Features of Windows 10

Microsoft unveiled the first details of its Windows 10 operating system Wednesday, which they say will span devices from PCs and game consoles to smartphones and tablets.

Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president of the company's operating systems group, says the latest rendition of Windows focused on "more personal computing."

Myerson says Windows 10 targets three pillars: "mobility of the experience," trust and "the right interaction at the right time," hinting the platform can be controlled by mouse, touch or even gaze.

Among the new features is the introduction of a successor to the Internet Explorer Web browser, dubbed Project Spartan. The browser, which will work across multiple devices, includes a note-taking feature for annotating webpages, a reading mode and built-in support for PDF files.

The Start menu appears to be a hybrid of the classic Windows PC interface and the tile-based presentation of applications, allowing users to go full screen with the Start menu for more information.

Microsoft will also add Cortana, the personal digital assistant users communicate with through voice, to PCs running Windows 10. Users will be able to ask Cortana to pull up PowerPoint slides, send e-mails or search for photos and other information.

Microsoft will integrate Skype across all devices, and include Office programs Word, Excel and PowerPoint on all Windows 10 phones and tablets. It will also feature an Xbox app where users will find their games or follow the activity of friends.

All owners of devices running Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 for the first year.

"We want to move from people needing Windows, to choosing Windows, to loving Windows," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

While PCs and mobile devices dominated the event, Microsoft offered an incredible glimpse into the future with a jump into holographic computing. The company introduced the HoloLens, a virtual reality style headset that allows its users to view holograms in the real world. Demos showed users watching Netflix programs on a virtual screen, or manipulating three-dimensional images.

Windows 10 is the first significant upgrade to the platform since the arrival of Satya Nadella as CEO last year. During his tenure, Nadella has made a strong push toward mobile, enterprise and the cloud as well as thrown support toward the company's popular Xbox video game brand.

The introduction of Windows 10 is the first step in Microsoft realizing Nadella's vision, says FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives. "This is about Nadella leading Microsoft into its next stage of growth away from the PC and towards a cloud, virtualized world which can connect all devices on one platform."

What's new in Windows 8.1

Microsoft has come up with improvements instead of new features. The new Windows 8.1 is the result of feedbacks which Microsoft got from users since the launch of Windows 8.

So let see what Microsoft has new to offer.

Lets Start from the Start

There is a good news, now you can boot directly to desktop instead of permanent start screen. Basically you can boot directly to anywhere you want – to All apps screen, individual apps, the start menu. The start Button also returns in new Windows 8.1 but it will take you to Start screen not the old start menu (like in windows 7).

I love Windows 7 because the main issue with Windows 8 is its user interface that feels good only on touchscreen based devices.

Swiping from the start screen brings up all the app and now there are more criteria to sort the app. The start screen can be now customized to more colors and you can now place desktop wallpaper behind the Start screen.

The on-screen Keyboard has some new gestures, now you can slide up from any key that has a number as a secondary key, and the number will be inserted automatically, instead of having to switch to a different panel.

The new Windows 8.1  is more cloud friendly with in-depth integration of  Microsoft’s cloud storage service SkyDrive. You can now decide in your apps whether to view files on your PC or on SkyDrive and where to save the files.

Windows 8.1 comes up with new Universal search. Searching any term will display results from them web and from your offline files. The Windows 8.1 Store is totally remodeled, with new lists that makes it easier to find things.

At last comes 3D Printing, Microsoft is partnering with Makerbot, 3D Systems, Form Labs, Autodesk, and several other software and hardware companies to add 3D printing support to 8.1.

Yahoo announcement: Updates to Yahoo! Messenger Features

Yahoo! Messenger Public Chat Rooms
The Yahoo! Messenger Public Chat Rooms will close down on December 14, 2012.
Yahoo! Messenger Pingbox
As of December 14, 2012, Pingbox will no longer be available on Yahoo! Messenger. If you’ve installed Pingbox on your blog or social networks, please click here to learn how to uninstall it.
Yahoo! Messenger interoperability with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger will no longer be interoperable with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger as of December 14, 2012. Microsoft buddies will still appear on your Messenger contact list, but they will be greyed out, and if you try to send instant messages to them, the messages will not be delivered.
Yahoo! Voice Phone In and Phone Out feature
Effective January 30, 2013, we will no longer offer Yahoo! Voice Phone In and Phone Out capabilities, our co-branded landline and mobile phone service from Jajah. As of today, users can no longer add new funds to their accounts, and active users who currently have a balance in their accounts will receive emailed instructions in December from Jajah on how to request a refund. You can find more information on how to ask for a refund here, and you can contact Jajah with any questions at yahoovoice@jajah.com. Free Messenger-to-Messenger calls will still be offered through Yahoo! Messenger.

for more info: visit

Whats new in MS Office 2013 ?

At first glance, Office 2013 doesn't look much different than Office 2010. The layout of the apps is a bit cleaner, and on a tablet, most items are spaced well enough that the app is easily navigated by fingertip. Still, familiar touches remain. For instance, the ribbon of menu options introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 was rumored to be on the way out, but it's still alive and kicking in Office 2013. And, at least in the preview apps Microsoft supplied us, it's not hidden by default.

