Microsoft working on 'small touch devices' with Windows, due in 'coming months'

via theverge.com

Microsoft has long been rumored to be preparing 7- and 8-inch Windows devices, and the company has all but confirmed its plans today. Speaking on an investor call, Microsoft CFO Peter Klein revealed Microsoft is working closely with OEMs to produce "a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows." Klein says the devices will have "competitive price points," thanks in part to Microsoft's latest OEM offerings designed for the smaller devices. Microsoft says the devices "will be available in the coming months."

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Windows Phone 8: common problems, bugs, and fixes

via digitaltrends.com

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform is chasing third place behind the ever popular Android and iOS. It is a decent option for anyone seeking an alternative to the big two, but it’s not without its flaws. In this roundup, we take a look at common WP8 issues that have been reported by users, and we try to find good workarounds or solutions. If you’ve encountered any of these Windows Phone 8 problems and you know of a good solution that hasn’t been mentioned, then please post a comment and we’ll add it just as soon as we can.

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Windows Blue: everything you need to know

via theverge.com

Microsoft shipped its Windows 8 operating system in October, but the company is planning to update it in a big way with codename Blue. Designed for new hardware, including 7- and 8-inch devices, Windows Blue will be treated as a new version of Windows — an upgrade to Windows 8. Check out all the news below as we follow Windows Blue's progress from milestone to release.

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Best Music Apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone

via digitaltrends.com

If you lump them all together, there are probably no fewer than a zillion different music apps on Google Play, the App Store, and Windows Phone Store combined. Those aren’t exact figures, but based on Digital Trends’ own independent research, we estimate that the number is somewhere between a zillion and a jillion. So as a smartphone user, you have access to just about any type of music program imaginable, from internet radio apps to guitar tuners and everything in-between. But unfortunately your smartphone has a limited amount of space, so you’ve got to be choosy. You can’t download the entire zillion apps (yet), so we’ve dug up the best music apps available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.

It should be noted, however, that the number of music apps available varies greatly from store to store. Apple’s App Store easily has the most, followed closely by Google Play – but the Windows Store is currently anemic when it comes to music apps. As such, you’ll find that the following list features proportionately more iOS and Android apps than those for Windows Phone. We’ll update the list as the Windows store grows, but for now it’s rather short on options.

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Internet Explorer 10 now available for Windows 7 users

via theverge.com

Developers have had early access to Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 for a few months now, but Microsoft is making the final release available to consumers and businesses today. Available in 95 languages, Windows 7 users will be auto upgraded to IE10 in the coming weeks, with the initial push targeted at IE10 Release Preview users.

Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 includes improved JavaScript performance, and a focus on battery life improvements for mobile PCs. Although Internet Explorer 10 has been available on Windows 8 since October 26th, Microsoft opted for a delayed Windows 7 schedule to ensure the release was fully ready, a decision that drew some criticism from users waiting on an updated browser.

Windows 7 users will now get integrated spell checking and auto-correct within IE10, as well as improved support for web standards like the latest CSS3 improvements. The user interface in IE10 for Windows 7 is largely the same as IE9, so users won't get the fullscreen experience that's available in Windows 8. Nevertheless, Internet Explorer 10 is now available to download for Windows 7.

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Xbox Live and Windows Azure suffering from extended outages

via theverge.com

Several Microsoft online services are suffering from problems this evening, with both Xbox Live and the Windows Azure cloud service in the midst of extended outages. According to Microsoft's status page, Xbox Live users may have issues accessing data and saved games in the cloud. SmartGlass is also affected, along with the Xbox Live Karaoke and ESPN apps. The problem has been ongoing for several hours and appears to be getting worse, with the company recently adding Xbox Live functionality for Halo 4 to the list of affected services. In an update posted at 9:03PM ET, Microsoft states that "We are still working as fast as we can to fix the issue."

The problem may be related to another service interruption, this one affecting the company's Windows Azure cloud platform. At the time of this writing, 52 different services are currently listed as either offline or suffering from degraded performance. Microsoft explains that Azure's storage service is currently down worldwide "due to an expired certificate." The company goes on to say that it is "validating the recovery options before implementing them," and will keep users appraised with further updates. It's not specifically stated that the Azure outage is responsible for the Xbox Live problems, but given that both revolve around storage issues the timing is certainly suspect.

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Windows Live Messenger Will Be “Upgraded” To Skype Starting On April 8

via techcrunch.com

Good news for those of you still clinging to Windows Live Messenger in its current form — it looks like you’ll able to keep using it for just a little bit longer. It’s no secret that Microsoft would retire its 13 year old messaging service in favor of the one it paid $8.5 billion for, but Skype announced in a post on its blog that the timeline for the official transition process has been pushed back by a hair.

Microsoft announced to some users of the Live Messenger service last month that it would make its transition to Skype on March 15, but The Verge’s Tom Warren reports that only a “small number” of people will actually make the move on that date. A bigger test group was supposed to transition on the 15th, but apparently early tests were promising enough that the size of the first group was scaled down.

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Why BlackBerry Will Beat Windows Phone: It's Cool Again!

via readwrite.com

Last week, in an attempt to get the contacts on my old Android transferred to the new BlackBerry Z10, I stopped at my local AT&T store to see if they could transfer them. It was like a rock star just walked into the room.

The rock star wasn’t me. I am not that cool. It was the Z10.

