Microsoft has unveiled an overhaul of its popular Office software and a new version of its cloud-based suite, Office 365. Users will now have the option of performing work through a browser, rather than installing software on their PCs.
Many of the features are tied to online collaboration and integration with touchscreen-friendly Windows 8.
“Your modern Office thinks cloud first. That’s what it means to have Office as a service,” explained CEO Steve Ballmer at a Microsoft event in San Francisco this week.
The company explains that Office will automatically save and store files on its online storage service SkyDrive, enabling users to synch across multiple mobile devices and PCs.
Initial SkyDrive storage will range from 7-20 gigabytes, depending on whether users opt for the subscription service (7 comes standard for new customers, 20 available with sub). Customers can use Office on up to five PCs or mobile devices.
“The launch is the latest sign of a cultural shift at Microsoft, as Web-based software and mobile devices undermine the strategic importance of PCs and programs installed on them,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Rival Google Inc., in particular, has increased pressure on the company with free, Web-based offerings such as Google Docs and Gmail. Apple Inc.’s iPad is also drawing more consumers away from PCs.”
Purchase or subscription pricing has not been announced. The trial version of Office 2013 is available starting Monday.
Barnes & Noble has announced Nook for Web, a service that “gives readers access to books in any of the major browsers without requiring a Nook account, though you’ll need one to make purchases or save books in your library,” according to The Verge.
Both Amazon and Google already offer Web-based e-book access, so in a sense Barnes & Noble is playing catch up.
With Nook for Web, users can access free sample books or read a chapter from any e-book prior to purchase. Additional related information is available while reading the books, and recommendations can be personalized in the Shop window.
“Customize the reading experience using the intuitive navigation bar,” explains the press release. “Choose between 8 fonts and 8 font sizes and a single or double page layout. Simply collapse the navigation bar once preferences are selected to reveal a clean, easy-to-read page.”
Nook for Web also allows users to review and comment on books “via Twitter, Facebook or e-mail without even leaving the book,” notes the release.
Barnes & Noble has not worked out tablet compatibility with the service, but that may be coming soon.
Users are more satisfied with Google+ than with Facebook, according to new numbers released from the American Customer Satisfaction Index this week.
“Facebook is the Web’s most popular site with hundreds of millions of users, but people still don’t like it,” suggests CNET. “Now Google+, which has been dubbed by some as a ghost town, is gaining some traction with a higher customer satisfaction rating.”
Facebook’s frequent interface changes (such as Timeline) and privacy concerns were cited as problems for users who rated it the lowest among all social media sites, with a score of 61 out of 100 (its score last year was 66).
Google+ topped all social sites with a 78 rating, placing it on the same level of customer satisfaction as Wikipedia and just above YouTube and Pinterest.
“According to the report, Google+ does well because it doesn’t have traditional advertising, has more focus on privacy, and provides a better mobile experience,” adds the post.
However, Google+ has much fewer users and Facebook’s daily traffic has been bouncing back after its recent decline.
“Still, it’s got to hurt Mark Zuckerberg’s ego a bit to see another low rating, considering that company’s mantra is about making users happy over advertisers,” comments CNET.
Doug Morris, Vevo founder and current chief exec of Sony Music Entertainment, says he will pull Vevo’s music videos from Google’s YouTube if he can’t get a better deal when their contract expires at the end of the year.
“That’s a serious threat given that Vevo — which features videos of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and about 11,000 other artists — is YouTube’s most popular channel, according to ComScore Inc. In May, Vevo’s videos generated 617.8 million views on the site, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
The article cites Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon as companies that would be interested in taking Vevo’s business from YouTube.
“YouTube has been good partners. They’re just extracting too much money for the enterprise to work properly,” explains Morris. “The videos are expensive to produce. And there are many mouths to feed on our end. You have to pay the artist, the record companies, the publishers.”
“For its major video contributors, YouTube keeps 30 to 50 percent of the net advertising revenue, after a 10 percent sales commission is paid,” notes the article. “Morris would not specify Vevo’s cut with YouTube.”
