Follow iPad, Microsoft Will Bring Office to Android Before Windows?

In embracing Apple's platform first, Nadella was conceding that it needed to gain maximum exposure as fast as possible and targeting iOS first was the the right call since Apple enjoys the highest market share of installed tablets. He confirmed this thinking just last week at Re/code's Code Conference. Will Google Android be next in line to get Office?

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, the answer is "yes." Notably, that means that iOS and Android would be getting the touch-first versions of Office before Microsoft's own Windows 8. Microsoft knows that it's coming from behind in tablets, and is rightly deciding to swallow its pride and is prioritizing the platforms with the largest user bases to which it can pitch Office 365. Much like on iPad, you can expect that Office for Android's full potential will only be unlocked with a paying subscription.

Additionally, Microsoft already has touch-compatible versions of Office for Windows 8. Touch-first is a better experience for tablets than touch-compatible, but Microsoft still has a workable alternative that it can lean on. That's especially true since most Windows 8 devices still work best with a keyboard and mouse anyway (especially Microsoft's own Surface lineup), while iOS and Android are very much touch-first devices.

Mostly a reactive response to Google Apps for Business, Office 365 continues to gain traction. On the last conference call, CFO Amy Hood noted that Office 365 is now at an annual run rate of $2.5 billion. Office 365 Home added almost 1 million new customers in the first quarter, and total subscribers now total 4.4 million. For a subscription service that was launched just tree years ago, that ain't bad. Especially since Microsoft's business model is fundamentally changing.

Office 365 is one of Microsoft's pillars to making Windows 8 free on low-cost devices that retail for $250 or less, with Bing being the other key element. As opposed to the traditional licensing fee of around $50 that Microsoft used to charge for Windows, Microsoft can recoup that lost revenue with search advertising and Office 365 subscriptions. With PC replacement cycles getting longer and longer, that $50 translates into less and less annual revenue for the company as it gets spread out over a longer period of time.

That's why it's so important to really drive Office 365's value proposition, which includes cross-platform support on as many devices as possible. It may seem counterintuitive at first to give iOS and Android priority over Windows, but it makes plenty of strategic sense. Windows can wait.

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"Yosemite", Apple's Newest Version of Mac OS

At Apple's WWDC14 developer conference today(06/03/2014), Apple announced its new version of Mac OS, codenamed "Yosemite". As well as increasing the number of hits to the Yosemite National Park wikipedia page, this new version harmonises the look and feel between iOS and MacOS.

• Latest Apple's updated Spotlight search: Powered by Bing?
• Google Become World’s Most Valuable Brand

I'm guessing that many will have the same reaction that I am having-- and indeed that many of us had when we first saw the new-look iOS-- i.e. something to the effect of "OK, but please can we turn that off?". I guess over time, the world will get used to it just as we did with iOS.

Latest Apple's updated Spotlight search: Powered by Bing?

Twelve months ago, stories were circulating about Apple's iCloud being powered behind the scenes by Microsoft Azure. Neither Microsoft nor Apple officials would comment, but the leaks claiming Apple's iCloud was using Azure on the back end were never disproven.

At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple execs mentioned Bing a few times during their presentation about Apple's revised Spotlight search functionality. Spotlight allows users to type on their desktops (rather than clicking on the magnifying glass in the menu bar) to search for apps, documents and other information.

The role that Bing plays in this updated Spotlight scenario is fuzzy. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land did a bang-up job to try to clarify where Bing comes into play.

Sullivan noted that Spotlight will display Bing search results, as well as search results from inside mail and calendar items, documents, contacts and more. It just so happens some of the search results listed for Spotlight overlap with the type of built-in search results in Bing (examples: Wikipedia results, movie times, news, etc.)

This doesn't necessarily mean that it's Bing that is generating these results. In fact, Apple execs called out Google a few times during today's WWDC keynote, too. If Spotlight offers a Web searches option, it launches Safari and runs a Google search, given that Google is the default on Safari, Sullivan explained. Despite that fact, there still is some type of tighter integration between Bing and Spotlight coming with Mac OS X "Yosemite" -- though seemingly not with Spotlight for iOS 8.

I've asked Microsoft officials for further clarification on how Bing plays into the revised Apple Spotlight. No word back so far.

