Right next to downloading, music streaming is the next big thing in terms of entertainment on the net. It’s really starting to pick up with many people launching their own private radio stations. While the vast majority are in too small a niche to actually make money, the big companies will.
Spotify are the biggest at the moment. They are the ones to go to for video and music streaming. Recently however, Microsoft announced that it would launch its own music streaming service. This was originally intended for July but has become delayed.
Several other companies are now catching up quickly with streaming services already launched or in the works.
TechCrunch.com contacted Microsoft and this is what they had to say for themselves:
We don’t have much detail to disclose on this subject but what we can share is that, in the coming months, MSN is planning a new music service in Beta via its Music channel in the UK.
“At this stage we won’t be confirming the details behind this but more information will be available soon and will be communicated in due course.”
At any rate, Microsoft had better hop to it if they want to succeed in what it becoming a crowded market. If they let users get too comfortable with one source (as we have see happen in the past with iTunes) then they will not want to move onto any future service provided by Microsoft.
A whopping 67% of us ‘Google’ things. If we want to know something we simply ’Google it’, as it has become known. Like any good online company, their name is also a verb. Just like Twitter with Tweet. They have a hug share of the market – undoubtedly. Now however, they may have their first real competitor in years.
Anyone remember last year when Microsoft was trying to buy Yahoo! for almost 50 Billion dollars? It went down in flames. But the inter-company relationship didn’t end. Now, they’re discussing a possible collaboration between the two search engines –Bing (Microsoft) and Yahoo!.
If this were to go ahead then it would offer a chunk of healthy competition to the dominant Google. The news storyalone would send thousands flocking, to give it a whirl – but Yahoo and Microsoft better be careful.
People like their search engine. For me, its been Yahoo! imply because I like a bit of news before I search and also because it was the first search engine I ever used so I just kind of stuck with it. People don’t like change – and when they do change they don’t want to be insulted by too many sponsored results like over at Ask.com or search results that make them want to ‘Google’ .
It’s impossible to tell what the end result would be from this mutation of search engines. Would it be Yahoo!, powered by Bing or the other way around? They do have a plan to split the revenue between them but what about the work load such as PR, development and staffing the site. Now might not be a good time to invest in any search engine as there’s going to be a war, with casualties. I’ll wait until the final few blows before I put my money on one of them.
Today represents a significant milestone for Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and more importantly, the first big opportunity for developers. Microsoft are now accepting application submissions from all 29 supported countries and have launched a Race to Market Challenge to kick things off. It’s time to show us what you’ve got!
Registered developers and ISVs can now upload their application, game or widget to the Windows Marketplace platform and we’ll begin certifying those apps according to the process,policies and guidelines we’ve published. Microsoft will certify apps on a First In, First Out (FIFO) basis. Certification should normally take about 10 business days initially and you can always check on your application during the process through our Developer Dashboard. To better market your app, you can provide us with all the product information and promotional materials you’d like us to use to describe and showcase your application for the more than 30 million Windows Mobile devices out there.
Microsoft are aiming to create a global marketplace for Windows Phones where developers and users meet to sell and buy high quality and high value applications, so in other words an iTunes app store competitor
But it all starts today with the applications, and as I mentioned earlier we’re kicking this process off with a little contest we’re calling the Race to Market Challenge.
The Race to Market Challenge is just another reason for developers to get in on the ground floor of the new Windows Marketplace. While we do sincerely believe that everyone who submits an app will benefit from being among the first available when Windows Marketplace opens for business, we’re offering a few other prizes as well.
It has been reported that sources at a major client of investment house ThinkEquity say that the firm considers a Microsoft (MSFT) link-up with Yahoo! (YHOO) in the search business to be “imminent”. The comments were made by analyst William Morrison. ThinkEquity did not have an immediate comment.
Sources beyond ThinkEquity speculate that under the terms of the arrangement, Yahoo! will be paid $3 billion upfront and will get 11o% of the revenue that its searches provide after traffic acquisition costs in each of the first two years. In the third year, that figure would go to 90%.
Microsoft will then have control of 30% of the US search market if they can close the deal with Yahoo. Given that Microsoft’s own Bing is on the rise also, it will then only be about taking share away from Google. However, I can see how this deal with allow Microsoft to take marketshare from Google, Google has much better technology and a huge amount of brand loyalty. comScore put Google’s US June search share flat at 65%, Yahoo! at 19.5%, down .5%, and Microsoft at 8.4%, up .4%.
For Yahoo!, the transaction would give it the opportunity to lock in a substantial revenue stream from search and potentially save several hundred million dollars over the next three years by cutting development personnel and costs. If the transaction materializes, Yahoo!’s share could jump $4 or $5.
Have you ever downloaded a less than scrupulous piece of software only to discover the next day that you default browser has been changed and your homepage is some rubbish search engine based in North Korea? I have. So have thousands of others who were attracted by freeware never stopping to think of the scheming companies that lurked behind them. Such as Microsoft.
At the present, when users download IE8, the newest edition of Internet Explorer they will quite obviously have to install it. Now when you’re installing any piece of software you’re given a choice.
a) Quick Install
b) Custom install
In most cases the ‘Quick Install’ is already selected for you and most of us will go right on ahead and press ’Next’. Microsoft copped onto that so that when you install IE by choosing the quick install method your default browser and homepage are changed to please Bill Gates.
Microsoft recently came under fire about these practices you would expect from a smaller more desperate company. They responded by saying on their blog that they were making an update and that by August IE8 will ask your permission to become the default browser first.