However, Morris is quick to point out what he believes drives viewers: “If Justin Bieber and Adele are somewhere else, that will be where people will go. If you don’t have the content, no one will come.”
“The pay TV industry is divided over how best to implement TV Everywhere, an initiative to let subscribers watch content online from PCs, phones or tablets,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
TV Everywhere was unveiled by Comcast and Time Warner in 2009 to offer programming via multiple platforms in hopes that viewers would keep their cable subscriptions and not switch to over-the-top services such as Netflix, Hulu and Roku.
However, the approach has failed to gain traction, and in practice has not been a seamless experience for consumers.
“It’s simply a mess — a complete and utter failure,” says BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield.
One stumbling block has been deals that are impacting terms and conditions of other contracts. Another problem has been the confusion that results for consumers when they have to register at multiple locations to view content.
“We’re trying to figure out, can you have a single access point?” explains Mike Hopkins, president of distribution for Fox Networks. “It’s technically complicated but not impossible.”
The article describes HBO Go as one success story. Launched in 2010, the cable channel aggressively promoted the online service and now has some 5 million subscribers.
“We’re following consumer behavior,” says HBO co-President Eric Kessler. “This is about setting us up for the future and the next generation of HBO subscribers that is learning to watch on other devices.”
Cloud storage company Bitcasa hopes to provide consumers “infinite storage” for their devices for a mere $10 per month. The Mountain View, California-based start-up recently attracted $7 million in its first round of funding.
Bitcasa is exciting “because unlike players like Dropbox, Box, SugarSync, or Google Drive, its storage solution goes beyond syncing files across machines,” reports VentureBeat. “The company’s app does not take up any room on your hard drive, which is extremely helpful if you have a MacBook Air, Ultrabook, or a small SSD drive for storage.”
Data is stored on Bitcasa’s servers for easy access. Although the app does not offer some of the same sharing and integration tools as its competitors, it “seems incredibly appealing for individuals who want a better backup solution than an external hard drive,” suggests the post.
Users can try the service for free during the beta period, expected to last a few months, after which interested parties can continue with the $10/month “infinite storage” option.
The post includes a one-minute video demo from Bitcasa.
According to The Dyle Mobile TV Data Report recently released by the Mobile Content Venture, 68 percent of U.S. adults recently surveyed said they would watch more programs if live mobile digital TV were available.
“As people upgrade to smartphones and tablets, live TV is a must-have service,” explained the Mobile Content Venture in a statement. “Whether you are a wireless carrier or a cable/satellite operator, it seems clear that enabling the ‘living room experience’ on the go can be a smart business opportunity.”
Survey respondents said they would most likely access live mobile DTV during downtime while waiting, for entertainment while traveling, for entertaining children in the car, as an additional television at home, for being connected at sporting events and while working out at the gym.
Perhaps most telling, 61 percent of respondents said they would be “somewhat or very likely” to switch their service providers in order to receive mobile TV.
“The Mobile Content Venture is a joint venture consisting of 12 major broadcast groups, Fox, Ion Television and NBC that plan to launch the Dyle mobile TV service this year,” notes Broadcasting & Cable.
A new 15-month study, conducted by the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, shows that Internet users are increasingly accessing YouTube for news.
First-person, citizen-made videos depicting major events such as natural disasters and political upheaval are helping to drive the trend.
“The data reveal that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic ‘dialogue’ many observers predicted would become the new journalism online,” writes Pew in the report.
“Citizens are creating their own videos about news and posting them,” the report continues. “They are also actively sharing news videos produced by journalism professionals. And news organizations are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism. Consumers, in turn, seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share, creating a new kind of television news.”
Additional key findings include: “Unedited video is becoming an increasingly popular way to view events, with such video making up 42 percent of the news watched on YouTube” and “Short videos —about two minutes in length —are the most popular, but they are not the only clips that do well. Thirty three percent of videos analyzed were between two and five minutes. And 18 percent were five minutes long or greater.”
Yahoo announced that Marissa Mayer has been appointed as the company’s new president and CEO, effective today.
