Microsoft will soon start construction on an experimental micro data center at a waste water treatment plant in Wyoming. The concept could help Microsoft scale up clean power for its data centers. Read more »
At the United Nations climate conference in Durban, South Africa this week, The European Environment Agency, geospatial software company Esri and Microsoft showed off the “Eye on Earth” network, which uses Microsoft Azure to create a online community for eco data. Read more »
Throughout 2009 and 2010, Internet companies like Microsoft, Google and even router giant Cisco launched experimental software and hardware to help building managers and home owners monitor and control their energy consumption. But now these firms are abandoning those plans. Why? Read more »
Apple keeps taking things away from Microsoft. First, it was smartphone market share, knocking down poor Windows Mobile. Then, it was size as measured by market capitalization, with Apple moving into second in May. As of today, it’s quarterly revenue. Read more »
AOL has acquired video syndication specialist 5min Media to boost the amount of video it serves on its sites, while boosting distribution of its own video assets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although estimates place the value of the deal at around $50-$65 million. Read more »
Ever wondered how shows like Venture Bros can survive on TV? iO9 has the answer, and it may surprise you: The blog has taken an in-depth look at the Nielsen ratings system, including statements from a former Nielsen family member and a look at future trends. Read more »
U.S. Pay TV subscriptions have declined for the first time in history in the second quarter. Comcast & other cableco’s lost a total of 711,000 subscribers last quarter, which represents the biggest quarterly loss ever for cable TV. Telcos and sattellite TV providers were better off. Read more »
Microsoft is scrambling to get Windows Phone 7 ready for its fall launch. The company is sending out preview phones to developers and the press to get feedback. Reaction to WP7 is mostly positive, and its worth rounding up the major points from these previews. Read more »
Foursquare is in talks with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft about deals involving the service’s location-based checkin data, CEO Dennis Crowley told The Telegraph. None of the search providers have confirmed this, but such deals would make sense given their interest in making their results more real-time. Read more »
Bill Gates might be the most prominent high-level Microsoft exec to focus on energy innovation, but he’s certainly not the first. A decade ago its then-chief technology officer, Nathan Myhrvold, left the software giant to found Intellectual Ventures, which has spun off nuclear power startup TerraPower. Read more »
Steve Jobs demonstrated the new FaceTime video calling app on the iPhone 4 at WWDC, but had to ask the audience to turn off their Wi-Fi devices first. Why is that? The new video call feature is only supported on Wi-Fi connections for the time being. Read more »
Automakers from Detroit to China to Silicon Valley have plug-in vehicles slated for commercial launch between 2010 and 2012. A lively ecosystem of technology developers, equipment makers and would-be service providers for these vehicles has started to emerge in preparation for an influx of electric cars. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft just kicked off a special pricing deal for it’s Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade program. You can save nearly 40-percent to move a netbook from Starter Edition to Home Premium, for example. But there’s a catch and I think Microsoft ought to remove it. Read more »
Ford and Microsoft’s move to use Hohm to minimize energy costs for electric vehicle drivers and limit strain on the grid represents a big step toward a “smart charging” ecosystem. But they say tools like Hohm need to go much, much bigger. Read more »
The worldwide online market for digital goods will grow amid a state of continuous disruption across all forms of content markets. Fueled by an ever-growing user base, migration from physical formats to digital distribution, and a proliferation of new connected devices, the overall market for digital goods will grow to $36 billion by 2014, up from $16.7 billion in 2009. This report examines the state of paid content and the various monetization and payment models across each of the various digital goods markets. The report examines key players and market dynamics in the film and video, newspaper, online game, music and social networks space relative to their paid content strategies, and includes a revenue forecast of each of these segments relative to the overall paid content market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft recently outlined its plan for data centers as it begins its expansion into cloud services with its Azure platform, and the software company’s emphasis on commodity gear and modular components hearkens back to Henry Ford’s first production line. Read more »
An Australian tech website has started running ads featuring Mac Pros and MacBook Pros whose entry-level prices are noticeably higher than those in the current Mac lineup. So what, right? The ads are probably incorrectly labeled, or something. But the word on the street (well, the […] Read more »
AT&T’s CEO says that the carrier handles half of all data traffic generated in the U.S. Being a good samaritan, I abandoned my iPhone to ease the 3G network. Did you know you can port away a number and get a new one for the iPhone? Read more »
