Software : Windows 8.1, Surface and Xbox One help lift Microsoft to $300bn valuation |
- Windows 8.1, Surface and Xbox One help lift Microsoft to $300bn valuation
- Instagram ads arrive next week, Facebook likes govern what users see
- Vine grows new editing features, including saved clips and shot removal
| Windows 8.1, Surface and Xbox One help lift Microsoft to $300bn valuation Posted:  Once more, Microsoft has proved industry analysts wrong by posting revenues of just over US$18.5bn (about £11.4bn, AU$19.3bn) and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.62 (about £0.38, AU$ 0.65) for the first quarter of the company's 2014. That's respectively 4.1% and 15% than the expert consensus amongst the financial community. Net income stood at $5.24bn (£3.24bn, AU$ 5.47bn) while operating income reached $6.33bn (£3.91bn, AU$ 6.6bn). The surprising numbers caused Microsoft's share price to jump by more than 7%, pushing the company's valuation to just over $300bn (£186bn, AU$ 314bn), still less than Google or Apple. Perhaps more importantly, Microsoft's cash reserves now stand at more than $80bn (£50bn, AU$ 83.4bn), probably more than Google and Apple combined. Are worries over?The earning reports are the first since Steve Ballmer announced he will be leaving the company and come amidst a flurry of major products & services launches. Over the last quarter, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nokia Devices and Business division, Xbox One, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 as well as a refreshed Windows 8.1. The only worrying sign amidst a swathe of good news (including a $400m revenue bonanza from the berated Surface) is the fact Windows OEM revenue declined by 7%, although Windows Pro revenue (which includes Windows 7 and Windows 8, presumably) grew for the second consecutive quarter. It is the commercial side of the business however that helped Microsoft keep its winning ways. Double digit growth in SQL server revenue combined with more than 100% growth in the cloud segment pushed the commercial revenue to a whopping $11.2bn (£6.92bn, AU$ 11.68bn).
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| Instagram ads arrive next week, Facebook likes govern what users see Posted:  Sorry Instagram users, but the grace period following Facebook's buyout is all but over. Ads are invading imminently and today we got our first glimpse at what we can expect from the commercial interruption. In a post on the Instagram blog, the photo sharing app said photos and videos marked as 'Sponsored' will start to appear in feeds in the US next week, beginning with a small number of brands already using the app. The company says it is encouraging advertisers to be creative and engaging with their posts, while a FAQ post on its website says the posts will remain in 'the spirit of the community.' That could mean a number of things, but it's likely the ads will have some sort of faux artistic merit and deploy the famous filters, frames and blurring tools. No hiding from ads, but ads can be hiddenInterestingly, the company will tap into a user's Facebook likes and their basic profile information to determine which ads will display on that individual's Instagram feed. However, those who aren't connected through Facebook won't avoid Instagram ads. The company will make use of previous Insta-likes or, failing that, just throw stuff at your wall and see what sticks. "We want to show ads from businesses that are interesting to you, and to do that we will use information about what you do on Instagram and Facebook [our parent company]," the company said. "For instance, this might include the people you follow and the photos and videos you like on Instagram, and your interests and other basic info on Facebook." FeedbackIn somewhat better news, users will also be able to hide ads from their feed (not without seeing them first, of course) and offer Instagram some feedback on why they don't want to see anymore like it. In its blog post the company wrote: "If you see an ad that doesn't interest you, you can tap the '…' below it to hide it and provide feedback about what you didn't like. This will help us show you more interesting ads in the future." |
| Vine grows new editing features, including saved clips and shot removal Posted:  Vine has sprouted scores of users, and now editing the perfect six-second clip just got easier. Today the Twitter-owned app for iOS and Android received an update that introduces "Sessions," a function that lets you save your clips for later. Although the Vine app has never forced users to post a video immediately, before this update there was no way to roll back to an older clip once a new one was recorded. The new update lets users save up to 10 posts at once, giving plenty of wiggle room to edit and share all your snappy masterpieces at a later time. OUTTATIMEThe other new feature the Vine update introduces is called "Time Travel." The new functionality lets users remove, reorganize and even replace any shot within a clip.
Now when you're editing, the video will be split into smaller image boxes which you can move around to rearrange, etc. Did someone Vine-bomb your short clip? Now you can jump back into the short video and remove any instance of their existence. The update is available for download now. |
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