As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren Windows Blue made an early appearance on the internet over the weekend and we’ve had a chance to experience some of its new features. The upgrade to Windows 8 looks like it’s going to bring a host of improvements, fixes, and some new built-in apps too, but the biggest changes are on the UI side. Microsoft now supports smaller Live Tiles and the company is changing the way you arrange…
As reported on Engadget. By Sharif Sakr Subtlety can’t always avert controversy. That leaked build of Windows Blue is a case in point: it suggests a relatively incremental update to Windows 8, yet some of its revelations are already causing quite a stir. Neowin now reports that Internet Explorer 11, as contained within the leaked build, identifies itself to host websites as “Mozilla… like Gecko.” Confusing, right? Perhaps, but it’s not really as underhand as it sounds, as you can see…
As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren Microsoft’s TechFest event earlier this month is largely an internal only affair where Microsoft Research demonstrates a number of new technologies its working on. However, that hasn’t stopped Stephen Chapman over at MSFTKitchen who has posted up a video of Fresh Paint for Windows Blue. Prior to the demonstration, which gets delayed due to a technical issue, Microsoft’s chief technical strategy officer, Eric Rudder, discusses the balance of being open about the…
As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Federal regulators are investigating Microsoft for allegedly bribing foreign governments for favor in software contracts. “Lawyers from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining kickback allegations made by a former Microsoft representative in China, as well as the company’s relationship with certain resellers and consultants in Romania and Italy,” sources familiar with the allegations, tell The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story earlier today. An anonymous…
As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren From concept to reality: how Redmond’s iPad competitor came to be Microsoft made a bold bet to build its own hardware, competing directly with Apple’s iPad, but it was never an easy task to create something new and unique. Microsoft’s own tablet is the result of it facing a “big challenge”relying on its hardware partners to create a high quality physical device that could go up against Apple. Project…
As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren Surface, Microsoft’s hyped entry into the hardware market, left many puzzled. Is it Microsoft “priming the pump” as CEO Steve Ballmer originally claimed, or a moreserious strategy of investment in hardware and devices? Speaking at Microsoft’s TechForum event this week, Steve Ballmer’s senior advisor, Craig Mundie, detailed the history of Redmond’s philosophy toward Windows OEMs and how Surface came to be. “I think one of the things evolved over a long…
As reported on The Verge. By Sean Hollister Nearly 20 years later, the decision to bundle a web browser with Windows is still giving Microsoft grief. Today, the European Union has decided to fine the company €561 million (around $732 million) for breaking a 2009 antitrust agreement. At the time, Microsoft agreed to include a browser ballot box in every new copy of Windows, allowing users to pick any one of the 12 most popular browsers rather than defaulting to Microsoft…
As reported on Engadget. By Sharif Sakr We already know that Samsung was too timid (or maybe too sensible) to launch its Windows RT-based ATIV Tab hybrid in the US, but now it appears the manufacturer is having doubts about European demand too. Heise.de and our friends atMobileGeeks are reporting that Samsung will stop selling its ATIV Tab in Germany — Europe’s biggest economy — and some other unspecified European countries after speaking to retailers about the level of interest they’re seeing for Microsoft’s stripped…
As reported on Engadget. By Alexis Santos A new job listing over at Microsoft has revealed when the outfit is planning to serve up the next iteration of its smartphone OS. According to the post, work on the current version is being finished up and they’re “getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year.” Presumably, the update will be part of the widerBlue umbrella of tweaks for Windows. Though a vague “next release” doesn’t offer any…
As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas Kids in many parts of the world are growing up surrounded with technology, some from a very tender age. Many schools aren’t teaching much if any programming, though, which has led Code.org to make a short film spurring young techies into action. We have a hunch that it might work — the video has quite possibly the most star-studded collection of men and women explaining how they got into coding…