Last week we had our first official word from Microsoft on when they will be releasing the Windows Phone 7.8 software update for existing devices, the official word is that it will be available in early 2013.

Now we have a video  of Windows Phone 7.8 running on Nokia’s Lumia 900 smartphone, the video below gives us a brief look at what Widows Phone 7.8 will be like on existing Windows Phone devices.

Microsoft have yet to give an official launch date for 2013 on when they will release the Windows Phone 7.8 software update, although we would suspect it may land some time in quarter one of 2013, as soon as we get some more information we will le ... Read more »

But this week the Liveside website has discovered snippets within the code of the newly streamlined SkyDrive service applications which indicate that Microsoft may be launching a direct media playback feature within their SkyDrive storage.

Earlier this year Microsoft announced their new Xbox Music service, which fuelled speculation of integration with SkyDrive once again.Microsoft followed that by officially announcing that the cloud storage would be available next year on their Xbox console, stating:

"Cloud Storage. Available in the coming year, a scan ... Read more »

Microsoft has finally announced pricing for its Microsoft Surface tablets powered by Windows 8 Pro. There will be two different versions of the tablet with the 64GB model priced at $899 and the 128GB model at $999. Both come with the Surface pen using Palm Block technology, which allows the screen to recognize the pen as an input.

Both also support the Touch Cover for $119.99 featuring a flat, touch-sensitive QWERTY and the Type Cover for $129.99 which uses a more traditional QWERTY. The Pro is powered by a Intel Core i5 processor and has a 1,920-by-1,080 display.

Other features include a USB 3.0 port is on the device. Microsoft calls the Surface running Windows 8 Pro both a PC and a tablet. The Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro tablets weigh less than two pounds and are less than 14mm thick as w ... Read more »

Even with the launch of its latest Windows 8 operating just a month ago, Microsoft is already busy building it next-generation Windows client.

Several sources close to the development of the new Windows operating system, have indicated that Microsoft is preparing to start rolling out annual updates to its Windows platform on a regular basis.

Sources close to the Microsoft development team have already revealed that an update on the Windows side, due in mid-2013. With sources explaining to the Verge technology website that

"Microsoft is aiming to make Windows Blue the next OS that everyone installs”-”Microsoft will price its next Windows release at a low cost or even free ... Read more »

In the build up and since the launch of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 browser, Microsoft has released a number of adverts to tempt users back to trying their new redesigned IE10 browser.

The latest to be released can be seen after the jump, and highlights the persistent negative opinion some have of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Watch the advert after the jump to see it in action.

Since Internet Explorer 9 was released Microsoft has been pushing hard both with development and listening to user feedback to make their IE10 browser capable of competing with the likes of Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and with IE10 they have definitely turned a corner.

"The followi ... Read more »

Microsoft has hit a new milestone with its Windows 8 Store, there are now more than 20,000 applications for Windows 8 available to download, which means that more than 7,000 apps have been added to the Windows 8 Store in the last two weeks.

Out of the 20,000 plus apps available in the Windows 8 Store, more than 18,000 of these applications are free apps, and out of the total apps around 13,000 are available in the US, 14,000 in Canada and around 11,000 available in the UK.

.

It looks like Microsoft is on target to hit the 30,000 available apps by the end of the year if it continues with the current rate of adding around 500 applications per day.

It will be interesting to see where the Windows 8 App Store is in 12 months time, as more developers start to develop applications for Windows 8. ... Read more »

It looks like Lenovo is getting ready to launch a new version of their X1 notebook, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch which has now appeared on Lenovo’s website, although there were not many details about the devices specifications.

According to the guys over at Engadget, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch will feature a 14 inch touchscreen HD+ display, no resolution was listed but it is expected to be around 1,600 x 900 pixels.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, as the named suggests, will feature a carbon fiber casing, and it is expected to come with Intel’s latest processors, we should have more details next month as it will be available some time in December.

Source Engadget

Before Windows 8 was officially released a final copy of the software was leaked online, and people were able to use the software bu activating it through a third party KMS server, this would allow users to use the software for 180 days.

After this period, the pirated copy of Windows 8 would need to be reactivated, but now it would appear that Microsoft has inadvertently given pirates the chance to turn their pirated software into a legitimate copy of Windows 8.

Microsoft is giving a free Media Center upgrade to any Windows Pro users until the 31st of January 2013, and now it would appear that this free upgrade will turn the pirated copy of windows  into a full activated version.

The guys over at The Verge tested this out by downloading a pirate copy of Windows 8, and then were able to turn it into a fully a ... Read more »

Elliptic Labs has developed a new touchless gesture control system for Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 operating system, which has been designed to enable users to take advantage of natural gesturing to navigate Windows 8.

The new system unveiled by Elliptic Labs uses ultrasonic touchless technology, and uses up to 95% less power than existing camera image-based gestural systems which are currently on the market, says Elliptic Labs. Watch the video after the jump to see the new touchless gesture control system in action.

Elliptic Labs has also developed an "Elliptic Ultrasound Starter Kit for Laptops”, to provide developers with an out-of-the-box solution for them to start integrating the new touchless gesture-based system within their hard ... Read more »

Microsoft has confirmed this week that the new DirectX 11.1 is exclusive to Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, with Microsoft’s Daniel Moth writing a reply on the Microsoft Answers forum.

Microsoft’s DirectX 11.1 brings with it a wealth of new features and enhancements  including parts of the XNA framework, enhanced cooperation between Direct3D, Direct2D and DirectCompute GPU acceleration models, an a new software rasteriser dubbed WARP.

Answering a developer’s question about the WARP Microsoft’s Daniel Moth explained:

"DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, just like DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7. DirectX 11 was made available for Vista, but at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made availabl ... Read more »