Does Office 2013 feel right at home on a Windows 8 tablet or did Microsoft simply shoehorn old Windows PC software onto a tablet?

Word 2013
Launch Word 2013 and you'll be greeted with a two-pane start screen, which contains some Metro design elements. On the left is a list of your recent documents and on the larger right pane are large tiles of the various templates. Select a template and Word opens. On the preview application we've been using, we were greeted by the large ribbon of menu options, which was expanded by default. You can collapse it by clicking or tapping on the small upward arrow on the very right edge of the ribbon. (If you hide the ribbon and close Word, it will remain hidden when you reopen Word.)

A new menu item has been added to the seven that carry over from Word 2010. In addition to Home, Insert, Reference, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, and View, you also get Design. The Design tab lets you select different document themes, page colors, borders, and watermarks.
Word is also more flexible with images and graphics. It features a Live Layout view. With it, you can drag images, charts, and other graphics around on the page, and text flows and wraps around it. The Format menu tab appears when you add a graphic. It has alignment guides, which help you line up graphics and offer various layouts wrapping text around your graphics.
Two new menu items are listed under the insert tab: Online Pictures and Online Videos. This duo saves you the step of having to save an image or video from Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or another online source to your computer or tablet first before embedding in a document. And Word lets you view embedded videos instead of simply adding a placeholder graphic. Word can also edit PDFs now, which is a huge time saver.

Read Mode, available from the View tab, removes the distraction of all of the menu items, giving you a full screen view of your document. It is particularly welcomed when working on a small tablet. Read Mode still gives you some tools; you can highlight text and add comments. And with comments, you can now reply to another's comment, and you can mark comments as done, which grays them out.
When you save a document, you can save it to your computer, to your SkyDrive, or to SharePoint (if your office has a subscription). And perhaps as a nod to its embrace of cloud computing, SkyDrive is listed above Computer on the Save As screen. You can share documents on social networks, including Facebook and LinkedIn, and you can send invites to people for documents stored in your SkyDrive account. If you share a document with someone who does not own Word, they will still be able to view it by opening it in their browser.

Microsoft : 100 innovation centers in India

CHENNAI: IT giant Microsoft has planned to establish 100 Microsoft Innovation Centres in the country over the next two years.

The innovation centres will act as "innovation hubs" at select colleges and technology institutes, providing incubation and expert hands-on support on Microsoft technology, research and software solutions, to create student technology experts, a company statement said.

As a first step, the company has signed MoU with academic institutes across four states to set up 75 such innovation centres. Microsoft aims to launch 100 Innovation Centres in the country over the next two years, it said.

The innovation centres will cover five lakh students country-wide, it said, adding about one lakh students will be certified on Microsoft technologies.

"The programme will also drive innovation and help build a product-based software economy by supporting product development and over 500 start-ups", it said.

The Innovation Centres would operate on a hub-and-spoke model. The first 14 innovation centres proposed to be set up are in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Khammam, Bapatla, Guntur and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem in Tamil Nadu.

"The Microsoft Innovation Centres are designed to offer a unique environment conducive for student entrepreneurship. The Microsoft Innovation Centres can play a vital role in generating powerful new ideas through training, education and knowledge transfer", Microsoft India, General Manager (DPE), Joseph Landes said.

The announcement by Microsoft comes after the India launch of company's new initiative, YouthSpark, aimed at addressing the opportunity divide faced by the young people of the world, the statement added.

Microsoft's Bing gets major facelift with deeper Facebook integration

Microsoft has announced major facelift for its Bing search engine, introducing more “personalised search results” using data from social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Microsoft is going to integrate a new sidebar that will allow friends on social networks to guide on a search. Bing is also getting an instant snapshot column, which features additional information and links to useful content such as maps, reviews and reservation tools.

According to Derrick Connell, corporate vice president of Bing, the update will roll out in the next few weeks. Users will be receiving a notification after signing up at the Bing site. “Increasingly, the Web is about much more than simply finding information by navigating a topically organized graph of links,” says Qi Lu, president of Microsoft’s Online Services Division. “We’re evolving search in a way that recognizes new user paradigms like the growth of the social graph, and will empower people with the broad knowledge of the Web alongside the help of their friends.”

The “new Bing” is in test now at Bing and is available by registration. The new Bing has three sections, the leftmost pane carries the main search results, the middle pane known as “Snapshot” has links to useful content turning a search result into directions, the right most pane has been integrated with the social media.

For specific hotel searches, Bing offers photos, maps, pricing and the exclusive OpinionRank from Bing, which shows what people from across the Web think about the property.

The right side bar has “ask friends” to seek advice from friends on social networks, “friends who might know” to link search with interest of known friends, and “people who know” to display results from social networking sites. The side bar also has an activity feed, letting users interact with their social networks without leaving the Bing page.

