Removing the traditional Start button and menu from Windows 8 was a bold move for Microsoft. Unfortunately the tech giant underestimated just how attached to it users were. Rather than embracing the (slightly clumsy) full screen Modern UI, vast numbers of early adopters simply opted to install one of the many Start menus made available by third-party developers.

While most of these programs are straight copies of the Windows 7 Start menu, ReviverSoft has chosen to go down a different route with its product. Start Menu Reviver is a Modern-UI styled touchscreen-friendly Start menu that’s been designed to look as if it’s part of Microsoft’s OS. The recently released Start Menu Reviver 2 improves on the first edition by offering a sleeker design, greater customization, and a Windows 7 mode. I spoke to Davide De Vellis, co-founder of ReviverSoft, about Start Menu Reviver and what he thinks about Microsoft’s plans to introduce a Start menu of its own in a future Windows 8.x.update.

Aesthetics in technology matters. Historically, with the exception of Apple, many technology manufacturers have shipped functional, yet ugly products. While Windows-based desktops are more modern-looking nowadays, we aren't far removed from the days of beige boxes.

In my house, I have an Apple Airport Extreme router. Now, maybe it's insane to spend $200 on a router, but I had my reasons. First of all, it has great speeds and is reliable. The other reason? It's pretty! Yes, that matters as I keep it in my living room. Today, D-Link releases a new line of routers that can match your outfits or your living-room furniture.

Apple iPhone owners have a new lock screen bypass to combat after a security researcher discovered a flaw in the newest version of iOS.

It’s reported that the latest exploit, which is inside iOS 7.1.1, allows someone to reach the iPhone’s Contacts screen without unlocking the device and works across all iPhones that have the Siri personal assistant.

BurnAware Technologies has released BurnAware 7.0 Free, BurnAware 7.0 Premium and BurnAware 7.0 Professional, the latest builds of its free and paid-for disc burning products for Windows.

Version 7 adds a new user interface to all of its tools, plus adds a multi-erase tool for wiping discs simultaneously. It also replaces the built-in file browser with an external file manager.

Every time you use your PC, files are being created, modified or deleted in the background. For the most part you won’t care, but if you’re worried about malware, or wondering what someone else is doing on your system, then it might be interesting to find out exactly what’s being changed.

Enter Whirlpool File Checker, an open source file integrity checker which can scan a set of files and highlight any which are new, or have been changed.

ADW.Launcher developer Ander Webbs has taken to Google+ to share his surprise after finding out his Android app was available in the Nokia Store -- the app store for Nokia X -- seemingly without his permission and without him ever launching the offering there. At first glance it appears Opera, which operates Nokia Store, has jumped the gun by creating an account and uploading the app on his behalf.

Without knowing the context, a number of vocal Google+ users have begun to accuse Nokia of unprofessionalism (bordering on wrongdoing). Fueled by a desire to bring the matter to the public's attention, it has quickly escalated. But, as it turns out, in 2010, Webbs agreed to have ADW.Launcher offered through Handster, which was later purchased by Opera.

Opera has unveiled Opera Developer 23.0, a brand new version of the alpha build of its web browser. Version 23.0 contains little in the way of eye-catching headlines, but has been used to showcase the browser’s new flexibility with regards to web standards.

Its headline feature is support for "unprefixed CSS Transforms", which accompanies another update to the underlying rendering engine.

It is hardly a secret that LG is working on the successor of its G2 flagship, as the South Korean maker has officially announced that the upcoming G3 Android smartphone will be unveiled at a press event later this month. It says so in the description of one of its YouTube videos, a teaser of, you guessed it, the G3, as well as on its Facebook page (and, most likely, every other social media page LG has).

We do not need to speculate on the name (G3, obviously), the day of its presentation (May 27) or even the hour (18:00 GMT, 1 pm EST, 10 am PST). But, not to reveal all its cards before the big night, LG is (for now, at least) still keeping the actual smartphone under wraps. Go figure. We can, however, get a pretty good idea on how the G3 looks and what it offers, as the teaser does reveal plenty of details.

Transferring files between an iPhone and iPad is easy. If you’re running iOS 7 on both devices you can use the AirDrop feature. Transferring files from an Apple device to a PC (and vice versa) is trickier though, and often involves emailing them, or using a cloud drive.

iStick is a clever solution that functions as a USB flash drive, but comes with a Lightning connector on the opposite end, allowing it to be used with iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. As well as transferring files between devices, you can play music or watch movies directly from the iStick.

Microsoft Azure is adding a number of new features to its public cloud offering that provide customers with extra security protection and disaster recovery improvements.

The firm told attendees at its TechEd conference in Houston that a glut of new features will include enhanced malware protection, performance protection for virtual machines as well as various parts of the product being refreshed, according to Cloud Pro.

It seems that lately, consumers prefer wireless for everything. Sure, wires may look old-school, but I like them. My wired keyboards and mice never run out of juice or have connectivity issues. As great as WiFi is, whenever possible, I try to use ethernet cable too. Despite what some recent DirecTV commercials say, wires are not ugly!

When I use my iPad for creation, I typically use a Bluetooth keyboard with great results. However, the battery on it must be charged, and most of them utilize microUSB. And so, I must remember to pack an extra cable when traveling just in case. Today, accessory-giant Griffin releases the Wired Keyboard for iOS Devices and I am intrigued. Yes, you actually plug a wire into an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

Today's Moto E announcement demonstrates exactly what Lenovo sees in Motorola and illuminates one major reason why purchasing the cellular device company makes so much sense. The affordable phone, at $129 unlocked, targets people who have yet to buy smartphones, but own so-called dumb ones. They make up a huge market, much of it in Lenovo's backyard and largely ignored by Apple.

Smartphones accounted for 62.7 percent of mobile handset shipments during first quarter, up from 50.7 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. But as sales shift to smartphones they also slow in many mature markets, such as the United States where the install base nips 50 percent. Looking ahead, the higher-hanging sales will be the lowest-cost phones, where unlocked matters in many emerging markets, particularly Asia.

Google account holders are warned to be vigilant after an enhanced phishing attack was spotted that can give hackers full access to any user’s account.

Bitdefender, the antivirus security firm, detailed that a hard to spot email is being sent out to customers explaining that they need to increase the email storage quota of the account involved and the threat has so far bypassed Google Chrome’s uniform resource identifiers (URIs).

There are many free web-based email services nowadays. While Gmail is the darling of the internet, it actually kind of sucks. Don't get me wrong, I use Google's mail service regularly, but it is ugly and clunky. Not to mention, the search-giant scans the contents of your messages for advertisement purposes. The rumored redesign can't come soon enough.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has made Outlook.com a pretty wonderful service. It is clean and neat and a joy to use. Best of all, it doesn't scan email contents. Did you know that you can even access Gmail through it? Yup, you can use Outlook's superior UI with Google's mail. Today, Microsoft announces that it is adding even more features, furthering its superiority over Gmail.

Anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the lives of others is in the luck as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed an iPhone app that pairs strangers together for a period of a little under three weeks.

20 Day Stranger, which has been engineered by MIT’s Media Lab, works by pairing up two complete strangers and then sharing random information to each person for a period of 20 days, and the best part is you’ll never have to know the identity of the person on the other end.