Amazon workers are back. And so is the traffic. Data from transportation analytics provider Inrix shows average commute speeds dropping by as much as 35% on routes in and out… Read More
Meta and Microsoft are both giving up office space in the Seattle region amid the shift to hybrid work and broader tech downturn. Facebook parent Meta is subleasing its 6-story… Read More
Sean Turner was on his phone in the lobby of a downtown Seattle hotel last year when a woman slapped his iPad off a table, then took his AirPods case.… Read More
Microsoft will release a new standalone app called Microsoft Designer, tapping into the larger trend of bringing advanced graphic design capabilities to the masses. Designer capitalizes on Microsoft’s partnership with… Read More
As the Omicron variant appears likely to surge across the U.S., back-to-office plans are now in flux as companies rethink — again — how and when they’ll bring back workers to… Read More
Microsoft launched a new standalone version of Teams for small businesses on Wednesday morning, the first paid version of its communication and collaboration service to be offered separately from other… Read More
If and when workers return to offices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new Seattle startup called Worksphere is looking to make the process safer and more manageable… Read More
Microsoft is adding automated transcription to Word on the web, giving Microsoft 365 subscribers unlimited transcriptions of recordings made through the program at no extra cost, and up to five… Read More
REI was set to move more than 1,000 employees into a brand new headquarters complex this summer, built on an 8-acre site surrounded by parks and wilderness just east of… Read More
Next time you’re grumbling about figuring out the settings to join a video call, consider what Steven Sinofsky has been doing to research his upcoming book. A board partner at Silicon… Read More
Microsoft is rebranding its web-based Office product from “Office Online” to simply “Office.” It is also ditching the word “Online” from its “Word Online,” “Excel Online,” and other related apps.… Read More
When Ken Moss started at the video game company Electronic Arts a little more than four years ago, he was one of the only EA employees working out of PopCap Games… Read More
Ride-hailing giant Uber is expanding its engineering office in Seattle to fit up to 750 people, which is more than double its Seattle headcount today. Uber said it has inked… Read More
A week after announcing plans for a historic redevelopment of its original Redmond, Wash., headquarters, Microsoft this morning unveiled plans to overhaul its 32-acre campus in Mountain View, Calif., saying… Read More
Numbers released this week put Microsoft’s new era into clearer focus. The takeaway: The big Microsoft businesses that have shifted most aggressively to the cloud — its Office and Server… Read More
Julie Larson-Green, a longtime Microsoft engineering executive, has stepped down from her position as leader of the Office Experience Organization as she recovers from spinal cord surgery, but says she will remain… Read More
Microsoft unveiled a new “chat-based workspace” for Office 365 Wednesday, dubbed “Microsoft Teams,” confirming its plans to challenge Slack and other existing players like Workplace by Facebook in business team communication. “Just… Read More
Microsoft’s Office team knows a few things about toolbars that show different buttons depending on what the user is doing at any given moment. That’s the core idea behind the Office ribbon, the feature that replaced… Read More
A small footnote in a new Microsoft filing reveals a big trend: Windows, the PC operating system that fueled the company’s rise as a tech giant, is falling further behind the Microsoft product lines… Read More
In-office perks can provide a recruiting edge and boost employee morale, but not every company can afford to foot the bill. Microsoft and Amazon vet Sandeep Phadke saw that problem… Read More
Microsoft says LinkedIn will “retain its distinct brand, culture and independence” under the surprise $26.2 billion acquisition announced this morning — the biggest test yet of Microsoft’s ability to combine with another company.… Read More
Device maker Xiaomi has agreed to acquire nearly 1,500 Microsoft patents and pre-install Office and Skype on its Android-based smartphones and tablets, giving the Redmond company’s apps a new channel to reach… Read More
When emailing or texting with Steven Sinofsky, one sometimes gets the impression that he has a team working on his behalf, responding to inbound messages with substance and speed. And then there’s another team… Read More
Varsity Tutors, a St. Louis-based company that connects instructors with students for online and in-person tutoring sessions, is setting up shop in Seattle. Today, the company announced the opening of… Read More
Julie Larson-Green has built her career around product development and user interface design. The Microsoft engineering leader has more than two decades of experience working on products such as Office and Windows — software used by hundreds of… Read More
Google Drive’s productivity offerings have long stood as a free alternative to Microsoft’s Office suite. However, Microsoft has often offered more control and customization for Word, Excel and PowerPoint than Google offers… Read More
Tableau is opening another office abroad. The Seattle-based maker of visualization software is setting up shop in Vancouver, B.C., marking the 14th office across 10 countries for the 13-year-old company.… Read More
Julie Larson-Green, a 22-year Microsoft veteran and a longtime engineering leader in Office and Windows, will take on a new role overseeing Office apps and services, GeekWire has confirmed. Kirk Koenigsbauer,… Read More
Microsoft beat revenue and profit expectations for its first fiscal quarter, as revenue from its Office 365 and Windows Azure cloud computing offerings helped to compensate for ongoing sluggishness in the… Read More
Apps, The Cloud, and Windows/Devices. Microsoft uses fancier terms, but that’s the simple way of looking at the company’s new financial reporting segments, which make their debut on Thursday along with the company’s… Read More