Above: Microsoft's operating systems head, Terry Myerson

Image Credit: Microsoft

With Windows 10, it’s almost as if Microsoft so desperately wanted to distance itself from Windows 8 that it skipped an entire version number.

Perhaps that’s being too harsh. Microsoft likely has some legitimate reasons for leaping past Windows 9 entirely — though it failed to really make the case during Windows 10’s announcement today.

But more surprising than Windows 10’s name is the fact that so much of what’s new in the OS is meant to appease users dissatisfied with Windows 8’s touchscreen focus. Microsoft’s new product is aimed at the keyboard and mouse crew. However, it isn’t forgetting about some of the progress it made with Windows 8.

The Start Menu is back!

Since Windows 95, Microsoft has trained Windows users to head to the Start Menu button on the bottom-left of their screen. But in Windows 8, Microsoft changed the Windows experience entirely by replacing the Start Menu with the Start Screen, a full-screen launcher with Live Tiles (carried over from Windows Phone).

Above: The Windows 10 Start Menu

Image Credit: Microsoft

While the Start Screen was ideal for touchscreens, it was more difficult to navigate for users with keyboards and mice. You had to mouse to different corners of the screen to bring up options and to reach the Start Screen, which just felt unnecessarily complicated. Microsoft ended up adding a Start button in the Windows 8.1, but that just sent you right back to the Start Screen.

After countless user complaints, it’s not a huge surprise to see Microsoft resurrect the Start Menu in Windows 10. It’s also integrated with Live Tiles, so it looks like a weird hybrid of the Windows 8 Start Screen and the traditional Start Menu from Windows 7.

A new “Continuum” feature will also switch up the Start button functionality depending on if you’re using your computer with a tablet or with a keyboard and mouse. It’s primarily meant for devices like the Surface and Lenovo’s Yoga line, which can be used as both laptops and tablets. Once you enable tablet mode, the Start button will send you to a screen with bigger buttons, similar to the Windows 8 Start Screen.

Above: A Windows 10 Metro app running in an actual window!

Image Credit: Microsoft

Windows 8 (Metro) apps can now run in Windows

Oh sweet irony — Microsoft is finally getting around to putting its Windows 8 “Metro” apps in actual windows. Previously, Windows 8 apps ran in a full screen mode, or you could devote slices of your screen to those apps.

Microsoft’s approach to Windows 8 apps felt more like an attempt to recreate iOS’s fullscreen app approach, rather than evolving the interface its customers are familiar with. Microsoft also made it difficult to use Windows 8 apps alongside traditional desktop Windows apps.

With Windows 10, you’ll be able to organize those fancy new apps just like any other Windows software. They’ll have title bars, and you’re free to resize them as much as you’d like. Finally, it will make sense for keyboard and mouse users to actually run Metro apps.

Windows 10 is made for multitaskers

There was a lot of talk about “experienced” Windows users during today’s unveiling, whereas I can’t remember Microsoft ever mentioning its fans when discussing Windows 8. Several features throughout Windows 10 are entirely devoted to more hardcore users: A new “task view” will let you set up different desktops for different uses (for example, you may use a different setup at home than you do at school or work); the Start Menu’s search bar is more powerful, with integrated web searching; and even the lowly command line gets a few upgrades (you can finally copy and paste directories using the CTRL + V command!).

I know plenty of Windows users who stuck with Windows 7 because it fit their workflow best. They didn’t need the Start Screen or any of the new features in Windows 8. Windows 10 seems expressly built for them.

Above: Multiple desktops in Windows 10

Image Credit: Microsoft

The desktop is once again the focus of Windows

This is perhaps the biggest takeaway from what we’ve seen of Windows 10 so far: Your core environment is once again the desktop — not the Start Screen or some fullscreen app. While Windows 8 made the desktop feel like a ghetto for all those ugly, ancient, non-touchscreen Windows programs, Windows 10 seems to embrace the desktop entirely.

As someone who’s used Windows for most of my computing life, and who waited a year before upgrading to Windows 8, I’m glad Microsoft is once again embracing something familiar. I gave the company a lot of credit for the risks it took with Windows 8, but ultimately that was a release that promised more than it could deliver.

Microsoft cares what you think!

For once, Microsoft is actually listening to its fans. Tomorrow it’s kicking off the Windows Insider Program, which will give you access to a preview build of Windows 10. You’ll also be able to send feedback about your experiences. It’s not clear how Microsoft is going to manage all of this information, but it’s at the least a nice gesture for Windows users who felt let down by Windows 8.