Apple struck a search deal with Microsoft involving Siri last year. Users who asked Siri a question for which results were not pre-programmed by Apple see Web search results. With iOS7, Siri search defaulted to Bing for these Web results instead of Google. Supposedly, the updated Apple Spotlight technology comes close to replacing searches with a Siri-like experience (minus the voice input).

It's tough to know how much the Bing-Apple tie-ups are due to politics vs. technology. Can two turkeys -- I mean frenemies -- like Microsoft and Apple beat an eagle like Google?

Update: Microsoft officials said that Bing will be the default for Spotlight for both iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite. From a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson:

"Last year Bing became the default web search for Siri, and will now also be the default web search provider in the redesigned Spotlight search feature for the next generation of iOS and OS X. We’re excited about extending the Bing platform to help iOS and Mac customers find what they need to get things done."

I asked for some additional details as to how the new Bing deal differs from the previous Siri Bing deal. From the same spokesperson:

"It is different from Siri in that Bing web searches will show up as a section when you search. Wikipedia will have its own section, but other specifics and info on how news search will be integrated aren’t available just yet."

Google Become World’s Most Valuable Brand

Google has overtaken Apple to become the world’s most valuable global brand in the 2014, according to BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking, worth USD 159 billion, an increase of 40 per cent year on year.

• Most Technologies Products Just Fashion Items

After three years at the top, Apple slipped to No 2 on the back of a 20 per cent decline in brand value, to USD 148 billion. Whilst Apple remains a top performing brand, there is a growing perception that it is no longer redefining technology for consumers, reflected by a lack of dramatic new product launches. The world’s leading B2B brand, IBM, held onto its No 3 position with a brand value of USD 108 billion.

“Google has been hugely innovative in the last year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a multitude of partnerships that see its Android operating system becoming embedded in other goods such as cars. All of this activity sends a very strong signal to consumers about what Google is about and it has coincided with a slowdown at Apple,” said Nick Cooper, Managing Director of Millward Brown Optimor.
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, commissioned by WPP and conducted by Millward Brown Optimor, is now in its ninth year. It is the only ranking that uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate brand value.

Rank 2014	Brand	Category	Brand Value 2014 ($M)	Brand Value Change	Rank 2013
1	Google	Technology	1,58,843	40%	2
2	Apple	Technology	1,47,880	-20%	1
3	IBM	Technology	1,07,541	-4%	3
4	Microsoft	Technology	90,185	29%	7
5	McDonald’s	Fast Food	85,706	-5%	4
6	Coca-Cola	Soft Drinks	80,683	3%	5
7	Visa	Credit Cards	79,197	41%	9
8	AT&T	Telecoms	77,883	3%	6
9	Marlboro	Tobacco	67,341	-3%	8
10	Amazon	Retail	64,255	41%	14

Key findings highlighted in this year’s research report include:

• High value brands provide faster growth: An analysis of the BrandZ rankings as a ‘stock portfolio’ over the last nine years shows a highly favourable performance compared to a wider stock market index, the S&P500. While the value of the companies in the S&P500 index grew by 44.7 per cent, the BrandZ portfolio grew by 81.1 per cent, proving that companies with strong brands are able to deliver better value to their shareholders.

• Purpose beyond Profit: Brands in business for reasons beyond the bottom line have a better chance of success in today’s world. For example, Pampers, which promotes mother and baby health issues, is at No 39 in the ranking and grew its value by 10 per cent to USD 22.6 billion. Dove, which has continued to find huge success on the back of its “real women” philosophy, has a brand value of USD 4.8 billion.

• Apparel fastest growing category: The top 10 Apparel brands grew in value by 29 per cent to nearly USD 100 billion this year, outpacing Cars (up 17 per cent) and Retail (up 16 per cent). With brands such as Uniqlo, Nike and Adidas all recording double-digit increases in their valuation.

• Share of Life: Successful brands such as Google (No 1 brand), Facebook, Twitter, Tencent and LinkedIn are more than just tools, they have become part of our lives. They offer new forms of communication that absorb people’s attention and imagination, while also helping them organise the rest of their lives at the same time. To gain more of our mind-space, brands such as Tencent and Google are even crossing categories. This trend also pushed No 1 Apparel brand Nike, a prime example of a brand seeking to become a share of life brand which offers services such as Nike+ that extend well beyond its functional raison d’etre.

