Wayne Williams

Yesterday, Microsoft released a new Windows 10 Insider Preview build for PCs. That version was Build 10166. Today, the software giant releases a new Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview, with the same build number. Try not to get the two confused.

The new mobile build is rolling out to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring now, and like its PC number-sake, it offers lots of small changes and feature tweaks, although the focus is mostly now on improving stability and squashing bugs. The Mobile release won’t be happening any time soon, but Microsoft is clearly keen to get all of the major issues dealt with quickly.

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The Lumia 735 was added to Verizon Wireless’s line up last month, but was only available to purchase online. Today, that changes and you can now pick up the smartphone from any of Big Red’s brick and mortar stores.

If you’ve had your eye on the phone for a while, there are some incentives being offered to help push you into making the move.

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Last week, Windows Insiders on the Fast ring were treated to three new builds of Windows 10. As you’d expect, with the launch date getting ever nearer, things are seriously accelerating. New ISOs of the latest build, 10162, were pushed out soon after, followed by the same build becoming available to Insiders on the Slow ring.

Today, after a short wait, the new releases continue, with Windows 10 Build 10166 arriving on the Fast ring. As you’d expect, there are no major changes. It is, as Microsoft describes it, all about "bug fixing and fit-and-finish" from here on. One big change is that the Xbox Music app has been rebranded, and now appears as Groove Music.

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If you do a lot of traveling -- especially when covering long distances -- taking some form of entertainment with you to help while away the hours is a must. You can load a laptop, tablet or smartphone with movies and TV episodes, but if you want to download or stream additional media while away from home, you’ll find yourself at the mercy of whatever connections are available to you.

Location-based retail entertainment download service Digiboo is aiming to make it much easier -- and faster -- to download movies and TV shows when on the go. Announced today, Digiboo Zones, is a speedy download service that will allow travelers to download content to mobile devices in around a minute.

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Windows 10 Build 10162 was released to Fast ring Insiders five days ago, the third new build to appear in a week. A day later, and Microsoft released ISOs of it, so anyone could install the new version, although there was still no official release to Slow ring Insiders.

Thankfully, Microsoft has deemed the latest build to be stable enough for all, and finally pushed out the update to those Insiders who prefer to receive stable builds.

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Microsoft has been very busy this week rolling out three new builds to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring. However, Slow ring Insiders haven’t had much to get excited about.

Well, today that changes as Microsoft has released ISOs for the latest build, 10162. The Slow ring release of the build hasn’t happened yet, but it’s safe to say it will be pushed out shortly, possibly later today.

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Forget desktops and laptops, the future of computing appears to be flash drive-sized sticks that you plug into a TV or screen. Quite a few companies are making these now, including ARCHOS, Lenovo and Intel.

Intel's Compute Stick, which comes with either Windows 8.1 or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on board, was first announced six months ago, with the Windows version going on sale in April. It’s taken a while, but Canonical announces the Ubuntu version will finally be available globally from next week, priced at around $110.

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In a new blog post, Windows chief Terry Myerson has detailed how Microsoft will be rolling out Windows 10 to the world.

The process begins with Microsoft giving a build of the new OS to its OEM partners. If you thought getting the OS ready for a July 29 launch was going to be tight, bear in mind OEMs will have the OS quite a bit before then. After that, retailers around the world will get their copies in order to upgrade customer devices. And then Windows Insiders will get their copies, starting on July 29. Yes, Myerson says "starting" on that date. There’s no guarantee you’ll get the OS at the end of the month.

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Apple Music comes with a free three-month trial which, according to some people who haven't been paying proper attention, is something Taylor Swift arranged with Apple. Thanks Taylor. Three months is a good amount of time to try out the service, but Apple automatically signs you up for an auto-renewal payment option. So when the trial comes to an end, you’ll start paying for the service, regardless of whether you're still using it or not.

If you’d rather decide for yourself when (or not) to join up as a paying member, rather than being forced into it, it’s easy enough to turn off the auto renewal, although the process is far from obvious.

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Windows 8.x enjoyed a good month in May. The tiled operating system finally overtook Windows XP for the first time in six months -- its gains coming mostly at the expense of Windows 7. But it was all change again in June according to the latest usage stats from web analytics firm NetMarketShare.

The latest figures show Windows 8.x losing share -- or business as usual you might say -- going from 16.63 percent to 16.02 percent. That’s a drop of 0.61 percentage points. Windows 8.1 actually gained 0.24 percentage points, but Windows 8 lost 0.85 percentage points. Still overall it remains comfortably ahead of XP now, so there's that consolation prize.

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Apple Music launched yesterday and Oxford University's TheySay sentiment analysis company monitored Twitter to work out the overall feeling towards the new service. When the firm monitored the sentiment towards Apple’s WWDC keynote three weeks ago, the announcement of Apple Music received an overall 85 percent approval rating from tweeters, but now that it’s here, the actual service is proving far less popular.

Dr Karo Moilanen, Oxford University professor and co-founder of TheySay, observed: "Compared to the sky-high positive sentiment ratings that Apple products and announcements typically reach on Twitter, this time Apple Music invoked a healthy dose of strong negative sentiment (ca. 24 percent) amongst tweeters".

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While you can use the DNS servers provided by your Internet Service Provider -- and the majority of web users do -- switching to an alternative DNS can deliver speed and reliability improvements, as well as additional features like phishing protection, parental controls, improved security and more. It might also help you bypass Geoblocked and censored content.

OpenDNS is the go-to DNS service for millions of people around the world. It is, in OpenDNS’s own words, "the world’s most loved and trusted DNS service". Today, however, Cisco announces intent to acquire OpenDNS. Will that change your mind on how you view the service?

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If you’re a big fan of the Raspberry Pi, as we are, there’s a good chance you might have downloaded The MagPi digital magazine before. This is an official magazine packed with builds, hacks and step-by-step tutorials.

It’s always been very popular (partly due to being free of course), with over 100,000 downloads for issue 31 alone. And now the Raspberry Pi Foundation is going to start printing copies of a bigger and better version of the mag and distributing it in the US and UK, starting from 30 July.

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The path to a free copy of Windows 10 should be very straightforward, but Microsoft has made it more confusing than necessary by making several contradictory statements.

In a nutshell (as it stands at the moment), if you have a valid installation of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 then you can upgrade to the new OS for free, provided you do so before July 29 2016. If you don’t upgrade in that time frame you’ll need to purchase a license. This will set you back $119 for the Home edition or $199 for the Pro version. If you’re a Windows Insider you can continue getting free beta builds, license free. Still confused? We’ve put together a simple flowchart to help you work out if you’re eligible for the free upgrade or not.

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Over the weekend Microsoft had several stabs at explaining who will get Windows 10 for free come July 29. Previously we’d been told users would need a valid Windows 7 or 8.1 license, but three days ago Microsoft said anyone running a Windows Insider build of the new OS would get the final release too -- no license required. Great news for anyone on XP or Vista.

Then Microsoft backtracked a bit, suggesting a license was needed. But Windows Insider chief Gabriel Aul, chipping in on Twitter, seemed to contradict that by suggesting Insiders would get it free, so again no license required. Finally, Microsoft clarified things, but even then it did so in a slightly muddled way. And this isn’t even the first time Microsoft has confused would-be users of its future operating system.

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