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Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion
You probably didn't expect your week to start this way: Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. The company plans to integrate the career-oriented social network into many of its apps and services, including Office, Skype and Cortana. You'd get the details of the person you're meeting for a business deal, for example, or get help from an expert when you're working on an Office 365 project. Microsoft is vowing to maintain LinkedIn's overall independence, including the role of CEO Jeff Weiner, and hopes to close the deal sometime in 2016.
Microsoft releases task tracking Planner app for Office 365
Microsoft has irregularly introduced new features for its subscription-only Office 365 suite, like Sunrise integration with Calendar and smart car interoperability, but its latest gets back to the office suite's roots. Last week, Microsoft released its team productivity app Planner for free to eligible Office 365 subscribers, which it first teased back in September.
Outlook Premium gives you custom email addresses for $3.99 per month
News of a planned premium version of Microsoft's Outlook email platform broke a couple of months back, but at the time it was merely described as a pilot program. Thanks to a landing page discovered by Paul Thurrott, we know now Microsoft's subscription-based service will cost users $3.99 per month. For the price, Outlook.com Premium will give users an ad-free inbox, better calendar sharing and the ability to choose up to five custom email address domains. So if you're a fan of Outlook, but not so down with an outlook.com or hotmail.com email address, this could cure what ails you.
Apple offering Office 365 as an iPad Pro 'accessory'
At its recent "Loop You In" event, Apple said that its iPad Pro can replace your "sad' old PC for productivity chores, and it's now selling Office 365 directly to back that up. A Steven Sinofsky tweet spotted by the Verge notes that the "order flow for the iPad Pro includes option to add Office 365 subscription" when you check out, starting at $70 a year. The unusual move means that Microsoft joins Logitech as the only non-Apple accessories available when you order an iPad Pro.
Microsoft's OneNote tool imports all your Evernote content
With Evernote having a tough time of it lately, Microsoft is trying to swoop in with OneNote. It's just released the OneNote Importer tool that will make it easy for folks to transfer all their Evernote data to its own ecosystem. To use it, you'll need a PC with at least Windows 7 installed (and preferably Evernote for Windows), so it's not an option for mobile or Mac-only users, at least for now. If you have multiple devices, however, any notes you import will be synced on Mac, Android and iOS.
Microsoft and Harman want to put Office 365 in your car
We get it, driving to work is a period of time where we're not particularly productive. We're usually listening to some Serial episodes or swiping through emails in the passenger seat. But do we really need full access to Office 365 in our vehicles? Apparently so. Harman has teamed up with Microsoft to integrate the productivity suite into its infotainment systems. You won't be polishing off Excel spreadsheets or writing up reports in Word, however. Using "personal assistant software," the experience will be geared towards scheduling and communications -- setting up meetings, responding to emails, joining conference calls and the like.
Getting Christmas right was never this hard for my parents
The most my parents generally had to do for a Christmas present was remember to buy batteries. Okay, maybe I'm underselling their role. One year they got me a bike, and somehow kept it hidden from me until the big day. I would've been five at the time, and it was worth it, I'm sure. I don't actually recall my reaction but it was probably joy interrupted by despair at being told I couldn't ride it indoors. Some 25 years later, and I've spent what seems like a lifetime setting up Christmas presents this year.
Microsoft's email/texting app Send is available on Android
Earlier this summer Microsoft debuted Send, an app which aimed to combine the most usable features from instant messaging and email into a unified experience. It debuted as an iOS-only app but on Wednesday the company released Send (beta) for the Android OS. Its availability is also expanding -- while it was previously limited to the US and Canada, now UK, Brazil and Denmark users (with an Office 365 business or education account) can try Send out on either platform, complete with GIFs. Windows Phone is still the odd one out, but Microsoft say it is "currently working" on a version for its own mobile platform.
Microsoft pours money into undersea data cables
For many internet giants, undersea fiber optic cables are a lifeline. In some cases, it's the difference between delivering fast services overseas and watching people give up in frustration. Microsoft knows this all too well, it seems, as it just poured money into three subsea fiber projects (Aqua Comms, Hibernia and New Cross Pacific Cable Network) that should speed up connections to Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Redmond crew sees this as a small investment that could pay off big in the future. As it explains, online products like the Azure computing platform and Office 365 are booming -- it only makes sense to have those moneymakers running as smoothly as possible. This isn't really an altruistic gesture, then, but it could go a long way toward improving your internet access as a whole. [Image credit: US Pacific Fleet, Flickr]
Microsoft gives eligible students free Office 365 subscriptions
Turns out Microsoft had a surprise in store for students around the globe this February, and not just for those based in New York. The company's finally bringing free Office 365 subscriptions to students outside the US, so long as they live in one of the countries (it's quite a lengthy list) where the product's available. Schools will have to buy subscriptions for staff and faculty, but once they do, students (and even teachers) can self-install for no charge by using a school-issued email address at the Office in education website. After signing up, they'll get access to the newest Office, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and Publisher, and be able to install them on up to five computers and five phones or tablets. An account also comes with Office Online and, even better, 1TB of OneDrive storage, so users can go wild uploading anything without quickly running out of space. [Image credit: Shutterstock / Andresr]
New York City schools are getting free access to Office 365
Now's a pretty good time to be a New York City schoolkid. Microsoft has announced that all of the city's public school students (and their teachers) are getting free Office 365 ProPlus subscriptions -- if you qualify, you'll have five desktop and five mobile licenses as long as you're part of the local educational system. Ostensibly, the goal is to make sure that kids won't be "confined to the classroom" and can finish that big book report on any computer.
