Kiran Upadhyay

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will be investing in Cyanogen, Inc., the Android ROM builder. The report says that Microsoft would be a "minority investor" in a $70 million round of financing that values Cyanogen in the "high hundreds of millions." Cyanogen takes the Android source code and modifies it, adding more features and porting it to other devices. It has also started supplying Android builds directly to OEMs (like the OnePlus One), which ship the software on devices instead of stock Android. Last week during a talk in San Francisco, Cyanogen's CEO said the company's goal was to "take Android away from Google." It wants to replace the Google Play ecosystem with apps of its own, the same way that Amazon uses the Android Open Source Project for its Kindle Fire products but adds its own app and content stores. Google pushes a lot of requirements on Android OEMs. If they want the Google Play Store, it also f

Microsoft revealed a version of Windows that blends holograms with real world video to provide users with an augmented reality version of their environment that blends real objects with virtual, and virtual interface elements, information boxes and guidelines viewable via a wearable headset device. Windows Holographic provides ways for engineers to see instructions overlaid directly on the objects they’re working on, Microsoft said on stage, or offers a way for architects to survey and present their designs alongside clients even when separated by great distances. If you want a look at something very similar being done by a company that’s much younger, but aiming at something similar, take a look at Sulon Cortex and what they brought to CES. Read More

Microsoft and NASA are teaming up to make remote working on the Red Planet a reality, using the newly announced HoloLens headset, and the Windows Holographic technology that it supports. The platform is called OnSight and is being developed out of NASA’s Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It uses the Mars Curiosity rover as effectively a telepresence bot for scientists working out of the relative comforts of Earth’s atmosphere. Data piped from Curiosity will allow the OnSight software to build a 3D simulation of its surroundings on Mars, which scientists will be able to check out first-hand thanks to HoloLens’ ability to project virtual environments onto physical surroundings. The scientists will then be able to examine what’s being worked on by Curiosity from a first-person perspective, and then plan future activities for the rover to complete, as well as see simulations of their likely results. HoloLens and the holographic computing MS is using with the headset wo

Microsoft promised a new build of Windows 10 next week, and also confirmed previous rumors that the first build of the operating system for smartphones will be released in February. If you are on Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1, you will be eligible for a free upgrade inside the first year of Windows 10. Microsoft made the announcement this morning at an event on its corporate campus outside of Seattle. On stage, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson pitched Windows 10 as a service, instead of simply an operating system that a user installs. Or, put more simply, the company views the next version of Windows as the hub of its various services. ------------------------------------------------------- By offering a free upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft is essentially working to grow the userbase of its next operating system, which will grow its developer opportunity. Microsoft needs to grow the cadre of developers that build programs for its platform. In the era of Android and iOS

Ford today took the wraps off Sync 3, its next-generation, in-car technology package that is, as you’d expect, faster, sleeker and much improved over the old one. It’s also more intuitive and easier on the eyes, and integrates smartphone apps better. But the biggest change is under the hood: Sync 3 is powered by QNX instead of Microsoft Auto. When Ford first launched the Sync prior to the recession, it was novel in the infotainment space. The platform announced today, several years after version 2.0, is Ford’s third go at infotainment, and from my limited experience with the Sync 3, it’s dramatically better than its predecessors. Previous versions of Sync are a mess. Most lately seen in the MyFord Touch variation, it combined a touchscreen interface with smartphone capabilities. It was a mishmash of colors, features and control schemes. Worse yet, it is slow. There was a notable amount of lag. Consumer Reports advised readers not to buy a new Ford or Lincoln because of MyFord To

Remember when Chrome  was fast? Microsoft might, if ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley’s recent report that the software company is building a lightweight browser, codenamed “Spartan,” bears out. According to Foley, Spartan is “new” and “isn’t [Internet Explorer].” Her post notes that it could be set free inside of the Windows 10 release schedule. In short, Microsoft may be building a speedy, simpler browser that maintains use of Internet Explorer’s rendering engine. Internet Explorer has had a ribald history, growing from zero market share, to market-dominating heights, to slow decline in the face of Firefox, to faster decline in the face of Chrome, to a recent re-acceleration under a new, standards-based approach. Its life has been bitcoin’s late 2013 to date, but stretched out over several decades. Whether the company’s recent moves have been enough to salvage Internet Explorer’s tarnished brand, however, is open to interpretation. Microsoft certainly wants its browser to gain market sha

Microsoft’s Sway, an online tool for creating presentation documents, is now generally available to the public. Previously, a waiting list was in place. That Sway has taken down its rope line isn’t surprising. What is perhaps slightly unexpected are the metrics that Microsoft announced in its blog post concerning the product’s availability. Here’s the company: It’s been only 10 weeks since we kicked off Sway Preview, and we’ve already had over one million unique visitors to Sway.com and over 175,000 requests to join, and those numbers grow by thousands daily. Ten weeks is 70 days, implying that Sway has seen around 14,285 hits and 2,500 signups per day, so far, on average. The actual count on the traffic side of things is slightly higher, but as Microsoft only specified “over one million,” we can’t be more precise. I would have had no guess what sort of traffic a product like Sway could attract. It’s from a large company, so that was an advantage. But being placed behind a

