windows 8

To show its support for developers and the ecosystem's future, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the company's BUILD event today that all attending developers will receive a gift - 100GB storage on SkyDrive, as well a brand new Surface RT tablet with Touch Cover.

Stay tuned for more coverage from the BUILD event.

Microsoft has recently given its music services a much needed overhaul and the new service is called Xbox Music. It’s already available on the new Xbox dashboard update as well as on Windows 8.

Windows 8 has built in Xbox Music too and comes with some excellent local as well as cloud based features.

Microsoft has published the Windows Phone synchronisation tool to the Windows 8 Store. This app enables consumers to plug in their Windows Phone 8 handsets and add / remove media to and from the device.

Music, video and photos can be imported from the connected Windows Phone to the windows 8 machine (and vice versa). One can find quick links to Windows Phone content (including apps and games), as well as quick-glance information representing how much storage is currently being used.

Twitter clients running on Windows 8 appear to be working again, which leads us to believe the issues caused by the social network have been resolved. We've received a number of tips from readers who have noticed services being resumed and tweets being published, when using third-party apps on Microsoft's latest version of Windows.

Photos have been sent in to WParea.de that show one of the Surface Experience Centres up and running. Microsoft is erecting such temporary establishments to offer consumers the opportunity to have some hands-on action with the Surface tablets before looking to purchase from the company.

We have been contacted by developer of Cowlick! And glƏƏk! to advise us of some problems that are being seen with their Windows 8 Twitter clients.

We understand that the problem is also affecting other Windows 8 clients such as TweeTRO also.

Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 yesterday and shops opened at midnight to serve up those sleek Surface tablets to hoards of people. From today you can also grab an inexpensive upgrade to Windows 8, no need to feel left out of the festivities.

We have been using and monitoring the Windows 8 store since it first became available, we thought it would be good to give you some pointers to get you up and running.

In reaction to Windows 8 going official today and Surface RT tablets coming tomorrow, Microsoft has also made some changes to what Bing shows for results.

The adjustment people will notice on their new Windows 8 devices is that searches for general terms like “travel” will now show Windows 8 Store results too with a convenient download button to the Store. Of course those of you with Windows Phones should already know this behavior when you do searches on your phone. Just another neat example of how Microsoft can leverage Bing for a better Windows experience.

Speaking of Windows Phone, some of those earlier announced changes to the Store for searching are also slowly taking effect of which you can read about here. Thanks, Dustin P., for the tip!

Now that Windows 8 is official, Microsoft is still going forward with the redesign and reimaging. Such is the case when you go to Windows.com or even their Blogs.Windows.com sites as both are showing a high-contrast look with the new logo.

We have to admit that we really like this new look. It’s bold, striking and of course it keeps in line with Microsoft’s Modern UI approach. Will it sell PCs? Not necessarily but Microsoft’s new look and image are key factors for consumers and we think they nailed it.