Windows 10 Update – Get Windows 10 (activated) for Free – Without owning 7 or 8

Windows 10 LogoFor all of you who you are excited about the up and coming release of Windows 10, which should land on the 29th of July, you may be pleased to know there’s a way you can bag yourself a free – fully activated copy, without even owning Windows 7 or 8 first!

Microsoft have released news stating that all early adopters, i.e. those who sign up for the Windows technical BETA program, will be eligible for a free activation upon release. The technical BETA program (dubbed insider) gives you access to pre-release software, and is aimed at software developers. However, it’s freely available to anyone and very easy to join.

There’s one caveat in Microsoft’s recent announcement.. That is, in order to keep your copy of Windows 10 updated and activated you must be willing to stay subscribed to the ‘insider’ program. Thus meaning you will see early and be ‘forced’ to test early releases of future OS updates as and when they come along. Now, for some, who love living life on the bleeding edge, may think that that’s a fair deal.. Where as others, may want to steer clear of it for now. It’s fair to say the technical BETA release of Windows 10 has not been without it’s far share of BETA issues!

If you understand the above and would like to bag your copy anyway, all you have to do is head over to insider.windows.com and sign up for an account, if you don’t already have one. Once you’ve signed in, select the relevant ISO for your language preferences and the download should commence. You will also need to make note of your activation key, which can be located just above the list of ISO’s.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the technical BETA, you will need to make sure you sign into Windows with the same account you used to download it from the insider site. This will make sure you will get access to the full release of Windows 10 on the 29th. Whats more, you will be given the chance of a completely fresh install at the time – so you can mess around with your Technical BETA as much as you like!

Going forward, you will then be presented with future BETA releases using the normal Windows Update technologies!

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Windows 10 release date announced

 Microsoft have announced the date for release of Windows 10.. It will be offered as a free upgrade to any Windows 7 or 8 users on the 29th of July. Something which has been the way of Apple’s OS X releases for a few years now. 

10 brings with it vast changes (some say improvements) from both 7 and 8. It also sees the return of a ‘pop up’ start menu, all be it with tiles most Windows 8 users will be familier with. 

All new machines will be bundled with Windows 10 from the 29th. With it expecting to hit mobile devices later on in the year. 

The free upgrade of 7 and 8 will hopefully reduce some of the fragmentation in the distribution of its OS user base. 

Will you be upgrading? 

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Coming soon to an Outlook.com API near you…

Boomerang logoOutlook.com API is scheduled to launch in the summer this year.. Which may not be news to some.. However, a recent announcement may be. Microsoft have partnered up with Boomerang, dubbed a market-leading productivity software company, to deliver its powerful Boomerang system.

The Boomerang system is a power users best friend when faced with the day to day email and appointment management drain on resources. (more…)

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Cortana coming to iOS

Move over Siri, competition is on its way…. Apple fan boys the world over scoff at the Cortana commercials, standing by their trust Siri personal assistant… Perhaps not for much longer?

Roumer has it Cortana is making its way to iOS and Android devices! Albeit in somewhat a restricted incarnation.. For obvious reasons, the hands free “Hey Cortana” activation will not work on iOS devices. Also launching applications on either Android or iOS via voice commands will not be supported!

However, Cortana on all OS’s will use and in fact sync Cortana’s notebook. Meaning all your Cortana interactions should be seamless regardless of OS.

Cortana should have hit the respective app stores by the end of June this year.

It would be interesting to see what the take up is like on both OS’s – or, if the owners decide to stay true to the grandfather of assistance.

You can read more about this over at Microsoft’s Blog

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Microsoft and Google to introduce the “Kill Switch”

20140622-173955-63595162.jpgSince the introduction of Apples “kill switch” preventing iPhones from being wiped or services being disabled while “find my phone” service is configured, iPhone theft has dropped dramatically. Giving owners the ability to render their phones stolen at the push of a button, turns a high value device into something a little harder to sell on.

Microsoft and Google have both recently announced they’re planning on following suit, and introducing similar systems into their own handset models.

Google recently launched their very own find my phone type system, which proved to be a little buggy at times. It’s believed that this system will gain the additional functionality of being able to disable phones on users request. Something Apple have been doing for sometime now.

This will be closely followed by a tightly bing maps integrated system by the guys over at Microsoft.

It would be great to fully stamp out phone theft, or at least make phones seem less desirable to thieves. Although this is properly unlikely to stop opportunist thieves it may stamp out some crime.

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