Blog Archives
How an Artist as SKWAK can change the way you see New Technologies, via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Yesterday, I had the chance to meet SKWAK at FNAC Brussels – Toison d’Or (picture here-above).
SKWAK is a French artist specialized in illustration, characters design and graphic design.
He created his own graphic world populated by creatures with an exagerated look, fed with absurd : the “Maniac World”. His universe is perpetually evolving, getting richer, and finds its place, its codes.. It’s a huge playground completly crazy, polluted, coloured and laidback. ” His world is constantly changing and extends in various fields like music, computers (computer mice, QR codes, Social Media, …). Discover his Universe HERE.
Exemples of creations
- T-shirt for Nike
- TRUCK DESIGN for COOKIES ‘N’ CREAM
- Art Commission for Le Centre Pompidou, Workshop Area Young public.
Skwak composed specially for Fnac, a dozen works displayed in the forum of FNAC Brussels (Toison d’Or) throughout the month of May 2012. His Exhibition will be held at Fnac Brussels (Toison d’Or), from May 4, 2012 to Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 11:00 to 18:00. Adress : 17, Avenue de la Toison d’Or - 1050 Brussels – Belgium. See details for this event HERE.
Look at exhibition Microsoft @ Fnac HERE. See one exemple here-below.
Yesterday, I’ve attended a workshop at Fnac where Skwak has developped a work directly with public participation. The work has been printed and distributed to participants.
Microsoft recently announced its latest series of “artist” mice. SKWAK designed the artwork for this wireless mobile mouse 3500. New BlueTrack technology means it can be used “even on a rough park bench or your living room carpet” and this is very cool … You can buy it at Fnac in Belgium …
3 reasons why the MSN Audience is ideal for Social Advertising, via @davidmerzel’s BLOG.
Interesting infographic on the 3 reasons why the MSN Audience is ideal for Social Advertising.
You want to read the original article, just go to http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/blogs/advertising/archive/2011/08/03/research-infographic-word-of-mouth-social-media-audience.aspx
Job Opportunity @ Microsoft Belux : Retail Windows & Office Category Marketing Manager, via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Office and Windows are key for Microsoft.
Office 2010 continues to be the fastest-selling version of Microsoft Office in history with over 100 million licenses sold.
Windows 7 has sold over 400 million licenses and business deployments continue to accelerate. During the last quarter, Microsoft unveiled a preview of the next version of Windows, codenamed Windows 8, featuring a new user interface and application experience. Look at the first Demo Viedo on Windows 8. This is realy promising.
In order to face new challenges on Office and Windows (+ Windows PC / Devices) @ Retail, we have a Great Job opportunity @ Microsoft Belux : Retail Windows & Office Category Marketing Manager
You will find here-below the full job description.
If you want to apply to this job, just go to this site by clicking HERE
Team Purpose/Mission
The retail channel is vital to Microsoft’s growth not only for the direct revenue it generates, but also due to the retail channel’s unique ability to help build brand equity and engagement due to its outreach to consumer and small business customers worldwide. Microsoft has a long history of working with partners to reach end customers and this certainly applies to our retail go-to-market approach. Microsoft has developed tremendous relationships with retailers and distributors worldwide making our retail success possible.
Reporting Relationship
The Retail Windows & Office Category Marketing Manager reports to the Retail Sales Marketing Lead
Role Purpose
The Belux windows & Office Category Lead will have direct accountability for driving retail and partner category strategy for Windows, Office & Office:Mac.The role will provide leadership to the retail category teams in Belux, by leading, and managing category initiatives and programs designed to drive Office Socket growth, PC Attach, Revenue and Margin.
Windows has become one of the most engaging and recognizable consumer brands in the world today. Yet even with this fantastic consumer presence, the opportunity for growth in both our traditional PC business, as well as our new online services business with Windows Live has never been greater.Retail plays a key role in selling more Windows PC’s to consumers. To confront strong competition in the PC category, we need to step up our game in transforming the consumer PC purchase experience.
