Microsoft has been busy lately unifying it’s core apps to gel with the soon to be available Windows 10, that’s why today it announced to withdraw support from the modern Skype simplifying your PC experience down to one app that you can use either with your mouse and keyboard or with touch. Starting on July 7, Skype is updating PC users of the Windows modern application to the Windows desktop application, and retiring the modern application.
With the upcoming release of Windows 10 for PCs, it makes sense to use the Skype application optimized for mouse and keyboards use, capable of doing touch as well rather than 2 separate applications performing the same function. This is result of the feedback taken by the Skype team through its users.
Anyone trying to access the modern application on PCs starting from July 7 forward will be automatically directed to download the desktop application. If you already have Skype for Windows desktop you don’t need to do anything. Also, if you’re on a Windows RT tablet device, there is no change for you.
Microsoft’s recent announcements illustrate how serious the company is about ensuring your Windows 10 PC will be amazing at working with all your devices. We think no other PC operating system can do all this:
The Phone Companion app on Windows 10 PCs will help you setup a Windows phone, Android Phone, or iPhone to ensure your key Windows experiences—your photos, your music, your docs– move effortlessly wherever you do.
The updated Xbox Music app on Android and iPhone will enable free streaming playback of your music files and playlists from OneDrive, so all your music is available wherever you are.
A companion Cortana app for Android and iPhone connects the world’s only personal digital assistant from your PC to your phone… right there to buzz you for reminders, answer your questions, and be your personal helper not just on your PC but on your phone, too.
“At Microsoft, we want everyone to love not just their Windows 10 PC, but all the devices they own, working with their Windows 10 PC” reads the Windows Blog.
Access Earth is an app that can help you find reliable up-to-date accessibility information about a place or a business,its gathered together by a volunteer network which has collected data from a number cities around the globe,and constantly adding new data to their database..Access Earth is a mission to provide people with any relevant accessibility information about various points of interest around the world,This app will be super beneficial to those with a physical disability.
Also there is a web version available which is free to use which will look like this below you can get to this page by following THISlink.
Acer announced today that it is expanding its smartphone business to the United States for the first time by bringing its award-winning Liquid M220 smartphone to Microsoft Stores. The Liquid M220 is the first Liquid smartphone to run on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system and is supported by Acer for the free Windows Phone 10 upgrade.The device is also affordable costing only $79.99
The Liquid M220 was designed to provide essential features for those looking for a simple, easy to use and very affordable smartphone. Its 4-inch 233 pixels per inch (PPI) WVGA (480×800) display delivers clear images for enjoying social media, while front and rear cameras let customers snap selfie pictures and record video on-the-go. A 5MP auto-focus rear camera with LED flash and an 89-degree wide-angle lens captures memorable moments, even in large scenes. In addition, the 2MP fixed-focus front camera can take fun videos on the fly for sharing on social media and support videoconferences with family and friends. Compact and comfortably light weight, it measures just 4.9- x 2.5-x .38-inches and weighs only 4.2 ounces.
The user interface is intuitive and easy to customize and fully supports Microsoft applications and services such as OneDrive, Skype, Office and the Cortanadigital assistant. The Liquid M220 is powered by a Qualcomm® Snapdragon 200 processor with dual core CPUs at speeds of up to 1.2GHz, 1GB memory and a replaceable 1300mAh battery that provides up to 3 hours talk time and up to 200 hours in standby on a single charge. It provides ample room for archiving photos and videos with 8GB storage capacity that can be expanded with a Micro SD card.
The Microsoft Comfort Headset now available for just €15 which is not a bad price,from the Microsoft store. Unlike many other headsets, the earpieces match the shape of the human ear. They’re designed to sit securely in the ear while maintaining maximum comfort—it’s a great fit for most people’s ears..
The earpieces direct sound deeper into the ear for minimum sound loss. Ergonomic design and a perfectly-placed earpiece speaker create a super-comfortable, high-quality listening experience.Pick the one that matches your personality. Add a bit of fun with bright orange, keep it neutral with white, or stay classy with black. Get outstanding sound quality and a colour that looks great.
Use the button to take calls with the headset on. And once you’ve answered, the built-in microphone lets you keep your hands free while you chat. It’s a small feature that makes a big difference.
How cool it would be if we had the same system at work as well as at home without having to switch the user all the time? I know it would make life much much easier organising stuffs separately for all kinds of personalities I possess. Like a complete desktop for travel related stuffs, then other for blogging, another one for office, one more for photography…and so on… Well folks the good guys developing the Windows10 at Microsoft seem to have heard this need and now Virtual Desktops come in built with Windows10. Read on to know more about Virtual Desktops on Windows 10.
The team at Microsoft had a few goals while developing the Virtual Desktop. Here are some high-level goals which they identified:
Give you more desktop space to group related windows
Help you quickly locate and switch to any window or group of windows
Let you easily re-organize your groups and move windows as tasks evolve
Keep you in control of the degree of separation between your grouped windows
Add as many desktops as you need
Design
To add a new desktop simply click the task view button on your taskbar and click the “new desktop” button. Just like how you can run as many application windows as you like, there’s also no limit to how many desktops you can create.
Task view is also where you can go to switch between desktops. The top part of this view shows previews of the windows you have open, just like Alt+Tab. However, task view also is able to filter this list when you create virtual desktops, so only the relevant windows appear. Under that you will find the list of desktops you have open. The labels along with accurate previews make it easy to find what you want to switch to. However, what if you’re trying to find that music player and you forgot which desktop you had it on? With hover preview it really is a breeze. Just hover over each desktop preview and Windows will let you peek into any desktop to see what windows are open there. That’s right, no need to switch to one desktop at a time to search for the window you’re looking for! You can even click on the app preview from task view to bring that window straight to the top.
