Surface

Two unlikely PC makers emerge: Google, Microsoft

Here's a disruptive technology trend: Google and Microsoft as makers of personal computers.

If I had tried to predict in 2010 that these two companies would make branded PCs -- using PC in the generic sense -- I can imagine the response.

"You're an idiot" (and the usual variations I get on that theme) come to mind. But more-thoughtful readers, I'm guessing, would have made the logical argument that Microsoft would piss off its partners and destroy its business model. And Google? Why in the world would Google make a laptop?

Well, it's 2013 … Read more

Microsoft lands design patents for Surface cover keyboard

While Microsoft's Surface tablets may not be exactly clicking with consumers, some of its design elements have won the blessing of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The USPTO granted a trio of patents today for the touch/type cover keyboard design on Redmond's tablet, including its "ornamental design for an electronic tablet with input device coupling," as Microsoft described the construct in its patent application abstracts. Apparently thinking it was onto something big, Microsoft applied for patents covering its tablet's keyboard design last May, roughly a month before the mystery event that turned … Read more

Leaked benchmarks portend shift in Windows 8 'PC' design

The first benchmarks of Intel's upcoming "Haswell" Fourth-Generation Core processors have leaked. But asking how fast future Windows 8 PCs will be is probably the wrong question.

The Haswell chip that Tom's Hardware got a hold of and tested showed only modest central processing unit, or CPU, performance improvements over the latest hardware.

This would seem to indicate the future of Windows PCs -- which in this case means newfangled devices like Microsoft Surface and HP's Envy x2 -- isn't about the desktop anymore.

"The mobile space is where Intel's efforts should … Read more

Internet Explorer 10

Review: The story of Internet Explorer resembles nothing less than the "Ugly Duckling," a maligned and mocked bird that grew into something far more beautiful. Such is the case with Internet Explorer 10 and its roots as Internet Explorer 6.

Microsoft has improved its signature browser in fits and spurts coinciding often with major Windows upgrades over the past 10 years, but IE 10 is the winner that Microsoft fans have long been craving. Fast, standards-compliant, and even future-forward in some ways, Microsoft got it right with IE 10. Still, it has some drawbacks that keep it from … Read more

Nvidia CEO says Windows RT is disappointing

Windows RT has turned out to be pretty "disappointing" so far, the chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia said today.

Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking during a meeting with analysts at Nvidia's conference for developers, noted that devices using the software -- such as Microsoft's Surface RT and Asus Vivo Tab RT -- aren't selling very well.

"Windows RT is disappointing to us because we expected to have sold more than we did," Huang said. "Everybody expected to have sold more than we did."

He said the next question is: How important is Windows … Read more

Microsoft's first PC lives!

Microsoft's first PC, the Surface Pro, has survived Round One.

A report this week said 400,000 Surface Pros were sold in about a month since its release. That's a decent start (contrary to the media's take).

Remember, this is an $899-$999 tablet (though I prefer to describe it as a full-blown Windows PC compacted and stuffed into a tablet's chassis), not a $199 Nexus 7 or $329 iPad Mini.

Also remember this is just the start. The Pro should evolve to the point where you can have a 1.5 or 2 pound tablet … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro sales hit 400K in a hurry

Microsoft has sold 400,000 Surface Pros since launch, according to a Bloomberg report.

That's not a bad start for a very pricey tablet -- starting at $899 -- considering that the Windows 8-based Pro launched only about a month ago.

"That's a respectable number and it leads me to believe that Surface Pro will end up outselling Surface RT," Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC, said in a phone interview.

O'Donnell is referring to the RT version of Surface, which is less expensive, starting at $499, but it is not compatible with older … Read more

The killer iOS 7 feature the iPad needs: Touch-pad support

It took using the Microsoft Surface Pro to make me remember an article I wrote a year ago, about productivity on an iPad.

I love using the iPad. I also love some of its keyboard accessories. As a product, it's superior to a Surface Pro. But that doesn't mean it's the perfect laptop replacement. And that's still, in my opinion, largely because of one little touch pad. Or, a lack of it.

The iPad never claimed it was a laptop replacement. It stands in its own, hard-to-define "post-PC" territory. Yet, accessories have sprung up … Read more

Windows 8 failing to stem post-PC tide, analyst says

Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund, one of the longest tenured and most respected Microsoft watchers on Wall Street, believes Windows 8 has failed to slow the post-PC era march, where consumers opt for smartphones and tablets ahead of personal computers.

"The tide continues to go out on PC sales as consumers and emerging market users prefer tablets and smartphones to Windows based PCs," Sherlund wrote in a research note sent to investors this morning. "Windows 8 has failed to ebb the receding tide."

Microsoft investors had hoped that Windows 8, which launched last October, would give … Read more