Latest Technology News

Microsoft has released Windows Essentials 2012 for Windows 7 and 8 users, but drops support for Vista. The new version drops “Live” branding and features notable new capabilities and improvements to its multimedia tools, Photo Gallery and Movie Maker.

The suite also drops Windows Live Mesh for the SkyDrive file-syncing tool. In addition, it includes Mail, Messenger, Writer, Family Safety and Outlook Connector Park, all of which feature in previous releases.

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced the opening of the Windows Phone Development Center. This is good news for Windows Phone Apps developers because they now have one location where they can submit apps and get SDKs. Since Microsoft has been engaged in the development of Windows Phone apps, the one area that may have been holding them back is a unified location to make the app development process easily available.

The new site is an evolution of the previous App Hub developer portal. The new site provides everything developers need to build, publish, and manage apps for Windows Phones around the world. After engaging in planning and attention along with developer feedback, it has new features to help make Windows Phone app development faster and more profitable.

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We’re only into the second week of the "patent trial of the century" but we’ve already been granted an unprecedented peek behind the curtain into the notoriously secretive world of Apple Inc. Here, in no particular order, are ten of the most fascinating reveals from the trial to date.

Steve Jobs was open to the idea of a seven inch iPad

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London-based startup Ginjex launched its "real-time availability engine" in Beta on Wednesday, providing small and independent businesses a place to list their availability live so customers can get the services they need exactly when they need them.

Bringing goods from website to consumer has become a mind-bending race to see who can get there the fastest. Zappos set a standard for speed with its common next-day delivery upgrades, and Amazon Prime offers subscribers next- and second day shipments on all purchases for just a couple of dollars, where just a few years ago, such rapid delivery used to tack on a significant extra cost.

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Despite proceedings being almost over, the Oracle v. Google trial took an unexpected turn yesterday, on August 7. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered both parties to come forward with the names of the people they paid that could make public comments related to the case in point, according to a court order released yesterday.

Judge William Alsup gave an order of disclosure for financial relationships concerning the involvement of commentators on case-related issues. The court order includes print and Internet authors, bloggers, commentators and journalists that have published, or may in the future publish comments related to the issues in this case.

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The Office Store, Microsoft’s integrated product into Office 2013 is open. Office's new web apps come from the Office Store, where you can purchase add-ins or install free tools. The program became available this week to users with a Microsoft account and a preview version of Office, SharePoint or Exchange. For developers, the store presents a new and large opportunity to increase their income through sales.

From a user’s standpoint a lot of time is spent using the Microsoft Office suite. That is spending time reading through email, writing reports, analyzing data, preparing sales figures or sharing proposals with others team. There are many critical tools and many critical information sources live on the web or in applications outside of Office. So part of the idea behind the Office Store is so users could integrate different elements of the web with the internal elements of Office and SharePoint.

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As screen capturing power goes, there’s no doubt that the standard Windows PrintScreen function is horribly basic. But some third-party capture tools head in the other direction, weighing you down with a host of overcomplicated options which you’ll probably never use at all.

If your needs are more straightforward, then, you might prefer something like Gadwin PrintScreen, which provides a good set of basic screengrab functions, yet always remains relatively lightweight and easy to use.

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Hyper-V, Microsoft’s answer to VMware, a virtual machine system has been around since Server 2008. And earlier versions of Microsoft virtual machines have been around since Server 2003, so the software is not new. But Microsoft’s latest version which comes out with Windows 8 as Server 2012 will introduce new features to Microsoft's server operating system.

Microsoft came into the virtual machine system market late, and VMware has been the dominant company running the software for about 10 years. But Microsoft is making tremendous strides in trying to catch up. So when Server 2008 was released, you could set up various virtual machines in the system and run different programs simultaneously, never affecting the host computer. A virtual machine is software that mimics an operating system, thereby allowing a “computer” to run inside a computer. So you can have Vista running in an XP system, and neither operating system will interfere with the other.

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The Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 3.6, a major upgrade which introduces a host of important and very welcome new features.

If document sharing is top of your priority list, for instance, you'll appreciate the suite's new ability to import Corel Draw files. Regular DOCX and CSV import has been significantly improved, PDF export now supports watermarks, and major performance enhancements mean importing many file types is now substantially faster.

