| Office for iPad: Possible to Activate More Than Five Devices with Single Subscription Posted: 30 Mar 2014 06:04 PM PDT 
Company 'trusts' users to voluntarily stay within bounds On Thursday, Microsoft took the unprecedented step of launching a dedicated version of its Office productivity suite for the Apple iPad, giving all iPad users the ability to view Office documents on the go for free, and those willing to pay $100 per year for an Office 365 subscription the power to edit and create them. There's a slight problem, though. Although when Microsoft announced Office for iPad it said that an Office 365 subscription could only be used for a maximum of five tablets (in addition to up to five PCs), it turns out that the limit isn't being enforced strictly at the moment. According to Cnet, which discovered this loophole after "tinkering with numerous devices," a single Office 365 subscription can, in fact, be used with more than five tablets. "Similar to our commercial use rights, we do not strictly enforce the limit on tablet installations, but trust that our users respect and understand the device limits outlined in the EULA [end user rights agreement]," Microsoft told CNET when asked about the loophole. So to sum it up, while it is technically possible for you to use a single subscription with more than five iPads, it is something Microsoft would like you to avoid in keeping with the EULA. Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Microsoft Corrects Stance on Email Scanning Posted: 30 Mar 2014 04:20 PM PDT 
Revises its email scanning policy again following 'uncomfortable' criticism Microsoft came under severe criticism after it emerged last week that in 2012 the company had peeked inside the Hotmail account of an employee suspected of leaking Windows 8 trade secrets. Within 24 hours of the revelations, the company thought it behooved it to "provide additional context and describe how we are strengthening our policies." But the
"strengthened" policy did not go down too well with the critics either. After being heavily criticized for the revised policy that simply required the company to rely on the judgment of "a legal team separate from the internal investigating team" to determine whether reading a customer's email was justified or not, Microsoft has backtracked on the issue. According to a blog post it published on Friday, the company spent the week following the first policy revision "reflecting further on the issue." Here's the harvest of all that reflection and the talks it held with advocacy groups and other experts: "Effective immediately, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property from Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves. Instead, we will refer the matter to law enforcement if further action is required. In addition to changing company policy, in the coming months we will incorporate this change in our customer terms of service, so that it's clear to consumers and binding on Microsoft." "We've entered a 'post-Snowden era' in which people rightly focus on the ways others use their personal information. As a company we've participated actively in the public discussions about the proper balance between the privacy rights of citizens and the powers of government. We've advocated that governments should rely on formal legal processes and the rule of law for surveillance activities," the company said, adding that although it was well within its legal rights to do what it did, it has realized "that we should apply a similar principle and rely on formal legal processes for our own investigations involving people who we suspect are stealing from us." Image Credit: Flickr (opensource.com) Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Lenovo Recalls About 37K ThinkPad Batteries Over Fire Hazard Posted: 30 Mar 2014 04:04 PM PDT 
First laptop battery recall in seven years for the company Lenovo has recalled about 34,500 laptop battery packs in the States and 2,900 in Canada because of a fire hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday. The affected laptop models, all part of the company's ThinkPad series, were sold between October 2010 and April 2011. "This recall involves Lenovo battery packs sold with the following ThinkPad notebook computers: the Edge 11, 13 and 14 series, the T410, T420, T510 and W510 series, and the X100e, X120e, X200, X201 and X201s series. The battery packs were also sold separately," reads the recall announcement on the CPSC website. "Recalled battery packs have one of the following part numbers starting with the fourth digit in a long series of numbers and letters printed on a white sticker below the bar code on the battery pack: 42T4695, 42T4711, 42T4798, 42T4804, 42T4812, 42T4822, 42T4828, 42T4834, 42T4840 and 42T4890." If you are currently using one of the affected batteries, which "measure between 8 to 11 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide and about 1 inch high," CPSC suggests that you remove it from your notebook PC immediately and contact the vendor for a replacement. While there hasn't been any official word from Lenovo on the size of the recall outside North America, over 115,000 batteries have reportedly been recalled in China alone. For what it's worth, this is the first such battery recall for the world's largest PC vendor in over seven years; in 2007, the company had recalled about 100,000 Sanyo-built batteries. Image Credit: CPSC Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| Google Now Reportedly Requires ‘Powered by Android’ Logo on Boot-up Posted: 30 Mar 2014 03:50 PM PDT 
HTC M8 One and Galaxy S5 already comply with new guidelines Android's customizability is one major reason why the open source mobile OS has managed to endear itself to vendors and users galore. But don't be misled into believing that Google has granted vendors a carte blanche. There are certain rules smartphone makers need to play by if they want their users to be able to access certain Google-developed stock apps considered integral to the whole Android experience. Enshrined in its Mobile Services agreement, these rules aren't something Google likes to talk about publicly. Nevertheless, it is now being reported that Google has updated the guidelines to add a new requirement. According to reports, all new Android devices are now required to display the words "powered by Android" at the time of boot up. In fact, devices like the recently released HTC M8 One and the upcoming Galaxy S5 already meet this requirement. "The Android Bootup logotype is always given appropriate clear space in creative. Limited space and media size require slight variations in clear space requirements," read the leaked guidelines. "The Android Bootup logo should always be at the bottom of the screen horizontally centered." Image Credit: AndroidPolice Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