“IE will never install, or become the default browser without your explicit consent. However, we heard a lot of feedback from a lot of different people and groups and decided to make the user choice of the default browser even more explicit,” Microsoft said.
IE8 has already been in the spotlight when they released the OMGIGP advertisement which Crenk covered here.
As we’ve announced a while ago, Microsoft and Zune are getting ready to take an important step: the release of Zune HD. Now, there are some more news about it, this Zune HD will include Nvidia Integra system-on-chip.
This chip was build, of course, specially for smartphones, PDAs and MIDs. There are several type of processors within this chip: Tegra APX series (2500 and 2600) specially designed for smartphones; Tegra 600 and 650 designed for smartbook and MIDs.
Naming some of the features that the new Zune will include:
Will use flash memory instead of an internal hard drive. Remember that flash memory it’s quite faster than normal hard drives.
OLED multi-touch screen.
Wi-Fi enabled. No confirmation yet about if will include a support on 802.11n.
HD radio. High quality sound available.
Output available 1280×720 (720p). Will not support 1080p.
Internet browser optimized for multi-touch functionality.
We are still waiting on official release date and pricing.
Advertising for the big companies look Google, Sony and Dell never stray far from the ‘Hello. We love you. Buy our stuff’ protocol that we all have come to recognize. However, old Billy Gates had another trick up his sleeve when it came to Internet Explorer 8.
It’s a husbands/boyfriends worst night mare. Your significant other borrows your laptop for a few ticks only to discover Internet history that you’re not exactly too proud off. The word embarrassment comes to mind. Internet Explorer 8 now offers a feature called Private Browsing which stops your internet history being recorded for all to see.
Microsoft is the first company to really give this a go and especially to market it as one of the main features. Perhaps desperate times call for desperate measures when Joe soap with a computer seems to be rolling out new browsers every day.
It’s the way Microsoft are selling this feature that’s the real charm. They couldn’t exactly just throw it out there without the entire world raising an eyebrow. So they’ve gone and raised our eyebrows for use with this memorable ye informative video. It’s intended for online use only and as such won’t make it onto out TVs. However, just a few hours ago the video was removed from the official website. This points to second thoughts by Microsoft. Check it out below.
For Crenk Bing is now the third most popular search engine in terms of traffic. However, about a month or so ago I actually submitted our site to be added to the Bing search engine. Since this time we have seen a slight increase in traffic and our site has been indexed properly, but we still aren’t even appearing for the results we should appear for.
For example our own site name Crenk, you would think we would appear as the first result obviously. However, we still dont even appear in the results at all, even after being properly indexed by Bing.
Microsoft Office 2010 is the next release of Microsoft’s popular Office suite. Microsoft is looking for participants for the Microsoft’s Office 2010 Real Life Stories program.
Eligible are families, students and small businesses that own 5 PCs or less from the United States. Each selected participant will receive a preview copy of Microsoft Office 2010, access to web versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint plus dedicated support by a program manager and various other sources.
Participants specifically get:
Microsoft Office 2010 pre-installed on a “loaner” laptop PC – before it ships!
24-hour unlimited e-mail support Monday – Friday, with phone support for escalations
Monthly webcast training and Q&A sessions
Community site access, so you can connect with other participants and easily use resources like feature videos and announcements
FREE copy of Microsoft Office 2010 (when available)
The Microsoft Office 2010 Real Life Stories program is available to US citizens only at this point in time. They can submit an application at the official website until June 30.
It was leaked a few days back and I think intentionally. Windows 7 box packaging is here and here is a quick look at what it is going to look like. Now the official Windows Team Blog has confirmed that this is the official box packaging for Windows 7. Windows Team blog says that the packages are made simple clean design, easy to open, and reduces waste. The Windows 7 logo is made more bolder and easy to read and each edition has a different box color to easily distinguish itself.
Docx is the new file format of Word 2007 and this is the default format of Word 2007. This format cannot be opened in previous versions of Word unless you have the office compatibility pack installed. Incase you do not wish to install the compatibility pack, there are online converters to do the job of converting to .doc format. Here are the top 3 online converters.
Docx Converter: This is again a good service to Docx file and the output file is in html format so that it can be read in all systems. There is also a desktop widget for converting.
Docx2Doc: As the name indicated, this service converts docx formats into doc files so that it can be viewed in Word 2003 or lower. The major disadvantage with this service its that there is a one hour delay in downloading the converted files to reduce website bandwidth.
Zamzar: Zamzar can convert variety of file formats and Docx is one of them. Select the file and format to be converted and enter your email id, the file will be converted and a link will be sent to your email ID for download.
Channel 9 published a few days ago a very cool set of videos with a great summary of the history of Microsoft. Most of them are videos shorter than 10 minutes with a quick look to all the main events that built that company.
It is amazing to see how two teenagers with small idea, a program called BASIC and big ambitions made the most powerful company in the world.
I know, there are different versions about the actual ownership of the original program and the idea, some say that Bill Gates stoled the idea to other students, some says that they bought the program… still, you need more than an idea or a incredible program to build an empire.
Right next to downloading, music streaming is the next big thing in terms of entertainment on the net. It’s really starting to pick up with many people launching their own private radio stations. While the vast majority are in too small a niche to actually make money, the big companies will.
As we’ve announced a while ago, Microsoft and Zune are getting ready to take an important step: the 
Advertising for the big companies look Google, Sony and Dell never stray far from the ‘Hello. We love you. Buy our stuff’ protocol that we all have come to recognize. However, old Billy Gates had another trick up his sleeve when it came to Internet Explorer 8.
Channel 9
