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.

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Ahead of its August 16 launch, Apple reveals details of a takeback program that aims to replace third-party power adapters with authentic units. Concern over the safety of third-party and counterfeit adapters for iPhones, iPads and iPods prompted the scheme, and Apple says any adapters handed in will be "disposed of in an environmentally friendly way".

So what's the incentive for just giving your current adapter to Apple? Well aside from that warm, fluffy feeling that comes from knowing that you're helping to do your little bit for the environment rather than just adding to landfill, Apple has another carrot to dangle.

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Announcing a raft of additions to its Flex System range, IBM aims to help companies consolidate their IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. The new systems combine the latest server technology with updated virtualization, network and management tools. They will allow the fast deployment of increasingly large clouds without needing to boost the size of the data center.

IBM quotes Morgan Stanley's Cloud Perspective survey which has found that by 2014 businesses will have migrated at least 62 percent of their database workloads to the cloud.

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When Nokia unveiled the Lumia 1020, during its "Zoom.Reinvented" press event held in mid-July, the Finnish maker announced that its camera-oriented Windows Phone will initially only be available in the US. Prospective international buyers would have to wait a little longer to get their hands on the new smartphone, with the provided estimate being Q3 -- pretty vague for a launch date -- for China and important European markets.

Good news! UK retailers Clove and Expansys have started taking pre-orders for the Lumia 1020, allowing interested buyers to get the new Windows Phone as soon as it is available -- according to the former, the first batch is expected to arrive in the first week of September. And, both UK retailers offer international shipping, which should come in handy for some.

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The Information Technology (IT) department is the oxygen of the business world. It’s crucial, but, many times, invisible. In fact, many of the complex processes that IT supports are most successful when nobody notices them at all. They just happen, and all is well. When something goes wrong, IT goes into fire-fighting mode and people start scrutinizing, asking questions and second-guessing.

The problem takes center stage and pushes all other IT priorities aside. It costs time, money and focus. Problems can cost reputations and customers, too.

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If you’d like to manage your smartphone from a PC then just connecting the two devices should help you get started. Your device should show up in the Computer folder, and you’ll be able to drag and drop files to it, just like any other drive.

Need more? Then you might want to consider the free Moborobo. File transfers, backups, imports and exports are just the start of its abilities, and -- conveniently -- the program works both with Android devices and the iPhone.

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While Android users are tightly integrated with Google Search, Windows Phone 8 users are even more tightly integrated with Bing. Heck, there is even a button that is dedicated to launching Bing Search. Today, the Bing Team announces that the search engine-related functionality is getting a brand new makeover to improve the experience on Windows Phone 8.

According to the Bing Team, the company will "...roll out a set of global updates for Windows Phone 8 similar to recent upgrades we've made to Bing.com on Android and iOS. With this release, we're excited to provide people with more info they need on their mobile device, including additional instant answers and Snapshot entity information". While this update is appreciated, it is disappointing that Microsoft gave similar updates to Android and iOS first.

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Roku customers have no shortage of viewing material, and the list continuously grows, most recently adding Demand 5 for customers in the UK. That only adds to features such as the numerous channels and premium services like Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix. But now, the little set-top box grows by one more option.

Today the company announces the launch of Redbox Instant, giving users one more choice for movie watching, popcorn munching fun. Again, this adds a minor fee to the monthly bill for customers, though it is still likely still less demanding, even with all features, than your cable or satellite tab.

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"I have a good weather app. It's called...looking out the window". That is what my colleague Brian Fagioli told me when I said I was testing Minutely, a new mobile weather service. Still, despite that rather true comment, we all still want to look up those possibly inaccurate forecasts, and this latest offering provides a better way to do it -- or at least a better looking way.

The name is derived from the app's promise to provide real time details right down to the minute - the rain slider feature allows you to travel in time and watch the rain move across your location. Minutely will let you know if it will be raining, snowing, hailing, or sleeting in any location you choose down to the minute for the next 2 hours.

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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".

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A common misconception is that Linux is an operating system. While it is easier to think of it this way, in reality, Linux is a kernel that operating systems (or distributions) use. For example, Ubuntu and Android are operating systems that utilize the Linux kernel. And so, this kernel is extremely important, as it impacts many users on many different operating systems.

Since the Linux Kernel can change very rapidly, there is a need by some (usually companies) to have a long-term support version; supported for 2 years.

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And Google decreed, "Let there be image search, a tool whereby mortals may search for images by providing a source image". And it looked, and the tool was rather useful in its own way, but horribly awkward to use at times when you had to right-click the image, choose to copy its URL to the clipboard, switch to Google Image Search, paste the URL into the correct box and so on.

So Google said, "I can’t be faffing about like this", and its bods developed a browser extension to make the process much simpler. And so Google Search by Image for Chrome 1.5.0 and Google Search by Image for Firefox 1.1.2, were born.

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While there are plenty of irritations to be found online, few are quite as annoying as Flash ads. Distracting animations, irritating music, applets expanding over content you’re trying to read -- it’s really no surprise that many people install ad blockers on a new PC before they do anything else.

Some ads will still penetrate your defenses, of course. And legitimate Flash content may occasionally be just as annoying as the worst adverts. To fully protect yourself, then, you’ll need a more general content filter, like the Chrome extension FlashControl.

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We've talked about Twitter and the subject of policing the Internet quite a bit recently. It's not just us. Countless websites, newspapers, blogs and TV news channels have debated just what can be done to stop the problem of online abuse.

Part of the problem is that Twitter is -- as is the case with much of the Internet -- largely anonymous; or at least that's what most users think. They must think that, or they would not behave so stupidly and recklessly online. The reality is that, unless someone has taken measures to cover their tracks through proxy servers or other masking techniques, it's not really all that difficult to link an online message to, if not an individual person, at least an individual machine -- with the help of ISPs and other parties.

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In order to boost productivity and satisfaction among employees, big companies are known to provide various benefits ranging from free food during works hours and health care coverage, to team building events and kindergarten programs. The perks reflect the line of work and the image a company wants to project and, as a result, they can become an important factor when attracting and keeping employees.

Big companies that want to (or already do) provide employee benefits, can afford to implement in-house programs. However, the same principle does not usually apply to small businesses or startups, which have other, more pressing priorities to deal with (like staying afloat in the early or even late stages). But at the same time, for employees, receiving perks still matters, quite a lot for some, I might add. The middle-ground solution -- offering benefits without initiating costly, in-house programs -- appears to be dedicated services that allow businesses to enroll their employees, to receive perks, and pay a fee for it. Which is what startup AnyPerk provides.

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