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We reported on the demise of Microsoft’s long serving Messenger instant chat and video calling service some time back. If you are already an existing user then you’ll have been greeted with pop up notices urging you to update to Skype over the last month or so.

Seems like Microsoft is now putting the word out in full, an official email was sent to users today explaining what you’ll need to do and how long the service will continue to work for.

There's a firmware update available for your Microsoft Surface running Windows RT. There's really not much to the update but is designed to provide system improvements to audio playback when in Connected Standby and provide additional capabilities for handling firmware updates when your battery is low.

The update also includes a handful of security and non-security fixes and updates for Windows RT.

You can check for updates on your Windows RT device by swiping right on the screen to pull up the side bar menu.  Then tap on settings, tap on Change PC Settings at the bottom of the menu and Check for Updates will be the last setting listed. All totaled, it takes about five minutes to download, install the updates and restart the Surface.

Source: ZDNet

Hello everyone. We just spotted this story behind the very much postponed product from one of Microsoft's most reluctant OEM: Ascend W1 by the Chinese phone maker Huawei. Huawei is expected to be formally (and finally) announcing the W1 on the upcoming CES 2013. I'm not sure how many of you guys are actually waiting for it, but in case you are hot in anticipation indeed, the following story will probably explain all the quietness and terrible delay that paved a bumpy road for this phone.

We’re not sure if this is just a temporary error or something more nefarious but Google appears to have changed something whereby Windows Phone users are now blocked when trying to access maps.google.com.

Granted, it’s not clear why you would want to use Google’s less-than-awesome mapping service through a browser, but humor us for a second. The move appears to be a continued approach to lockout all Google services from those who adopted Windows Phones. Or it’s just poor service.

We were able to verify on our Windows Phones that when going to maps.google.com we are redirected to www.google.com/m for mobile, regardless of IE10’s settings i.e. Desktop mode. Reports suggest that maps.google.co.uk still works for some folks but for us that too redirects, making this an in-motion change that is evidently occurring worldwide.

This one has been brewing for a while and it seems that the rhetoric is now stepping up as Microsoft and Google prepare to do battle. The stage has been set and much of the coming drama will focus on Windows Phone.

Microsoft has today written publically about Google’s direct refusal to open up YouTube access so that Windows Phone users can easily use the service when mobile, something we first reported back in March 2011. The plot thickens when we learn that Microsoft has a high quality YouTube app ready to release. Don’t be evil, read on past the break to find out more.

Anyone who makes use of GPS functionality on a smartphone understands the impact such connectivity has on the limited battery supply that's packed inside the device. Unfortunately, we're not quite at the stage where 10,000mAh batteries are utilised, so Microsoft Research has been working on a cloud-powered GPS chip that will reportedly slash battery consumption on smartphones.

The official GroupMe app has been bumped to 4.2, up from the recently released version that included a new start screen, as well as Windows Phone 8 support. The popular service by Microsoft enables consumers to connect with others in groups with images and makes use of both push and SMS.

Although we have gone over a lot of the changes in the Windows Phone 8 ‘Portico’ update that started rolling out today (build 10211), there were a few tiny nuggets that even we missed.

Luckily Microsoft has gone ahead and printed out all the changes in detail on the site and while there is nothing that’s stop-the-presses, the details should satisfy those who need to know.