Microsoft Corporation is a public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through ... read more »

وفرت شركة الاتصالات السعودية خدمة الإنترنت اللاسلكي المجاني (STC Wi-Fi) لموسم حج هذا العام لتصل إلى أكثر من 400 موقع في منطقة المشاعر المقدسة.

وعملت الشركة على تغطية جميع المواقع التي تشهد كثافة عددية داخل المشاعر من خلال استخدام أجهزة الإنترنت اللاسلكي.

وتمكن خدمة الإنترنت اللاسلكي (STC- Wi-Fi) ضيوف الرحمن من تصفح الإنترنت مجانا في العديد من الأماكن العامة بالمشاعر المقدسة عبر الأجهزة الذكية، والبقاء على اتصال دائم بالإنترنت في الأوقات كافة.

وتعمل الاتصالات السعودية على مضاعفة وتوسيع نطاق التغطية باستهداف المزيد من الأماكن العامة مع التركيز على المواقع التي تشهد تواجدا كثيفا للحجاج.

محمد جمعة جبالي – مكة – سكاي نيوز عربية

The sad thoughts of sad dogs.

ZeFrank

“I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
‘This could be Heaven or this could be Hell’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say…”

Welcome to Dota 2, the Hotel California of online gaming. Late last December, I was naïve enough to dip a toe in its beguiling waters and today, 1,399 hours of gameplay later, I return as a semi-functional human to regale you with tales from its realm.

Continue reading…

How much is this? This is not much. 

But it's more of the new Simogo game, so we're into it. Today the Device 6 and Year Walk devs published a blog post that essentially says, "We've been quiet for awhile; the reason for this is that we've chosen to be quiet." It is not, in short, illuminating. However, they also dropped this teaser for The Sailor's Dream, which consists of a gruff male voice, pining for a lost "she," and a brief warble of romantic music. This appears to be a love story, in other words. If it's told with anything like the delicateness and nuance of their previous work, it could be mighty powerful.

They do note that they're "very far along with the project"—to the point of "polishing, testing and squashing bugs!" (emphasis theirs). 

The smell of upcoming oil money does attract them.

Yes, she did this to me. No, she didn’t actually use the Mario music, but she did use Mario. No spaghetti with hotdog pieces or pink milk. She does other stuff. And she is pretty hot. I’m in hell!

“Don’t stop!”

hahahaha

I’ve resisted these sirens before, and I will do so again.

Apple iPhone releases have been known to make people do crazy things. Whether it’s dressing as a blue slime and sleeping on the street for days or using your nipple to unlock your phone, there’s a sense of excitement and ceremony surrounding each new model that makes us want to push the boundaries and just have fun.

The latest release on the weekend was no different, and in our excitement to test out the much-anticipated ‘Digital Image Stabilisation’ (DIS) on the iPhone 6, it seemed entirely sensible to line up two different models side-by-side and give them both a good shake. And how better to do that than by strapping them onto a vibrator?

Looking at the photo below, you can see there’s quite a size difference between the two models we’re using – the dark one on the left is the iPhone 5, and the considerably larger one on the right is the new iPhone 6 Plus. Outdoing them all in the size department is the giant dome-topped vibrator with variable speed control.

 ▼ Moshi moshi! It’s your booty call.

What we’re keen to test out is the new ‘Digital Image Stabilisation’ (DIS) technology, which is said to halve autofocus and facial recognition times while also bringing continuous autofocus to the video. First we test it out under regular hand-holding conditions and the difference is remarkable.

▼ Impressed with the clearer image from the video on the iPhone 6, we decide to turn the vibrator on to the lowest level.

▼ A strange thing happens at the low speed of 5,500 RPM. The iPhone 5 image on the right begins to look clearer.

▼ Under “super-shake” conditions, at the top speed of 6,500 RPM, the iPhone 6 image is an absolute blur.

▼  High mode on! We know that’s excessive for shooting 1080p HD video at 60fps, but we like to push the limits.

To see all the steps of our experiment in detail, check out the video below. While we were surprised by the results, we were also relieved to have a Japanese vibrator on hand for the video. After all, Western vibrators look a little different to the domed ones in Japan. And nobody wants to see that strapped onto an iPhone. Or do they?

Photos: RocketNews24

• “But we’re speaking Japanese!”: Humorous video confronts lingering stereotypes in Japan
• We’re going bananas over these amazing Attack on Titan…bananas!【Photos】
• We’re going to E3! What do you want to see?
• Limited edition triple-size Lotte pie snack is so popular, we’re unable to get our hands on them!
• What Happened With These DVD Packages? They Don’t Look Anything Like the Anime We’re Familiar With!

