Although Microsoft has a nice, intuitive mobile OS and a decent selection of handsets on which to run it, Windows Phone is missing one major component - customers. As such, we've seen a number of promotional, trade-in offers over the past couple of weeks, including a free Lumia 520 / 521 for those willing to pay $100 for an Xbox Music pass. But if you're in the market for something a little more high-end, the latest offer from the software maker, which will net you a free Lumia 1020 or Lumia 1520 (albeit on contract) in exchange for an old Galaxy S2 / iPhone 4/4s, may just prove too tempting.
The Xbox One entertainment system only arrived back in November, but with the dust having settled and the early adopters busily getting to grips with the new interface, Microsoft has officially announced that the first system update is headed next week. The Redmond company, which only yesterday unveiled Satya Nadella as its new CEO, has a lot going on at the moment with the Windows 8.1 Update 1 also in development, but as per Xbox LIVE's very own Major Nelson, the forthcoming update will include quite a few noteworthy enhancements.
In what will undoubtedly be the biggest news story of the day in the technology industry, Microsoft has announced that Satya Nadella will be taking the helm as the company's next CEO. The outgoing Steve Ballmer announced his retirement back in August of last year, and since then, there has naturally been quite a bit of speculation regarding who would fill these rather large shoes. Now Nadella, who has been with the Redmond-based software maker for 22 years, becomes only the third CEO in the company's near 40-year history after co-founder Bill Gates and Ballmer.
In what will likely be toasted in tech circles a victory for users, it looks like a forthcoming Windows 8.1 update could boot to the traditional desktop by default, skipping (although not removing) the tiled interface that many have begrudgingly become accustomed to. According to The Verge, which cites sources familiar with Microsoft's OS plans moving forward, the "Metro" (or Modern) landing screen will not greet users upon booting, but can be reinstated within the settings for those who require it.
Now that the hectic release period is over, and the holiday push is just a memory, all attention has now turned to what 2014 may or may not have in store for Microsoft's Xbox One. With gamers already desperate for new titles to play and with some Xbox services still to go live for the new console, every morsel of information is being greeted with both excitement and skepticism in equal measure.
As of today, Microsoft's cloud service SkyDrive will be known as 'OneDrive,' a move that no doubt strengthens connections with the all-new Xbox One console. The decision is not entirely voluntary, with the name change very much the result of a trademark case involving the Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB), but it does, in a sense, afford Redmond company's product range an improved degree of uniformity.
Windows 8, it's fair to say, did not make the kind of impression on users that Microsoft had hoped, and although the Windows 8.1 follow-up has been generally well received, it goes without mention that the preceding Windows 7 is considered by most to be the strongest release to date. It should come as very little surprise, then, that Windows 9 - or Windows 8.2 as we like to call it here - looks set to arrive next year in 2015, and according to a report by Paul Thurrott, we'll be getting an official word on it at April's BUILD 2014 dev conference.
Facebook now has almost 1.2 billion users according to Wikipedia, and we all know that Wikipedia is right about everything. With so many users it’s likely that we've all added people over the years that we probably don't know anymore, or have likely fallen out with for some crazy reason that we probably can't even remember. Regardless, just because someone's our friend on Facebook today, it doesn't mean they will be tomorrow.
Keeping up with the latest game technology sure isn't a cheap proposition. You go out, possibly lining up to get your hands on the latest and greatest gaming machine that money can buy - we'll let you argue over which one that is! - and then you're faced with the question of what software to get for that machine. The problem is that you've spent so much on that shiny new box of tricks that you want to be sure, really sure that you're choosing the right games. Especially when they're as expensive as the current generation of games seem to be.
Microsoft is seeking to spread a little pre-Christmas cheer by offering users of its SkyDrive online storage service something extra this holiday season. If users stake their claim before the end of January, they will be treated to a whole 20GB of extra cloud storage, free of charge.