Office 365's 'Clutter' learns your inbox habits to tamp down on distractions
Google employed a tabbed inbox to help organize the chaos of daily email a while back, and now Microsoft has a new option for Office 365 users to get things sorted. Using its Office Graph, a feature called Clutter learns from your behavior, relationships and preferences to show only what's important in that main repository. It sends low-priority items to another spot, keeping would-be distraction at bay. The rest? It gets stashed in a dedicated folder in the left-hand menu for easy access when you're ready. And as you might expect, Clutter's know-how syncs across the web, Outlook and mobile devices to keep thing arranged just so on all of your gadgets. The tool is turned off by default, so you'll need to toggle it on in order to take advantage. While it may not appear to be working, Microsoft says its learning your workflow, and manually stashing less important emails will help it pick get a handle on your inbox a little quicker.
Microsoft bundles Office 365, Xbox and Skype subscriptions for $199
You may want to write this down so you can remember it later on, in case you really can't think of a better gift for someone in your life who depends on several Microsoft services. The company has just released a limited edition Work & Play bundle, which contains one-year subscriptions each to Office 365 Home (comes with unlimited OneDrive storage), Xbox Live, Xbox Music Pass and Skype Unlimited World and WiFi for a total of $199. We've listed down the price of each service for you, so you can figure out if the bundle's worth buying: Office 365 Home: $9.99/month or $99.99/year Xbox Live 12-month Gold Membership: $59.99/year 12-Month Xbox Music Pass: $99.90/year Skype Unlimited World: €10.49 ($13.05)/month or $156.60/year if the numbers you're calling are mostly located in the US
Microsoft releases new Outlook for Mac to Office 365 subscribers
Already using Office 365 on your Mac? Well, if you fancy Microsoft's email software too, you're in luck. The new version of Outlook for Mac is now available to the aforementioned subscribers, and it carries a smattering of new features. Aside from the usual performance boosts, there's a tweaked UI to bolster productivity, online archive support for Exchange searches, Master Category List syncing across platforms and more. In addition to that app, the company also mentioned that it plans to release a public beta for the next version of Office for Mac in early 2015, with the official arrival planned for the second half of the year. And as you might expect, Office 365 customers will get the new goods as part of the paid plan.
Office 365 subscribers are getting unlimited OneDrive storage
Last week's earnings report highlighted how Microsoft is doing quite well, and it has Office 365 to thank for some of its success during the last financial quarter. And now the company is about to make things better for people who subscribe to the productivity suite. Microsoft's going to start giving Office 365 Home, Personal and University customers free unlimited storage with OneDrive, its cloud-based digital locker service -- a very kind gesture, to say the least. First, the company says this will roll out to subscribers of the aforementioned plans starting today, but the plan is to bring it to all Office 365 customers over the coming months. If you're using Home, Personal or University now, however, there's now a site that can help you flip the switch on your new all-you-can-have OneDrive goodness.
Microsoft is doing great, and so are Surface Pro 3 and Office 365
The cloud has been a solid source of income for Microsoft in recent times, and while the company is still in the middle of a huge transition, the future is looking bright under recently appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Today, Microsoft released its earnings report for the first fiscal 2015 quarter, with the main takeaway being the growth of its Devices and Consumer revenue by 47 percent, to $10.96 billion, bringing the total to $23.20 billion in overall revenue, a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year. In other words, business is superb over in Redmond.
Microsoft makes it easier for students to get Office 365 at no cost
Back when it launched the Student Advantage program, Microsoft made it possible for 35,000 educational institutions across the globe to receive free access to Office 365. As part of that, students and teachers alike could get a subscription to the productivity software at no cost to them, so long as their school had enrolled in the initiative. Problem is, since then, each student depended on the school to be the one to create an Office 365 account they could use -- until today. Microsoft's now simplified the process, opening up a self-serve service for students to get the license without the need to check with the school's IT department first. Those who qualify will need a valid .edu email address to receive the free subscription, from a school that's currently participating in the Student Advantage program, and that's about it. The only caveat is that this is limited to US students at the moment, but Microsoft says it plans to bring the sign-up feature worldwide later this year.
Microsoft giving away 15GB of OneDrive storage, 1TB for Office 365 users
More free storage? Lower prices? It's all good news from Microsoft today: The company just announced that it will begin offering 15GB of free storage to OneDrive users, up from 7GB. For those of you keeping track, this latest move brings OneDrive in line with its biggest rival, Google Drive, which also also offers 15GB of free space (other competitors such as iCloud and Dropbox don't offer nearly as much complimentary storage). Meanwhile, Microsoft said that within the next month, Office 365 users will get 1TB of free space, up from 20GB. This, too, is a welcome change: That generous 1TB cap was previously reserved for Office 365's business users only.
Outlook Web App finally debuts on Android, but only for 'small' devices
Been looking forward to a native Outlook Web App for your Android device? You just might have to wait a little longer: the freshly launched OWA Android app is only available on 'select devices.' Microsoft says this pre-release version can do everything its iOS counterpart can and automatically update its address book whenever the user makes a chance to their device contacts, but it's not ready for a full roll-out. Still, if you're sporting a device with Android 4.4 KitKat and Google's OS standards categorize your phone as "small" or "normal," the app's inaugural releases is yours for the taking. Have something else? Check out OWA's support page: Microsoft is taking suggestions on what devices to support next.
Office 365 Personal now available for $7 per month
Office 365 Personal, a leaner version of Microsoft's subscription-based productivity suite, is now available for $70 per year or $7 per month. The new package lets you use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access on one Mac or Windows computer and one tablet. You also get smartphone access with Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices, online versions of Office, 27GB of online storage and 60 Skype minutes each month. Power users can access Office from up to five computers by opting for Office 365 Home instead, which will run you $100 per year or $10 per month.
