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Microsoft Software and Apps

Microsoft Office For Mac 2011 Edition To Ship From October 26?

Folks at 9to5Mac have got hold of a nice bit of information with respect to the launch of the new Microsoft Office 2011 package for Mac. According to details posted on Amazon, the new software should begin shipping from October 26th this year.

This is the first time a specific date for the new product has been available. Earlier this year, the company had officially announced the price of the Office for Mac 2011 edition and had indicated that the software will be available in October. The latest version of the software is expected to be much closer to the Windows version and is expected to reinstate support for Visual Basic applications that were dropped in the 2008 edition. Office 2011 for Mac is also expected to bring improved support for Exchange.

Amazon has put up all three editions, namely Student, Professional and Home up for sale on their website.

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Microsoft Mobile

Availability Of YouTube App For Windows Phone 7 Confirmed

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is slated for public release on October 11 and one of the lingering doubts that people have is whether this new OS platform will come with dedicated apps to play videos from YouTube. There has not been any confirmation regarding this so far.

However, a new video on YouTube demonstrates the new Windows Phone 7 OS interface and among the several details outlined is the fact that a YouTube video player application does exist in the marketplace. Unlike the iOS platform where the YouTube app is natively available on the platform, users will need to download this application on the Windows Phone 7 platform. Users accessing YouTube videos without the app installed will be shown a message that reads,

Get the app?

To watch this, you need the Video Player for YouTube. Install it now from the marketplace?

Check out the complete video demonstrating Windows Phone 7. The segment of interest is at the absolute end.

Categories
Microsoft Mobile

Windows Phone 7 Launch On October 11

Pocket Lint is reporting from multiple sources that Microsoft’s new mobile operating system – the Windows Phone 7 that the company unveiled earlier this year – could be officially launching on October 11. That’s a little over a month from now. According to the website, the sources are “senior figures” in the industry who can be trusted. These sources have also claimed that the launch shall happen from New York and shall be beamed worldwide.

There has been a lot of anticipation over Microsoft’s foray into the smartphone OS segment. Although the company owns the WinMo platform that incidentally is still among the leaders in smartphone platform segment, the platform is widely disregarded as a legacy in comparison to modern OSes like iOS and Android. Microsoft’s entry with Windows Phone 7 will also induce more competition and subsequently better products.

Microsoft is already working with several handset manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Dell and HTC to bring Windows Phone 7 powered handsets to the hands of consumers by the holiday season this year. We had already written about devices like Samsung Cetus that run this new OS earlier.

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Gaming Microsoft

250GB XBox 360 With Kinect – Price And Launch Date Officially Revealed

After weeks of speculations, Microsoft has finally made its announcement regarding its launch plans for the upcoming XBox 360 hardware bundle that will include the much anticipated Kinect camera-based motion controller system. According to the announcement, the new Microsoft XBox 360 bundle will launch at a price of $399 in the USA starting November 4th of this year. No word on how the pre-orders and online ordering will happen.

Now, if you are in the UK, you will have to pay £300 for this new gaming console bundle. Also, the launch is going to be deferred by close to a week as Microsoft says that the UK launch will happen on the 10th of November. In Japan, the launch will happen on November 20 at a price of 14,800 yen ($177). People elsewhere, wait for an official release in your countries.

So what will you get for that price? As noted by Microsoft, customers will receive a 250GB XBox 360 S console, a Kinect motion-control camera and their copy of the Kinect Adventures. Apparently, the bundle will also include a copy of a new brain training game called “New Brain Training: Answer With Your Body“. You can check out a demo of these games in the videos below.

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Gadgets Microsoft

Get IPTV On XBox 360 On AT&T U-Verse Soon

If you are a subscriber of the AT&T U-Verse service, you could soon be able to watch television over the internet thanks to a new partnership that the company is supposed to be working on with Microsoft. Those of you following the XBox 360 space for long might have heard of rumors regarding a new IPTV service. Now according to reports on the Engadget, AT&T employees are presently testing the new XBox 360 IPTV service internally at this stage.

