The Windows 8 Touch Keyboard

In this blog I’ll cover what I’ve learnt about the Windows 8 Touch keyboard.
There are several different types of touch keyboards available with Windows 8 providing you have a touch screen.
The Touch Screen is available for the conventional touch screen computer and of course for the Surface tablet. The Touch Keyboard is a useful alternative to using the conventional keyboard on either.

Accessing the Touch Keyboard

To access the Touch Keyboard go to your Desktop view. In the right-hand side of the Taskbar you’ll see the Keyboard icon. Click it and the keyboard appears on your screen.

Now this is where the fun starts because there are four types of keyboards of keyboards available! They are:

1. Standard keyboard (this is the default one)
2. Split-screen keyboard
3. Full keyboard
4. Handwriting Recognition Keyboard

1. Standard Keyboard (default)

2. Split-Screen Keyboard

3. Full Keyboard

4. Handwriting Recognition keyboard

 

Looking Closer at the Features of the Standard Touch Keyboard

On the top right of each keyboard are two controls – Minimize/Maximize and Close. On the lower left is the “change keyboard” button.
Clicking this allows you to toggle through the keyboard of your choice. The other features are much the same except for the addition of the Smiley key, a fun thing!

ARM PCs Could Possibly Offer A More Secure Experience

When it comes to Windows 8 there are two key changes that really seem to get the most focus, the new Metro UI and added support for ARM processors.
Both of these features are certainly deserving plenty of attention because of what they imply for the change to the desktop in coming years.
Microsoft's 'core' OS has always been targeted at x86 processors (Although NT4 did support a few other architectures like Alpha, MIPS, and IBM Power) and primarily at the traditional workstation-style PC and laptop.
As the company has evolved, so has its strategy and with the newest set of changes heading to Windows 8 we are seeing a complete shift that opens up the door to more casual touch-friendly interfaces and laptops/desktops that no longer use traditional legacy code and x86 processors.
With ARM companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia preparing initiatives that move beyond mobile and into a landscape dominated by Intel, you think that the x86-based Intel and AMD would be at least a little nervous.
According to Intel the legacy support that is found in x86 isn't present in ARM, this means less drivers that work for your favorite cameras, printers, and other attachments. ARM also isn't as fast as Intel, and overall Intel is confident that they have little to lose with Windows 8.
On the contrary, Intel has openly praised Windows 8 and claims to be looking forward to it. Whether or not this is just a 'show' or not, who knows.
What I do know is that I've personally been mixed about the whole thing for a while now. After all, legacy support is awfully important. Still, I've started to think about what major advantages you will find with going ARM on workstations, laptops, and home PCs versus keeping to the traditional x86 side of the fence.
I've come up with one possible BIG advantage, security.
While this is theoretical at the moment, it seems possible that since Windows 8 isn't legacy-capable in the coding you won't have to worry about all the viruses and malware that currently plagues the x86 version.
I know what you might be thinking, "Well hackers and malware creators will just go ahead and make new viruses that are modified to target Windows 8 on ARM", maybe.
Keep this in mind though, at least for a few years the biggest players in ARM OSes will remain Apple and Google, not Microsoft. So this makes Microsoft less of a target.
Additionally, much of the code found in 'desktop mode' of Windows is very aged and so getting a clean start with the Metro UI and the apps that run it might not be a bad idea.
Additionally, since the Windows ARM version is largely locked down in a way similar to Apple when it comes to apps, it is again a much more secure option than the x86 version.
The big downside though is that if you are a business that is interested in the security aspect you have to be willing to re-make in-house programs for ARM and re-train users for efficiency on the Metro platform, which could become a costly endeavor.
Paying for losses brought about by viruses might end up the cheaper solution for some of these businesses.
Still, getting aboard with Metro might not be a bad idea as I do believe a day will come when Windows no longer supports the traditional applications, instead favoring a combination of Metro and Cloud-based APIs for running programs.
The ARM debate isn't anything new but I do personally think it could have a niche, especially for businesses that don't mind updating to more cloud-centric solutions now.

Windows 8 Versus Android, OSX, iOS, And Even Itself..

