Tag Archives: Microsoft

IBM Helps Organizations Address Growing Mobile Computing Opportunity

By Guest PostNovember 9, 2012Technologyandroid, apple, blackberry devices, byod, cmos, data, global organizations, growing market, ibm, ios 6, it industry, manfred metz, Microsoft, mobile computing, operating system, phil buckellew, revenue, software, strategy, windows, windows 8

New software and services enable businesses to create and enhance mobile strategies

ARMONK, N.Y. – 09 Nov 2012: IBM today unveiled a suite of new software and services that enables global organizations to build a comprehensive mobile computing strategy – from securing and managing devices, to creating mobile applications and analyzing data. These new offerings are part of a move by IBM to capitalize on the growing market opportunity for mobile that is expected to drive $130B in revenue for the IT industry by 2015, according to a recent study.[i]

As organizations increasingly view mobile computing as the next platform to conduct business, the market is evolving beyond just the device. Business leaders including the chief information officers (CIOs) and increasingly chief marketing officers (CMOs) of global organizations such as airlines, retailers, governments and healthcare providers are among the businesses turning to IBM to ensure mobile services and solutions are readily available to constituents and in full compliance with IT strategies. They need solutions that can be applied across any mobile environment and device — whether a laptop, smartphone or tablet — and can provide an underlying IT infrastructure that is always available, secure, effectively manages data, and integrates both front and back-end systems. (more…)

Meet the ‘Halo 4’ Engineers Delivering ‘30 Seconds of Fun’ – Early and Often

By Guest PostNovember 5, 2012Technology30 seconds, bungie, cinematic nature, david berger, emotional story, epic, fredrik persson, fun mantra, go flying, goldilocks, halo 4, halo franchise, halo game, halo universe, lamborghini, Microsoft, new weapons, new york times, news center, peter burzynski, plasma grenade, software, storytelling, weapons, xbox 360

“Halo 4” launches tomorrow, and millions of fans will start blasting their way through the biggest and most detailed “Halo” universe yet.

REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 5, 2012 — It happens early and often in every “Halo” game: the ‘30 seconds of fun.’

That phrase refers to the heart-thumping period when players risk pixelated life and limb to take on teeming hordes of enemies. The ‘30 seconds of fun’ mantra began with Bungie, the game studio that created the first five games of the “Halo” franchise.

But “Halo” has always delivered a rich story alongside the action; the game’s universe has spawned comic books and New York Times bestselling novels. “Halo” takes the Goldilocks approach to gaming: it doesn’t exhaust you with long storytelling animations nor numb you with nonstop battles. It finds a middle ground: It’s just right. (more…)

Meet the ‘Plumbers’ Powering ‘Halo 4’ Infinity Multiplayer

By Guest PostOctober 31, 2012Technology343 industries, armor abilities, bungie, cloud services, commander, dvr, Entertainment, game online, game studio, halo 2, halo 4, halo universe, halo waypoint, infinity multiplayer, jerry hook, luigi, mario, master chief, Microsoft, news center, plymouth rock, s curve, sara palmer, sci fi, social, spartan ops, subterranean it, tamir melamed, vehicles, video game, virtual machines, weapons, windows azure, xbox live

Members of 343 Industries talk to the Microsoft News Center about the infrastructure behind the “Halo 4” Infinity Multiplayer suite and the video game industry’s shift to a world of 24/7 live services.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 31, 2012 — Meet Jerry Hook and Tamir Melamed, the hardest-working plumbers in the video game world not named Mario or Luigi.

Hook and Melamed lead the engineering team laying the subterranean IT structures that will power every pixel of the multiplayer experience in “Halo 4.” Everything fans experience online – stats, screenshots, the simple joy of blasting a friend or stranger to smithereens – depends on the infrastructure they’ve built over the past year and half. That infrastructure is supported by Windows Azure, which provides the team with the affordable scalability they need to keep a game like “Halo 4” running smoothly for fans. (more…)

Meet Xbox Music, Microsoft’s New All-in-One Music Service

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2012TechnologyAmazon, android, beautiful, cd, digital, entertainment business, free streaming, internet, ios, iTunes, launch, madonna, Microsoft, mp3, music catalog, music experience, music life, music pass, music service, music subscription, pandora, pc, personal collection, phone, platform, playlist, radio, radio station, scott porter, smart dj, tablet, windows 8, xbox 360, xbox live, xbox music, yusuf mehdi

Xbox Music is Microsoft’s brand new all-in-one music service that enables users to listen to music how, when, where and on what device they want. It is included in a rolling update to Xbox LIVE that starts Tuesday and will be expanded when Windows 8 launches.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 14, 2012 — If music makes the people come together, as Madonna says, the new Xbox Music gives people all the music they love, every way they want it.