Windows has become one of the most engaging and recognizable consumer brands in the world today. Yet even with this fantastic consumer presence, the opportunity for growth in both our traditional PC business, as well as our new online services business with Windows Live has never been greater.Retail plays a key role in selling more Windows PC’s to consumers. To confront strong competition in the PC category, we need to step up our game in transforming the consumer PC purchase experience.
Key Responsibilities/ Accountabilities
Key responsibilities for the Retail Windows & Office Category
Marketing Manager include:
1.Drive and execute a deep and comprehensive Windows, Office and Office:Mac integrated retail marketing strategy and vision in the country retail channel
2.Define and influence the various elements of the marketing mix and key retail programs within the country that will direct and influence ROI based on the Windows, Office and Office:Mac marketing and business goals
3.Maximize PC attach opportunities through collaboration and planning with OEM and SMSP teams
4.Provide in depth business analysis on the country Office and Office:Mac business performance for revenue and percent attach
5.Execute the retail channel component of a comprehensive brand strategy that encompasses the Office and Office:Mac products and services
6.Set overall retail strategy and direction for windows & Office product launches, marketing campaigns and consumer initiatives, e.g. ensuring appropriate pricing and SKU mix
7.Own the retail numbers for Windows & Office category including revenue, forecasting, attach rates, contribution margin and marketing spend
8.Set strategy and direction around account presentations and meetings
9.Co-own account relationships at the management level around the marketing aspects of each account
10.Land Windows @ retail category strategies at retail to maximize revenue and socket opportunity
11.Manage the relationship with Regional OEM marketing and Windows Consumer BG to Maximize PC opportunities through collaboration and planning
12.Attain Windows, Office and Office:Mac scorecard targets
13.Work with EMEA Retail Services to land the retail channel component of a comprehensive channel marketing strategy that encompasses the People, Place, Demo and On Line elements
14.Partner with Global Account Managers to drive pan EMEA programs and marketing activities across our top European Retail partners
15.Manage new license types and form factors as they come to retail e.g. Product Key Card ( PKC), Point of Sale Activation ( POSA), Electronic Software Distribution ( ESD)
Key Interfaces/ Relationships
1.Subsidiary Windows & Office Strategy lead
2.Subsidiary channel marketing
3.RSM Belux Lead and Key Account Managers
2.Subsidiary channel marketing
3.RSM Belux Lead and Key Account Managers
Key Measures of Success
Key measures of success are tired directly to the Office unmanaged scorecard.
•Office Retail sell tru units and revenue
•Office Attach to Retail PC’s
•Office Premium Units (Pro H&B)
•OfficeMac sell in and sell-through Units and Revenue
•Office Mac Attach
•Clear Retail Strategy established with Windows & Office Strategy lead
•Proactive communication on issues and opportunities to Office leadership in region
•Strong, credible, and proactive alignment across the Partner eco-system
•Office Retail sell tru units and revenue
•Office Attach to Retail PC’s
•Office Premium Units (Pro H&B)
•OfficeMac sell in and sell-through Units and Revenue
•Office Mac Attach
•Clear Retail Strategy established with Windows & Office Strategy lead
•Proactive communication on issues and opportunities to Office leadership in region
•Strong, credible, and proactive alignment across the Partner eco-system
Key measures of success are tired directly to the Windows scorecard.
•Windows FPP/WAU revenue and unit performance
•Windows @ Retail scorecard metrics
•Strength of relationship across Windows @ retail internal and external ecosystem including OEM, BG, CCG
•Landing of Windows 8 launch in the channel including retail offers
•Proactive communication on issues and opportunities to the Windows leadership in region
•Consumer retail experience
•Successful implementation of marketing assets in Belux
•Business analysis and insight and reporting through ROB
•Windows @ Retail scorecard metrics
•Strength of relationship across Windows @ retail internal and external ecosystem including OEM, BG, CCG
•Landing of Windows 8 launch in the channel including retail offers
•Proactive communication on issues and opportunities to the Windows leadership in region
•Consumer retail experience
•Successful implementation of marketing assets in Belux
•Business analysis and insight and reporting through ROB
Key Competencies/Knowledge
Experiences Required
Business & Leadership Competencies
•Leader who has well developed competencies in developing retail strategies that drive customers to our Office products at retail.
