Microsoft working on a fix for Halo 4 SmartGlass issues, arriving in 'the coming weeks'

Microsoft's SmartGlass and Microsoft's Halo 4 apparently aren't quite getting along on Windows Phone 8 devices. Using SmartGlass, Halo 4 players can normally access their stats and other info about their android supersoldier using the long-established Waypoint service -- except for Windows Phone 8 users, apparently. A forum thread dating back to Halo 4's November launch highlights the issue -- as Xbox.com forum user "Scion Eon" puts it: "Whenever I try to log into SmartGlass on my phone while playing Halo 4, I am immediately greeted with a message that says 'Your device is missing certain required features.'" As it turns out, Mr. Eon isn't the only one experiencing said connectivity issues -- specific to Windows Phone 8 devices -- and Microsoft's aware of the situation.

"We are aware that there is an issue with the Xbox SmartGlass experience for 'Halo Waypoint' on Windows Phone 8 devices, which may prevent users from accessing Halo 4 player stats," a Microsoft rep told us this afternoon. Thankfully, Redmond's also taking care of a solution. "We are actively working on a fix and expect to have a solution within the coming weeks. We appreciate your patience as this gets resolved and apologize for any inconvenience this causes," the statement reads. Of course, should you want to access Halo 4's Waypoint functionality on SmartGlass before that fix, you can always use Microsoft's competitor's devices. But then who'd do that?

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft Research head Craig Mundie to retire in 2014

Microsoft Research boss Craig Mundie will step down in 2014, after working over 20 years in both Microsoft's security and R&D departments. The research arm has been run by Mundie since 2008, where he's been responsible for some pretty interesting projects, from early glimpses of Redmond's future to real-time multilingual translation. The day-to-day running of the department will be transferred to former chief technical strategy officer Eric Rudder, while Mundie will continue to advise CEO Steve Ballmer. According to the Seattle Times, the move is line with Microsoft's plans to focus on mobile and web-based developments, while the new role might give the veteran Mundie a little more time to work on his Japanese.

[Source: Engadget]

Bing brings new social sidebar to the iPad, helps you see who's been looking for what

Bing's desktop version recently underwent a bit of a makeover and Microsoft has now added its search engine's new social sidebar for the iPad's Safari users. Upon performing a web search, folks will have access to a side pane displaying related results from the likes of Facebook, Foursquare, Klout and Twitter. Supporting both portrait and landscape formatting, the updated design is set to gradually roll out over the next few days. Just in time for you to check out who's going to see The Hobbit in 48fps this weekend when searching for showtimes and theaters.

[Source: Engadget]

Windows Phone web store opens in 37 new countries, adds universal search, and supports installing apps via SD card

If you had any doubts about Microsoft's efforts to actually make an impact with Windows Phone 8, let this address them. After announcing that it'd be maintaining a full staff to certify apps through the holiday period, the outfit has just revealed that its web store for apps / games is now open in 37 new locations around the globe. (You can find the full list after the break.) All told, that makes 112 supported nations, complementing the phone store that's available now in 191 markets.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft updates Bing Desktop app for Windows XP and higher

Previously only enjoyed by Windows 7 users, Microsoft has updated its Bing Desktop app to play nice with all modern versions of Windows going all the way back to XP. The OS' latest iteration already packs a slew of Bing-powered applications, but none of them replicate the app's headlining trick: syncing desktop backgrounds with Bing's daily wallpaper. Windows 8 (and XP, Vista and server) users who adopt the 1.1 update can set the app to change their background daily, or manually set it to any background from the past nine days. News aficionados can peek at trending headlines and popular images underneath the search field, which itself can be docked at the top of the screen for easy access. Microsoft has also added French, German, Chinese and Japanese language support to the app. If this piques your interest, go ahead and download it at the source -- that is, if you haven't Google-fied your Start Screen just yet.

[Source: Engadget]

 

Go Daddy hires former Microsoft and Yahoo exec Blake Irving as next CEO

Just in time to stand behind what will undoubtedly be the most grotesque Super Bowl ad of the 2013 contest, Blake Irving is taking the top seat over at Go Daddy. The infamous, flip-flopping domain registrar has confirmed that Irving will begin duties as CEO starting January 7th of next year, succeeding interim CEO Scott Wagner. Prior to this, Irving spent a grand total of 15 years in various hallways at Microsoft, most recently as Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Platform. He also served as the Chief Product Officer at Yahoo, while he presently serves on the Board of GolfLogix. Mum's the word on whether or not his introductory video will be too risque for American television.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft confirms 'a delay in approval' of updated SkyDrive app for iOS

Feisty, no? Following a report from The Next Web, Microsoft has confirmed to us that there is indeed a hangup in moving the updated SkyDrive app into the App Store. For those unaware, it was reported that Microsoft and Apple were deadlocked in discussions due to the former's decision to allow users to buy more storage from within the app. In other words, Apple's trying to maintain its controversial 30 percent in-app revenue split, while Microsoft is arguing that some users may end up buying more storage through the iOS app, but then make a switch to Android or Windows Phone. Apple's stance is that users who did such a thing would forever entitle it to 30 percent of the revenue, while Microsoft clearly sees things differently. Today, a Microsoft spokesperson gave us the following quote on the matter:

"Similar to the experiences of some other companies, we are experiencing a delay in approval of our updated SkyDrive for iOS. We are in contact with Apple regarding the matter and hope to come to a resolution. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."