Traditionally, when it comes to Windows competitors there has been only one of major consequence, at that is Mac OS X. To be fair even Mac OS X's market share is hardly a threat to Microsoft's dominance with Windows and Linux doesn't even register on Redmond's concern list I'm sure.
Windows 8, however, has plenty of new competition thanks to the addition of ARM processor support. This means that that Windows 8 competes directly against: Linux/Unix Desktop derivatives, Mac OS X, Android, and iOS.
Not to mention it also has two big competitors in the form of its own Windows Phone and Windows 7 (and earlier).
Self-competition is often a difficult circle to get caught in to, and something Microsoft is rather familiar with. To this day Microsoft still has stiff competition from XP, trying to get users to make the switch away from the aging OS.
This is something they will likely face even more with Windows 8, especially trying to convince those that don't care for Metro to make a switch.
On the Windows Phone front, I suppose this will only become self-competition if Microsoft directly brings Windows 8 to the phone, which right now doesn't seem like the plan.
Anyways, the point is that Windows 8 has to fight for recognition and acceptance on multiple fronts, which isn't going to be an easy battle  by any means. Can Microsoft win this war? I think it is certainly possible.
The biggest part of the war will certainly be the mobile front, this is the place that Microsoft has stacked up all its cards against.
So what does Microsoft have to offer for tablets (and other mobile solutions) that can set it apart as a worthy option?
First off, Apple's strength is in its closed, mostly secure platform. It is a cozy and safe place that offers great apps, ease-of-use, and alluring aesthetics. How does Windows 8 fit into such a picture?
They also offer a unique and alluring interface (although this could be argued), they want to keep things simple as well and offer a closed and controlled environment while still allowing open-source apps and other features that seem more Android-like.
Okay, what about comparing against Android? Android has tons of options from hardware, to software version that allows every type of user to find a phone/tablet within their budget.
They also offer tons of different sources for apps and a very open model. The downside to such an open model is malware problems that now plague the platform.
Microsoft likely has Android beat on this security issue, though for those looking for multiple app stores you will be a bit disappointing with Windows 8. On the shear number of options though, Windows 8 is looking like the best choice.
Don't get me wrong, there are probably more hardware types out there for Android than Microsoft will have to offer, but this doesn't mean that Android has better hardware options.
The problem with Android is that the experience is highly fragmented for two reasons: Multiple very different versions of Android are out in the market and there is no hardware standard.
With Windows 8 it seems likely they will follow WP7's example of setting 'hardware minimums' that keep fragmentation from becoming an issue.
The shear number of choices of Android devices can be confusing to some consumers.
After all, consumers might think "this $80 tablet has Android on it, and so does this $300 one, so why spend so much since its the same OS?" In reality that $80 tablet has a 350MHz MIPS (or maybe ARM) processor, limited app support, and few functions.
Microsoft will have hardware options without the fragmentation, and that's a good thing.
So in short, what does Windows 8 have to offer versus Android and iOS? It will have more options than Apple's iPad, less fragmentation and better security than Android, while still offering many of the same 'good' features of both.
Is that enough to ensure its success? Only time will tell.
What is your opinion of Windows 8 when leveraged against the other major mobile competitors? Share your thoughts below!
 

Free Windows 8 Infographic for you to share

We have been getting a lot of questions about Windows 8.
People are asking about the new features and the new look and feel etc etc.
In response to that we put together our Windows 8 overview page. This page summarized all the features that we know about and put them in one place.
We also continue to update that page.
We wanted to go above and beyond that and we have put together an embeddable graphic for you to use.
Please share this graphic and page with your friends, colleagues and coworkers who want to know more about Windows 8

Microsoft in 2012: what to expect

Microsoft has had plenty of successes in 2011, from record-breaking sales for Kinect and Xbox to the positive reaction to Nokia's Windows Phone.
Windows 7 and Office are still selling well, Bing has managed some moderate increases in market share, especially in the US, and the departures of big names like Ray Ozzie and Robbie Bach haven't caused any ripples.
For the second year in a row, everyone is taking Microsoft seriously.
But when you do well, you have to do even better next time and 2012 could be a challenging year. Microsoft has to ship - and sell - Windows 8 (especially on tablets), Windows Phone has to compete with whatever Apple and Google can come up with next, IE10 has to keep up with Chrome and whatever ridiculous number Firefox gets up to and Microsoft still needs to impress users with its cloud services.
Xbox is still going strong and Kinect could revitalise the market for PCs that aren't all about being as thin and light as a MacBook Air but can Microsoft pull it all together?

