MSN goes back to the future: new look, Bing apps are now MSN apps

What comes around, goes around.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again.

Microsoft has just announced a new look and somewhat of a new direction for MSN, and …

By Kip Kniskern in News
September 8th, 2014 at 12:53 am

Bye Bye Bing Image Widget

In late August, Bing introduced a beta of the Bing Image Widget, a way for websites to embed Bing Image search results in their web pages. You would set up a search query and some size parameters, and Bing …

By Kip Kniskern in News
September 6th, 2014 at 10:14 am

Confessions of a Microsoft enthusiast: the best in class problem

I’ve been thinking a lot about Microsoft and its relationship with consumer enthusiasts like myself and the readers of this blog recently. Even though I’ve been lax on posting, my enthusiasm for Microsoft and its consumer products hasn’t waned. I …

By Kip Kniskern in Commentary
August 28th, 2014 at 12:03 pm

On the Threshold of Windows 9: Preview said to arrive late September

“Threshold” is the code name of the next version of Windows, and according to a report today by Mary Jo Foley, it’s coming soon. Mary Jo reports that according to her multiple sources, the new OS will enter a …

By Kip Kniskern in News
August 15th, 2014 at 10:27 am

Continue your conversation with Bing

A few years ago when Microsoft rebranded Live Search to Bing, it promised to move beyond the “10 blue lines” that described Google search at the time. In the years since that, search has indeed moved well beyond those 10 …

By Kip Kniskern in Bing
August 13th, 2014 at 11:08 am

Windows Phone Cyan / Dev Preview update, an easier way

Just now I wrote about the hoops I jumped through to get a fully working and fully updated Windows Phone, which is now running Nokia’s Cyan update and the Windows Phone 8.1.1 update. In short, there has been an …

By Kip Kniskern in Mobile
August 4th, 2014 at 12:06 pm

Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 now available

Last week in China, Joe Belfiore announced that Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 would be available to “developers” soon, and indeed today, it’s here. The update includes significant updates to IE 11 for Windows Phone, a new take …

By Kip Kniskern in Mobile
August 4th, 2014 at 11:00 am

Cortana expands, Windows Phone plays “catch up”

Late last night (Pacific Daylight time – mid-Wednesday morning in China), Microsoft announced the expansion of Cortana to two new markets in beta, China and the UK, as well as the alpha release of the personal digital assistant for Windows …

By Kip Kniskern in Mobile
July 30th, 2014 at 10:44 am

The Microsoft built Windows Phone era is about to begin – can it save Windows Phone?

This has been an interesting year so far for Windows Phone. In some ways, it’s been quite disappointing, as Microsoft’s mobile ecosystem has failed to gain ground in the marketplace (enough so that Microsoft executives are now talking about “making …

By Kip Kniskern in Mobile
July 29th, 2014 at 10:13 am

One OS or three, Windows still doesn’t add up

Microsoft released its 4th quarter earnings yesterday, and despite a big hit from the Nokia acquisition, the news was generally good. Microsoft’s cloud services (Azure, Office 365, and the like) are starting to take off, traditional server side …

By Kip Kniskern in Commentary
July 23rd, 2014 at 10:02 am