The Top 10 Windows 10 features

Windows 10 won’t be launching for quite a while but we already know a lot about Microsoft’s upcoming OS. From Xbox for Windows and Cortana for desktop to a resurrected Start Menu and new multitasking tools, the new platform will offer a bevy of new features. These are the 10 best. 

1. Start Menu Returns

It’s what Windows 8 detractors have been clamoring for, and Microsoft has finally brought back the Start Menu. Now, when you click on the Start button at the bottom left of the screen, you get two panels side by side, with the left column showing pinned, recently and most-used apps.

You also get a power button at the top for options such as Hibernate, Standby and Shutdown, and an all apps option a la Windows 8. The right column features a selection of live tiles that you can customize, resize and reorganize.  Not only that, but the search field at the bottom will look up related Internet results in addition to programs and files (as it did on Windows 7). 

2. Cortana on Desktop

Being lazy just got a lot easier. Windows 10 will bring Microsoft’s voice-controlled digital assistant Cortana to desktop computers, to make it easier for you to interact with your device without lifting a finger.  You will be able to search your hard drive for specific files, pull up photos from specific dates, or launch PowerPoint presentations just by telling your PC to do so.  You can even get Cortana to send an email while you’re working on a spreadsheet, making multi-tasking much easier. 

3. The Xbox App

You will soon be able to play any Xbox One game on your PC or tablet, with the Xbox app for Windows 10. The new operating system will support Xbox game streaming (through your home network), with improved speed and graphics performance thanks to DirectX 12 support. The app also lets you record, edit and share your fragging victories with the Game DVR feature, which lets you grab the previous 30 seconds of your game so you don’t miss unexpected wins. You’ll also be able to join your friends in games across Windows 10 or the Xbox platforms, and see your friends’ activity via Xbox Live

4. Project Spartan Browser

Forget Internet Explorer. The long-derided browser will be replaced by the newly announced Project Spartan. New features include PDF support, a reading mode that improves the layout of long articles, and a new note taking feature. The latter lets you scribble on any page and share your comments with your friends through social networks via a slide-in menu so you won’t have to leave the browser. Better yet,  Project Spartan will feature Cortana support within the browser, so she can pull contextual information from the sites you’re on to do things like navigate to a restaurant you’re looking up or pull up an upcoming flight time without having to go into your email. 

5. Improved Multitasking

A new Multiple Desktops feature lets you run another set of windows as if on another screen, but without the physical monitor. This is similar to Apple’s Spaces feature on OS X, and helps you manage your multitude of open windows and apps. Instead of having multiple windows open on top of each other on one desktop, you can set up a whole other virtual desktop for those programs to reside in. Set up one specifically for home and leave your apps such as Netflix and Amazon open, and create another desktop for work on which you keep Word, Excel and Internet Explorer open. 

With the new desktops comes a new way to keep track of your open apps on Windows 10. On the new operating system, you can either hit the new Task View button on the task bar or swipe in from the left edge of the screen to pull up a one-page view of all your open apps and files. It’s not much different from using the Alt-Tab combination shortcut on your keyboard, but this presents a convenient way for touch-oriented users to get an overview of what’s running. 

Microsoft also updated its Snap View multitasking feature to let you dock windows to the four corners of your screen. While you could split your display between apps before, the number of programs you could have side-by-side was limited by your device’s screen resolution. The system will even suggest what other open apps you can use to fill up available space, a feature called Snap Assist. 

6. Universal Apps

To make the transition across devices more seamless, Microsoft is introducing a new category of software called Universal Apps, which use the same code but adapt their interface to the device in your hand. The company is also bundling its own set of Universal apps with the OS, including Photos, Videos, Music, Maps, People & Messaging and Mail & Calendar, which all function the same way on tablets, phones and PCs. The content is stored and synced via Microsoft’s cloud service OneDrive so you can pick up where you left off on another device. 

Some of these apps, such as Photos, are brand new. Photos will pull your images across your PC and mobile devices and organize, enhance and sync them through OneDrive. The system even detects duplicates and stores just one copy of the same image, and can automatically create good-looking albums for you.  The Mail app has also been overhauled and will now be a version of Outlook, complete with an editor based on Microsoft Word.

7. Office Apps Get Touch Support

A new version of Office apps Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook will provide a touch-first interface across phones, tablets and PCs. The persistent function ribbon at the top of the apps is now an app bar that shows up only when you need it. In Outlook, you’ll now be able to delete messages from your inbox by swiping each entry to the left. Swiping to the right flags that message. The apps will look and perform the same way on a PC as they do on a mobile device for a more coherent experience. 

8. Continuum

With the rise of hybrid laptop-tablet devices, Microsoft wants to make it easier to switch between either mode. The system will detect if you’ve plugged in a keyboard or mouse and switch modes for more convenient interaction. If you remove the keyboard/mouse, a notification will pop up from the task bar at the bottom, asking if you want to activate Tablet mode. When you do, you are greeted with the more touch-friendly profile. Dock your tablet into the keyboard again, and you’ll receive the same prompt, this time asking if you want to exit Tablet mode. 

