Apple has accumulated 125m users of its iCloud service just six months after the launch. But while it does a great job of saving and moving photos and music between different Apple devices, it is less agile with documents, video and non-Apple products – a weakness that three updated services are exploiting.
Netscape’s ignominious end: Swallowed by Microsoft
Microsoft just wrote the final chapter in a historic rivalry that defined the early years of the Web – and which became Exhibit A in its anti-trust showdown with the US government.
We hear that the legal remains of Netscape – along with its patents – have just been traded to Microsoft by AOL as part of a landmark $1.1bn deal. More than a decade after it was vanquished in the browser wars, Netscape really does seem to be worth more dead than alive.
Windows on ARM: the short version
It’s the weekend. What better time to pour a glass of wine, put your feet up and settle back with… a 9,000-word blog post about the future of Windows?
Not this post (which comes in at a mere 300 words) – this one, from Steven Sinofsky, which lays out Microsoft’s plans for bringing Windows to ARM-based mobile devices. But don’t worry: there’s no reason to read the whole thing to see why it’s got Microsoft-watchers buzzing.
Microsoft turns to advertising to poke Google
Microsoft, which often lobbies intensively behind the scenes against Google, has for the first time taken its campaign into print. It began a three-day series of adverts in US newspapers on Wednesday taking aim at Google’s latest moves to integrate its services and standardise its privacy policies.
The message: You can no longer trust Google to put its users first.
Tech news from around the web:
Talks between media companies and Microsoft over the software giant’s online subscription service has been put on hold, it was reported on Reuters.
The technology giant had been in intense talks with potential programming partners for over a year and was hoping to roll out the Netflix-style service in the next few months. But it pulled back after deciding that the licensing costs were too high for the business model Microsoft envisaged, people familiar with the discussions said.
Microsoft is set to give a concerted push to its smartphone software this week as it kicks off its latest attempt to claw back lost ground from Apple and Google.
Despite rising anticipation on Wall Street, however, the software company is not ready to take the wraps off a new version of Windows, according to a person familiar with its plans. Windows 8, expected to be launched this year, is designed to work with touchscreen tablets as well as PCs.
Tech news from around the web:
Microsoft, a 20-year stalwart of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, has decided to pull out of the event after the 2012 show in January, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company, whose keynote address has been one of the main highlights of the show, said it felt that it would be better to make announcements on its own time.
Tech news from around the web:
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has become the centre of bid speculation. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft and Nokia had, in recent months, considered the idea of making a joint bid for RIM, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper. Meanwhile, Reuters says that online retailer Amazon had hired an investment bank in the summer to review a potential merger, but did not make a formal offer.
Tech news from around the web:
Apple has announced that it has hit the 18bn mark in downloads of the 500,000 apps it has on offer at its App Store, PaidContent reports. Last week Google revealed that it had achieved 10bn downloads from its app store.
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Older entries
