My relationship with Chromebook and Chrome OS has been rocky. When Google first announced the concept, I was highly dubious. After all, I had done all of my computing on Windows and Linux -- locally installed apps were all I knew. Ultimately, curiosity got the best of me and I bought the Samsung ARM Chromebook. The simplicity of the platform melted my heart and I became an enthusiast.

Sadly, I outgrew the Samsung model due to its poor performance -- it is slow on certain websites, like Google+. I decided to postpone the upgrade until the Haswell models would arrive. However, in the midst of the Haswell-Chromebook revolution, HP and Google threw a curve-ball and released the wonderful Chromebook 11, that has an ARM processor, which took an Apple approach to laptop design.

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Oh dear. If you try and search using Google in Windows 8.1 there’s a very good chance the results page won’t display properly. Whatever you search for will generate a mangled page that works, but makes finding the results you want rather tricky.

This problem doesn’t affect searching using Google in Chrome, or Firefox, it only affects IE11 in both Modern UI and Desktop modes.

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This was another week in which Microsoft managed to steal the show, this time with the public release of Windows 8.1. Here at BetaNews we were fully prepared for the upgrade and showed off what's new. While we're generally impressed with the update, there's still a little room for improvement. Of course the Start menu (or lack thereof) is still a sticking point, but you can get this back. The operating system update was preceded by a raft of updates to Window's built in apps.

Windows 8.1 may be where it's at right now, but there are still plenty of people running Windows XP. Google announced that Chrome users on XP would be supported for a year after the OS is retired.

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Microsoft is using an interesting technique to ensure that websites such as BetaNews (or FileForum in particular) list only the latest versions of its software. Rather than just contacting websites who link to software that is no longer available, Microsoft is invoking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to force websites to remove the links. BetaNews has been contacted by Google after one such complaint from Microsoft.

In the complaint -- which can be read on the Chilling Effects website -- Microsoft refers to our listing for Microsoft Project (although the page is no longer live). Microsoft contacted Google who in turn contacted us to say that "Google has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that some of your materials allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others".

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Google's Nexus 5 is a hotly anticipated handset, and over the past few weeks there have been numerous leaked images purporting to show what the device looks like.

Now it looks as though the speculation can come to an end after Google accidentally listed the device in the Play store, complete with pricing details. The temporary listing -- which has now been removed -- showed the 16GB model costing $349, and featured the tagline "capture the everyday and the epic in fresh new ways".

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Microsoft's big release of the day may be Windows 8.1, but it doesn't end there. The desktop operating system may have stolen the headlines today, but Microsoft also recognizes the importance of mobile devices. The company is not only concerned with its own devices, realizing that Apple and Android still dominate the mobile arena. But this does not mean that mobile users do not need access to Windows PCs -- hence the release of Microsoft Remote Desktop for iOS and Android.

The prospect of running Windows on an Android or iOS device may be a little way off yet, but it can be achieved via remote access -- which has the handy side effects of making it possible to access files, apps and anything else that might be needed whilst away from your computer. There is no shortage of remote desktop apps in the App Store, but Microsoft's offering aims to keep things simple. As you would expect, this is an app -- free of course -- that can be used to control a Windows PC from an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Android device.

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There is no denying that Windows 8.1 dwarfs Windows 8 in every single way that matters. The new operating system is more feature-rich, more suited for tablet use, more suited for PC use and far closer to what a modern OS should be like. The warm feelings towards it are reflective of how Windows 8 was like at first -- let's just say that the standards were low to begin with.

But for some strange reason, Microsoft still does not prioritize having a notifications panel in any of its consumer operating systems. This is an oversight that I thought the software giant would address in Windows 8.1, seeing as it has been a major known problem since Windows 8 arrived. However, once again Microsoft has decided to not include it. And, to be frank, it is one of the worst decisions that the company made this year. I bet not many will miss Steve Ballmer. I sure won't.

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The Android operating system and school of thought are undergoing a major change; a sea change brought on by the Motorola Moto X and its voice interaction. After using it, I remarked that specifications and benchmarks melted away and I was enveloped in the experience. However, not everyone wants to interact with their smartphone using voice. Some people, myself sometimes included, just want to touch a big beautiful display and have the best specs and most bragging rights... and that's OK. People are different as is their usage.

