Recent News

Microsoft had promised that stand-alone, mixed reality headsets would be coming in March at a starting price of around $300. In an interview with Polygon, Alex Kipman, HoloLens Project Head at Microsoft, explained that Microsoft’s headsets would address the two main problems pertaining to VR headsets, movement constraints and high minimum system requirements. Describing the headsets, Kipman told Polygon that the “first wave of headsets will be opaque” and that they would be tethered, just like traditional VR headsets.

Google has announced the integration of Microsoft’s Profile Guided Optimization to make Chrome up to 15 percent faster on Windows. This new integration realizes which functions on Chrome are used most often, and which aren’t. PGO then gives more leverage to the most common functions and optimizes them, resulting into faster startup of Chrome and loading of pages. On its blog, Google claims that the implementation of PGO has made new tab page load times 14.8 percent faster, and page load times 5.9 percent faster. Furthermore, Google claims that PGO has resulted in 16.8 percent faster startup time.

The startup ecosystem in India is gradually beginning to not only accept failures but also celebrate them. Microsoft Accelerator, a global initiative empowering entrepreneurs around the world on their journey to build great companies, is also thinking afresh today. Bala Girisaballa, CEO-in-Residence, Microsoft Accelerator, believes the definition of failure has changed today. He says, “It is seen more as shades of success. The market is much more liquid and there are enough opportunities for the entrepreneur and his team to get acquired.”

Apple and Microsoft’s rivalry reached new heights this week with the launch of flashy new hardware from both sides of the camp. As far as laptops are concerned, the former launched its new line of MacBook Pro models and the latter outed an updated Surface Book with Performance Base. Microsoft is now looking to up the stakes by launching a tongue-in-cheek exchange program offering to help MacBook Pro and MacBook Air owners ‘trade up’ to Pen and on-screen touch. People who take advantage of the scheme stand to get up to $650 off from the Surface Book or Surface Pro of their choice.

It looks like Sony’s restrictions placed on mods for Bethesda’s games on PlayStation 4 are hurting the community and longevity of the title, as well as the modding scene. As per WCCFTech, the PS4 version of the game has 38 mods, while the Xbox One version has more than 115 published mods. The difference probably owes itself to the fact that Sony’s policies for what mods allow on their system are far more restrictive than Microsoft’s. That, plus according to Bethesda, the Creation Kit was made available first on Xbox One, which might explain the variance, too.

Microsoft has announced the release of .Net Core 1.1 Preview 1. The new release supports additional Linux distributions to upgrade the experience that was debuted on the open source platform back in July. The first preview release of .Net Core 1.1 supports modern Linux distributions, including Linux Mint 18 and OpenSUSE 42.1. Additionally, it is also designed to work on macOS 10.12 and Windows Server 2016. With the new change the .Net runtime platform is now compatible with all the major Linux distributions.

MindTree Ltd has informed BSE regarding a Press Release dated October 27, 2016 titled “Mindtree named as 2016 Azure Innovation Partner of the Year by Microsoft”.

Microsoft said PC OEMs will soon be shipping VR headsets that enable virtual reality and mixed reality starting at $299. Details of the hardware and how it works were sparse, but Microsoft said HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer will be shipping the headsets timed with its upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, due in spring 2017.

Microsoft has quietly announced new range of Surface branded accessories including an ergonomic keyboard and NFL branded Surface Type Covers. Microsoft’s new range of Surface accessories includes Surface Ergonomic Keyboard, Surface Keyboard, Special Edition NFL Type Cover and Signature Edition Type Cover. The Surface Ergonomic Keyboard is the highlight, which is a hybrid of company’s Bluetooth desktop keyboard and ergonomic keyboard. Microsoft Surface Ergonomic Keyboard is a wireless input device with comfortable typing experience and low-profile keys.

With global tech giants Microsoft and Apple, releasing their PCs a day apart, it is an indelible fact that they are convinced that desktops are not dead. The interesting thing to note here is that both the companies who chose to put a stamp of authority on personal computers have a long history to look back to, and however strong they may be with their respective technologies, they are the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the kinds of user bases.