Windows Phone 8

There are plenty of Windows Phone 7.5 launches still to come next year, especially for the US market, building on Nokia's momentum with the Lumia 800 – and bringing Skype to the phone. Back at the MIX conference in April corporate vice president Joe Belfiore said Skype would be on the platform "this fall" along with the Mango update.
Unless it squeezes out before Christmas like Lync for Windows Phone, SkyDrive for Windows Phone and iOS, and OneNote for iPad, we're expecting to see Skype for Windows Phone at CES 2012.

SKYPE EVENTUALLY:Promised for Windows Phone this autumn, maybe we'll see it at CES
The bigger news is the two new versions of Windows Phone expected next year; the Tango update that brings Windows Phone to cheaper handsets for developing countries (and anyone who won't switch away from their feature phone until smartphones are just as cheap) and the more interesting Apollo, which will have improvements in the grahics APIs, in Bluetooth and is when we'll probably see NFC.
Apollo, or Windows Phone 8, is what Microsoft mysteriously calls 'common core'; we think that means key programming frameworks from Windows 8 coming to the phone rather than the Windows 8 kernel and we certainly don't think it means throwing away all the Windows Phone 7 apps.
We should get more details on both at Mobile World Congress in February and we expect to see Tango in the spring and Apollo, with IE10 included, by next November.

Windows 8 – and IE 10

The beta of Windows 8 is due a little later than we'd expected; we expect Microsoft to tell us more about what's getting updated during CES but the beta (which will have new features in) will be available in late February, along with the beta of the Windows 8 Store.
That still leaves time for a release candidate and the final release for the autumn; Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs has suggested the launch will be soon after September (so we might see the second service pack for Windows 7 first).
That's when we'll see the final version of IE 10 as well for Windows 7 as well as Windows 8 (and yes, it will have spell checking on Windows 7); "We will release an IE 10 Beta and Release Candidate on Windows 7 prior to IE10's general availability," the IE team said on the official blog. That's a lot longer than the 12 months it took to create and release IE 9.

WINDOWS 8 BETA: Don't worry, the beta won't be this green
The autumn is also late for Windows tablets; by then they'll be competing with iPad 3 and BlackBerry 10 tabs and it's possible Google will have Android Jelly Bean out by the end of next year too. Microsoft obviouslydoesn'tthink it's too late to bring out a tablet but there's certainly a sense of urgency.
Windows Phone president Andy Lees has just taken a sideways step to handle what Steve Ballmer calls "a time-critical opportunity focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8". We think that means making sure Windows 8 ARM tablets come out on time, work well and don't cause confusion for Windows Phone handsets – especially with Apollo's Windows 8 connection.
Microsoft isn't thinking about Windows 8 as an update that makes the way you use a PC today a little better; this is the operating system the Windows team hope you'll be using for a decade, the way you did Windows XP. Tablets matter but we're expecting to see Microsoft push some exciting new PC ideas too.

Kinect comes to PC

The rumours about the next Xbox are wilder than ever, including a faster connector for a new Kinect that could be sensitive enough to detect the expression on your face – or read your lips.
What we do know is that the PC version of Kinect (launching in "early 2012") is optimised for recognising things that are closer to the screen – like your hands rather than your whole body. That means you can gesture at the screen with your fingers.
So while the idea of TVs from Vizio and Sony with Kinect built in as a remote control is attractive, it's much more plausible that those rumours are actually about monitors for your PC that have Kinect in. The TV market is all about low prices and we don't see TV makers lining up to add a pricey sensor. But a Kinect screen could be the same price as a touch screen monitor – and the perfect match for Windows 8.
Think about it; waving at the Metro Start screen deals with all those complaints about fingerprints and gives you a natural interface that is perfectly suited to a screen you want further away than a tablet or laptop.
It also builds in a microphone for voice control – something Windows already has but hardly anyone uses; expect a Windows version of TellMe to compete with the rumoured Siri-controlled Apple TV.
But when you add Kinect to a screen, you get more than gestures; you get a PC that knows when you're sitting in front of it and which way you're looking. That could lock the screen when you walk away; it can also make video calls look more realistic by adjusting the image to the right perspective.
Steven Bathiche who runs the Applied Sciences group at Microsoft wants to use a Kinect-enabled screen with a Wedge lens (made by a company Microsoft has recently bought) to give you 3D images without glasses, by detecting where your eyes are and steering the beam of light towards them. That could be a 3D TV – or a 3D Xbox screen…

