The Lumia 900 is an eagerly anticipated smartphone which is going to be running Windows Phone 7. This device is being seen as the flagship handset for Nokia to hopefully get them back into the smartphone market where they’ve been suffering heavily for the last few years.

It appears that Microsoft Stores in the US are now accepting a $25 deposit to secure one of the first handsets. They are offering the Lumia 900 in either black or white, however we still haven’t heard on a specific price or an actual release date for the device. Some reports have suggested that Microsoft may price it aggressively at $100 while others are saying it will probably be around the $150 – $200 mark. Sales staff in the stores are expecting the devices to arrive at some stage during the second half of March.

When the Lumia 900 is released in the US, it will be exclusive to AT&T and Nokia’s first 4G LTE phone.It sports a huge 4.3-inch display, a polycarbonate body in white or black (possibly cyan as well), a 1.4-gigahertz Qualcomm single-core processor, 512 megabytes of RAM, 16 gigabytes of built-in storage, 8-megapixel/720p video rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It’s quite a feature packed phone and is certainly going to be a serious competitor to the likes of the iPhone 4s and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Nokia really need it to make an impact in the smartphone world, they are struggling big time at the moment and are pretty much relying on this and a few other devices to get people excited by Nokia again.

You can have a look at a hands on of the device in the video below

What do you guys think of the Lumia 900? Is it enough to get Nokia out of the rut it’s stuck in? Would you buy one?

Source:

Techcrunch

Nokia Lumia 900 Is Up For Pre Order is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft and NUI and the Windows 7 Interface

Microsoft has been in interested in developing alternative interfaces for users. Their touch and speech technology, which has entered the Windows 7 OS system and has been a player for different models saw a new partner enter with Microsoft.

Natural User Interface

A natural user interface (NUI) is a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. It is natural because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices where users must learn the operation. Moreover, a NUI relies on a user making a quick transition from novice to expert. Thus, while the interface requires learning, a special interface design gives the user the feeling that they are instantly and continuously successful. This technology allows users to carry out relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they quickly discover control the computer application or manipulate the on-screen content. The goal is to make the user feel like a natural; and not part of a suspect view that the natural user interface is  somehow a mimicry of nature, or that some inputs to a computer are somehow more ‘natural’ than others.

24/7

So today, Microsoft entered an agreement with 24/7 to jointly bring the power of natural user interfaces (NUIs) and data analytics at cloud scale (Big Data) to enable the future of customer service for businesses.

Last year, Microsoft saw its Kinect system grow from a game computing add on to a science development system. But now, this new partnership extends this NUI system to business applications. With Microsoft and 24/7, new ways to use NUI should develop and this will give businesses a new way to present their data and information. It should also extend the type of users to Windows 7 that weren’t available before because of disabilities or other handicaps. But even though that is not their first goal, which is instead to provide mobile and social media connections, still using this approach can add many users and start the switch over to an alternative natural interface.

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With Microsoft expanding its NUI technology in Windows 7 and  the upcoming Windows 8 this can make an big impact on how users will use computers.

Source: Microsoft Press

Microsoft and NUI and the Windows 7 Interface is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

There are times in life when people can’t help but cry out “why has this taken so long?” and today could indeed be considered one of those days as Microsoft, in conjunction with UK Child Protection Agency CEOP have released a child-friendly version of their Internet Explorer web browser

The browser is essentially IE9 as standard with some additional web links and Jumplists embedded into it, and the browser’s content protection feature already turned on.  There is a dedicated startup tab for the “ThinkuKnow” website, where children can get online safety advice, and a kid-friendly jumplist with quick links to services such as their online Safety Centre.

With so many more children now online and at much younger ages than ever before this will be welcomed by parents both in the UK and elsewhere, where the parental control features will still work.

While kids can see CEOP links in the Jumplist, parents will see a different jumplist where they will be able to set the age range of their child or children.  From this IE9 will take over and block any inappropriate content.  There are also settings for both teachers and vulnerable adults, making the browser useful in places where computers are accessed by mentally handicapped people you might not wish to view such material, or where you might not want inappropriate web content appearing in a classroom.

Now I should point out that this is no catch-all and occasionally some things will filter through, but as a general idea goes I have to take my hat off to Microsoft but chastise them equally for taking so long to get around to it.  Frankly this feature should have been built into Windows years ago.

You can download the modified browser from the ThinkuKnow website and if you have young children, the browser supports children up to 16 years of age, then it can only be a worthwhile addition to the family PC.

Microsoft Release Child-Friendly IE9 is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Mango Interaction12 Awards Winner

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) was declared a winner in the connecting category at the Interaction Design Awards. This is the inaugural award sponsored by Google, and held in Dublin, Ireland. There were 26 winning projects including applications, games, instrument panels and installations. The best in show went to LoopLoop for Sifteo cubes. And overall there were over 300 entries from 33 countries.

Microsoft’s Smartphone Mango

Windows Phone 7 received the award for the best smartphone. The reward mentioned that Windows Phone is device that puts people first, making it easier to stay close and connected to the people that matter to you. With the Mango, a person or group that you work with or other important people can be pinned right to the Start screen, and with Live Tiles, you can see a their latest status update at a glance. If you have tie ins to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn they will come easy because their connections are built right in to the phone, this way even a simple contact card comes alive with news about what your friends are doing, where they’ve checked in, and the photos they’ve posted. Mango makes it easy by letting users stay in touch with SMS, Windows Messenger, and Facebook IM all in one unified messaging experience.

Mango

The judges noted “that the best interaction design doesn’t just make things easier to use, it opens up new spaces for play and collaboration to enhance our relationship with the world and each other.”

So with Mango this occurs every time when your friends comment on your Tweets or status updates, instead of chasing them down in different apps – now they come right to you, all in one place. That is why it made an impression, and rightly so.

Overall, for Windows Phone 7, its been a good year so far as  Nokia’s gorgeous Lumia 900 captured the coveted Best of CES 2012 award for smartphones last month, and now this.

Source: IXDA

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Last week I wrote about how a leaked Microsoft Windows Phone video, aimed at Nokia and perhaps other partners detailed some of the features we can expect with the next major update to the Windows Phone operating system, currently codenamed “Apollo” and due perhaps towards the end of this year.

What was missing were details of new screen sizes and form factors that would be supported.  Currently all Windows Phone have a standard screen resolution of 480 by 800 pixels and other handsets sporting Android and Apple’s iPhone are going much higher than this.

Now, TechRadar have obtained a photograph of a Nokia slide detailing new Windows Phone form-factors.  While this slide doesn’t demonstrate the any new resolutions directly it does show some different sizes for handsets, including a really dinky, iPod Nano-sized one (though I’m not sure how useful something this size would be as a phone.

The interesting part is the form-factor shown on the far right of the slide which, unless I miss my guess, looks remarkably like a 7-inch tablet!

It’s been rumoured for a while now that the next version of Windows Phone will be based on the Windows 8 MinWin kernel.  This makes complete sense from Microsoft’s point of view as just having a single operating system kernel across their products, as Apple does, makes development and patching much faster and more efficient.

If this Windows Phone form-factor is indeed a 7-inch tablet, what would it be running?  Would it be Windows Phone (which the slide seems to suggest), Windows 8 or will Windows Phone and Windows 8 indeed become the same product by this point?

To be honest it’s too difficult to call but Microsoft already squashed their fantastic Courier tablet prototype as they didn’t want two competing tablet operating systems on sale from the company.  It is unlikely then that Windows Phone, as it currently stands, would ever be allowed to run on a tablet device.  It’s also entirely possible that the information Nokia are putting out in this slide is either erroneous or just plain wrong.

Either way this slide is fascinating and will no doubt start all manner or speculation around the web on what Microsoft sees as the future of their two mobile operating systems.  What do you think, and what would like to see happen with Windows Phone and Windows 8?  Why not tell us in the comments below.

New Windows Phone Form-Factors Emerge, with one Huge Surprise! is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

If you’re looking for ways to drive traffic to your WordPress site and build a strong web presence, you will be applying the same SEO basics that you would use to optimize any website.  However, with WordPress, there are a few specific methods for you to customize your SEO plan to achieve success…check out the following tips:

Tip #1:  Host your blog on your own domain.  When your blog is hosted at WordPress.com you are restricted to the revisions you can make to your template.  This also restricts your SEO and only benefits WordPress.com.  So for your to have an effective SEO strategy with your WordPress site, it is crucial that you have full control by hosting your blog on a domain that is all your own.  Doing so will give you all the credit for backlinks and will build a solid reputation of your domain in popular search engines across the web.

Tip #2:  Utilize SEO Plugins.  These handy little tools can be a great way to optimize your content and provide an easy way to manage your WordPress blog.  Picking WordPress plugins will be a matter of personal preference and be based on what will fit the specific needs of your site; however, here are a few popular plugins that have proved beneficial in SEO efforts:  Urban Giraffe Redirection, SEO Smart Links, Broken Link Checker and All in One SEO.

Tip #3:  Avoid being hacked.  Because of the increasing problem of WordPress accounts being hacked, Google is now equipped with alerts that will inform you of such an incident.  If your WordPress account is hacked, it can have a negative impact on the SEO for your site.  Make sure that you stay up-to-date and check Google’s malware reports so that your site remains safe and secure.

Tip #4:  Use the right keywords.  With its title tags, headers, internal/cross-linking, text formatting and more, it’s easy to see that WordPress was built very well for SEO.  But despite these features, WordPress itself won’t do everything for you.  As previously stated, it is a great idea to use plugins but you should also remember the basics of SEO—use relevant keywords that are directly related to your blog’s content.

Tip #5:  Create great content.  Of course, what ultimately draws visitors to your WordPress site is your award-winning content.  This is why it is imperative that you focus on creating the best content you can to attract thousands of links (links are one of the most important ranking factors in SEO).  Be sure to include target keyword phrases in titles and throughout the bodies of your posts while continuing to write meaningful material geared toward your users.

