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Microsoft Outlook Premium Super Deal (Promo)

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

UPDATED: Microsoft has extended the promo until June 30 2017.

Outlook.com Premium is now out of beta and is being offered at the super affordable price of $US19.95 until March 2017. If you need a custom domain, you can buy one directly from Microsoft for $US10 per year. After the promo, the price will rise to $US49.99

So what do you get?

  • Custom domain for five users - You can create personalized email addresses (Outlook premium) for up to 5 people.
  • Information sharing - Outlook Premium automatically configures information sharing between all of your user accounts (up to 5) for calendar, contacts and documents. Unlike other services, Microsoft Outlook Premium automatically configures the sharing so it is super simple. We don't know the shared space allocation yet (via OneDrive) but regardless, its a good deal.
  • Ad-free inbox - You get a clean ad-free outlook.com experience. This means no graphical ads in outlook.com or onedrive.com.

This offer will expire March 31 2017 so jump on it now. Did I mention you will be renewed at lower rate in the future also? Get the offer here.

The same services on Google's GMAIL would cost $5 per user per month ($60 per year). If you activate all 5 users, it would cost you $300 on GMAIL ($19.99 on Outlook Premium).

Microsoft to launch global wifi network for enterprise customers

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Microsoft's Skype entity already offers a product called Skype WIFI (link) which allows you to buy WIFI access in millions of locations by the minute. A barebones webpage now may indicate that Microsoft has bigger plan for it's WIFI resale business and may be branding it Microsoft WIFI (link). 

The service (purportedly) will offer access to its millions of WIFI access hotspots to Office 365 Enterprise subscribers, Surface 2 owners or buyers of the Work & Play bundle. 

The DNS lookup of the website seems to indicate that it belongs to Microsoft so I am assuming it is legitimate but it is still very sparse and missing tones of information. Based on the info it does contain, it looks like this service will continue in the path started by Skype WIFI where Microsoft will resell WIFI hotspot access belonging to other providers such as Boingo, XFinity WIFI, BT and more. And yes, it does look like a global service. 

We don't know the model they will use. Will it be a subscription based model, a pay-per-use model or a hybrid? Will some access time be included in the base subscriptions? 

We do know, based on the website that they will have apps for most platforms including Windows, Android, Mac OS X, iOS and Windows Phone. Skype WIFI also offered an app for these platforms but also included one for Linux (which the Microsoft WIFI page does not mention right now).

At this point that's all we know but I'll keep watching this site and report back when things develop further.

 

Microsoft offers a 4 service bundle for 50% off (xbox, office, skype, music)

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Christmas has come early for Microsoft customers as the Redmond giant has just unveiled a hugely discounted subscription bundle for 4 Microsoft services :Microsoft Office 365 Home, Skype Unlimited World, Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Music. Bought seperately, these would cost you more than $US400 but Microsoft has created the Work & Play bundle and is offering everything for the low price of $US199.

For anyone living the full Microsoft life, this is an incredible deal. This special price is valid until January 4 2015 so get it while the getting is good.

Source: Microsoft's Work & Play bundle page (Link)

Get 10GB of extra free Google Drive storage now

technologyEdward Kiledjian
QuickOffice_1.png

Google bought QuickOffice over a year ago (which use to costs $14.99) and is now releasing it for free on iPhone and Android.

Many believe this is being done as a direct response to Apple offering their iWork suit free on new IOS devices. The app is now universal on IOS which means it supports the iPhone, iPad mini and iPad.

Since buying the app, they have completely reworked the interface and have added deep Google Drive integration. They have done such a good job that many will prefer editing Google Doc documents in it instead of the clumsy web interface. Plus QuickOffice retains its legendary Microsoft Office compatibility (it is compatible with Word, Excel and Powerpoint).

If you download the app and log-in with your Google ID before September 26th, Google will add 10GB of free extra Google Drive storage for 2 years for free. 

Android version download click here

IOS version download click here