Silverlight 6

Even if we never see Silverlight 6, rumours of Silverlight's demise are almost certainly exaggerated. The newly announced support policy for Silverlightpromises updates for the browsers Silverlight 5 works with today (including Safari, Firefox and Chrome) and hints at support "as browsers evolve".
More importantly, the technology behind Silverlight will continue to be key for building Windows Phone apps, Silverlight is making its way to Xbox - and it's a key part of Windows 8 as one of the ways to build Metro-style apps using WinRT (which is an almost exact superset of current Silverlight features).
Using the XAML markup language, developing in C# and VB.NET on a subset of the .NET runtime, running in a secure sandbox and distributing apps using HTTP rather than an installer; the key principles of Silverlight will all still be there, whatever the technology is called.
The question is really whether there will be another browser plugin called Silverlight. In the long term, Microsoft is moving away from plugins; Andy Lees hinted at this last year when he explained to TechRadar that one reason the Windows Phone browser doesn't have Flash or Silverlight plugins is that "browsers are going to a different extensibility model" and it's even clearer in the plugin-free Metro version of IE10.
As HTML gets more capable, there will be fewer things you need a plugin for - but as long as those things include playing DRM video served by major broadcasters using Microsoft's streaming media server technology, Microsoft will be doing the engineering work to make that happen and delivering a plugin to build on that makes sense.

Office, Live and SkyDrive

A new version of Windows means a new version of Officeand while there are rumours that the beta of Office 2012 will be ready at the end of January it's more likely that we'll see it around the same time as the Windows 8 beta.
The leaked build from Microsoft Russia we saw in August had a cleaner look that matches the Metro-influenced look of desktop apps like the Windows 8 Task Manager, but there will also be Metro versions of key Office apps. The Moorea app for creating HTML pages on a tiled grid that's in the leaked build might be a hint at the type of Metro interface we'll see.
Certainly the Office Metro apps will have to stand out from the Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging Windows Live Metro appsthat were previewed at the Build conference (they'd be the ideal apps to try out from the beta of the Windows Store and we expect to see them with the Windows 8 beta).

SKYDRIVE: It'll be everywhere - out for Windows Phone and iPhone first
Live is going to get more social network features, although it's more about being what the Microsoft job adverts call a "one-stop-shop for users to connect with friends and all their social network" than competing with Google+ and Facebook; this may be where odd social network projects from the research lab in Boston (like Spindex and socl.com) fit in.
And SkyDrive ("your cloud store for anywhere access to your data") is coming to Xbox according to this job advertwhich talks about IEB as well as Windows and Phone.

METRO OFFICE: Could Moorea be the new Office look?
Microsoft is betting on Windows 8 – Steve Ballmer famously called it the company's biggest bet – but it's backing that bet up with cloud services that will be available on more and more platforms. It's going to be another busy year.