•Strong understanding of relevant marketing experience in the retail channel or technology fields
•Broad skill set encompassing excellent marketing & relationship management capabilities, with proven ability to collaborate well with cross functional groups and virtual teams to achieve specific objectives
•Ability to drive and influence sub revenue and P&L performance as well as long-term success within country
•Demonstrated ability to develop innovative consumer marketing strategies that will drive core metrics at retail
•Strong analytical and problem solving skills
•Maturity in the following competencies: cross-group collaboration, dealing with ambiguity, Business and Strategy Leadership, Integrated Marketing Planning, and Customer Insight (as it relates to and through partners)
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills
•Solid understanding of the Microsoft channel sales model
•Great attitude and a passion for driving results and seeing projects through to completion•5 years experience working in consumer, retail, and/or online Marketing
•Ideal candidate will have prior consumer marketing experience, ideally of technical products such as PC HW or SW or consumer electronics products
Business & Leadership Competencies
•Leader who has well developed competencies in developing retail strategies that drive customers to our Office products at retail.
•Strong understanding of relevant marketing experience in the retail channel or technology fields
•Broad skill set encompassing excellent marketing & relationship management capabilities, with proven ability to collaborate well with cross functional groups and virtual teams to achieve specific objectives
•Ability to drive and influence sub revenue and P&L performance as well as long-term success within country
•Demonstrated ability to develop innovative consumer marketing strategies that will drive core metrics at retail
•Strong analytical and problem solving skills
•Maturity in the following competencies: cross-group collaboration, dealing with ambiguity, Business and Strategy Leadership, Integrated Marketing Planning, and Customer Insight (as it relates to and through partners)
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills
•Solid understanding of the Microsoft channel sales model
•Great attitude and a passion for driving results and seeing projects through to completion•5 years experience working in consumer, retail, and/or online Marketing
•Ideal candidate will have prior consumer marketing experience, ideally of technical products such as PC HW or SW or consumer electronics products
You can find other Job Opportunities within Microsoft Retail Sales & Marketing
1. Channel Marketing Manager Xbox/Kinect
Find job description HERE for this job and apply HERE
2. Partner Account Manager Retail
Find job description HERE for this job and apply HERE
E3 2011 Microsoft PR Conference : key highlights.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Activision |
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Activision opened the show with the first gameplay footage of their newest release in their action packed franchise. As always, Xbox 360 owners will get all the content first for this game. Make sure you ask Santa for this one! |
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Tomb Raider – Crystal Dynamics |
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Go on the adventure that made Lara Croft into the tomb raiding femme fatale we came to know. This game will bring more realism than ever before, watch your step, Lara is fragile and might just break something. Survive in hostile environments and find your way in dark places. |
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Electronic Arts |
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EA announced this year that their most successful EA Sports games would have Kinect integration. Fifa, Madden NFL and Tiger Woods PGA will now be controlled with the wave of a hand, or the kick of your feet. Other than their sports series, EA also showed some new footage of Mass Effect 3, which will also have Kinect features. |
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Ubisoft |
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Ubisoft took the stage this year at our keynote to present their Kinect integration for Ghost Recon; Future Soldier. In this game, you will be able to fully customize your weapons with the power of Kinect, it’s quite amazing, really! Additionally, they announced that all of their Tom Clancy titles from now on will have some form of Kinect integration. Exciting! |
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New dashboard experience and partnerships - Microsoft |
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Apart from games, we’ve also announced the new look and feel of the Xbox Dashboard, new features will be added such as Bing – which will allow you to search your console for the content you want. YouTube – To have your favorite video you would like to share with family and friends on your TV. UFC* – for all of you who like to play rough from time to time. And Live TV* – To watch the show you want, when you want. |
