Dashwire gave warning late this week that its mobile sync service was ending February 15. The Windows Mobile-oriented service was recommending that users download and otherwise back up any content they had in cloud storage before servers were shut down and wiped. Despite active updates to the service having stopped years earlier, some users were still online, the company said in an e-mail.
Starting what's likely to be a flurry of introductions related to CES, Samsung has brought out its next-generation of DualView cameras in the DV300F. The 16-megapixel camera has a new version of the signature 1.5-inch front display that's more flush with the body, reducing its effect when left off. Wi-Fi is new to the DualView series and can share photos and videos with Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube without either a computer or an Eye-Fi card.
Microsoft is seeking a new employee to join its Windows Phone Backup, Migrate, and Restore team, suggesting the next update to Windows Phone will allow cloud backup and easy restore functions. The ideal Software Development Engineer would be based in Redmond and help users restore their wiped phones to their user-customized states. They could also quickly put the contacts, settings, apps and other content onto replacement phones when their original one is lost or stolen.
Microsoft has just detailed two new apps for Windows Phone and iOS, both designed to give users full control over their SkyDrive cloud file storage accounts. While Windows Phone users can already access their SkyDrive documents and photos through the Office and Pictures hubs, respectively, this new app gives them full control over file management. SkyDrive power users wanted more complete control over their contents and Microsoft has obliged.
Microsoft may have blackballed Apple's choice of datacenter head in the moves that ultimately led to Apple hiring from Yahoo, according an unusually detailed rumor. After fighting opposition from his immediate management on his way out, Kevin Timmons was supposedly met by CEO Steve Ballmer, SAI heard. Timmons may have had an "attitude" during the meeting that led to Ballmer reaching Apple directly, threatening legal action if Apple completed the hire.
HTC has just concluded a partnership with Dropbox to bring 5GB of cloud storage service to owners of its Android smartphones with HTC Sense 3.5 skin. The scheme will go live in October and applies to the maker's latest smartphones, such as the HTC Rhyme. Those who are eligible and sign up for a Dropbox account with the new phone will get 3GB on top of the free 2GB Dropbox offers anyone who signs up.
Microsoft on Wednesday outlined an updated developer platform that should help bring its services into third-party apps on smartphones, including those using its competitors' platforms. Apps on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7 now just need a basic client link and to point the app to an OAuth 2 sign-in. The link gives them access to information from Windows Live's core services, including Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and SkyDrive cloud storage.
Microsoft has officially launched its updated SkyDrive service. The new architecture is based on HTML5 instead of Silverlight. The company had said last October it would make this transition to ensure better cross platform compatibility with more devices including iPhones, iPads and smartphones.
Microsoft said it was shutting down its My Phone service for Windows Mobile 6.x phone users starting in August. The company wants to migrate existing customers over to their Windows Live SkyDrive Service instead. Microsoft believes that cloud-based SkyDrive is is the best way to continue providing its customers with archiving services.
Microsoft has provided yet another preview of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 update, referred to as Mango. Following Apple's iCloud announcement, Microsoft has quickly highlighted the cloud-based features that will be available on WP7 handsets. SkyDrive is touted as a competitive option, enabling devices to automatically upload photos to cloud storage.
Microsoft has overhauled its SkyDrive cloud storage service with the results shown off thanks to WinRumors. The user interface will have an HTML5 version of the image viewer, while the interface for viewing documents and files was likewise refreshed. Exactly when consumers will see the changes isn't known, but the source believed it was coming as part of the company's Windows Live Wave 5 group of products.
Microsoft has released a new version of Office 2008 for Mac, 12.2.9. The patch is mostly a maintenance update, fixing security vulnerabilities in Excel, PowerPoint and the suite as whole. It likewise copes with issues that can potentially trigger program crashes.
Microsoft during its Mobile World Congress event showed a trio of major updates, among others, that will come to Windows Phone 7 later in the year and which it hopes will challenge Apple. The platform will finally get multitasking and is using a system heavily reminiscent of HP's webOS cards: jumping out shows all of the running apps as thumbnails of their current state and allows switching with simple flicks. Battery issues have reportedly been tackled, and third-part apps now have a wide range of privileges that includes background audio, among others.
Microsoft put out its first full productivity app for the iPhone on Tuesday with the launch of OneNote for iOS (free, App Store). The previously Office-only notebook organizer app comes with many and in some cases more features than the Windows Phone 7 version. The iPhone app can not only produce notes but attach links and photos. Checklists and To Do lists are automatically formatted to let users mark items done on the spot.
Microsoft Director of Project Management for Microsoft Project, Arpan Shah, has incidentally revealed in his personal Microsoft blog that copy and paste for Windows Phone 7 “will be available as an update in a matter of weeks (early 2011)”. According to WPCentral the rest of the update is also expected to bring task manager/hub multi-tasking, turn-by-turn navigation, clipboard and SkyDrive support.
The anticipated update to Windows Phone 7 to add copy-and-paste may bring other major feature updates based on a tentative scoop in the past day. The fix relayed to "MS_nerd" would bring true turn-by-turn GPS navigation with spoken directions as well as better integration with Microsoft's Skydrive cloud storage. Multitasking would still remain limited to hubs, he said, but app switching would exist and implies that apps should preserve their states when users jump in and jump out.
Along with its X series updates, Samsung at the IFA show launched two new netbook updates. The N130 and N140 have the same rounded aesthetic as the new full-size notebooks and also bring basic productivity apps to a category that normally comes with little software. Both have a stripped-down version of Microsoft Office and streamlined backups to Microsoft's SkyDrive service, which can hold as much as 25GB of data online for free.
A text description found in a JavaScript file for Google Pack has confirmed work on a multi-platform online storage service. At least tentatively referred to as GDrive, the service will be Google's first alternative to services like Microsoft's SkyDrive and is characterized as a general purpose, multi-platform service that would let users access any kind of file, including from handhelds and others sometimes locked out of Internet storage.
