microsoft news

While Apple never delivered on their ambitious AirPower multiple Qi charger, Samsung has had no problem shipping theirSamsung Wireless Charger Duo to eager buyers, and now, as part of Amazon’s 12 days of Christmas promotion, you can get the charging pad for less than half price. Normally $119.99, you can purchase the dual charger for only $49.99 for the next 8 hours. Besides charging Samsung devices, the pad should work with any Qi device including ironically iPhones and Apple Watches. Grab the device while it lasts from Amazon here. Via the verge ...

In early March we reported that the HP Envy X2 has been delayed and that HP has closed pre-orders for the Snapdragon-powered Always Coected PC.Back in December, HP aounced new ENVY x2, their first Snapdragon-based Windows 10 device at Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit. The device became available for pre-order on the 22nd February with a ship date of the 9th Ma...

This week HP Store deals include up to 25% off the amazing HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation.Normally a pricy $3,299.00, use coupon codeHPVRDEAL25 to bring the price down to a more palatable$2,474.25.See that deal at HP here.You can now get 25% off on select consumer laptops $599 or more + free shipping using discount code25SPRING18.The deal runs till tomor...

Developers can set their own price for their apps and games in Microsoft Store. But they were forced to select among the limited choices which Microsoft was offering. For example, they can set $11.99, but they can’t set $11.11 as their app’s price. Today, Microsoft is removing this restriction with the support for Free-form pricing. Developers can now set the price of their app, game, or add-on to any value they choose in a market’s local currency. Be it $1.11 or 99 INR orCNY ¥11.11. The pricing possibilities are endless!Here’s how to use this feature in Windows Dev Center:Select the market where you want to override the base price with a free-form price:Click Select markets for base price o...

HP today aounced a couple of new ZBook mobile workstations. HP claims that the new ZBook 14u is the world’s thiest mobile workstation.The ZBook 14u/15u will be highly durable as they passed two additional MIL-STD tests for bench handling and crash hazard shock for unpredictable conditions. HP has made them easily serviceable than previous generations.The ZBook 14u/15u also features a world-facing, noise-cancelling microphone, which removes unwanted sounds when in individual mode or enhances for 360-degree voice pick-up when in conference mode.TheHP ZBook 14u/15umobile workstationsnow come with the popular HP Sure View integrated privacy screen. And they are powered by 8th generation Intel Co...

In addition to theupdated HP EliteBook 800 series anda couple of new ZBook mobile workstations, HP today also aounced theall-new HP Thunderbolt Dock G2 and four new HP 4K displays.The second genHP Thunderbolt Dockoffers power (up to 100W), supports up to two 4K displays. HP says that this is the world’s first Thunderbolt dock featuring an optional audio conferencing module. This module can be used in closed offices, small huddle rooms, or focus rooms through a single cord.This audio conferencing module has one-touch keys to control Skype calls. This dock comes with threeUSB 3.0 ports, an audio jack, aKensingtonlock slot, a gigabit Etheet port, a VGA port, two DisplayPorts, an USB-C DisplayPo...

HP today aounced the updated best-selling HP EliteBook 800 series. First of all, HP is bringing its premium design language previously available on the HP EliteBook 1000 series to EliteBook 800 series. These laptops come with chiseled linear wedge profiles and anodized aluminum covers for sleek and strong build quality. One unique feature which is as part of EliteBook 800 series is the new ultra-bright display that automatically adapts to changing light conditions.The EliteBook 800 series is the world’s first notebooks with a world-facing, noise-cancelling microphone. The new microphone removes unwanted sounds when in individual mode or enhances for 360-degree voice pick-up when in conferenc...

Microsoft Edge has often held a *ahem* edge, over Google’s Chrome due to support for smoother scrolling via Windows’ Precision Touchpad support and better battery life.Google has swiftly closed the gap in the latter with improvements to Chrome’s battery management made late last year, and may be on the cusp of eliminating the former advantage as well.XDA Developers has found code from Google in recent Chromium commits indicating impending support for Precision touchpads with patchesfor direct manipulation and pinch to zoom support being worked on this month.It’s not exactly clear when Google will roll out this changes to consumer builds of Chrome, but the advantage to users of premium laptop...

