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To help you celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, the Windows Store presents to you … 12 apps available to download for your holiday merrymaking. The eBay app is a great way to get your 12 drummers drumming, or check out the Sports Illustrated app and read about the quest for 5 Super Bowl rings, and if you’re in the market for a new house, Trulia has got you covered (partridge in a pear tree not included).
Head on over to the Microsoft News Center and check out the app slideshow. Below is a screenshot of the Cocktail Flow app.
Christmas is almost upon us, but Microsoft still managed to stuff the stockings with a flurry of activity this week on a number of fronts. I know most people are busy tearing open those gifts Santa left under the Christmas tree right now, so, without further ado, here’s a little weekend reading to tide you over the holidays.
Developers are at the core of just about everything that happens at Microsoft. Without them, we wouldn’t have much in the way of software products and services to sell to consumers and businesses.
Here in the second edition of the Midweek Download is some of the latest news coming out of Microsoft and what it means for developers and tech enthusiasts. Also included are one or two items that show how to get the most out of Windows 7 and OneNote.
Read on!
What the Microsoft-Nokia deal means for developers. By now, just about everyone has heard of the deal between Microsoft and Finnish mobile giant Nokia. In this Feb. 11th post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, blogger Matt Bencke explains what the deal means for Microsoft developers. And in this Feb. 14th post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows Phone engineering, describes in detail the critical role developers will play in helping to build a new mobile ecosystem.
Three stories out of Microsoft today:
Microsoft today announced new academic institutions and medical schools that are adopting Microsoft Office 365 for education, the company’s next-generation cloud productivity service, to improve communication and collaboration across campuses while helping meet security, privacy and other regulatory requirements as mandated by the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Those institutions include Duke University, Emory University, Thomas Jefferson University, University of Iowa and University of Washington. You can read more about it in this Office 365 Blog post and in this post on the Microsoft in Education Blog.
Also, today we're introducing a new offering for university and college students called Office 365 University. Available in the first quarter of 2013, Office 365 University will be offered online, at retail locations and at Microsoft Stores in 52 markets worldwide. Head on over to the Office Blog to read more about it and see the top 10 reasons why higher education students will love Office 365 University.
Two stories for you today out of Microsoft:
First, Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, announced today at the Windows 8 launch event in Dubai the development of a line-of-business application for Windows 8 called Knowledge Driven Inflight Service (KIS). An in-flight communication and customer relationship management device first introduced by Emirates for its pursers in 2004, the KIS application will now run on the soon-to-be-launched HP ElitePad 900 business tablets and will enable Emirates to continue to deliver extraordinary customer service and experiences. You can also read more about the news over on the Windows for Your Business Blog.
Also, Microsoft is excited to announce its research and development of the first zero carbon data center - called the Data Plant - that will be completely independent of the grid and will recycle common waste bi-products to sustainably power cloud services.
Big news on the Windows Phone front today.
The Windows Phone Blog is reporting that HTC’s Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 810 are now available to T-Mobile USA customers. Head on over to the blog to find out more. That's HTC's Windows Phone 8X to the right.
Also, the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), in coordination with Microsoft, today released the results of a new survey of health and human services departments and agencies nationwide.
Two big stories out of Microsoft today:
· Today, in front of 2,000 students and teachers at Federal Way High School in Washington state, Microsoft General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Legal & Corporate Affairs Brad Smith joined Free The Children founder Craig Kielburger and Seattle Seahawks’ Head Coach Pete Carroll to announce We Day Seattle - an exciting new, year-long program at that will educate, engage and empower 15,000 youth in Washington to become involved global citizens. To get the rest of this story, read Brad’s post over on the Microsoft Corporate Citizenship Blog.
It’s been a big week at Microsoft to say the least, and it’s not over yet.
With today’s release of Windows 8, people can now experience Bing in a brand new way. We’ve completely re-imagined search for Windows 8, including the Bing app for Web and image search and the new Bing apps designed specifically for Travel, Weather, Maps, News, Finance and Sports. Watch the short video below to see what we mean.
