Today at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston, Tami Reller shared with the audience that the update previously referred to as “Windows Blue” will be called Windows 8.1and will be a free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store.

During her remarks today, Tami reiterated our goal of delivering continual updates to create a richer experience for Windows customers. Windows 8.1 is part of that and continues the journey we first began with Windows 8 last fall. Windows 8.1 will help us to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners and to deliver the experiences customers— both consumers and businesses alike —need and will just expect moving forward.

Today, there are more devices – and choice – allowing you to pick the right Windows 8 device that meets your needs. Windows 8 provides a great experience for consuming and creating content, for both work and play and on the go. And you’ll immediately benefit from continual updates – whether it’s from app updates through the Windows Store, performance updates through Windows Update or the Windows 8.1 update later this year.

There will also be making a public preview of Windows 8.1 available starting on June 26, timed with the Build developer conference in San Francisco. The preview will be available for Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Source

According to a news report by CNN, South Korea’s Banks and TV stations system outage could be due to a cyber attack from the North.

One television station, YTN, reported that 500 of its computers had been disabled by the outage. Another, KBS, said that its internal networks had been “paralyzed,” but that the problem didn’t prevent it from broadcasting live.

A third broadcaster, MBC, was also reportedly experiencing problems.

Customers of Shinhan Bank are unable to log into the lender’s website at the moment, the company said in a statement.

A second lender, Nonghyup Bank, said that it had disconnected some of its computers after they were infected with a virus. The bank said its main server was still functioning and able to carry out Internet transactions.

Police didn’t immediately provide a reason for the server problems.

Source

Earlier today, Twitter announced Twitter for Windows 8, an app that makes it easier than ever to share and discover content on Windows 8 devices. Now available on the Windows Store, the app will be localized and available in 22 languages, including English, Chinese (PRC and Taiwan), Malay, Japanese, Thai, and more.

In addition to familiar Twitter features, this app introduces new functionality that takes advantage of unique Windows 8 features:

• Snap view – use another app alongside Twitter. Snap Twitter into the left or right side of the screen and then start using another app. With snap view, you can adjust the size of the app to one-third, two-thirds or full screen.
• Photos – large and center. With an all-new landscape view, not only can you view a larger version of individual photos, but you can also swipe horizontally to view multiple photos in the Discover tab or a user’s profile.
• Share charm – tweet from any app, at any time. Simply swipe from the right edge of Windows 8 and then choose the Share charm to share content from any app, such as a photo or news article, to Twitter.
• Search charm – search when you’re inspired. Similar to the Share charm, the Search charm makes it easy to find an account or see Tweets using a certain hashtag.
• Live Tiles and notifications – don’t miss a beat. Keep up with what’s happening on Twitter using the Twitter live tiles and notifications, which show no matter which app you’re running.

Panasonic announces 2 new Toughbook and 1 new Touchpad to it’s slate of TOUGHBOOK series of products
7 Feb 2013

On Tuesday, Panasonic announces 2 new Toughbook and a new Touchpad.

The Toughbook CF-AX2 is the world’s lightest business rugged convertible Windows 8 ProUltrabook. One of the first ready-made Microsoft Windows 8 Pro certified devices, the AX2 is ideal for the mobile sales workforce, merchandisers, and executives on the go.

Designed for healthcare professionals, aviation technicians and automotive engineers, the Toughbook CF-C2 is the world’s first semi-rugged Windows 8 convertible PC.

The  ToughPad which was initially showcased at CommunicAsia last year on the Android platform, is now available on the Windows 8 platform as Toughpad FZ-G1, designed for on-the-go business professionals and government institutions.

Microsoft Releases Office 365 Home Premium

New Consumer Cloud Service Works Across Devices to Help Busy People Simplify Their lives and Get More Done

SINGAPORE — Jan. 30, 2013 — Microsoft Singapore today announced the general availability of Office 365 Home Premium, a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office product line for consumers. Office 365 Home Premium is a cloud service designed for busy households and juggling ever-increasing work and family responsibilities. The new offering include the latest and most complete set of Office applications; works across up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs and Macs; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling – all for S$138.00 for an annual subscription, the equivalent of S$11.50 per month.

John Fernandes, Chief Marketing & Operations Officer, Microsoft Singapore said: “Microsoft’s new Office is inspired by the modern families and connected individuals juggling multiple devices at home and work. Today, we are making Office available as a cloud service with Office 365 Home Premium to help consumers stay always connected regardless of devices. Together with the new Windows and Windows Phone, Office as a service gives you the freedom to do things when and how you want.”