The LG G2 represents Android's old-school, previous school of thought. It is fast and flashy and will trounce the Moto X in speed. However, the phone infamously has a new trick up its sleeve by assigning the buttons to the rear. This feature stole the focus from the device in the media and rightfully so. After all, it is an out-of-the-box approach that people just haven't seen before. I have been using this smartphone for a couple of weeks now and I finally feel ready to share what it is and what is isn't. At the end of this article, you will find out whether I can recommend it or not.

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It has served us well, but Windows XP is now considerably into old age; it's time to be put out to pasture. Microsoft is retiring the game-changing operating system on 8 April 2014 but this does not mean that people will not try to hang onto their beloved operating system for as long as possible.

One issue that XP diehards are going to face is support for apps. This is an old operating system, and it's not really reasonable to expect software manufacturers to keep pumping out new releases and updates. But just how long can you expect to receive updates and support? Google has nailed its colors to the mast in announcing that Chrome for XP will be supported for at least a year after Windows XP is retired.

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Steve Ballmer's departure from Microsoft will be a series of epitaphs written over the coming months. Many arm-chair pundits and analysts will scrutinize his 13-year tenure as chief executive, and you can expect him to be the scapegoat for all things wrong with Microsoft. Most assuredly, Ballmer could have done many things better, but he also contended with forces out of his control: government oversight for anti-competitive practices conducted under predecessor Bill Gates' leadership; maturing PC software market; and rise of the Internet as the new computing hub, among others.

For all Microsoft's CEO might have done wrong, he was right about something dismissed by many -- and I among them: Google. Ballmer started treating the search and information company as a competitive threat about a decade ago. Google as Microsoft competitor seemed simply nuts in 2003. How could search threaten Windows, particularly when anyone could type a new web address to change providers? Ballmer was obsessed, chasing every Google maneuver, often to a fault. Execution could have been better, but his perception was right.

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In another busy week, Microsoft continued to promote Internet Explorer 11 by showing off some of the new features that will be available to Windows 8 users. At the same time, the company released a tool that lets Windows 7 users block the update. Microsoft also announced that it would speed up the approval process for apps submitted to the Windows Store, so initial certification can be complete within five days.

Moving away from the desktop, champagne corks were popping as it was revealed that Raspberry Pi has sold 1.75 million units. After the launch of Mavericks, Mihaita was taken with his MacBook Air, and I was quite impressed with the Tesco Hudl -- although it's not going to be replacing my Nexus 7 any time soon.

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As Google's involvement in our lives increases, monitoring any and all changes in the terms of service becomes important. For the most part, I am guilty of not reading long terms and conditions and other small print. I tend to base my trust in a company on experience. Largely, my experience with Google has been very good. However, since the company was named in the PRSIM scandal, I have been a bit less trusting of not only Google but online services overall.

Today, Google updated its terms of service and, by and large, it is innocuous. However, one aspect of it has given me a reason to pause, and I warn you to do the same. You see, Google plans to use your online activity to target advertisements at your Google+ circles. For example, lets say you use Google+ to like a product online with a +1. Google can then share your endorsement with your friends, family and co-workers. The search-giant calls this "shared endorsements".

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The Nexus 7 has gone down well with the team here at BetaNews (despite a few teething problems) and it's proving popular with a lot of other people as well. Part of the tablet's appeal is that it offers great value for money. But just because something is relatively cheap, it does not mean that it should not be looked after.

Whatever phone or tablet you have, there are countless protective skins to choose from and also various ways in which to stamp your mark on your mobile device. With a couple of Nexus 7's (Nexi?) to take care of, I thought I'd take a look at some of the options that are available. The official sleeve has been available for a while and the official case has been unveiled. At $50 it's worth seeing what else is out there as well.

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A company paying developers and users to discover and report bugs is not new. In fact, these bounty programs are rather widespread. Heck, Microsoft even got into the game back in June of this year. However, Google is expanding on that concept and announces that it will pay users for simply improving open-source software; such as components of the Linux kernel.

"We thought about simply kicking off an OSS bug-hunting program, but this approach can easily backfire. In addition to valid reports, bug bounties invite a significant volume of spurious traffic -- enough to completely overwhelm a small community of volunteers. On top of this, fixing a problem often requires more effort than finding it", says Michal Zalewski of the Google Security Team.

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In the red corner, Bing. In the blue, Google. But which is better? Microsoft launches the Bing It On campaign in the UK to enable web searchers to choose which results are best. Google is such a ubiquitous online tool that it has become a verb and entered the dictionary; it is the search engine that automatically springs to mind for most people when they need to research something.

But this does not mean that there is not room for a little competition, and this is something that Microsoft is keen to exploit with its latest campaign.

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