Category Archives: Microsoft

Samsung Galaxy III, Skype & InstaCam for Windows Phone, Blackberry Resurrection?

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Smartphone Briefs

By Chris Coleman|@PhoneKnack

Reports have surfaced that the latest edition to the Samsung Galaxy family, the Samsung Galaxy III will measure in at a relatively slim size of  7 mm. The Droid RAZR, which is currently one of the thinnest phones on the market measures in at 7.1 mm, so you can imagine how thin we are talking.

The Samsung Galaxy III is rumored to be released this upcoming May and will feature a 8megapixel rear camera and 2megapixel front-facing camera. Look for the device to run on Google’s latest operating system, Android 4.0(Ice Cream Sandwich). Multiple reports have cited that the Galaxy III will sport 2GB of RAM, have a quad core processor, and will also be 4G LTE compatible.

If this news is all true, the Samsung Galaxy III will be a hard phone to beat this year.

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Titan II and Lumia 900 set launch date, Xbox games coming to other platforms? Google Music Updated

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Smartphone Briefs

By Chris Coleman|@PhoneKnack

AT&T is hitting the ground running in 2012, opening the year with two Windows Phones. Both the HTC Titan II and the Nokia Lumia 900 are hitting shelves on March 18th. The HTC Titan II can be yours for $199.99 on a new two-year contract. It features a whooping 4.7 inch screen, a 16megapixel camera, 1.5 GHz processor, and will run on AT&T’s LTE(4G) network. The Nokia Lumia 900 on the other hand will be only $99.99 but still gives the Titan II a run for it’s money. The Lumia has a slightly smaller 4.3 inch screen, with a 8megapixel camera on the back, and a 1.4 GHz processor, however, it has a larger battery compared to the Titan II. Like the Titan II, the Lumia is also compatible with AT&T’s LTE(4G) network.

This year is starting off very well for Microsoft and their Windows Phone line, look for them to continue to make a push in the smartphone market throughout the rest of this year

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Microsoft completes purchase of Skype

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by Anna Schmidt

Technology Market

Microsoft has closed its acquisition of Skype Global. Negotiations of the definitive agreement under which Microsoft would acquire Skype, an Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion were led by investor group Silver Lake and the transaction was originally announced on May 10, 2011. Boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype previously approved the acquisition.

Microsoft and Skype will remain focused on their shared goal of connecting all people across all devices and accelerating both companies’ efforts to transform real-time communications for consumers and enterprise customers. The completion of the acquisition also marks the official introduction of Skype as a new business division within Microsoft.

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Adobe Flash Player 11 and Adobe Air 3 hits the Android Market

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by George Heymann

techeadlines@gmail.com

Adobe Flash Player 11 and Air 3 hit the Android Market today. With the launch, Adobe is introducing its next generation ‘Stage 3D’ architecture that promises 1000x faster rendering performance over Flash Player 10.

This release incorporates features that support theater-quality HD video, native 64-bit optimizations, and high quality HD video conferencing. The architecture is designed to leverage native device and platform capabilities including Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry Playbook, Windows, Mac as well as select TVs.

According to the Adobe Flash Platform blog, The next generation console has arrived! “Today, approximately 70% of web games are powered by Flash, along with 9 of the top 10 games on Facebook, about 70% of the games on Google+, and the top social games from companies like Zynga and EA. Games at their best are fluid, immersive experiences, and the unmatched consistency of Flash Player allows game developers to focus on making great games rather than fight fragmented technology. Games just play. And play big: Flash Player brings an audience over 11 times larger than that of the best-selling current generation game console.

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Rearth Ringke smartphone protection and style on a budget

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by George Heymann

techeadlines@gmail.com

Rearth manufacturers a variety of protective cases for a wide range of devices from laptops and smartphones to a variety of MP3 players. The Rearth case that I’m reviewing today is the Ringke which is a high polymer case incorporating a 3 layer design.

The design consists of a silicon layer, an etching layer and a high polymer layer. The hybrid case provides the soft touch properties of a silicon case, with the smoothness and dust resistance of a hard rubber case while retaining much of its flexibility.

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Mobile security software will be essential for smartphone users in the near future

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by George Heymann

techeadlines@gmail.com

It’s unfortunate but the time is rapidly approaching where installing some type of mobile security software will be essential to the operation of a smartphone. Several well publicized security breaches in the news recently including attacks on Sony, Citibank, Discover have security and malware on the radar for many consumers.

On the mobile side, Google has had to remove dozens of malware applications that were introduced to the Android Market. iOS has been affected to a lesser degree but hasn’t been immune from Malware. Security experts Stonesoft and McAfee are both forecasting that sophisticated malware attacks to iOS will increase as mobile continues to grow and additional attention is focused on popular smartphones.

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Microsoft previews “Windows 8” at Computex

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by George Heymann

techeadlines@gmail.com

Microsoft previewed the next version of Windows, codenamed “Windows 8” to hardware partners at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan today.

As part of the technical preview Mike Angiulo, Microsoft corporate vice president of Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem, demonstrated how “Windows 8” is optimized for touch-centric hardware.

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New Microsoft Windows 8 details being leaked

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By Anna Schmidt

Technology Market

With the forthcoming release of Windows 8 being seen as a crucial step in Microsoft’s ongoing dominance of the operating systems market, some details of the company’s product are being leaked.

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Google strenghthens its #1 smartphone platform position in US with 33 percent share according to comScore.

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The latest comScore report released for the 3 month period ending February 11, 2011 indicates that the Android Smartphone platform grew 7 percentage points since November, strengthening its #1 position in US with 33 percent market share.

Google was followed by Rim with 28.9 percent, Apple was third with 25.2 percent, Microsoft was down 1.3 percent to 7.7 percent and Palm rounded out the top five with 2.8 percent of the US smartphone platform market share.

69.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in February 2011, up 13 percent from the preceding three-month period according to comScore.