The report has also published screenshots of AT&T’s support documents from recent times. This corroborates recent statements from Microsoft that AT&T U-Verse customers could soon be seeing a MediaRoom functionality on their gaming consoles. Now though there is no official word on the upcoming functionality, sources are indicating that the new service is less than two months away from launch.

Check out a demo of the XBox 360 IPTV service in the video below.

Categories
Gaming Microsoft

New XBox 360 Wireless Controller With Transforming D-Pad Launched

Microsoft has announced a new special edition of the XBox 360 Wireless controller that comes with a transformable D-Pad that can be modified from a plus-design to a disc to suit the users’ game play. Quite evidently, the new design is targeted at users who love fighting games since this new design comes with a lot more accuracy and precision for directional as well as sweeping movements.

In addition to the transforming D-Pad, the new wireless controller also includes a play and charge cable to help you continue your game when the charge runs out. In any case, the charge is expected to hold on for 35 hours per charge. The wireless controller is based on a 2.4GHz wireless technology and can be accessible within a 30 foot range.

Microsoft XBox 360 controller

The new matte silver controller is now available for purchase on the XBox website for a price of $64.99. Check out the video from Major Nelson below

Categories
Gaming Microsoft

New Microsoft XBox Live Gold Subscription Price Announced

Microsoft has been offering its users access to features on the XBox Live service in three tiers – monthly, quarterly and annual. The prices of these subscription offers are reported to see a cost increase starting November of this year.

As per the new pricing scheme, the quarterly package will see a rise in cost from $19.99 to $24.99 for the US market. The annual subscription package too will see an increase in pricing from $49.99 to $59.99. The monthly plans will see a modest rise from $7.99 to $9.99. The prices for XBox Live subscriptions in other countries too will increase.

Microsoft XBox Live Gold Subscription Price

According to Microsoft, the pricing revision is in order to take into account the several feature enhancements that have been effected on the service since it was first launched in 2002. During this period, the subscription costs however remained unchanged. The new costs will thus factor in the new product enhancing features added over the years.

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Gadgets Gaming Microsoft

Microsoft XBox Live Audio Codec For Online Chatting Update Coming Soon

Think the quality of voice related services on your Microsoft XBox Live is not top notch? An update could be coming soon – in November that is. XBox Live Europe’s General Manager Jerry Johnson has recently revealed that the company will be overhauling the voice communication services on XBox Live by releasing a new audio codec soon. He has noted that the original audio codec was built for a 64k connection. He says,

“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment.”

It is speculated that the update shall be released much around the same time as Microsoft launches Kinect – the new camera based motion-controlled gaming system. Can’t wait for that?

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Gaming Microsoft

Buy 250GB Internal Hard Drive For XBox 360 Online For $130

Those of you who got the Microsoft XBox 360 4GB version may have soon come to realize that the storage space is nothing to write home about. Compare the storage with the new version of XBox 360 that offers a huge 250GB storage space.

If you are one having second thoughts about retaining the 4GB model, and have a hundred odd bucks to spare, head over to the GameStop website and buy a 250GB internal hard drive for your XBox rightaway. This is a genuine part from Microsoft which GameStop, a third party retailer, has procured from the manufacturers. .

The price of the hard drive unit is $129.99 and apparently ships within 24 hours. But a caveat here – the unit is compatible exclusively with XBox 360 S consoles and presently ships only to American addresses.

Categories
Gaming Microsoft

Playing XBox 360 "Slim" 250GB With Backup Game CD Now Possible

Piracy is a huge concern for Microsoft as almost all the software that the company sells is easily pirated and sold for cheap. With Microsoft XBox 360 though, gamers not only look to burn their own game DVDs with an intention to pirate, but also to protect the original disc from damage.

Of course this is illegal. But that hasn’t stopped many users from creating backups for their game CDs. There are now reports that the latest 250GB version of Microsoft XBox 360 “slim” is hackable as well. A new video doing the rounds shows the console running a pirated CD. The hackers claim that a patch to help gamers enable this on their consoles shall be made available very soon.

Wondering when Microsoft shall ban these gamer tags.