Microsoft today made Internet Explorer available to Windows 7 users, which means Microsoft's 2nd newest operating system now has browser parity with the newest, Windows 8.
Sony may have beaten Microsoft to the punch with the well-documented announcement of the PlayStation 4 earlier this week, but it would seem as though the Redmond company won't be waiting around too long before detailing its own next-gen offering. According to a report over at CVG, the Windows maker is planning a special press event to be held at some point in April - a notion backed up by several sources, who've received reliable Intel to substantiate such claims.
Microsoft has been preparing its Windows Blue updates for quite a while now, and screenshots of some of the latest developments have begun to emerge via several sites dedicated to the Redmond company's flagship operating system. The screenies reveal two different builds of what is referred to internally as Windows Blue, and although build numbers are unconfirmed, TheVerge has learned that Microsoft recently pushed its NT kernel up to 6.3.
An announcement by Microsoft has officially signaled the demise of the famed email service Hotmail, with Outlook moving in to fill its place having finally shaken off its seemingly everlasting Preview status. Although the end of Hotmail will perhaps be a poignant for a few within the Redmond camp, it has been a long time coming, and even though it seems like a big transition, the look and feel of Hotmail has borrowed from Outlook for a while now.
Popular iOS title Infinity Blade has gone free for a very limited time, having earned Apple's coveted App of the Week award. The revered action RPG will be available at no charge for the next week, with the normal price returning from 21st February.
Blake Jorgensen, CFO of Electronic Arts, has given his take on the next-generation consoles of Microsoft and Sony, noting that he believes neither the Xbox 720 or PlayStation 4 will offer backwards-compatibility. Although this has long since been presumed to be the case among gaming circles, this is the first time a genuine insider has stepped out with all-but confirmation that neither of the hotly-anticipated next-gen consoles will offer any kind of support for pre-existing titles.
If you've been trying to get your hands on one of Microsoft's 128GB Surface Pro tablets then the chances are that you've already come across some difficulties in sourcing a retail location that has them in stock. The majority of locations are showing that Microsoft's powerhouse tablet is out of stock of the 128GB model, with minimal supplies of the smaller 64GB variant being available. The fact that users have acted quickly in snapping up the stock is bitter sweet for Microsoft. Great that there is a keen interest in the product, but potentially problematic, considering the official Surface Pro advertisement campaign has begun with the launch of "The Vibe" TV spot.
According to a report over at TheVerge, Microsoft may be planning to implement some kind of voice-recognition technology into its upcoming home entertainment system, dubbed unofficially the 'Xbox 720'. The current direction of the Xbox 360 implies the next-gen console will serve as more than a mere gaming portal, and with the 720 also said to be expanding on the current array of set-top box-like features, it looks as though the power of the voice will also be significantly entrenched into the next-generation offering.
This year has been huge for the game console market, with Microsoft gearing up for a long-awaited release of a next-generation Xbox, known in the gaming community as the Xbox 720, which is meant to replace the Xbox 360. While details on the new console have been scarce, a new report suggests that Microsoft will be cracking down on the resale of used games, requiring game copies to be validated online every time that they are launched, in addition for an always-on connection for the console to function at all.
The release of Windows 8, has, quite inevitably been followed by the release of Office 2013 and Office 360, but this time around, the Redmond company has been hard at work on several other apps as it tries to establish its new-look operating system across its vast user base. The Windows Store needs as many decent new apps as it can get, and today, another in-house offering arrives in the form of My Server.
