John Lister

Microsoft has released a Windows 10 Preparation Tool designed to integrate Windows 7 and 8 computers for testing Windows 10 more easily. The tool also coincides with a big update to Windows 10 Technical Preview which is due January next year, and ... will include many features that are most important to home computer users. (Source: winbeta.org ) Currently, Windows 10 is in its Technical Preview stage. That means many features are new and being tested by thousands of people, and the operating system itself is not fully functional. In all likelihood, the Technical Preview is full of bugs and has ... (view more)

The first consumer features of Windows 10 -- albeit very much still in test mode -- may be just a few weeks away from public unveiling. Recent leaks suggest that the virtual assistant Cortana may be extremely prominent in the new system. Cortana is ... a voice recognition feature already present in Windows Phones and works somewhat similar to Apple's Siri and Google Now. The Windows 10 Consumer Edition Preview is expected to officially roll out to public testers in late January, 2015; some analysts suggest it will likely be on January 21st, as that is the date of Microsoft's next press event. ( ... (view more)

Microsoft has warned that a recently released security update may be incompatible with test editions of Windows 10 and MS Office . The advice came from Gabe Aul, who is general manager of engineering for Windows. He posted a series of four messages ... on his Twitter account, rather than posting it onto Microsoft's official news blog. The messages read: "We just made a tough call after working through the night that I thought I should share with you. We have a security update going out today, and the installer fails on [Windows 10 build 9879 if Microsoft Office] is installed. Rather than ... (view more)

Earlier this year, a hack was discovered that would allow Windows XP users to continue receiving security updates , despite Microsoft no longer officially supporting the system . However, experts are now warning users that the hack guarantees ... neither security, nor stable computing. Windows XP: No More Security Updates Microsoft finally pulled the plug on Windows XP in April this year , including all future security updates. The problem is that many people still continue to use the operating system, despite significant security risks . The Windows Embedded hack essentially tricks Windows XP ... (view more)

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is selling two Windows 8 laptops that are both priced at $199 . It's seen by some analysts as a way to counter the low-cost Google Chromebook range . The two models are the HP Stream 11 and Stream 13 , which model numbers are ... respective of their screen sizes. The Stream 11 has a permanent price of $199; the Stream 13 is normally $229 but will have $30 off for a limited period as part of the Black Friday sales season. To sweeten the deal, devices purchased directly from Microsoft will also receive a year's subscription to Office 365 Personal (the online edition of ... (view more)

Microsoft has begun public testing of a new presentation application that could one day replace its incredibly popular and widely used MS PowerPoint. The main focus of the tool, named Sway, is to remove the barriers between presentations on ... different computing devices, such as smartphones and PCs. The idea of Sway is that it shouldn't matter what type of content you want to build into a presentation, or what device you want to show it on. That's a major contrast to MS PowerPoint, where it can be difficult to bring together multiple file formats or to create presentations that look the ... (view more)

Microsoft has launched a new tool for MS Outlook designed to make it easier to deal with email overload. It will be available for business users at first, but could later be rolled out for home users. The feature will be available as part of Office ... 365 for business: that's the online edition of the Office suite, which is automatically updated when Microsoft adds new features or makes changes. The name of the feature comes from the problem Microsoft is trying to tackle: Clutter. That's meant to describe the category of emails that are from legitimate senders, but which you don't ... (view more)

Windows 8.1 users will soon have the opportunity to test a potentially revolutionary feature: live speech translation in Skype. Skype is a software program that allows users to make phone calls or video chat with other Skype users around the world, ... using the Internet. Skype is one of the most popular applications of its kind, with over 300 million users world-wide using the service. (Source: skype.com ) Skype Live Speech Translation - On the Fly The live speech translation feature has been in the works from some time, stemming back to 2011 when Microsoft bought out Skype for $8.5 billion . It ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled additional features for Windows 10, as well as making previously-announced features available for testing. Most of the changes are aimed at mobile computer users, but there will be a few extra improvements for desktop users . ... Windows 10 Testing being done in Batches Microsoft is taking a very deliberate approach with its public testing program for the new Windows 10 operating system. Rather than throw out a semi-completed version of Windows 10 for testing and deal with all the feedback at once, Microsoft is slowly adding new features to the test edition of the operating ... (view more)

Rumors suggest that Microsoft is primed to launch its own smartwatch in the next few weeks. Details are still hazy, but it seems it may connect with multiple devices , and not only Windows Phones. Smartwatches have been one of the big tech stories ... of 2014, becoming a serious mainstream product after years of hype. Apple is launching its own smartwatch running a modified version of the iPhone software, while firms such as Samsung have produced Android-based watches. Check Emails at the Flick of a Wrist Although smartwatches run a mobile operating system, they usually rely on a connection to a ... (view more)