Wayne Williams

The first version of Windows I ever installed was Windows 3.1, and the most recent was a leaked build of Windows 8.1. In between those two points I’ve installed every new version of Windows Microsoft has produced, most more times than I care to recall.

The installation process has definitely improved over the years, but I shudder to think how much of my life has been spent waiting for each install and reinstall to complete.

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Microsoft is really pushing Windows 8.1 to businesses. As my colleague Ian Barker reported yesterday, the OS upgrade will offer a raft of new features targeted at the "world of cloud computing and connected devices, with enhancements for bring your own device (BYOD) connectivity, enhanced mobility features and security enhancements".

If the global Windows 8 enterprise adoption data released by SysAid Technologies earlier today is to be believed, the software giant is really going to have its work cut out convincing firms to switch to the divisive OS.

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Eye-Fi memory cards can automatically copy photos from your camera to a wireless enabled device, such as your PC, whenever you get in range. The new Mobi card, announced today, is designed to transfer photos from a camera to any iOS or Android handset.

All you have to do is insert the Mobi card into your camera, and use it as you would any ordinary SD card. Install the free app on your phone and pair it to the Mobi by entering a unique 10 digit code. Once paired, photos and videos can be copied over automatically.

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Today at Computex in Taiwan, Asus announced a lot of new products, including a new MeMO Pad HD 7 tablet.

The Android device is 10.8mm thick and weighs just 302g. It packs a 7-inch 1280 by 800 IPS display with 170-degree wide viewing angle. The device is powered by a Qualcomm quad-core processor, has 1GB of RAM, and features a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera and an optional 5 megapixel rear facing camera.

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Earlier today at Computex 2013, Asus Chairman Jonney Shih revealed a new Transformer Pad Infinity. The refreshed Android tablet/notebook boasts a 10.1-inch screen offering a massive 2,560 by 1,600 resolution. That’s higher than the iPad 4’s 2048 by 1536 retina display.

The device is powered by a quad-core 1.9GHz Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, and comes with 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. You can increase the available storage via the SD card slot built into the companion dock.

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Yesterday my colleague Mark Wilson wrote a scathing article on Gmail’s new tabs feature. In it he complained about the total lack of customization options, the wonky sorting, and most damning of all -- the way it’s no longer possible to tell at a glance exactly how many new messages you have.

This morning, in checking my email -- with the tabs active -- I found another reason to hate the latest addition to the webmail service, and it’s likely the reason that Google even introduced tabs in the first place -- advertising messages in your inbox.

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Antoine Leblond, Microsoft’s corporate VP for Windows Program Management, has today made an official announcement on the Windows Blog detailing some of the many changes we can expect to see in Windows 8.1.

There are no massive surprises in the reveal, which is titled "Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1". We’ve already seen and covered most of them previously. But it is good to finally get an official peek behind the curtain.

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Ringo Starr admits he gets frustrated that all people ever want to talk to him about is The Beatles. The developers of Windows 8 must feel similarly annoyed that despite all the changes in the new OS, all anyone wants to talk about is the Start button.

Windows 8 gets a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong, but the lack of a Start button and menu in the desktop is the one thing that seems to unite all the haters. It’s symbolic of how badly Microsoft judged our attachment to the status quo in its rush to embrace the future. Fortunately with Windows 8.1 Microsoft gets a chance to fix things and give us the OS we should have had in the first place.

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A few years ago, if you wanted to join a website you had to create a brand new account, enter your email address and come up with yet another password to try and remember. That’s all changed of course and now you can log into a vast amount of sites using existing credentials for services like Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Today, Amazon adds itself to the list of services you can use to gain access to other sites with the introduction of Login with Amazon.

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Although Microsoft has yet to officially reveal the price of its next generation games console, Amazon has decided to set the figure at £599.99 on its pre-order page.

This is considerably higher than most people would have expected -- closer to £400 would have been a reasonable guess -- and dwarfs the launch price of the Xbox 360 which cost gamers £209.99 for the core system back in December 2005.

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The Best Windows 8 Launcher, from PRR Apps, is a new app designed to bring the Windows 8 Modern UI experience to Android devices.

It offers two modes -- tablet and mobile -- with full screen support and is highly customizable. There are 150 downloadable images of apps you can use as tile backgrounds, as well as 50 Windows 8 style icons, and widget and live wallpaper support.

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According to a new survey conducted by research firm Ipsos for Microsoft, many employers are at odds with their employees when it comes to social networking.

The global survey, among 9,908 information workers in 32 countries, found that while 46 percent of employees believe social tools help with productivity, 34 percent of companies undervalue the benefit of such technology in the workplace.

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A few days ago, cloud-based PC management service Soluto released a study into the habits of 10,848 Windows 8 users, and found that consumers really aren’t running apps all that regularly on the new operating system.

According to Soluto, "on average, a Windows 8 user will launch a Metro app 1.52 times a day. Tablet users launch the most Metro apps at 2.71 times per day".

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Internet Explorer’s tight integration into Windows 8, coupled with the fact that IE10 is actually pretty good, means the veteran browser is enjoying something of a resurgence these days. Humorous advertising poking fun at the browser’s past (while distancing itself from it) has also encouraged many ex-users to take a fresh look.

I chatted with Internet Explorer’s Marketing Manager Rebecca Wolff about the "Browser you loved to hate" campaign, asked her what major changes we can expect to see in IE11, and found out why embracing web standards is now a major priority for Microsoft.

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The leaked builds of Windows 8.1 provided a pretty strong clue that Microsoft intends to support WebGL in Internet Explorer 11, but so far the software giant has stayed silent on such matters.

However, a new Vine clip -- part of an on-going series titled "Not your Father’s Browser" -- drops a pretty big hint that WebGL (Web Graphics Library) support is definitely on its way.

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