5 Tips for Optimizing Your WordPress Site is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

You have Windows 7 operating system and want to enjoy your high speed Internet connection on many computers or you want to share it with your friends who live nearby you? Windows7News will show you how to use this functionality in Windows 7 with the help of Connectify. This software will indeed transform your computer into an internet access point, the only thing you need is a WiFi card. Here are the steps you have to follow to make this work:

Step 1: Make sure first that your WiFi card is enabled by going to Control Panel, Network and Internet, View Network computers and devices, right click on your WiFi card and then choose Enable. If you WiFi card is already enabled don’t change anything and continue to next step.

Step 1: Download Connectify for Windows 7.

Step 2: Run the installation file and accept the license agreement, the installation in simple and only takes a few seconds. During installation your computer will probably have to restart few times so don’t worry about that.

Step 3: Now once installation is finished, start Connectify. If an update for Connectify is available, make sure you download it and update the software. Then run the program.

Step 4: Your previously enabled wireless device is automatically detected. Then you must enter the name of your wireless network.

Step 5: A password of at least 8 characters is required. This will serve users to connect to your access point.

Step 6: Once the password is set, below password field you will have to choose which internet connection you want to share, click on dropdown men and select one.

Step 7: Then click Star a Hotspot button. It may take a minute or two until its setup.

Step 8: Once it’s done. Windows Security Alert may popup, choose Allow Access.

Here you are now with your own WiFi access point type WPA2-DSK. It is accessible from the list of wireless networks Network and Sharing Center, make sure you provide the password to people you want to share the connection with!

Note for those users with an Intel WiFi card, a simple driver’s update can in most cases, activate Windows 7 Virtual WiFi so you can benefit from the ability to turn your computer into an Internet Access Point without having to go through Connectify. Also make sure your WiFi network is secure, and always pay attention who is connected on your network and who is using your internet connection.

Windows 7: How to share an Internet connection via WiFi is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

This is a good time to think about the Microsoft’s experiment with Windows 8 Developer Preview. From what I’ve read on the web, huge numbers of interested folk downloaded and installed it in varying iterations, some in dual-boot mode and others as a straight installation. The reactions of these users varied from impressed to annoyed. The latter were frustrated with the so-called Charms (Apps to some) and its associated Charms menu (the new look Start menu), unimpressed by that the Start menu no longer allows you to shut down the operation. Others were impressed with the touch feature and the fact that you can still use the mouse and keyboard.

After a bit of digging in delving I found several ways to shut down Windows 8, these involved  keystroke combinations – see my earlier blog “Ways Means to Shutdown Windows 8 Preview“. Despite these minor disadvantages I remained impressed with the new look ribbon bar in Internet Explorer with the return of the Up button and look forward into the beta version which comes out at the end of the month.

In anticipation of this I have now with one exception, my touchscreen computer, removed all versions of Windows 8. This was a simple matter where it was installed in dual-mode but on my netbook I had to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch.

One thing I’m looking forward to is the possibility of installing Windows  8 on a 32-bit Flash drive and being able to run it in its full form on any computer. There has been a lot of discussion about this feature on the Web.

The deadline for the death of Windows 8 preview is 12th March 2012 on my remaining computer and I will regret its passing but look forward to its reincarnation .

The Passing of Windows 8 Preview is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Valentines day is fast approaching, so here are some new Windows 7 themes that you can download an use on your desktop. These are Roses, and they are some of the most wonderful looking pictures ever.

Queen of the Flowers

Known as “the queen of flowers,” roses have been valued for thousands of years for their beauty and fragrance. Their connection to romance also spans the generations, popping up in songs, poems, and in lovers’ bouquets since at least the Middle Ages.

Backdrop

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, and there are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colors ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. The name rose comes from French, itself from Latin rosa.

Earliest roses are known to have flourished 35 million-years ago  and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from ancient Egyptian tombs.

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden and sometimes indoors. They are also used for commercial perfumes and commercial cut flower crops. Some also work as landscape plants. They also have minor medicinal uses.

Art

Roses often appear in art and appear in various artistic disciplines. They appear in portraits, illustrations, on stamps, as ornaments or as architectural elements. One artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté is known for his detailed watercolors of flowers, particularly roses.

Legends and mythology

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, created the rose from her tears and the blood of her lover Adonis. The Romans, turning Aphrodite into their goddess Venus, also adopted the rose: it became the symbol of love and beauty. Cupid, offering a rose when trying to bribe the God of Silence to hush Venus’s amorous escapades, made the flower into a symbol for secrecy.

[Start slideshow]

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New Roses Themes for Windows 7 is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

There are E-mail Privacy Issues associated with Google. If you didn’t know this, Google Chrome and Gmail, and Google Apps read everything that you put in there. If you are worried about your privacy, then Google’s apps are not what you want to use because they get information from you. If you use Gmail, be aware that they actually read the contents of your mail (both sent and received, even if you aren’t a Gmail user but just sending to someone who is) in order to decide what kind of ads to serve up to you.

And their search engine, Chrome, interacts with the e-mail, which most of the time is up all day long. This ties the searches to your email account, and they read that too.

Furthermore, if you visit YouTube, they get connected to the same e-mail profile and once again that information is stored on Google’s servers.

Hotmail and Office 365

If you don’t like those scenarios, then you should give a second look to Hotmail of Office 365. Hotmail doesn’t deliver adds to you based on your content, nor does it change search results based on your email content, and your video watches don’t come into a database at Microsoft. In other words, your stuff is your stuff, not Microsoft’s.

The same goes for Office 365, which is Microsoft’s answer to app operations on the Cloud.  On Office 365, you can create

Word, or Excel information and access it from anywhere in the world. Since the information is stored on a Microsoft Data Center, it would be easy for Microsoft to access it. But they don’t. Once again, your stuff is your stuff.

This is in sharp contrast to Google’s view that they can use your content to send you ads targeted specifically to your search quests. Will this get Google into trouble? With the law? At this point concerns have been raised about what will Google do with the information, and they are trying to back stall some of the criticisms. But Microsoft doesn’t have those issues.

Download Hotmail

Download Office365

Source: Microsoft Blog

E-mail Privacy Issues and a Microsoft Fix is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Some details of thew next big release of Windows Phone, codenamed ‘Apollo’ have emerged today from a video hosted by Windows Phone chief Joe Belfiore for partners including Nokia, and seen by PocketNow.  The video covered a few themes that are all logical evolutions of the platform.

Hardware

Windows Phone 8 is set to have some changes made to the supported hardware now that it is a mature platform.  These changes include support for multi-core processors and three new screen resolutions.  These weren’t specified but we can expect them to be both lower and higher than the current 800 by 480 pixels.  This will allow new high-end handsets to compete more effectively with the iPhone and some Android phones, while also opening up new markets for low-price smartphones, a market Microsoft has been keen to get into.  NFC will also be supported for contactless payments and finally Micro SD Card support is coming to the platform which will be welcomed by many people.

Windows 8 Integration & Data Management

The new version of Windows Phone will work more effectively with Windows 8, no longer requiring the Zune desktop software to synchronise music, photos and files. There’s no word on how Microsoft will actually do this but there will be a new “syncing relationship” with Windows 8.

There will also be a new Xbox companion app for Windows 8 and better SkyDrive support, which might explain the different Windows 8 sync.  For those worried about their data connection the OS will be better able to handle WiFi networks, automatically prioritising them for data, and providing a Live Tile showing your data usage and throughput.  It will also auto-connect to available and appropriate networks, though presumably security conscious owners will be able to turn this feature off.

Internet Explorer 10 on the phone will also use a proxy server to compress images.  Microsoft say this can save up to 30% of the total browsing data usage on the phone.

Developers

Microsoft are going to continue the already excellent work they are doing for app developers by further improving the tools that can convert iPhone and Android apps for Windows Phone.  Belfiore apparently said he expects 100,000 apps for Windows Phone by the time Apollo is available at the end of this year.

Business Support

Businesses are also being catered for with better features including 128-bit full disk Bitlocker encryption and, finally, the ability to deploy custom apps directly from a Windows Server environment without having to go through the Windows Phone app store.

The Apollo update is expected at the end of this year along with handsets that will have it pre-installed.  This probably means we will begin to see leaked details of these new handsets around late summer with releases in late October to get them out for the Christmas market.  A launch at this time will match the expected launch of Windows 8 and Windows Server 8.

These are just a few details of the next major update for Windows Phone that is still also rumoured to run on the Windows desktop MinWin kernel.  We will no doubt hear further details later in the year but it is clear that Microsoft are aiming to ‘evolve’ the operating system in sensible and organic ways, with the better integration with Windows 8 a particularly good idea.

Windows Phone 8 Details Emerge is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft is a success in the retail market. How so? Microsoft Dynamics comes at a time when retailers need to address multiple customer issues quickly and simultaneously. It is a complete hub that provides core capabilities like point of sale, inventory, supply chain operations, and financials. But on top of that it integrates with excel, SharePoint, and Visual Studio.

You can look at it as the ultimate control panel for a retailer to easily automate, streamline, control, and adapt various aspects of their business simultaneously. And given that many companies are now using this retail software to help their retail operations, makes Microsoft a success in the retail market.

Ease of use

One thing that many businesses hate is the paperwork that goes with creating a new distribution channel. That is one of the things that Dynamics can offer, a quick and fast way to complete important projects. Dynamics lets users see their entire business graphically, and then drag and drop graphics to create new store locations in the system or to add new distribution channels.

