Now that Windows is a service (WaaS), which means it will constantly be updated rather than have big regular updates, Microsoft has put some features in to Windrows 10 to speed up the delivery of those updates. One feature that may have escaped your notice is called Windows Update Delivery Optimization (WUDO). This feature isn’t mentioned in the "Get Started" app but needs to be searched for in the documentation. This new Windows 10 feature works in a similar way to torrent technology which uses a peer to peer network…
Category: News
Apple Pay Has Officially Launched In The U.K.
The Eagle has landed. An accidental tweet told us that the U.K. wouldn’t have to wait for Apple Pay much longer, and that tweet was right. Apple Pay has officially launched in the U.K. Finally! It has been available to customers here in the US since last October, so your time has finally come, U.K. Hopefully your bank is one of the launch participants: American Express, First Direct, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. I use Simple as my bank and had to wait until…
Microsoft may be interested in buying struggling chip vendor AMD
Microsoft may be interested in buying AMD, according to a new report citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. Microsoft has a lot to gain by acquiring AMD’s APU business, given the Redmond giant’s ambitions in the console gaming segment. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 use AMD’s Jaguar-architecture APU, and if Microsoft were to buy AMD, Sony will have to shell out a significant amount of money to Microsoft on each PlayStation sold. The vendor can side with other chip manufacturers, but that will mean designing a new…
Five key trends in the developer economy
The Developer Megatrends report series distills the major data points and insights from our research into the most important trends in the developer economy. In this 7th edition Megatrends report, we cover app business models and examine how developers can escape the poverty trap. We look at how consumer technology will invade the enterprise, and how data will be at the center of the most interesting apps in the coming years. We’ll also revisit experience roaming – a trend from 2010 that is now in full swing. One thing is…
A free version of Google Play Music has launched just before Apple Music
The company is making a Pandora-like radio streaming service available to everyone in the US initially, consisting of curated playlists and automatically generated streams. However, users won’t be able to pick any song they want like Spotify’s free tier allows. “We think that by giving users a taste of Google Play Music, through the ad-supported tier, more users will ultimately become paying subscribers,” said Google Play’s vice president of partnerships Zahavah Levine. “Until now, this was a lost opportunity – to bring more people into Google Play Music.” Google is…
Windows 10 to come on USB sticks in addition to DVD
According to information obtained by Winfuture.de, Windows 10 may be sold on USB drives in addition to DVD disks. The unnamed source of Winfuture’s information also reports that both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 10 will be available on the thumb drive, and the customer will be able to choose which version to install. This is an added advantage of placing the Windows 10 install files on a USB drive as historically DVD copies will solely be for either a 32 or 64 bit system. If true,…
Russian Dies After Eating Tablet Computer to Avoid Police Detention
A man in St. Petersburg has died after eating parts of a smashed-up tablet computer to avoid being detained by police, the law enforcement agency said Monday. Police were called to an apartment in the city at about 5 p.m. on Sunday after reports that someone was throwing items out of a window, the regional branch of the Interior Ministry said in a statement. When the local police commissioner arrived at the scene, the 41-year-old unemployed man started to behave strangely by eating pieces of glass and the smashed-up tablet…
Could Microsoft’s biggest Windows 10 feature be AllJoyn powered interoperability?
The new, more open Microsoft has been implementing support for a lot of popular cross platform and open source technologies previously held at a distance by Redmond. Recently we’ve heard of support for open source projects like Node.js and SSH. But last November, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would work with a new technology called AllJoyn and this led Time magazine to speculate that it could be the biggest secret Windows 10 feature. AllJoyn is a protocol or common language that allows for devices to talk with each other…
Microsoft explains what you’ll lose by upgrading to Windows 10
Microsoft announced today that it will be launching Windows 10 on July 29th, encouraging Windows 7 and 8.1 users to reserve their free upgrade with a notification in their task bar. However, while the company has been busy highlighting all the shiny new features in the upcoming OS, it’s been a bit quieter when it comes to spelling out the limitations — including making updates automatic for Windows 10 Home users. Firstly there are the software losses. Most of these will only affect a small number of users, but upgrading will mean…
New report claims Microsoft has bought Wunderlist for up to $200 million
A couple of weeks after rumors first hit the Internet that Microsoft might be in talks to acquire the popular “to-do” app Wunderlist, a new report claims that the acquisition is a done deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has purchased the company behind the app, the German-based 6Wunderkinder, for between $100 and $200 million. Neither company has officially confirmed this deal, but the WSJ claims that the Wunderlist team will remain in its home office in Berlin, Germany to continue working on the app. If the report…
Future Decoded 2015 – your future starts today!
Join us at Future Decoded, a unique experience from Microsoft that brings together some of the world’s technical experts to explore the opportunities that will define your success in the 21st Century. Following last year’s inaugural event, we’re back with an even greater line up of industry superstars to inspire you. Register your interest now to attend deep dive technical sessions, share learnings and network with tons of other developers and IT Professionals. There has never been a more exciting time to work in the tech industry.