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Gears of War 3 – Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Marcus Fenix is back and about to go out with a bang! This year, Epic games will bring us the final chapter in the Gears of War Saga. Cliff Bliszinski showed us new campaign footage his game together with rap icon Ice-T. Run to the store as fast as you can and place your pre-order, you don’t want to miss out on this epic game! |
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Ryse – Crytek / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Last year we’ve teased you all with “Project Kingdoms”. This project now has a name; Ryse. You are a Roman gladiator and have to battle through enemies with the power of Kinect. For this title we’ve partnered with Crytek who is renowned for their amazing graphics and physics. (Crysis, Far Cry, …) |
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Halo: Combat Evolved – Anniversary – 343 Industries / Microsoft Game Studios |
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To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved, we’ve decided to re-release the shooter that spawned an entire new generation of shooters. Experience Masterchief’s story like never before with new features, better graphics and online play! |
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Forza Motorsport 4 – Turn 10 / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Are you a car fanatic? Then this is something for you! Turn 10 promises us the best looking game for this year with a wide variety of manufacturers, TopGear integration, amazing online gameplay and the power of Kinect. What are you waiting for? Start your engine! |
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Fable: The Journey – Lionhead studios / Microsoft Game studios |
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The world of Albion is in danger, and heroes are not born, they are made. Become a hero in the newest chapter in the Fable saga, and enjoy the world of Albion like never before thanks to the power of Kinect. |
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Disneyland Adventures – Frontier Games / Microsoft Game Studios |
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There is a little child in all of us, and whether you would like to awaken that child or play this game with your actual children, this game will shower you with magic fairy dust and bring you to the enchanting world of Disneyland. Go on many different attractions and interact with your favorite Disney character. Anything is possible! |
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Kinect Star Wars – Lucasarts / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Step into the world of Star Wars with Kinect, play as a Jedi, eat Stormtroopers as a Rancor monster, fight of the empire in you X-wing or go into a podrace. Kinect Star Wars is fun for everyone, thanks to a wide variety of game modes. May the force be with you. |
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Sesame Street: Once upon a monster - Telltale games |
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Education made fun, thanks to the crew of sesame Street, learn to count with Elmo and overcome your fear of monsters with the Cookiemonster, This game will entertain the smallest gamers among us with an endless amount of fun. …and cookies! |
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Kinect Funlabs – Good Science / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Always wanted to experiment with the technology behind Kinect? Then this is your chance, play around with Kinect Funlabs and amaze your friends when you scan your favorite toy and use it on your Xbox 360. Take pictures of yourself and experiment in a 3D world, want to know more? Then power up your Xbox 360 and have a go! Funlabs is available today! |
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Kinect Sports Season Two – Rare ltd / Microsoft Game Studios |
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The best-selling game for Kinect gets a sequel, Kinect Sports Two is more than 6 new sports, and it’s twice the fun with improved Kinect tracking, more fun activities and the sports you’ve been asking for! If you liked Kinect Sports, you’ll love season two! |
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Dance Central 2 – Harmonix / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Can’t stop your feet when you hear a tune you like? Than this is what you’ve been waiting for, Dance Central 2 is better than ever with versus mode, over 40 tracks in the box and the possibility to transfer all of you Dance Central 1 songs and download content to this new version. |
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Halo 4 – 343 Industries / Microsoft Game Studios |
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Master chief is back! And will be ready to save us and the rest of the universe yet again holiday 2012! |
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*Content may be limited by country or license. |
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| Thanks Guy Spaey for this summary ! |
Ubisoft Press Conference E3 [my notes from Los-Angeles], via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Just seen the Ubisoft Press Conference E3.
Some great stuff to come.
First, the launch of Assassin’s Creed Revelations in November.
Then, Rayman which seems great. Take a look at the demo here-below.
