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Oct 19

Having trouble trying to update to Windows 8.1 RT right now?

Having trouble trying to update to Windows 8.1 RT right now? That’s because Microsoft had to temporarily pull it thanks to an installation "situation." It should be back soon.

Tame Your Twitter Feed by Killing Annoying Retweets

Posted in: Today's Chili

Here’s how to cut down on the noise in your Twitter feed without unfollowing interesting people.

Aug 18

Switched On: Windows ReTreat

Posted in: Today's Chili

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Today’s hottest and best-selling tablets and smartphones have one thing in common: they are powered by ARM processors. Offered in such variations as NVIDIA’s Tegra, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, Samsung’s Exynos and Apple’s A6, ARM processors dominate the leading edge of mobile products. At LG’s recent announcement of its clever and well-appointed G2 smartphone, much was made of it being the first globally launched phone to include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800; Android, in contrast, wasn’t mentioned once. And the long reach of ARM extends far beyond the bleeding edge. The Hisense Sero 7 Pro — recently cut to $129 just a few weeks after its launch — has a Tegra 3 processor while ARM chips from Rockchip and MediaTek power Android tablets at even humbler price points.

For years, Intel has promised it would be competitive with ARM in terms of performance per watt (if not in price). It has made great strides both in its smartphone-focused Atom chips and its performance-oriented Core chips (including Haswell, the CPU behind the MacBook Air’s huge gains in battery life), but those in the ARM camp have kept their processors’ competitive heat up while keeping their generated heat down.

Filed under: Software, Intel

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Jan 06

Windows RT ‘code integrity mechanism’ gets sidestepped, allows unsigned desktop apps to run

Posted in: Today's Chili

As Microsoft continues to promote and push its RT apps and programs, Windows tinkerer Clrokr at SurfSec has detailed how he managed to circumvent Redmond’s controls on what can run on Windows RT. It’s worth noting that this may not lead to a broad jailbreak solution, capable of running any desktop program, but it does demonstrate an existing vulnerability. Clrokr outlines how he tinkered with the part of the RAM that instructs the OS whether it should run unsigned, authenticode signed, Microsoft(8) or Windows(12) signed apps. The default setting is for the latter two options, whereas changing this entry allows those other app types to run. If you know your Windows kernel, you can check the full details and code over at the source.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Microsoft

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Via: @stroughtonsmith (Twitter)

Source: Surfsec

Oct 23

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT review

Posted in: Today's Chili

When Microsoft unveiled its Surface tablets with a flashy, top secret Los Angeles event, it didn’t just mark the beginning of a new (and utterly critical) phase for the history of the company. It marked the repurposing of a name that was already quite familiar to us — though in the guise of a big table. That device lives on as PixelSense, thus putting a period at the end of one definition of the word, a definition Microsoft kindly requests we put behind us as we move on to something that is wholly different.

This new Surface device could be said to relate more closely to the active form of the word in question. That is, the verb: to rise up — for something to appear that was not there before. It’s a very apt definition for what Microsoft is doing, attempting to go from zero to hero on the tablet hardware front in just one shot. Is this, the Surface for Windows RT, good enough to erase decades of mediocre touchscreen Windows devices? Will it help Microsoft and its latest operating systems float up to the top of the tablet hierarchy? Your answers lie just below the break.

Gallery: Surface with Windows RT review