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Microsoft showing off Surface 2 with in-store shows

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 3:10pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

This past Monday Microsoft held a Surface event in New York City, unveiling the next-generation of its flagship tablet, which hits the market in late October, just after the Windows 8.1 launch. Now the software giant wants to get customers familiar with the upcoming product by holding a series of in-store shows.

"The team had so much fun showing off the new gear, they decided to hit the road to give you a chance to get hands on and meet some of the people behind the scenes of Surface", the team announces.

The show is not coming to every Microsoft store, but only visiting a select few, beginning September 30th in Seattle. Customers will have the opportunity to see Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 and all of the accessories up close and personal, get an opportunity to win prizes and meet some of the team members, including Panos Panay, the corporate VP of Surface.

Shows, beyond Seattle, include locations in California, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, New York and more -- a complete schedule can be found here.

Surface 2 and its big brother Surface Pro 2 will be available October 22nd and will ship with Windows 8.1, which reintroduces the Start button, brings tighter SkyDrive integration and more.
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week -- September 22-28

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 10:34am CEST par Mark Wilson

Microsoft held an event in NYC to launch the Surface 2 and Brian was live-blogging. The full video of the launch is available to view online as are advertisements that show off the tablets' versatility. Microsoft is pinning a lot on the updated product after the first generation suffered from poor sales. There were no great new features, but there is a redesigned kickstand, a healthy speed boost, new dock and updated covers -- Brian was particularly impressed by the Blades.

Anyone buying a Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2 earns themselves a SkyDrive upgrade. Purchase a new device and your online storage gets upgraded to 200GB, but the same amount of space is available for $100 per year. Moving away from Surface-related news, Microsoft turned its guns on Google Docs, highlighting user complaints to demonstrate the superiority of Office 365.

After last week's launch, Apple's iPhone remained in the headlines. Selling 9 million units in the opening weekend seems impressive on the face of things, but all may not be as it seems. It came as no great surprise that the top of the range iPhone 5s proved more popular than its cheaper counterpart, but the device's fingerprint reader was shown to be "hackable" with a printer and some glue.

Back on the desktop, Apple launches four new iMacs and also lost a patent case relating to the click wheel on iPod Classics.

It has been a week of mixed news for BlackBerry. The beleaguered company found a potential buyer, and then went on to announce massive losses when its financial results were published. The figures had been widely anticipated and had been preceded by the cancellation of a previously scheduled conference call with analysts.

A few new tablets were announced or released this week including a cheap offering from UK supermarket Tesco. New Kindle Fires boasting faster performance and better screens were also unveiled. For owners of Android phones and tablets, Android Device Manager was updated to include the option of remotely adding password protection to a device, and Mihaita showed how to achieve the same in Windows Phone. A report suggested that Windows Phone is the most unusable mobile OS available was published and lead to some lively debate in the comments!

In the Linux world, Gnome 3.10 was released and SteamOS, Valve's take on home media streaming, was also unveiled. Sticking with the media streaming theme, Roku updated its line of boxes and Netflix boosted video quality.

There was quite a lot happening online over the last seven days: Google changed YouTube commenting to be Google+ powered and Yahoo's email recycling program backfired slightly when it resulted in private data being handed over to the wrong people. Gmail suffered an unscheduled outage, and it was also revealed that some people are perfectly happy to remain cut off from the web.

That's it for now. Here's to another seven action-packed days.

Photo Credit: vinz89/Shutterstock
Steam Controller -- a potential PlayStation 4 and Xbox One competitor

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 2:50am CEST par Brian Fagioli

The video game controller has evolved over the years. However, from the iconic NES and going all the way to the soon-to-be-released PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, they are basically the same; directional pad on the left and buttons on the right. Sure, the number of buttons has increased, and there are now analog thumb-sticks, but overall, the concept hasn't changed -- until now.

Today, Valve announces that it is revolutionizing the game controller with its innovative Steam Controller. This controller is designed to accompany its new Steam Machine hardware and SteamOS Linux distro. Clearly, the company has its sights set not only on your living room, but competing with Sony and Microsoft. Yes, the company is using Linux and a custom-designed controller to compete with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The innovation is apparent just by looking at the controller. The company says, "the most prominent elements of the Steam controller are its two circular trackpads. Driven by the player’s thumbs, each one has a high-resolution trackpad as its base. It is also clickable, allowing the entire surface to act as a button. The trackpads allow far higher fidelity input than has previously been possible with traditional handheld controllers. Steam gamers, who are used to the input associated with PCs, will appreciate that the Steam Controller’s resolution approaches that of a desktop mouse".

These dual circular trackpads represent total out-of-the-box thinking and a truly different approach to game control. However, the question is, how will it work with games that are designed for a keyboard and mouse?

"The Steam Controller is designed to work with all the games on Steam: past, present, and future. Even the older titles in the catalog and the ones which were not built with controller support. (We've fooled those older games into thinking they’re being played with a keyboard and mouse, but we've designed a gamepad that’s nothing like either one of those devices.)", says Valve.

