Articles about Microsoft

Anyone setting up an Xbox One will be presented with the option of enabling the console's energy savings. At the moment, it is the Instant-on feature that is enabled by default, and few people delve into settings to change this later on.

By being upfront with the feature during the initial setup phases, Microsoft gives gamers the opportunity to reduce power consumption and lower electricity bills. As well as easing the impact console ownership has on wallets, it also helps to minimize its environment impact.

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As promised two weeks ago, Microsoft is today releasing the Windows 10 for phones preview build across a larger set of Lumia phones. In a blog post, the company announces that it is seeding out the Build 10051 of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones to the Fast ring today. In addition to bringing support for more smartphones, the new build also brings along a number of new features, including Project Spartan, new Outlook Mail and Calendar apps, and more.

First up, let’s talk about the new features. Project Spartan -- the new browser from the Redmond-based company which recently made its way to the Windows 10 technical preview for desktops -- is now making its debut on Windows Phone handsets. “It uses our new rendering engine to give greater interoperability with the modern mobile web, and includes early versions of Reading View and Reading List”, says Gabe Aul, Windows Insider Guru, Microsoft. Project Spartan will not replace Internet Explorer 11 on your phone as the default browser but will exist side-by-side with it.

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As we get further and further down the road to Windows 10, Microsoft today reveals there will be a major overhaul to the Store. A single unified Store will be used to deliver apps, music, TV shows and movies to everything from desktops and laptops, to mobile devices and Xbox platforms -- the Internet of Things even gets a look in.

Fire up the Store in the Windows 10 Technical Preview and you should now see a Movies & TV section (or Films & TV depending on where you are in the world). This has been present in the beta version of the Store for a while now, but now it actually works. The recently released Music and Video apps will soon be integrated with the Store, and there's more to come.

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Back in November, Microsoft and Dropbox joined forces to bring Office editing capabilities to iOS and Android users. Now the two companies have taken things to the next level, bringing the same capabilities to the web.

New integration between the ever-expanding Office Online and Dropbox means that it is now possible to create files in Microsoft's cloud-based office suite and save them directly to Dropbox. There's also the option of adding your Dropbox account to Office Online to allow for easy access to files ready for editing.

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Windows 10 -- the forthcoming operating system for desktop, mobile, gaming console, and IoT devices -- will hit the shelves this summer. While there is still some time left for it, according to a new report by Neowin’s Brad Sams, the Redmond-based software giant has already started to work on the "next Windows update". Codenamed "Redstone", it is the first major update to Windows 10 and will be released in 2016, ZDNET’s Mary Jo Foley confirms, citing her sources.

We don’t know what exactly this update will add to the operating system, but one thing is pretty evident: Microsoft is gearing up its update cycle. The company is now providing major updates to its operating system on a yearly basis, while also providing security patches on the second Tuesday of every month.

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These days Xbox is about much more than just gaming and it's a platform that is increasingly appealing to cord-cutters. Microsoft and its partners have gradually increased the number and variety of apps that are available for a diverse viewing experience, but now things have taken a new twist. If the likes of Netflix and HBO are not enough, there's now an over-the-air TV tuner available.

Live TV is something that Xbox One users have been asking for for some time, and Microsoft has teamed up with Hauppauge to come up with the goods. Anyone who is a member of the Xbox One Preview is able to buy the Hauppauge WinTV-955Q and gain access to a wealth of free networks such as NBC and CBS.

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There's no need to ask for a show of hands. To get a sense of how long the Windows RT hate-train is, you can just spend a few minutes Googling. A few weeks ago when Microsoft let loose that official Windows RT devices, like the Surface 2, were not getting Windows 10 in any proper shape, the anti-RT chorus cheered that they have been finally vindicated.

Stories like this one which adorned The Verge planted their flags pretty clearly: "Windows RT is officially dead".

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The thing I dislike most about the Windows 10 Technical Preview -- and there are a few design points I’m really not a fan of, including those ridiculous icons -- is the current Start menu. In the latest builds this is a fixed size (with a full screen option), that takes up too much space, and is very tile heavy. If you don’t like, or simply don’t require, the Modern UI, it’s awful.

