Microsoft Office 365 Consumer Preview Releases

Microsoft has released its consumer preview of the upcoming version of its professional work suite, Microsoft Office. Let’s take a look at what’s new and how you can get your hands on it.

Read more »

Disable the Lock Screen in Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Let's all say it together: Windows 8 is major eye candy! That said, there's also something else to be said: it's hard to use on a netbook or desktop (less difficult for the latter though). But whether you're on a desktop, netbook or even a laptop, you may want to disable that pesky lock screen. Here's how:

Step 1: Press Win + R to initiate the "Run" prompt

Step 2: Type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter

Step 3: In the Window that appears ,(see screenshot below for reference) navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.

Step 4: After doing so, double-click on the Do not display the lock screen option and click on the "Disabled" radio button. Hit Apply and the lock screen will be no more!

Windows 8, made by Redmond-based software developer Microsoft, still has a lot of skeptics to win over and it's not surprising that a lot of users are complaining about the new changes including the lack of "Start Menu" or even the Orb in itself. 

As always, Have a nice day!

Read more »

Windows 8 Consumer Preview in Review: Dealing with Netbooks

Windows 8 Consumer Preview is out and we now have a good idea of the features it offers but for those who use a netbook, the first thing you will notice is an error message alerting you that your screen resolution is below the required 1024X768 by Microsoft. Don’t despair, we can change that with one very quick and easy trip to the registry.

Read more »

Windows 8 Consumer Preview in Review: The New Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows 8 introduces a new way of looking at the traditional computer and for most, this list of keyboard shortcuts may come in handy.

Read more »

Windows 8 Consumer Preview in Review: The New Features

You’ve now seen or read about the apps that come pre-installed in Windows 8 Consumer Preview. We will now look at some features.

Read more »

Windows 8 Consumer Preview in Review: The Apps

The app store for the moment is lacking and doesn’t contain much but with a Visual Studio Beta program and knowledge of a combo of either Java and Html or C# and XAML, you can easily write apps for the program. But for now, let’s explore what we have!

Read more »

Windows 8 Consumer Preview in Review: Introduction

Microsoft has released the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 and it has many new features. Let’s dive in.

While not all of these features are complete, this is not RTM and Microsoft will likely/hopefully be filling in the gaps.

Read more »

Facebook Releases Messenger Application for Windows

After the project was leaked, Facebook made a Help page regarding a new application that Facebook would be releasing to Windows users. The Messenger App brings Facebook to the Windows desktop in a minimalist design.

 

The app is in trial (beta) mode and will change throughout the process. It will self-update and Facebook developers encourage you to give feedback.

 

The app will let you chat with your Facebook friends, see your ticker feed and get quick notifications from the comfort of your desktop.

 

Download Facebook’s Messenger For Windows

Messenger for Windows

 

When you download and install the program, you will be greeted with this window where you will be prompted to log into your Facebook account.

 

When you log into the Facebook app, it will keep you logged in until you sign out. If you close the Window, it will hide in your notifications area.

 

 

The log in process will open your default browser to Facebook to log in.

You will then get a notification in the taskbar which when you clock will present you with your desktop version of Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From first testing it, the app is buggy, resizing the window can make your contacts vanish.

 

The interface is a windowed version of Facebook’s right hand bar which features ticker and your contact list along with the 3 default notification areas and a link to your profile on top.

 

Each of the notification icons on top, when activated will take a bit of the space that ticker takes and contains a scrollbar. It always stays confined to its window size.

 

Chatting with people opens a new window with a tab for each person. Unfortunately, if you are running Windows 7, each tab will not be individually displayed in the preview icons of your taskbar – as is the case with Windows Live Messenger or MSN.

 

 

If you are very addicted to Facebook, there is a feature which lets you dock it to the right of your screen. No Window will come on top of it and it will act just like it does on the Facebook website.

 

This feature and whether or not you want it to notify you when new messages arrive can be found in its icon in the notification area.

 

You can also toggle its dock mode with the bottom right button – next to the search bar.

 

Overall, the app is handy for those who don’t want to keep a browser open, but  it is still in trial and with time, most will likely prefer to keep Facebook in the browser.

 

So, feel free to give it a try. What do you think of this program? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Read more »

How to get iOS 5 before the release date (Without a developer account)

iOS 5 has probably been one of the most anticipated iOS releases ever. If you're like me, then you can't wait til next Wednesday, October 12th. Luckily, for us non-developers, the iOS 5 Gold Master (aka pre-release) was released yesterday right after the Apple "Let's talk iPhone event". iOS 5 GM does not require activation on any part. Here's how to get it!

Read more »

Google+ Now Available to the Open Public! [Update: iOS]

[Update: The update to Google+ Mobile is now available to iOS customers]

It was announced this morning by Google that Google+ was now available to sign up for without any sort of invitation necessary. All you need to do is make a new Gmail (or use your current Google Account)  to sign on to Google+ now. Easy as that.

It takes five minutes and you can sign up here. Once you do so, you can add myself (Brandon Nolet) and my colleague (Julian Wolfe)

Along with today's opening of Google+ there were a few new features added to hangouts:

Click to enlarge

• Screensharing: for when you want to show off your vacation photos, your high score, your lesson plan or whatever else is on your screen
• Sketchpad: for when you want to draw, doodle, or just scribble together
• Google Docs: for when you want to write, plan or present something with others
• Named Hangouts: for when you want to join or create a public hangout about a certain topic (like fashion or music or sports...)

In terms of the mobile application, there was a tiny bit of work done; though it brought a hugely demanded feature. You can now participate in a hangout with your mobile device. (Android is the only device supported for this brand new feature. iOS support is being promised in the near future.)

My worry is that if somebody is using their mobile device to hangout, and he's the only one, is that it's going to prevent you from using the previously mentioned features for hangouts. Unless they've put these features into the mobile application update, that's probably what's going to happen. (in my opinion)

So far we've got an open Google+, improved hangouts and a huge feature that was demanded since the beginning of the Google+ mobile application. Next we have the search. 

Google has decided to integrated sparks and the search together. You can now search for:

• People
• Content people have posted on their Google+ account
• And content from the World Wide Web :)

Click to enlarge

Have a good time with the new features, until next time :)

Happy +1'ing!

Read more »