Microsoft announces January 21 event for Windows 10 consumer presentation

Microsoft will hold a Windows 10-related event on Wednesday, January 21, 2015. Terry Myerson, Joe Belfiore, and Phil Spencer from the Operating Systems Group will all be speaking, as will CEO Satya Nadella.

The company has only published its official invite for now (which you can see above), choosing not to specifically say what the event will be about.

Microsoft gifts 100 albums on Xbox Music

If you are using Microsoft’s Xbox Music streaming service, you can now download 100 popular albums for free. Microsoft is giving those away those albums to citizens in the USA only (damn licensing rights!), who are subscribers to its music app with Xbox Music Pass activated.

Microsoft offers 12 days of holiday promotions

Just like last year, Microsoft is again organizing a 12 day long holiday promotion with price cuts on various devices. Much like an advents calendar the US tech giant will be unveiling the special offers one at a time, every day until December 19.

The campaign is, sadly, only available in the US and Canada and kicked off yesterday with the Toshiba Encore Mini tablet. 

Samsung looking to settle its patent dispute with Microsoft through arbitration

The long-standing patent fee dispute between Samsung and Microsoft, which first made headlines this summer, apparently continues to be an issue as still neither can come to an agreement.

In an attempt to put the issue at rest, Samsung has filed for arbitration under the International Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

‘Asphalt Overdrive’ now available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone

Gameloft has released its newest game in the Asphalt series, called the Asphalt Overdrive. Overdrive is a spinoff of the successful Asphalt series. This isn’t exactly Asphalt 9 that you may have been waiting for and features a different gameplay mechanic.

Asphalt Overdrive is essentially like an endless runner game but with cars.

Microsoft outs NFL-infused ad for the Surface Pro 3

The latest ad for Microsoft’s latest tablet, the Surface Pro 3, is all about football. And the NFL. And specifically, the Seattle Seahawks. The whole idea is that the Surface Pro 3 is “trusted by the pros”, yet “built for the fans”.

Since Microsoft has a $400 million advertising deal with the NFL, perhaps this ad shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Asphalt Overdrive for Android, iOS, Windows Phone launches on Thursday

Just two days separate us from the next release in Gameloft’s Asphalt series of games. It’s going to be called Asphalt Overdrive (and not Asphalt 9, as you may have expected), and it will be out this Thursday, September 25, on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. It will be free to download, but will feature in-app purchases.

This won’t be an arcade-style racer, but an endless racer. It’s like an endless runner, but with cars.

The Lumia 930 enjoys a lot of purrs in its latest ad

A new and adorable ad for the Lumia 930 has come out of a Microsoft social media contest. The video features adorable cats using the Lumia 930 and is made by Mia Mullarkey.

We sure hope Microsoft doesn’t think it has to resort to cats in order to charm customers in buying a Lumia 930. Nevertheless, the video is cool and, let’s be frank, dressing up kittens in shirts isn’t an easy job.

Microsoft gives additional 15GB OneDrive storage for enabling camera uploads

Microsoft has increased the amount of free space you get if you use OneDrive on your phone. Previously the free space used to be 15GB but now you’ll get 30GB instead.

To get the additional space, you will have to install the OneDrive application, if you haven’t already, and enable camera uploads, which will automatically upload the photos taken by your phone to OneDrive.

Nokia’s UK website gets moved to Microsoft.com

It’s started. The oft-rumored move by Microsoft to get rid of the Nokia brand for mobile devices seems to have begun today. If you go to Nokia.com’s website for the UK, you’re met with the following message: “Nokia devices and services have moved to a new website”.

Unsurprisingly, that new home is under the Microsoft.com domain. This seems to have only happened for the UK regional site, but undoubtedly more will follow.

Microsoft sends out invites for a Windows 9 event on September 30

In line with past rumors, Microsoft sent out invites for a dedicated Windows 9 press gathering. The hotly anticipated event will take place in San Francisco.

Opera Mini beta for Windows Phone now available for anyone to test

HP Stream gets official to battle Chromebooks, will cost more than expected though

Remember HP’s Windows-powered ultra low-cost 14-inch laptop that was supposed to be a Chromebook’s worst nightmare? Well, the HP Stream has finally become official today.

There is one huge caveat, though. While it was previously said to cost just $199, in fact it will start at $100 more than that. $300 still isn’t a huge sum to pay for a laptop, but it’s also not crazy cheap.

Asus reveals VivoTab 8 with Intel Bay Trail, expected to cost below $200

Following the VivoTab 8 Note, Asus also revealed the VivoTab 8 (M81C). The Windows 8.1 tablet features an 8″ IPS display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and an amazingly low under-$200 price tag.

New Zenbook and Eeebook laptops official from Asus

Asus has just outed a pair of tablets – one 13.3″ and one 11.6″ – during its press conference at the IFA 2014 expo in Berlin.

The Zenbook UX305 is marketed as “the world’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop,” while the EeeBook X205 is set to offer quad-core Intel Atom device at under €200.

Toshiba Encore mini is a 7″ Windows 8.1 tablet for $120

Toshiba unveiled its own ultra-affordable Windows 8.1 tablet, the Toshiba Encore mini (model number WT7-C16). Priced at just $120, the Encore mini sports a tablet sports a 7″ 1,024 x 600 screen with 16:9 aspect ratio and 5-finger capacitive touch sensor.

The tablet is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom Z3735G processor (1.33GHz clockspeed, 1.83GHz Burst Frequency).

Windows 9 teaser hints at the return of the Start menu

Windows 8 wasn’t accepted as warmly as Microsoft would have liked but a Developer Preview of Windows 9 is expected at the end this month. It’s so close that the team behind Microsoft’s Weibo account has the teasers ready, we know because they jumped the gun with one of them.

Opera Mini beta goes live for Windows Phone devices

Opera Mini beta is now available for Windows Phone devices. The developers behind the popular web browser have for users who are willing to join the beta testing group.

Windows Phone 8.1 GDR2 will bring alphabetical order to settings menu

Windows Phone 8.1 has already received its first general distribution release (GDR1) but now rumors are pointing to the second one. According to sources claiming they’ve played with a functional WP device running the GDR2 software the settings menu can finally be sorted alphabetically.

What you can expect from Windows 9 (codename Threshold)

At launch, Windows 8 was a mess. It was a brave and - arguably - necessary attempt by Microsoft to re-

invent its operating system and keep it relevant as the world transitioned towards mobile computing, and 

tablets in particular. But the first release was seriously half-baked, and left many Windows users scratching 

their heads in confusion.