With Windows 8, Microsoft made some different (if not difficult) choices, especially when it comes to licensing. You would already know that Windows is a closed-source operating system, and hence, when you purchase a copy of Microsoft Windows, you’re basically acquiring a ‘license to use’ for the operating system, and not the OS itself. When the company released Windows 8, one of the approaches that they took to making it even more popular (and combat piracy at the same time) was making it available for lower prices as compared to previous versions. This, at the same time, brought on some tough licensing choices, too. For instance, Microsoft had to do away with native DVD playback capability in Windows 8, because the patent holder for MPEG-2/4 (the video codec required to play said media) charges Microsoft $2 per copy of Windows 7 (the relative figure) sold. They had to cut back on such costs to achieve the pricing point that Windows 8 claims.
The final quarter of 2012 saw Google make a significant impact on the mobile world with a number of great application submissions to the iOS App Store. The Chrome browser went from strength to strength, the Gmail app saw a significant update as well as the debut of the official Capture application to compliment the native YouTube app that is now available for the iPhone and iPad. The progression of their mobile apps is clearly continuing during 2013, with the first major update to the YouTube Capture app going live today.
Microsoft announced on Tuesday record revenue numbers for the quarter ending on December 31, 2012. The full amount totaled at $21.46 billion, an increase from $20.89 billion in the same quarter in the previous year.
With the Surface Pro almost upon us, Microsoft has naturally offered consumers a subtle nudge as to why the tablet + ultrabook is the right device for them. Since consumers and commentators have doubted the Surface RT's credentials as a true PC (for obvious reasons), the Redmond company has felt inclined to remind the market of the Surface Pro's PC prowess. While the RT has come under fire for not running legacy apps, lacking power, and generally failing in many of the key areas one would expect a PC to deliver, the Surface Pro is a different animal. And boy, do Steve Ballmer and Co. want to emphasize that point.
By means of a press release, Twitter has officially announced Vine, an alternative way for its user base to share video clips through tweets. Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo gave us a glimpse of the services via his Twitter feed only yesterday, and now it would seem it's ready for the official roll-out. Currently, its app is only available for those on iPhone and iPod touch, but will be heading to the Google Play Store, as well as the stores of other platforms in the near future. More details after the break!
The Genius Behind Microsoft’s Kinect Sensor Wants To Bring Motion Sensing To Your Smartphone [VIDEO]
The Kinect peripheral has been a revelation for Microsoft and its Xbox 360 console, enticing a new consumer base - as well as existing users - into enjoying a type of interaction only previously available on the Nintendo Wii. Now it has emerged that PrimeSense, the company behind the award-winning Kinect technology, is aiming its visor towards a key area in tech space right now - the mobile market.
It's hard to ignore the increasing wave of iWatch concept ideas. It's almost as if the community is not-so-subtly hinting at something, and one designer operating under the Twitter handle @ipavel has come through with one of the best we've seen yet. It combines cutting-edge finesse with a logical, innovative set of features to back it up, and we've got all the details after the break!
There's been a lot of talk over the last few months about the future of jailbreaking and whether or not we will continue to see jailbreaks actively worked on by the dev-teams as Apple make internal security changes to iOS. There's no denying that the mood within the jailbreak community has been extremely sombre of late as users live without that elusive device liberation on iOS 6 and newer devices, but it looks like things are about to take a turn for the positive.
If you were one of the Android users who found themselves a little disgruntled when Temple Run 2 managed to land on the iOS App Store more than a week ago then worry no more. The official second version of the Temple Run franchise from Imangi Studios is now available as a free-of-charge download from the Play Store, and as you might expect it offers all of the thrills and spills of its iOS flavored brother perfectly tailored for the Android OS.
The ability to run custom launchers on Android devices is something that, to many, gives the Google platform the edge on its competitors. We feature plenty of launchers here at Redmond Pie, each of which tends to offer its own unique quirk, and and today's offering is no different. Named SF Launcher, it is currently in early alpha stage, but already bears the hallmarks of a very promising home screen alternative.
