Microsoft has been getting pretty aggressive with its pricing recently, once Titanfall launched, the Xbox One dropped in price to £399.99 and now the Titanfall bundle has been cut down further to match the PS4 at £349,99, which is closing in on £100 off of the console's original launch price. …
Read More »Microsoft Surface 2 4G gets UK release date
The 4G version of Microsoft's much improved Surface 2 tablet will be coming to the UK next month, Microsoft has confirmed. Currently only WiFi models are available and with networks getting stricter on mobile tethering, its getting harder to use your tablet to get online while on the road. The …
Read More »Nokia-Microsoft transaction nearly complete after China okays the deal
Nokia Corp. has announced that the Chinese anti-trust authorities have approved the sale of its devices and services division to Microsoft Corp. Essentially, this means that the transaction between the two companies is complete as by now the two were authorized by the majority of the world’s regulators. Nokia and …
Read More »Kapersky on XP end of life compound problems
Today is the day that Microsoft officially ends support for Windows XP, one of its most popular pieces of software ever and of course, everyone is trying to scare up a storm so that in the wake of no more patches, you buy something to protect yourself. And Kapersky is …
Read More »Microsoft Office apps for iPad hit 12 million downloads
Microsoft Corp. has announced that its Office applications for Apple iPad were downloaded more than 12 million times in just one week. At present, the Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint applications are top free apps in Apple’s AppStore. But is 12 million really a lot? “More than 12 million downloads …
Read More »Microsoft shows off Cloud gaming tech demo
Microsoft has shown off a tech demo for its cloud computing technology at its yearly Build Developers Conference this week. Microsoft has talked about cloud computing and its ability to help systems run games better for some time now but had yet to really show gamers any proof. Titanfall is …
Read More »Microsoft officially announces its answer to Siri- Cortana
It has been rumoured for a while but Microsoft has finally officially revealed Cortana, the Windows Phone version of Siri or Google Now. The Halo AI inspired voice assistant will be available in the next Windows Phone 8.1 update which is due to arrive in the US in beta form …
Read More »Microsoft to drop Windows license fees for select devices
Microsoft Corp. announced at the Build 2014 conference on Wednesday that it would waive licensing fees for special versions of Windows operating systems for select devices. Microsoft wants to enable partners to offer lower-cost systems in the highly competitive smartphone, tablet and PC categories. Microsoft Windows will be available for …
Read More »Microsoft readies ‘Windows on Devices’, teams up with Intel
What do smartwatches, intelligent coffee mugs, robots and smart goggles have in common? It looks like Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have an answer: Intel chips and Windows software inside. At the Build 2014 conference, the two companies indicated they would team up for wearable devices, tiny intelligent electronics, robots …
Read More »Xbox’s Ed Fries thinks VR will be a bust, like 3D
There's a lot of talk of Virtual Reality at the moment, with the announcement of Facebook's Oculus acquisition, Sony's debut of the Morpheus prototype and the news that there's a new kid on the block, the next year is looking quite exciting for VR enthusiasts. However, not everyone thinks the …
Read More »GlobalFoundries to make semi-custom APUs, CPUs, GPUs for AMD
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced plans to slightly boost its purchase commitment from GlobalFoundries by around $50 million this year compared to last year. As part of the agreement, the contract maker of chips will manufacture not only its traditional central processing units (CPUs) and accelerated processing units (APUs) …
Read More »Xbox head vows to bring leading games to all Microsoft platforms
Satya Nadella, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., continues to re-appoint executives in an attempt to create an efficient executive team at the software giant. In addition to the new team, we are starting to see changes that Mr. Nadella wants to bring to Microsoft. For example, …
Read More »Microsoft may launch Windows Phone 8.1 later this month
Although the code-named “Blue” updates were supposed to modernize virtually all products and services offered by Microsoft Corp., the Windows Phone still has not received its updates nearly half a year after the launch of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1. However, the wait seems to be nearly over as, …
Read More »Microsoft spends $150 million on wearable tech assets
Microsoft is starting to make moves in the wearable tech and virtual reality space as it has reportedly spent $150 million on augmented reality and head-mounted computing technology patents. The intellectual properties and patents were bought from Osterhout Design Group, a not so well known tech company that worked with industrial …
Read More »Qualcomm confirms plans to support Microsoft DirectX 12
Although Qualcomm took part in the announcement of Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface, the company’s plans regarding support of the new API were not completely clear. Last week an executive of Qualcomm confirmed that the future Adreno graphics cores will fully support DirectX 12. The current Snapdragon 800 …
Read More »Microsoft reveals the new Kinect for Windows
