Technology

Microsoft Office execs have said for months that the company wants to forge a more open relationship with customers. To build on that goal, Microsoft launched the Office 365 for business public road map on Wednesday. The website shows the status of upcoming Office 365 features. Microsoft also announced an opt-in program called First Release that gives customers early access to new features. This year, Office GM Julia White told Information Week that, because Office 365 is a cloud-based platform, Microsoft can not only introduce new features more quickly, but also offer earlier previews to the public. In a blog post announcing First Release and the new road map, Office 365 group product manager Jake Korzybski reiterated this theme. "Just as we transformed our development process, we need to transform our communication processes regarding changes and future updates to the service," he wrote. Both the road map and First Release are targeted at business and institutiona

Apple has already stepped into the health and fitness tracking market with its Health app for iOS. Now, the company could be upping the ante with its upcoming iPhone New code spotted by developers who spoke with 9 to 5 Mac indicates the iPhone 6 could have a barometer built in. See also: 10 Better Alternatives to Your iPhone's Native Apps An integrated barometer would track altitude and air pressure and could infer temperature readings, too. Existing apps already perform many of these tasks, but they use the iPhone's GPS and motion chips to do so. A piece of dedicated measurement hardware is likely to provide better performance. 

Intel wants to inject passion and excitement into mobile chat through a new app that relies on face-tracking technology to assess facial expressions and mood. With Pocket Avatars, users can chat with friends using animated three-dimensional avatars, but there’s a twist. A camera on a mobile device tracks a user’s face and expressions, and those emotions are reflected on the avatar during a chat. The avatar serves as an alter-ego for those who don’t to put their real face on screen, said Mike Bell, vice president and general manager of the New Devices Group at Intel. “It’s just a fun thing on top of standard messaging,” Bell said. Emoticons have been a standard tool for expressions in text messaging. An animated chat that reflects a real person’s mood is more engaging, Bell said, adding that if a user is angry or happy, the avatar will show it, Bell said. The camera captures moving faces, lighting conditions and a range of emotions such as smiles, blinking eyes or kiss

BlackBerry has confirmed the recently-leaked handset code named 'Winder mere' will officially be announced under the name Passport. It will debut at an event in London this September. Following its quarterly earnings report, during which it announced a return to profit of sorts, BlackBerry CEO John Chen confirmed that the short and wide-set device currently doing the rounds is the real deal. Naturally, as Crack Berry reports, the device will be named after its passport-like dimensions. According to the presentation, the Blackberry Passport will feature a 4.5-inch 1440 x 1440 display that's as square as an Instagram photo. The Passport will be a wide 3.18-inches, which is even wider than the pocket-busting 3.12-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 3. An accompanying photo shows the handset will have BlackBerry's stoutest keyboard yet featuring only three rows of physical buttons. The Passport also appeared along two other handsets named the Z3 and Classic. Internally

Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc will start mass production of Apple Inc's first smart watch in July, a source familiar with the matter said, as the US tech giant tries to prove it can still innovate against rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. The watch, which remains unnamed but which company followers have dubbed the iWatch, will be Apple's first foray into a niche product category that many remain skeptical about, especially as to whether it can drive profits amid cooling growth in tech gadgets. The production will be a boost to Quanta, given that its work for Apple till now has focused on laptops and iPods, product lines that are in decline. Quanta's role though is likely to raise questions about what involvement Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, one of Apple's biggest suppliers, will play in production. While the watch is widely expected, the start date of its mass production and the extent of Quanta's involvement were not known until now. Mass produ

The Amazon Fire phone has finally been announced after years of speculation, and it's certainly bringing some different ideas to the table. First up it sports five cameras on the front - one is the traditional front-facing snapper, and the other four are part of the Fire's Dynamic Perspective feature. Dynamic Perspective tracks your head, and works out the distance it isthe screen, to produce 3D-like graphics on-screen. Firefly is a supercharged barcode scanner which you can use to scan, well, anything. A pub sign, a car, a magazine, a bottle of beer. You name it, Firefly will scan it, and then probably try and make you buy something. Mayday - Amazon's 24-7-365 interactive customer service - also makes the leapthe Kindle Fire HDX tablet to the Fire phone. Thatsounds lovely, but is it any good? We've taken a look at the early hands on Amazon Fire phone reviewsaround the web to gauge the interest. Gizmodo Gizmodo doesn't hold back, declarin

Teamare Gaston, 17, thinks she'd like to be a business journalist. But Google has other designs on her brain. On Thursday, Gaston and 150 other New York-area high school girls will attend the kickoff event for Made with Code, a $50 million Google initiative with the simple and singular focus of bringing more girls into the coding fold. "Our industry has lots of stereotypes, including the notion that coding means sitting at a computer alone," says Google Vice President Megan Smith. "We hope to show girls that coding is fun. But there's also the simple fact that supply and demand is not working. There are millions of jobs out there going begging." Google's event, held at a hip Manhattan loft called Skylight Modern, features host Mindy Kaling (of TV's The Mindy Project), speakers such as Chelsea Clinton and a range of tech-savvy women bent on inspiring the teens in attendance. Made with Code's mission is anchored by a websitegir