »Kinect voice commands will always work on Xbox one
We've heard a lot about Microsoft's updated Xbox One development kit and how the company is giving developers access to the full GPU but how these changes would impact the Kinect was still up in the air. However, the company has now clarified that while gestures and the Kinect camera …
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