New Windows Defender Offline Tool

Recently I covered a post about Austrian-based Security Analyst Peter Kleissner and his new exploit for Windows 8. The exploit was designed to work around Microsoft’s new boot improvements in order to hack into Windows 8, essentially. It would load up from the master boot record and reside all the way through startup allowing root access to the entire machine.
Windows 8′s boot loader has added a number of new security features to prevent malware and security breaches, this includes requiring valid digital signatures. Microsoft had previously hoped that such a move would stop malware by blcoking unsigned software from loading into memory software.
Despite Microsoft’s hopes and intentions, Peter proved that it really wasn’t exactly rocket science to find a way to crack Windows 8.
Is this a flaw in Windows 8 exactly, then? Honestly, as long as computers exist there will be people who find ways to do things that companies didn’t intend, these are known as hackers to most of us. Microsoft can not and will not find a way to create a product that will completely prevent Windows from being hack proof.
Even throwing away Windows completely and starting from scratch would offer no guarantee. As an example, Linux is fairly virus free but Android (which is based on Linux) has started to have a growing virus problem of late.
So if you can beat malware and virus makers, what is the next best step? Staying ahead of the game and creating easy tools to help fight the good fight, so to speak.
Microsoft has now provided such a tool with its “Windows Defender Offline BETA”. This brand new tool likely has Windows 8 in mind, though it does work with older versions too.
With the free tool, you download it and burn it to a disc or a flash device. The purpose of the new tool is to run it as your ‘boot device’ occasionally to check for malware that might be hiding in your boot-up experience.
The release of this tool so closely to the release of Peter’s malware proof-of-concept is no coincidence but I’m glad to see Microsoft being proactive about the entire situation.
Windows 8 will likely have a virus and malware problem for the remainder of its life, and only Microsoft knows how long that is for sure I suppose. Even a future OS by Microsoft (or anyone else) makes no promises about security, but I can confidently see that Microsoft is really working hard to make sure that Windows 8 is a more secure experience than past versions.
This starts with the new Defender (which includes malware, spyware, and antivirus) and ends with the addition of other tools such as this new offline boot checking tool.
What do you think about the new security measures in Windows 8? Is Microsoft going fair enough or is there something better they could be doing to protect their users?
I feel that Microsoft has made many interesting moves with its Metro interface, but its really its new attitude towards speed and security that truly has me excited for the future of Windows.

Phoenix Technologies launching new BIOS solution for Windows 8

BIOS player Phoenix Technologies has recently announced its latest Phoenix SCT 2.2 solution to assist its PC partners to develop systems based on Windows 8, according to the company.
Currently, American Megatrends (AMI) is dominating in the desktop BIOS market, with Insyde Software and Phoenix accounting for 55% and 45% of the notebook BIOS market, respectively.
President of Phoenix Greater China, Kelly Wu pointed out that the company’s new solution has more than 60 new functions to support Windows 8 and is optimized for system performance, security, connectivity, mobility and user experience.
The solution also supports several technology standards such as UEFI 2.3.1, TCG 1.2/2.0, ACPI 4.0/5.0, USB 3.0, SMBIOS 2.7 and NIST-SP800-147.

In addition to Wintel platform, Phoenix is also developing to support Windows on ARM (WOA) and is cooperating with Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.
Phoenix is also hoping to raise its share in the desktop BIOS and is optimistic about the cloud computing industry and has been working on entering the server and embedded product BIOS markets.
The company has already landed several orders for server and embedded products which are expected to start benefiting the company in 2012.

Windows 8 ARM Notebooks Delayed Til 2013

When it comes to Windows 8 there are plenty of new features to get excited about.

Despite many features to the desktop environment, improvements on speed, and stability it seems that two new features are getting most of the attention these days: the new Metro Interface replacing the Start Menu and Windows 8 ARM processor support.

With ARM support, Windows will now be able to tackle the ultra-mobile market in ways that it only dreamed about in the past.

Up until now (with the exception of NT4 which ran on a few other architectures, actually), Windows has pretty much been stuck as an x86-only Operating System.

The biggest and most obvious reason for the switch to ARM support has to do with tablets. While x86 tablets do exist, they are bulkier, louder, and consume more power than their often cheaper, quieter ARM cousins.
Microsoft understands a cash cow when they see it and weren’t willing to drop the ball to Google and Apple.
Outside of tablets though, ARM has potential in ultra-mobile laptops as well or at least analysts seem to think so.

There is one bring problem with the ARM version of Windows 8, it seems behind on development when compared to the x86 version.

Now it seems that sources are reporting that notebooks running Windows 8 on an ARM processor aren’t expected to hit the market until June 2013.

This source doesn’t say anything about tablets and so it makes you wonder. If they DO launch the ARM/tablet version in late-2012 (alongside the x86 version), why wait until mid-2013 to bring it to notebooks?

This leaves me to think that either the tablet version is behind too and Microsoft just doesn’t want that cat out of the bag yet, or perhaps Microsoft has made a deal with Intel/AMD to keep x86 exclusive for a while longer.

Only Microsoft really knows the reason for sure.