The AT&T employees (who couldn’t actually transfer the contacts since BlackBerry 10 is so new) fawned over the device like it was a favorite cousin come home after years lost at sea. They took pictures of it and sent them to a friend. They bet each other they could figure out how to use the gesture-based navigation. The reaction was a little surprising.

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50 Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know

via hongkiat.com

Windows 8 is the latest offering from Microsoft and has reinvented itself as an operating system for both tablet and PC users. While touchscreen users can take advantage of the many navigational rewrites e.g. the Charms Menu, Metro UI with tiles, and swipes, Microsoft has also done their part to ensure that users who prefer getting around with the keyboard would not be left out.

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5 Alternatives to Windows Media Center on Windows 8

via howtogeek.com

Windows 8 no longer comes with Windows Media Center by default. To get it, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro and purchase the Media Center Pack. It’s free until January 31, 2013, but this will soon be even pricier.

If you’re using Windows 8 and don’t want to buy two separate upgrades just to use a program that once came standard with Windows, you can try one of these alternative media center applications for your HTPC.

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Review: Microsoft Surface With Windows RT

via hongkiat.com

2012 is ending with a bang… when it comes to tablets. For one thing, many new tablets are making its way into (or are already in) the market, tablets such as the Nexus 7 (32GB with data), Nexus 10 and Apple’s iPad Mini. One of the most publicized tablets of the year is none other than the Microsoft Surface tablet.

In the past, Bill Gates had introduced the Tablet PC or Slate which had little impact in the tech consumer industry back then, but luckily for Microsoft, Surface is doing way better than its predecessors. The Microsoft Surface tablet has been catching a lot of media attention, together with the Windows 8 launching. And it’s about time we took the Surface for a spin.

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Windows Phone App Store Expands to 37 New Countries

via mashable.com

Microsoft has expanded its Windows Phone App Store to 37 new countries around the world, mostly in Africa and Asia.

The full list of new countries receiving the App Store is as follows: Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo (DRC), Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Paraguay, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The App Store is now available in a total of 191 markets worldwide, while the web version of the Store is available in 112 markets.

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Microsoft Releases Windows Phone 8 SDK

Microsoft has released the Windows Phone 8 SDK for the Build developer conference, now taking place on the Redmond campus.

The SDK is described as an environment “for building apps and games for Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.5.” That’s pretty obvious but why 7.5? That’s the odd thing here.

It has a stand-alone Visual Studio Express 2012 edition. It can also work as an add-on to Visual Studio Express 2012 edition for Windows Phone or works as an add-in to Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Premium or Ultimate editions. Microsoft says the SDK also includes emulators and additional tools for profiling and testing a Windows Phone app under real-world conditions.

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Windows Phone 8 review

via engadget.com

Two years ago, the mobile landscape was quite different than what it is today. Android flagship phones sported 1GHz single-core CPUs and were in the process of upgrading to Froyo, the iPhone 4 was the Apple phone of choice and the word "phablet" was sure to be followed by a "Gesundheit." (It still is, arguably.) This is just a brief glimpse at the world in which Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 was born. Destined to be the replacement solution for an obsolete Windows Mobile 6.x platform, WP7 did its best to disrupt the industry by offering its unique Metro user interface and slick performance across the board.

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Windows 8 Survival Guide: All the Tips, Tricks, and Workarounds

via gizmodo.com

Windows 8 officially launched yesterday, and starting today, Microsoft's army touchscreen devices are making their way into people's hands. It's a huge change from what you're used to. And we're here to get you through it.

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Video Game and Superhero Themed Stained Glass Panels

via laughingsquid.com

Atlanta, Georgia stained glass artist R. Evan Daniels of Martian Glass Works on Etsy has created a beautiful / geeky series of video game and comic book superhero themed stained glass panels that would really tie a room together. On the very detailed 31″ x 47″ Iron Man 3 Mark XLVII Armor stained glass panel R. Evan Daniels spent over 100 hours creating it with approximately 334 pieces of glass, 275 feet of copper foil and 5 rolls of solder. Each of the stained glass panels pictured in this post are available to purchase on Etsy.

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Windows 8 vs. Windows 7

via techi.com

Microsoft is releasing a new operating system, Windows 8, October 26th. There have been many changes, and many backend improvements, as well as a huge buzz on the Internet. But how well does the new operating system hold up?

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Windows 8 Is Really Confusing

via theatlanticwire.com

With less than a week to go before the big Windows 8 launch on October 26, everybody seems to be converging on the same unambiguous conclusion about the new software: bafflement. The business community is baffled about whether the new operating system can deliver the turnaround that Microsoft's stock needs right now. The technology community is baffled that Microsoft is tossing out a lot of widely known Windows conventions like the Start button and filling the screen with squares full of Facebook updates. Most important of all, consumers are just plain baffled. Nobody can figure out how to use the thing!

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Here's Everything We Know About Windows Phone 8 So Far

via businessinsider.com

Windows Phone 8, the newest version of Microsoft's mobile-phone operating system, launches at the end of the month.

Between various leaks and legitimate announcements, we've gathered all the substantive details on it for you here.

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8 Tips To Get the Most Out Of Microsoft SkyDrive

via hongkiat.com

Cloud drive services are becoming widely popular nowadays with services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and even Amazon Drive. Microsoft has its own version, SkyDrive with many recently improved features for a better cloud experience.

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