Interesting new concept called Rocksmith and you can plug your own guitar. I really want to test it tomorrow at E3.
Rabbids on Kinect uses augmented reality to bring the Rabbids into YOUR home. Party games, 4-player co-op and online picture sharing.
I don’t forget Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – Future Soldier, which is very promising. Kinect will be used in this Game, to customize your weapons as example.
Tintin is coming. As Belgian, I’m proud of this.
Your Shape for Kinect looks great and this is the perfect game or ideal sport coach for my wife.
Just dance 3, also available on Kinect seems very cool. My doughter will be happy to test it.
Press Conference Microsoft / Xbox @ E3. [My Notes from Los-Angeles] via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
I had the chance to be, this morning, in the Xbox 360 Media Briefing @ E311 – Los Angeles.
You will find HERE the full conference
Here-below, some key outcome
The show started with a cool demo of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.
Then, we saw a demo of tomb raider.
We discovered the Voice recognition Kinect on Mass Effect 3 and how Kinect (thru voice recognition) could influence the scenario of the game.
For Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, you can use KINECT to tailore your weapon. Amazing demo. I really want to test it. All future titles in this franchise will leverage Kinect.
Xbox Live is also changing.
Tomorrow, you will use your voice to access your music, games, video.
Youtube is coming to Xbox Live. Bing is going to come to Xbox Live too.
You can search games thru Bing. You say it, Xbox finds it. Look at Demo Bing here-below.
Cliff Bleszinski presented GOW3 and Ice-T on stage for an amazing demo (see demo here- below)
2011 will be also the Year of Halo with Halo Anniversary including Fully Remastered Campaigns from previous editions. 15th of Nov is the D Day for this launch (see trailer here-below)
Forza 4 looks amazing too. Release is foressen this year the 11th of Oct (see trailer here-below)
Fable “the Journey” looks also great. You can ride the horse thru your Kinect and make other cool thinks (see demo here-below)
Disneyland Adventures is a Great game to experience Disneyland Parc’s Attractions. This will be Available this Holiday. My kids will be happy, I’m sure.
Kinect Star Wars. It looks so cool. My son will be happy. He is top fan of Star Wars. You use Kinect and that’s pretty cool (see demo here-below)
Kinect Funlabs will be available for Xbox Live Members.
You can create avatar like you. Amazing demo.
Kinect finger tracking is also coming.
Object capture. You can scan your favorite objects and bring them to live (see demo here-below)
Kinect Sport Season 2. Top franchise of Kinect today. That’s clearly a game for my parents who can play Golf and other games.
Last demo of the day : Dance Central 2. This is the perfect game for my doughter Noa. (See Trailer here-below)
Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone
A first look at the new “Windows 8″ user interface [video] via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
A first look at the new “Windows 8″ user interface.
The whole point of Windows 8, which is just a codename, is to be one OS that’ll run on regular computers or on tablets.
So Windows 8 will run two kinds of applications:
- A standard Windows application
- An almost mobile-like app.
All apps can be viewed in this tile-based UI, which Josh from TIMN says is, “Very impressive.
It looks super fast.” You can totally see the Windows Phone influence on the interface, from the Live Tiles to the touch keyboard, which even has a “thumbs” mode.
The animations and gestures and multitasking are all pretty damn smooth looking, as you can see in this demo video (or you know, up top).
Microsoft’s official list of new features shown off:
• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
• Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
• Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10
11 Free Microsoft Tools You’re Overlooking. Free downloadable content via @davidmerzel’s BLOG
Here-below, the list of 11 Free Microsoft Tools You’re Overlooking. Your will be enchanted !
Source : http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/227178/11_free_microsoft_tools_youre_overlooking.html
Hotmail
Hotmail was the first Web-based e-mail service, and one of the first to be free. The free Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector lets you view your Hotmail data from within Outlook, and Hotmail also supports Exchange Active Sync so your Hotmail e-mail, contacts, and calendar can be automatically synced with mobile devices. Exchange is Microsoft’s messaging server used by many businesses for e-mail, but Exchange Active Sync has emerged as a standard used by many devices to sync mail, contact, and calendar information.
