Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Microsoft Puts Soapbox Into Public Beta

Geoff Duncan
By

Last September, Microsoft announced an invitation-only beta of a video sharing service called Soapbox, designed as an expansion to its MSN Video service. The idea behind Soapbox was to expand MSN Video into the user-generated content arena, take on the likes of YouTube, and give the world’s largest software company a footprint in what proved to be the hottest digital media category of the year: user-submitted video.

Now, Microsoft has opened Soapbox to the public, albeit still in beta form.

Recommended Videos

Soapbox enables users to upload videos to the service in a variety of digital formats, including AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, MPEG1/2/4, 3GPP, or DV file formats; video playback is supported using either Windows Media Player (under Internet Explorer for Windows) or Macromedia’s Flash Player (for everybody else). Video upload takes place as a single step, with background video processing and transcoding: while users are uploading video, they can continue to browse the Soapbox service and watch other videos. Soapbox supports video tagging, offers a search feature, and groups videos into 15 categories by tags, user, and popularity. Soapbox offers RSS feeds so users can receive automatic notification of new videos, enables users to rate videos and share video links with others, and even lets users embed videos in their own blogs and Web sites. Right now users can’t download video for offline use on a computer or transfer to a portable device, but Microsoft says those features are planned for a future release.

Related

To upload video to Soapbox, users must have a Windows Live ID; right now, all videos uploaded to Soapbox are public (privacy features are planned for future versions), and the service is only available in U.S. English. There’s a 100MB cap on video upload sizes, and Microsoft plans to enforce the same content guidelines on Soapbox as it enforces on Windows Live Spaces and MSN Groups. Videos that are flagged as inappropriate will be reviewed and possibly removed from the service.

Without a doubt, Microsoft is the 800 pound gorilla of the software marketplace…but for years it’s been an also-ran to the likes of Google and Yahoo for Internet and online services. Soapbox might be too little too late to jump start Microsoft in the arena of online video sharing, but—as with the Zune—Microsoft has the deep pockets to stay in this game as long as it wants.

Editors' Recommendations

Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Microsoft’s latest patent reveals a Skype-enabled smart speaker
harmon kardon invoke review top

A recently discovered Microsoft patent suggests the tech giant might enter the smart speaker field with a device of its own. The patent covers a smart speaker with a built-in projection system that could be used for Skype calls. Last month, Microsoft filed for another patent for a “Skype dock” for Apple devices. This new patent is, in a way, an evolution of the previous patent. While it centers around a different product, many of the same ideas are still present.

According to the patent, the device could allow users to make a Skype call without a PC, Mac, or mobile device. The smart speaker consists of several different parts and looks similar to an Amazon Echo or an Apple HomePod. The cylindrical shape allows the camera and the projector to move independently of one another. In theory, this means that the device could track a person as they move throughout the room so that eye contact can always be held no matter the position.

Read more
Cortana breaks up with Android and iOS to go steady with Microsoft 365
cortana is dead hi im feat 123521532

Breakups are never pretty, especially when you’ve been together a while, but it seems like Cortana and Android might have made an amicable split. Of course, that has a lot to do with Cortana’s limited user base and lack of popularity. Microsoft recently released a statement that Cortana will be integrated into Microsoft 365 productivity apps and that, as a result, the company would end Cortana support for Android and iOS devices.

Support will end on January 31, 2020. Anyone who uses Microsoft Launcher will receive an updated version that lacks Cortana.  And though the smart assistant bears the name of an iconic Halo character, her loss hasn’t generated much fanfare one way or another. In fact, the announcement barely had a lukewarm reception.

Read more
With Cortana in a coma, Microsoft’s smart home ambitions look bleak
cortana is dead hi im feat 123521532

Microsoft’s Surface event on Wednesday showed all of us yet again that there’s always one more thing to get excited about. The unveiling of its latest Surface line of tablets and laptops in New York City had all of the hallmark trademarks of past Microsoft events, like Panos Panay’s impeccable showtime delivery, but the tease about the company’s upcoming foldables -- the Microsoft Duo and Neo -- stole the show at the end.

However, there was just one thing that got under my skin during the announcement. And that was the lack of any mention of Cortana, Microsoft's oft-forgotten voice assistant.
No love for Cortana
Microsoft’s virtual assistant had no mention whatsoever during the event, which itself was already packed with some compelling product announcements. Even more puzzling is how Microsoft unveiled its Surface Earbuds, a direct rival to many of the popular true wireless earbuds recently announced, without having any sort of Cortana integration. Considering how much Microsoft has poured into the development of Cortana, it’s shocking that it was left out of it altogether.

Read more