Hasta La Gadget!

As a part of Microsoft‘s ongoing media blitz with the upcoming launch of Windows 8 on October 26, the company has partnered up with Boingo to launch free WiFi in various locations across New York City, as well as San Francisco. The free WiFi will be available for a few months, from today until the end of the year.

The free WiFi is to celebrate Microsoft’s upcoming launch of Windows 8, and the company hopes their sponsorship with Boingo “will introduce the Windows 8 opportunity to app builders in NYC and San Francisco, while providing folks with Wi-Fi connectivity on-the-go.” They’re also hoping that consumers who use the free WiFi will use it to browse the new Windows store coming to Windows 8

The WiFi will be available at six subway stations in New York City and across several popular regions of San Francisco such as Union Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, UN Plaza, the Financial District, and Nob Hill. The free WiFi network will grow larger starting November 1 when Boingo will open up access to over 200 more WiFi hotspots in NYC.

Unlike Google’s free WiFi promotion last month, you’ll be able to use Microsoft’s free WiFi with any device, regardless of whether you’re using Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, or Windows Phone hardware. So, if you happen to be out in NYC or San Francisco, be sure to hit up the free WiFi while you can, from now until the end of this year.

[Image via Flickr]

Microsoft launches free Boingo WiFi in NYC and San Francisco to celebrate Windows 8 launch is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Microsoft have decided to add Kinect for desktop support to the Windows 8 Desktop app support collection with a full software development kit. This kit will help developers work with the Windows 8-compatible Kinect-running app universe and includes a set of features never before available with the hardware. Company officials have made it clear that developers that’ve requested the updated kit should start receiving it today – of course you could simply head on over to the Developer Center and grab it now as well, if you wanted.

This updated kit will include several new features that will bring the Kinect for the desktop environment into the future. This update also brings Kinect Studio 1.6.0 up to full Kinect Windows 8 SDK compatibility as well. This SDK also adds support for .Net 4.5 as well as Visual Studio 2012. Have a peek at some of the additional features this update brings with it:

• Color Camera Settings may now be optimized fully
• Support for VM – windows running in Virtual Machine, including Parallels, VMWare, Hyper-V
• Color, Depth, Skeleton Coordinate APIs amongst others
• Accelerometer exposure in API
• Infrared Stream color image format exposure in API
• German speech recognition
• New raw Bayer color image format support
• Extended depth data beyond the four meter limit in place now – with quality reduction as depth increases

What we’re seeing here is an update to the system that brings forth a new age for the Kinect in modifications as simple as depth perception – note here that you’re also able to get as close as 50 centimeters with this update, too. You’ll see Kinect working well into the future, both as a developer and as a consumer of lovely Kinect-ed apps – both here and on the Xbox, mind you! Have a peek at a collection of recent Kinect updates in the timeline below as well.

Kinect joins the Windows 8 fun with developer support SDK is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Windows 8 is still weeks away with an official launch date of October 26, but that didn’t stop one shopping website from posting up new Windows 8-equipped laptops from the likes of Gateway and Acer. The Home Shopping Network (HSN) apparently put up the laptops for sale on purpose, saying that all five models are ready for shipping when ordered.

It’s no doubt that these new machines are, in fact, equipped with Windows 8 and aren’t just eligible for upgrades. Even the keyboards show the updated Windows 8 logo on the Windows key, as well as accompanying Windows 8 stickers on the edges. Also, just like with any OEM Windows PC in the past, it looks like these Windows 8 machines will see their fair share of bloatware.

All five PCs listed have 60-day trials to both Microsoft Office 2010 and Norton Internet Security Suite, as well as Nero 12 Essentials and CyberLink PowerDVD. They also have a handful of the manufacturer’s own offerings, such as respective Games apps, backup and recovery software, and cloud storage solutions.

All five machines are still listed on the HSN website as of this writing, but it appears that all the images are dead when you click on an individual computer. It turns out that Microsoft has confirmed these Windows 8 machines listed on HSN are unauthorized listings, and all Windows 8-based PCs won’t officially go on sale until October 26th. We’re curious to see if anyone who ended up ordering one of these machines on HSN will receive it before the official launch date, but our guess is that HSN will cancel all of its orders.

[via ZDNet]

Windows 8 PCs show up early on HSN website is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re champing at the bit to get hold of a Windows 8 computer, you can now buy an Acer or Gateway from HSN.com—just be warned that it’s loaded with crapware and likely a poor idea. More »

We last heard about Aperion’s ARIS speaker back in May when it was officially announced. Today, the ARIS is officially out and is now the world’s first Windows 8 certified speaker, which boasts wireless capabilities that allow you to play music and other audio from any Windows PC in your house using the “Play To” feature. It can be yours for only $499 starting today.

Obviously, we all own multiple devices like laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and of course smartphones. A wireless speaker like the ARIS can connect to all of your devices via your home WiFi network. This gets rid of the hassle of moving music files between devices or moving the devices entirely in order to plug it into a set of speakers.

The speaker system has six internal drivers and four amplifiers that provide 100W of power and a maximum SPL of 105dB, which is certainly respectable. The speaker comes with an anodized aluminum enclosure and measures 6.5-inches high by 14.75-inches wide. There’s also a red steel stand that’s both adjustable and removable.

The ARIS works with both Windows 7 and Windows 8, and is even compatible with different remote control apps on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. This means users can DJ their music right from the comfort of their couch without going directly to their computer to change songs. Obviously, the speaker is a lot like what you would find with Apple’s AirPlay-compatible speakers and other DLNA-certified speaker systems, but it’s the first of what we’re sure will be many Windows 8 certified devices.

Aperion ARIS hits as world’s first Windows 8 certified speaker is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.