Samsung may be prepping a 12-inch Windows 10 tablet

You may not remember this, but for a while Samsung released some tablets running Windows under the Ativ brand. At one point we thought this would be to Windows devices what the Galaxy brand is to Samsung's Android offerings, but the Korean company hasn't launched an Ativ product in a long while.

Windows 10 Mobile core apps and the Store's hamburger menu are updated by Microsoft

Windows 10 Mobile core apps and the Store's hamburger menu are updated by Microsoft

On Friday, Microsoft sent out updates to various Windows 10 Mobile core apps. Among those updated were Windows Alarms & Clock, and Microsoft Photos. Others updated include Calendar, Xbox and Outlook Mail. Unfortunately, no changelist was sent out with the updates which most likely means that the proverbial bug fixes and performance improvements were the reason for their existence.

Another update went out on Friday from Microsoft to the Windows 10 Mobile Store. The update added a few new additions to the hamburger menu. For those unfamiliar with that term, it is the name for the symbol composed of three straight horizontal lines. Think of the top and bottom lines as being the buns and the middle line as being the meat.

Clicking on the hamburger menu now will give you more information about your account, such as an overall look at it, payment options and the ability to redeem a discount code. Clicking on each link will take you to the appropriate website using your Microsoft Edge browser. Another change will allow the Store to show you inside the search bar, apps that it suggests you download.

Keep your eyes peeled for the core updates and the one to the Windows 10 Mobile Store. They should all be here soon if they haven't been downloaded and installed already.

Hamburger menu on Windows 10 Mobile Store receives update

1. Old hamburger menu

2. New hamburger menu

 

Microsoft’s Futuristic HoloLens Puts A Holodeck In Your Living Room

Microsoft’s new HoloLens headset projects holographic images into the wearer’s field of vision. Microsoft

Microsoft for months has been boasting that Windows 10 will be the first operating system to run across the full range of computing devices—from a new, 64-inch 4K slate, to PCs, tablets and smartphones less than 8 inches in size. But it never said anything about a pair of hologram-projecting goggles that will immerse wearers into virtual worlds, let them watch television on screens that aren’t there, or build 3D objects out of thin air.

Microsoft HoloLens, unveiled Wednesday at an event at the company’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters, does all that and more. It’s also an indication that Microsoft wants to shake its image as a reliable provider of spreadsheets and Word processing programs that leaves the fun stuff—from gold watches to smartglasses – to rivals like Apple and Google.

“We want to move from people needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows,” said CEO Satya Nadella, speaking in a room directly above where Microsoft has been developing HoloLens in secret for the past several years.

HoloLens is a wraparound headset that projects 3D images into the wearer’s field of vision. It uses an array of sensors to track body position and head movements, and it has its own, internal CPU and GPU so it doesn’t need to be tethered to a host device. It runs on a version of Windows called Windows 10 Holographic.

At the Windows 10 preview event, company reps showed off a range of applications that seemed to go well beyond the capabilities of Google Glass, which is the most obviously comparable product currently on the market. While Glass can deliver an augmented reality experience by projecting information displays and graphics onto an eyepiece, HoloLens appears to give users the ability to manipulate and interact with what’s projected in front of them.

“It’s the most advanced holographics the world has ever seen,” said Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman, who preceded Nadella on stage. Kipman showed demos of HoloLens wearers playing what (to them) looked like a real-world, life-sized version of Minecraft, building a 3D quadcopter drone, and practicing heart surgery on a simulated patient.

The device will be publicly available “within the Windows 10 timeframe,” said Kipman, which means later this year.

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Microsoft Corp. Readying New Chrome-Like Browser To Replace Internet Explorer, Run Extensions

Microsoft Corp. plans to take on Google Chrome and Mozilla FIrefox by launching a radical new Web browser that looks more like them, offering extensions and quicker updates. Pictured is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaking at an investor conference earlier in December. Reuters

Microsoft Corp. is working on a new Web browser to replace its long-standing Internet Explorer, a report says. The successor to Internet Explorer reportedly will be so radically different, it will stand alongside the latest version (IE11) on Windows 10.

How to root the Google Nexus 6 on Windows and Mac easily

How to root the Google Nexus 6 on Windows and Mac easily

The Google Nexus 6 has been around for more than enough time to make the countless Android developers gather around the Motorola-made Nexus 6 in a virtual way and tinker with almost all software and firmware aspects of the phablet. One of the usually most-anticipated exploits for each and every new Android device is the root access, a door to numerous possibilities.

Microsoft Corp. Pushes Windows 10 Release Date To Fall 2015

Microsoft says it will release Windows 10 in "early fall" 2015, after the back-to-school PC buying season. (Pictured is a screenshot from the Windows 10 technical preview.) Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft Corp. has scheduled the release of Windows 10 for “early” next fall, an executive said Thursday. The announcement clarifies earlier reports that said Microsoft’s latest operating system would be ready by summer.

Microsoft Now Accepts Bitcoin For Windows Online Stores, Xbox Purchases

Users can use Bitcoin to add money to your Microsoft account and then purchase digital goods at select Microsoft online stores. Reuters

Microsoft has announced that it has begun accepting the “cryptocurrency” Bitcoin for purchases of digital content from its online stores. The latest development comes more than two months after Microsoft founder Bill Gates advocated the digital currency, calling it a key technology.