Xbox Music, Microsoft’s new all-in-one music service, specially designed to let users listen to music in exactly the way they want, begins rolling out to millions of people around the world Oct. 16 on the Xbox 360, then to the masses with Windows 8 on Oct. 26. (more…)

comScore Reports August 2012 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2012Technologyamericans, apple, application, Comscore, google android, htc, industry, intelligent, market share, Microsoft, mobile device, mobile phone, mobile subscriber, mobilens data, motorola, oem, online survey, rim, Samsung, smartphone, symbian, text messaging, US

Apple Inches Closer to #2 Position in OEM Market

RESTON, VA, October 2, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.7 percent market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms, accounting for 52.6 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple accounted for 34.3 percent. (more…)

comScore MMX Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for August 2012

By Guest PostSeptember 12, 2012Technologyad exchanges, ad focus, advertising networks, aol advertising, august 2012, buy side networks, census, Comscore, comscore mmx, cookie rejection, data, demographic universe, digital world, dsps, Facebook, Google, google ad network, inorganic increase, instagram, linkedIn, methodology, Microsoft, mmx data, monthly analysis, MySpace, online media, pulsepoint, revv platform, rubicon project, safari browser, sharethis, specific media, ssps, tumblr, Twitter, udm, unified digital measurement, US, us market, usage, vibrant media, web activity, Yahoo

RESTON, VA, September 12, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly analysis of U.S. web activity at the top online properties for August 2012 based on data from the comScore MMX service.

With the release of August 2012 U.S. MMX data, comScore introduced three important methodological enhancements to our estimates that will affect data on a go-forward basis. The first enhancement is the incorporation of updated demographic universe estimates based on data from the 2010 U.S. census, which provides an improved accounting of the percentage of the population falling into each demographic segment. The second enhancement was an improvement in comScore’s enumeration survey methodology to better represent persons in cell-phone only households. The third and final enhancement is a new technique to account for cookie rejection in Safari browsers, for sites measured via comScore’s Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) methodology.. (more…)

Bing Challenges Nation to ‘Bing It On’

By Guest PostSeptember 6, 2012Technologyamerica, big box, bing, bing it on, challenge, Facebook, foursquare, Google, Google Search, kinect, knowledge graph, Microsoft, microsoft prize, mike nichols, mtv, pane, quality, quora, san diego, search engine, search result, social search, Twitter, video music awards, web, windows 8, xbox, xbox 360, xbox live

Study suggests people prefer Bing’s Web search results nearly 2-to-1 over Google.

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 6, 2012 — Beginning today, America can click and choose which Web search results it prefers by participating in the Bing It On Challenge, available at Bing.com. Based on research that indicates people prefer Bing Web search results over Google, Bing is inviting consumers to come and see for themselves with an online test designed to show that the quality of Bing’s Web search results has surpassed Google’s.

Although most people identify themselves as Google searchers, an independent study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. shows people chose Bing Web search results over Google nearly 2-to-1 in blind comparison tests.* Given those findings, Bing decided it is time to let people see for themselves that there is a better option in search. (more…)

From Town Hall Forums to Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Focuses on Involving Young People in the Political Process for 2012 U.S. Presidential Election

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2012Politics, Technology1972 election, 2012, atlantic live, brad smith, charles hauser, charlotte, chelsea clinton, chuck todd, election day, election process, elections hub, elizabeth baker keffer, lisa stickan, Microsoft, microsoft election, next generation, presidential campaign, republican convention, stem, tampa, the atlantic, united states, US, xbox entertainment, xbox live, young people

Company’s latest efforts are part of an ongoing initiative to close the “opportunity divide” facing the next generation.

REDMOND, Wash. — August 23, 2012 — In the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, young people emerged as a force to be reckoned with. They canvassed neighborhoods, worked phone banks and, on Election Day itself, streamed to the polls in numbers eclipsed only by the 1972 election. But in 2012 it appears young people may be less engaged in the political process, even though the issues at the forefront — jobs, education, student loan debt — are ones that affect them directly.

Charles Hauser has heard all this firsthand. A student at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., he admits he doesn’t think his peers are as involved politically as they could be. “I have heard some young people say they don’t feel their votes count,” he says. “I also feel it is harder to be actively involved when there is so much turmoil economically.” (more…)