Microsoft’s Graph is an easy way for devs to access all the data in the Microsoft cloud
Microsoft today officially unveiled Microsoft Graph (formerly known as Office 365 Unified API) at the big Connect() conference in New York. Microsoft Graph is an easy way for developers to give applications unified access to digital work and digital life data throughout the Microsoft cloud. In other words, with the Microsoft Graph, developers will now be able to bring together smart machine learning algorithms and user data and behavior using just a single authorization token.
The Microsoft Graph, which can be found at graph.microsoft.com, exposes APIs, data and intelligence across both Office 365 and Azure AD. Any developer that’s able to make an HTTP request can call the API from any platform, and all Office 365 services can now be directly navigated via Graph. Microsoft is also releasing the SDKs to make Graph as useful as possible, starting with .Net, Android and iOS, then expanding to other platforms like Node.js, Python, Java and Ruby. Code samples can be found on GitHub.
Here’s what’s available through Graph today:
- General availability (ready for production) – Users, Files, Messages, Groups, Events, Contacts (personal), Mail, Calendar, Devices and other directory objects and docs.
- Preview (available to explore) – Notifications, SDKs, People, Organizational contacts, Office Graph, Planner, OneNote, Converged Auth. flow support, OneDrive Files and Outlook.
For developers, what used to be 50+ lines of code are now cut to five
Microsoft Graph is basically a gateway for devs to access the data living in Microsoft’s cloud. In the Office 365 area alone, you’ll have access to more than 18 million consumer Office 365 subscribers, 60 million commercial 365 monthly active users, more than half a billion people managing their documents and photos in OneDrive and much more.
Developers can get started now for free with an Office 365 developer tenant. Access to the Office 365 APIs and data through Graph will be included in your Office 365 license. This includes all APIs currently available with the general release today. Access to intelligence is paid, and some intelligence features are included in the 365 license and some are licensed separately. Additional capabilities will be added to the Microsoft Graph that may also be licensed separately.
To learn more, head to the link below to get all of the relevant documentation, code samples, SDKs, graph explorer and more. You can start the sign up process by visiting office.com to get access to an Office 365 license. And if you want all of the details, check out the official announcement at the source link attached below.
Microsoft Launches Redesigned ‘Bing’ App With Focus on Quick Interactions and App Discovery
Microsoft today launched an entirely revamped Bing search engine app for iOS, which it is hoping will reimagine search on the iPhone. The Bing app has a new design with a much cleaner interface and a series of quick action buttons that aim to cut down on the amount of typing a user needs to do to get relevant search results.
According to Microsoft, existing mobile search engines are a copycat of PC-based search engines – long lists of links – but the needs on mobile are much different. On a phone, people are looking for faster ways to get what they want while minimizing the number of interactions, an experience Microsoft is planning to deliver with Bing.
The main focal point of the app is a search button that launches a standard search for any topic, using either words, voice, or an image. This search interface includes popular search topics, like “restaurants near me,” and it also includes links to search images, videos, or news, in addition to the web.
On the main Bing screen below the search button, there’s a series of quick tap buttons that will bring up things people often search for. “Near Me,” for example, displays a list of venues that are nearby, and additional buttons like “Dinner” or “Coffee” let users drill down further in the search results without ever having to type a word.
There are also quick links to bring up local restaurants, current movies, images, videos, and maps, while scrolling down will open up a list of breaking news stories. Microsoft has put a lot of thought into the Bing search engine, and its results cover everything a person might be looking for.
As an example, if you tap the Movie quick link on the home screen, it shows movies in theaters, but it also shows new movies that have been added to Netflix and Amazon Prime, along with popular movies on both services. Tapping on one of these movies brings up information like actors and movie reviews, along with a long list of relevant apps. From the search results, a movie like Nightcrawler can be opened in Netflix, purchased on iTunes, rented on Amazon, or opened in VUDU.
Microsoft has made deep linking a major focal point in its new Bing app, and app-based search results that open the relevant app are available for many different types of searches. For example, searching for a popular restaurant nearby and then tapping that result will include all relevant associated apps.
