Microsoft users say goodbye to Hotmail, hello to new Outlook.com

Microsoft has announced that its new webmail service, Outlook.com, is now set to replace Hotmail.com. The software giant said that Outlook.com is coming out of beta testing and is now ready for primetime. The service, which was announced last July, now has 60 million users and will now replace Microsoft’s older webmail system. Microsoft”s Hotmail, which was originally MSN Hotmail, has been online since 1997. Hotmail users will still keep their Hotmail.com email addresses and their contacts and emails will all be moved over, they will just now get a new user interface and all the new features of Outlook.com, ABC News reports. According to the report, Outlook.com was designed with a similar aesthetic to Microsoft”s Windows 8 operating system.

It also includes new social features and a sorting option called Sweep, the report said. The Sweep feature moves newsletters, promotional messages and other recurring emails into their own folders or to the trash, it added.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/microsoft-users-say-goodbye-to-hotmail-hello-to-new-outlook.com/1076963/

Microsoft testing Outlook app for Windows RT devices: Report

Teams within Microsoft are reportedly debating whether the company should release a native version of Outlook for Windows RT devices or not. The company has reportedly completed and testing a final version of Outlook for Windows RT devices.

Microsoft is reportedly testing a native version of MS Outlook for Windows RT-based devices. Dubbed as Outlook RT, the e-mail client would run on Microsoft’s ARM-based Surface RT devices as well as any ARM-based Windows RT slates and PCs.

According to CNET, Microsoft hasn’t yet decided the date for commercial availability of Outlook RT, as odds are the company may never release it. The teams within Microsoft are still debating whether the company should release the app or not.

The report further quotes sources at Microsoft claims some people at the Windows unit want to retain the Mail/Calendar/People app as it bundles currently. There are some other people who want to simply rename the existing Mail app in Windows RT as Outlook. There are also suggestions to launch Outlook as a separate native app.

“Microsoft currently has its own Mail client for Windows 8 and Windows RT — a product that is not seen as very robust or solid by many of us Surface RT/Windows RT users. The Windows RT Mail client is not even as good as the Mail client that’s part of Windows Phone, many of us feel,” writes Mary Jo Foley in the report.

“Quite a few of us would rather have the option to run Outlook on our Surface RTs and other Windows RT devices. But for now, Microsoft doesn’t include Outlook as part of the Office Home & Student 2013 RT suite that it bundles with the Windows RT operating system. Only Word RT, Excel RT, PowerPoint RT and OneNote RT are included. (It’s worth noting that these four apps are Desktop apps, not “Metro-Style”/Windows Store apps. There are only two members of the Office suite that currently exist in Metro-Style form: OneNote and Lync.),” she adds.

Microsoft is yet to comment on the rumours of a native Outlook app for Windows RT.

 

Source: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Apps/Microsoft-testing-Outlook-app-for-Windows-RT_13224.html

Yahoo! buys scrapbook website Snip.it

Yahoo! confirmed Tuesday that it bought Snip.it, a young San Francisco startup that lets people create scrapbooks with pictures, articles, videos and other content found online.

“The Snip.it team created an innovative technology that lets people share content in a

social and fun way,” Yahoo! vice president of product Mike Kerns said in a statement emailed to AFP.

“Reading and sharing content is a core daily habit for most of the world, and we can’t wait to work with the Snip.it team to make that experience even more entertaining for our users.”

A message posted at Snip.it told users it was “joining forces” with Yahoo! and that the service was no longer available. A link was provided to a hall of fame honoring top Snip.it contributors.

“For the past year and a half, we’ve worked tirelessly as a team to build the best social news platform on the Web,” Snip.it said in the message.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring Snip.it’s vision to a larger scale at Yahoo!”

Snip.it launched in late 2011 as a place where people could share digital “scrapbooks” based on topics or themes of their choosing.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but unconfirmed online reports estimated the figure to be in the vicinity of $15 million.