World Wide Success

Customers in 30 countries have adopted Microsoft Dynamics These include DAVIDsTEA, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Sephora , Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Malabar Gold, Turisme de Barcelona, Carol’s Daughter, Sally Beauty Supply, and Ashley Furniture Industries. These companies show that their retail establishments become easier to operate at the software level, and also then increase customer satisfaction and sales.

Scheduling

Avoiding problems and making transitions easier can be seen with the operations of Mattress Firm, one of the largest retailers of mattresses with over 800 locations and 30 warehouses. To open any new warehouse or location the task could be a daunting issue for management. But with Dynamics, this is an easy task because management can piece together what their location will look like and how soon it can be put in place. Thus they can achieve every enterprises dream, growing fast and minimizing problems.

Source: Microsoft

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Yesterday the very first official Kinect devices for Windows went on sale in 12 different countries all over the world including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain and the US. The initial retail price is $249 and Microsoft announced plans to have a special discounted price of $149 for qualified education users in the near future.

In a blog post over at MSDN, Craig Eisler, The general manager for Kinect wrote about the improvements that Microsoft have made in the recent Kinect SDK and developer tools. Version 1.0 of the SDK and Runtime tools are now available to download from here

Some of the improvements that they’ve made in this version are outlined below:

• Support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into the same computer
• Significantly improved skeletal tracking, including the ability for developers to control which user is being tracked by the sensor
• Near Mode for the new Kinect for Windows hardware, which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 40 centimeters in front of the device
• Many API updates and enhancements in the managed and unmanaged runtimes
• The latest Microsoft Speech components (V11) are now included as part of the SDK and runtime installer
• Improved “far-talk” acoustic model that increases speech recognition accuracy
• New and updated samples, such as Kinect Explorer, which enables developers to explore the full capabilities of the sensor and SDK, including audio beam and sound source angles, color modes, depth modes, skeletal tracking, and motor controls
• A commercial-ready installer which can be included in an application’s set-up program, making it easy to install the Kinect for Windows runtime and driver components for end-user deployments.
• Robustness improvements including driver stability, runtime fixes, and audio fixes

The Kinect sensor for Windows comes with a shorter USB cable and is also more sensitive to movement up close to the camera than the current Xbox 360 Kinect sensors.

Kinect For Windows Has Arrived is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft’s Internet explorer has been the dominant browser for the last 10 years. A few months ago, Microsoft showed that IE9 had surpassed IE8 in US growth. In January 2012, continued to grow, even out pacing Firefox and Chrome.

Cut the Rope

One of the applications that Microsoft is happy to tout because it works so well in IE9 is Cut the Rope. This game now has an HTML 5 version, with 25 levels now available online for free.  With the power of HTML5, IE9 and Windows, experiences that were once limited to applications are now coming to life across the web.

Cut the Rope

The game is about a green monster who is hungry. As a player, you can use your mouse to manipulate ropes, airbags and bubbles to feed him candy, and collect stars along the way for more points. But here is a fair warning, it is an addictive game which has been downloaded over 60 million times to date.

Other Games

Other games that are working well and popular on IE9 are Pirates Love Daisies, Tron, and WorldsBiggestPackman. These games extend the limits of HTML5, and Microsoft wants users to see that the browser can be more than a viewer of websites. They are pursuing a lot of new experiences not only showcase the beauty of the web, but demonstrate how fast, interactive and rich the web is becoming, enabled by platforms such as IE9 and Windows 7.

Indeed, the old days of file transfer and e-mail, which helped form the ideas behind the Internet, never saw how complex packet transfers could actually become.

Even in recent years, developers in the Internet or WWW, had a limited view of what they could do. But with new browsers running on sophisticated operating systems, like Windows 7, and its anticipated replacement, Windows 8, there may be a lot of new concepts coming.

This is why it may be that IE9 is just the right browser for users to work with who want a different Internet experience.

Download IE9

IE9 is growing and Multiple Games can run on the Browser is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

On January 20th, Microsoft announced the release of an open source project which is an SDK for Windows Phone for Amazon’s Web Services (AWS). The SDK essentially gives developers, ”…a speed dial that lets them quickly connect and integrate Windows Phone applications with AWS (S3, SimpleDB, and SQS Cloud Services).

Amazon’s own Terry Wise spoke about the new offering for Windows Phone and its benefits to customers:

“Our approach with AWS is to provide developers with choice and flexibility to build applications the way they want and give them unlimited storage, bandwidth and computing resources, while paying only for what they use. We welcome Windows Phone developers to the AWS community and look forward to providing customers with new ways to build and deploy Windows Phone applications,” he says.

The SDK will allow developers to have more choice as to which cloud services they use when developing their mobile applications for Windows Phone. Being a cloud-friendly platform it is important for Microsoft to leverage as many cloud services as possible, even if it is a competing service to Microsoft’s own SkyDrive, like Amazon’s Cloud Drive.

You can find the SDK here.

Source: MSDN Blog

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Microsoft’s push to getting more companies onto the Cloud met with another success. Techstars Cloud, and Microsoft announced an agreement whereby new entrepreneurial companies would be participating in Cloud operations.

According to TechStars they “will select approximately ten companies focused on cloud infrastructure to participate. Chosen companies will receive seed funding, mentorship from many of the world’s top cloud infrastructure thought leaders, and will have access to perks available only to TechStars companies and alumni. The program will be managed by Jason Seats and Nicole Glaros. Jason was the founder of Slicehost (acquired by RackSpace in 2008) and has deep understanding of cloud infrastructure and entrepreneurship. Nicole Glaros is currently the Managing Director of TechStars in Boulder, and will relocate to San Antonio to co-manage the inaugural program with Jason.”

Microsoft’s New Cloud Promotional Offer

For Microsoft, they will offer access to up to $60,000 worth of Azure capacity for up to 24 months at no cost. With the initial limit of 10 seed companies, Microsoft will make their services available, and then hope that the companies continue to work in the Cloud capacity, with Microsoft as the Cloud holder. For Microsoft, the move is clear, get startup companies hooked on Azure, and they will likely continue to use it after their initial time period expires.

Global Accelerator

Techstars is not the only company that has this kind of offer. Global Accelerator also has a promotion for high quality start-up companies. The Network provides professional development, networking opportunities, training, consulting and ongoing support for members.

Startup Development

The startup development model is one that incorporates several features, and Techstar and Global Accelerator have a series of steps that new companies need to follow in order to be successful. The following graphs display that model.

Next, the startup has this element:

The culmination is  the product hypothesis:

With this to work with, it is no surprise that Microsoft feels that these entrepreneurial companies can offer a method of achieving success. The company succeeds, and so does Microsoft in the long run.

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We’re just weeks away from Mobile World Congress where industry experts expect Microsoft will be sharing news and information regarding the next update for their smartphone OS, Tango. From what we’ve heard through various leaks and unnamed sources, Tango will be an update designed to bring the lowest minimum hardware down even further so Microsoft can compete in the lower-end smartphone categories and markets.

Aside from that, there isn’t much else we think we know about the update as Microsoft has done a pretty good job at keeping things quiet about the future of the platform. What has been reported by WPSauce and repeated by The Verge is that the next update could bring support for over 120 different languages (currently there is support for 35) giving the software manufacturer the ability to go after geographic locations which are usually overlooked by the likes of Apple and their iOS platform. Additionally, there is word that the future of Windows Phone will also give developers support for writing apps in lower-level programming languages, like C++.

All of this is speculation until we hear anything official from Microsoft, so take it as such.

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How important is the Azure Cloud for business? For Underwriters Laboratory, the answer is very. They have begun deploying Microsoft Office 365, powered by Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lync Online, to its 50 offices worldwide, Microsoft Corp. announced today. UL, a global independent safety science company, provides solutions for safer products, processes and work environments for more than 66,000 customers.

What is Underwriters Laboratories (UL)?

It is an independent product safety certification organization. It was established in the late 1890’s with company headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. The goal of personal safety in products is its model. To accomplish product safety it develops standards and test procedures for products, materials, components, assemblies, tools and equipment. It also evaluates and certifies the efficiency of a company’s business processes through its management system registration programs. Finally, UL analyzes drinking and other clean water samples using its drinking water laboratory in South Bend, Indiana, where it also evaluates products for environmental sustainability through UL Environment, another subsidiary.

Underwriter Laboratories headquarters in Illinois

The Cloud System

UL didn’t start with Cloud operations, they started with Microsoft Office, but quickly discovered that their employees, from engineers, to other staff, were comfortable with the applications. Next they decided that that with a growing  company staff, it needed to have a coordinated software application that all could use, especially their international staff. Plus with the acquisition of 12 companies in the last 3 years this became a serious issue. There are also 50 offices worldwide.

So the solution that developed, became almost a no-brainer; they adopted Office 365 cloud service that specializes on Windows Office applications. With it, several things happened. They were able to get on-board thousands of employees in a matter of weeks. The impact on how people worked became even more important, because now they were able to communicate and collaborate together, whether it was across continents or just down the hallways from each other.  Also, this collaboration was now available 24/7. This means that work can be completed faster, and the results made official.

In all, Office 365 cloud services are the perfect tools for a company that has multiple offices around the world. It keeps everyone in tune with the company’s expectations. Plus the cost to the company is reduced because upgrades are made at the Cloud, not at the company site.

Source: Microsoft News

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In this article you’ll learn how to use Windows Live Mesh and share folders in SkyDrive. As well, you will learn how to personalize each computer in your Live Mesh setup by changing their name and picture symbol for easier identification.

But first let’s take a closer look at Sky Drive.

What is SkyDrive?

• Sky Drive is part of Microsoft’s Windows Live range of online services, and uses Windows Live ID to control access to files, allowing users to create files, store files, and make them publicly available.
• SkyDrive allows users to upload files to Cloud Storage on the Web and then access them using a Web browser. It is directly accessible via Live Mail and Hotmail or using Windows Live Mesh. 
  