At CES 2018, HP today aounced the new Z 3D Camera that will allow users to capture and digitize 3D objects, 2D documents, and live video.The new Z 3D Camera can be attached to a PC monitorminimizing desktop space. The Z 3D will allow users to create life-like digital images by rotating any object in their hands or positioning under the camera. The SLAM tracking and scaing technology constructs the 3D model in real time. It can be also used inPBR and VR workflows as users can use it to scan objects with computer-graphics-friendly resolutions that maintain separate texture maps for physical-based rendering (PBR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications. In addition to 3D capture capability, Z 3D...

CES 2018 has brought some good news for AMD fans as the company has permanently dropped the prices ofRyzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Threadripper in an attempt to step up the competition with Intel Processors. These price cuts were aounced back during the Black Friday sale but have been made permanent now. You can head below to see the price cuts of the processors. Ryzen Threadripper 1900X goes from $549 to $449 Ryzen 7 1800X goes from $499 to $349 Ryzen 7 1700X drops from $399 to $309 Ryzen 5 1600X goes from $249 to $219 Ryzen 5 1600 drops from $219 to $189 Ryzen 5 1500X goes from $189 to $174 The update comes from AMD as a measure to directly compete with Intel in terms of processors and grab marke...

Microsoft was first with releasing Intel’s fix for the recently discovered processor flaws for their Surface line of laptops and tablets, and now it seems HP may be next. Users are reporting that HP has started publishing updated BIOS for some of their laptops on their website confirmed via a Powershell verification script to include a fix for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in Intel’s x86 processors. Unfortunately, it appears HP has not started pushing out the fixes, so, for now, users will need to check HP’s support website for updates to their BIOS. TheMeltdown and Spectre Side-Chael Vulnerability exploit design flaws in processor speculative execution, normally used to speed u...

HP yesterday aounced a worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program for certain laptop batteries. These batteries may overheat posing a fire and bu hazard to customers. If you own an affected HP device, it is extremely important to get it replaced from HP. The following table provides a list of HP products affected by this recall. ProBook HP Probook 640 G2 HP ProBook 640 G3 HP ProBook 645 G2 HP ProBook 645 G3 HP ProBook 650 G2 HP ProBook 650 G3 HP ProBook 655 G2 HP ProBook 655 G3 ZBook HP ZBook 17 G3 HP ZBook 17 G4 HP ZBook Studio G3 x360 HP x360 310 G2 Pavilion HP Pavilion x360 Envy HP ENVY m6 11 HP 11 Notebook PC In some of the above devices, the batteries are inteal, which m...

Cross-play PC and Xbox title Resident Evil: Biohazard has been permanently reduced to $29.99. Launched earlier this year,Resident Evil 7 is set 4 years after Resident Evil 6,in the fictional city of Dulvey, Louisiana in the Southe United States. It features a new protagonist named Ethan Winters, a civilian who offers fewer combat skills than most previous Resident Evil main characters. Ethan is searching for his missing wife, Mia, which leads him to a derelict plantation mansion, home of the Baker family. It features a new cast of characters and while it will still offer a variety of weapons including pistols, shotguns, flamethrowers, explosives and chainsaws there is also more emphasis on ...

Microsoft last week aounced significant price reduction of Azure HDInsight analytics service. Azure HDInsight is a fully managed, open source analytics service for enterprisesenabling cost-effective way to process massive amounts of data in the case of scenarios like data warehousing, machine leaing, IoT and more. It supports open-source frameworks such as Hadoop, Spark, Hive, LLAP, Kafka, Storm, R, and more. Read about price reduction details below.Up to 52% price reduction in Azure HDInsight:Microsoft will also be replacing the Premium cluster tier with the Enterprise Security Package that can be added to your Azure HDInsight cluster. Enterprise Security Package will still be in preview. T...

