Last month, Microsoft finally ceased support for its antiquated Windows XP operating system, offering a series of deals and trade-in solutions for those looking to grab something a little more contemporary. But while the end of official support was also said to apply to security fixes, the software giant has reneged on this by patching a known Internet Explorer flaw on all versions of Windows - XP included.
Microsoft's internal Research division has been operating behind the public eye for the last 23 years. In that time we have seen the department demonstrate some utterly insane projects as well as some innovative pieces of technology that have progressed to form the basis of a number of popular products and software solutions in existence today. Microsoft has been a little preoccupied recently with the acquisition of Finnish smartphone maker Nokia, but it seems its research team has still been beavering away and have now presented a new type of augmented mechanical keyboard.
Security isn't the kind of thing you should play fast and loose with, and the same goes for security online. In a day and age where we manage almost all of our lives on the Internet, having a computer, phone or tablet that's potentially open to mischievous entities is far from ideal, but that's the position users of Internet Explorers find themselves in today.
During the first week of September last year, it was announced that Microsoft was to acquire the devices and services division of Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia for the reported sum of $7.1 billion. With both companies having already established a close relationship thanks to the Lumia-Windows Phone partnership, the transition was always likely to be a smooth one, and with all the regulatory formalities done and dusted, Nokia is now officially a part of Microsoft.
It was somewhat inevitable that, upon completion of its takeover of the Finnish telecommunications outfit Nokia, Microsoft would look to rebrand the products and services of its recent acquisition to something more in-keeping with its own. Now, it has come to light that by the close of 2014, devices will no longer bear the famed Nokia branding, with the company having settled on 'Microsoft Mobile.'
When Microsoft detailed what would be part of its Windows Phone 8.1 update, one of the features that caught our eye was the introduction of 'Project My Screen.' Having the ability to display a smartphone's screen output on a computer may not seem too exciting at first, but if you throw a touch-screen monitor into the equation, things start to get interesting. Unfortunately though, the PC aspect of the whole thing wasn't quite ready, leaving eager tweakers to sit on their hands and wait.
Microsoft has been working very hard to boost consumer interest in its Office suite, offering a series of deals and promotions over the past couple of months. In the latest, the software maker will be offering full on Office 365 access in a new 'Personal' package that allows customers to activate the service on one PC or Mac, and one tablet, for just $69 per year. Full details can be found right after the leap.
The developer preview Of Windows Phone 8.1 is now out there for all to try out and assess, and even though the Cortana voice assistant seems to be the main talking point, Microsoft has thrown in many more useful features besides. Along with the Action Center, wallpaper support and other such niceties, it looks as though the software giant has included support for Apple's Passbook passes, which can be read and comprehended via Microsoft Wallet.
You can now download Windows Phone 8.1 early. If you're a non-dev and want to give it a shot, here's how you can still download it.
Last week at the BUILD developers conference, Microsoft unveiled its latest changes to the Windows operating system with Windows 8.1 Update 1. Designed with the desktop user in mind, the release offers a bunch of optimization features for those using the traditional keyboard-and-mouse set-up, and on a day that has seen official support cease for the 12-year-old Windows XP, the newly-updated edition of Windows 8.1 is now available to download.