9. Action Center

Windows 10 will provide a new way to look at all your notifications in one place. The Action Center appears to replace the Charms menu that slides in from the right on Windows 8 devices. It collects alerts from your device from all your apps, similar to the notifications drawers in iOS and Android. Depending on the app, you can also respond or react from this panel itself, with each notification expanding to show more actions. The Action Center also offers a quick way to toggle connectivity options and other settings such as display brightness and contrast.

10. Unified Settings / Control Panel

Instead of having two apps to control your device settings in Control Panel and PC Settings, Microsoft is making things less confusing by bringing them together in one. You’ll be able to manage your device from one place instead of hunting for a specific menu.

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Looking back at the 'FAILURES' of 2014: Tech and Gadgets Edition

The world of technology keeps seeing many ups and down every year. 2014 was a pretty good year for the technology industry, but there were some big time failures as well. So here's a list of the most embarrassing tech failures of 2014.

1. SONY PICTURES (THE INTERVIEW):

I hope you saw this and the next one coming, because if you didn't, were you living under a rock?This is a movie which became an ‘act of war’, and the epic part is that it is a Seth Rogen movie! This is a film that was a victim to one of the biggest ever cyber-attacks on a major movie studio and that was Sony! Sony Pictures was brought down and humiliated by a group called the Guardians of Peace or #GOP. They claimed to have stolen more than 100 Terabytes of data from the studio. The hackers soon began unveiling details from the Sony data, that was embarrassing not just to the studio, but also to some big names from the entertainment industry including Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Adam Sandler. The hack is also the reason of heavy diplomatic tussle between the USA and North Korea.

2. ICLOUD HACK:

Another major cyber breach took place at Apple’s trusted iCloud storage. Thousands of private and intimate photos of celebrities were leaked online. This caused quite a tense situation around the world and put Apple in an extremely awkward spot. Apple later confirmed that the hackers responsible for the leak had obtained the images using a “very targeted attack” on account information, such as passwords, rather than any specific security vulnerability in the iCloud service itself.

3. UBER:

The app based cab service faced one PR disaster in India. Multiple complaints of its driver harassing the passengers or sexually assaulting them, a highly publicized rape case led the company to temporarily cease its operations in many parts of the country. To make matters worse, there were also revelations that Uber was spying on journalists who were being criticizing the company. Uber also tried to take down its competition by ordering about 6000 rides and then canceling them. Even the drivers reported that they were exploited by the company. Guess for its new year resolution, Uber’s only resolution should be: Don’t be evil.

4. #Bendgate:

The iPhone 6 Plus soon became the butt of all jokes following reports of its bendability. Users found that the new device was easy to bend, and it quickly started trending on social media with the tag “#Bendgate”. There is an easy fix for the issue, and that is to use the phone with a protective case, but come on! That thing bends?

5. AMAZON FIRE PHONE:

Amazon really flopped hard on this one. There was a lot of buzz before the launch of the device, but it failed to capture commercial appeal, just because it wasn't worth it. The device had a few features like 3D display that could have been its defining element but

turned out to be really gimmicky. That coupled with below average battery performance, and low app availability led to low sales and forced the company to slash prices rapidly. Some reviewers even called it more of a prototype than a real device.

6. MH370:

Irony and jokes apart, this is a serious one... the only one incident that involves death, on a massive scale. March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 (Boeing 777) DISAPPEARED (vanished!!!), leaving behind many questions and extremely limited answers. No one would have thought that in the age of satellites and modern communication equipments, a plane can just disappear from the radar screens. The disappearance also led to several conspiracy theories. The last signal from the aircraft was broadcasted when it was over South China sea. There was a massive multinational effort to locate the lost plane, but it yielded no results. The search was the largest and most expensive in aviation history. There was also added bad news for Malaysian Airlines whose other plane, MH 17 was shot down pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine using surface to air missiles.


7. BLACKBERRY:

The company that was identified as one of the pioneers of the smartphone market has rapidly lost market share ever since the advent of the iPhone and Android ecosystems. Seeing that it was not going to carve out a place for itself in the brutal touch screen device market, the company decided to go back to its roots. The first device in this new attempt by the company was the Passport. Though the company tried to bring innovations into the device like a keyboard that also acts as a touchpad and a square display, it hasn’t managed to entice a lot of folks. This ultra wide device cannot be used with one hand and takes its own sweet time to focus while taking photos. The second device from the company called the Classic, might help bring back the experience that BlackBerry users were used to and get the company out of these times of peril.


8. MICROSOFT XBOX KINECT 2.0:

Seems like consumers are not ready for motion capture or spending extra for a hands-free gaming experience. Microsoft bet big money on the Kinect 2.0 and brought it in the market with improved functionalities last yeat. Microsoft was selling Kinect bundled with the Xbox One. Sales were slow just because the Xbox was $100 more expensive than the PS4, and so Microsoft decided to unbundle the Kinect and sold Xbox One without it and cut $100 off the price. The result: Microsoft’s console easily beat Sony’s PlayStation in holiday sales. Though it is not the end of the Kinect as of yet. As the motion-based games and technology gets better, more folks will get comfortable to give the boot to the good old controllers and get on the Kinect bandwagon. It’s just a matter of time.