Mayer was employee #20 at Google (the company’s first female engineer) and most recently served as VP of Local, Maps and Location Services. At Yahoo, she replaces interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.
“The appointment of Ms. Mayer is consider a coup for Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years to attract top talent in its battle with competitors,” reports The New York Times. “One of the few public faces of Google, Ms. Mayer, 37, has been responsible for the look and feel of some of the search company’s most popular products.”
According to the press release, Mayer helped launch more than 100 features and products at Google “including image, book and product search, toolbar, iGoogle, Google News, and Gmail — creating much of the ‘look and feel’ of the Google user experience.”
She has degrees in Symbolic Systems and Computer Science, and holds several patents in artificial intelligence and interface design.
“I am honored and delighted to lead Yahoo!, one of the Internet’s premier destinations for more than 700 million users,” said Mayer. “I look forward to working with the company’s dedicated employees to bring innovative products, content, and personalized experiences to users and advertisers all around the world.”
“As she hashes out Yahoo’s strategy, Ms. Mayer said she wanted to focus on the Internet company’s strong franchises, including e-mail, finance and sports,” notes NYT. “She also hopes to do more with its video broadband and its mobile businesses, tapping into its significant base of users.”
Digital Trends takes a stab at breaking down the details of Verizon Wireless’s Share Everything Plan, unveiled late last month.
The post offers a side-by-side comparison of the old and new plans, detailing price structures and how it works.
“The biggest difference between the Share Everything Plan and the tiered package plans is the focus on data,” notes the post. “Gone are the days of picking the amount of minutes, texts, and data available in a plan. Verizon customers will now be given the ability to talk and text as much as they want (unlimited) no matter the plan.”
“This benefit comes at the cost of paying premiums for data plans — priced on a tiered system of its own — which will be shared by every device that is included on the plan,” adds the post. “Basically, it’s out with the old tiers and in with the new, with the real kicker being elimination of unlimited data.”
In a related commentary posted on CNET, Verizon has filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals (Verizon vs. FCC) that suggests the cable company may explore editing Internet access based on what Verizon decides is a “priority,” since broadband providers can exercise First Amendment “editorial discretion.”
The move could undermine the FCC’s Net Neutrality standards. The FCC’s policy maintains “that neither Verizon nor any other Internet provider can block or slow access to online content, including if they disagree with its message or are being paid by a third party to favor some alternative,” writes Violet Blue in the commentary.
“Whether or not Verizon will actually try to deny or edit access remains to be seen,” concludes Blue. “But Verizon is certainly fighting to be able to ‘edit’ Web access and make its own best interests — whatever those are — a priority.”
Traditional forms of advertising are dramatically changing to keep pace with the growth of digital technologies.
Boutique agencies on the Westside of LA, for example, “are pushing big-brand clients beyond the familiar confines of radio, television, magazines and newspapers and onto the Internet, smartphones, game consoles and tablets,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
With the advent of DVRs and cord-cutting, advertisers are turning to new Internet strategies involving Web video and social media tools including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. The article cites Westside firms such as Blitz, Ignited and Omelet as leaders in this movement.
“Ten years ago, companies spent an estimated $6 billion advertising their products and services online, according to eMarketer. This year, that number is expected to reach $39.5 billion,” notes the article. “Within five years, it could top $60 billion.”
And competition for attracting consumers is fierce. It’s worth noting that six decades ago, the average consumer was exposed to approximately 100 brand impressions daily.
“Today, the average person sees between 1,500 and 2,000 brand impressions a day: company logos, commercials and billboards,” explains Eric Johnson, founder and president of El Segundo-based Ignited.
Online video is becoming an important component of creating a digital presence for brands. “Ten years ago, advertisers spent $48 million creating online videos, according to eMarketer. By 2009, the expenditure had swelled to $1 billion and is expected to top $3 billion this year,” explains the article.
“These worlds are slamming together faster than anyone realized that they would and the shift is undeniable,” notes Ryan Fey, Omelet co-founder. “But convergence is done. Brands are online, they are in mobile. Now it’s all how you develop technology and apply it.”
