Tag Archives: msft

Fitbit’s Surge Smartwatch Beautifully Marries Microsoft’s Cortana on Windows Phones

Fitbit and Apple have been waging a passive aggressive war against one another over the past few weeks. First, Fitbit snubbed Apple’s Healthkit platform. Apple responded by announcing that it would stop selling Fitbit devices in its

Microsoft Band will track health, pay for coffee

Microsoft (MSFT) on Thursday entered the fast-growing fitness band and activity tracker business with its Microsoft Band. The software giant joins a crowded market ahead of the launch early next year of the Apple Watch. The Microsoft Band has 10 sensors for 24-hour heart rate monitoring, calorie burn measurement and sleep quality tracking. It also includes “guided workouts” from Gold’s Gym, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness. Plus, the Microsoft Band offers at-a-glance notifications of incoming calls, emails, texts and social updates as well as access to Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistant. In addition, people will be able to make purchases at Starbucks (SBUX) coffee shops using the Microsoft Band. The device costs $199 and is available now in “limited quantities” at Microsoft retail and online stores, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Todd Holmdahl said in a blog post. The Microsoft Band works with the company’s new Microsoft Health…

EA hits 6-year high on ‘Titanfall,’ sports video games

Electronic Arts (EA) jumped to a six-year high on the stock market today after the video game publisher crushed fiscal second-quarter forecasts late Tuesday. EA earned 73 cents a share excluding items, up 121% year-over-year and topping Wall Street’s target of 53 cents for the Sept. 30-ended quarter. Sales rose 17% to $1.22 billion, beating the forecast of $1.16 billion among analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company also raised its annual revenue guidance by $75 million to $4.175 billion and adjusted EPS by 20 cents to $2.05. EA stock was up 4% in early afternoon trading today, near 39. EA credited hot-selling games for next-generation consoles from Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE) for the outperformance last quarter. This year, EA is the No. 1 publisher on Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 “in the Western World,” led by such games…