Windows Live Essentials
Windows Live Messenger–a component of Windows Live Essentials–can integrate with your Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace social networks. Microsoft moved many tools (since Windows 7) to the cloud, and began to offer them as a separate download called Windows Live Essentials–a package comprising 7 of the 11 tools discussed in this article. The lineup in Windows Live Essentials 2011 requires Windows 7, Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Server 2008 SP2. If you want them, though, you can download Windows Live Essentials for free and get a whole suite that includes:
- Windows Live Mail: Whereas Windows Live Hotmail is a Web-based e-mail service, Windows Live Mail is a desktop e-mail client application that lets you add and view multiple e-mail accounts–including Hotmail and Gmail–from one interface. For users who don’t want to spend the money to get Outlook, Windows Live Mail performs many of the same functions for free.
- Windows Live Messenger: At its core, Messenger is simply an instant messaging (IM) tool. It integrates with Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace, it delivers MSN news, and it connects with your Hotmail account. Messenger is more of an online communications hub than an IM client. But if the aggregated view is too noisy for you, you can switch to the compact view which is more like a traditional IM client. Plus, its mobile app lets you stay connected on the go from a Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry, Android, or iOS mobile device.
- Windows Live Mesh: It can be daunting to keep information synced among various PCs and devices you use, or to make sure you have access to your data even on the go. Windows Live Mesh helps tie everything together and automatically keeps your data synced and available. You can keep files and folders automatically synced among different Windows or Mac OS X PCs running Live Mesh, or with Microsoft’s cloud-based SkyDrive data storage service (see below).
- Windows Live Writer: Microsoft Writer makes it simpler to write blog posts for a variety of blog platforms including WordPress and SharePoint. Rather than having to learn different blogging conventions, you can just type the post the way you want, and easily add photos, videos, or Bing maps to enrich your post with interactive content. I like using it to create my post like this for wordpress.
- Photo Gallery: For many, the PC has replaced the bookshelf photo album as the primary repository for photos. Windows Live Photo Gallery gives you the tools to import photos and videos quickly from your camera or smartphone and keep them organized on your PC. Its advanced editing tools let you fuse pictures together or combine elements from different photos to make the best possible picture. It also includes built-in search options that let you find photos based on when they were taken, or where, or to use facial recognition technology to find all photos of a given person.
- Windows Live Movie Maker: With HD video being virtually a default feature of smartphones, laptops, and tablets these days, everyone is an amateur director or producer. Edit and polish that lengthy, boring footage of your daughter’s fifth-grade play on Movie Maker before sending it to friends or family, publishing it online, or posting it on social networking sites like Facebook. Give it a title and intro, cut out parts you don’t want, add some background music, and more. Editing and producing a movie is simple with Movie Maker.
- Windows Live Family Safety: Family Safety 2011 enhances the parental controls already built into Windows and makes it even easier for parents to protect children from the darker side of the Web and to monitor or limit Internet activity. Parents can even limit e-mail and IM communications to approved contacts, and can log in to view activity reports from their own PC rather than checking in on each separate PC.
Windows Live SkyDrive
Everything seems to revolve around the cloud these days. In other words, we find ourselves using products and services that exist on the Internet rather than locally on our PCs. But if you happen to be without Internet access or if the service goes down, that can be a problem.
Luckily, services such as Windows Live SkyDrive are great for backing up data to the Internet, or for storing files and folders that you want to access from just about anywhere. As mentioned earlier, you can use Windows Live Mesh to sync data automatically from a local folder to SkyDrive cloud storage, where you can make sure it is backed up and available.
Windows Live MovieMaker turns anyone into a movie director or producer, and helps you polish those home movies.The 25GB of storage provided by SkyDrive is sufficient for most SMBs to back up critical data. (Data synced using Windows Live Mesh is limited to a separate 5GB space.) Plus, a Silverlight tool lets you drag and drop files and folders from any browser that supports Silverlight, Microsoft’s framework for delivering interactive Web content.
