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Microsoft News: Windows and Beyond

Microsoft News: Windows and Beyond

News and reviews about Microsoft latest products and developments, including information about Windows, Office, Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7 and Windows Live online services.


Surface early adopters reporting issues with audio, Touch Cover

Surface early adopters reporting issues with audio, Touch Cover
  • Posted November 9, 2012, 5:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft, Hardware
  • Several Surface early adopters are reporting multiple issues with Microsoft’s first-ever tablet. It’s not exactly a good sign for Redmond considering the device has only been on the market for two weeks but we understand they are already working with…

Windows 8, RT set to receive first critical security patches

Windows 8, RT set to receive first critical security patches
  • Posted November 9, 2012, 2:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Security
  • Microsoft’s recently launched Windows 8 operating system is set to receive its first critical security update next week. According to the company’s advance notification posting, the November edition of Patch Tuesday will include critical fixes for vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet…

Microsoft's secret OS project Midori is still alive and moving forward

Microsoft
  • Posted November 8, 2012, 4:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • Microsoft is most commonly associated with developing Windows although few people know that Redmond has also been working on another operating in secrecy for several years. It’s been more than four years since we last heard about project Midori but…

Preliminary teardown suggests Surface RT is more profitable than iPad

Preliminary teardown suggests Surface RT is more profitable than iPad
  • Posted November 7, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Microsoft
  • A new report from IHS iSuppli suggests that Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet is more profitable than Apple’s iPad. The company’s preliminary teardown report on a 32GB Surface with the optional black touch cover reveals a bill of materials (BOM) of…

Windows Phone 8 to get curated Wi-Fi hotspot data

Windows Phone 8 to get curated Wi-Fi hotspot data
  • Posted November 6, 2012, 3:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Mobile Computing, Microsoft
  • Microsoft is pulling out all the stops as it tries to make Windows Phone 8 an attractive proposition for smartphone buyers. Their latest effort involves a deal with Devicescape to power the Wi-Fi maps portion of its mobile operating system’s…

It's official: Skype will replace Windows Live Messenger soon

It
  • Posted November 6, 2012, 1:53 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • It's been confirmed that moving forward Skype and Messenger are to become one. The shift started with Skype 6.0 (Windows/Mac) as users have been able to log in using Microsoft account credentials since this latest release. Microsoft expects to retire…

Microsoft readies 7-inch gaming tablet, the Xbox Surface

Microsoft readies 7-inch gaming tablet, the Xbox Surface
  • Posted November 6, 2012, 1:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Gaming, Microsoft
  • The 7-inch tablet market is about to see a new member jump into the fray. The Verge reports that Microsoft is working on a 7-inch gaming tablet called Xbox Surface that will include a custom ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM…

Microsoft job listings reveal cloud-based television platform

Microsoft job listings reveal cloud-based television platform
  • Posted November 6, 2012, 11:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft
  • We’ve heard Apple’s name associated with a television product for a couple of years now although a recent job posting suggests that another high profile player is interested in the space as well. Microsoft is in the market for a…

Windows 8, IE10 suffer multiple critical zero-day vulnerabilities

Windows 8, IE10 suffer multiple critical zero-day vulnerabilities
  • Posted November 5, 2012, 7:00 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Security
  • Researchers at Vupen, a private security firm based in France, claim to have found multiple, critical vulnerabilities in Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. The team's exploits allow hackers to remotely execute code, allowing crafty individuals to potentially gain control…

32GB Surface tablets ship with just 16GB of usable disk space

32GB Surface tablets ship with just 16GB of usable disk space
  • Posted November 5, 2012, 5:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Microsoft
  • Microsoft has revealed exactly how much free disk space that users can expect to find on a brand new Surface tablet. According to a recently published tablet FAQ, only half of the storage on a 32GB Surface tablet is usable.…

Microsoft Surface trounced in browser benchmarks, iPad 3x faster

Microsoft Surface trounced in browser benchmarks, iPad 3x faster
  • Posted November 5, 2012, 4:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Mobile Computing
  • With Microsoft's tablet offering finally in the wild, Futuremark took to Peacekeeper -- its own "universal" benchmark suite -- in order to determine how Surface stacks up against its competition. Perhaps surprisingly, benchmark monkeys discovered that Surface's test performance falls…

Acer continues to speak out on Microsoft's decision to build Surface

Acer continues to speak out on Microsoft
  • Posted November 5, 2012, 11:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Microsoft
  • Acer has once again spoken out against Microsoft and their just-released Surface tablet. In a recent interview with Tencent Technology, Acer’s Greater China president Lin Xianlang likened making hardware to food. His comments were roughly translated as he described Microsoft's…

Microsoft sponsors coding competition during Build conference

Microsoft sponsors coding competition during Build conference
  • Posted November 2, 2012, 3:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft
  • Microsoft recently held what some are calling a hackathon at the company’s campus in Redmond. 40 teams of coders were brought together for the four-day event with cold, hard cash at stake. But instead of looking for exploits or designing…

