microsoft

New Social Network unveiled by Microsoft

Social Media is getting crowded and now it’s Microsoft’s time to introduce their social network So.cl. This is not their attempt to compete with Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

It is a network that is aimed at helping students interested in social media. Microsoft calls it a “a research experiment for students focused on combining web browsing, search, and social networking for the purposes of learning.”

The Search functions of So.cl is powered by Bing’s API and encourages students to create rich web contents visually. While you search the links are shared automatically when there are other students looking for the same thing. A feature called “Video Party” let you search and you can make a note of movies which you can watch together with friends.

So.cl is only available to students of information and design schools in Syracuse University, Newyork University and University of Washington. It also provides the opportunity for the students to create customized social tool for their own community.

FAQ part of So.cl reads “We hope to encourage students to reimagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.”

Read FUSE Labs blog to know more about it.

Edge launched by Adobe for HTML5

The new web motion and interaction design tool Adobe Edge by Adobe was released for public preview last week. Adobe Edge is the first professional grade HTML-5 editing tool which enables users to create content using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.

It is currently available for free as the company is looking for the feedback from the developers.There was some confusion among the users as Adobe Edge shares the name with Adobe’s free newsletter.

Adobe’s Edge is not mean to replace existing web design tools like Dreamweaver or Flash but they want to dominate Web Infrastructure as HTML5 has gained a lot of popularity in the world of mobile.Adobe has made it clear that company is supporting both the platforms and in the following month Adobe has launched Flash to HTML5 converter which is the first step towards supporting HTML5.

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Internet Explorer 9 To Proffer ‘Do Not Track’ Option

Recently Microsoft announced that they’re taking initiatives to guarantee user privacy with a new “Do Not Track” option in Internet Explorer 9. The pronouncement comes on the heels of an extremely disputed recommendation from the FTC (Federal Track Commission) that would make tracking an opt-in only scenario.

Internet Explorer

However experts have complained that asking web users to turn on the facility to track them would be upsetting for small business owners who hugely rely on tracking to tightly target ads. Others have conveyed that such a move would be impossible to regulate due to the wide variety of  browsers and ad delivery systems.

Internet Explorer 9, which is due to be released early on next year, will come equipped with “Tracking Protection.” By utilizing this feature, customers will be able to click on an ad and prohibit the 3rd party providing the ad from tracking them in the future. These 3rd parties are included in the  “Tracking Protection List” which is saved in the browser settings.

From a marketing perspective, Microsoft’s solution is the best one. This way, consumers who worry about tracking can opt out, but those who are not aware of it or don’t care won’t be affected.

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Google Buzz in the field of SEO

Google Buzzhas already created a buzz with its comparison with Facebook and Google. Additionally,it was infamous for its privacy lapse,though Google seems to have sorted it out.However there is another important aspect of Google Buzz which cannot be ignored,which is its importance in the field of seo.Few include:

Google Buzz and SEO
  • Feature of Indexing – The most rational explanation is that Google Buzz can be used for quick indexing of new content. So in order to obtain to get a new page indexed post it on Buzz or better include a buzz button.
  • Facility of keyword research – One can use buzzzy.com,which is the third party Google Buzz search engine to find out popular keywords presently. They’re displayed on the homepage itself as “popular searches”.
  • Helps in link building – Google Buzz does not use “nofollow” as Google moves away from this option. Twitter included nofollow to all links in tweets as well as its profile pages. Some people include their Twitter feed to Buzz in order to get it rightly indexed and followed.
  • Organic Search Results – Google Buzz items presently don’t appear correctly in real time results on Google yet but there is every chance that it will appear soon.It could be one of the major reasons Google introduced Buzz, to contend with Twitter for attention.
  • Microblogging Phenomenon- Though majority of people compare Buzz to Twitter and Facebook, in reality it is rather a Tumblr and Posterous rival. It’s quite good for content you just drop quick without much commotion. Tumblr and Posterous are still much superior but Google is bigger. So choose one.

Bing Search Market Increases,Google And Yahoo Decline

Microsoft ‘s share of the U.S. search market increased slightly in July, at the same time as Google and Yahoo faced slight declines.Among the 13.6 billion U.S. searches which was conducted in July,nearly 64.7% searches were performed through Google which is a.3 percent reduction from June,according to the conclusions drawn from Comscore.Similar to Google,Yahoo too served around 19.3% ,which also reveals a .3 percent decline from June.On the other hand , Microsoft Bing’s search share improved by half of a percentage point in July.Its increase is one of the main factors for most of what Google and Yahoo have lost. Microsoft sites accounted for around 8.9% of U.S. searches last month. ComScore’s search results however does’nt take account of searches associated to mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites.