  

  SkyDrive in Action

• SkyDrive allows users to store Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents within the Web browser.
• SkyDrive provides 25 GB of free personal on-line storage, with individual files limited to 100 MB. Files are listed as private or public and can be shared with contacts.
• SkyDrive files can be viewed and edited in Microsoft Office and new files created within this environment.

Sharing folders on the Web (using SkyDrive)

Here’s how you go about storing a folder on SkyDrive.

1.      Open Windows Live Mesh.

2.      In the opening screen, select the folder to be synced.

Selecting a folder to Sync

3.      This expands the synced folder showing more information. On the right-hand side, click Select devices.

Selecting Devices

4.      A new window “Where do you want to sync …” opens.

5.      Check the box against SkyDrive synced storage and then click the Ok button.

Selecting SkyDrive

6.      In the next screen, the Folder is synced with SkyDrive.

Folder synced with SkyDrive

Checking the Synced Folder in SkyDrive

Checking Up

Fine Tuning Windows Live Mesh

To save confusion and to show their type you can change the name and picture symbol for each computer you are using Windows Live Mesh. It is a simple matter to change the name and the picture for each computer.

1.      Set all your computers running, in the main computer select Go to Windows Live Devices.

Accessing Windows Live Devices

2.      Windows Live opens showing all registered Devices.

Note: In this illustration there are four computers all listed and running under Windows Live Mesh. Each has the same name and the same picture associated with each it. Confusing!

Four Computers looking alike!

Well, Windows Live Mesh allows you to customize the registered computers so you can create a meaningful name and have a more suitable picture associated with it.

3.     You can personalize each one changing the Name and the picture symbol. To do this select one and click Personalize.

4.      Enter a more appropriate name and change the illustration to suit.

5.      Click the Save button. Do this for each one in turn.

The Personalize Window

6.      Once you make these changes the new-look Synced Computers will be easily identified.

Newly Personalized Computers

So there you have it, You have changed to look of the computers in Live Mesh so they are easily identified.

Windows Live Mesh is well worth taking a closer look!

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I think we can all agree that Windows 7 didn’t really get off to a flying start when it came to tablets. While Microsoft did do a bit of work making Windows 7 more touch friendly, there was still a lot left to be desired. Microsoft hadn’t really planned on entering the tablet market with Windows 7, they’re planning on doing that with its successor, Windows 8. Personally the only time I’ve seen a tablet running Windows 7 has been a display model in a shop. I’ve never actually seen one in the wild.

There’s a reason for that, according to statistics from Strategy Analytics, Windows 7 is only running on about 1.5 percent of tablets out there. That means that there’s approximately 400,000 Windows 7 tablets around the world at the moment, out of a total of 27 million that were shipped last quarter.

Of course I’m sure you all know who’s got the number one spot. It is of course the Apple iPad which now controls 58 percent of the market. Android on the other hand isn’t that far behind with 39 percent of the market. Of course you have to remember that the Android army includes the likes of Amazon, Samsung, Asus, Toshiba and more.

Global tablet shipments have grown at an incredible pace as well, 26.8 million units were shipped in Q4 2011, up 150 percent on 2010′s numbers.

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In my previous article, Ways and Means to Share Files – Part 1, I dealt with installing Windows Live Mesh and left it at that.

Using Windows Live Mesh

Now it’s time to put Windows Live Mesh through its paces sharing some folders/files with other computers in a network.

Starting Off

1.      Open Windows Live Mesh.

2.      The computer you are working on is identified.

3.      Your next task is to include any other computers on your network. To do this, select “Go to Windows Live Devices”. By the way, Sky Drive (Microsoft’s Cloud feature) is active once you log on and ready to go but more of this in my next article.

Go to Windows Live Devices

Note: To access other computers within your home network you must have installed and added Windows Live Mesh from Windows Live Essentials. This requires you to have either a Hotmail or a Live Mail account and to be signed in on the other computer(s) too. When you have done this Live Mesh will open showing your base computer, the one you are working on, and the target computer(s).

Computers for Live Sync

You are now ready to sync a selected file on your base computer which will appear on the target computer.

Syncing folders between Networked Computers

1.      Turn on your second computer. This will be the one you want to share folders with.

2.      Next, activate Windows Live Mesh on both computers.

3.      On your second computer you’ll be asked to log on, use Windows Live or a Hotmail account.

Note: If you haven’t got either you’ll need to create an account.

4.      Now back in the main computer, select Sync a folder.

5.      Windows Live Mesh displays all available locations on your computer.

6.      Double-click My Documents folder and select the sub-folder you want synced. 

8.      The Select Devices window opens.

9.      In the “Where do you want to sync . . . “window check the locations and click the Ok button.

10.   Windows Live Mesh reappears displaying the newly synced folder.

 11.   Now move to your second computer and check to see that Windows Live Mesh has done as you wish.

Note: When syncing a sub-folder within My Documents folder on your second computer, the newly synced folder will be added to My Documents folder.

You have successfully synced a folder on a computer network.

Un-syncing a folder

If you want to stop synchronizing a folder in any of the networked computers or SkyDrive do the following:

1.      Click the folder to be unsynced. This shows its details.

2.      In the expanded view, click Select Devices. 

3.      The Select Devices window opens. Uncheck SkyDrive and click the Ok button. 

4.      Back in the Windows Live Mesh window when you re-select the synced folder, you’ll see SkyDrive is no longer listed in Sync On. 

Now you know about Windows Live Mesh and its features sharing files and folders is a breeze. Happy synching!

In my final article, I’ll show you how use the web storage facility, SkyDrive, another location to sync folders. In addition you’ll learn how to personalize the synced computers in a network. 

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Two weeks ago Microsoft issued a security bulletin regarding  at least eight vulnerabilities affecting all versions of the Windows operating system. The company was urging Windows users to pay special attention to MS12-004, which is a “critical” bulletin that provides fixes for two serious flaws in the way Windows 7 Media PLayer handles certain media files security flaws.

New Flaws

Well, since then hackers have found new Media Player Security  flaws and are exploiting this issue to plant malware on unpatched computers. The vulnerability works when the in-the-wild attacks are launched through web sites rigged with booby-trapped Windows media files. The vulnerability occurs when Windows Multimedia Library in Windows Media Player (WMP) fails to handle a specially crafted MIDI file, this allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

So what happens? The end result is a malicious Trojan with rootkit capabilities infecting the computer.  The attack happens silently in the background and all the user sees is a blank WMP application playing a file. So with the Trojan in place, the attack on the computer can begin.

With a specially crafted MIDI file, the successful attacker could gain remote code execution against a target running the ubiquitous Windows Media Player.

The second critical vulnerability caused by the Media player occurs when filters in DirectShow do not properly handle media files in the way that they should.  The filter is supposed to keep out certain code, preventing it from executing. But it doesn’t do that. DirectShow is a part of Microsoft DirectX, a Windows feature used for streaming media on Windows operating systems to enable graphics and sound when playing games or watching video.

Since the media player keeps working, users do not notice anything wrong until the virus or root kit launches. Then they may not even know or suspect where the problem originated, or even what is launching the virus now.

Microsoft suggests that getting the update patch, on the original vulnerability is necessary. However, they will have to make another patch quickly.

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Microsofts Kinect has certainly been popular among consumers and hackers a like. Before Microsoft announced an official Kinect SDK, hackers had already managed to get the Kinect sensor running with Windows 7. Microsoft are now also set to release a desktop version of Kinect which will go on sale from February 1st. This sensor is slightly smaller and more accurate with close range objects.

But what if you could buy a laptop with a Kinect sensor built directly into it?

Well according to the Daily, Microsoft are looking to do just that. It’s been said that Microsoft are currently testing out the Kinect technology on Asus netbooks. They appear to be running Windows 8, probably the developer preview. They have a small array of sensors covering the top of the screen where the webcam is normally found and at the bottom of the display there seems to be a set of LEDs.

The Daily is also reporting that a source at Microsoft has also confirmed that these are in fact prototype devices that Microsoft are testing out.

It would be very interesting to see what you could do with a laptop, netbook or even tablet which had Kinect sensors built into it. Not only would it make navigating through Windows a completely new experience, but it would also interact quite well with the new Metro UI in Windows 8 I reckon. Of course since Kinect is primarily used for gaming, I’m sure that it would add to the gaming experience on these devices as well.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft announce further details on this. Since they are just about the release the desktop edition of Kinect as an accessory, they probably don’t want to hurt it’s initial sales.

The chances that we’ll get to see Kinect sensors in Windows 7 powered laptops is probably pretty slim since Windows 8 is on its way, but  you never know!

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Linux may not be dead after all. Microsoft is looking for software engineers to make Linux available on Azure, Microsoft Cloud system.

Job Requirements

“Senior Software Development Engineer/Linux Virtualization
This position requires a proven track record in the open source community.
The Windows Interoperability Team at Microsoft has an immediate opening for a senior software development engineer. The purpose of this position is to become a key member of a highly specialized development team whose mission is to identify, define, scope, implement and drive to completion software projects that promote full, transparent interoperability between Windows and Linux in Microsoft virtual and cloud environments.”

Why Linux?

Microsoft is looking to make its Azure Cloud services available to as many users as possible. While Linux consumers are a small part of the OS market, their contribution to OS design and computer stability has played a role in making other operating systems be more in tune with this system. By adding Linux to the complexity of the Cloud, it will increase the market propensity where it can become a universal system. All systems can handle the Azure cloud. That at least is the goal.

Linux Virtual Machines

Microsoft is planning to allow customers to make virtual machines (VMs) to run on Windows Azure. So Linux customers who want to run Linux without losing the data state in VMs on Microsoft’s Azure platform-as-a-service platform will be able to do so.  The problem that has been noted is that as the Linux program runs on the Cloud, if there are problems, the data disappears. This unsteady element is one that Microsoft wants to correct.

