Tami Reller, Microsoft’s chief of marketing, spoke at a Goldman Sachs tech conference yesterday. She was asked about bringing Office to other mobile platforms. Last October, Steve Ballmer committed to bringing Office to iPad. Seems like Reller might be hedging on that commitment.

“As we step back and say, these core applications, these core brands that are so important to enterprise customers and consumers, how do we make sure that we’re thoughtful about what we’re doing on the Windows platform, as well as cognizant of the fact that there’s other devices in their lives.”

“So you’ll see us be thoughtful about how and when we bring what applications to what platforms.”

Microsoft is facing a difficult decision. On the one hand, they can keep Office as Windows-only, hoping to build a locked in ecology that will force consumers to buy Windows tablets and phones if they want Windows.

On the flip side, there’s a very real danger that that strategy will erode the Windows market if people do not buy into the Windows mobile offerings.

An interesting article. Microsoft is in a difficult position.

I love great design, and I think this Kickstarter is a fantastic idea. The Dash headphones are a secure fit, designed for runners and swimmers and offer in ear biometrics.

The Dash works in sympathy with the wearer. Movements like pace, steps, cadence and distance are tracked. Heart rate, oxygen saturation and energy spent are measured, all the while real time acoustic feedback is provided.

The Dash has an embedded 4GB/1000 song music player so you can use it without a smart phone. It has a built-in microphone (presumably it will allow you to make calls with your phone).

Even though The Dash provides impressive noise isolation, the wearer can choose to channel ambient sound into the headphone with the transparent audio feature. A swipe on the capacitive touch surface of The Dash will enable or disable ambient sound to pass through.

That’s right, it has a capacitive touch surface. Tap your ear to allow ambient sound to come through.

These sound great.

This is such a great story on what can happen if your phone number shows up on the news just after Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone.

There are some amazing photos here.

[Via Coudal]

There is no reason Apple should move an inch. Samsung are thieves.

In case you were interested in using it.

A symbolic moment, this: in Q4 2013 the number of computers* sold by Apple was larger than the number of Windows PC sold globally. If you add Windows Phone to the mix they’re more or less exactly equal.

Microsoft spent so much time laughing at Apple. Not any more.

The Loop Magazine Issue 21:

In this issue Seamus Bellamy interviews The Pogues Spider Stacy; Philip Michaels looks at the advantages of watching movies and sports at home; Kirk McElhearn wonders about an iPod pro; Darren Murph looks at how the skies have changed since in the introduction of Wi-Fi; and Chris Domico talks about console gaming and the iPhone.

A free preview is available for every article in the app.

More people should listen to Jason Fried. It’s okay to recommend people talk to someone else when they ask for advice.

MSN Autos:

There are really only a few important features in a car: brakes, drivetrain, seats, steering, suspension and wheels.

Still, there’s no better way to personalize your vehicle than to order up a few options, so let’s take a look at some of the most outrageous factory-installed options ever devised.

After I posted about the “11 features you no longer see in cars“, I got a tweet from @Jenns79 about this story. Some of these factory options, especially the idea of a record player in the car, are insane.

Rich Tozzoli breaks down how best to use multiple guitar amp plug-ins to achieve unlimited sounds.

I love doing this. Using different sounds and a panning strategy can make your song sound so good.

Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 system has racked up more than 200 million license sales since its launch 15 months ago, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing, lagging Windows 7 which sold 240 million within its first year.

I’m not surprised.

BuzzFeed:

Canada has a heart of gold. And also just a lot of gold.

The best story has to be #2.

Unfortunate.

Mental Floss:

If you fondly remember being surrounded by two or three tons of solid Detroit steel with a whip antenna on the front from which you could tie a raccoon tail or adorn with an orange Union 76 ball, and enough leg room that you didn’t suffer from phlebitis on long road trips, then you might also miss a few of these.

I’m not old enough to remember tail fins or suicide doors but I certainly remember vent windows and the floor mounted dimmer switch!

Don’t listen to Google’s bullshit about being open. Creepy as fuck, yes; Open, not so much.

Another example of the evolution of mobile tech and its interaction with the human body. The Lumo Lift catches you slouching, buzzes to let you know, communicates all this to your iOS device.

Interesting, though not surprising, that this is available for iOS devices at launch, with a promise of Android support in the future.

Om Malik:

If it is allowed to gobble up its number two rival, Time Warner Cable, Philadelphia-based Comcast will become the largest broadband provider in the United States, and perhaps the largest outside China. The two companies together will control about half of what is called triple-play services — video, voice and internet — in the U.S. The two companies together would have about 33 million broadband connections that brought in about $18 billion in broadband revenue during 2013.

The numbers are almost too much to comprehend.

Scott Knaster takes us on a tour of some of his favorite Easter eggs from the Mac’s early days. This list is hardly complete, but it is a fun bit of nostalgia.

Remember the notorious naked Zebra Lady hidden in a version of MacPaint? Oh, I do. Have any Easter egg favorites of your own?

Around half of U.S. consumers are hoarding their old iPhones in cupboards and sock drawers — representing an inventory worth around $13.4 billion in total.

Guilty as charged. I’ve got three.