Office Web Apps
Along with SkyDrive, Microsoft also provides free, Web-based versions of the most popular Microsoft Office applications. Office Web Apps let you create, view, and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote files directly from the Web even if Microsoft Office isn’t installed on your PC. Office Web Apps lack the complete inventory of bells and whistles found in the full Microsoft Office suite, but they are more than adequate for most users, and you can’t beat the price. The best part is that the files created in Office Web Apps are in the same format as their desktop Office counterparts, so compatibility is not an issue, and the files can be shared with peers for collaborative editing online.
Windows Live SkyDrive stores your files and folders on the Web so you can access them from virtually anywhere.But organizations that want more robust tools, or the full Microsoft Office experience, should look for the upcoming launch of Office 365–Microsoft’s replacement for Business Professional Online Services. Starting at only $6 per user per month, Office 365 will provide Exchange e-mail, Lync instant messaging, SharePoint collaboration, and the Office Web Apps productivity suite.
Security Essentials
Security software is unfortunately a requirement for Windows PCs. There is no shortage of attackers and malware developers targeting PC users with viruses, worms, phishing attacks, and other insidious things. Windows has a built-in firewall to keep unauthorized traffic and users out of your PC, and Windows Defender to identify and block spyware and drive-by downloads. But for more comprehensive antimalware protection, get the free Microsoft Security Essentials software. Security Essentials is simple and does what it needs to do with a minimum of user intervention or annoyance.
So cool the #Microsoft Artist Edition mice [@davidmerzel BLOG]
Announced last week, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 has been transformed with with artwork commissioned by five premier artists from around the world:
Kirra Jamison (Melbourne, AU)
Matt Moore (Portland, ME)
Linn Olofsdotter (Portland, OR by way of Sweden)
Mike Perry (Brooklyn, NY)
Jonny Wan (Sheffield, UK)
For a closer at all the patterns in the new collection or some background on the group of artists, check out the Artist Edition website.
Microsoft Partners around the Wold [infographic]
Very interesting infographic showing the size of the Microsoft Partner Network and how it works.
New Guinness World Record for Xbox : The most responsive brand on Twitter !
No one likes asking a question and not having it answered. The @XboxSupport stream sends 5,000 tweets per week, and it is the Guinness World Record holder for most responsive brand on Twitter. The average response time? “Three to five minutes, if not faster,” Eakin says. And Baccus says AT&T usually responds within 15 minutes — impressive, huh?
Source : http://mashable.com/2011/04/12/digital-marketing-lessons/
How Kinect is used in Education Field, in Africa [video]
In the video above, discover how Kinect has found its way in the education field.
The device takes the advantage of children’s tendency to learn better by movement and sounds/music rather than just sitting still and turns it into a pleasant educational experience.
Not only are the kids gaining knowledge, they are also being exposed to technology that they would otherwise not have ever being able to access like one of the teachers says in the video.
Will Windows Phone surpass the iPhone by 2015? Gartner things so.
Microsoft, which is banking on the success of Windows Phone 7 and just signed a critical deal with Nokia, could topple at least one of its primary rivals in the next three years. At least that’s the word from Gartner, which projects that Windows Phone will control 19.5 percent of the market by 2015. That compares to 17.2 percent for iOS, the mobile operating system behind the iPhone.
That’s a huge potential leap for Microsoft. Gartner says Microsoft currently owns just 4.2 percent of the smartphone market.
It’s similar to another recent prediction by the IDC research firm.
From the report:
Gartner predicts that Nokia will push Windows Phone well into the mid-tier of its portfolio by the end of 2012, driving the platform to be the third largest in the worldwide ranking by 2013. Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone’s market share upward, solely by virtue of Microsoft’s alliance with Nokia. Although this is an honorable performance it is considerably less than what Symbian had achieve in the past underlying the upward battle that Nokia has to face.