But with the new developer position, Microsoft hopes to start making inroads into some of the problems and correct them. The Linux virtual machine system, which they hope to make available, then will allow other applications to run on the cloud.

Source The Register

 Zdnet

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When you have two or more computers and you want to share important files between them there are several ways you can do this.

Method 1 & 2     Using your Wireless Connection

Providing you have a wireless connection you can use either HomeGroup or Network connections.

HomeGroup

Network

Method 3            Purchase a Belkin USB File Transfer Cable

Another way is to buy a Belkin USB Transfer Cables. This allows you to quickly transfer files from one computer to another.

The beauty of this cable setup is you can copy folders/ files from PC to PC without the need to install drivers for the operating systems. It is particularly useful for mobile users wishing to transfer files such as photos, music, videos, documents and many other files from their main computer to their laptop and vice versa. Once you make the connection it is a simple drag-and-drop operation.

Despite the high-speed transfers this equipment provides, it is a pain to have to do this if you have two or more computers as I do. So this takes me to the next option – Windows Live Mesh.

Belkin USB Transfer Cable

Method 4            Using Windows Live Mesh

This in my opinion is the most efficient way of keeping all your computers up-to-date. When you make changes to files in a Synched folder on the main computer the file is automatically updated in the target computer(s).

Windows Live Mesh in Action

A Brief History of Windows Live Mesh

Curious about its origins I checked it out in Wikipedia. This is a brief summary of the developmental history of Windows Live Mesh.

• November 3, 2005 – Microsoft bought FolderShare from ByteTaxi Inc. on, making it part of their new Windows Live feature.
• March 10, 2008 – Microsoft released its updated version renaming it Windows Live FolderShare.
•  April 23, 2008 – Microsoft released the Live Mesh technology preview. The data synchronization system allowed files, folders and other data to be shared and synchronized across PCs and up to 5 GB on the web.

Note: The Live Mesh software was made available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and other platforms. It included a cloud storage component, called Live Desktop, an online storage service, allowing synchronized folders to be accessible via a website.

• June 24, 2010 – Microsoft released a beta version Windows Live Sync “Wave 4″.
• August 17, 2010, – August 29, 2010, after some more updates, the service was officially re-branded, Windows Live Mesh. The cloud-based SkyDrive synced storage was increased to 5 GB.
• September 30, 2010 – The final version of Windows Live Mesh 2011 (Wave 4) was released on as part of Windows Live Essentials 2011.

 Installing Windows Live Mesh

1. As Windows Live Mesh is part of the Windows Live Essentials package you need to go to this Microsoft website: www.explorelive.com/windows-live-essentails
2. When the website opens look for the small box labelled “Get Windows Live Essentials and select “Download now”.
3. Select Run.
4. Your UAC will most likely intervene, select Ok.
5. In the “What do you want to install” window choose which components you want. Check Windows Live Mesh and select Install.
6. When the installation is complete in the “Done!” box, click Close.
7. In your All Programs menu you will find Windows Live listed. Select it. pic 7

 Note: If you are using Windows 8 Preview Windows, Windows Live Mesh will be featured on the Metro menu.

Note:  If you are running Windows 7 or earlier you will find it listed within Windows Live Essentials under All Programs.

Tip! Windows 8 Preview

In the Metro menu, right-click on Windows Live Mesh’s button and in the lower section of the Metro screen select Advanced button. When the pop-up menu appears, choose Pin to the Taskbar. In future when you want to use it click this icon on the Taskbar.

Tip! Windows 7

For easy access to Windows Live Mesh, open All Programs menu, select Windows Live Essentials and in the sub-menu right-click on Windows Live Mesh and in the pop-up menu choose, Pin to Taskbar. In future when you want to use it click this icon on the Taskbar.

In my next article I’ll deal with setting up Windows Live Mesh with my other networked computers and saving data on Microsoft’s SkyDrive.

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Nokia has released its quarterly reports for Q4 2011 and it’s quite a mixed bag. While Nokia did post a net loss of $1.4 billion on revenues of over $13 billion, the company does have hopes that it can turn its downward momentum in the smartphone industry with their newly adopted platform, Windows Phone.

The Finnish mobile manufacturer announced that they have sold well over one million Windows Phone handsets in just only two months of availability. This is quite good when you consider that this is a new product running a new mobile OS. Nokia also only released two devices with spotted availability in only Europe with wider adoption coming in 2012.

Nokia’s hope relies on Windows Phones and whether people begin adopting the platform en masse. Nokia recently announced the Nokia Lumia 900 flagship phone which will be exclusive to AT&T for its initial launch, but is said to be widely available later this year. Nokia has also committed to a huge marketing push in both Europe and especially the US where they will be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to back the platform.

As Nokia’s devices become available in more and more countries as we move through 2012 and as they make a push back into the US market we should see steady numbers rising for the struggling mobile company. Nokia has already injected some life into the marketshare for Windows Phone and things seem only to be looking up from here.

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Google has finally decided to stop ignoring Windows Phone on two key issues: Multiple Calendar Sync & Search (Previously, Windows Phone users had to resort to workarounds to achieve syncing multiple calendars to their device). Today, Google posted, via Google+, that they have fixed these two problematic issues for Windows Phone users:

We launched a few new features on Google Sync for our Windows Phone (7.5+) users. Multiple Calendars is a feature that lets you select which of your Google Calendars are synced to your device. Just navigate to m.google.com/sync on your phone’s browser and configure the calendars you would like to see. From that page, you can also configure which addresses you send mail as if you have custom addresses in Gmail. We’ve also improved search to look beyond the conversations that are stored locally on your device so that you are able to find more of your conversations, faster.

For a step-by-step guide on enabling multiple Google calendar support, click here.

Google also addressed the ability to choose which address you send as if you have custom Gmail email addresses using m.google.com/sync and the ability to search server-side email. Maybe they are warming up to Microsoft’s underdog OS, probably not.

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Using a mobile phone is one of the most unique technological experiences ever invented. And one of the most important parts of the smartphone experience is being up to date with information. For that Microsoft’s MSN mobile has been redesigned to keep you informed, entertained, and up to date regardless of where you are.

Want news? You can now check top news and entertainment stories more quickly when you’re on the go with our latest release of MSN Mobile.

Want photos or videos? Just scan MSN videos, photo galleries and lifestyle content, right from the MSN Mobile home page.

Want a stock quote? Or are you curious about the score of tonight’s game? Then swipe down to see the updated modules.

Want new apps? Well they are available too. MSN Mobile lets you stay on top of things whether at home or traveling. You are in the know.

Easy navigation

Getting to your interests is easy and convenient. Just glancing at them you can see the subjects.

Watching Videos and Reading Articles

MSN Mobile has optimized videos, articles and photo galleries to display them on your mobile device. Just tap an article from our entertainment or lifestyle channels and it will display the mobile optimized version. Videos will play in both portrait and landscape mode. So if you want a larger view, hold the phone sideways to get the full picture.

Money and Quotes

How is Wall Street doing? Is it up or down? To find out scroll down to the new Money & Quotes section and you’ll see the top market info displayed with the news.

Active – updates

Since consumers are expecting the latest apps, info, or technology, the MSN mobile is bringing that operational philosophy into view. So keep that in mind when you are searching for the information you want to have handy and available on your mobile phone.

How do you get the update?

Getting the updated site on your smartphone is easy, just type msn.com in your browser this will get you to MSN Mobile.

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A lot is going on with Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 8, which is expected to be released sometime this year. Now there is also talk about Microsoft’s new OS version for their next installment of Windows Phone. Call it Windows Phone 8, or Apollo as it is called in Redmond. In it, the rumor is that Windows Phone OS will make a swap out to the new variant of Windows 8.

Problems with Windows Phone 7 Kernel

One of the biggest overall complaints about Windows Phone, starting with Windows Phone 7 and continuing through NoDo and Mango, is the lack of 3rd-party native mode application support. Developers have problems because they do not wants to embed Windows CE’s idiosyncrasies in new apps. Again some of that is reliability and some is a desire to make apps portable across the three-screens (PC, Phone, TV) and a cloud world.  So by moving to WinNTk this eliminates the CE idiosyncrasy problem and makes native mode applications (and particularly WinRT-based ones) possible.

Three other issues also play into having one operating system for the devices. One is that when you do the same things twice (a computer operating system and a smartphone operating system) it is almost impossible to have them both be completed at approximately the same time, and  be truly compatible with one another, and also be of equivalent quality. Secondly, the cost of staffing to repeatedly do the same thing twice is nonsense, even for a company the size of Microsoft. And finally, the closer you get to wanting two things to be almost the same provides less the justification for having two different things at all!

RedHawk

So developers want better integration with the Kernel. Or so it seems. So Microsoft has come out with Redhawk. It is a new managed-code execution environment that would be more lightweight and more appealing to developers who have been put off by the perceived overhead of the current Common Language Runtime (CLR) at the heart of the .Net Framework.

That said, it appears that Microsoft is making changes in more ways than one, and is certainly trying to streamline it OS kernel to make it a more compatible development environment. The challenge for Microsoft is that as a descendant of Windows 7, Windows 8 must be as good as if not better, and Windows Phone 8 should be a lot better in order to increase the Microsoft market share in the smartphone arena.

Source: Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8: Cousins or Siblings

Zdnet

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We’ve heard about the recent attempts by the US Congress to pass legislation regarding downloads. It seems that the legislation is on hold after an outcry that surprised most Congressional leaders. One of the larger issues involved is privacy because, users expect a certain amount of privacy while they surf the net. And going to websites for download purposes would expose that user. In a larger sense, privacy also involves data protection and application protection. In that vein, Microsoft has recently been involved with this issue.