Simultaneously, Microsoft today released Office 365 University for college students, faculty members and staff as well as updated versions of the traditional Office suites – Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, and Office Professional 2013 in Singapore.

Office 365 Home Premium & University

In a recent global survey conducted by Microsoft, nearly 60% of people said they don’t have the time to do the things they want to do, and more than 80% were counting on technology to make things better.  The new Office is designed to help people be as productive on the go as they are at their desk and get more time to do the things they want.

The new Office 365 Home Premium usher in new ways to get things done and sharing new ideas via collaboration:

• ·     It works across devices.  Office 365 Home Premium works beautifully with touch, pen or keyboard on Windows PCs, Windows tablets, Macs and Windows Phones.  And, with Office Web Apps, you can create, read, edit and share your Office docs on any popular device.
• ·     It is in the cloud.  Office 365 Home Premium is in the cloud, so when you sign in, your documents – and even your personalized settings – are always available wherever you are.
• ·     It delivers new capabilities.  Office 365 Home Premium includes new features to keep you connected and productive.  A few include:  the People Card aggregates all your contact information from different sources, including your social networks, in a single place; Read Mode optimizes your documents for reading on a tablet; Last Location lets you pick up right where you left off when using Office across multiple devices; PDF Reflow lets you to use information from PDFs in Office docs; Presenter View gives you a command center for presentations; and FlashFill eliminates wasteful time spent on data entry.

About Office 365 Home Premium

Office 365 Home Premium is available in 162 markets in 21 languages and includes the following:

• ·     The most complete set of Office applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
• ·     One license for the entire household – use Office on up to five Windows PCs or tablets or Macs, and get Office on Demand from any Internet-connected PC.
• ·     27 GB of cloud storage with SkyDrive – 20 GB more than the normal user.
• ·     60 free Skype world calling minutes per month – so you can call any mobile, landline or PC in the world.
• ·     All future upgrades such that consumers’ copies of Office are always updated with the latest from Microsoft.

Additionally, Microsoft is launching Office 365 University for students, faculty stuff and staff in eligible local tertiary intuitions[1]. At just S$108.00 for a four year subscription – the equivalent of S$2.25 per month – users can enjoy:

• ·        All of the applications, SkyDrive storage, Skype calling and future upgrades included with Office 365 Home Premium.
• ·        One license for the user – use Office on up to two Windows PCs or tablets or Macs, and get Office on Demand from any Internet-connected PC.

Microsoft also announced they will upgrade Office 365 multiple times per year, ending the company’s traditional three-year release cycle.  Office 365 Home Premium subscribers will get future updates and new capabilities automatically without any additional hassles.  For example, subscribers will automatically get the new applications and upgrades when available, such as the forthcoming Office applications for Mac and as-yet unannounced capabilities.

“People’s needs change rapidly, and Office 365 Home Premium will change with them,” added Mr. Fernandes.  “Now, it’s a matter of months, not years, before a great new idea makes it from an engineer’s head to a customer’s hands.”

Office suites for single users

For consumers who require single installations on their sole device at home, traditional suites are also available. Users are still able to leverage on the power of cloud with their personalized settings and documents saved within the cloud with just a single sign-in. The new Office also provides support for touch and stylus for new Windows 8 touch-enable devices, in addition to keyboard and mouse, enabling consumers more flexibility and choice.

Transition to Services

Microsoft introduced Office 365 to business customers in June 2011.  Today, the company disclosed new details on their progress in the cloud, sharing that 20% of their enterprise customers are using Office 365.  In addition, the pace of growth is accelerating with twice as many people signing up in the last quarter compared to a year ago.

“Office 365 is the fastest growing business product in Microsoft history, and we’re not slowing down,” said Mr. Fernandes. “In Singapore, we have seen momentous growth since launch, with many companies citing cost reductions and increased productivity within the workforce as key benefits of deploying Office 365 within the enterprise.”

Office 365 for businesses will be updated with new capabilities, currently available as part of a customer preview, on February 27.

Pricing and Availability

The new Office is available today at all authorized retailers:

Note:

Microsoft gets ready for 2013 with new Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium
Bluetooth 23 Dec 2012

November should be the busiest month for Microsoft as they launched the highly anticipated Windows 8 followed by Windows Phone 8. The Windows 8 operating system brings a revolution to computing. Windows 8 is now tablet friendly. In addition, the move from conventional storage to the cloud using SkyDrive definitely changes the way users interact with their applications through the conventional desktops and portable devices including tablets and phones.

So, what is new for 2013 at Microsoft ? Well, we were invited to the Microsoft Technology Centre in Singapore for a heads up on the upcoming product that is scheduled for a January 2013 lanuch.