Microsoft rumored to be designing its own WP8 smartphone

Microsoft rumored to be designing its own WP8 smartphone
  • Posted November 2, 2012, 12:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Mobile Computing
  • According to the Wall Street Journal and its anonymous sources, Microsoft appears to be designing its own phone. Asian component suppliers have been asked to test the design, although it is unknown when and even if the device will begin…

Touring Microsoft, Sony and Apple Stores on Windows 8’s Launch Day

Touring Microsoft, Sony and Apple Stores on Windows 8’s Launch Day
  • Posted November 2, 2012, 1:51 AM by Nathaniel Wattenmaker | Filed in TechSpot, Microsoft
  • When Microsoft launched Windows 8 last week, it was the culmination of a long wait. For most folks, it was a rather jarring thrust into the future. For better or worse, the operating system that introduces the touch-oriented Metro UI to the Windows environment had arrived.

    No one is more excited about the launch than Microsoft. The company has launched pop-up holiday stores at malls across America to promote the new OS and the Surface RT. I had a chance to check in with one at Aventura Mall in Miami, Florida.

Acer delays Windows RT offerings, fears Surface

Acer delays Windows RT offerings, fears Surface
  • Posted October 31, 2012, 5:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Mobile Computing
  • Shelving what it described as an "aggressive" product schedule, Acer is delaying the launch of its Windows RT offerings until Q2 of 2013. This news comes for Acer President Jim Wong who cites Microsoft's Surface tablet as the reason, in…

Microsoft sued over use of Live Tiles in Windows

Microsoft sued over use of Live Tiles in Windows
  • Posted October 31, 2012, 3:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Industry News
  • Microsoft is already facing lawsuits related to the recently-launched Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems. Surfcast, a Portland-based company OS development company has filed a complaint with a U.S. District Court in Maine, claiming that Microsoft is infringing…

Microsoft showers Build devs with gifts: Surface RT, Lumia 920, etc.

Microsoft showers Build devs with gifts: Surface RT, Lumia 920, etc.
  • Posted October 31, 2012, 8:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft
  • Microsoft, like other large companies, has a reputation of handing out some pretty awesome swag to conference-goers. Last year Redmond kicked off its Build conference by handing out tablets running Windows 8 to developers and members of the press.

Microsoft: four million Windows 8 upgrades sold in four days

Microsoft: four million Windows 8 upgrades sold in four days
  • Posted October 30, 2012, 2:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • Windows 8's reception was something of a mixed bag with plenty of opinions in favor and against the new touch-centric interface that takes center stage over the classic Windows desktop. But that isn't stopping consumer adoption of the new OS,…

Microsoft talks mobile Office for Windows Phone 8

Microsoft talks mobile Office for Windows Phone 8
  • Posted October 30, 2012, 1:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft, Software
  • Microsoft has introduced a mobile version of Office for Windows Phone 8 that will come pre-installed on every new handset. Bert Van Hoof from Microsoft’s Office engineering group outlined five clear objectives they wanted to accomplish with the new software…

Surface RT shipments delayed in Europe, customers receive coupon

Surface RT shipments delayed in Europe, customers receive coupon
  • Posted October 30, 2012, 12:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Microsoft, Mobile Computing
  • Those who pre-ordered Microsoft's brand-new Surface for Windows RT tablet in Europe were met with dissapointment as the company announced it was experiencing problems shipping units abroad. Although no reason was given for the delay nor a specific date for…

Microsoft unveils WP8, Windows Store reaches 120,000 apps

Microsoft unveils WP8, Windows Store reaches 120,000 apps
  • Posted October 29, 2012, 4:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Mobile Computing Breaking News
  • The always very excitable Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows Phone 8 today, outlining a number of new features and improvements over WP7x. Microsoft, of course, hopes WP8 will be the key to increasing the software giant's smartphone market penetration…

Yahoo! is latest company to ignore IE10's Do-Not-Track setting

Yahoo! is latest company to ignore IE10
  • Posted October 29, 2012, 3:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Industry News
  • Microsoft's decision to enable Do Not Track in IE10 by default is still managing to elicit industry criticism. Yahoo is the latest company to ignore IE10's on-by-default DNT policy, joining Apache in not recognizing the browser's DNT setting. Yahoo reasons that…

Netflix shares up on Microsoft buyout rumor

Netflix shares up on Microsoft buyout rumor
  • Posted October 29, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News, Microsoft
  • Share value in Netflix rose more than 13 percent on Friday following a rumor that Microsoft was interested in purchasing the streaming video and DVD-by-mail outfit. Netflix will open on Monday at $69.58 per share, a much-needed boost considering it…

Microsoft revises Windows 8 Store guidelines on 'Mature' games, apps

Microsoft revises Windows 8 Store guidelines on
  • Posted October 26, 2012, 12:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Microsoft
  • Microsoft created quite a stir earlier this month when it was revealed that the Windows 8 Store would block titles that received a PEGI 18 rating in Europe. Games with an ESRB rating of Adults Only (AO) were also banned…

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