We're only three months into the year, but I can already tell that it's going to be exciting. And, contrary to what many PC hardware manufacturers wish to assert, this is not because of some gimmicky new PC form factor that nobody will care about in a few months; rather, it is because two of the major players in the tech space, Microsoft and Apple, are each doing awesome and unique things this year as far as their entire product ecosystems are concerned.
At this present moment, the tablet market is a two-horse race consisting of Android tablets, and Apple's iPad range. The third iteration is set to begin retailing tomorrow morning at 8am, with many fanatic consumers expected to be queuing through the night tonight ready for doors to open.
Speaking to enthusiast blog Windows Phone Italy, Duico Stefania, chief of the Windows Phone division in Microsoft Italy, mentioned that Tango, the upcoming Windows Phone update will be officially referred to as the Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh. While there isn't anything spectacularly new feature-wise, it is through the 7.5 Refresh update that Windows Phone will be able to penetrate the entry-level market.
Microsoft has reportedly revealed to partners that its next-generation Xbox - unofficially dubbed the "Xbox 720" - will not feature an optical drive, and that games and other content will only be accessible through downloads or an "interchangeable solid-state card storage".
Two weeks ago, some preliminary information and screenshots of the Office 15 Technical Preview build surfaced on The Verge. Today, they have followed up with additional information, this time providing a quick rundown of some of the new features that have been implemented in 'main' Office applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote - thus far. While Microsoft has mainly remained quiet about what's coming in Office 15, as it is a Technical Preview build - which is passed to OEMs, partners, and select testers - leaks should come as no surprise, and should even be expected in some cases.
The Daily posted two screenshots of what they claim to be Office for iPad. One screenshot showed what looks like the "start screen" of the app, where you can open and create documents, and the other showed the "Office" app icon.
Whenever people talk about console-based video gaming these days, it seems to be the Call Of Duty franchise that gets the most attention. Granted, the COD games grow in popularity with every release, and the Modern Warfare series has certainly become one of the most popular series of games around the globe, but that doesn't stop die hard fans from craving some more game-time with one of video games’ most iconic heroes - The Master Chief.
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Tablet Vs. iPad 2 Running iOS 5 – Head To Head Feature Comparison [VIDEO]
When Microsoft released its Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it was always going to be compared squarely against the biggest, best and some would argue only real competition in the tablet market: the iPad 2.
Originally released on November 22nd, 2005, the Xbox 360 has been around for just over six years now. Sure, there have been multiple variations of the 360 that have been launched during that six year period - such as the Elite, Arcade, and the sleek, thinner S - but there is yet to be a major revision to its hardware. That being said, Microsoft's huge focus as of late with the Xbox 360 has been software. At E3 of last year, several major updates to the 360's software were announced and subsequently released, such as Live TV, a redesigned, Metro-inspired dashboard, voice commands, and improvements pertaining to the Kinect.
It was only yesterday morning that the Microsoft team held an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and announced that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, essentially a prerelease version of Windows 8, would be made available immediately for public download. Windows 8 was described by Microsoft was "Windows reimagined", which sounds awfully familiar to the "Inspired by iPad, reimagined for Mac" tagline that Apple are muttering with their Mountain Lion OS.