Windows 7 to be released on October 22nd inspite of the "show stopper bug"

Windows 7,the latest OS from Microsoft,is set to release on October 22nd.Microsoft managed to sign off the Windows 7 RTM (release to manufacture) build on June 23.A week later ,the RTM build was stamped as a “show stopper” bug and it was expected that this bug will be a hindrance for the release on October 22nd.The bug became a major issue on the web until recently.The bug that was reported was this..Once a user runs “CHKDSK/r” in command prompt,it will crash the entire system.This was because running this command resulted in a memory leakage,which led to the system crash.

Following the widespread issue this “show stopper bug created in Windows 7, the president of Microsoft’s Windows Division, Steven Sinofsky recently mentioned in a statement that the bug though initially reported as a “critical bug” and then a ‘showstopper’ bug, would not delay the release of Window 7 on the decisive date.

Microsoft have held a chip-set controller responsible for the error and have suggested Windows 7 customers to call/visit their motherboard manufacturers and download the most modern chipset drivers for their particular motherboard.

Microsoft sets limitations for Windows 7 upgrade

Microsoft has fixed the date of Windows 7release as Oct 22nd,but now though this date remains unchanged, Microsoft has announced some limitations.Microsoft has restricted the number of machines which can be upgraded freely to its new operating system to just 25.Microsoft recently revealed details of the Windows Upgrade Option program for the initial time.Consumers who buy a Vista-based personal computer as of last week are qualified to upgrade their system to Windows 7 at no or modest cost when the latter releases in October.

The limitation has however created controversies from some industry watchers. Michael Silver,Gartner analyst who published a research titled “Enterprises Should Demand Windows Upgrade Option.” ,has mentioned that organizations need to comprehend their Windows 7 requirement and obtain the necessary privileges for the most excellent value.

Microsoft releases Beta version of Bing

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Microsoft has released the Beta version of Bing (formerly known as Kumo).Bing is expected to replace Microsoft’s Live Search.The full launch is scheduled for June 3rd.
The home page of bing is quite impressive as the images in the background changes everyday.The so called “decision engine” Bing introduces new features with the intention to perform faster.To be more specific the search engine was developed with the aim of offering swift answers to users search queries, especially in the field of shopping,local business,information and knowledge,travel as well as health research.This would also mean that the businesses will have to move away drastically from the common search of keywords during the process of SEO campaigns.

It returns results purely based on their relevancy to individual searchers and displays them based on their subcategories grouping rather than whether they have keywords which match the search query.

Just go to the home page msn.com and type in any of the keywords and press search.You will be directed towards bing.com search result page.Well should we call this clever marketing?Anyhow,we need to wait and see if this search engine is going to be a google beater.

Experiment with the bing search engine at www.bing.com

Downgrade options for Windows 7 by Microsoft

Microsoft provides the option of downgrade for Windows 7 Customers. The options are available to Windows Vista as well as to Windows XP. Microsoft intends to offer n-2 downgrade option with Windows 7 to enable customers to plans their migrations from XP. Thus this download option is a good news for users of Windows Vista and Windows XP.

The Vista version of Windows was not received well by many Microsoft users. Microsoft doesn’t usually provide active support for more than 2 versions of Windows. Hence there has been a great deal of apprehension about the loss of XP support when the new OS was announced to be released soon.

With the release of Windows 7, Microsoft hopes to overcome the stains caused by Windows Vista.

Latest version of Internet Explorer launched by Microsoft.

Microsoft has made the latest version of Internet Explorer IE 8, the world’s most popular web browser to be available for download .Microsoft revealed that the Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is much faster, user-friendly and extremely secure than the previous versions of IE.
Internet Explorer is presently utilized as the main browser by around 67 per cent of the world. This is a clear reduction from 91% in 2004,due to rival’s such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari as well as Google’s chrome. Due to the ubiquitous occurrence of IE,it has become a target for hackers trying to prey on its programming areas.For Microsoft to get back its lost market share it needs to convince the net users that the latest version is more secure.
Steve Ballmer, the chief executive officer of Microsoft, has conveyed that Microsoft promises to deliver a browser through which people can get apt information in a fast manner.He also stated that IE 8 provides protection which is incomparable to other browsers.A new feature known as “Accelerators” has been added. Through this feature, users can look an address on a map, without the need to navigate to a separate website. In addition,”Web Slices”, which are redesigned flash sites helps in accessing favorites for a net user.
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