Data Privacy Day

On January 28, Data Privacy Day will be celebrated. This is an international holiday with the purpose to raise awareness and promote privacy education. The National Cyber Security Alliance is coordinating and promoting the event within the United States and Canada. Given some of the recent events, involving Anonymous and potential Congressional legislation it is good to harken back and look at the environment. At the event Microsoft speakers will be addressing Microsoft’s Tracking Protection software.

Tracking Protection

Tracking Protection lets you filter out content in a page that may have an impact on your privacy. As you know, many webpages include content from other (third-party) websites. This program helps you identify different types of content.

How it Works

When content is loaded from a third-party site, standard information, including your IP address and the address of the webpage you’re viewing is sent to each of the third-parties that have content in the page you’re viewing. If the website you’re visiting has a business relationship with the third party, then more information about you may be sent. Then over time, these third parties can build a profile of your browsing history by using “cookies” and other techniques.

But now, you can filter out content from any website by using Tracking Protection Lists. So, you can have “Do Not Call” lists for content. When you add a Tracking Protection List, Internet Explorer will prevent your information from being sent by limiting data requests to websites in the list.

Tracking Protection and Do not track

Tracking protection is not the same as do not track. They are complimentary. The most important difference is that the Do Not Track protocol is an honor system. When a consumer attaches a “do not track” imperative, they hope that sites will honor their request to contain tracking. But this is an ongoing issue. Because what sites must do to in order to honor that request is still under discussion. Also, it is not clear who is to monitor and enforces that, and how. There is a sort of honor’s pledge that sites make, but it is not enforceable. Consequently for some people that that’s not enough. That being the case, if an honor system can’t resolve the issue, then perhaps put the focus on the consumer to derail any information from being perpetrated. That said, that is why Microsoft is advancing Tracking Protection. Microsoft’s trusted data tracking protection only works with IE9.

The Tracking Protection Working Group Charter

Tracking Protection is now a standard under development at the W3C and the momentum over the last year has been encouraging. Indeed, according to Microsoft, when they released IE9, there were only five tracking protection lists available. However, several months later, there are over twenty lists worldwide from six different groups.

One group, EasyList is an open community effort to help filter unwanted content. It is available as a Tracking Protection List. They have had over 250,000 subscriptions to their list.

Another list comes from TRUSTe who is one of four preferred providers of TPLs used for the new IE9 Tracking Protection feature. Their Data Collection is a new program for ad and data companies that collect consumer data on other company websites or use data collected to show more relevant ads. This program certifies the notice, choice, and privacy practices around data collection and usage.

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Well that was quick. AT&T hasn’t even gotten their hands on their exclusive “Hero device” (Nokia Lumia 900) and others are already advertising its availability, in June no less. Of course, this should come as no surprise as we’ve previously heard that the exclusivity for the device on AT&T might only last around 45 days.

The word comes from the UK  online mobile store, Carphone Warehouse, that they are expecting the device to be available in June 2012, although, there is a disclaimer that the “Expected date is subject to change without notice.” Carphone Warehouse even has a huge landing page for the 900 which runs through the highlights and specs for the highly anticipated device.

Users who would like to be notified when the device becomes available can now pre-register by providing their contact information via a form at their site. Good news for our overseas friends who were worried they wouldn’t get the new Nokia flagship handset.

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The Enterprise Rocks Microsoft. That’s the story. Sure the Cloud, Xbox, Kinect, and Windows Phone 7 are getting attention and publicity. Windows 8 will be launching this year. But what Microsoft is basing its success is on Enterprise support.

Microsoft is IBM

Microsoft is IBM; it is the international business machine company. How is that possible? Consider this

• Microsoft had good cost discipline.
• The company has a well-rounded product line-up: Software, entertainment, business, scientific, programming languages, and applications.
• Its enterprise businesses are chugging along.
• Kinect is making an impact on the entertainment and device division.
• Corporations continue to upgrade to Windows 7.
• The Cloud service and Office 365 is growing.
• It has data-centers in different parts of the world, like

East Asia – Hong Kong
South East Asia – Singapore
North-central US – Chicago, IL
South-central US – San Antonio, TX
North Europe – Amsterdam, Netherlands
West Europe – Dublin, Ireland

Enterprise Facts

Microsoft may have been an OS and Applications company, but it has done a lot more. Consider the following:

• Six quarters since launch, Office 2010 upgrade continue.
• Microsoft had double-digit revenue growth for Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and Dynamics CRM.
• Office 365 has 100,000 businesses in the fold.
• Windows Server Premium and System Center had double digit revenue growth quarters.
• Microsoft’s Lync unified communications platform continues to gain steam.
• Windows Server 8, SQL Server 2012 and System Center 2012 are on tap to launch.

Microsoft may not look “cool,” but businesses like sound operations. That is “cool.”

As a business systems provider, it has done a lot with the software concepts, some its own, others borrowed from others and this made Microsoft the top computer company in the world. Yes, Apple may have flashier programs and a coven of followers that march to the Apple tune, but at the business level, Microsoft still carries the day. That’s why it is the International Business Machine. That is why Microsoft is IBM.

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Office 365 continues to grow in business circles. According to Microsoft over 90 percent of their Office 365 customers have less than 50 employees. Now a new group of companies  have entered into the Azure/Office 365 fold. These are JetBlue, Patagonia, and the American Heart Association. This adds to the existing stack of companies like Campbell Soup Company, Marie Claire, Roush Enterprises, Hersing Corp, UL (formerly Underwriters Labs), and Wunderman. So there are small companies and large companies that have accepted this product. And it shows that the productivity suite can fit the needs of any size business.

Patagonia

Why did Patagonia, a leading provider of outdoor gear, move to using Office 365? Answer: to make real-time communications and decision making possible throughout its organization; plus the cost savings made an impact.

Here’s how.

Patagonia expects to save $300,000 in future upgrades and infrastructure improvements, and $15,000 a year in savings by moving to the cloud-based e-mail system that is part of Office 365.

There is also the green effect. Patagonia has a program called “drive-less” meaning that they encourage employees to work from home in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Office 365 supports the company’s “drive-less” program, so it is a win-win situation.

Updates

Last year, Microsoft pushed out 30 updates on the Office 365 suite to make it even more user friendly. These included support for Lync for Mac, SharePoint Business Connectivity Services, support for Windows Phone 7.5, and making SkyDrive simpler to use with app-centric sharing for Office.

The updates are beginning to resonate on the market, making an impression on IT managers who are pushing out to enterprise management as a viable alternative to purchasing new equipment and software.

Earlier I wrote about Azure and making the connection as Microsoft’s new OS. Obviously, Azure will not replace Windows 7 or Windows 8. But it is a way of using the computer with connection to the cloud, in a different way. It is a system that lets companies operate in a new way; allowing customers and enterprises to perform their own operations in their unique style and brand.

Source: Microsoft blog

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In case you missed it, CES concluded over a week ago and aside from the “momentum” keynotes by Microsoft and the announcement of the Lumia 900 from Nokia, there wasn’t too much to get excited about. Unless, that is, you were there and took on Microsoft’s Ben Rudolph (aka Ben the PC Guy) in a smartphone task challenge that he dubbed ”Smoked by Windows Phone.” In this challenge, Rudolph invited users with other smartphone to come and challenge his Windows Phone (HTC Titan) in a speed test at various smartphone tasks. If the user won, they would receive $100 for their efforts, but if they lost, they would have to declare, on camera, that they were “Smoked by Windows Phone.”

Microsoft’s Ben Rudolph has posted the final cut of the “Smoked By Windows Phone” competition that was held during CES 2012. The total record when everything was tallied for Windows Phone was 30-3-1, which is definitely not too shabby. Does this prove that Microsoft’s mobile OS is by far the fastest smartphone platform out there? I’ll let you guys decide. Check out the video below to see how things went:

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Now the holiday period is over hacker attacks on popular services on the Internet are beginning again. For example Ghacks.net website reports an attack on the popular Web Hoster Dreamboat while here in Australia BigPond.com copped a serious attack on 9 December. It involved a password breach in their customer’s email accounts causing them to shut down the system. This involved up to 60,000 Telstra customers who had to change their account passwords as their personal details were exposed on the internet. The lockout lasted over 24 hours and affected more than one million users. Such attacks are commonplace and this leads me to suggest you regularly change your password for important accounts and email access.

Internet Explorer also can be a problem as it offers you the option of saving your password which I reject not wanting to compromise my computer system.

Nagging reminder!

Delete Browsing History

Windows Internet Explorer 9 stores seven types of information when you browse the web. Some of this can prejudice your computer’s security. These are the areas of concern:

• Cookies
• History
• Form Data
• Passwords.

I regularly use the Delete Browsing History option in the Tools menu of Internet Explorer. Of the four areas of concern the most important option to check is “saved passwords”. Do this at the very least!

Generally, I err on the side of caution and check all boxes before selecting Delete. Now some will say this is unnecessary as you lose useful information but this does not bother me. I prefer to give my computer the full treatment and not suffer the consequences of a cyber-attack. I do this at least once a month.

Browsing History Options

Change Your Password Regularly

Good advice from most computer experts and online security professionals recommend that you change your Internet passwords and account login information at least once every three months. If you surf the web regularly it makes sense to follow this advice. For an infrequent surfer it may be safe for you to wait longer, but everything depends on your computer habits, the how and where you go on the web. Not all sites are safe!

Microsoft provides a useful service allowing you to check the level of security when you decide on a new password. Remember, a strong password is an important protection for safer online transactions.

The website is as follows:

www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/passwords-create.aspx

This is the advice they offer.

To create a strong password, consider these aspects:

• Length – ensue your passwords contain eight or more characters.
• Complexity – include letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers. The more variety of characters in your password, the better.
• Variation – to keep strong passwords effective, change them often particularly for your email, banking, and credit card websites.
• Variety – never use the same password for everything.

