Microsoft Outlook
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Microsoft Outlook on iOS adds voice dictation for emails, search and calendar invites
Microsoft is making voice a much more significant part of the Outlook experience.
Microsoft Outlook now available for iOS
Just in time for TUAW parent company Aol to migrate all of its employees from Microsoft Outlook to Gmail this weekend, Microsoft today launched Outlook for iOS (free). The universal app is essentially a scaled-down version of the desktop Outlook application, providing compatibility with Exchange servers, Outlook.com and Office 365 services. If you have other mail accounts, such as iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo Mail, you'll be happy to know that the Outlook app also supports those services. Of course, Outlook has always been more than just email. The app makes it simple to view or organize the email inbox, check and update calendars, handle attachments, and more -- all in one app. The Outlook app is an outcome of December's acquisition of email startup Accompli, which had previously created email apps for iOS and Android. Microsoft has been aggressively developing mobile versions of its flagship applications for the two popular mobile platforms, with the Office suite making it to iOS last March followed by updates to add printing and third-party font support. And now, for the details, straight from Microsoft's App Store description: Why use Outlook? Manage your inbox • Outlook automatically triages your inbox for you, surfacing your most important email. Less relevant email is placed in your "Other" inbox. • Swipe to quickly delete, archive, or schedule messages. • Schedule emails and they will return to your inbox at a later time. Your calendar built-in • Switching between your email and calendar apps is a thing of the past. Outlook includes your calendar and notifies you with appointment reminders. • Find available meeting times and share them in email or schedule a meeting. Attachments made easy • View and attach any file from your email, OneDrive, Dropbox, and other accounts with just a few taps. • Send large files even if you haven't downloaded them to your phone. Find anything fast • Filter your inbox to only show messages that are unread, flagged, or have attachments, with a single tap. • Quickly find the right messages, people and files by typing just a few letters. • Outlook shows people you communicate with most often, and lets you conveniently drill down to see all related emails, meetings and files.
Outlook.com hits 10 million users in just two weeks, gives webmail a kickstart
E-mail isn't typically known for generating the kind of rabid adoption that you see with, say, smartphones. Microsoft, then, may have some room to brag when Outlook.com produces similar numbers. Tucked in amidst news of the finished SkyDrive app remake is word that the new webmail service already has 10 million members in its first two weeks of action. That's fast when you put it in the context of Gmail's slow but steady growth, although the boasting doesn't tell the whole story. As many with Hotmail spam addresses can attest, there's a difference between signing up and becoming an active user. We wouldn't be shocked if some of that 10 million was part of an early gold rush for the best names -- no one wants to be stuck with janesmith197904, after all.
Outlook.com preview: Microsoft reinvents its online email offerings
Maybe you heard, but Microsoft launched a new email service today. No, not Hotmail -- a completely new, built-from-scratch service. This is Outlook.com, and for the time being, at least, it will exist separately from Hotmail. So why didn't Redmond just give Hotmail a drastic overhaul? Well, friends, there are two explanations. First, the polite one: for technical reasons, the engineers found it easier to build a new service from scratch rather than retrofit the old one. The frank answer: Microsoft is keenly aware Hotmail has a bad rap, thanks to those banners and flashy video ads. In fact, the company has been very candid that it wants not just to compete with Gmail, but siphon away some of its growing user base. As such, Outlook offers a fresh, minimal interface -- far cleaner than Hotmail ever looked. What's more, the ads are more pared-down here: no video adverts, and no targeted ads on messages between people (newsletters are still fair game). The service is open to the public as of today and you get virtually unlimited storage, along with 7GB of SkyDrive space if you create a new Microsoft account. (Microsoft uses the word "virtually" to hedge itself against spammers who might otherwise use limitless storage to game the system.) And you should take our word when we say it's worth giving the service a shot: we've been testing it for almost two weeks. Go get yourself situated and then meet us after the break for details, impressions and lots more screenshots. Note: many of our screenshots say "NewMail" instead of "Outlook.com" in the upper left corner. NewMail is a codename Microsoft used before announcing the service to the public.%Gallery-161400%
Microsoft launches Outlook.com, a new email service with limited ads, unlimited storage and built-in Skype