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?vid=3d5346fe-762a-483a-ac05-710bee0d9728&mkt=en-us&src=SLPl:embed:syndication:uuids&from=shareembed-syndication" target="_new" title="Bing on Windows 8: Search Reimagined" data-mce-href="http://video.msn.com/?vid=3d5346fe-762a-483a-ac05-710bee0d9728&mkt=en-us&src=SLPl:embed:syndication:uuids&from=shareembed-syndication">Video: Bing on Windows 8: Search Reimagined</a>
Today, Microsoft announced record quarterly revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, a 15 percent increase over the adjusted revenue of the comparable quarter in the previous year.
Earnings per share grew to a record $0.77 per share, a 28 percent increase over the previous year.
Operating income and net income were $8.17 billion and $6.63 billion, respectively.
Other highlights from the second quarter include:
Xbox 360 started the new year as the number one console in the U.S., marking its 25th consecutive month in the top spot with 281,000 units sold in January. Consumers spent over $338 million in January on Xbox games, consoles and accessories. (Source: NPD Group, January 2013)
More highlights from the NPD data:
In this edition of The Midweek Download, we’ve got stories on the latest release of Try F#, the Windows Startup Challenge, plus how to design, optimize and submit your Windows Phone apps – tools and tips you’ll want to use.
Eight tips for designing Windows Phone apps. As part of the "App to the future" challenge, we’ve conducted Lightning Design Review sessions for a few weeks, and one thing struck Windows Phone Product Marketing Director JC Cimetiere as he was watching: review after review, he could clearly identify some recurring patterns. So Cimetiere asked Senior Interactive Designer, Lincoln Anderson, who hosts the reviews, to analyze common issues he sees and write down the top eight design tips for Windows Phone. To see what they came up with, head over to the Jan. 18 post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog. While you’re there, learn how to make your apps battery-friendly in this Jan. 17 post on Optimizing Battery Consumption of Windows Phone Applications.
Try F#—data console to big and broad data. Yesterday, we announced the latest release of Try F#, a set of resources that makes it easy to learn and program with F# in your browser. It’s available over a wide range of platforms and doesn’t require a download of Microsoft Visual Studio. Try F# quickly reveals the value of the versatile F# programming language. Try F# enables users to learn F# through new tutorials that focus on solving real-world problems, including analytical programming quandaries of the sort that are encountered in finance and data science.
Two stories out of Microsoft today:
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week took Microsoft's wave of new products on the road, visiting Europe and Israel. In speeches to students in Moscow, tech start-ups in Israel, customers in London, developers in Berlin, and partners in Paris, Ballmer highlighted how Microsoft delivers highly personalized experiences on Windows 8 devices and Windows Phone 8. Below, Ballmer joined Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop on stage to launch Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 in Moscow.
Windows 8 is "the best version of Windows ever built," Ballmer said.
Two great stories from Microsoft today:
First: Halo fans, it’s finally here – Episode one of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. You can watch it over on Halo Waypoint.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action digital series that takes you back to the beginning of the human and Covenant war and leads directly into the events of Halo 4. Be sure to tune in every Friday to Halo Waypoint and Machinima Prime, where you can watch the story unfold through a series of five episodes.
A new study by Microsoft shows that the ability to work from outside the office is no longer an employee perk; it is a business imperative. The study also finds that remote working offers real benefits to employers and employees alike.
Called Work Without Walls, the study surveyed more than 4,000 information workers in the manufacturing, financial services, retail/hospitality and professional services industries. Among its findings:
It’s the start of a new month today, so what better way to mark the occasion than to lift the veil on a new look for one of the best known destinations on the Web?
Two weeks ago, we announced that we were working hard on Skype for Windows Phone 8. Just like our bold new experience for Windows 8, the new Skype for Windows Phone will be fast, modern, and beautiful, while still delivering the best of what you've come to expect from Skype.