While we don't officially know what Microsoft will be introducing to the major Windows Phone 8 Apollo update that the company plans to drop later this year, people are as usual making mockups of what the future OS could look like. Now normally, I dismiss concepts as they are usually either impractical, ridiculous, or both, but this one is actually a pretty simple idea that can help boost the consistency between Microsoft's desktop and mobile OSes.
Google's Chrome web browser has been taking the geek world by storm for some time now, even spawning Google's somewhat failed attempt at making the browser the whole operating system with Chrome OS, but the truth is that what many would term 'normal people' just don't use it.
Although we're closing in on the end of Q2 already this year, there's still plenty for us tech enthusiasts to look forward to. Microsoft's release of the Windows 8 operating system is one of them, and according to a number of reports, the Release Preview (formerly referred to as the Release Candidate), has been built, which means the end-user release of Windows 8 is now in sight.
When purchasing a PC from one of the main manufacturers, the "unboxing" experience is swiftly marred by the barrage of unnecessary programs pre-loaded onto the computer. Known as "bloatware", it can be anything from free trials of various internet security suites, to vendor-specific programs - none of which the consumer has asked for.
With Windows 8 set for launch later this year, the debate is still raging on about the relatively radical design changes implemented by Microsoft in the OS. Now, before I go on, I want to note that I'm not the type that's resistant to change. Improvement and progress is welcome, and I really don't mind adjusting to changes of any sort. But, the issue isn't with people like me; it's with users that struggled to understand Windows as it was before these radical changes.
As if students needed any more reasons to procrastinate and waste time gaming instead of studying, Microsoft is set to re-introduce its "buy a PC, get an Xbox 360 free" deal - another great offer in the Redmond-based Windows maker's push to get as many of the consoles in living rooms as humanly possible.
Having built up the anticipation among its army of fans over the past few weeks, Diablo III has gone live, and can be downloaded right now from your Blizzard account. The title, which amalgamates great gameplay with a significant cinematic aspect, is the third installment of one of the most popular franchises around, and if the premise is anything to go by, it certainly looks to be another smash hit.
Google's Chrome browser has been updated to version 19, and apart from an array of bug fixes and performance enhancements, the Big G's iconic browser will also be offering integrated tab-syncing.
The research and development teams over at Microsoft Labs can pride themselves on being the people who managed to come up with the fantastic Kinect motion-sensing hardware, a handy piece of kit that uses a built-in camera to detect and interpret motion. Since release, the Kinect has been super successful, both with owners of the Xbox gaming console and those technology enthusiasts who have sought to produce open-source software for the hardware.
So, what has been foreshadowed and rumored over the past couple of months was recently officially announced by Microsoft in yet another fairly lengthy post on the Building Windows 8 blog: The company will be ditching the Windows Live brand. The products will continue to exist, of course, but they will no longer be under the umbrella of the Windows Live branding; instead, everything will be unified through what is called a Microsoft Account, formerly known as a Windows Live ID. We'll have SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Messenger as services, which will be accessible on Windows 8 via the SkyDrive, Mail, and Messaging apps, respectively (this begs the question; is the future bleak for the actual Windows Live Messenger client?)
