Hasta La Gadget!

Hello, and welcome to sunny San Franciscso where Microsoft is about to kick off its annual Build developer conference. We already know today is the day Windows 8.1 becomes available as a public preview, and the execs in Redmond have hinted they have even more to share about the big OS update. But what else? Will those rumors of WebGL support for IE11 come to fruition? And how ’bout some news indie gaming developers can use? We’ll be giving you the blow by blow, starting around 12PM ET today. Stay tuned!

Filed under: Microsoft

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This time of year, developer conferences and the Moscone Center in San Francisco go together about as well as hamburgers and hot dogs. We enjoyed Google’s and Apple’s annual conventions last month, and this week it’s Microsoft’s turn. During this edition of Build 2013 (oops, we mean “//build/”), we’re expecting Windows 8.1 to take the bulk of the devs’ attention, while we also hope to see a few additional nuggets of info about other projects such as Xbox One and — if we’re lucky — Windows Phone. If we’re even more fortunate, we might get to see a famous Ballmer chant-and-dance for the developers, but we don’t want to set our expectations too high. Join us here as we canvas Moscone for the latest and greatest developments at Build 2013!

Filed under: Announcements, Microsoft

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It’s back! Yes, what you’re looking at above is the Start button (plus matching options) that’s been rumored to return with Windows 8.1 (formerly “Blue”). Yesterday .NET developer Robert McLaws tweeted a series of screenshots of Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview (build 9431) which show the new Start button and a revised “Taskbar and Navigation properties” dialog — among other things. Microsoft faced massive criticism last year after shipping Windows 8 without the Start button — prompting third parties to create replacements (like Start8 and Classic Shell) — so this is a welcome change. Stay tuned for Build 2013 (the company’s developer conference) which starts Wednesday in San Francisco — we’re likely to find out more about Windows 8.1 and the Start button in short order.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

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Via: WinBeta

Source: Robert McLaws (Twitter)

If you’ve wanted full-blown Windows 8 in bite-size form, you now have your chance: the Acer Iconia W3 is on sale in the US. The 8.1-inch slate is in stock at both Office Depot and Staples, starting at $350 for a 32GB model at both outlets. Don’t count on the 64GB version being available — it’s still listed as an online-only pre-order at Office Depot. There’s also no word on inventory at Amazon or other competing retailers. Should you not be picky about capacities or store choices, however, you can take the W3 home today.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Source: Office Depot, Staples

The post-PC era continues to see tablets and smartphones drive overall growth, researchers claim, with traditional PC shipments predicted to decline more than 10-percent this year. 2013 sales of computing hardware – including tablets, smartphones, and PCs – are expected to grow 5.9-percent year on year in 2013, Gartner calculates, but that will be predominantly

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