While it doesn't say much, it doesn't outright deny the allegations -- something you'd think a company of Microsoft's size would be quick to dismiss if there wasn't a shred of truth to it. Hopefully the two parties can sort things out, but honestly, we'd suggest the Windows Phone team put the whole "add proper Gmail and Google Suite integration to WP8" thing above this little squabble.

[Source: Engadget]

Office for iPad referenced on French and Romanian Microsoft support site

Officially there is no Office for iPad... or iOS or Android. But, it seems a foregone conclusion that the premier productivity suite will be crossing those ecosystem boundaries. In addition to countless rumors and alleged screenshots, now references to the app are cropping up on Microsoft's own sites. Documents over at the French and Romanian Office support pages have been tagged (incorrectly) as applying to "Office Mobile for iPhone," "Excel for iPad," "Lync for iPhone," and "PowerPoint for iPad." The docs in question don't actually pertain to these unreleased products, but the repeated mislabeling across documents and languages (presumably by Microsoft employees) would seem to indicate they actually exist. Of course, it could all be an elaborate hoax, but we'd find that pretty hard to swallow.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft launches Socl into Beta, brings the part(ies) to social networking

Microsoft has unleashed Socl into beta for all comers to probe, bringing it out of the experimental stages and a step closer to a full-fledged site. We first heard about the project back in July when it was dubbed Tulalip, and MS Research's Fuse Labs officially launched it internally and into some universities back in October last year. The site carries the Windows 8 tile-like look, and Fuse says that imagery is emphasized over "blue links" for search, helping democratize the site "even for people who speak different languages." That lets you find others via posts, a people gallery, or someone's page -- where new posts, people and interests can be viewed all at once. A nav bar allows articles to be created by topics like web, videos or news, and users can create "parties," where they can chat, create playlists or watch videos with others in a similar fashion to Google Hangouts. The project was coded using Redmond's Java-hued Typescript to allow for rapid coding changes, according to Fuse's blog in the source below. To try it out for yourself, check the "more coverage" link.

[Source: Engadget]

Windows Phone now home to 120k apps, downloads and dev revenue rising post-WP8

Windows Phone 8 is a roaring success! That is if you ask the platform's Senior Director, Todd Brix, who tweeted today that developer revenues and downloads have doubled since its launch in November. While this sounds all good, what does it really mean? Back in June, the former Windows Phone Marketplace surpassed 100,000 published apps. To further gauge the platform's progress, Nokia recently announced that the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, with 46 of the top 50 iOS and Android applications being available for WP8.

While today's vague declaration of success didn't reveal any specific numbers, a 20 percent software increase in under six months is definitely something to smile about. As much as we'd like to slap Microsoft a high-five, we'll have to save our jubilation until we get a little something more concrete -- hopefully a set of official statistics will Surface sooner than later.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft Office 2013 now available to businesses, wide release still set for Q1 2013

Right on time, businesses with the inside track to Microsoft's account team and partner program can now snag the latest version of Redmond's content production software suite, Office 2013. What's that? You've got the hook up, but you were also hoping for Exchange Server 2013, Lync Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2013, Project 2013, and Visio 2013? You'll be happy to hear that those are also available today -- the already announced "first quarter 2013" release window for Office 2013 stands, when it'll become widely available both digitally and at direct retailers.

The big update to Office this time around comes in the form of Windows 8-style visuals and cloud-based saves using Microsoft's SkyDrive service. We've got a full hands-on right here if you'd like to learn more ahead of next year's big launch.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft confirms Surface with Windows 8 Pro pricing: starting at $899 for 64GB version, shipping in January

Details on the Pro variety of Microsoft's Surface tablet have been hard to come by since the company first announced it back in June, but it's filled in some big ones today. It's confirmed in a blog post that the device will start at $899 for the 64GB model, with the 128GB version setting you back $999. Both of those are what's Microsoft's dubbing the "standalone" model, which means you'll get a Surface pen/stylus, but have to shell out extra for a Touch or Type Cover (each over $100). Both will be available in January, although there's no specific date or word on pre-orders yet.

As you can see, the device looks similar to the Surface RT, including the same "VaporMg" casing and built-in kickstand, and it also boasts a 10.6-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. A key difference with that latter bit, though, is that the screen packs a full 1920 x 1080 resolution as opposed to the 1366 x 768 found on the RT model. You'll also get a Core i5 processor (no more specifics on that just yet), a Mini DisplayPort that can output a 2560 x 1440 resolution, a full-size USB 3.0 port and, of course, Windows 8 Pro with support for all your traditional desktop applications.

[Source: Engadget]