You can now drag any window into the desktop you want to move it to right from task view. You can even drag a thumbnail to the “new desktop” button to create and move it to a new desktop in one step.
For the keyboard inclined users, you’ll appreciate some of these shortcut combos to accelerate your virtual desktop experience.
WIN + CTRL + LEFT/RIGHT: Switch to previous or next desktop
WIN + CTRL + D: Create a new desktop
WIN + CTRL + F4: Close the current desktop
WIN + TAB: Launch task view
To know more about Virtual Desktops or give suggestions to improve go here.
Let us know your experience with the Virtual Desktops in the comments below or tweet us using #TechBuzzIreland.
If you have not tried Windows Phone yet and want to pick up a cheap handset now is your chance with the carphone warehouse,also this could be a handy spare handset to have or its an ideal gift for €39.99 its a steal and the 530 has much to offer here compared to Android handsets in this price range. The 530 comes with a 4” LCD display,5 MP camera,Fast Quadcore with Windows Phone 8.1 and 4GB storage.
Good value means never compromising. That’s why the Nokia Lumia 530 comes with a quad-core processor, the latest version of Windows Phone, and the best new apps. Whether you’re messaging, socialising or gaming, the Nokia Lumia 530 gives you the power to have fun.
Microsoft yet again dish out more goodies for Android and iOS users despite the lack of favours in return im sure people will be happy to hear they can now avail of the feature.However the version for Android is just a preview. Office Lens is a handy capture app that turns your smartphone into a pocket scanner. It crops, straightens, enhances, and makes pictures of whiteboards and documents readable. Pictures of documents are automatically saved to OneDrive and editable on any device.
Office Lens on iPhone
Identifies printed text with optical character recognition (OCR) so that you can search by key word for the image in OneNote or OneDrive.
Converts images of paper documents and whiteboard notes into Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and PDF files for easy editing and reformatting (see moredetails here).
Captures business cards and generates contacts you can add to your phone.
Inserts images to OneNote or OneDrive (as DOCX, PPTX, JPG or PDF format) and gives you options to save, export and share the image.
Microsoft today announced a new model to its surface line up,its the new Surface 3.Another bonus is that its not running RT which limits full potential so this is surely welcome news for users who wish to purchase this piece.This is a cheaper unit compared to the Surface Pro 3 which costs €819 at entry level.
The Surface 3 (4G LTE). It’s the thinnest and lightest Surface ever shipped. It runs full Windows, including desktop applications. It includes a one-year subscription to Office 365 to help you really get down to work. And it starts at just $499/€609 Sadly the stylus and cover are a separate purchase which will add to the cost if you should require these extras..
Surface 3 features the same beautiful design and premium materials as Surface Pro 3 in a more compact and efficient package. It is thin (just 8.7 mm) and light (1.37 pounds or 622 grams) and has a 10.8-inch screen. Compared to the 12-inch Surface Pro 3 it is slightly smaller and it feels great when you’re using it as a tablet. The 3:2 aspect ratio that we first introduced on Surface Pro 3 is also used here, and, like its larger sibling, it feels natural whether you’re holding it in portrait mode for reading or writing a quick note with the pen or in landscape mode to watch a movie or play a game. The screen on the Surface Pro 3 is not only beautiful to look at — with incredibly accurate colors and clarity from multiple viewing angles — but also offers a world-class multi touch and pen experience. All that we did to make the Pro 3 screen one of the best in the industry is present in Surface 3, and you’ll appreciate this as you work and play on it.
Surface 3 also has front- (3.5MP) and rear-facing (8MP) cameras that both capture 1080p video. The rear-facing camera now features autofocus to take better photos but is also particularly useful for capturing images of documents, barcodes and the like. The battery will last up to 10 hours (our test results are based on video playback) so that it will see you through your work or school day with ease. New with Surface 3 is a Micro USB charger, which means it uses the same connector as most mobile phones. The included 13W charger will be the fastest charging option, but if your battery is running low you’ll be able to use your phone charger as well.
The capabilities of a laptop — including full Windows and Office
Surface 3 runs full 64-bit Windows 8.1 and will be available with Windows Pro for business customers. It will be upgradable to Windows 10 for free when it’s available. With full Windows, it will run the desktop applications you depend on for work or school. This point is so important to understand. You are not compromising anything when you buy this device. For my kids, they can now do everything they are asked to do at school and still play the PC games they love on this device. When you click in the Surface 3 Type Cover, the tablet becomes a laptop. Surface 3 will also include a free one-year subscription to Office 365 Personal, including full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote as well as 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
The Surface 3 Type Cover gives you a typing experience that is unmatched by any other tablet and really does turn your tablet into a full laptop. You can also use the Surface 3 Docking Station to instantly create a full desktop workstation, connecting easily to an HD monitor, a printer, an external mouse and keyboard, or any of a huge range of peripherals. It is designed to allow you to work the way that best suits your style and circumstances. Surface 3 also includes a full-size USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort and a microSD™ card reader.
Surface 3 supports the same pen experience as Surface Pro 3, including 256 levels of pressure sensitivity for accuracy and detail. In the case of Surface 3, the pen will be sold separately and it will now be available in colors — silver, blue, red and black.