Some Pitfalls in Password Creation

Avoid creating passwords using:

• Dictionary words in any language.
• Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
• Sequences or repeated characters. Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
• Personal information. Your name, birthday, driver’s license, passport number, or similar information.

Password Security Checker

This website also has a Password Security Checker which rates your new password. Use it to test its level of security.

It is available from this web address:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/security/pc-security/password-checker.aspx

Here are two examples of this password checker in action.

Password Checker in action!

So there you have it, food for thought  if you value your computer’s security.

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Problem: Say you are working on a project with several people who are located on a different city, or even a different state. Furthermore, some may be using a PC or a MAC. You put together a document and want to save it on the cloud, but will the others in the project access it? And what if others decide to modify the document and save it, will others be able to access the most current document?

SkyDrive and Office

Here is a solution, use SkyDrive. With it you can store all your files in one place, so everyone can access the latest version. You can also use free Office Web Apps for basic editing from any browser.

Here are some of the things you can do with Web Apps:

• Upload documents to SkyDrive
• Edit documents
• Share your documents
• Work with others on projects
• Embed a presentation on a webpage
• Embed a spreadsheet on a webpage

But what makes this solution even more inviting is that SkyDrive and Office Web Apps integrate with the Office apps installed on your PC or Mac so you can work together on documents in the cloud right from your desktop apps. With the right setup, you can work together on a Word doc or PowerPoint presentation with your teammates at the same time. Creating an account is easy and free. Start with a Windows Live account.

Next create a SkyDrive account and a Web Apps account. Then once you have the Web Apps and Windows SkyDrive, you can follow several tips to make your work easier.

1. Add SkyDrive.com to your desktop for quick access
2. Create one space for the team that’s easy to find
3. Capture meeting notes, brainstorming notes, and to-do’s more efficiently than email.
4. Access SkyDrive docs right from Word, Excel or PowerPoint—online or offline
5. Use Word co-authoring to ensure your team’s plan flows nicely
6. Use version history to avoid disasters

These tips can help you manage a project and keep the documentation easy to use. Plus because SkyDrive can be accessed anytime and anywhere you are not limited to when or where you can work on the project.

Note that you must have a Windows Live ID to access SkyDrive.

Source: Microsoft SkyDrive

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Microsoft is still waiting for Windows Phone 7 to really dig it’s teeth in and get a good grip in the mobile market, and Nokia are looking to gain back some of the market share that they’ve lost in recent years to Android and iOS. As I’m sure most of you know, the two tech giants have teamed up to roll out a new line of smartphones in order to take the world by storm with Windows Phone 7.

Of course what better place to try and gain back some of that market share than in the rapidly growing Chinese economy. A spokesman for Nokia today announced that they are hoping to bring some of the first Windows Phone 7 handsets to the Chinese market sometime during the first half of this year. This will see Nokia being one of the first companies to officially sell Windows Phone 7 powered devices in China.

Nokia are actually the leading smartphone manufacturer in China with 28 percent of the market, however that figure used to be up at 70 percent in 2010, so they’ve got a lot of ground to claim back.

However the spokesman, MC Cong declined to disclose any further details such as the models that will be released. Chinese handset maker ZTE also plans on launching some Windows Phone 7 devices of its own in China this year, but not until the third quarter. This means that Nokia should get a decent head start on the competition.

Microsoft themselves still haven’t officially launched Windows Phone 7 in China as of yet, probably due to delays in localization and stringent Chinese legislation. However they have promised to that it will arrive in the first half of this year also, probably alongside the release of Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 devices.

Windows Phone 7 seems to be a pretty good operating system and has got some rave reviews from major media outlets. We just have to see if it’s able to grab consumers attention now

Source:

PcWorld

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Microsoft had a good year…again. Not surprising. But what was surprising was that it primary money maker, Windows and Office were not at the top of Redmond list of profitable divisions.

According to Microsoft 2nd Quarter Earnings results ending Dec 31 2111, Windows and Windows Live came in third, behind the Microsoft Business Division and the Server and Tools division. In contrast, last quarter, the Business division was No. 1 and Windows was still No. 2.

What’s changed

First of all, there may be a slowdown in moving to Windows 7, in part because of the move to the tablet world. Secondly, it could be that with Windows 8 on the horizon, companies, that want to upgrade to Windows 7, may be putting a purchasing hold and wait for the next iteration of Windows to come out.

One other fact may be in place, the number of PC’s being shipped has declined over the last few months. The flooding in Thailand is affecting PC production, and that will continue for some to come.

The good news for Microsoft is that the company may not have to be locked into one product to make its annual profit goals. Now other products and divisions can make a significant impact.

Another thing that is important for the whole revenue side of the process is that some of the additions to the company have increased costs, and now they are hitting the profit range. For instance, with the addition and integration of Skype the long term profit may take time to work out, but on the short term side, the costs affected the profit margin now. Then there were payments made to Nokia related to Windows Phone strategic initiatives, also higher Xbox Live royalty costs, and a higher mix of Xbox 360 hardware sales vs. software. All of this takes a toll on the company’s profit margins.

On the other hand, a quarterly earnings report showing 20.9 billion is what…good?

Source: Microsoft

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Microsoft has successes with the OS, Windows Client and Server plus multiple applications. It has been moderately successful with Azure, its cloud service and Office 365. It has had very limited success with its own smartphone, Windows Phone 7. But one other area where it has had tremendous success is with Xbox and its Kinect side kick. And this leads to the question. Will Microsoft try to enhance the status of this commercially successful hardware, albeit, gaming device?

Incoming…Dave Cutler

Dave Cutler? You don’t know who he is? He is not well known outside of Microsoft circles, but Cutler was the father of Windows NT. Right now, his status is so high at Microsoft that he reports directly to Steve Ballmer. And now Steve Ballmer may also be thinking…can we use Dave in some other capacity? He was working on Azure, but Cutler considers that project “done.” So Cutler may be looking for something else to get involved in. That something is Xbox.

Gaming and Beyond

Xbox was designed around the NT OS. So Cutler is well poised to make contributions. The most important would be to expand the range of Xbox into something else besides gaming. Microsoft recently said:

“Dave is one of our brightest minds and is currently working on projects that will help advance our goals in the consumer space as we continue to grow the Xbox from a game-centric console to a complete home entertainment device.”

Since the hardware console has been everything that gamers want, and more, can that technology form the basis of another area of customer interest. Here are some of the things that could develop:

• Making Xbox more of a TV with HomeStore
• Making Xbox also become a home videoconferencing / telepresence hub
• Making XBox a whole home-automation system
• Making Xbox a new type of TV device

With developers like Dave Cutler at the helm, Xbox could turn out to be a new and successful addition to the market that Microsoft has had a firm lock in, namely gaming. Now they may be moving in the direction of Home Entertainment.

Source: ZDnet

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It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for the Skype app/integration for Windows Phone. Windows Phone head Joe Belfiore even spoke about the app back in MIX 2011 last year and we’re still waiting with no clarification on when the popular video chatting service might come to this platform. After all, Microsoft does own them, so why not?

Mobile.se was able to get a bit of information about the service and what we can expect in the near future on Windows Phone. It appears that we will see an app very soon which will have to hold us over until a deeper integration comes in the major update scheduled for later this year, “Apollo.”

Might we hear an announcement at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in late February? I don’t have any solid information on this, but that’s where my money would be.

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In the wake of the CES announcements by Nokia regarding their new flagship smartphone for the US, the Nokia Lumia 900, many users on other carriers besides AT&T feel a bit slighted that the “premiere carrier” for Windows Phone would be given exclusivity to what many perceive to be the best Windows Phone on the market. Neither Microsoft nor Nokia have confirmed whether the exclusivity for the 900 will be permanent and if not for how long, but according to a source of Paul Thurrott’s, the device may only be exclusive to AT&T for 45 days, then it’s game on. In fact, the 900 could then come to other carriers in the form of an upgraded device with a 12 megapixel camera, per his source.

Thurrott cites only one unnamed source for this rumor, so be advised that this is just that, a rumor, and has not been confirmed by any documentation or the companies involved. If this turns out to be correct it could mean that Nokia can shop their new device around on some other carriers (both US and global) after AT&T has had it for only a month and a half.

It’s long been my opinion that other carriers, especially, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon, need at least a high-end device like this if they really want to see what kind of demand there might be for Windows Phone on their networks. Hopefully, this is a first step towards making this happen.

Source: Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows

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There’s been quite a few little programs created over the past couple of months which aim to imitate the new Windows 8 Metro UI on Windows 7 and other Windows operating systems. A lot of them actually do a pretty good job, but I don’t think you will ever get the full Metro UI experience until Microsoft release the first beta for Windows 8 in about a months time.

But if you’re still interested in trying out the new Metro UI and can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of downloading the Windows 8 developer preview, then Metro7 could be just the program you’re looking for.

All you have to do is go and download the app from here and install it.

As you can see from my screenshot above, once you start up the app you will be presented with a familiar looking tile based UI that is modelled on Windows 8′s Metro UI. You are able to customise this by dragging and deleting tiles as well as adding new ones as you go. There isn’t really much in the line of built in apps that can be added to the program but it is possible to build up your own collection of tiles and apps with a bit of patience.

It’s pretty cool if you want to play around with the new Metro UI that is coming with Windows 8, the chances are we’ll all need to get used to using it pretty soon. Of course if you are just curious as to how the new Metro UI will work, this is a pretty good place to start and try it out.

Obviously since this isn’t actually the official Microsoft Metro UI, it has been reversed engineered so don’t be surprised if it lags and or crashes on you. It’s really just for playing around with than for practical usage.

Download it here

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Over the next few years, companies are expected to move to the Cloud over the next few years. But some may still want to maintain their own servers on hand, their own datacenters. Microsoft has a solution for this. It is System Center 2012.

