Although Microsoft has never not been a hardware company, it's software has always been its bread and butter. Its tablet drive in the early ‘oos never really gathered much steam and the Zune series was hardly a game changer. However it's had much more success in recent years with its Surface …
Read More »The Hololens dev kit will be available early next year
Microsoft surprised us all back in January when it showed off the Hololens for the first time. Since then, the company has put a ton of effort in to showing off interesting demos for the device, including ones based around Halo and Minecraft at E3. Now, developers know exactly when …
Read More »110 million devices are already running Windows 10
Microsoft has revealed that 110 million devices have already made the jump to Windows 10, just a few months after its original launch at the end of July this year. Now the company just has another 900 million devices to go before it hits the 1 billion device target it …
Read More »Microsoft wants to use machine learning to improve battery life
Over the last few years as our portable devices get more and more powerful, battery life has started to take a bit of a hit and unfortunately, nobody has quite figured out how to make bigger, longer-lasting batteries for super thin and light products yet. As a result, companies have …
Read More »All Xbox One controllers will soon be remappable
Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One Elite controller has a lot of cool benefits, like higher quality build materials, extra trigger switches on the back and replacement thumbsticks and buttons, but perhaps the most exciting feature is that users can remap the gamepad's functions. The only real downside is that it's much …
Read More »Intel alters design of ‘Skylake’ processors to enhance security
Intel Corp. has announced that starting from late October it will ship new processors based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture with enabled Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) technology. The new central processing units will feature new S-Spec and MM numbers, but will continue to use the same physical dies as existing CPUs. …
Read More »Microsoft has acquired the Havok physics engine from Intel
Microsoft has revealed that it has completed its acquisition of the Havok Physics engine and animation software from Intel. You will likely recognize the Havok logo from many games, the engine has been used in more than six hundred titles over the years and now it is in Microsoft's hands. Recent …
Read More »Microsoft has a bunch of Xbox One bundles for the holiday season
The end of the year is approaching, which means lots of video game releases in the lead up to Christmas. The holiday season also tends to be the time for deals and console bundles, of which Microsoft has announced quite a few. Anyone looking to buy an Xbox One this …
Read More »Google and Microsoft call a truce on in-progress lawsuits
Google and Microsoft have called a truce on their legal battles in the US and Germany, spanning across many lawsuits all in regards to certain patents and royalties- perhaps Apple and Samsung could find some inspiration here. Some of the lawsuits concerned Xbox technology, while others were related to mobile …
Read More »Microsoft lists flagship Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL online
Microsoft jumped the gun a bit and went live with a listing for the Lumia 950 flagship Windows smartphone today, ahead of its official announcement. There were two devices, the Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950XL, which we have hears about thanks to previous leaks and rumours. The prices weren't …
Read More »Intel Pentium ‘Skylake’ processors make it to retail
The most affordable microprocessors based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture have finally managed to reach the market. The new Intel Pentium G4500T is now sold in select stores in Tokyo, Japan, and is expected to become available in other parts of the world, making low-cost PCs featuring the latest micro-architecture from Intel …
Read More »HP unveils entry-level workstation with Xeon Skylake, DDR4, fast SSDs
Hewlett-Packard has introduced its new-generation entry-level Z-series workstations that use a variety of new technologies, including Intel Corp.’s latest microprocessors. The new machines can run serious tasks, yet they feature compact sizes and relatively affordable price-points. The HP Z240 Tower and Z240 SFF [small form-factor] workstations are based on Intel’s …
Read More »AMD’s talks with private equity firm Silver Lake stalled – report
The discussions between Advanced Micro Devices and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners have stalled because the two companies have failed to agree on the price and the future of AMD. The chip designer is reportedly considering other options. Silver Lake was interested to acquire a 25 per cent stake …
Read More »Project Spark drops micro-transactions, cancels DLC plans
Last year, Microsoft tried something a little different with Project Spark, a game in which players were given control to create their own levels and adventures. The initial game was free to play, though there were DLC plans in place and additional assets for the game could be bought to …
Read More »Microsoft gets slap on wrist from Chinese authorities over anti-trust
Giant tech firms have a history of getting hit with gut-shots during anti-trust cases, facing massive criticism and huge fines, but Microsoft seems to have mostly skated in its latest case in China, where it was given only a minor fine for breaching anti-trust law, as it was said not …