A search for a local Chipotle brings up a map, a phone number, and a list of associated apps. Yelp, Foursquare, and Zomato are offered up as apps where reviews are available, while AllMenu is listed as a way to view the menu and Apple Maps, Uber, Google Maps, and Lyft are provided as options for getting there. For a restaurant with food delivery, Bing might offer up the relevant app, or for a restaurant that takes reservations, Bing will provide something like OpenTable as an option.
A search for a television show might bring up an option to open it up directly in Netflix, while searching for a particular song includes app links to watch it in the YouTube app or buy it in iTunes. In addition to helping people find things faster, Microsoft is hoping its deep linking will aid users in app discovery, helping them find new ways to do things via apps.
The new Bing app also takes advantage of Microsoft’s Knowledge and Action Graph, which incorporates 21 billion facts, five billion relationships between entities, and 18 billion actions to give users answers to common questions quickly. That’s been coupled with extensive work on indexing apps to build the backbone for the new Bing mobile experience.
Bing can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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Bing for iPhone makes it easy to jump from search straight to your apps
As Windows Phone continues to struggle, Microsoft has turned its focus towards making its trademark services like Office, Outlook and Bing available on Android and iOS. Today, the Bing app for the iPhone is getting a major update to better reflect how users want to search when on their phones, something that’s been an increasing priority for Google as well.
Ryan Gavin, Microsoft’s GM of search, says that when he thinks how about mobile search differs from the desktop, the traditional list of search results that can get you eventually to an answer to a query aren’t useful. “I just want an answer,” Gavin says, “and I want to take that answer into an action, typically with some sense of urgency.” To that end, Bing for iPhone puts the data from Microsoft’s Knowledge and Action Graph right up front, alongside deep links right into the apps on your phone that’ll let you complete the desired action using the tools you’re used to. Slideshow-341602
Source: Bing
Apple’s share of smartphone operating profit share rose to 94% this year
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We’ve previously heard of the dire state of Android manufacturers slowly losing all their profit margin in an increasingly competitive smartphone industry, but we had no idea it was this bad – or how badly Apple is beating everyone. According to Canaccord Genuity, Apple’s share of global smartphone operating profit share has risen to 94% in Q3 2015, a jump from 85% the same time last year. Perhaps the more depressing news from this analysis is that Samsung, the last remaining Android manufacturer to be making any kind of profit margin, has now decreased its share to 11%, a far cry from its 42% just two years ago.
As you can see, plenty of manufacturer’s profit margin have dipped to 0%, with some even incurring losses for every device made a la Microsoft and Lenovo/Motorola. Going forward, it’s not clear how some manufacturers will be able to increase their profit margin with how things are progressing, but presumably the hope is that devices start to get cheaper with more focus on usability and user experience over sheer performance.
What do you think about the smartphone operating profit share across all manufacturers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Canaccord Genuity via Phone Arena, Apple Insider
The post Apple’s share of smartphone operating profit share rose to 94% this year appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Microsoft uses ‘Minecraft’ to teach your kid how to code
You can get kids to do a lot if you promise them Minecraft… just ask parents who’ve watched their children race through chores to get some building time. And Microsoft knows this, too. It just released a tutorial for Code.org that uses Minecraft to teach the basics of computer programming. Instead of pointing and clicking to smash your way through the landscape, you construct a string of commands using code-like snippets such as “turn left” and “destroy block.” This hopefully shows your young ones how programming can be both fun and relevant — it’s not just some boring thing you do to make money. Many students will try this when the next Hour of Code kicks off on December 7th, but you can visit the website today if your kids can’t wait to give it a shot.
Via: GeekWire
Source: Code.org, Microsoft in Education Blog
Xbox One update brings back Xbox 360’s universal controller settings
You don’t need to drop $150 on the Xbox One Elite controller to get access to one of its most prominent features: remapping the gamepad’s buttons. Tucked away inside the Xbox One’s new Windows 10-flavored menus is the app for changing what buttons do what on your standard Xbox One controller as well. Perhaps most notably? You can permanently invert the Y-axis (controlled with the right analog stick by default) to make aiming and moving the camera in third-person and first-person games, respectively, more to your liking. That feature is something that the Xbox 360 had at launch with its “game defaults” options that appeared during initial setup for the system. In terms of how the app works from the Elite to the vanilla controller, it’s pretty similar aside from not being able to adjust thumbstick and trigger sensitivity. You’ll find the new addition under Settings > Ease of Access > Button Mapping.