The source further claims that due to significant challenges, such as vendor reluctance and software support, it will likely be 2015 or later until ARM presents a significant market-share challenge to x86-based laptops.
What is curious about all this is that IF Microsoft has agreed to hold back the ARM version for laptops/desktops from vendors, why?
According to analysts, ARM’s challenges will keep in back from competing for years even when released. Holding it back until June 2013 really seems unnecessary based on this information.
This leads me to think that it is more likely that ARM development is behind and Microsoft is either going to hold back ALL ARM products until 2013, including tablets, or it is working around the clock to make sure that at least the drivers necessary for a few key tablets are ready in 2012.
If tablets get pushed back all the way to June 2013 I personally think that the tablet war will already be won, and Microsoft will in fact be too late to the party.
Keep in mind that nearly all of this is speculation, and we only know so much about the when, where, and how details regarding Windows 8 on ARM.
What we do know is that things are certainly heating up for an interesting battle of the architectures in the next few years.
Qualcomm in particular seems very intent on pushing beyond mobile interests and into the laptop/desktop market as well; even Nvidia seems to have some interest in capitalizing further on Windows 8-based market expansion.
At the other end of the game, Intel (and to a lesser extent, AMD) has been the king of PC hardware for many decades now and they aren’t go to give up without a spectacular fight.
Ivy Bridge in early 2012 and Haswell in 2013 will continue Intel down a path that is slowly put surely improving power consumption while still retaining a good deal of power under the hood.
No matter who wins in the long run, it seems like this is good news for everyone. Major competition like this means that hardware vendors have to push themselves further to deliver cutting-edge and improving products in order to stay competitive.
This can create consumer confusion due to the multitude of choices it brings, but in the end its nice to have options.

Intel to Make Touch Screen Windows 8 Powered Ultrabooks

Now that Samsung has set a time period for the launch of its Windows 8 tablet, everyone else wants in. At the Intel Capital Global Summit today, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that touch screen “Ultrabooks” will be the main focus in the next year.
If you don’t know what an Ultrabook is, think MacBook Air. After Apple’s success with the MacBook Air, (its thinnest laptop available) other companies finally decided that they wanted in about six months to a year ago. Intel took the lead by developing special processors for Ultrabooks that would make them powerful, yet energy efficient.
No Ultrabooks have actually gone on sale yet, though, and Intel’s new processors are probably going to be pretty expensive, which will make the actual Ultrabooks more expensive than certain models of the MacBook Air.

Otellini noted the expensive price and said that to get more customers from the mainstream laptop market to buy Ultrabooks, they would have to get the price of the touch technology down. Otellini said, “To hit the volume price points, we need to span $699 and up, and that’s the goal for next year.”
$699 would be a great price point to be at. It would be about $200-300 lower than Apple’s lowest priced MacBook Air. To hit the volume price points, we need to span $699 and up, and that’s the goal for next year.” To get the price down to $699 would be pretty good. It would be about $200-300 lower than the lowest priced MacBook Air is right now.
Otellini explained just how Intel was going to do that, “To do that, we have to get touch to a lower cost. This is particularly important, as we move to the launch of Windows 8. The iPad and the iPhone have made touch a paradigm.”
Intel says that the launch of Windows 8 will make Ultrabooks a lot more popular, especially its new touch based ones. It will be kind of like one of those tablets with a detachable keyboard in the sense that when you just want to relax and enjoy media, you can just use the touch screen and Metro, but when you want to get a lot of work done you can use the keyboard and the classic desktop mode.
What I don’t understand is why Intel isn’t making the keyboard detachable. I mean it would make sense. Why would you want there to be a keyboard just awkwardly hanging there when you are using the touch screen, and I’m not sure how comfortable using the touch screen when holding the Ultrabook like any laptop would be.
Nevetheless Intel still tries to prove its touchscreen Ultrabook idea will work, “Starting with Windows 8, you have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch. Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler. When users see that new Windows interface, they’re going to want to touch it.

Metro-Style Control Panel In Windows 8

There are many features in Windows 8 that are worth talking about such as new speed improvements, the Metro interface, and the upcoming Marketplace. One feature that isn’t talked about as much but is equally important is the Control Panel.
With every version of Windows, Microsoft has taken to the Control Panel with new improvements that make it easier to change features in Windows and make it the operating system you need.
In Windows 8, the Control Panel has some options directly viewed in Desktop Mode while also offering a Metro Control Panel, too.

