Microsoft Stores to Hold “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier” Midnight Launch Event
Last Updated on Monday, 21 May 2012 07:59 Written by Alan Monday, 21 May 2012 07:59
Microsoft has announced that a midnight launch event for the new game “Ghost Recon: Future Soldier” will take place at their brick and mortar stores tonight. The game, based on a Tom Clancy story, will be available for Xbox, PS3, and the PC beginning at that time. Those interested have been able to pre-order the game for a little while now.
Microsoft has 17 stores located around the U.S. and all will be open for the big launch. The latest store just opened this past weekend in Bridgewater, New Jersey and several more are on the way. The game is also available as a free beta on the web. You can access that beta, as well as pre-order the game, by visiting the official Ghost Recon web site.
Microsoft announced the launch event today via a post to their Microsoft Store Facebook page.
“Stop by any of our Microsoft Store locations tonight for a Ghost Recon Future Soldier midnight launch event. Check your local store page for more details”
Microsoft Releases 8 New Windows Phone Wallpapers
Last Updated on Monday, 21 May 2012 06:11 Written by Alan Monday, 21 May 2012 06:11
Microsoft today announced the release of eight new official Windows Phone nature-themed wallpapers. These are the first third-party wallpapers to be officially sanctioned by the software giant. The wallpapers come courtesy of graphic designer Levi Freeman. Freeman is a photographer based in London.
The set of wallpapers features eight separate nature scenes and can be downloaded directly from Freeman’s web site, or you can use your phone to scan the QR code from the web site Microsoft provides a how-to article on changing the wallpaper on your handset.
For more information, and some interesting background information on the designer you can head over the Windows Phone blog and read the entire announcement. Microsoft plans to arrange more collaborations with other artists in the future so hopefully we will be seeing a lot more variety in the Windows Phone wallpapers in the future.
Microsoft Releases More Windows 8 Multi-Monitor Info
Last Updated on Monday, 21 May 2012 01:40 Written by Alan Monday, 21 May 2012 01:40
In another massively long post to the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft has detailed the support they are throwing behind users with multiple monitors. The next version of Windows will put even more support behind different configurations of monitors that should be enough to satisfy even the most demanding power-user.
Mark Yalovsky, a user experience program manager at Microsoft and author of this latest tome, starts off by pointing out that Microsoft data show that around 14% of desktops and 5% of laptops run with multiple monitors. Those aren’t very large numbers, but it’s widely expected that it will grow in the coming months and years.
Microsoft claims they used the following goals in putting together the multi-monitor support for Windows 8:
- Make the desktop a more personal experience. Perhaps the most personalized feature on the desktop is the ability to customize the desktop background. We set out to make this a great experience on multiple monitors too.
- Improve the efficiency of accessing apps across monitors. In Windows 7, the top request from people using multiple monitors was to improve the taskbar efficiency.
- Improve the efficiency of accessing system UI. In Windows 7, you could only access the Start menu on one monitor. With the introduction in Windows 8 of new UI that puts controls at the edges of the screen, we wanted to make sure that it’s still easy to access Start, the charms, the clock, and your recently used apps from every monitor.
- Allow side-by-side Metro style and desktop apps. You can launch or move a Metro style app to any monitor, side-by-side with desktop apps on another screen.
Many of the new features surround desktop customization. Users will be able to set different backgrounds on each monitor, produce multi-monitor slide shows, span a single image across multiple monitors, and finally have a monitor-spanning taskbar option, with lots of different ways of configuring it.
There is a LOT of information available in the blog post, complete with pictures to show the different configurations. The next verson of Windows 8, known as the “Release Preview”, will be released during the first week in June, and a final version is expected in the fall of 2012.
