Here’s what’s new in the latest build of Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 will likely hit the RTM milestone in the next couple of weeks but a new version of the forthcoming operating system -- build 9471 -- has leaked onto the internet, revealing a few interesting changes and additions to the official Windows 8.1 Preview released two months ago.
Don’t expect a genuine Start button, or a raft of exciting new apps -- Microsoft isn’t about to reinvent the wheel this close to RTM. However, the software giant has introduced one big new addition which might appeal to anyone thinking of migrating to the tiled OS, as well as a selection of smaller changes.
Microsoft’s new tablet ads -- comparing apples with lemons
This week Microsoft rolled out two new video adverts -- one pitting Surface RT against the iPad, and the other putting the Acer Iconia W3 next to the iPad mini. The adverts follow the same format as previously with a side by side look at the features on offer.
Of course the comparisons aren’t fair. Microsoft picks areas where its tablet/operating system is strongest, and avoids the areas where it’s weakest -- apps and popularity, for example. It’s a lot like comparing apples with oranges (or, yes, lemons in the case of poorly selling Windows devices) and then pointing out that it’s easy to peel an orange, but you need to buy a separate peeler to accomplish the same task on an apple.
The good ship PC continues to sink -- all aboard the tablet lifeboats!
The worldwide PC market continues to experience few signs of growth, with a healthy increase in global tablet shipments merely helping to offset the continuing descent of traditional desktop and notebook systems, according to independent analyst firm Canalys.
While tablet shipments saw a 42.9 percent increase compared with this time last year, desktop and notebook shipments fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent respectively. Total shipments for PCs (Canalys lumps desktops, notebooks and tablets together) delivered a 0.3 percent growth for the year.
Get ready to watch the LG G2 launch live here
LG is set to launch the G2, its new flagship smartphone, in New York later today. The usual raft of pre-launch leaks means we know the device will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, sport a 5.2-inch 1080p display and come with a 13-megapixel camera.
Other details will be revealed by the South Korean electronics giant during the launch event, but if you’re not in New York, or haven’t received an invite to the unveiling, don’t worry -- BetaNews has saved you the best seat in the house.
Yahoo tries on 30 days of new logos to find one that fits
When a company wants to reinvent itself, portray a different direction or show a modernization, the change is usually accompanied by the arrival of a new logo. Microsoft, for example, last year changed its decades old design to reflect its transition into a devices and services company.
Now Yahoo, which under Marissa Mayer is attempting to modernize its image and become more relevant after years of neglect, is planning to change its logo too. No, it’s not going to be swapping the exclamation point for a question mark or anything as interesting as that, but it is going to try on various logo styles.
Surface sales are pathetic
It feels like repeatedly kicking someone when they’re down, but there’s really no other way to describe Windows tablet sales -- both RT and Windows 8 Pro -- other than pathetic and embarrassing for Microsoft. Which is a shame. Surface is a great tablet, Windows 8 on Surface is a good operating system, but people just aren’t buying the device in any great numbers. Well, pre-fire sale at least.
According to a new report from IDC, just 200,000 Windows RT tablets shipped in Q2 2013 (even the ailing BlackBerry PlayBook managed 100,000), and there’s no good news for other Windows tablets either as IDC reports just 1.8 million devices shipped with that OS onboard. Apple, by comparison, shipped 14.6 million iPads in the same quarter.
Nokia parodies iPhone 5 advert, shows off the quality of Lumia 925's camera
Nokia has released a new video comparing the quality of the Lumia 925’s camera with that of the Apple iPhone 5. You don’t need to be a genius to guess which device comes out the clear winner.
Headed "Better Photos Every Day" the video might seem more than a little familiar on first viewing as it parodies Apple's iPhone 5 commercial and starts with a voiceover informing viewers that "every day more photos are taken on the iPhone than any other phone" before stating "at Nokia we prefer to build for quality not just quantity".
Internet Explorer remains three of the top five web browsers
Internet Explorer might no longer hold 96 percent of the browser market like it did back in 2002, but Microsoft’s browser still remains hugely popular. Firefox and Chrome took large bites out of IE’s dominance, but they have yet to topple it, and don’t look set to do so any time soon.
According to new figures from Net Applications, Internet Explorer 8 is the most popular browser on the desktop with 23.52 percent global market share. And it’s not the only incarnation of IE in the top five either.
Soluto for Servers lets you manage Windows servers remotely
I use Soluto to manage my PCs and iOS devices, as well as hardware belonging to a select group of less technically literate friends and family. It’s a handy service that makes it easy to view hardware details of the devices you’re monitoring, as well as cut boot times, manage and update apps, remove unwanted browser extensions, and more.
The firm has just introduced a new feature called Soluto for Servers which adds Windows servers to the list of devices available to manage. You just need to download an installer and run it on each of your servers.
IE11 improves touch experience in Windows 8.1
Internet Explorer is an integral part of Microsoft's tiled operating system, and the software giant has endeavoured to improve the way it handles touch in Windows 8.1, adding new touch elements and improving existing ones.
In a new blog post Microsoft discusses the changes it has made which, if you’re planning on using the OS refresh on a touch enabled device, you’ll likely find both interesting and welcome.
Surface's failure casts yet more doubt on Microsoft's Windows 8 vision
Yesterday a striking fact regarding Surface was revealed in a SEC filing from Microsoft. The software giant's tablet lineup brought in revenue of $853 million in the company's fiscal year 2013 -- just under the embarrassing $900 million Surface-related write off Microsoft declared two weeks ago.
$853 million might sound like quite a lot of money, but what it actually means is the tablet line is a flop, with Microsoft selling just slightly more Surface PCs in a year than Apple shifts iPads in a week.
Microsoft releases Windows 8.1 Enterprise Preview -- available to download now
Microsoft rolled out Windows 8.1 Preview for developers and consumers last month, and now the software giant has followed it up with an enterprise edition.
This differs from the standard Preview release in a number of ways, including introducing additional advanced features such as Windows To Go, Start Screen Control and DirectAccess.
Windows 8 and RT tablets lagging far behind the competition
Windows 8 is an operating system designed for touch PCs, but it's struggling to find a sizeable audience on them. PCs as we know them are on their way out, and tablets are the future, as we've been told time and again by analysts. Figures from the likes of Gartner and IDC clearly back up this sea change.
So if people aren't buying into Microsoft's new OS on regular PCs (with or without touch) then they must be scrambling to buy tablets running Windows 8 and RT surely? Well things don't look too rosy for Microsoft there either.
Government censorship -- no matter how well-intentioned -- can never be a good thing
My colleague Mark Wilson wrote an interesting article on Sunday about the futility of ISPs and governments trying to block pornography. If you’ve been following the news you’ll know the UK government intends to make accessing adult content on the internet "opt in". That's perfectly legal adult content by the way -- not just the nasty stuff.
Mark also worried about where such a move could lead, saying, "In filtering out porn, how could I be sure that whoever is doing the filtering is not also blocking access to other things, be it through a sense of morality, or by simply miscategorizing something?" Which, it turns out, could be truer than he knew.
Microsoft adds child abuse warnings to Bing
Bing has become the first of the big search engines to display pop up warnings whenever anyone from the UK uses it to look for child abuse images.
When someone enters any of the keywords from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop)’s blacklist into the search site a warning will be displayed informing them that "Child abuse material is illegal" and providing help and advice from Stopitnow.org.
Wayne's Bio
Wayne Williams has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for over 30 years now. He’s written for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a fair few of them in his time also. If you like what you read, you can Buy Me a Coffee!
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