At the event, we saw the Windows Surface tablet and other Windows Phones on display. See the Gallery below.

Today, Microsoft Singapore hosted a Christmas gathering for media and bloggers. Microsoft gave a demonstration of the upcoming Microsoft Office.

According to Microsoft, there will be 2 variants of the product. The first is probably Office 2013, the plain vanilla DVD that you can purchase at the stores justl like Office 2010. The other variant is a renewable license for a fee. Each year there will be updates and it will automatically be available for upgrade. It is also mentioned that there will be 5 user license family pack which you can install on your PC, Mac and tablets. The license will be tied to your Microsoft ID.

Anyway, all will be clear as the product is scheduled to be lanuched on 16 Jan 2013 if everything goes as planned.

According to a report on SemiAccurate, it is said that the upcoming Broadwell will not come in an LGA package, so no removable CPU. The news was leaked from Japan PC Watch.

So what is the impact ? Most end users might not feel much of a difference as most users still buy a processor + motherboard bundle anyway. The difference is that you can’t really choose which processor to pair with your board as they come soldered on.

Enthusiast who are always changing processors as fast as changing underwear will find themselves shut off in a way. Web sites that leaks information will find themselves shut off too as it would be difficult for some sources to ‘smuggle’ Engineering board with solder processors out.

One of the nightmares will be inventory control. Distributors will have to stock up massive amount of stocks (board with CPU integrated).

The worst nightmware for mainboard manufacturers is that they might be forced out of the competition in a way. The reason is simple, Intel might be having their own brand boards with CPU integrated and will compete head to head with their products. This might also force such manufactuers to divert their attention to the other processor maker, AMD which still remains attractive in terms of price/performance.

Actually, we already expected this day to come. First, the industry consolidated and killed almost all the chipset makers. The chipset makers ended up making South bridges and on board DVB tuners. Now they probably have to give up making south bridges as SATA 6Gbps or USB3 controllers are all integrated into the single chipset.

Next was the integration of higher quality graphics into the chipset, with that you don’t even need an external graphics card unless you are crazy over 3D games.

Everyone out there is having their own game plan. Look at Apple, and Microsoft now making their own hardware and software. If they can increase their market share and profit margin, do you think they will care about whether mainboard manufacturers in Taiwan will survive ?

In fact we spoke to a number of people about this matter. We somewhat agree that Intel might do that low to mid range notebooks and motherboards. They willleave the higher end boards with socketed designs. By doing so, they might not be pushing customers away to AMD. In fact, AMD Hudson E350 are all socketed designs but their Trinity series (FM2) and 990FX boards which are considered the higher end are still socket design.

If Intel goes for soldered design and flood the market with thier own brand boards, the OEM manufacturers will stand to gain for more orders. 3rd party manufacturers like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ECS, Biostar, ASRock might have serious problems if they can’t get hold of processors (for soldering onto their boards). If our prediction is right, the higher end boards might still adopt socketed design but how many percent of their revenue of the motherboard manufacturers comes from the expensive boards?

Secondly, the other mid range board makers will still continue to compete with socketed designs. They will also deliver some high end boards but that might not sell that well either. They might end up selling more AMD. Perhaps a third group might evolve making ARM based boards one day.

So at the end of the day, motherboard manufacturers will be here to stay. It is just that how will they will channel their resources into socket or non socketed boards.

Comments

The latest version of Microsoft’s Web browser is now available to the vast audience connecting to the Internet on personal computers running on the Windows 7 operating system.

The redesigned browser, Internet Explorer 10, made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades.

Internet Explorer 10 initially is being introduced Tuesday to Windows 7 users in a ‘‘preview,’’ or test, mode. The new browser isn’t compatible with XP, Vista and any other older Windows version.

Download from here http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Info/Downloads/Default.html

Link

Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo
bluetooth 6 Nov 2012

The hot topic on the PC world is the Thunderbolt connectivity on the new motherboards. In fact, for the Mac users, Thunderbolt isn’t something new. If you have a new generation MacBook or Air, you will most likely have it prebuilt on your notebook.

While USB is still the preferred way of storage, the lightning fast interface of Thunderbolt might just slowly take away the shine this old standard. With Thunderbolt, you can transfer a full-length HD movie in under 30 seconds or thousands of MP3 songs in mere minutes. Thunderbolt™ I/O technology gives you two channels on the same connector with 10 Gb/s of throughput in both directions. Data moves to and from drives up to 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 and up to 12 times faster than with FireWire 800, providing more than enough bandwidth to daisy-chain multiple high-speed drives without using a hub or switch.