Microsoft to implement Office.com and Office 365 redesign

Microsoft revealed last week that it will be implementing a redesign for its Office.com and Office 365 suites, with the intention to streamline the applications’ visuals with that of Windows 10’s “Fluent Design” guidelines.

Detailed in a blog post by corporate vice president for Office and Windows Marketing Jared Spataro, the update will entail a “simplified ribbon” menu, new icons and colors and improved search functions, among others.

The update will be initially cascaded to Word for web, then to the Outlook suite next month.

Essentially, the design update appears to address visuals-related concerns associated with the “Ribbon Design” of Office 2007 and the Metro design that came with the 2012-released Windows 8 operating system. More information on the update is hosted on Microsoft’s official online channels.

A voice-driven web browser by Mozilla?

Word that Mozilla – the firm behind popular web browser Firefox – is working on a voice-driven web browser cropped up last week, following the posting of the agenda for an internal “All Hands” conference in San Francisco.

Codenamed “Scout,” the app is described in the agenda as one which explores the area of “consuming content with voice” – foreseen to be one which works with advanced voice recognition tech in facilitating hands-free voice-driven web browsing sessions.

Given the popularity of voice-driven digital assistant suites like Apple’s “Siri,” Microsoft’s “Cortana,” Amazon’s “Alexa” and Google’s “Google Assistant,” a number of tech journalists jotted down op-ed pieces on how much of an impact a dedicated voice-driven web browser would have following the agenda’s revelation – mostly raising questions on what feature sets it’d have over digital assistants.

Many have also postulated that the rollout of a voice-based browser could just step up Mozilla’s standing in the web browser scene.

Instagram rolls out online shopping features in “Stories”

Instagram announced last week that it is expanding its features to cover on-the-fly online shopping links on the platform’s “Stories.”

The links are accessible by way of shopping bag icon/stickers which Instagram users can tap and get more details on, streamlining the social media platform’s provisions for online shopping to go beyond standard “Feeds.”

In an announcement posted last week, the Facebook-owned imaging-oriented micro-blogging platform notes that 300 million members access “Stories” every day, and that a recent survey revealed that a number of members watch the feature to learn more about ongoing trends and to stay updated with their favorite brands.

Launched in 2016, “Stories” is a feature that allows Instagram members to capture photos or videos and use them to make short slideshows with text and effects overlays.

Tech pundits were quick to describe the recent update to “Stories” as something that was to be “expected,” given its increasing popularity. More information on the matter is hosted on Instagram’s official channels.