by Scott Judson
Owner of Judson Steel, an iOS development studio based in Auckland
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Meeting with Microsoft early in the development process, Scher asked: “Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?”
As Microsoft prepares for the launch of Windows 8, the new version of its operating system, it has announced a bold new identity that takes the iconic Windows logo back to its roots—as a window. Designed by Pentagram’s Paula Scher, the logo re-imagines the familiar four-color symbol as a modern geometric shape that introduces a new perspective on the Microsoft brand.
(via New Work: Microsoft Windows 8 | New at Pentagram | Pentagram)
Back in November, The Daily initially uncovered the existence of an iPad version of the Microsoft Office Suite. Sources now say that the app will soon be submitted to Apple for approval.
A brief hands-on with a working prototype of the software revealed a number of new things. The app’s user interface is similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-released Windows 8 desktop operating system.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be created and edited locally and online. But it’s unclear if Microsoft will support other Office apps at launch or at all. (via Suite anticipation - WWW.THEDAILY.COM)
Ed Bott read the 2011 SEC filings for Apple, Google, and Microsoft and put together these handy pie charts to understand what drives each companies business.
Three companies are at the forefront of modern personal computing: Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
After reading through the most recent SEC-mandated financial reports for each company, I was inspired to put together these three pie charts. The data paints a vivid picture of where each company’s revenue comes from.
Microsoft is a software company. Apple’s a hardware company. But what business is Google in?
Riffing on Ed’s charts, MG Siegler pointed out that:
Last quarter, Microsoft brought in $20.89 billion in revenue. Apple brought in $46.33 billion.
Put another way: Apple’s iPhone business alone is larger than all of Microsoft’s businesses combined.
And — just as remarkably — if you took away Apple’s iPhone business from the chart, the remaining Apple businesses would still be larger than Microsoft’s total business. And Apple’s earnings would look a lot more evenly distributed then.
Microsoft is expected to announce plans to reduce 60 of its divisions down to seven, with layoffs numbering in the hundreds.
A software engineer’s glory so often goes unnoticed. Attention seems to come either when there are bugs or when the final project ships. But rarely is a developer appreciated for all the nuances and subtleties of a piece of code—and all the heroics it took to write it. With Visual Studio Achievements Beta, your talents are recognized as you perform various coding feats, unlock achievements and earn badges.
(via Visual Studio Achievements | Achievements | Channel 9)
Oh my! How about the reward of writing some kickass code? Do we need micro high-fives from M$? Thank goodness this will never appear in Xcode.
Designed to help promote Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) and the beauty of the Web, a new desktop HTML5 version of the hugely popular Cut the Rope game is now available online for free, born out of a partnership between Microsoft and the game’s creatorsZeptoLab.
Although the game has been built with IE9 in mind, it is playable on any compatible HTML 5 browser.
(via Microsoft Launches HTML5 ‘Cut the Rope’ Game for Desktop)
The Windows Phone Marketplace is growing week by week and recently passed 30,000 applications. The software giant’s Marketplace of mobile apps is on fire as it approaches a year on the market. Unfortunately with success comes troubles. Microsot has witnessed spikes in what it calls bulk app publishing. The practice is used by Windows Phone developers to fill up the “new” tab of the Marketplace with a large number of similar apps in a single day. (via Microsoft cracks down on Windows Phone app “spam”, limits devs to 10 apps per day | WinRumors)
KinectFusion: 3-D Models in Real Time by MicrosoftResearch
Microsofts official take on using the Kinect hardware for real-time 3D modelling:
KinectFusion takes live depth data from a moving depth camera and creates high-quality 3-D models in real time. The system enables a user to scan a whole room and its contents within seconds. As the space is explored, new views of the scene and objects are revealed and fused into a single 3-D model.
GeoVector just announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring their patented AR technology to Windows devices. (via Microsoft Licenses GeoVector Patents For AR Navigation, Digital Watermarks | TechCrunch)
CHART OF THE DAY: Proof The iPad Is Affecting Consumer PC Sales
Microsoft’s consumer PC sales growth has pretty much never declined. Not even when Microsoft released Vista. Not even when the economy went in the toilet.
But suddenly, the growth of sales is about to go negative, says Citi analyst Walter Pritchard
Full Story: Business Insider