• Technology service companies continue to climb: Not only are the top four brands technology companies, but so too are many of this year’s biggest risers. This year’s fastest climber was leading Chinese internet brand Tencent, up 97 per cent to USD 54 billion and the No 14 position, followed by Facebook which rose 68 per cent to USD 36 billion and took the No 21 spot. New brands in the Top 100 include Twitter at No 71 with a brand value of USD 14 billion and LinkedIn at No 78 worth USD 12 billion. Collectively, technology companies make up 29 per cent of the value of the BrandZ Top 100 ranking.

• Brands from the Western World bounced back in 2014, with a greater proportion of both the number and value of brands within the top 100. This reflected the resilience of established brands and the breakthrough of new brands, as well as improved economic conditions. As a result, the number of brands from fast growing economies slipped in 2014.China, with 11 brands, continues to have the largest representation, two Russian brands, Sberbank and MTS, remain in the ranking, and mobile operator MTN is Africa’s representative for the third consecutive year.

6 Ways to Save more Money on College

College can be expensive, but it’s possible to both save on costs and make your money go farther once you’re enrolled. Here are 10 big and small ways to cut college costs.

1. Stay nearby with your home
Going to an in-state college can amount to huge savings. The average tuition and fees for in-state students tallied $7,635 in 2011-2012, compared to $17,785 for out-of-state students, according to U.S. News data. If you don't plan to stay in state, consider regional tuition breaks, which can cut costs, too.

2. Consider community college
When money is tight but college is a priority, a community college might be a good option. If you plan to attend a four-year university, consider taking community college courses during high school or the summer before college to start accruing credits early.

3. Look local
Scholarships are a great way for all kinds of students to get money for college, and local funding opportunities tend to be less competitive. Don’t overlook small scholarships in your hometown. Odds are, you’ll have a better chance of securing one, and every little bit helps.

4. Stay on track Next
Nothing can cause your college costs to overrun like having to stay in school an extra semester, an extra year, or more. Take full class loads, keep up with your graduation requirements, and focus on earning good grades in every course.

5. Don't make assumptions
You may figure that your family won’t qualify for need-based aid, but apply anyway by filling out the FAFSA. Certain things like having more than one child in college at the same time may swing the numbers in your family’s favor.

6. Know your priorities
Avoid stocking up on everything you think you’ll need at college before you leave. Bring only the necessities and, during your first few weeks, make a list of other items you really need. What seems important before you leave may not get put to use—and might not even fit in your dorm room.

Seven Tips to Get More Battery Juice Out of your Android Smartphone

Apart from a long list of cool features, Android smartphones have a relatively low battery life. Cannot be blamed at all because they make your phone awesome and also, because your phone is not a Nokia one. There are no magical ways to improve android battery life but I'll describe some ways how you can get more out of your battery. The first part comprises of simple settings while the second one section lists some more advanced tips.

1. Disable Latitude if you don't really need it
Latitude uses a considerable amount of battery when enabled. It's good in some case but isn't necessary in all cases. Ask yourself, do you really need it?If your mind says no,it's time to disable it.


2. Disable automatic time & date sync

Your phone frequently checks for date and time data from your carrier. I haven't seen any proper proof yet but some users from reddit have experienced it. Try it,maybe it'll help you as well.

Go to Settings > Date&Time and disable the date/time automation

3. Keep Brightness to Minimum

About 30-50% battery is consumed by the screen. So it's best to reduce the brightness of screen to low to save battery. For my Galaxy S2, I always set it to 1% except when outdoors.

Go to Settings > Screen > Brightness and Disable Automatic brightness and set a value that suits you. Like, at night you can set it to the lowest value and at day, you can increase it back.

4. Enable Power Saving Mode
Go to Settings > Power Saving > Enable Power Saving. This way, your radios, Bluetooth, sync etc. will automatically be disabled when not in use after a certain battery threshold.

5. Disable Background Data when you Sleep
Go to Settings > Accounts and Sync > Uncheck Background Data

When you're going to sleep,I would recommend to disable it else apps may still use data connection and you're phone might not go into sleep mode. Or you can use JuiceDefender to manage this setting automatically. More on it later.

6. Use less number of Widgets
Widgets eat a considerable amount of CPU resulting little high battery usage, Try minimizing the number of widgets on your home screen, specially Real-time widgets such as Weather, Facebook, RSS feed.

7. Switch to 2G when 3G connectivity is low
If you're in an area where the network signal is quite low,it's better to switch to onto a different network type as your phone's radio will boost its broadcast power to compensate it. As a result more battery will be used.