Office apps for Android phones are now available
There is no denying that Android is the world’s most popular mobile phone operating system with Google saying last year that on any given thirty-day rolling period there are more than a billion users of the OS. So when you are working to get your productivity software into the hands of a billion users, you can’t ignore the OS. Microsoft has already released and today they are taking it one step further with Office apps for the phone as well. If you want to try these apps out, you will…
Microsoft study shows that tech is shortening your attention span
Think the abundance of technology in your life is making it harder to concentrate for long periods? Microsoft might just have some evidence to support your theory. It recently published a study (conducted using both surveys and EEG scans) suggesting that the average attention span has fallen precipitously since the start of the century. While people could focus on a task for 12 seconds back in 2000, that figure dropped to 8 seconds in 2013 — about one second less than a goldfish. Reportedly, a lot of that reduction stems…
Microsoft offers IT guidance to prepare for Windows as a Service
When Windows 10 arrives this summer (and Windows Server 2016 next year), Microsoft is going to be making some noticeable changes to how and when it delivers security fixes, hotfixes and rollups. What can IT pros do now to prepare for the new Windows world order? Company officials provided some potentially controversial suggestions and guidance during Microsoft’s Ignite conference in Chicago. In a session entitled “Getting Ready for Windows 10: Servicing Windows Client and Server in a Managed Environment Today” (Video and slides available here; a good summary from…
Microsoft’s New Edge Browser Is A Windows-Only Play For Now
Microsoft has no immediate plans to let its new browser out of Windows 10. The software giant indicated today that it has no current intention of shipping Edge, formerly known as ‘Project Spartan’, on other platforms. I confirmed the strategy with Microsoft after the announcement. It might sound odd, but that Microsoft is not working to release Edge on other platforms is notable. The company has pursued an aggressive cross-platform strategy in recent years, shipping even its crown jewels on rival platforms. Microsoft is waging a double war: Rebuild Windows…
Microsoft backtracks on free Windows 10 update for pirates
The confusion has revolved around Microsoft’s offer to give free Windows 10 updates to people running Windows 7 and 8.1. In a statement last March, Windows chief Terry Myerson was reported to have said that the offer would extend to pirated copies, too. Microsoft quickly began issuing vague clarifications, while still implying that there would be a way to upgrade at no cost, even if pirates would be required to pay eventually. Now, we’re finally getting a full clarification: there’s no free upgrade at all. Pirates just have to pay.…
Windows 10 to Come in at Least Seven Packages Targeting Consumers, Education, Enterprise and Mobile
While Windows 10 is designed to run across phones, tablets, PCs and more, Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that it plans to package up the software slightly differently for separate markets. Windows 10 will be released in at least seven different flavors if you count the versions offered for home, education, enterprise, internet-of-things devices as well as standard and enterprise editions of Windows 10 for phones and small tablets. To be clear, apps created for Windows 10 will run on all the flavors, with some tailoring needed to make apps work across…
Why Visual Studio Code?
Visual Studio Code provides developers with a new choice of developer tool that combines the simplicity and streamlined experience of a code editor with the best of what developers need for their core code-edit-debug cycle. Visual Studio Code is the first code editor, and first cross-platform development tool – supporting OSX, Linux, and Windows – in the Visual Studio family. At its heart, Visual Studio Code features a powerful, fast code editor great for day-to-day use. The Preview release of Code already has many of the features developers need in…
Microsoft announces Microsoft Edge
Today at Build 2015 in San Francisco, Microsoft announced its new Web browser called Microsoft Edge. This is the browser formerly known as Project Spartan. Microsoft Edge, the new default browser will ship on all Windows 10 devices including PCs, tablets, smartphones, and Microsoft’s own tablet, Surface. Microsoft Edge is the all-new Windows 10 browser built to give you a better web experience. Write directly on webpages and share your mark-ups with others. Read online articles free of distraction or use the offline reading feature for greater convenience. Microsoft Edge…
First screenshot of Windows Phone 10
Setting page: now a nice and clear page Outlook Mail: cute and easy to use Cortana: if Cortana understand me, it’ll be better 🙂 Outlook Calendar: ooohhh!
Apple sides with Microsoft in closely watched patent dispute with Google
Lawyers for Microsoft and Google will appear Wednesday morning at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in a long-running dispute over patents that were originally owned by cell phone maker Motorola Mobility. But this is no ordinary patent showdown. Other tech companies are watching the case closely for its potential to set a precedent for negotiations over “standard-essential patents” or “SEPs” — technologies required to implement industry standards. The case has already created some unusual alliances. Apple (PDF) and T-Mobile (PDF) are among the companies siding with Microsoft in the case,…
Microsoft announces Windows 10 release set for this summer in 190 countries
Microsoft plans to release Windows 10 this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages, the company announced today, though a specific date was not named. In a blog post on the Windows website, Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft’s operating systems team, didn’t elaborate on the release time frame beyond saying it was shared at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event in Shenzhen, China, today. The time frame aligns with an earlier Neowin report that the company is planning to finish the operating system in June to ready it for consumer…
Log record changes in SQL server in an audit table
How to implement a log record changes in SQL server in an audit table and Entity Framework. This is the easy explanation and the code