Microsoft kills SkyDrive, launches OneDrive

Offers try-me incentives, including 100GB for a year to the first 100K customers who access renamed storage service

Three weeks after announcing OneDrive as the new label for SkyDrive, Microsoft today activated the renamed storage service, and offered some new incentives that give customers more space.

Current users need do nothing, said Microsoft; their data has been moved for them.

Microsoft announced the new name on Jan. 27, six months after striking a deal with British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), the massive television and broadband Internet service provider owned in part by Rupert Murdoch. BSkyB had taken the American firm to trademark court over SkyDrive's moniker.

Today, Microsoft tried making lemonade out of the lemon that was the SkyDrive-naming imbroglio. "When we announced the new name OneDrive, we noted how it is much more aligned with our vision for the future," contended Chris Jones, the executive who leads the Windows Services group, on a Wednesday blog. "Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get all of your favorite stuff in one place -- one place that is accessible via all of the devices you use every day, at home and at work."

Jones' language echoed the company's new "One Microsoft" strategy and corporate reorganization, and its drumbeat that its services are unique because they serve a family of devices "at home, at work and on the go," as former CEO Steve Ballmer explained last year.

OneDrive retains the 7GB of free storage space of SkyDrive, but Microsoft also kicked off incentives today, including another free 3GB for trying out the new photo back-up feature and up to 5GB for referring friends and family to the service (up to 10, in 500MB increments).

The first 100,000 customers who access their OneDrive account will receive an additional 100GB of free space for a year.

In comparison, Apple provides only 5GB of free storage space for its iCloud online syncing and storage service, Google offers 15GB free with Google Drive, and the popular Dropbox file synchronization service hands just 2GB to customers free of charge. Microsoft also added monthly payment options -- for example, a steep $4.49 per month for an additional 50GB, compared to $25 annually -- for extra storage space.The Redmond, Wash. company launched renamed apps for Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's own Windows Phone today. As of early Wednesday, it had not replaced SkyDrive for OS X -- available from Apple's Mac App Store -- with a renamed OneDrive application.

It has also renamed SkyDrive Pro, the corporate-grade online storage service tied to Office 365, as OneDrive for Business. Microsoft said it would reveal more about OneDrive for Business at the SharePoint Conference slated to run March 3-6 in Las Vegas.

Microsoft's newest Office, whether the perpetually-licensed, stand-alone versions called Office 2013, or those installed locally as part of an Office 365 subscription, defaults to the cloud service for saving files. The name in those applications has not yet been changed, however; Microsoft observer Mary Jo Foley today said that those changes will take place the next time Redmond does a major update.

 

Nokia Android Phone’s Pricing ‘Revealed’

With less than two weeks for Mobile World Congress (MWC) to start in Barcelona, Nokia's Android phone is once again in the news. This time, the pricing of the upcoming smartphone - rumoured to be named Nokia X - has been leaked online.

Vietnamese online retailer Techrum.vn has listed Nokia X on its website at a price of 2.2 mill to 2.5 mill VND (approximately $110). This is the first time that the pricing of the device has been revealed, while its specifications were leaked online over three months ago.

This pricing lines up with earlier rumours that Nokia X will be a budget offering and will be positioned between Asha 503 and Lumia 525 in the company's portfolio.

Nokia's Android smartphone is said to have a Windows Phone-like interface and will not have access to Google Play Store. Instead, Nokia is said to have added its own app store - featuring popular apps like Skype, Facebook etc - in the device.

According to earlier reports, Nokia X will have a 4-inch screen with 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera, Bluetooth 4.0, Android 4.4 (KitKat) operating system and 4GB internal storage. It is said to be a dual-sim smartphone and come in six colour options.

The Finnish manufacturer has scheduled an event for February 24 - the first day of MWC 2014 - where it is expected to take the covers off not only Nokia X, but also Lumia 630, Lumia 635 and Lumia 930. It is also expected that a new Asha smart feature phone will be showcased at the event.

Apple's Fitness-Tracking Ambitions Go Beyond the iWatch

Lately, all the talk has been about the fitness-tracking, health-monitoring smartwatch that Apple is assumedly building. But a patent granted to Apple today shows the company wants to get into fitness tracking not just on your wrist, but in your ear, with sensor-laden earbuds to measure your athletic performance.

The patent, first filed in 2008, proposes using skin-contacting sensors in earbuds or earphones to monitor body temperature, heart rate, and perspiration, though the patent doesn't outline the mechanics of how such sensors would work. It also suggests accelerometers, both for activity tracking and for a possible hands-free gesture control, where you could change tracks or adjust volume with a specific head motion.

The patent also makes passing mention of "psychological" sensors. The official filing doesn't expand on what this would mean or how it could be used, but AppleInsider speculates the system could analyze biometric input to get an impression of the user's mental state. Finally, headphones that know to queue up Adele when you need a good cry.

Standard patent skepticism most definitely applies here: Apple filing a patent is not any sort of guarantee that the company will actually make the proposed ear monitors. But the idea is pretty fascinating-putting biosensors into the headphones so many of us wear while exercising makes a ton of sense.

Apple's been on a health tech hiring spree, and it's obvious the company wants in on the fitness tracking game. Looks like that ambition goes beyond wrist-worn devices.

Wondered Why Your Mouse Cursor Is Slanted Instead of Straight ?

Over on Stack Exchange, computer software developer Bart Gijssens revealed the following explanation of the slanted cursor's origins in response to this question on its design.

The mouse, and therefore the mouse cursor, was invented by Douglas Englebart, and was initially an arrow pointing up.

When the XEROX PARC machine was built, the cursor changed into a tilted arrow. It was found that, given the low resolution of the screens in those days, drawing a straight line and a line in the 45 degrees angle was easier to do and more recognizable than the straight cursor.

As you can see below, the original, straight cursor was indeed much more difficult to pick out amongst the blocks of basic text.

And as Gijssens points out in a later edit, after Englebart created the left-leaning cursor, Steve Jobs borrowed it for his software followed by Bill Gates who borrowed it after him. At this point, we've just become so accustomed to our leaning (and still highly functional!) arrow that anything else would seem too bizarre. Besides, why mess with perfection?