Microsoft Shareholders Approve $84M Pay Package For CEO Satya Nadella

The pay package, which largely consists of stock grants, puts Satya Nadella among the highest paid CEOs in the United States. Reuters

Microsoft shareholders approved a whopping $84 million pay package for CEO Satya Nadella on Wednesday, despite an influential shareholder advisory group urging the company’s stock owners to vote down the proposal, calling the package excessive. The move puts Nadella among the highest paid CEOs in the U.S.

Microsoft’s Quantum Mechanics

Can an aging corporation’s adventures in fundamental physics research open a new era of unimaginably powerful computers?

 

In 2012, physicists in the Netherlands announced a discovery in particle physics that started chatter about a Nobel Prize. Inside a tiny rod of semiconductor crystal chilled cooler than outer space, they had caught the first glimpse of a strange particle called the Majorana fermion, finally confirming a prediction made in 1937. It was an advance seemingly unrelated to the challenges of selling office productivity software or competing with Amazon in cloud computing, but Craig Mundie, then heading Microsoft’s technology and research strategy, was delighted. The abstruse discovery—partly underwritten by Microsoft—was crucial to a project at the company aimed at making it possible to build immensely powerful computers that crunch data using quantum physics. “It was a pivotal moment,” says Mundie. “This research was guiding us toward a way of realizing one of these systems.”

Windows and Windows Phone Stores combine for well over 500,000 apps

Last year, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore made the bold proclamation that the "app gap" between Windows Phone and other platforms would be closed in 2014. We're only one and a half months from the end of the year, and although the app gap still exists, Microsoft has announced new numbers that show promise. The Windows and Windows Phone Stores now combine for well over 500,000 apps.

Windows 10 will be released to all WP8 Lumia phones

Windows 10 will be released to all WP8 Lumia phones

We have some wonderful news to all Lumia owners around the world. Today Microsoft announced via its Twitter account that all Windows Phone 8-based Lumia smartphones will be treated to the upcoming Windows 10 OS next year.

Microsoft Security Update Fixes 19-Year-Old Bug In Windows Operating System

Microsoft Windows Vista software sit on display at a store in New York January 30, 2007. Reuters

Microsoft released software patches Tuesday to fix a security vulnerability that has been active for 19 years in its widely used Windows operating system. A researcher with IBM discovered the bug in May, and described it as a “significant vulnerability.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: We Need To Win The Battle For Human Attention

“Can Satya Nadella save Microsoft?” That’s the question asked in Vanity Fair's November profile of the Microsoft CEO. While he has a challenging road ahead of him, the path laid by former CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer up to that point has been an even bumpier one.

How to Calibrate ClearType for Sharper Text in Windows 7 or 8

All modern versions of Windows, starting with Windows XP, feature ClearType technology that smoothes font edges to give you more attractive, legible text. However, for some users, the default settings may not be as attractive or legible as they could be with a little tweaking. Others may even prefer the more jagged text you get with ClearType turned off. Here’s how to calibrate or disable ClearType in Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10.

How to Install Windows 10 Preview in VirtualBox

Though you can install Microsoft’s Windows 10 Technical Preview over your current Windows, or dual boot it, the easiest and safest way to try out any new platform is to put it in a virtual machine. By using free tools such as Oracle’s VM Virtual box, you can create a computer that runs in a window on your desktop, allowing you to experiment without leaving your familiar environment behind. Here’s how to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine.

Windows 10: Top 6 New Features

Windows is about to get a big upgrade. From a resurrected Start Menu to new multitasking tools, the latest Microsoft operating system is designed to remedy the frustrations caused by the confusing

Bill Gates is a fan of Apple Pay, hints at fingerprint scanners coming to Windows Phone?

There has been a lot of discussion about Apple Pay ever since the announcement last month, and debate over whether or not it'll be good. Of course, that debate mostly exists because the service hasn't been released yet, and no one knows exactly how it will perform. Either way, it seems Apple Pay has a fan in an unlikely source - Bill Gates.

Of course, Gates isn't praising Apple in the way you might think, he actually shares our opinion on Apple Pay, which is that it's a good idea because it will help the entire mobile payment

Windows 9 screenshots leak out

After what many call a Windows 8 fiasco, Windows 9 will define the future of Microsoft: will it continue with the Metro (or rather, Modern) user interface, or will it switch back to the tried and tested style of before? Now, we have the answer as one of the first screenshots of Windows 9 have leaked out, showing what the new OS could look like.

The Windows 9 screenshots below come from two German site that

Toshiba Encore Mini with Windows 8.1

Toshiba today unveiled the Encore Mini, which seems to be the cheapest tablet ever to run a full version of Windows 8.1. The slate was developed following a “close” collaboration with Microsoft, and it’s obviously the Redmond giant’s attempt to compete with the army of ultra-cheap Android tablets available all around the world.

The Toshiba Encore Mini costs $119, and can be bought starting today from Toshiba’s online store and major retailers. It sports a

Hands-on with the first update to Windows Phone 8.1

Hands-on with the first update to Windows Phone 8.1

Last week, Microsoft announced details about the first update to Windows Phone 8.1 which included the official expansion of the Cortana beta to the United Kingdom and China. On top of that, Canada, India, and Australia were announced as newly established “alpha” markets where the language packs from the US and UK will be utilized.

Cortana had a few enhancements in the US which include hands-free Bluetooth integration with your car’s system. To access your contacts, simply tell the