Skype has been talking about, and demoing, its new real-time translation software for Skype for a while now, but users will begin getting first-hand experience with the tool as of today. The Skype Translator preview program begins welcoming its first participants into the fold, based on sign-ups to the Translator preview page we told you about in early November. The Skype Translator project offers on-the-fly translation of both spoken and written languages for participants in Skype conversations, making it possible for two people who speak completely different languages to communicate with virtually no barriers to understanding. The preview program starts with support for English and Spanish spoken translation, as well as over 40 languages for real-time text chat. At launch, tis also limited to users of Windows 8.1 software (either desktop or mobile) so Microsoft is playing platform favorites with this early beta program. They’ve also already been testing it out with schools in

If you want further proof that Microsoft is going through a transformative phrase, you may be interested to hear that the company has jumped on the bitcoin wagon. The Redmond-based tech giant is now accepting bitcoins for buying games and other digital content on its Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox platforms, as the folks at Coindesk noticed today. Members of Reddit’s bitcoin subred noted that Microsoft appears to be working with payments firm Bitpay to make this happen. Neither Microsoft nor Bitpay have formally announced the partnership or details, but the former does have a series of instructions related to bitcoin payments within its ‘billing help’ pages. We’ve contacted both companies for further information, but did not hear back at the time of writing. There are some caveats to note, however. Customers can use bitcoin to load money into a Microsoft wallet or to create digital gift cards, but direct payments with the cryptocurrency are not supported at this time. Fina

Last year, Microsoft announced that its consumer-facing Skype communications service and its enterprise-focused counterpart would begin to interoperate, first with IM and audio, and later expanding to support video. Today, the company says, the video integration is complete. Skype users can now video call contacts on Lync, and vice versa, Microsoft announced this morning. The change follows a series of deeper integrations between the two products, the latter of which will be rebranded “Skype for Business” sometime in 2015. To use the now cross-platform video calling feature, you don’t have to do anything differently from before – you just kick off the call the same way you do today. However, video calling is supported only on an up-to-date Lync 2013 client on Android, iOS or Windows and on Skype for Windows desktop. Skype is now working to expand this integration to more platforms, starting with iOS and Android. Under the hood of this integration, the teams have worked

Skype co-founder Janus Friis is backing a new communications app called Wire, out now for iOS, Android and Mac OS X. The app itself is the reimagining of how a communications tool like Skype should operate had it been built today. Much of that, in Wire’s case, means under-the-hood improvements that users don’t necessarily see, such as advancements in media processing, audio technology, file compression and delivery, and more. Wire pairs this more solid infrastructure with an uncluttered, simple design that will likely be the initial attraction for mainstream users. Skype, of course, is one of the top communication apps in the world, but it’s also running on dated technology. Users still experience issues with call quality, connection problems, synchronization and more. “Skype was launched more than a decade ago. A lot has changed since then – we are all used to free calls and texting, and we have taken to carrying our computers in our pockets,” said Friis in a statement about W

Just before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., a Microsoft blog post accidentally leaked the company’s intention to buy mobile email application Acompli. Though the blog post itself was pulled down, the URL still revealed the forthcoming acquisition. Today, the two companies are officially confirming the news, with the Acompli team of around two dozen joining Microsoft as a part of a $200 million+ deal. Recode was first to report the $200 million figure, and we’ve also confirmed. We’ve also heard this was an all-cash deal. “18 months ago we started building a team and a product around the idea that we could make mobile email better,” reads an Acompli blog post announcing the news. “Today that journey continues as part of a larger organization with the technology, talent, and market reach that will help us take the vision of Acompli to hundreds of millions of mobile users across the world.” Acompli was backed by $7.3 million from Redpoint and others for its mobile email app designed

There are many things that the next generation of geek won’t get to experience. The sound of the 56k modem connecting when your parents are sleeping in the next room. Burning CDs. Being somewhere and not knowing something, and just having to deal with it because you don’t have a space computer with pretty much all of humanity’s collective knowledge in your pocket. The latest pillar of yesteryear to come crumbling down? Clip art. Microsoft has just announced that it’s killing off the last trace of clip art in its Office products, instead pointing users in need of imagery toward Bing Image Search. Why? Because most people are just getting their images online anyway. Bing images won’t be vector art (and thus not as resizable), and they probably won’t be as gloriously ’90s, but you’ll at least have a whole lot more options. The Bing Image Search built into Office is essentially the same one that’s built into its standard search engine, just with Creative Commons filters switc

Windows 10 is already a known quantity to some degree thanks to the developer preview, but Microsoft is holding an event late in January to present its consumer features properly, according to a new report from The Verge. The January event will include discussion of new features for end-users, including an all-new touch input interface called “Continuum.” Also on the agenda for the event are discussions about how Windows 10 will work for phone and tablet hardware, as well as potential improvements to the Xbox One dashboard. Windows 10 is meant to unify Microsoft’s entire hardware lineup, including Xbox One, under a single platform, so this could be the first good look at how everything will work together once it all launches properly. Windows 10 is said to be launching sometime in “mid 2015,” so don’t expect the software to become available for the general public at said January event. More details should follow shortly about specific timing.

 Good news! Skype says that Chrome on Chromebooks and non-Windows platforms can use Skype for Web for instant messaging, but not yet for voice and video because the plugin hasn’t been configured for them yet. Skype has brought its instant messaging, voice and video chat service to the browser with a new beta available now. The Skype web client also allows anyone to sign in and use it their account when they’re on an unfamiliar or public computer, without having to be able to install native apps. The Skype web app is designed to eventually work without any plug-ins, which again goes to the point of it being usable without install permissions, but initially it will require you to install a single small plug-in to get voice and video calls, while Skype works with Internet Explorer to bring Real-Time Communications (RTC) standards to that browser. It should sync up your various conversations and message status, and let you get chatting quickly, and it also lets you call friends with

Microsoft is up to its old tricks again, and just in time for the holidays. The latest ad out of Redmond pits its Surface Pro 3 against the MacBook Air, and with all the holiday cheer and spirit you’d expect in mid-November. Going over all the same features we see listed in every Surface Pro 3 ad, Microsoft talks about the touchscreen and the pen and the detachable keyboard, all the tune of “Walking In A Winter Wonderland.” How festive! This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Microsoft come after Apple’s MacBook Air in commercials. The Surface Pro 3, which starts at $799, has a much easier argument going up against an expensive ultra-thin, premium laptop from Apple than it does against a less expensive iPad Air, or worse, Android tablets that can often go at even cheaper price points. But Microsoft isn’t just competing with Apple on behalf of the Surface Pro. The company is fighting its southern nemesis in the software space, too, with earlier ads pinning Cortana against Siri.

For more than 12 years now, the .NET framework has been the programming model for developers who want to build apps for Windows. But in its efforts to take many of its developer tools cross-platform, Microsoft today announced that it plans to take .NET to both the Mac and Linux soon and that it is open-sourcing most of the full server-side .NET core stack (not client-side .NET), starting with the next version. As Microsoft’s corporate VP of its Developer Division S. “Soma” Somasegar told me, about 6 million developers are now building applications on top of the framework. “We’ve been widely successful with that,” he said. But now the question is, how do you move .NET forward? Microsoft already open sourced the .NET compiler earlier this year, so it’s not new to this (even though many pundits may still take a double-take when they hear the words “Microsoft” and “open source” in the same sentence). Looking at Microsoft’s recent history, however, today’s announcement doesn’t come a

At a recent event on its Redmond campus, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella detailed his views on what Google and Apple do best. His comments, as the chief executive of the company worth less than Apple, but more than Google, are notable. For context, in his thus-short tenure at Microsoft , Nadella has completed its purchase of Nokia, and also continued the company’s push into cloud computing. Here’s Nadella’s quote on his rivals: When I think about what Apple does, what Google does and what Microsoft does, therein lies perhaps the simplest answer to why these three identities are actually pretty distinct. To me Apple’s very, very clear, and, in fact, I think Tim Cook did a great job of even describing that very recently where he said they sell devices and that’s what Apple is all about. And Google is about being, it’s about data or it’s about advertising, it is about serving you ads in a tasteful way, and they’ve done a great job of that business. Apple’s massive success in hardwa

You can now run the latest version of Internet Explorer on your Android, iOS, OS X or non-Windows 10 Windows machine. Microsoft has built and released something it calls RemoteIE, which allows developers to run the company’s browser preview builds without requiring them to be on the most current version of Windows. Microsoft wants developers to build their websites to be compatible with its browser. At the same time, the company can’t expect all developers to use Windows. RemoteIE, which is powered by Microsoft’s cloud computing platform Azure, provides a reasonable compromise. (For some live examples, head here and here.) The service is just for testing, with Microsoft noting that “[s]essions are limited to conserve server resources. Sessions idle for 10 minutes will be logged out and no session can last more than 60 minutes – you’ll need to start a new session.” RemoteIE is free. In short, regardless of your operating system or development environment, you can now quickly sp

We’ve seen leaks of a new Office for Mac 2015 suite circulate, but the new version of Outlook for Mac is already here, at least for Office 365 subscribers. The overhauled email client includes a new look and feel, as well as search that extends to archived mail (whether stored online or on corporate servers), better all around performance, push email support and more. Microsoft also took this opportunity to make its Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote for Mac updates official, announcing public beta availability beginning early next year, with a general consumer launch in the second half of 2015. The new Office apps for Mac will be available to Office 365 subscribers with no additional cost as part of their subscription, once released, while the company also plans to launch a perpetual license for a one-off buy at the same time as Office for Mac becomes available as final shipping software. The new Outlook has a redesign that makes it look a lot more like its companion apps on o