Microsoft is again putting the Surface Pro 3 on sale but only one specific model.Sarah Tew/CNET
Those of you interested in Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 can save $150 off the price but only if you're game for the midrange model.
Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 website shows only one edition for sale -- namely the 1.9GHz Intel Core i5 model with 256 gigabytes of storage and 8GB of RAM. Normally selling for $1,299, that version is now up for grabs for $1,149. The other four models that remain at their normal retail prices, ranging from the 1.5GHz Intel Core i3 with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM to the 1.7GHz Intel Core i7 with 512GB of storage and 8GB of memory.
Google Chrome isn't deserting XP users, at least not yet.Google
Windows users who still can't say goodbye to the ancient Windows XP will at least be able to browse safely the rest of the year using Google Chrome.
In a blog posted on Thursday, Google Chrome director of engineering Mark Larson said the company had previously announced that support for Chrome under XP would continue at least through April. Well, that date has approached, so does that mean Chrome is no longer supported?
Battlefield Hardline bolstered struggling industry sales.Electronic Arts
Has everyone who wants a new video game console finally gotten one?
That's the question facing the video game industry after new hardware sales in the US fell by more than 20 percent both in March and earlier, in January, according to surveys by industry researcher NPD Group.
Bing now owns a 20 percent share of the US desktop search market.Microsoft/Screenshot by CNET
Google is still by far the dominant search engine in the US, but Microsoft's Bing has slowly been carving out a bigger chunk for itself.
Looking at the desktop search engine landscape in March, ComScore pegged Bing's share at 20.1 percent, finally breaking the 20 percent mark and up from 19.8 percent in February. Yahoo's share dipped slightly to 12.7 percent from 12.8 percent the prior month. And No. 1 Google remained flat with a 64.4 percent slice.
It's Guitar Hero, but it's also different. Activision hopes "live" performances will make the difference.Activision
Remember when the video game industry sold plastic guitar-shaped controllers and a game that helped you live out your fantasies of playing Guns N' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle" atop a stage of adoring fans?
Skype Translator has expanded its language skills.Microsoft
Skype's new translator can now speak Italian and Mandarin.
In a blog post published Wednesday, Yasmin Khan, who handles marketing for the Internet-calling service, said Italian was added to the translator's list of languages based on the interest of people who signed up for the Skype Translator preview program. But adding Italian to the translator's skills was apparently relatively easy compared with teaching it Mandarin.
Microsoft's Work Assistant will use Cortana to work with your Office documents via voice.Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET
A new video that has popped online appears to show off Microsoft's voice-powered Office Work Assistant.
Currently being tested internally as a beta product at Microsoft, the Work Assistant would handle Office-related tasks on devices running the company's mobile OS for smartphones. That includes Windows Phone 8.1 as well as Windows 10. Using voice assistant Cortana, you could tell your phone to open, edit, email or perform a range of other commands on your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
It's got a kickstand. Therefore it's a laptop.Microsoft/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
There comes a time in life when you finally decide who you really are.
For Microsoft's Surface, this has been a long time coming.
When it was launched, it was said to be "a movement." This didn't move people. One of the less dextrous ads ever created by human hands and minds certainly didn't help.
Windows 10 Preview will initially hit only a subset of phonesLynn La/CNET
Microsoft is busy prepping its upcoming Window 10 Technical Preview for smartphones. But which phones will get the preview, and which ones will receive all the features of the new OS, is a key question.
In a series of tweets posted Sunday, Joe Belfiore, vice president for Microsoft's Operating Systems Group, laid out the plans for the rollout of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for Windows handsets.
Work Assistant shows up in the Windows Phone app store, with the publisher listed as "Internal Beta Account."Screenshot by CNET
Microsoft is internally testing a new application called Work Assistant, which might be one of the projects with which company founder Bill Gates is involved closely.
WMPU was the first to cover the new Work Assistant app. (I saw the WMPU report via Softpedia.)
The Work Assistant app, marked as a private internal beta, is designed to help users perform various Office-related tasks on devices running the Windows Phone operating system for smartphones.
One of my contacts confirmed that the Work Assistant application is being developed by Microsoft's Digital Life + Work group, which is part of the Applications and Services Group (ASG) run by Qi Lu. Julie Larson-Green, chief experience officer of ASG, is believed to be spearheading the Work Assistant effort, and Gates has been involved, my source said.
