Microsoft is developing an interesting new system the company believes could radically change the way visually impaired people navigate an urban environment. The new prototype technology doesn't have an official name yet, but Microsoft refers to it as 3D soundscape technology. The assistive technology relies on three components: a smartphone, a bone conductive headset that rests over the user's ears (see image at top), and Bluetooth beacons placed throughout the city or suburb. As the blind person walks around, the headset provides a clicking noise that guides the user in the right direction and not, say, veering off the curb and onto the street. The beacons generate the directional information for the clicks.

Today is the next step in bringing Office to everyone and on every device with the start of Office for Android tablet Preview, new Office for iPhone apps, updated Office for iPad apps and more.

But in a sign of the seismic changes underway in the tech industry, Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, said on Thursday that it would give away a comprehensive mobile edition of Office. The free software for iPads, iPhones and Android tablets will do most of the most essential things people normally do with the computer versions of the product.

When it comes to charging a premium price and moving product, no one does it better than Apple AAPL +0.15%. There are other phones and tablets that are functionally comparable or arguably better than the iPhone and iPad, but the Apple brand carries tremendous weight and credibility, and customers are willing to pay up for that. The company sold 39.3 million iPhones in its latest quarter and could sell as many as 60 million during the last three months of 2014 with the holiday selling season. Apple also moved 12.3 million iPads and 5.5 million Macs last quarter.

They may be competitors but Dropbox and Microsoft are syncing up. The two companies are making it easier for users of both Microsoft Office and Dropbox to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations on phones, tablets and the Web.

Designed to showcase the power of Microsoft Health, Microsoft Band tracks your heart rate, steps, calorie burn and sleep quality with advanced, highly innovative sensors. It also helps you be more productive with email previews and calendar alerts at a glance.* Microsoft Band works across platform on your Windows Phone, Android™, and iPhone®.

Microsoft is fast shifting its focus to the cloud, and one of the chief areas where business organizations can benefit from this change will be in better collaboration among and across workgroups. However, that depends on Microsoft providing the right mix of tools, as well enough clarity for users and admins to know how best to make use of them.

It was Friday, Nov. 5, 1999 when then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates got the bad news. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson had declared that his company was a monopoly. And not just any monopoly, but the very worst kind: one that uses its power to squash would-be rivals before they’re even out of the gate. At the time, Microsoft packaged its Internet Explorer web browser with its Windows operating systems, which gave Microsoft an incredible advantage over rivals like Netscape in an era when dial-up Internet meant that downloading and installing alternative web browsers was a slog at best.

As of 31 October, retailers will no longer be able to order more Windows 8 to sell beyond their existing stock, although it can still be bought installed on a new PC. The operating system went on sale just over two years ago on 26 October 2012, and Microsoft is already shifting emphasis to Windows 10, expected in the middle of next year.

Take the operating system inside the Microsoft Band. Although Microsoft did disclose that its band features ARM Cortex M4 MCU processor, the company never mentioned in any of its collateral what the operating system is.