Although we have already had a Patch Tuesday for April, Microsoft is still busy releasing updates for their various platforms. Today it is expect we will see no less than 34 updates for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows RT. Yes, you read that correctly. Windows RT will be getting some updates today. There are some security updates in the mix but there are also going to be a lot of general fixes and updates to the various Windows platforms.
In a recent earnings call, an AMD executive let it slip that Windows 10 would be shipping to consumers in July of this year. That would fit nicely into the Microsoft announced “summer” release date that they offered back in February. Summer is certainly a broad term as technical summer is from June 21st through September 23rd this year and everyone is clamoring for a more definitive date. The challenge of course is that Windows 10 is still very much in beta as are many individual components of what will be released with the new Operating System. That to me makes a July release date nearly impossible and in fact I’ll give you five reasons why I don’t think Windows 10 will launch in July 2015.
Developer Rudy Huyn just keeps at it on his various Windows Phone apps and today we see another update to 6Tag, arguably the best Instagram app on the platform. The update, version 4.1.3 for those keeping score at home, is aimed at improving the memory usage of the app, making it a bit more efficient in its operation on your device. There are no other changes noted in the Release Notes but if you are a 6Tag user, you should definitely go get this update today.
6Tag for Windows Phone – Free (In-App Purchases) – Download Now
Over the past few weeks I have been using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 tablet as part of my daily routine. As I put in my post a few weeks ago, it has been refreshing to have so many apps available on the platform but I still have plenty of things about Android itself that I’m not fond of exactly. I love Windows and Windows Phone and I can only hope that the app gap is closed a bit when it is released later this summer.
We know for sure that Microsoft is heavily focused on their own apps in Windows 10 for the PC, Tablet and Phone and in Android, we get a glimpse of just where they plan on going with their apps on these devices running the new OS. Equally, we know that Microsoft is pushing developers and themselves hard to create universal apps so no matter which device you are using an app on, you get the same look, feel and features across all devices. If you look at the Office suite of apps – Word, Excel and PowerPoint – then look at Outlook on Android, you have a much richer and decidedly more touch friendly experience than you do currently with Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 PCs and tablets.. As for Office on Windows Phone, I’ve said before and I’ll say it again that it is just about useless at this point. Even Microsoft acknowledges it is a frustrating experience.
The future of these apps however looks bright and all you have to do is go look at them on Android.
I am TechMom. I am a mom. Because of technology.
Search and Destroy (the TechMom tots) were born 13 weeks too soon (because who needs a third trimester when you have technology). I did not get to meet my sons the day they were born. A team of doctors immediately surrounded them, gently placing them in computerized incubators. A team of nurses hooked them up to sensors – the critical results to be displayed on the monitors above their isolettes.
It was technology keeping them alive from their first breath of air.
And it was the help of technology that helped drive me forward with a purpose, to share my story and deal with the emotional fall out of prematurity.
About a year ago, I saw the call for submissions to a book on mental illness. I laughed.
Because sometimes they only way to survive is to find the humor of the situation. Or, at the very least, make inappropriate jokes that diffuse the situation in your mind (your mentally misfiring mind, that is).
Over the last few years there has been a push to end the stigma of mental illness. One way to end the stigma is to begin talking openly about mental illness. I couldn’t agree more. (Although I did have second thoughts when I shared my affliction with ABC World News Tonight back in 2012.) Increasingly, I discovered that those conversations occurred with the friends who lived in my computer.
Personally, I’m fighting against depression and anxiety.