The forthcoming Bing update is considered to be Microsoft’s another attempt at leveraging its partnership with Facebook in a bid to challenge Google’s dominance in search segment. Google recently integrated social media into its search with Search Plus Your World, which mainly had Google+ content such as photos, profiles, and posts that are relevant to your keyword. Google however drew flak for not integrating Twitter and Facebook results.

Microsoft: Windows 8 boots too fast for mere mortals

Windows 8 boots so fast, users will likely not have time to trigger the boot menu before the PC boots, Microsoft claims.

In a blog post this week, Chris Clark, a program manager on the Windows User Experience team, again claimed that Windows 8 will boot in less than 7 seconds on a PC equipped with a solid-state drive.

In older PCs, users have had plenty of time to hit the F2 or the F8 key and trigger a boot menu before the machine POSTs, and could use that menu to run diagnostic tools and boot from alternate devices. With Windows 8, that "window" to push the F8 key is less than 200 ms, Clark wrote, fast enough that even a gamer might be hard pressed to hit the correct keystroke in time.

Instead, Microsoft had to come up with some alternative methods of getting to the boot menu.

In Windows 8, users will automatically be taken to the boot menu in the case where Windows can't boot - even in situations where Windows thinks it can, such as in the case of a faulty display driver. In that case, the boot options menu is presented.

Users can also manually access the boot options. The primary method of doing so, Clark explained, is from the Advanced startup on the General tab of PC settings. Users can get to PC settings from the Settings charm, or by searching from the Start screen using specific search terms, such as boot, startup, safe mode, firmware, BIOS, or several others, he wrote.

Probably the most common way of reaching the boot options menu, however, will be clicking and holding the SHIFT key while choosing the restart option, in much the same say that sleep and hibernate options can be selected under older Windows PCs.

"The reason that we added this Shift+Restart option to the shutdown menu was because the boot options need to be available even when no one has signed in to the PC," Clark wrote. "In the old hardware model that allowed keystrokes in boot, anyone with physical access to the PC could press a key to interrupt boot and use the available boot options. To preserve those scenarios, we needed a way for someone who hasn't signed in (but is still physically using the PC) to use the boot options menu.

Microsoft also added a command-line option: "Shutdown.exe /r /o", where the "/o" flag will load the options menu.

Rename Multiple Files Using Excel or Google Docs

Renaming multiples files on your Windows computer is easy. Select all the files, press F2 and type some descriptive text. Windows will append a unique sequence number to each of the file names.
That's a fairly quick solution but not very flexible because you don't get to specify any choices or criteria.
For instance, how do you append the current date to the filename ? Or you want to replace only certain words in the file names (like a spelling error)? Or you want files to follow a different renaming system like file-A.jpg instead of the default file(1).jpg.
To rename files in bulk more efficiently, you can either learn some complex shell scripting language (SED, AWK, Perl) or switch to something more simple  - a spreadsheet.

 

 Step 1: Type cmd and switch (using "cd" command) to the directory that contains the files you want to rename in bulk.
Step 2: Type "dir /b" to see a skeleton list of all files in the current directory. Copy that file list to the clipboard by selecting Mark from the contextual menu.
Step 3: The fun starts now. Fire your copy of Microsoft Excel or Google Docs Spreadsheets and paste those file names into the first spreadsheet column.
Step 4: In the blank adjacent column, add a corresponding Excel function - for instance, use SUBSTITUTE to change specific text in the filenames, use CONCATENATE() with DATE() if you want to add date to the filename, etc.

*For more complex criteria, you may want to put the file extensions in a separate column by splitting the file name using period (.) as the delimiter.
Step 5: Your source filenames are now in column A while the Destination files are in column B - we will now convert this into a DOS rename command.
In Column C, type the following Excel formula and your command is ready to be executed.

=CONCATENATE("ren ",A1, " ", B1)

Copy paste the same formula across all cells in column C for which you have corresponding values in Column A or B.
We are almost done. Copy all the values from column C to the clipboard and paste them inside the DOS window or better still, put them inside a new text file and give it a name like rename.bat.

 Execute and all files that match the criteria are renamed instantly...

Windows 8 Developer Preview Available for Download Now

Microsoft unveiled about Windows 8 Developer Preview during Build Conference at Anaheim, California. The developer preview version of the new OS by Microsoft is now available for download.
There are two verions of new OS available for download, a 32-bit version or a 64-bit version for x86 machine. There is a good thing about the Developer Preview version, it does not require to be activated, but it is still far from a final version of the new Operating System, so if you are going install it for a try, expect bugs and glitches.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Download Resources
Windows 8 Dev Center
Windows 8 Developer Preview Guide
Windows 8 Installation System Requirements
Windows 8 works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7:
1 gigahertz or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
For taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch.
New Features in Windows 8
Microsoft Windows 8 is coming with so many new and interesting features, a list of expected features is as below
Metro Style Interface and Apps
Internet Explorer 10
New Start Screen
Touch Key Board
Support for ARM based chip-set
Touch Browsing
Windows Apps Store
Communication between apps
Support for Windows 7 Desktop Apps
Enhanced Windows Explorer
New Task Manager
Push Button Reset
Developer Tools
Windows 8 Preview Screen Shots: