Tag Archives: Microsoft

App Offers Flurry of Exciting Features for Skiers

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2013Technologycanada, China, colorado, heavenly mountain resort, kevin ashley, lake tahoe, Microsoft, nokia collection, randy guthrie, ride app, silicon valley startup, snowboard instructors, windows phone, windows phone 8, winter ski, youtube videos, zoomable

Winter Ski & Ride app for Windows Phone helps you plan ultimate outings, keep track of your friends on the slopes, and beat your personal best.

REDMOND, Wash. – Winter Ski & Ride, a new Windows Phone app in the Nokia Collection, is taking skiing and snowboarding to a new altitude.

Say you’re riding a ski lift to the top of a snow-covered mountain, be it in Colorado, Canada or China. You touch the screen of your Nokia device, with frosty, gloved hands, and pass the lift time by looking at your stats. How many runs have you done? What was your top speed? You look at your contacts, and note what friends are still on the mountain. You decide to ski a mogul-heavy double black diamond run next, and watch a short video by a professional instructor to brush up on your bump skills. (more…)

comScore Reports January 2013 U.S. Smartphone Subscriber Market Share

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2013Technologyandroid, apple, blackberry, Comscore, data, Google, htc, iPhone, lg, Microsoft, mobile, mobile phone usage, mobilens data, rankings, rim, Samsung, smartphone, symbian

Big Jump in January Smartphone Adoption Driven Largely by Apple

RESTON, VA, March 6, 2013 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry during the three month average period ending January 2013. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 37.8 percent OEM market share, while Google Android led as the #1 smartphone platform with 52.3 percent platform market share.

Smartphone OEM Market Share

129.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (55 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in January, up 7 percent since October. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 37.8 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 3.5 percentage points from October). Samsung ranked second with 21.4 percent market share (up 1.9 percentage points), followed by HTC with 9.7 percent share, Motorola with 8.6 percent and LG with 7 percent (up 0.3 percentage points). (more…)

TechForum Demos Reveal New World of ‘Intelligent Technology’

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2013Technologybig data, craig mundie, don mattrick, entertainment business president, eric rudder, evolution in computing, intelligent technology, kurt delbene, machine learning, Microsoft, natural user interfaces, new world, qi lu, rick rashid, skype, techforum demos, tony bates

Get a behind-the-scenes look at futuristic technology demos showing how big data, machine learning and natural user interfaces are helping to bring about a new world of “intelligent technology.”

REDMOND, Wash. – March 4, 2013 – Microsoft’s strategic and technical vision for the future was discussed this week at TechForum, an annual event hosted by Craig Mundie, senior advisor to the CEO, and Eric Rudder, Microsoft’s chief technical strategy officer.

Mundie and Rudder were joined by Interactive Entertainment Business President Don Mattrick, Online Services Division President Qi Lu, Skype Division President Tony Bates, Microsoft Office Division President Kurt DelBene, Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid and others in discussing and demonstrating how the company is approaching this evolution in computing. (more…)

‘Most Verbose’: Meet Microsoft’s Original MVP

By Guest PostFebruary 26, 2013Technologybroadband, calvin hsia, calvin list, compuserve forum, database, developer division, Facebook, feedback, foxpro, hawaii, Microsoft, microsoft ceo, microsoft employee, modem, most verbose, most verbose people, mvp list, original mvp, professional program, redmond, sde, software development engineer, steve ballmer, Twitter, verbosity, visual studio

Twenty years ago, Calvin Hsia created a list of the “Most Verbose People” on a CompuServe forum that became Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional program.

REDMOND, Wash. – It’s 1993, and you need technical support. Who you gonna call?

Most techies at the time would plug in their modems and dial up CompuServe. In the days before Twitter, Facebook and broadband, CompuServe’s forums were a gathering place for geeks to talk shop and get answers to burning questions. (more…)

Big Data? No Biggie. Microsoft Partners Have Your Business Covered

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2013Technologybay street, bi solutions, big data, big data development, big datasheet, bluegranite, cloud technology, data analysts, data on demand, data quality, excel, gigabytes, infusion, it network, Microsoft, microsoft partners, neudesic, petabytes of data, powerpivot, social media content, terabytes, tool, tribal knowledge, unstructured data feeds, Wall Street

Microsoft partners Infusion, BlueGranite and Neudesic weigh in on how they use big data to shape their business strategy.

REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 13, 2013 – IT departments are being overrun with big data – gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes of data – that is racing through their servers, often untamed and uncontrolled, with more data crowding onto the IT network every day, every hour.

While businesses can choose to keep all this data penned up, they are missing an opportunity to mine valuable business intelligence from their big data unless they harness it and analyze the information they have corralled, using that insight to gain a competitive edge. While a portion of this big data is well-organized information on products and finances, much of it is unstructured, from social media posts and photos to disparate research findings and customer feedback. (more…)

High Stakes: Businesses Make Big Data Bets

By Guest PostFebruary 13, 2013Technologyapplication, ashvini sharma, big data bets, big data tools, big data value, bing, business intelligence team, businesses, combined data, comparing dna, data platform, data storage, dave campbell, digital data, dimensions of value, eron kelly, excel, Facebook, flickr, florida, ftp, hadoop, hallelujah, headache, information, kinect, linux machine, making a decision, Microsoft, microsoft advertising, microsoft sql server, photos, powerpivot, refined data, sequencing, sharepoint, sql, structured databases, structured query language, technical fellow, tweets, types of data, unstructured data, windows azure marketplace, xbox 360

Big data has exploded into the mainstream, and very soon harnessing the power of information won’t just be a matter of profitability, but of survival. Microsoft has the tools to help businesses survive and thrive in the dawning age of big data.

REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 13, 2013 – For the first time in history, it’s going to start raining information.

Hallelujah or headache? For businesses, it’s all about being ready to ride this perfect storm of big data – and their understanding of what’s at stake. (more…)

Caching In: How Some Organizations Are Using Big Data to Change the Way They Do Business

By Guest PostFebruary 12, 2013Technologyanalytics tools, article on forbes, atlanta, bank, bi, big data, big data strategies, bnz, bryson koehler, business, business intelligence, cloud platform, columns of data, crossmark, david selinger, fossils, generate big data, georgia, global scale, Microsoft, microsoft data warehouse, microsoft solutions, microsoft sql server, nctn, nhi, organization, parallel data warehouse, pdw, point of sale, pos data, quantities of data, real-time, risk populations, super 8 worldwide, susan hauser, Technology, therapy, united states, university advancement, va, weather channel, what and why, windows azure

As big data access shifts to the masses, The Weather Company and other top global companies are showing the world how it’s done.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 12, 2012 —Big data is changing the way organizations do business, make discoveries, and interact with each other. In fact, pundits are predicting that 2013 will be the year organizations across a range of industries begin implementing big data strategies, or face obsolescence. As David Selinger wrote in a recent article on Forbes online: “If executives don’t find a way to trap, tame, and train their data monsters, they’ll be extinct in two years—fossils who’ve missed the new world order.”

Microsoft believes that big data has the power to drive practical and theoretical insights that have eluded people to date. In the past, high costs and technology limitations have constrained access to data storage infrastructure and the tools needed to manage and analyze large quantities of data. This is finally starting to change. (more…)

Survey Shows People Need More Help Controlling Personal Info Online

By Guest PostJanuary 23, 2013Technologybrendon lynch, browsing the web, company privacy, daily life, gaming, information, ipsos public affairs, manage privacy, Microsoft, online, online privacy, online services, personal data dashboard, photo sharing, privacy in action, privacy information, tips, travel, video

New videos and tips from Microsoft help consumers better manage privacy.

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 23, 2013 — To mark Data Privacy Day 2013, Microsoft Corp. released new data reflecting consumers’ perceptions about how their information is used online and a new series of short videos to help people better manage their online privacy.

According to the results of a Microsoft-commissioned survey* of 1,000 U.S. adults, people feel they have little to no control about how their data may be collected by online companies. They are also increasingly in search of trusted sources of information to help them make better choices about their online privacy. Highlights of the research include the following: (more…)