So Microsoft launched a new email service today -- not a redesigned version of Hotmail, but a completely new, built-from-the-ground-up service. It's called Outlook.com, and for now, at least, it will exist separately from Hotmail, as Microsoft attempts to distance itself from Hotmail's bad rap. As it happens, the email features are basically the same across the two services, but from a visual standpoint, Outlook.com is everything Hotmail is not: where Hotmail has distracting banners and video ads, Outlook's are discreet. Indeed, you won't find any targeted ads on conversations with individual people (newsletters and such are still fair game). In lieu of those creepy personalized ads, you'll see quick access to Twitter and Facebook, where you can retweet and like things, as well as post comments. Skype integration is coming too (finally!), though that feature isn't live today. Most importantly, though, it brings a fresh, minimal interface designed to lure away Gmail users who wouldn't have otherwise given Hotmail the time of day. Outlook.com is open to the public starting today. You can create a new account or sign in using an existing Hotmail address. Though it's still in its preview phase, anyone can sign up (read: no invites necessary). Storage is "virtually" unlimited -- Microsoft doesn't want to promise potential spammers a limitless account -- and anyone creating a Microsoft account for the first time gets the usual 7GB of complimentary SkyDrive storage. Hit up that source link if you want check it out yourself, and then head over to our in-depth preview for detailed impressions and screenshots galore.%Gallery-161400%
Harmon.ie brings SharePoint to iPad and iPhone
It's no secret that Apple's iPad is making great strides in the business market, with Apple CEO Tim Cook reporting during the Q2 2012 earnings call that about 94 percent of the Fortune 500 are either testing or deploying the iPad in business. Now harmon.ie is releasing social software to make Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration software usable on the iPad and iPhone. harmon.ie's solution is HTML5-based, and makes it possible for business users to access SharePoint from the iPad or a desktop machine, with an identical user experience. It's a potentially huge market, with about 78 percent of corporate America using SharePoint. As an example of how harmon.ie works, a user could create a PowerPoint presentation, copy it to SharePoint, and then send a link to co-workers via harmon.ie in Microsoft Outlook or IBM's Lotus Notes. Users in the worker's circle can then access the document on their iPads or iPhones. The app is available in both a free "Lite" read-only version, as well as a US$19.99 full version that gives users the power to edit and collaborate on SharePoint-based content. harmon.ie plans to make an MDM version with higher security available later in this quarter.
Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent settle decade-old patent spat
It's no secret that Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft have a long and somewhat litigious relationship, but today the two companies are letting bygones be bygones. CNET is reporting that A-L and MS have reached a "confidential settlement" in a patent dispute dating all the way back to 2002. Originally targeting Dell and Gateway, then-Alcatel alleged that information entry techniques used by Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Money and Windows Mobile violated a portion of its patent portfolio. Microsoft stepped in on the OEMs' behalf, and in a 2008 ruling, a court granted the newly formed Alcatel-Lucent over $350 million in damages -- subsequently reduced to $70 million in July of 2011 and further reduced to just over $23 million upon appeal. The final settlement is, as we said, unknown, but a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying the deal is "to the satisfaction of both parties." No word on when the two will file their next multimillion dollar blockbuster lawsuit, but apparently both counsels will be sleeping easy tonight.
Windows Phone users report Microsoft Outlook e-mail issues with 7.5 Mango
The Windows Phones forums are aflutter with frustration this morning, with many users citing major problems with the way 7.5 Mango handles Microsoft Outlook 2003. According to these missives, replies sent from Mango-laced handsets do not include the original e-mail text, thereby leaving recipients confused and context-less. This could potentially give rise to some very awkward e-mail exchanges, so we're hoping to see a fix soon. If you're experiencing similar issues with your handset, let us know in the comments below. [Thanks, Doug]
Xerox's Business of Your Brain liberates your inbox from annoying coworkers
If you work in office, odds are your inbox is full of Oscar polls, baby pictures, fantasy football tips, and various other obstacles standing in the way of finishing up those TPS reports. Thanks to Xerox's Business of Your Brain, you can finally deal with the issue from the passive aggressive comfort of you own mailbox. The free Microsoft Outlook plugin lets you know who's sprinkling in the most exclamation marks and buzzwords per email, who sends the longest messages, and which senders are wasting your time with emails that just say "thank you." It's a nice start, but we think we'll hold out for the premium version that will detonate every Troll doll within a 50-foot radius. Now get back to work -- as soon as you're done checking out video and PR after the break.
