Smartphones serving as the brain of a laptop always sounded like a great idea, until someone actually makes one. Undeterred by the cold reception of the Motorola Atrix and its laptop dock and the low profile of the Asus Padfone, Samsung has patented a Galaxy Note-like device, which docks into a laptop host.

The patent does get a couple of things right that eluded the Atrix and the Padfone. Read more »

As all of you surely know, Windows 10 is already on its way. It will be a huge step forward in building a uniform Windows ecosystem across all sorts of devices, ranging from TVs and PCs, all the way to smartphones and embedded tech. This time around, Microsoft has remodeled the whole development process and by launching the Windows Insider program, has made everything a lot more-transparent and user-driven.

One of the many consequences of Microsoft’s open model is that we have been able to test some early technical previews of the platform for quite some time now. Read more »

Microsoft’s Office productivity suite will get its own personal assistant app called Office Now. Currently the application is being tested on Windows and might be released for iOS, Windows 10 Mobile, and Android.

Office Now gives a summary of one’s day at a glance. Read more »

King.com is making a desktop version of its ridiculously popular game, Candy Crush Saga. The game will be available on Windows and will even come preinstalled with Windows 10 for those who get the free upgrade for the first year.

Candy Crush Saga is currently available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone and through the Facebook website as a Flash-based game but this will be the first time it is coming as a native app on desktop. The game uses your Facebook account to sync progress across all versions of the game so you can pick up right where you left off regardless of where you last played it. Read more »

There are a few time lapse video apps available and now Microsoft Research is throwing its hat in the ring with Hyperlapse. The app speeds up handheld videos and stabilizes them so that you don’t bore your audience or make them seasick.

It’s available for phones (Windows and Android) and computers (Windows). Read more »

Today Microsoft is officially telling us what all the different editions of the upcoming Windows 10 release will be called. On this occasion, the software giant has also revealed the naming for the Windows 10 version for phones. This will be Windows 10 Mobile, and the branding will be the same for smartphones as well as small tablets.

The fact that this variation will run on said small tablets is probably what contributed to it losing the word “Phone” from its name, though with the new moniker many people could remember the old Windows Mobile, which may not be the best thing for Microsoft. Read more »

Skype Translator has been available as a closed preview since December of last year, but starting today everyone can use it. You just download it from the Windows Store, and start using it. You will however need to have either Windows 8.1 or the Windows 10 preview on your PC or tablet.

Skype Translator is the Sci-Fi-like bit of software that translates what you say into another language in near real-time. For spoken languages, it currently works with English, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin. So you could be talking to someone in English, while that person would hear a Spanish translation of what you’ve just said – alongside a collapsible transcript window. Read more »

Emails can be dull, but Giphy for Gmail is now here to change all that. In what is probably the greatest innovation to hit email since signatures were invented, Giphy for Gmail brings animated GIFs straight into your emails.

Giphy for Gmail is a Chrome extension. Once you install it, you’ll see a new rainbow button inside Gmail’s Compose screen, alongside the text formatting options. If you click it, you’ll be able to quickly search for and discover many animated GIFs just begging to be put inside your email. Read more »

At Microsoft’s Ignite conference, Microsoft employee and developer evangelist Jerry Nixon said that “Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10.” That sounds like Microsoft won’t be releasing any more versions of Windows 10, which is true more or less.

Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, in the sense there won’t be any major releases of Windows hereafter. Microsoft plans to turn Windows into a service, where it will continue to get updates but there won’t be any major releases. Read more »

A public preview version of Microsoft Office 2016 has been released for all Windows users to download and try out. Microsoft is working to release the next version of its productivity suite by the second half this year.

Microsoft Office 2016 brings in new tricks including Universal Apps, which were showcased during the BUILD 2015 conference last week. Read more »

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 11 is currently the leader in the browser market with 25.04% market share, according to Internet statistic firm Net Market Share, which has recently released its stats for the desktop web browser market for April 2015.

As clear from the pie chart shown above, IE 8.0 came in second with 16.05 % share, while Google’s Chrome web browser (version 41.0) captured the third spot with 8.86% market share. IE 9.0, Chrome 42.0, and Firefox 37 rounded up the top 5 with 8.10%, 7.69%, and 6.45% market share, respectively. Read more »

Hot on the heels of today’s Build keynote, Microsoft launched a new Windows 10 preview. Sporting build number 10074, the new release brings a host of improvements, headed by the reintroduction of some Aero Glass elements in the UI.

Windows 10 preview build 10074 changelog includes UX, Continuum, and multi-tasking improvements. Read more »

In the future, Microsoft’s Office apps will get their own third party apps – running inside them across platforms, so on Windows but also on iOS and in the Web versions of the Office suite. This has been revealed today during Microsoft’s Build conference.

An Uber app running inside Outlook was demoed, as evidenced by the shot above. The Uber app or add-in doesn’t seem to intrude very much into the main Outlook workspace, but it will allow you to easily schedule rides from your calendar appointments. Read more »

The annual Microsoft BUILD conference is now well under way and we are happy to report that Windows 10 is making great progress in developing new and interesting features. Despite the slow and heavily developer-centric start, the keynote did get to four new interesting technologies that will debut in Windows 10, helping Microsoft expand its Windows Store.

The company has worked on enabling developers turn their existing Android, iOS, Web and even .NET and Web32 code to the Windows Store ready apps. It boils down to a new added ability to reuse various existing application code and repurpose it as a Windows universal application. Read more »

When it first unveiled Windows 10 last year, Microsoft briefly talked about a new feature called Continuum, but back then it was in the context of switching UIs on convertible devices based on whether you have the keyboard connected or not. And Continuum can still do that, but today at its Build conference, the software giant has announced a more interesting use case, with Continuum for phones.

This kicks in when you connect a smartphone running Windows 10 to a monitor. The UI you’ll see on the monitor won’t just be a 1:1 representation of the handset’s screen. Instead, the phone is basically turned into a makeshift PC, which will even work with a mouse and keyboard for interaction. Read more »