Source: Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb
Android apps will no longer be coming to Windows 10
Microsoft originally told us that reworked Android and iOS apps would be able to run on Windows 10. Microsoft is still planning on keeping part of that promise, but now has decided to stick to just iOS.
Microsoft has not come right out and said Android porting is dead, but it’s definitely on hold for now. One way we knew this would happen is because Microsoft’s Project Astoria, the codename for it’s Android app porting, has developer forums that are a ghost town. Also, Microsoft removed the Android subsystem in the final version of Windows 10 Mobile. This system enabled the ported Android apps to run on Windows.
Even from the start, porting Android apps to Windows Mobile seemed like a poor attempt as developers barely had to make any changes to get their apps to run. The iOS option, on the other hand, allows developers to create universal apps across tablets, PCs, and phones.
Microsoft’s official response:
“We’re committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform, including bridges available now for Web and iOS, and soon Win32. The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers. For example, the iOS bridge enables developers to write a native Windows Universal app which calls UWP APIs directly from Objective-C, and to mix and match UWP and iOS concepts such as XAML and UIKit. Developers can write apps that run on all Windows 10 devices and take advantage of native Windows features easily. We’re grateful to the feedback from the development community and look forward to supporting them as they develop apps for Windows 10.”
Source: Windows Central
Via: The Verge
Come comment on this article: Android apps will no longer be coming to Windows 10
Microsoft tool to bring Android apps to Windows delayed
Remember Microsoft’s efforts to bring Android apps to its Windows operating system? Well that idea appears to have been shelved, at least for now, as Microsoft has confirmed that it is not moving ahead with the project as initially planned.
News about Project Astoria, as it is internally known, has been quiet for some time now and the official word from Microsoft is that it is not ready yet. That said, Microsoft has not clarified whether the project has simply been delayed, is on hold or has been completely scrapped. We don’t exactly know why the plan has changed either, perhaps some unforeseen technical challenges have thrown a spanner in the works.
“The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers … We’re committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform.” – Microsoft
Android is by far the most prevalent mobile operating system around the world, while Microsoft’s mobile market share remains considerably smaller. When it comes to apps, a larger install base attracts additional developers, which in turn creates a more advanced ecosystem for users. Many feel that Microsoft’s limited market share was keeping it trapped outside of most consumers’ considerations. The company had looked to improve app support on its Windows 10 platform, which is also supported on new phones and tablets, by allowing apps written in Java, Android’s language of choice, to be easily ported for use with Windows 10.
This strategy was always going to be a risk for Microsoft, as either way developers would not be targeting its platform as a priority. Now it’s not clear how Microsoft will create a stronger appeal to app developers. Perhaps its shared platform across PC, mobile and its Xbox gaming system will be enough, if the company can realize its goal of one billion Windows 10 powered devices within the next three years.
Microsoft’s Lumia 950 is set for a November 20 launch on AT&T
The wait has been pretty agonizing (for some of you, anyway), but the first batch of Windows 10 phones is almost here. AT&T just announced that it’ll be the first — and possibly only — carrier in the US to carry the new Lumia 950, which you’ll be able order starting tomorrow ahead of a full-blown launch on November 20. Sadly, there’s no word on whether AT&T will also carry the slightly bigger, slightly better Lumia 950XL; you might just have to get that thing unlocked straight from Microsoft.
Source: AT&T
Microsoft delays tool that will bring Android apps to Windows
Microsoft has confirmed that a tool that lets Android apps easily run on Windows 10 is “not ready,” according Windows Central and other sources. The software giant introduced the Windows Bridge for Android, dubbed “Project Astoria,” earlier this year as part of a larger effort to help app-builders easily convert Web, iOS and Android apps to Windows. Developers complained that it still isn’t available (unlike the other apps), though Microsoft hasn’t said the project is in trouble. However, the Project Astoria forums have gone dark and Microsoft removed the Android subsystem from the last Windows 10 Mobile preview, suggesting it may be killed altogether.
Via: Windows Central, Re/Code
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