Let’s take a look at just a few features in the Metro panel:

Personalize: This tab is all about customizing the lock screen and User Tile. Right now, you can’t change Metro’s color scheme but in BETA this is supposed to change and this will be the place to do it.
Users: This is pretty much the place to add and change users and user permissions. This also always you to change in the login methods such as classic password, pin,, and the new gesture/picture login system.
Notifications: This option allows you to tweak setting and choose which application should notify when something happens, basically. Each app listed here has a toggle where you can switch notifications on and off.
Privacy: The privacy menu allows you to see how applications use personal information such as location, account picture, your name, and other settings. You can also delete history for applications here as well.
General: I don’t really like the name “General” because it doesn’t seem to clarify how important this tab really is. This is the place you go to tweak touch-keyboard options but it is also the place to Refresh/Reset your PC if something goes wrong. In Windows 8 you can easily reset/refresh Windows to fix problem.
Search: Search in Windows 8 uses global integrated search, a feature that looks even inside of apps to find what you are looking for.
Ease of Access: This feature has probably changed the least and offers tools for disabled or those who have eyesight, hearing problems, etc.
Devices: You will find here a list of all connected devices and the option to remove them.
Sync PC Settings: Using Window’s Live ID you can configure the PC to automatically import major setting when accessing the same account from different Windows 8 systems.
Keep in mind all these features are also fully available in Desktop Mode’s more robust control panel.

Here are the top 16 Tablets that Windows 8 will have to compete with

So Windows 8 will be here sometime next year and of course, we’re all expecting to be using Windows 8 tablets with the Metro interface.

I write so much about Windows 8 and the tablets etc and I realized that I hadnt really paid attention to the competition i.e. the tablets on sale now in the market place.
I hunted down all the tablets and vendors that I could and here they are just for you. As you can see, it’s a really crowded field and Microsoft are going to have to work really really hard to make Windows 8 stand out.
You can get more information about each Tablet from Amazon from clicking on the titles (they open up in a new window).
My personal favorite is the Samsung galaxy. Has a really sexy feel to it. On a separate note – Samsung seem to be kicking ass in the hardware department these days. Stay tuned for a separate post on that.
Anyway, let’s do it.
Here are the top 16 Tablets that Windows 8 will have to compete with when it hits the market next year.

 1. Acer Iconia Tab A500-10S16u 10.1-Inch Tablet

 2. Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

3. ARCHOS 101 Internet Tablet 16GB

4. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101-A1 10.1-Inch Tablet

5. Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch Tablet (16GB)

6. Coby Kyros MID7015 7-Inch Android Internet Touchscreen Tablet

7. Cydle M7 MultiPad Tablet PC – White

 8. Dell Streak 7 Wi-Fi Tablet

  

9. HTC Flyer 5MP,16GB,Android OS,AD2P 7inch WIFI Tablet

10. MOTOROLA XOOM Android Tablet (10.1-Inch, 32GB, Wi-Fi)

11. Barnes & Noble NOOK Color eBook

12. Samsung Galaxy Tab (10.1-Inch, 16GB, Wi-Fi)

13. Sony SGPT111US/S Wi-Fi Tablet (16GB)

14. Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 16 GB Android Tablet AT105-T1016

 15. Velocity Micro T301 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablet (Black)

16. ViewSonic gTablet with 10″ Multi-Touch LCD Screen

Windows 8 beta: new features to expect

Zooming live tiles, managing Metro apps and more

The developer preview of Windows 8 that Microsoft put out in September is very obviously a work in progress; in particular the Metro start screen and charms interfaces.

Here's what we know will change in the next milestone (we expect that to be the beta release and we expect the Windows 8 beta launch to be at the CES 2012 show in January).

The Metro UI, as used in Windows Phone, Windows 8 and the new look for Xbox, is based on modern design and Bauhaus, typographic style and the efficiency of transport signs, according to the Windows user experience design director Samuel Moreau.

That won't change, and neither will the sharp corners and solid colours of the tiles on the Start screen; a look that Alice Steinglass, the group program manager for the core user experience team, defines as "clarity of spacing, solid edges and backgrounds and rectangles". But you won't be stuck with the green background.

