The Verge - Microsoft Posts

Microsoft updates SkyDrive for Windows and Mac with new photo sharing function, increased file limit

2012-05-30T22:49:28Z

Just over a month since launching its SkyDrive for Windows and OS X Lion app preview, Microsoft has announced new feature updates and improvements for the cloud storage client. In preparation for the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft is adding a new feature for image sharing, which allows users to view photo libraries from any shared device right within the operating system's Photo application. The total number of files that can be synched with SkyDrive has also been raised from 150,000 to to 10 million. The company has also taken feedback from Mac users and disabled the SkyDrive icon from appearing in the dock while active. The updates are being pushed out to users today as automatic background downloads and installations.

Microsoft launches US government-focused version of Office 365

2012-05-30T19:31:26Z

Microsoft has created a new version of its online productivity suite Office 365 specifically for customers in the US government. Office 365 for Government includes the same services as the regular version — including Exchange Online and Office Professional Plus — but differs by storing data in what Microsoft calls a "segregated community cloud." As with Google, Microsoft is also touting the security of its cloud service, and today announced that Office 365 supports a number of security standards including ISO 27001, SAS70 Type II, EU Safe Harbor, the US Federal Information Security Management Act, and many more. Meanwhile, the government version is expected to support IPv6 by September, and Microsoft says it will eventually support...

Intel ultrabooks and tablets to get access to nearly eight million free, open Wi-Fi connections

2012-05-30T17:09:05Z

The majority of laptops these days still aren't equipped with mobile internet connections, so most users need to rely on tethering, MiFi devices, or good old-fashioned Wi-Fi connections when on-the-go. Intel's hoping to make finding a Wi-Fi signal a little easier through a deal the company just inked with Devicescape — Intel-powered devices like ultrabooks and tablets will now be able to use Devicescape's connection manager technology to access the company's millions of open Wi-Fi hotspots. Devicescape's connection software will be included in future Intel devices, and should help users seamlessly find connections — in fact, the company is claiming that connections are completely automatic and near invisible to the end user. When a...

PointGrab webcam gesture controls coming to ultrabooks and Windows 8 (hands-on)

2012-05-30T16:15:13Z

It's likely that you've never heard of PointGrab, but the company's software is used on many different laptops, all-in-ones, smart TVs, tablets, and phones for those (often silly) gesture controls that manufacturers bundle in. The reason why you haven't heard of the company is because OEMs rebrand the software — something that's continuing today with the news that PointGrab is going to be included on yet-to-be-revealed ultrabooks from Lenovo, Asus, Acer, and Toshiba. Additionally, the program has been updated for use on Windows 8 with new gestures to help wrangle Metro.

We had the opportunity to play with a beta version of the new Windows 8 software, and while we've always been very skeptical of the utility of laptop gesture controls,...

Nokia Lumia 610 launching in the UK for £15 per month

2012-05-30T15:53:05Z

Nokia has been targeting the affordable smartphone market lately, and its about-to-be-launched Lumia 610 Windows Phone will push the price of entry even lower. According to a Nokia spokesperson, the Lumia 610 will hit store shelves during the first week of June and cost £15 per month on contract. It's launching in four colors — white, cyan, magenta, and black — and will include the recent Wi-Fi internet sharing capability of its elder siblings. The Lumia 610 will be launching on O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, and Virgin Mobile, so keep your eyes peeled starting next Monday if you're looking for a decent smartphone on the cheap.

Microsoft now officially supports Skype preinstallation on OEM PCs

2012-05-30T15:28:29Z

Microsoft has quietly released an OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) to allow system builders to easily "silently install" Skype on new PCs. The kit includes an installer application and instructions for OEMs to install version 5.8 of the Windows Skype client on a large number of PCs. Although system builders could previously opt to include Skype themselves, Microsoft is making this process easier with full support.

The latest Skype client (version 5.9) isn't supported just yet by the OPK, but the release signals an effort by Microsoft to ensure OEMs opt to install its voice and video calling service. Microsoft completed its acquisition of Skype in October 2011, but has not yet fulfilled its promise to integrate the technology into its core...

Orange and T-Mobile UK retrain customer service staff around mobile OS specialization

2012-05-30T10:09:09Z

Everything Everywhere, the joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, has announced its plans to invest £50 million to re-design its customer services with a focus on handset operating system support. Orange and T-Mobile customers will benefit from the investment which will see 12,000 staff in contact centers, high-street stores, and customer facing roles trained on the latest mobile operating systems.

Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone training will be provided to staff to ensure they're fully up-to-date with the every changing mobile market. Everything Everywhere says the new service approach is rolling out following trials that demonstrated "dramatic improvements" in issue resolutions. Up to 7,000...

Nokia Lumia 900 Batman edition on sale June 1st in the UK for £599.99

2012-05-30T09:20:04Z

We knew Nokia's limited edition Lumia 900 handset was heading to the UK soon, but Phones4U is now taking pre-orders with an expected delivery date of June 1st. The branded Lumia 900, complete with a Batman logo laser-etched into its body, will go on sale for £599.99 SIM-free or on a variety of 24-month contracts starting at £31 per month. There's little different between the batphone edition and an ordinary Lumia 900, but Nokia has opted to include an exclusive Dark Knight Rises app and black and grey theme.

Nokia tells us that the Lumia 900 Batman edition will be manufactured in limited numbers and available for sale in selected countries only. Some countries will only receive a small amount of units and will therefore use them for...

Microsoft's Photosynth panorama app now available on Windows Phone Marketplace

2012-05-30T04:29:02Z

There were signs back in February that Microsoft's Photosynth panorama app would be making its way to the Mango platform and today, those rumors have been validated, as the photo-stitching tool is now available on the Windows Phone Marketplace. The app allows users to capture spherical 3D panoramas, which can then be shared via Microsoft's Photosynth.net service to Facebook, Twitter, and Bing.

Photosynth launched on iOS last April, but was excluded from Microsoft's own mobile platform due to camera API issues with Windows Phone 7. These problems were apparently resolved with Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango), though it clearly took some time for Redmond's engineers to fully port the app over to the Marketplace. Users with Mango-equipped handsets...

6.4 percent of most popular Windows Phone apps are incompatible with low-end Tango devices

2012-05-29T22:11:24Z

We've already seen several instances where low-memory Windows Phone devices like the Lumia 610, which has just 256MB of RAM, simply can't run certain high-profile apps. But just how bad is the problem? AAWP crunched the numbers and found that of the 86,292 apps currently available in the Windows Phone Marketplace, only 1.6 percent aren't compatible with 256MB phones — which is less than Microsoft's claim of five percent. However, that number does increase a bit when you look at the more popular apps. Of the top 10,000 downloads in the UK, 4.6 percent are incompatible with low-memory devices, while 6.4 percent of the top 1,000 apps won't work.

Unsurprisingly, a large number of the incompatible apps are games, with likes of Plants vs....