Windows 10 for phones will borrow some elements from the desktop and tablet editions.Lynn La/CNET
Microsoft offered us a peek at Windows 10 for phones at a press event last month. Now a few alleged screenshots are providing a closer look.
In one key change, some of the context-sensitive menus seem to be getting tweaked to more closely resemble the ones on the desktop and tablet editions of the new OS, according to photos leaked by Chinese website IT Home, as spotted by the Verge. That's not surprising as Microsoft is specifically gearing up Windows 10 to provide a more consistent environment and experience across PCs, tablets and mobile phones.
Satya Nadella sleep eight ours a day. How does he find the time?ABC News screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
It used to be mightier than the sword.
Now it's just a doddering old thing that will soon be only the stuff of romance novels and legends.
We're already poking at our screens so much that soon we'll have nibs, not fingernails. And along comes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to give the fountain pen another 10 years at best.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, released only in November, became the best-selling game of last year, helping Activision Blizzard beat Wall Street profit expectations Thursday.Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard had a happy holiday season, but the company advised investors Thursday that it won't be able to repeat history next time around.
In its fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, the company said sales rose 11 percent and profit jumped 50 percent in 2014, driven by the strength of its latest release in the Call of Duty military shooter franchise, which was the best-selling game of the year.
Satya Nadella celebrated his one-year anniversary as head of Microsoft with yet another app acquisition. This time, the software giant has scooped up popular mobile and desktop calendar app Sunrise for more than $100 million, according to a report from TechCrunch.
The purchase comes two months after Microsoft's acquisition of email app Acompli in December for about $200 million. Microsoft rebranded Acompli last week as Outlook, the company's new and modern take on mobile email for Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms.
Microsoft is putting the kibosh on the Lumia 2520, its last RT tablet.CNET
Microsoft has hammered a nail in the coffin of its Windows RT lineup.
The software giant has stopped making its last remaining RT device, namely the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet, a spokesman for the company told the Verge. This latest development follows news that Microsoft had halted production of its Surface 2 Windows RT tablet.
"We are no longer manufacturing Nokia Lumia 2520; however, those still eager to buy Nokia Lumia 2520 should visit Microsoft Retail Stores, MicrosoftStore.com, third-party retailers and resellers for the latest availability," the spokesman said. Microsoft got custody of the Nokia Lumia device after it purchased Nokia's mobile hardware business in 2014.
Windows RT was created as a scaled-down alternative to Windows 8 for devices using ARM processors instead of Intel x86-based processors. Running Windows RT on ARM-based devices was designed to extend battery life and lower device price tags. But the mobile OS never quite caught on, either with vendors or consumers. RT confused many potential buyers, who had difficulty grasping the differences between it and the full-blown Windows 8. Windows RT tablets also were incapable of running traditional desktop applications, another factor that damaged its adoption.
Microsoft shook up the industry when it released its own Surface version of an RT-based tablet in late 2012. Other makers of RT tablets considered the Surface direct competition and questioned Microsoft's decision to create rival hardware. As a result, such companies as Lenovo, Dell and Asus gave their RT devices the boot. Microsoft itself lost $900 million on its RT Surface tablet in 2013. The company launched the RT-based Surface 2 later that year and then finally gave up in order to focus on its Intel-powered Surface lineup.
Since Microsoft was the last holdout in making Windows RT tablets, does this mean RT is completely out of the picture? Not necessarily.
Last month, Microsoft hosted a press conference for Windows 10 in which it briefly touched on RT. In a Q&A with reporters, the company said that it is "working on an update for Windows RT as well." In a statement sent to CNET, Microsoft confirmed that it would update its entire Surface Pro series to Windows 10 but added that "we are working on an update for [the Windows RT version of] Surface, which will have some of the functionality of Windows 10" and promised "more information to come."
Still, Microsoft's commitment to Windows RT sounds a bit iffy. The company is launching Windows 10 in part to serve as a common and consistent platform across PCs, tablets and phones. Keeping Windows RT alive in one form or another would seem to go against the goal that Microsoft wants to achieve with its new OS.
Will Windows RT live on as a brand or name in some form? Or will Microsoft drop the RT name and label all new devices with Windows 10? The company did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
