The story of the new Microsoft.com

A few weeks ago Microsoft silently launched a new home page. It was meant to be a temporary launch for the purposes of some preliminary testing. This week marked the real launch of the new Microsoft.com home page. And as someone who has been involved on and off with the project from the moment it …

Office for Mac 2011 Retina update not working — Fix!

Today Microsoft released a Retina update for the entire Office for Mac suite. After installing it however the apps still opened in non-retina mode. A reboot didn’t help either. Turns out Microsoft forgot to change the modification date of each Office for Mac app, a date which Finder uses to detect any changes — such …

on{X} – Automate your life

on{X} lets you control and extend the capabilities of your Android phone using a JavaScript API to remotely program it. Kinda like ifttt but then based on actions that happen on your mobile: an SMS being received, a location being entered/left, a change in mode of transport (from car to walking), etc. A recipe like …

Fear and Loathing and Windows 8

Windows 8 worries Michael Mace: Be sure to read his insightful (and lengthy) article on Windows 8 too: Windows 8 is very different: attractive in some ways, and disturbing in others. It combines an interesting new interface with baffling changes to Windows compatibility, and amateur mistakes in customer messaging. Add up all the changes, and …

SoundWave – Using the Doppler Effect to sense Gestures

Do Kinect-like things on your computer, but without the Kinect: the technique uses your speakers and microphone to sense what gesture you are making. Called SoundWave, the new technology uses the Doppler effect to detect any movements and gestures in the proximity of a computer. The Doppler effect, if you remember high school physics, is …

Microsoft acquires (part of) Netscape

Here’s a deal that would have made many minds explode back in the 1990s: Microsoft is buying Netscape. Or at least most of the important parts of the company that used to be synonymous with “Internet.” That’s a side component of the $1 billion patent sale that AOL and Microsoft announced this morning. Attention Marc …

Microsoft Holoflector

Holoflector is a unique, interactive augmented-reality mirror. Graphics are superimposed correctly on your own reflection to enable a novel augmented-reality experience. Presented at Microsoft TechForum 2012, Holoflector leverages the combined abilities of Kinect and Windows Phone to infer the position of your phone and render graphics that seem to hover above it. (via teusje)