Ballmer: four million Windows 8 upgrades in four days

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Greetings in beautiful, gray Redmond, WA. What better time to kick off year’s Build event at the Microsoft campus than four days after the launch of Windows 8? CEO Steve Ballmer started the developer-centric event off with a nice little number: four million. According to the enthusiastic exec, that’s the number of Windows 8 upgrades MS has seen in the four days since launch — and there’s certainly a lot of excitement around the operating system this tent full of developers.

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Ballmer: four million Windows 8 upgrades in four days originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thinkpad Helix appears on Lenovo’s Israeli website, lends hope to a stateside or Euro arrival

Thinkpad Helix appears on Lenovo's Israeli website, lends hope to a stateside or Euro arrival

It wasn’t long ago that our Chinese language website reported on the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix, a convertible ultrabook that launched alongside other models, but seemed destined for China only. Now, it looks like Israeli folks might also get the device, as it popped up recently on the company’s website there. We noted that it would carry Windows 8, an 11.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 detachable IPS touchscreen, NFC 3G module, stylus, 10-hour battery life and optional Core i7 processor for the top model. That would make it a pretty potent ultrabook, let alone a tablet — making us hope that it’ll power its way over to our shores.

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Thinkpad Helix appears on Lenovo’s Israeli website, lends hope to a stateside or Euro arrival originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell XPS 10 lets the FCC get under its skin, into its manual

Dell XPS 10 lets the FCC get under its skin, into its manual

We already got a pretty good look at the Dell XPS 10’s outward facade, but if it’s internal hardware you’re after, you may want to take a look at the FCC’s latest: they tore the transforming tablet apart. The federal teardown is garnished with the standard trappings: FCC labels, frequency tests and Dell attestations — one of which notes the WiFi and Bluetooth radios’ shared antenna and its inability to simultaneously transmit both signals. The XPS 10’s manual is available for browsing, too, in case you need a refresher on how to pinch, zoom or swipe. Check it for yourself at the FCC, or just pop on down to the attached gallery for a gander at the device’s innards.

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Dell XPS 10 lets the FCC get under its skin, into its manual originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 02:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 8 upgrade diary: a defiantly successful installation

Windows 8 upgrade diary: a defiantly successful installation

Nothing’s nicer than a happy ending. Except maybe a happy beginning, which is precisely what you’re looking at above — Microsoft’s new OS captured in all its glory within minutes of completing the installation. What’s more, if you saw the first part of this upgrade diary, then you’ll know I was aiming for a trickier-than-average setup, with Windows 8 Pro running on a brand new and untouched SSD, alongside Windows 7 Ultimate running in dual-boot mode on my old HDD. As it turned out, this configuration was a breeze — so long as I totally ignored the Getting Started instructions that came in the box. Read on if you’d like to know more.

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Windows 8 upgrade diary: a defiantly successful installation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All the Windows Phone 8 Handsets That Have Been Announced So Far

Microsoft officially launched Windows Phone 8 today, and we happen to think it’s pretty darn good. Here’s a rundown of all the latest information we’ve got about the Windos Phone 8 handsets available from HTC, Nokia, and Samsung very soon. More »

New Windows 8 poll suggests lagging consumer interest

Microsoft may be doing its best to push Windows 8, but a new poll from The Associated Press and GfK suggests that Microsoft’s massive marketing campaign may not be working that well. According to the results of the poll, which surveyed 1,200 adults by phone, a significant 52% of respondents haven’t even heard of Windows 8. Not good, especially considering the amount of attention the new OS has been given by the press.


To make matters worse, 62% of the respondents who have heard of Windows 8 say that they had “little or no” interest in buying a new computer running the operating system. That’s an interesting way of phrasing the question, as it doesn’t seem to cover simple upgrades – something to consider as the results of this poll paint a seemingly grim picture for Windows 8. The results also claim that 35% of the people who know about Windows 8 think that it will offer improvements over past Windows versions.

It’s true that Windows 8 signals a pretty radical departure from previous Windows installments, but we’re not entirely sure this poll is asking all of the questions it should. The fact that 52% of respondents hadn’t even heard of Windows 8 is definitely surprising, but where’s the question about the intent to upgrade? We know that a significant percentage of those polled have no interest in buying a new computer running Windows 8, but is that disinterest still present when far cheaper upgrades are brought into the equation?

In any case, it’s safe to say that Windows 8 did not fare well in this poll. We liked it quite a bit, but we can understand that many are hesitant to upgrade, given the amount of big changes made in this Windows release. At this point, Windows 8 is only a few days old, so it’ll be a while yet before we get any solid sales numbers. When we get those numbers, we’ll be able to better gauge how Windows 8 is getting along with consumers, so keep it tuned here to SlashGear for more information.