Outlook 2011 review: Beyond Entourage, not quite Outlook for Windows
TUAW dives into Microsoft Office 2011 with reviews of the apps that make up the suite. The legend lives on, in somewhat different form. The last time there was a version of Outlook for the Mac, it was Outlook 2001, it ran on Mac OS 9, and it only spoke MAPI (the legacy Exchange mail protocol). It lived alongside Office 2001, which already included Entourage for POP mail and contact/calendar management, so the writing was on the wall. Once Mac OS X came along, Microsoft settled on Entourage as the new Mac personal information management app, and Outlook was long thought to be dead on the platform -- until now. Is it a worthwhile part of the 2011 package, or does Apple's Exchange 2007 support in Snow Leopard's built-in apps match up well? Let's discuss. First things first: Outlook 2011 is not actually Outlook as you know, "love," and use it on various flavors of Windows. It is essentially an upgraded and revamped version of Entourage 2008, but it's polished up with some changes that will make some workflows smoother. I have been using it as my primary email client at my day job, and so far it hasn't had the random fits Entourage was known for. Another thing to note is the difference in editions -- if you buy the Home & Student Edition of Office 2011, you won't even get Outlook. You have to buy Home & Business or the Enterprise corporate edition of Office to get Outlook at all, so if your focus is a shiny new email client, it will cost you (or your employer). Click "Read More" to see the new features in this resurrected app for the Macintosh. %Gallery-107477%
How to put Massively on your web site and computer
Everyone these days either has a blog or a guild site that they post to regularly; and it's especially common amongst the greater MMORPG community. One of the neat features of most of these sites is that they allow you to subscribe to other blogs, like Massively. The software of these sites and tools can put up our headlines in easy to access places, so you and all your friends can stay up to date on the latest Massively news.Getting this setup might seem like a hard thing to do, but it's really not. In fact, with our guide, complete with pictures, you'll be able to get Massively's latest news on your site in no time! We give you step-by-step instructions for sites and software like Guild Portal, Guild Launch, Blogger.com, Word Press, vBulletin, Google Reader, Outlook, and more. We also tell you the info you need to get our news setup on any other site.Continue reading on for a complete list of guides we provide.
How to put Massively in your MS Outlook feeds
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put Massively on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. Note that the images in the guide are for illustration only and you can replace all references to WoW Insider with Massively.About Microsoft Outlook Outlook is a staple of many businesses. While the program itself does have its problems, no one can deny its overwhelming acceptance in the work place. Because of this, people often spend hours a day in Outlook – answering emails, scheduling with the calendar, and managing contacts. One of the features that Microsoft has included in Outlook is an ability to subscribe to RSS news feeds. By adding Massively to your Outlook news feeds, you can conspicuously stay abreast of MMO news while at work. How to add Massively to Microsoft Outlook 1. Open up Microsoft Outlook 2. Right click the "RSS Feeds" item located on the Folders bar on the left hand side of the screen. 3. Select "Add a New RSS Feed..." 4. This will open up the "New RSS Feed" window. Enter WoW Insider's RSS feed address, which as pictured above, is http://massively.joystiq.com/rss.xml . 5. Click the "Add" button. 6. Outlook will likely ask if you want to add the feed, and ask if you trust WoW Insider. Click the "Yes" button. 7. You're done! Massively posts will appear just like other emails will in the preview pane of Outlook. This is great for work environments!If you want the Massively feed for a particular game, you'll find the rss feed url next to the name of the game in the side bar of our site
How to put WoW Insider in your MS Outlook feeds
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.About Microsoft Outlook Outlook is a staple of many businesses. While the program itself does have its problems, no one can deny its overwhelming acceptance in the work place. Because of this, people often spend hours a day in Outlook – answering emails, scheduling with the calendar, and managing contacts. One of the features that Microsoft has included in Outlook is an ability to subscribe to RSS news feeds. By adding WoW Insider to your Outlook news feeds, you can conspicuously stay abreast of WoW news while at work. How to add WoW Insider to Microsoft Outlook 1. Open up Microsoft Outlook 2. Right click the "RSS Feeds" item located on the Folders bar on the left hand side of the screen. 3. Select "Add a New RSS Feed..." 4. This will open up the "New RSS Feed" window. Enter WoW Insider's RSS feed address, which as pictured above, is http://wow.joystiq.com/rss.xml . 5. Click the "Add" button. 6. Outlook will likely ask if you want to add the feed, and ask if you trust WoW Insider. Click the "Yes" button. 7. You're done! WoW Insider posts will appear just like other emails will in the preview pane of Outlook. This is great for work environments!
