| Microsoft Adds a Lower Cost 'Personal' Subscription Option to Office 365 Posted: 13 Mar 2014 10:50 AM PDT  A cheaper subscription plan for individuals
If you only plan to access Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 suite from a single PC, then you might feel like you're overpaying for a subscription that includes access on up to five different PCs. To address that, Microsoft today announced that it's adding an Office 365 Personal subscription plan for individuals. The plan runs $7 per month or $70 per year if billed annually and allows users to connect one PC or Mac and one tablet. "We recognize that there are households of all shapes and sizes and we're committed to delivering the right Office for everyone -- whether that be one person or an entire household," Microsoft stated in a blog post. Microsoft will continue to offer its Office 365 Home Premium subscription plan for households, it's just getting a name change to Office 365 Home. Pricing will remain the same -- $100 per year (or $10 per month if billed monthly), which allows you to access on up to five PCs or Macs and five tablets. Both plans come with 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and 20GB of additional OneDrive storage. The Personal plan will be rolled out sometime this Spring. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft Reportedly Testing Free Windows Phone Licenses in India Posted: 13 Mar 2014 10:15 AM PDT  At least two handset makers are said to have free access to Windows Phone licenses
While various bean counters may disagree on the exact numbers, all of them have Android and iOS dominating the smartphone market. Microsoft would like nothing more than for its Windows Phone platform to at least be in the hunt, though as it stands, Windows Phone and BlackBerry are in a dogfight for a distance third place finish behind the big two. That being the case, Microsoft is reportedly offering free Windows Phone licenses to select handset makers. According to The Times of India, Microsoft has waived the Windows Phone license fee to two phone makers in India -- Lava and Karbonn. These companies already offer Android phones, and Microsoft hopes that by removing the Windows Phone license fee, they'll be able to offer some intriguing and affordable WP handsets as well. One thing that's interesting about the deals reportedly being doled out by Microsoft is that they trump even what the software maker was willing to offer Nokia, which itself is believed to have paid between $20 to $30 for each Lumia device it sold. "For our planned Windows Phone handsets, we are not paying Microsoft a license fee. The company is obviously exploring new models for Windows Phone. It must have realized that the older model where it licensed the OS did not work out well, even with Nokia's support," a senior executive with an Indian phone company told The Times of India. Another senior executive said it would be easier to experiment with Windows Phone devices once the license fee is removed from the equation. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Nvidia Details Legacy Support Plans for DirectX 10 Generation Graphics Cards Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:44 AM PDT  It's time to think about upgrading that GeForce 9800 GTX card
Just as Microsoft is getting ready to end support for Windows XP next month, Nvidia also has an end in sight for its own legacy products, though it's not coming up quite as quickly. When Nvidia gets around to releasing its GeForce 343 drivers, support will officially end for all DirectX 10 generation graphics cards, freeing the GPU maker to focus soley on Fermi, Kepler, and Maxwell products. This doesn't mean you have to rush out and buy a new graphics card, as Nvidia will continue to support your old hardware up through its upcoming GeForce 340 drivers. However, that will be the end of the line for such products. "The Release 340 drivers will continue to support these products until April 1, 2016, and the Nvidia support team will continue to address driver issues for these products in driver branches up to and including Release 340. However, future driver enhancements and optimizations in driver releases after Release 340 will not support these products," Nvidia states on a new support page. Lots of GPUs will be affected by this, including all GeForce 8 and 9 Series desktop parts, and GeForce 7, 8, and 9 Series notebook GPUs, to name just a few. This also affects Nvidia's professional line, such as the Quadro FX 5800 and others. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Amazon to Hike Price of Prime Membership to $99, Old Rate in Play for a Week Posted: 13 Mar 2014 09:15 AM PDT  The cost of an Amazon Prime membership is going up in 7 days
Amazon has been sending out emails to its Prime members to let them know that when it comes time to renew, they'll be charged a higher rate. Specifically, Amazon Prime will soon cost $99 for a year, a $20 jump over the previous price. Students will still receive a discount, though the price of a Prime membership will go up for them as well -- the new price is $49 per year, up $10 over the old price (the first 6 months is still free for new Student members). If you plan on getting an Amazon Prime membership, you can still lock in one of the old rates for a year if you sign up within the next 7 days. In addition, you get a 30-day free trial. Why the change? Amazon points out that its Prime membership costs the same as it did nine years ago. During that time, fuel and transportation costs have gone up, and Amazon has also added unlimited access to its Prime Instant Video service as part of its Prime membership. If you're unfamiliar with Amazon Prime, members receive free two-day shipping on over 20 million qualifying items, unlimited instant streaming of 40,000 movies and TV episodes, and can borrow from over 500,000 Kindle titles. At $99 per year, users are essentially paying $8.25 per month (billed annually). Image Credit: Flickr (Silus Grok) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| You Haven't Lost Your Marbles, Google Search Results DO Look Different Posted: 13 Mar 2014 08:04 AM PDT  Google changed its search page fonts
Google should have taken a page from The Outer Limits and told anyone with an Internet connection, "There is nothing wrong with your monitor. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission. If we wish to change the font, we will change the font." And that's exactly what Google did -- the sultan of search changed its search page fonts, in part to accommodate an easier way of identifying ad-supported links. The good news is, you're not crazy, things definitely look different and it's not because your cat walked across your keyboard and changed some obscure setting, so stop pulling your hair out trying to find it. If you don't like the new look, the bad news is, once again, it's not a setting on your end, so you're mostly stuck with the new look. According to The Washington Post, not all users are seeing the new look just yet, though it's likely they will soon. It's part of an ongoing effort by Google to make its search results appear simpler and more unified on mobile devices. Google's senior vice president of search gave us all a heads up in a blog post last year. In addition to a bigger font size, Google now identifies ad-supported links with a yellow box that says "Ad" underneath a search link. Previously, these links sat on top of a lightly shaded background. Are you seeing the new look? If so, what do you think about the redesign? Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair HX Series 650W PSU, Seagate Barracuda 2TB, and More! Posted: 13 Mar 2014 07:16 AM PDT |