New Windows 8 poll suggests lagging consumer interest is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Microsoft launches Windows Phone 8 companion app for Windows 8 and Windows RT

It was already rumored last month that Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone 8 companion app for its latest operating system. And with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 event just around the corner, the Redmond-based technology giant has just released the said companion app for Windows 8 and Windows RT. Essentially, the new app will allow Windows Phone 8 devices and computers running Windows 8 to work together seamlessly “so you always have your photos, videos, and music, and more where you want them.”

However, the app isn’t just about syncing music, photos, and videos. It also lets you share cool and interesting stuff from your phone, automatically save photos and videos from your phone to your PC, and check how much space you are using for each type of content – all without having to open the app itself. Do take note that the app only works with Windows Phone 8 devices. You can check out the app via the Windows Store.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Bill Gates: Surface is “unbelievably great”, Windows 8 companion app for Windows Phone 8 spotted,

Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Companion App For Syncing Media With Windows Phone 8 Devices Ahead Of Big WP8 Reveal

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Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 event takes place later today — where we expect to find out exactly how the integration between WP8, Microsoft’s new mobile OS, and its new desktop OS Windows 8 will work. In the meanwhile, the Verge has spotted a companion app that’s surfaced on the Windows Store which will allow WP8 users to sync content with a Windows 8 PC.

The app allows WP8 users to “get an overview of what’s on your phone, add photos, videos and music from your computer, find apps and dive into each category on the phone and share with other apps, or delete items to make space”, according to the app description. “Your computer and your Windows Phone 8 work together seamlessly with the Windows Phone app so you always have your photos, videos, and music, and more where you want them,” it adds. The Verge notes that it doesn’t work on Windows Phone 7-based devices, as you’d expect.

Here’s the full run down of features, according to the app listing

  • Get your music, photos, and videos from your computer to your phone (and vice versa).
  • Quickly share things from your phone with Windows 8 apps (like Photos, or Search). You don’t even have to open the Windows Phone app to move things around.
  • Automatically save photos and videos you take with your phone to your PC.
  • See at a glance how much space you’re using for each type of content, so it’s easy to make sure you never run out of room on your phone.
  • Get to WindowsPhone.com to download apps, learn more about your phone, or find it if it’s lost.

Back in July, Microsoft’s WP senior product manager Greg Sullivan told me to expect some “cool stuff” when the wraps finally come off Windows Phone 8. ”There are a whole series of… new capabilities and features that will come that we haven’t talked about and there’s integration with Windows 8 that we’ll demo closer to the date,” he said. It remains to be seen whether syncing, sharing, auto-saving and the other features detailed above are the only “synergies” between Microsoft’s mobile and desktop OS.

In the Windows Store listing, the app is listed as a “tool” and has been given a 12+ age rating.  The app developer is listed as Microsoft Corporation. System requirements/supported processors are listed as: x86, x64, ARM.

Interestingly the app has apparently been reviewed 49 times — despite there being no Windows Phone 8 devices on sale yet — and has a three-star rating.

 

 

 


Panasonic outs new Toughbook C2 running on Windows 8 Pro

Panasonic introduced last Friday in the US its new 12.5″ convertible with the Toughbook C2. Designed for professional the new C2 comes by default with Windows 8 Pro, a nice 5-point capacitive multi-touch 12.5″ 500 nit LCD IPS display, 4GB of RAM, an Intel Core i5-3427U vPro CPU, USB 3.0, WiFi, Bleutooth, LTE or 3G and a battery life announced for 11h! The Panasonic Toughbook C2 is available this December from authorized Panasonic resellers starting at $2949. The Toughbook C2 …

Microsoft adds WP8 app to Windows Store just in time for launch

Microsft adds Windows Phone app to Windows Store ahead of WP 8 event

If you’re aiming to get your hands on one of the many Windows Phone 8 devices launching later today, it would be nice to be able to sync it with your Windows 8 PC, no? Redmond has you covered in the nick of time, as it’s just released the free Windows Phone app to its Windows Store. That’ll let you get music, photos, or video over to your computer and back, use Windows 8 apps to share things like searches, automatically save photos or videos taken with your phone to your PC and check your phone’s storage to see how it’s being used. It’ll also let allow you to download phone apps and learn more about your device, while pulling off a trick we’ve saw first with Apple, then WP7 — letting you track down your smartphone if it goes missing. You can grab it at the source, then all you’ll need is a WP8 handset — so stay tuned for our liveblog at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST to see when that might happen.

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Microsoft adds WP8 app to Windows Store just in time for launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 01:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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