Say you are a company that wants tight control of the data in the system. They have looked at cloud computing but are not ready to make the full commitment to it. They want to retain their own datacenters. Yet the cloud offers advantages to the enterprise that it wouldn’t ordinarily offer to its clients or remote branches. The Microsoft System Center can help with that.

Private Cloud

When an enterprise builds a datacenter, it can make that center available on the Internet for its company or its clients. Data is stored and available to all. Companies can develop web applications to make information available. But running some applications on the cloud may not be possible. For example, Excel, or Access are not the kinds of apps that you can transmit and run across the Internet. For that, you would need Office 365, Microsoft’s Azure Cloud application service.

Cloud Integration

System Center 2012 can help enterprises make the slow transition to the cloud by helping them build the private datacenter that can run cloud operations. With the right combination of hardware and software, private cloud services can become important gateways to get the most efficient operations from their existing hardware. They will have the options of designing and running their own applications, and controlling and distributing them to their business partners as they see fit. Plus they will have server tools available from Microsoft to enhance the local private servers to get the best performance from them.

Once a company feels confident that cloud services are worth using full time, they can move their entire data center to Azure.

Source: Microsoft Blog

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There is no denying that Bill Gates is one of the greatest entrepreneurs and businessmen of all time. We can all thank Bill Gates for bringing Windows to the masses and changing the way that the everyday normal consumer uses computers.

Gates was the pioneer for Windows and it was his dream to have Windows running on every computer in every home. If we look at the 90%+ market share that Windows now enjoys I think it’s fair to say that he got pretty close to that dream.

Of course Gates is also known for donating extraordinary amounts of his wealth to various charities around the world. This great infographic that I found from Frugaldad shows just how much work he’s done as well as how many lives he has saved. Interestingly enough they compare him to Batman, but this infographic is well worth looking at.

If you didn’t know the extent of the work that Bill Gates does, be sure to check it out

Source: frugaldad.com

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Tablets are becoming more and more popular all the time, and the vast majority of them are iPad’s. Of course everyone knows of the limitations that this brings but OnLive is looking to getting around these barriers. At CES this year they announced their new OnLive Desktop Service which allows you to use Windows 7 on your iPad over the internet.

OnLive have been around for a while now and are known more for their OnLive Gaming service. OnLive Desktop is a free app that’s available on the iTunes app store (US only for the moment) that allows you to access a Windows 7 virtual machine from your iPad. OnLive starts up a virtual machine on one of its servers and streams the screen to your iPad. The user can then interact with the screen and the information will be relayed back to the virtual machine.

Once you’ve loaded up the app and have connected to a desktop you will be presented with the standard Windows 7 interface. There’s also a number of Microsoft Office applications for you to use for free including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Of course all the other standard Windows 7 programs will be available to you as well as a few touch based games.

You interact with your Windows 7 desktop the same way you’d normally use your iPad, ie. pinch to zoom etc.. and you can even use an external bluetooth keyboard if you wish. At the moment this free service operates on an “as-available” basis, which means it just makes use of the left over capacity from OnLive’s gaming service and only offers 2GB storage

However this won’t do for most businesses so a subscription service called OnLive Desktop Pro will be available soon for $9.99 per month. This service will provide a larger selection of applications and features, 50GB of storage space, and also priority access to OnLives server resources. Another service “Onlive Enterprise” will also be available which will allow installation of custom programs and allow IT staff full access to the virtual machine.

Of course the big limitation with this service is that you will need a pretty quick internet connection to use it which isn’t really much good for people who are travelling or who have below par internet connections.

All in all it’s a pretty cool app and I’m sure many people will be grateful to have it.

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The bad economy notwithstanding, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been very successful. For 12 straight months, the Xbox 360 has been a successful selling console.

By the Numbers

According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 captured 49 percent of consumer retail spending, leading the industry with $6.7 billion in sales in the U.S. for the calendar year—more than $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games and accessories. Overall, internal Microsoft figures show that the company has now sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and more than 18 million Kinect sensors worldwide, and has nearly 40 million Xbox LIVE members.

Games

Overall, Xbox 360 has seven of the top 10 console game titles including:

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Battlefield 3
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
• Just Dance 3
• Kinect Sports Season Two
• Dance Central 2

Specifically for 2011, Xbox 360 had six of the top 10 console game titles including:

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Gears of War 3
• Battlefield 3
• Madden NFL 12
• Call of Duty: Black Ops

Sales for December 2011

In December, the Xbox 360 sales were impressive. It holds 46 percent share of the overall current-generation console market. The Xbox 360 sold more than 1.7 million units in December, retaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This is impressive because it marks the tenth consecutive month Xbox 360 held on to more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share, and twelfth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S.. Finally, total retail spending on the Xbox 360 platform reached $1.5 billion, the most for any console in the U.S..

What’s Next?

Looking forward to 2012, Microsoft expects to keep up with new experiences for Xbox LIVE and new installments in the “Halo” and “Fable” franchises. Not to mention that the Kinect hardware is also adding to the success of the XBox, as some of the recent posts have shown, See. New Kinect for Windows Coming on February 1st, and Microsoft Kinect in Science and Medicine.  Current users will not be disappointed.

Source: Microsoft Blog

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2011 has been a very big year for Windows Phone 7. It’s been slated by some because it’s too late for it to break into the market, but others have praised it to the highest heavens. It really started to take off towards the end of 2011 and I can only see it starting to accelerate even more for 2012. The recent range of Windows Phone 7 phones that debuted at CES this year certainly got people excited. Combine that with Windows 8 and the integration it will have with Windows Phone 7 and you’ve got a pretty solid platform to take off from.

Over on the Windows Team Blog they’ve posted an infographic which gives you a pretty good idea on what Windows Phone 7 has accomplished in the last year or so.

Have a look at it below for yourself and you’ll see just how Windows Phone 7 is developing

How Windows Phone 7 Did In 2011 is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Microsoft had a very bad reputation in the area of security. It’s programs were easily infected with viruses, corrupted, and otherwise compromised. But 10 years ago, Bill Gates sent an e-mail to all Microsoft employees announcing that software security was going to be a priority for the company. He announced a new initiative called Trustworthy Computing (TwC).

His e-mail in part said: “Every few years I have sent out a memo talking about the highest priority for Microsoft. Two years ago, it was the kickoff of our .NET strategy … Over the last year it has become clear that ensuring .NET is a platform for Trustworthy Computing is more important than any other part of our work. If we don’t do this, people simply won’t be willing – or able – to take advantage of all the other great work we do. Trustworthy Computing is the highest priority for all the work we are doing….”

At the heart of the Trustworthy Computing dictum were three core attributes necessary for making it work, security, privacy, and reliability. In other words, Microsoft’s software must incorporate these features in order to satisfy the customer base, and assure them that Microsoft’s security element is in full gear.

The Security Development Lifecycle

The Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) incorporates privacy development practices. It lead to the development of Microsoft products, which delivered more secure and private computing experiences for customers. This raised the bar for potential attackers making it more difficult to go after the software.

Reliability

There was a progress in reliability with the Windows Error Reporting tool. It has led to fewer system crashes, which meant an increase in productivity and reducing user frustration. They also published privacy standards for developers and gave consumers layered privacy notices when using certain software.

Cloud Computing

Microsoft’s next challenge will be the Azure Cloud service. Cloud computing is expected to grow dramatically in 2012, with more enterprises moving some operations to that environment, with Microsoft offering Office 365, a cloud based service, security is of utmost importance.

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Microsoft and 10 years of Trustworthy Computing is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.

Yesterday I posted a blog about the new Microsoft devices shown at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). Today I’d like to focus on one of those, the Nokia Lumia 900.

Nokia Lumia 900 

Fast Performance

The Nokia Lumia 900 allows data downloads up to 50Mbps on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. That means that you’ll be able to view videos as fast as you can click on them, and never wait. It means your email arrives on time and you’re not sitting looking at an hourglass. It means the Web is totally fun to use on your mobile.

But if you don’t have the LTE network, you can use the HSPA with a 21 Mbps download speed.

Screen

Are you still squinting when you look at the screen? Try this. The Lumia 900 boasts of a large, 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display. This provides a big, crystal clear and super-colorful screen indoors and out. The resolution is 800 by 480 pixels.

On the Inside

Great, but what about the processor? To support the phones new capabilities there is a 1.4GHz processor, running on an updated chipset. It is a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055 + MDM9200. This should address the consumers needs for fast performance because no matter how good the screen looks, if the performance is scanky, forget about it. But Lumia fixes that. The CPU will keep the phone running smooth and make sure everything happens now.

The Battery

Battery power, right? Must be powerful, right? So because of the bigger screen this means that your battery won’t last too long. But that’s not the case here.  With a 1830mAH battery in the Nokia Lumia 900 will last for about 7hrs talk-time and up to 300hrs on standby. And here is an interesting dimension of the battery power. If you switch to flight mode and use it just as an MP3 music player, it’ll keep going for more than two-and-a-half days.

Camera

This Lumia 900 model has a large f2.2/28mm aperture, allowing more light into the camera for faster performance, lower chance of motion blur and better low-light shots. Hi-res video captures for 720p/30fps action footage are possible. And there’s a second, front-facing camera to support for video calls (1-megapixel with an f2.4 lens and 30fps capture).

Overall, this model from Nokia, the company that Microsoft made a Windows Phone 7 partnership last year, seems to be just what Microsoft wanted. Maybe it will help Microsoft get a bigger market share in the smartphone market.

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Review: the Nokia Lumia 900 Smartphone is a post from Windows 7 News & Tips - Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides. Visit Windows 7 News & Tips for the Latest Microsoft Windows 7 News, Tips, Themes, Wallpapers & Guides.