Companies such as Fisher-Price, LeapFrog, Hasbro and Crayola are developing apps for very young consumers — including babies as young as six months of age.
At the Fisher-Price lab, for example, “we bring babies in with their moms and watch them at play with different types of apps, different types of products,” explains Deborah Weber, senior manager of infant research.
Weber says her job is to “understand the ages and stages of babies — what they can and can’t do, what their interests are, and the growing needs of families today.”
“Two years ago, it was harder to find kids who had used an iPhone or an iPad at home,” suggests Alissa McLean, a senior researcher in LeapFrog’s user experience group. “Now it’s not hard at all.”
“We used to talk about kids being the first generation of digital natives,” adds Jason Root, chief content officer at the Ruckus Media Group, which has partnered with companies like Hasbro to develop storybook apps. “Now we have a generation of newborns who are going to be weaned on touch devices.”
Innovations in this market are fueling a digital toy trend. “In the last year, there have been nearly three million downloads of Fisher-Price’s Laugh & Learn apps,” reports The New York Times. “By year-end, LeapFrog expects to have 325 apps at its online App Center, double the number at the end of 2011.”
TED is selling e-books and subscriptions through its new app, TED Books for iOS (iPhone and iPad). Individual books are available for $2.99, while a three month sub including six books costs $14.99.
The TED Books app allows for enhanced features like video and audio. “For example, videos of TED Talks are embedded into some of the books,” notes paidContent. “They can also be streamed to Apple TV through Airplay. An ’embryonic’ commenting feature allows readers to leave comments at the end of the books.”
“‘Founding subscribers’ — those who sign up in the first 90 days — get free access to all the books in the back catalog,” adds the post. “Authors are paid advances and also get a royalty each time their book is downloaded.”
“Assuming we get enough subscribers, we are guaranteeing an author a first printing that is larger than they were used to,” says Tom Rielly of TED, noting that many speakers are not full-time authors.
“They don’t necessarily have time to write a giant book,” he adds, “but they can get one of these books together more quickly.”
Palo Alto Networks, a leading firewall security company that filed to go public in April, priced shares for its IPO this week at $34 to $37 per share.
“The company will sell 6.2 million shares, around 1.5 of which will come from existing stock holders,” reports VentureBeat. “The New York Stock Exchange will host the stock under the ticker symbol PANW.”
ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld points out that Palo Alto Networks’ unique firewall technology allows companies to determine what portions of publicly available sites (for example: social networks) their employees can access.
While companies are hesitant regarding use of personal technology, they also recognize that services such as Dropbox and Facebook can add to employee productivity. To address this, Palo Alto Networks developed a firewall with the ability to block specific parts of an application, based on the policy of each individual company.
“The company coined the term ‘next generation firewall’ to describe its products,” explains Reuters in a related post. “NGFW converges multiple security functions such as firewall, intrusion prevention systems and secure Web gateways on a single platform.”
“The product is fundamentally revolutionary,” says John Kindervag, security expert at Forrester Research. “All of the big (security) vendors are afraid of Palo Alto. They built it from scratch and they did it in four years.”
“Rivals like Cisco, Check Point or Juniper Networks would beg to differ, arguing they offer similar products,” notes Reuters.
Amazon has announced its new GameCircle feature for the Kindle Fire that offers gaming leaderboards and achievements.
“GameCircle allows you to track your in-game awards, view leaderboards, and save your game progress online,” reports PCWorld.
It is currently available for developers and is expected to launch with Kindle Fire games in the coming weeks.
“GameCircle has echoes of OpenFeint and Apple’s Game Center, but Amazon’s feature doesn’t appear to have the same social features as the other platforms,” notes the article. “Amazon didn’t mention anything about a social component where you can connect with friends to share games and view a friends-only leaderboard similar to Game Center.”
A centralized gaming feature has become a must-have for mobile platforms. Amazon’s rollout may be an indicator that it plans to launch its own smartphone and expand its mobile offerings.
Microsoft has unveiled an overhaul of its popular Office software and a new version of its cloud-based suite, Office 365. Users will now have the option of performing work through a browser, rather than installing software on their PCs.