We are only expecting to see the HP Envy x2 Windows 10 on ARM Always Coected PC sometime in Q2 2018, so it is somewhat surprising to see the device has already been approved by the FCC.Codenamed the TPN-Q198, the PC was approved on the 15th December 2017, with the news suggesting that HP is indeed waiting for Redstone 4 before releasing the device.That OS update is expected to bring refinements to Always Coected PC setup and management which would make the device easier to manage for the enterprise users HP is targeting with the hybrid laptop.The device was also approved recently by the GSM Global Certification Forum, which lists the very large number of bands covered by the Qualcomm radio i...

We recently posted thefull specs of the GPD Win 2, the successor to the well-receivedGPD Winmini gaming laptop, and now GPD has posted some more information about the device, including the price when it becomes available via crowd-funding next month.The specs include:SOC Intel: M3-7Y30RAM: 8GB LPDDR3 @ 1866MHzStorage: 128GB M.2 2242 SSD card SATA 3.0. Card is user replaceableScreen: 6″ Sharp 1280x720p capactive touch screen with Gorilla Glass 4OS: Windows 10 home 64 bitWiFi: 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n 2.4G/5GWiDi: YesBlutooth: 4.2Speakers: StereoMicrophone: YesPorts: USB Type A 3.0, USB Type C 3.0, Micro HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro SDBattery: 2 x 4900mAh batteries at 3.8v . Total of 9800mAh – 3...

Every week dozens of games are discounted across Xbox One and Xbox 360 for some stellar deals. These titles range from smaller indie experiences to AAA blockbusters. If you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck, you’ll want to check out the Deals with Gold if you have an Xbox Live Gold membership. This week’s Spotlight sales and Deals with Gold can be read below. There isn’t a huge list with a ton of popular titles this week as Microsoft is likely gearing up for Xbox’s big Christmas sale (via Reddit).GamePrice (USD)Sale TypeAnima: Gate Of Memories$ 5.00GoldBedlam – The Game By Christopher Brookmyre$ 5.00GoldBleed$ 6.50GoldDear Esther: Landmark Edition$ 2.00GoldDemon’s Crystals$ 1.65Go...

In October, HP aounced their 2nd gen Spectre x360 convertible laptop with the latest Intel 8th gen processors, longer battery life and an optional integrated privacy screen option. You can now get $150 discount on this laptop from HP directly. Find the new price list below.HP Spectre x360 – 8 GB memory; 256 GB SSD storage; Intel Core i5 processor – $999HP Spectre x360 – 8 GB memory; 256 GB SSD storage; Intel Core i7 processor – $1099HP Spectre x360 – 16 GB memory; 512 GB SSD storage; Intel Core i7 processor – $1249The updated HP Spectre x360 comes with a refined designwith more angular lines and it is made using CNC machined aluminum body. HP has reduced the bezels around the display and the...

Sometime back we reported HP using a keylogger on recent laptops which tued out to be just a minor mistake from HP’s side. As it tus out the company forgot another keylogger in the keyboard driver. The keylogger can be a potential threat to security as it is recording every keystroke on the computer. If you remember, HP was accused of spyware installation sometime back which tued out to be a telemetry client but many users complained that the software was installed without permission.But, before you get worried, bear this in mind, the keylogger in the HP Synaptics Touchpad driver keyboard driver is not enabled by default. You need to make registry edits to enable it on the device. This point...

As part of Microsoft Store’s 12 Days of Deals campaign, you can now get up to $500 off select HP PCs and accessories. For example, you can get HP Pavilion x360 Convertible with Intel Core i5-7200U, 8GB memory/128GB M.2 SSD and up to 9.25 hours battery life for just $599. Find some of the deals that are available as part of this sale below.HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 15-br095ms 2 in 1 PC – Save $230HP Pavilion Power Desktop 580-131 + HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset with Motion Controllers – Save $400HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15-aq293ms 2 in 1 PC – Save $100HP Spectre x360 13-ae091ms 2 in 1 PC – Save $100HP OMEN 17 Gaming Laptop + HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset with Motion Controllers – Sav...