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Starbucks Coffee Company and mobile payments startup Square on Wednesday announced a broad interconnected partnership which includes Starbucks investing $25 million in Square as part of the startup’s Series D financing round, Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz joining Square’s Board of Directors, and Square's mobile payments and credit transaction platform being used in U.S. Starbucks stores.

Starbucks customers will be able to use Square's "Pay with Square" mobile app, available on both Android and iPhone, at U.S. Starbucks stores later this fall, and find nearby Starbucks locations within Square Directory. Square will also take on the processing of Starbucks U.S. credit and debit card transactions.

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Almost everyone who uses a computer or mobile device these days is familiar with apps and app stores. Back in the day, computers used to have "programs," and it was even once seen as fairly progressive to venture out onto the web and download something for yourself. No longer is this the case. Users are happy using app stores, and such mechanisms are almost expected on any new platform.

Microsoft was fairly slow to the app game. It never really had a successful phone platform with which to experiment in the way Apple did. Steps have now been taken in Redmond though, and the Windows 8 app store is expected to play a big role in the day to day use of the new operating system. SharePoint 2013, recently previewed by Microsoft and currently in the hands of excited enterprise testers the world over, now also has its own app store. However I can’t help but think, in its current guise, it is a missed opportunity.

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Although online gambling is essentially illegal in most US states, in the UK it’s both very popular and well-regulated. Facebook has been in discussion with a number of UK-based operators about introducing real-money games to the social network since last summer, and the first of what will likely become a deluge of gambling apps has finally arrived on the site. The new game, from UK-based Gamesys, is called Bingo and Slots Friendzy and will allow British users aged 18 and over (and in possession of a credit card) to play for real cash prizes while chatting with friends. As is the case with most online gambling games in the UK, this one comes with a big cash incentive for new players. Deposit £10 to get £30 to wager.

Commenting on the launch, Facebook’s Head of EMEA Gaming Partnerships, Julien Codorniou, said, "People love playing new types of games with their friends on Facebook and real money gaming is a popular leisure activity in the UK. We’re delighted to be working with Gamesys to enable them to offer their games on Facebook so that people can enjoy playing more games with their friends."

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Acer CEO JT Wang has been quoted as saying Microsoft's Surface could have a negative impact on the Windows ecosystem, frustrate OEMs, and potentially have far-flung negative consequences. Why is there a problem when Microsoft wants to set a standard in both hardware and software? Windows Phone, Surface, and Signature represent a generational shift in Microsoft’s thinking related to operating systems, hardware, and the intended software experience. This is the Microsoft that should surface (no pun intended) from every interaction with one of their products, and who’s to say that’s not a good thing?

When Microsoft announced Surface, I immediately saw great potential for people like me who need advanced software to perform real tasks that require an intensive use of resources. But at the same time, Microsoft Surface gave a glimpse of what’s to come: Microsoft can actually make hardware to its own specifications and design. It is an approach that has been slowly coming to the front with Microsoft which began three years ago, before the debut of the first Windows Phone. Working closely with HTC, Microsoft could make sure the hardware performed in such a way that its software looked better.

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Choice. It’s something that all free people crave. We want the right to choose, whether it’s what we eat, where we live or how we arrange our furniture. Generally speaking, we don’t like being told what to do. Nor do we like it when some impersonal agency imposes its will upon our freedoms.

Case in point: Microsoft’s decision to force users to boot to the Windows 8 Start Screen. Instead of giving us the option (choice) of going directly to the desktop, Microsoft divisional president Steven Sinofsky and friends are saying it’s “their way or the highway”. Any attempts to deviate from their approved usage model will not be tolerated, and if you try to code around us, we’ll shut you down. Period.

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Cloud-based customer service startup Freshdesk on Tuesday announced the availability of the HTML5-based mobile app version of its helpdesk solution called FreshMobile. Like Salesforce's recently launched Desk.com mobile support solution, FreshMobile hooks up with the Freshdesk CRM system and lets agents resolve customer queries from any mobile device.

The idea behind FreshMobile is that it makes mobile support possible while working within the constraints of a mobile device. Freshdesk agents can create, save and reuse canned response templates for replying to tickets from their mobile device. The application also introduces a feature called "Solution Suggest," which uses previous activity to learn the most likely course of action on a given support ticket.

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