Like,if you're on 3G and the signal is low,try switching to 2G.

Most Technologies Products Just Fashion Items

You will no doubt have heard about Glass, the computer in a pair of spectacles. It's an attempt to focus on the next wave of computing: the wearable, immersive stuff they were getting all excited about at the vast Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas at the start of the year.

My encounter with Glass was not a showcase event, but real life. I tried it out round a boozy south London dinner table. An unfair test because nobody was concentrating on using it properly, but fair because random use is when consumer electronics get interesting.

You put on the glasses, adjust them a bit - which is fiddly because you can't quite see what you're doing - and then marvel at the clarity of the tiny screen picture in front of you. It adds information culled from the internet to your field of view, tech people call this augmenting reality. But to do that interfacing properly (and hands free) you have to either have your brain waves wired into the machine, or be able to talk to it. At that fairly fundamental threshold, Glass became hugely frustrating. Simple verbal commands addressed to Glass failed to register or were misunderstood.

One or two round-the-table photos were eventually taken, and transferred to people's smartphones. Cute, clever, and clunky. And very frustrating.

'Prophetic failure'

Now it is wrong to judge technology by its first iteration. The Apple Newton palmtop computer was a miserable bust 20 years ago, but it turns out to have been a very significant advance in the way people use computers, long before the smartphone, which it kind of heralded.

Now they call it a "prophetic failure". Then they laughed at its feeble attempts to recognise the user's handwriting.

The tech early adopters who are plonking down $1,500 (£900) for a Google Glass device are not ordinary consumers, of course. They want to see how a new interface is going to change the way we use the internet.

They want to start devising apps that will turn Glass and the new interactive watches (and their competitors) into must-have products, because you will be able to do so much with the applications they enable. They will probably start as highly specialised responses to working in difficult circumstances which demand hands-free communications... in hospital operating theatres and tricky industrial surroundings, for example.Fun and games and personal communications will come later. But the voice recognition has to work pretty seamlessly to make it all happen.

I don't doubt that at some stage Google Glass or something similar will become part of the ubiquity of computing, the point at which the internet as the electronic nervous system of the world begins to merge with the human nervous system in a very intimate way. But not yet, and maybe not using this sort of display and interaction at all.

Fly-by-night fads

My Glass-eyed encounter got me thinking about technology advances in general. Everybody says that change is getting ever faster and that tech is at the heart of economic and social advance.

More and more creative effort is going into less and less. The buzz at the Consumer Electronics Show concentrated on curved screens for smartphones and television tweaks, which produce the next must have device for jaded consumers, but are trivial in terms of innovation.

I am writing this on a plane on a tablet computer, but actually it's not that much of an advance on pen and paper. The futile economy is all around us.

Technology has been turned into a fashion item. The point of a new feature or a new app is churn, not technology advancing. Tech pioneers who changed our world now cater for the fly-by-night fads of consumers.

There are all-night queues of impulsive buyers outside Apple stores when the company unveils its latest iteration of the iPad or the iPhone, with marginal but much heralded improvements to the display.

And the demand for the new product actually produces an observable surge in the US economy as measured by GDP in the month in question, legitimising all this futility in the eyes of those who are only satisfied if things can be "monetised", as the Americans put it. Unmonetised, huge global problems go unresolved or untackled.

Beware of the belief that the technology curve is an inevitable advance for good. More and more economic activity is now derived from things that simply do not matter. Futility beckons.

Deathly amusement

In the subway in Seoul the other day, everyone, but everyone, was glued to their smartphone. But look over their shoulders, and those enthralled users are mainly playing games or watching TV, with the action augmented with Twitter type comments and captions littering the screen.

In the words of the New York University professor the late Neil Postman they are "amusing themselves to death". When television was the latest technology, he put it like this: "We're turning on TV to eat up our lives." Entertainment has moved to centre stage.

It was the poet Wordsworth who wrote of the power of the mind suspended "in vacant or in pensive mood". A vanishing condition as technology crams our waking hours with distraction.

Yet it is in this seemingly empty state of mind when thoughts are mulled over and ideas mature.

It is something vital we are now missing as we embrace the futile economy. The agile thumb is replacing the mind. Trivia rules OK.

Historians tells us that one of the contributory factors to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire was the crippling expense of the state-organised circuses that distracted the populace from the tiresome realities of life in Rome.

I wonder whether we are now embarked on a similar trajectory, in our new futile economy.