By this summer you can expect to find the first energy devices — smart meters, energy management dashboards, connected thermostats — that can link with Microsoft’s online energy management tool, Hohm. Troy Batterberry, a Microsoft product unit manager, told us more about the initiative. Read more »
Microsoft on Tuesday opened up its Azure cloud computing platform, after more than a year of development. Derrick Harris takes an in-depth look at Azure over at GigaOM Pro to see what exactly Microsoft is offering and how it compares with other clouds. Read more »
An event more than a year in the making, Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud-computing offering is finally available to the public. The software giant announced Azure in October 2008, made the service available as a limited Community Technology Preview (CTP) project shortly thereafter, and has been releasing pricing and product details at a regular clip in the meantime. Preview customers have been experimenting for free with a limited version of Azure, but as of April 1, 2010, all existing CTP customers who have not upgraded to the official version will have their accounts deleted. As the cliché goes, general availability is where the rubber meets the road for Microsoft and its vaunted cloud platform: If it can leverage its existing customer base and convince potential users to trust an oft-criticized software vendor with an entirely new delivery model, Microsoft could become a major force among cloud providers. While Windows Azure is a more-than-capable offering, trust could be an issue for a large number of developers and businesses that don’t believe Microsoft will deliver the openness so valued in the cloud world. Here’s a look at what Azure is, what it costs, and how it fits into (and will differentiate itself in) the market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In President Obama’s budget announced yesterday, the feds may have opened a window of opportunity for cloud computing companies large and small hoping for some government largess. The federal budget hopes to increase spending on IT in 2011 by 1.2 percent to $79.4 billion. Read more »
Microsoft today finally opened up its cloud platform, Windows Azure, for business. Today the rubber meets the road — and we will soon see how Azure does against larger players such as Amazon and Rackspace, as well as how it affects Microsoft’s margins and other businesses. Read more »
In addition to our own coverage of the recently launched iPad, our fellow GigaOM sites have also been writing up their fair share of great perspective on Apple’s latest product launch. Video on the iPad: HD, But No Flash Will the iPad Kill the Kindle? In […] Read more »
A survey done by Microsoft in conjunction with Data Privacy Day on Thursday found that 70 percent of HR professionals have rejected a job candidate because of information they found about that person by doing an online search. Read more »
Rackspace today said it would offer a database in the cloud through a partnership with FathomDB, a company that provides a relational database as a service. The move brings competition to the cloud database market and could be a lifeline for FathomDB. Read more »
MIT’s Media Lab today showed off a thin LCD screen that can respond to both touch and gestures. They call it a bidirectional screen, or BiDiScreen for short. The tech on display uses LCDs with built-in optics and new algorithms to allow for gesture control. Read more »
After losses and drama, more than $100 million in outside funding and a $500 million valuation, reports say London-based Spinvox could be bought for a mere $150 million by Nuance Communications, as Nuance tries to consolidate its leadership position in speech and voice recognition services. Read more »
Super-thin notebooks are all the rage, but they invariably come at a big price premium. Dell proved that with the release of the swanky Adamo XPS, a notebook just 0.65-inches thick for $1,799. It was looking like super-thin notebooks would never be priced for the masses, […] Read more »
Reader Murray Chapman has been doing some international traveling lately and noticed an odd problem using Gmail on his trips. Murray found that he would not be able to access his Gmail, and once he lost access he couldn’t get it back. Not to be outdone […] Read more »
We usually love our Apple products. They work well, are easy to understand and when we have a problem, Apple works quickly to resolve it. Most of the time. What happens when Apple simply won’t play ball? Read on and find out how to work Apple’s […] Read more »
With Azure, Microsoft is trying to strike a balance between giving customers the ease of a platform as a service and the customization that power users need to build tailored applications — both in-house and in the public Azure cloud. In the wake of the Redmond giant’s […] Read more »
Salesforce.com today announced Salesforce Chatter, an application that provides a social network for enterprise businesses. Salesforce Chatter incorporates social networking and real-time connection features as well as integrates Facebook and Twitter status updates, making it unique from other enterprise collaboration offerings from Cisco and Microsoft, which […] Read more »
[qi:gigaom_icon_cloud-computing] Microsoft today at its developer conference in Los Angeles unveiled its Pinpoint service, which looks kind of like an app store aimed at enterprise developers and customers using Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings, albeit one that goes beyond mere apps. It also showed off a data […] Read more »
On Friday Microsoft plans to announce that its energy management online tool Hohm is now live and available to utility Xcel Energy’s 3.4 million customers. Troy Batterberry, Microsoft’s product unit manager of its Energy Management & Home Automation division, plans to break the news at an […] Read more »
