IntellectBeat

Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it would stop production of its popular Xbox 360 video game console, which helped the company gain a firm foothold in the market. More than 80 million units of the console have been sold since it was launched in 2005. Xbox 360 also introduced Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing game device. It was the company's primary gaming console, until it launched the Xbox One in 2013. The Xbox 360 launched with a number of popular video games including Activision Blizzard Inc's "Call of Duty 2" and Electronic Arts Inc's "Need for Speed: Most Wanted". Microsoft said in a blog post it would continue to sell existing inventory of the consoles, and that it would continue to provide customer support. The company's Xbox Live network, which allows online multi-player gaming, will continue to be available for the Xbox 360. Sales of older-generation consoles, such as the Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, have been declinin...

Ahead of its official launch, Microsoft ’s latest smartphone has been spotted listed online. Called the Microsoft Lumia 650 Dual SIM, the phone is listed on Amazon India. To recall, the Lumia 650 was unveiled in February 2016. It is targeted at the enterprise segment, and is said to offer the consumers, a “perfect balance between work and personal needs.” It runs Windows 10 operating system and comes pre-loaded with Office 365, Microsoft’s personal assistant- Cortana and more. Read on to find more details on price, specifications and features of Lumia 650. As far as specifications of the phone are concerned, it is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 212 processor clocked at 1.3GHz paired with 1GB of RAM. The device features a 5-inch HD AMOLED display with 1280×720 pixels resolution. For storage purpose, it offers 16GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 200GB via microSD card. On imaging front, the device sports an 8 mega pixel rear camera with L...

India's growing and robust start-up culture, strong base of development partners and its large economy make it an "incredibly unique and valuable" market for Microsoft , senior executives at the technology giant have said. "India is unique in a number of different ways. In India, (there is) such an embrace of technology in development as a whole. It is unbelievable the quality and diversity of development that is coming out of the country," Senior Director of Windows Product Marketing at Microsoft Aaron Woodman told PTI on the sidelines of the just-concluded annual developers' conference 'Build 2016' here. Underlining the importance of the Indian market from the perspective of Cloud computing, Microsoft's Cloud Platform General Manager Julia White said that India is an "amazing and robust market", particularly against the backdrop of the innovations coming from there and the growing start-up culture. "That was one of the reasons...

The US space agency and tech giant Microsoft have teamed up to create " Destination: Mars ", a guided tour of Mars using the same Hololens headset technology that helps scientists plan the Curiosity rover's activities on Red Planet . It will offer people a guided tour of an area of Mars with astronaut Buzz Aldrin this summer in an interactive exhibit using the Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headset. “ Mixed reality ” means that virtual elements are merged with the user's actual environment, creating a world in which real and virtual objects can interact. The "Destination: Mars" exhibit will open at NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex in Florida this summer, the US space agency said in a statement. Guests will “visit” several sites on Mars, reconstructed using real imagery from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover, which has been exploring the Red Planet since August 2012. Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon in 1969, will ...

At the #Build2016 developers conference, Microsoft announced that its  Windows 10 Anniversary Update  will be soon coming to PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox One, Microsoft HoloLens and IOT. The anniversary update promises a host of improvements to Windows 10 which was launched eight months ago and powers over 270 million active devices. Here is a sneak peek into the new version of the popular operating system: 1. Windows Hello biometric security to apps and Microsoft Edge Windows Hello – the biometrics-based sign-in feature for Windows 10 will come with enterprise-grade security. The new update allows users to use the same security of Windows Hello with Windows apps and Microsoft Edge. Microsoft says that its new Edge is the first and only browser to support biometrics with compatible sites. Biometrics-based access to apps and the browser means more control over how and by whom the device is being used. 2. Windows Ink integration to apps With the latest update, Windo...

In addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, Microsoft will now enable developers to support cross-network play as well. This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks. Xbox Live players, however, will always have the option of choosing to play only with other Xbox Live players. The company has also announced that Psyonix's Rocket League will be one of the first games to take advantage of this new capability by enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well. Steam and the PlayStation Network had both previously supported cross-platform and cross-network play between console and PC, a feature proven technically feasible since mass-market titles such as 2000's "4x4 Evolution" and "Phant...

Microsoft is reportedly gearing to launch its next and what is believed to be the  "last Lumia" smartphone , the Lumia 650 on February 1. After the launch of the Lumia 650 smartphone, the Redmond giant is said to concentrate on its Windows 10 Mobile-based Surface Phone range and will no longer launch smartphones under the Lumia moniker. Windows Central  reports that it has heard "multiple times" that the Lumia 650 may be the last Lumia. This is not the first time we have heard about the Surface Phone series from Microsoft. Last month, Chris Capossela, Chief Marketing Officer of Microsoft,  tipped  that the company may reveal the 'Surface' branded smartphone in the second-half of 2016. The new phone range is said to be powered by Intel processors instead of the Qualcomm chipsets. If this comes out to be true then this will be an end of era for Microsoft that launched its Lumia range of smartphone to compete other brands and platforms.  The report also s...