You've read that right. Not only will it work with controller-enabled Steam games, it will also work with keyboard and mouse-designed games. This enables maximum-compatibility and opens new ways to interact with older games.

"In the center of the controller is another touch-enabled surface, this one backed by a high-resolution screen. This surface, too, is critical to achieving the controller’s primary goal - supporting all games in the Steam catalog. The screen allows an infinite number of discrete actions to be made available to the player, without requiring an infinite number of physical buttons". It will be interesting to see how the company leverages this clickable surface.

Moving on from revolution to evolution, Valve has improved upon the rumble, or vibration, feature found in many modern controllers. Typically, vibration is delivered by small motors that spin a weight. This new controller takes that to a new level.

The company says, "the Steam Controller is built around a new generation of super-precise haptic feedback, employing dual linear resonant actuators. These small, strong, weighted electro-magnets are attached to each of the dual trackpads. They are capable of delivering a wide range of force and vibration, allowing precise control over frequency, amplitude, and direction of movement".

Overall, the beauty of this controller immediately draws me in. Attractiveness aside, it also appears extremely ergonomic and I cannot wait to wrap my hands around it. Valve is taking its living-room gaming approach very seriously and I for one cannot wait to try the finished product. While I won't be cancelling my PS4 pre-order over it, I will closely monitor the situation while trying to contain my excitement.
Microsoft to allow apps to be installed on up to 81 devices

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 1:35am CEST par Mark Wilson

Microsoft announces that it is dramatically increasing the number of devices users are able to install apps on. At the moment there is a limit of five devices, enabling customers to install the apps they have bought on multiple devices with the same user account. While you might think that five devices is enough for most people, some developers and customers wanted more. Microsoft listened and has increased the app roaming limit. Massively.

Five devices just not enough? How does 81 sound? Yep… 81 devices. Microsoft says it is responding to the demands made of it -- "since we launched Windows 8, we heard growing feedback from many developers and from our most enthusiastic customers that the limit of 5 was not enough for their needs. Developers asked for more flexibility in implementing their business models, and customers wanted to run those apps on the variety of tablets, laptops and desktops they owned".

Although the figure appears to be derived from the version number of Windows 8.1, the new limit will be in place for users of both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 from 9 October.

If developers are concerned that this will lead to a reduction in income due to app "sharing", Microsoft points out that APIs exist that can be used to place a limit on the number of devices that can access a service simultaneously.

Is 81 enough for you?
Microsoft teams with Crackle for exclusive TV show

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 12:27am CEST par Alan Buckingham

Microsoft continues the push to make its latest platforms more appealing to a rather skeptical audience, this time teaming with Crackle, the streaming video service launched by Sony. Exclusive shows are fast becoming a hallmark of these video services, with Amazon and Netflix already in on the act, and now Crackle is taking its first shot.

Cleaners, the service's new exclusive show, will premiere on October 3rd, but customers with Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Xbox 360 can all get a sneak peek. "Starting today and running through to October 2nd in advance of the world premiere on October 3rd – you can watch all 6 episodes of Crackle’s new series 'Cleaners' on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Xbox 360", says Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc.

The show stars Emmanuelle Chriqui and Emily Osment as Veronica and Roxie who are two young women who happen to also be a tandem of highly trained and lethal contract killers.

Crackle has struggled somewhat in competition with rival services, but with a growing market of original shows, being bolstered by recent awards for Netflix's House of Cards, the market seems ready to move more in this direction and away from the networks that once dominated living rooms.
Microsoft highlights Reading List ahead of Windows 8.1 launch

Publié: septembre 28, 2013, 12:13am CEST par Mark Wilson

There are only three weeks to go until the release of Windows 8.1 and Microsoft is laying the groundwork by highlighting some of the new features and apps that are to be found in the update. The latest app to be picked out is Reading List -- Microsoft's answer to the list of Pocket and ReadItLater. The app has been designed to make it easier to save online articles to read at a later time without the need to bookmark it.

Reading List differs from RSS readers such as Feedly in that articles are stored on an individual basis. And while it is well suited to "bookmarking" articles you find on websites that you would like to return to, it can also be used to bookmark content from other apps. Just like other "read it later" tools, the real advantage comes from the fact that content is synchronized between devices.

If you're catching up on the news on your home PC before heading off to work, lengthy articles can be added to your Reading List so you can finish it off on your laptop or Surface on your journey to the office. Using Reading List means taking advantage of Windows 8.1's Charm bar. Swipe in from the right -- with a finger or mouse -- select the Share option and then choose Reading List.

But it's not just a handy way to sync articles between devices -- Reading List is also a great way to collate related information when researching a project. It's not an option that is going to completely replace the traditional idea of bookmarking sites, but it serves as an excellent complementary method.

Are there any particular features you're looking forward to in Windows 8.1? If you've already updated you operating system, how does Reading List compare to other similar tools you've used in the past?