According to the annual “Mobile Mountain Study” conducted by research group OnePoll for resale site SellCell.com, this figure is down from the 55% of people who admitted to holding onto their old smartphones last year — although the total amount of money being left on the table is up from last year’s sum of $9 billion, thanks to the growing smartphone market.

Interesting analysis from Seeking Alpha (free reg-wall) makes the case that Tim Cook has just set a floor (albeit temporary) for the price of Apple stock with the recent Apple buyback and Carl Icahn’s reversal of his pursuit of a much larger buyback.

The news of Apple actually staying true to its word by making the buy-back truly opportunistic and not just a blind buy-back like so many other companies is a clear sign that the company truly believes in its products, valuation and future growth. Additionally, it puts a new temporary floor in the price of the stock. Since $500 is where the company views itself as being cheap, that is now where the Street will view it to also be cheap. Since this announcement, the stock has hence shot back up into the $535 range.

This type of move on the company’s part is brilliant, in my opinion. It reminds me back in 2011, when Warren Buffett did something similar on his own Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) shares stating that the current price (then 110% of book value) was undervalued and he intended to buy them back. Similar to what just happened to Apple’s stock, Berkshire shares after that announcement almost immediately shot up in price and a new floor had been created.

From the Supplier Responsibility report:

At Apple, we believe in making complex things simple. We strive to design products that are intuitive and enrich people’s lives. Behind that simplicity lies one of the biggest supply chains on the planet. Products like iPhone, iPad, and Mac all depend on the contributions of more than a million people across the globe, employed by both Apple and our hundreds of manufacturing partners.

Each of those workers has the right to safe and ethical working conditions. So we audit deep into our supply chain and hold our suppliers accountable to some of the industry’s strictest standards. In fact, we care as much about how our products are made as we do about how they’re designed.

On limiting the length of the work-week:

We’ve strengthened our programs to help suppliers protect student interns and other at-risk workers. We’re continuing our efforts to end excessive work hours. In 2013, our suppliers achieved an average of 95 percent compliance with our maximum 60-hour workweek.

On adding oversight training to the supply chain:

To address the shortage of qualified environment, health, and safety (EHS) personnel in China, we launched the Apple Supplier EHS Academy — a formal, 18-month program we believe to be one of the most comprehensive EHS training and education programs in any supply chain. In 2013, over 240 personnel representing factories with over 270,000 workers enrolled in this program. The EHS Academy will improve worker health and safety throughout the industry.

On ethical sourcing of materials:

The ethical sourcing of minerals is an important part of our mission to ensure safe and fair working conditions. In January 2014 we confirmed that all active, identified tantalum smelters in our supply chain were verified as conflict-free by third party auditors, and we’re pushing our suppliers of tin, tungsten, and gold just as hard to use verified sources. To heighten smelter accountability and help stakeholders follow our progress, we are releasing, for the first time, a list of the smelters and refiners in our supply chain along with their verification status.

There’s a lot more here, but this is excellent work. Apple should be proud of their efforts to fix a problem that is pervasive in the electronics industry. This is making a difference in ways that will not be obvious, but are incredibly important.

The friendly takeover comes as a surprise after months of public pursuit of Time Warner Cable by smaller rival Charter Communications Inc, and immediately raised questions as to whether it would pass the scrutiny of anti-trust regulators.

I can’t imagine how this will go forward. First NBC-Universal, now Time Warner Cable.

The combined company would divest 3 million subscribers, about a quarter of Time Warner’s 12 million customers. Together with Comcast’s 22 million video subscribers, the roughly 30 million total would represent just under 30 percent of the U.S. pay television video market.

The new cable giant would tower over its closest video competitor, DirecTV, which has about 20 million video customers.

To me, this does not sound like anything but bad new for subscribers.

Another great looking release from Beta Monkey Music.

IDC collectively referred to iOS and Android as accounting for 93.8 percent of all smartphone shipments in 2013, describing the two platforms as pursuing opposite strategies without referencing the fact that Apple earns the majority of the world’s handset profits. “Android relied on its long list of OEM partners, a broad and deep collection of devices, and price points that appealed to nearly every market segment,” wrote IDC’s Research Manager Ramon Llamas, without providing any context on how that strategy resulted in lost profits for the majority of manufacturers who use Android, including Google’s own Motorola subsidiary. “Apple’s iOS, on the other hand,” Llamas continued, “relied on nearly the opposite approach: a limited selection of Apple-only devices, whose prices trended higher than most. Despite these differences, both platforms found a warm reception to their respective user experiences and selection of mobile applications.”

This report and comments from IDC just stink. The iPhone took over 87% of the handset profits worldwide.

Will Connors for the WSJ:

Samsung recently won an order for roughly 7,000 smartphones from the U.S. Army and is close to an order for several thousand devices from the U.S. National Security Agency, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Surely they’re aware of all the malware on Android, right?

Bruce Lee often told students that if they already thought they “knew” everything, they should leave his class.

“If your cup is full, you cannot fill it. So first, empty your cup.”

Things like this can apply in so many circumstances. People that “know” everything are a pain.

I’ve been hearing a lot about this app in recent months, so I downloaded it and will give it a try. Everything I’ve heard is that this is a really great community with pros like Zakk Wylde contributing, along with regular guys like me.

I really like Ben Bajarin’s analysis.