microsoft
Microsoft Arc Keyboard – Stylish, Portable, Wireless & Curved!
March 17, 2010
First introduced to the world earlier this year at CES 2010, the Microsoft Arc Keyboard has been released which compliments their previously released Microsoft Arc Mouse, which debuted in late 2008. It’s small form factor and unique design offers a compelling wireless experience, and I for one couldn’t wait to check it out at first glance.
The first thing that struck me when seeing the keyboard was how much the curvature resembled Apple’s Magic Mouse rather than Microsoft’s Arc Mouse design. It certainly takes some getting used to; the curved design feels unnatural when you first start typing on the keyboard, I know that much from using other curved Microsoft keyboards in the past.
Continue reading »Microsoft Courier – Digital Journal Tablet Device? (Rumour)
March 15, 2010
A while back we learned about an upcoming new device called the Microsoft Courier. Since then the announcement and impending release of the Apple iPad has somewhat stolen the spotlight, but now the dust has settled, rumours of the Courier have risen once more and from what i can gather so far, the device most certainly has potential.
Of course, nothing is set in stone, but Engadget ran a post featuring pictures and video’s of the potential features and user interface of the courier and claimed news arrived from, and i quote, ‘an extremely trusted source’.
So what’s it all about then? Well my initial impression tells me that you would be mistaken to perceive the device as an iPad competitor. Whilst the dual screens would make it an excellent ebook-reader, it seems it would have difficulty being an adequate portable media player or lightweight gaming option such as the iPad. It is in fact described as a ‘digital journal’, which sums it up quite nicely in my opinion.
Continue reading »Playstation Move Announced (PS3 Motion Controller)
March 11, 2010
It’s taken a while for the official name of the Playstation 3 motion controller, ‘wand’, ‘arc’ or whatever else people wanted to call it, but Sony have released the official name for their motion controller as the ‘Playstation Move‘.
The announcement was made at GDC yesterday along with a trailer of the type of games that we’ll be looking at playing to start off with. With true 1:1 motion control, it is said to be more responsive than Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controllers which is a bold statement.
I’m looking forward to seeing just how the PS3 Move is and what kind of games will be released for it. The fact we’ll be able to play motion controlled games in HD isn’t really a major factor. What I want is a game that uses Move and to get me really immersed in the action. I’m not one for the gimmicky party titles so I’d like to see some new IP games created for use with Move and see how that pans out.
Continue reading »Google Chrome Browser Share Grows Through February
March 4, 2010
It’s been a while, probably since Google Chrome was released to the world, but web browsers are back in the big news again all thanks to Microsoft’s EU enforced ‘ballot box’ for selecting a browser to install, and Net Applications have recently released statistics which paint a very interesting picture about the world of the internet browser.
Unfortunately the situation has been pretty similar for a while: IE have boasted over 60% of the market share for years now, with Firefox edging closer and closer to the 25% mark with the rest fighting over the remains. But that looks like it might change, and in fact Chrome was the only major browser growing in February, and that is before the Microsoft Windows Browser Ballot which promises to change much.
Before we look at why – the figures. Google is up a significant 0.39% to 5.61%, whilst Firefox fell 0.20% to 24.23% and Internet Explorer suffered the biggest hit with a fall of 0.54% to 61.58%. Opera (0.03%) and Safari (0.08%) both also fell, although seeing as both of them combined fail to make up more than even 8% of the market they are unfortunately not much more than footnotes.
Continue reading »Microsoft Browser Ballot – You’re “Open To Choice”
February 23, 2010
In recent months and years there has been an extremely lengthy and somewhat tiresome squabble between technology giants Microsoft and the European Commission over how unfair it is that Internet Explorer web browser is packed into the Windows operating system and many users never become aware of any alternative such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari or more recently Google’s Chrome. Anyway, the result of the conflict is that users of Windows PC’s will soon be faced with a big decision.
You will be presented with the choice via a selection process that will appear on your PC within the next few weeks. Testing of the process will be next week in several countries including the UK, and you can download it via Windows Update. Eventually though, it will be an automated update that everybody that’s connected to the internet, should receive.
Continue reading »Windows Phone 7 Series Announced By Microsoft
February 15, 2010
Microsoft have just announced their re-branding of Windows Mobile; the Windows Phone 7 Series at the 2010 Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. The name may be a bit of a mouthful, but it’s clear that their new mobile operating system has taken a drastically different approach than previous efforts from Windows Mobile.
Every Windows Phone will have three buttons on the front of it: Start, Search and Back. This consistency will allow for a better experience for the user with hardware and software working together better – it’s a theme that Google’s also been chasing with their Android devices (such as the Nexus One) by encouraging manufacturers to use their 4 button template on the front of their devices, offering consistency across the board. This is definitely a step in the right direction as not only does it allow hardware and software to work better together, but also allows a much easier transition between Windows Phone devices.
Continue reading »Microsoft Office 2010 RC Download Released
February 3, 2010
Every few years or so we are all presented with a new version of Microsoft’s hugely popular office suite of applications. The last time this happened was in 2007 and please correct me if I’m wrong, not all that many people/companies took kindly to it with the majority choosing to stick with the perfectly capable 2003 version.
Microsoft Office 2010 has now hit the Release Candidate (RC) stage after a period of beta testing which started in November and now the beta testers will be getting to play around with this Office 2010 RC download. As of last month, there were a total 2 million downloads of the beta release. This is no doubt a major milestone on the way to releasing the final version which will be offered in both 32 and 64 bit editions for the first time ever.
Continue reading »Google Chrome OS Tablet Concept? (Rumour)
February 2, 2010
With the press announcement of the Apple iPad come and gone, the fallout finally settling down, now there’s rumours beginning to arise of a potential Google ‘Chrome OS Tablet’. The rumours emerge from within Google themselves as they have shown mockups of such a device on a developer site.
With the release of the web-based Google Chrome operating system growing ever imminent, the world has been pondering over what the ideal device for the OS is. Originally, it was seen as the perfect netbook OS. A lightweight, web based OS would be a perfect fit for lower end netbooks which don’t possess the required power to get the best of Windows 7. Obviously netbooks are still in with a shout as Acer are apparently planning to release a Chrome OS netbook later this year.
Continue reading »Facebook For Microsoft Silverlight Beta Client Released
February 1, 2010
All the news this past week has been about the Apple iPad announcement, and the exclusion of Flash from the device. We all know that Flash is an integral part of browsing the web, but it faces more competition in the future, with the capabilities of HTML 5 threatening the main advantages of the platform and a certain Microsoft Silverlight, which may not make the news very often, but has certainly come on by leaps and bounds if their latest creation is anything to go by.
I’m an avid user of Facebook, but don’t always want to go to the full website to check the statuses of my friends or update my own. When I first tried out the beta of Silverlight’s Facebook client (currently in Beta), I was wowed by the stunning interface, even if there are some features that didn’t make the Beta.
Continue reading »Sony Motion Controller (Arc) Release Date Delayed
January 21, 2010
Sony have announced that their new PS3 motion controller, which was due out this Spring, has had it’s release date pushed back to Autumn 2010 for a worldwide release.
The reason it seems as to why this has been delayed is that:
“We have decided to release the Motion Controller in Fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users”
So by the sounds of that, it means that companies aren’t getting the games ready on time for the PS3 motion controller’s original release date and it will now go up against Microsoft’s Project Natal release date that will happen around the same time. Will this delay turn out to be a poor move from Sony?
Continue reading »