The Start menu in the first official build was far superior, and could be resized in different ways. It would automatically grow or shrink depending on how many (or how few) tiles you had. If you don’t like tiles, all you had to do was remove them, and it would turn into a traditional Windows 7-style menu. When Microsoft removed this feature, Windows 10 became much poorer for it. Well, the good news is the resizable menu is definitely coming back.

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Late last year Getty Images hit Microsoft with a lawsuit for using its images without license in the Bing Image Widget. Getty had complained that Microsoft turned its images into "a vast, unlicensed clip art collection". In a bid to avoid trouble, Microsoft opted to take down the widget and now -- seven months down the line -- it seems that it may just have paid off.

Today, the two companies announced that they are forming a partnership to bring properly licensed images to products such as Bing and Cortana. Technologies from both Microsoft and Getty images will be used together to enrich services on both sides.

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The sales business is always tough, and when things are going downhill then sellers come up with better, more enticing offers. We're not saying Microsoft's new console is in trouble, but it is currently behind its rival in recent sales figures. And while the company will still happily sell you the previous generation model, it really, really wants you to get that spiffy new box, and a third-party is here to help out.

With business seemingly slow, GameStop has a deal to offer you. All you have to do is trade in that old Xbox 360 or, gasp, Sony PS3 to get Microsoft's latest and greatest. To be fair, the offer doesn't come directly from Microsoft, but is through GameStop, though behind the scenes deals are always a possibility.

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When you think of the great tech rivalries, it’s unquestionably Microsoft vs. Apple that springs to mind -- after all the two firms have been battling it out for close to 40 years. Microsoft was the dominant force for much of that time, until Apple surged ahead to become the most valuable company in the world.

Both tech giants have massive, and incredibly loyal fan bases. When we write something negative or overwhelming positive about either company’s products on BetaNews, the fanboys come out in force, accusing us of bias or being on one of the firm’s payrolls. So surely it’s time to find out which company has the most loyal and satisfied customers -- will it be Microsoft or will it be Apple? Place your bets now…

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When the first Star Wars film was released to theaters, I was not yet even born -- my birth was still a few years off. Still, the film franchise greatly impacted my life. How? I saw the films on VHS later on, but more importantly, I had the action figures and other collectibles. My mom even bought me an R2-D2 garbage can for my bedroom that brought me great joy. My story is not unique; people of all ages have been impacted by the films.

Sadly, the six-film movie collection has never been available for digital download -- well... legally at least. Many fans turned to the dark side and downloaded the movies using torrents and other methods. Today, Disney announces that the films will be coming to digital download services, such as iTunes, Google Play and Xbox Video. If you choose to buy it through Xbox Video, you will even get some cool exclusives.

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Yes, you did read that headline correctly. Microsoft has announced that due to the popularity of Kinect for Windows, the sensor will no longer be produced. While an increase in demand would normally lead to an increase in production, Microsoft is taking something of a different approach.

Rather than maintaining two Kinect product lines -- a model for Xbox One and a model for Windows -- the company will instead sell an adapter that allows the console sensor to be connected to a PC. Microsoft says that this will help to keep things simple and create consistency for developers.

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Microsoft's Surface team took to Reddit to answer a barrage of questions in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on the site. Although the team was available for probing for just one hour, scores of questions were fired at them and while nothing ground-breaking was revealed, shrouds of mystery were swept aside.

The upcoming Surface 3 has already managed to generate quite some interest. This is the first non-Pro Surface model that will ship will a full, non-RT version of Windows and it should come as little surprise that many of the questions related to this tablet. If you don’t have the time or inclination to read through the entire thread on Reddit, here are some of the edited highlights.

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On April 4, 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. The small firm used to develop and sell BASIC interpreters. Little did they know that in the next 40 years, their company will become the biggest software firm in the world, and also bag the title for one of the most valuable companies.

Today, there is a little bit of Microsoft in everybody’s life. Whether it is the desktop computer where Microsoft’s Windows has about 90 percent market share or the company’s Office which is unarguably the best productivity suite available. Maybe you are into gaming and own an Xbox One, or your company relies on Azure cloud services.

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