Busy photographs might not work when they're covered in tiles and the background is going to have to stretch across many screens' worth of icons. Plus using bold flat colour for clarity and legibility is one of the principles of the Metro design style: "It's about clean, clear, crisp information, bold use of colours, bold visuals for a bold design" Moreau explains.

"It's about reductionism and a focus on function and making function beautiful. So while there will be options for customising the background in the beta, we expect that to be picking different colours or simple background looks."

That still won't be the final look for Windows 8, on the Start screen or the desktop. As Windows chief Steven Sinofsky has pointed out on the Building Windows blog "those details of the visual styling come later in the engineering process".

The Windows 8 beta will have more functionality for organising the Start screen. Instead of having to make a group by dragging an existing tile out of a group, you'll be able to make new groups, give them names (if you want - you don't have to name every group) and rearrange the order of groups without dragging individual tiles around. Drag a group and all the tiles in it will move together.

Zoom and scroll

Groups are key not just for putting tiles where you can easily find them but for moving quickly through a lot of pinned tiles. In the Windows 8 beta you'll be able to pinch with your fingers or use a single mouse click to zoom out and see more tiles and groups on screen at once.

This doesn't just make the tiles smaller, it collapses them into a group that you can treat as a single item, so you can zoom out, scroll to the group you want quickly and then click on a tile to launch a program quickly. 

SEMANTIC ZOOM: Zoom out and tiles get smaller, simpler and easier to parse as a group

This semantic zoom isn't in the developer preview but it's the same principle as in the Build conference app; when you zoom out from the list of sessions, you don't get smaller icons for the sessions - you get the time slots and days instead. The same thing could happen in the game explorer; you'd go from groups of tiles to large icons for the category of each group. 

 IN DETAIL: A sample Metro app with tiles for individual games…

ZOOM OUT: …and you see the categories rather than tiny illegible tiles
Microsoft calls the gap between groups of tiles speed bumps; the idea is that this makes it easier to swipe through the Start screen and stop at a specific group without shooting past.
We're expecting a way to customize speed bumps to make it easier to virtually divide the Start screen to navigate quickly.
There will definitely be improvements for scrolling through the Start screen tiles with a mouse. It doesn't work to treat the mouse like a finger, Moreau says, but there will be a way to scroll without going down to the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen and dragging it along.

Search and switch

Some of these are features that just weren't stable enough to put in the developer preview of Windows 8, but there will also be changes and new features based on feedback from users.
Instead of being one long alphabetical list, the App screen that you can look through for programs you haven't pinned to the Start screen will also be organised into groups in the Windows 8 beta, with the same program group names you'd see on the Start menu in Windows 7.
That way, the uninstall utility for a program will be with the program it's designed to uninstall rather than at the end of the list with six other anonymous uninstallers, and you don't have to remember the name of the tool for organising images that comes with Microsoft Office; you can just look in the Office group.
You'll see the Apps screen as soon as you click the Search charm, even if you're coming from the Windows desktop, to make it obvious what you're searching through by default.

APP GROUPS: The list of all the installed programs will be arranged by groups, not alphabetically
Updates and notifications are a big part of making Windows 8 feel alive and live tiles can use the background notification service to show you updates like new headlines or the number of unread emails even when the Metro app isn't running and taking up memory.
User experience head Jensen Harris said at Build that there wouldn't be "a junk drawer of notifications to clean up" and that "if a notification is suitably important that there's a problem if the user misses it, [the app can] change the live tile".
But enough testers have suggested that the updates could make the Start screen feel too busy and distracting that there will be an option to turn off notifications.
And if you haven't mastered the card shuffling gesture for dragging the next Metro app on screen then dragging the icon back off screen to flip quickly through all the open apps to get the one you want, there will be a way to specifically close Metro apps without having to open the Task Manager or just waiting for them to get suspended, so you don't have to flip past the ones you know you're done using.
The Windows 8 beta should also have many of the apps missing from the developer preview: Windows Media Center, DVD Creator and the Windows 7 games. We might see the Metro-style Windows Live apps and the option to upgrade a PC from Windows 7 rather than do a clean install as well, or we might not get those until the release candidate.