Microsoft has unveiled the new Kinect sensor for Windows which for the most part, looks the same as the Kinect sensor for Xbox One with just a few differences. The new Kinect requires two other pieces of hardware to work properly: the hub and the power supply, which come included …
Read More »Dell licenses Android-, Chrome- and Xbox-related patents from Microsoft
Dell and Microsoft this week announced a patent licensing agreement that covers a broad set of intellectual property and also causes a lot of questions. Under the terms of the deal, Dell will obtain licenses to use Microsoft IP that covers Google Android and Chrome platforms. Moreover, Dell may get …
Read More »Microsoft launches free Office for Apple iPad, but there is a catch
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday made several announcements regarding Office suite applications for Apple iOS and Google Android mobile platforms. The company introduced Office for the iPad and free Office Mobile apps for iPhone and Android smartphones. While the applications are free to get, Microsoft requires Office 365 subscription to actually …
Read More »Founder of Oculus VR: Facebook – a better home than Apple or Microsoft
The acquisition of Oculus VR company by Facebook caught everyone in the industry by surprise. It took just around two years between collecting money for the start-up on Kickstarter and selling it for whopping $2 billion of dollars. Still many gamers and enthusiasts are not happy with the deal. Palmer …
Read More »Microsoft hints at digital sharing comeback
When the Xbox One was first announced, being able to digitally share games with friends and family was one of the few stand out features the console had that gamers supported. However, upon being forced to reverse its online policies, Microsoft removed the sharing feature and until now, we had …
Read More »Linkin Park uses Project Spark for new video
Project Spark, currently in open beta, gives ‘players' the ability to craft whole game worlds with its developer like ability set and it's already offering up some impressive experiences, with people developing whole other games like Tetris and Minecraft within it. But now Linkin Park has shown an affinity for …
Read More »New hardware will be needed to take fully advantage of DirectX 12
Although Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface will significantly improve performance of currently available hardware and most likely will enable new level of graphics quality, to fully benefit from the potential of the new API, new hardware will be needed, according to an Nvidia Corp.’s representative. Tony Tamasi, senior …
Read More »Microsoft and Nokia deal won’t close until April
Microsoft's $7.17 billion Nokia buyout deal was announced late last year, the deal was expected to finally close this month however, regulators have delayed the finalisation until April as a few more approvals need to be made. Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Brad Smith, announced the small delay in a blog …
Read More »Microsoft sees early access as ‘ripe for innovation’
It seems that Microsoft has noticed how successful some of Steam's early access titles have become, as it expressed interest in the business model at the Game Developers Conference last week. Microsoft Game Studio boss, Phil Spencer, said that early access is “ripe for innovation on Xbox One”, however, that …
Read More »Microsoft: We have been playing with VR technology for quite a while
Microsoft Corp. has been quiet about virtual reality technologies and their support by its new-generation Xbox One console. However, it would be short-sighted to think that the company has not played with the tech. It certainly has. Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Game Studios, confirmed this during a conversation …
Read More »Native DirectX 12 games to emerge in late 2015 – reports
While Microsoft Corp. revealed yesterday that it will release preview version of its DirectX 12 application programming interface this year, its press materials did not disclose when to expect the final version of the API and games that take complete advantage of it. According to various media reports, it looks …
Read More »Microsoft unwraps DirectX 12 for PCs, tablets, smartphones and Xbox
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday unveiled DirectX 12, the latest incarnation of one of the world’s most popular application programming interfaces. The new API can not only greatly improve rendering performance, but to also bring top-notch quality graphics to all Microsoft platforms, including personal computers, tablets/smartphones and even Xbox One. One …
Read More »Ex-Microsoft employee arrested for leaking company secrets
Alex Kibkalo, an ex Microsoft employee has been arrested on suspicion of stealing trade secrets and then leaking them to the public before release. According to Seattle PI, Kibkalo began leaking Windows code as well as the company's internal system used to combat piracy in the summer of 2012 after …
Read More »Huawei denies plans to release dual-OS smartphone
Huawei, a top maker of smartphones, has denied plans to release a handset with two operating systems, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone. Instead, the China-based manufacturer intends to keep offering phones with Android and Windows Phone, but separately. Last week it turned out that Huawei was going to release …
Read More »Titanfall 2 will be multi-platform, EA to publish
Titanfall is obviously a success. Obviously. Which is why it's no suprise that reports are circulating that EA has already secured the publishing rights to the sequel and it's going to be multi-platform. That means it'll be breaking free of its current Microsoft chains and show up on the PS4 …
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