Read More »Intel: Usage of DDR3 at default voltages can damage “Skylake”
Intel Corp.’s latest “Skylake” processors officially support only DDR3L and DDR4 memory, but there are motherboards for the new chips that can also use DDR3. While the chips can work with previous-gen memory, prolonged usage of such dynamic random access memory (DRAM) can damage microprocessors, according to Intel. DDR4 memory …
Read More »Halo 6 is already being planned out, along with the next ten years of Halo
Halo 5: Guardians is just on the horizon but Microsoft and 343 Industries are already planning for the future. Not only is Halo 6 already in the planning stages, but so is the next ten years of the franchise. 343 Industries' own Frank O'Connor and Bonnie Ross have discussed the …
Read More »Minecraft is coming to the Oculus Rift after all
Back when Facebook originally acquired Oculus, quite a few people took issue with it, one person being Markus Persson, the man behind Minecraft. At the time, Persson cancelled his version of Minecraft for the Oculus Rift but things have changed since then, Mojang has since been sold to Microsoft, Persson …
Read More »Windows update disables SafeDisc DRM in Windows Vista/7/8
Earlier this year, it was discovered that Windows 10 doesn't support SafeDisc or SecuROM DRM software, which also means that games or software using those forms of DRM won't run without some tinkering. Microsoft did this for security purposes as these forms of DRM aren't entirely secure. Now, a similar …
Read More »Valve: DirectX 12 does not make a lot of sense, Vulkan does
Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface promises to significantly improve performance of video games in Windows 10 operating system thanks to efficient usage of modern hardware. However, Valve Software believes that it makes no sense to use DX12, but to utilize cross-platform Vulkan API instead. Modern application programming interfaces – …
Read More »Intel drained PC channel inventory to speed up transition to ‘Skylake’, Windows 10
Sales of personal computers have been sluggish in the recent quarters, which decreased revenue of PC makers and PC hardware manufacturers. Apparently, Intel Corp. has prepared for slow demand for PCs and significantly reduced shipments of its central processing units in the first half of the year, draining inventory at …
Read More »Skype is back up and running after yesterday’s widespread outage
Skype has had its service restored back to normal, following yesterday's widespread outage that affected users across the world. Skype initially went down early yesterday morning, though the team behind the communication app were quick to work on it, though it took most of the day. Skype announced that its …
Read More »Microsoft’s Elite controller finally has a release date
Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Elite controller finally has a release date. The new peripheral, which was announced back at E3 and is touted as one of the most customizable controllers currently available, was announced back at E3 and was previously scheduled to launch in September, though that has now been pushed …
Read More »Skype is suffering from a service outage across the world
Skype is down right now for many users. The communication service has been down since earlier this morning here in the UK and now it seems that people are being affected across the world. Those affected by the on-going issues won't be able to make any calls, all contacts will …
Read More »TellTale’s Minecraft: Story Mode is releasing next month
Another game has been added to the busy October release line-up. This time it's TellTale's Minecraft: Story Mode, which was announced earlier this year. The game will be similar to TellTale's other titles in that it will also be a point and click adventure. The game is launching on the …
Read More »Microsoft to unveil its Windows 10 mobile devices in early October
Microsoft Corp. on Monday sent invitations to an event, where it plans to introduce its mobile devices running Windows 10 operating system. The list of gadgets is expected to include the company’s new Surface tablet, Lumia smartphones and a fitness tracker. “We're eager to share some exciting news about Windows …
Read More »Dell is launching a Windows tablet of its own
On the back of news that Dell and Microsoft have teamed up to push the Surface Pro 3 for enterprise use, leaked internal slides show that Dell has a Windows tablet of its own up its sleeve. The XPS 12 is going to be a Surface-like Windows tablet, with an …
Read More »Microsoft to send out invites for new Xbox dashboard
The Xbox One is set to get some huge updates in November. Not only is backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games coming to the console, but the entire user interface is getting an overhaul, with a brand new dashboard, powered by Windows 10. Microsoft has been showing it off for …
Read More »Apple’s iPad Pro and productivity tablets could be threat for Intel – Analyst
If Apple manages to popularize its iPad Pro tablet among professionals, then over time such devices could expand their market presence and compete against various notebooks and 2-in-1s based on microprocessors from Intel Corp. Even though Apple’s iPad Pro introduced this week leverages Apple iOS ecosystem, the new product does …
Read More »Windows 10 might be downloading on to PCs without consent
If you have been ignoring the little upgrade to Windows 10 prompt since the OS launched at the end of July, you may actually find that it has already downloaded and stored itself on to your system to save time, just in-case you decide to make the jump. If you …
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