Microsoft’s virtual assistant, named Cortana, is so far only available on Windows Phone 8.1. But what if it will one day make it to the company’s computer and tablet oriented ‘full’ Windows release? If you’re wondering how Cortana would work in such a scenario, that’s exactly what a video from Microsoft Research shows us.

Apparently before the name Cortana was chosen to be used for the assistant’s public release, it was going by Project Louise. And Microsoft Research had it running on a Windows 8 tablet a long time ago. Read more »

CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella sent a company-wide email that promised big changes for the Redmond based tech giant, altering what the “core” of the company will be.

Apparently the new direction that Microsoft will be taking will focus heavily on mobile and cloud services. Read more »

Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro 3 slate has been plagued by some serious Wi-Fi connectivity issues since its release a few weeks ago. The early adopters hoped Microsoft will resolve their issues with an upcoming update, and as it turns out they’ll only have to wait a few more days.

There is already an update rolling out for the Surface Pro 3 focusing on “Wireless network controller and Bluetooth”, but unfortunately it doesn’t fix the Wi-Fi connectivity problems. Read more »

Microsoft has started taking pre-orders for its second generation Kinect sensor for Windows. It’s priced at $199, and it will be released on July 15 (which is next Tuesday).

The new device aims to succeed the original Kinect for Windows that went on sale in 2012. The Kinect v2 is based on the corresponding sensor for the Xbox One. Read more »

This year will see another big rise among smart devices shipped to retailers and sold to customers – by its end more than 2.43 billion units will have left the manufacturing facilities which compares nicely to to 2013′s 2.34 billion.

The numbers come from Gartner which breaks them down by traditional PCs, ultrabooks and premium laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Interestingly the PC market will account for 308 million devices with tablets closing in at 256 million. Gartner’s projection for 2015 is that tablets will overtake PCs with roughly 4 million more shipments. Read more »

The Asus VivoTab RT TF600T is getting on two years old now and Amazon is clearing out its stock by slashing the original price to just $175. The Windows RT platform is drying up on the vine, but getting a 10.1″ tablet under $200 is still a pretty good deal.

Before non-US readers get excited I should clarify that the price cut is only available on Amazon.com. Read more »

It was apparently time for Angry Birds Seasons to get yet another update. This time, Rovio added 24 new levels to its insanely popular game. These take you on a trip to South HAMerica, where your mission is, as always, to stop those pesky pigs.

There are even three bonus levels inside, and everything is packed with relics, artifacts, ancient statues, and rope bridges – all making for a pretty exotic twist to the game. Read more »

Have you been having difficulty updating your Windows 8 or RT device to 8.1? Well you’re not the only one, as this is a known glitch that has been affecting a significant number of Windows 8 users.

Don’t give up hope, however, as Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and has a patch that they’ve been testing that’ll hopefully solve your problem. Read more »

Windows 8 has come under a lot of fire for not being desktop computer friendly. Sure the tile approach may work for tablets, but the experience just doesn’t translate well to a mouse and keyboard set-up. Users made their discontent be known: they wanted their desktop experience back.

But what if there was a way to have the same operating system, that would recognize which platform it was installed on, and adapt to it accordingly? That’s what Windows 9 will purportedly be offering. Read more »

A 5-inch tablet might seem rather odd in this day and age, but Panasonic has just announced two of them. One runs Android, the other is powered by Windows 8.1 Embedded Handheld, and they’re both extremely expensive.

On the other hand, they’re also both incredibly rugged, being able to withstand drops onto concrete from up to ten feet. In fact, they go beyond even the military standard MIL-STD-810G in terms of how resistant they are to the elements or accidents. Read more »

In what’s clearly becoming a trend for Microsoft’s tablet line, the Surface Pro 3 has been torn down and found to be almost impossible to repair.

The exact same thing happened with its predecessors, the original Surface Pro as well as the Surface Pro 2. In fact, the three tablets share the lowest possible repairability score issued by the experts over at iFixit. Read more »

There have been murmurs of a Surface Mini for a little while now, without any real concrete evidence of the device.

Well it looks like Microsoft has decided to leak the tablet itself, in the form of multiple mentions throughout the Surface 3′s user guide. Read more »

The latest iteration of Microsoft’s popular Surface tablet has gone up for preorder on Microsoft’s online store, and is set to hit brick-and-mortar Microsoft and BestBuy retailers in the US in limited quantities.

The Intel Core i5 128GB/256GB models will ship by June 30 in the US, while the Core i3 base model with 64GB of internal storage, as well as the high-end Core i7 models with 256GB/512GB memory will start shipping on August 1. Read more »

Adobe released an updated desktop app of the popular Photoshop CC image editing suite. The new version brings a host of new features and enhancements to the application.

The latest Photoshop CC delivers improved layer comps, blur gallery motion effects, enhanced smart guides, and expanded 3D printing capabilities. Read more »

Were you holding out for a Surface Pro 2? Do you live in the US? If so, then you’ll be happy to hear that you can snatch one up for a discount.

The savings depend on which models of the tablet/pc that you decide to lay money down on. Read more »