Origin: We road test the new Digital Image Stabilisation on the iPhone 6 – with a vibrator
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

On Sept. 19, Apple’s iPhone 6 finally hit stores around the world. People have been lining up since last week in some cities waiting for the big day. This tweet from Walt Piecyk at BTIG tells you a lot: “Streets are a mess in $AAPL line including bags of feces. Security presence is higher.”

Even better than a tweet? Photos. Here’s a look at the insanely long lines from around the world.

Dozens upon dozens of people waiting in line in Berlin to get the iPhone 6.

Associated Press/Michael Sohn

People in Berlin expected to wait for a long time, so they brought chairs.

Associated Press/Michael Sohn

The line starts moving in Berlin.

Getty Images/ Sean Gallup

The Apple Store in London attracted a large crowd, too.

Associated Press/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Those in London who reserved an iPhone ahead of time waiting in a separate line.

Getty Images/ Ben A. Pruchnie

Crowds line the streets in Sydney, Australia.

Getty Images/Cole Bennetts

Lines wrapped around the block in Sydney.

Getty Images/ Cole Bennetts

Here’s what Toronto’s Eaton Centre looked like this morning.

Twitter/ Kristina Parts

At the Eaton Centre, Apple fans lined the mezzanines too.

Twitter/ CTVNews

South Gate Centre in Alberta, Canada was packed.

Twitter/Rob Williams

The Meatpacking District in New York City was packed with Apple fans.

Twitter/Meredith Frost

People lounged with umbrellas outside the flagship Fifth Ave. store in New York City.

Twitter/Pixable

Lines wrapped around the block at this Apple Store in Chicago.

Twitter/ Jim Dallke

A mall in Hong Kong, China was packed.

Getty Images/ Lam Yik Fei

Customers in Hong Kong rushed in as soon as the gates opened.

Getty Images/ Yam Lik Fei

Look at how packed it is in Japan!

Twitter/A&R

iPhone shoppers sat in line waiting for hours in Tokyo.

Getty Images/ Chris McGrath

Some people in Japan had luggage with them. They must have been waiting in line for a while.

Getty Images/Chris McGrath

Apple employees handed out coffee to customers on this line in Japan.

Getty Images/ Chris McGrath

• iPhone 5 Cosplayer Waits in Line All Night at the Apple Store, Doesn’t Buy iPhone 5
• Apple cosplayer beats the rush, lines up for iPhone 6 seven months early
• Apple fans so eager for an iPhone 6 they’re lining up before it’s even announced
• Japanese blogger discovers the real reason people camped out for the iPhone 5S launch
• Thousands Flock to Buy China’s Release of the iPhone4S, Very Few Actually Use Them

Origin: Insane lines for the iPhone 6 from around the world
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

Image Credit: Dick Costolo, Twitter

Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo got some extra special attention last week, after outspoken Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel mocked Twitter as a horribly mismanaged company because, “there’s probably a lot of pot-smoking going on there.”

Thiel’s swipe instantly went viral. The irony is that all the attention about Twitter’s lazy management brought attention to Costolo’s social media feed to see how the insulted CEO would respond. He did make one joke about working his way through a bag of Doritos. But then he went on an unusual tweet storm about his obsession with the fitness craze, Crossfit.

@russlaraway this: W/ a 100lb bar, 21-15-9 of -power cleans -front squats -push press W/ 25 t2b before & after each round. 235 total reps

—
dick costolo (@dickc) September 17, 2014

Crossfit is a rapidly expanding fitness brand that combines body weights, Olympic lifts, and cardio all in one short sprint. It’s become particularly popular among startups and tech companies looking to a build team culture around fitness. For anyone not familiar with the lingo, Costolo’s feed may have seemed like gibberish. Here’s the translation:

With a 100lb olympic barbell, I did three rounds of the Workout of the Day (WOD). The first round was 21 consecutive movements of a power clean, front squat, and overhead push press, or what is lovingly known as a “cluster” (video below). After that, another round of 15 reps, and then a third round of 9 reps.

If this wasn’t hard enough, after each round, the workout added another greweling move, Toes to Bar (T2B), before and after each of the 3 rounds. That’s hanging from a pull bar and touching your toes to the bar 6 times, 25 reps each (picture below).

Even for Crossfit, that’s a pretty tough workout.

To be sure, this wasn’t the upper limit of Costolo’s masochism. For Memorial day, Costolo subjected himself to Murph, one of Crossfit’s most grueling workouts. When I lived in LA, the Santa Monica SWAT team used Murph to weed out new recruits. Murph is:

• 1-mile run
• 100 pullups
• 200 pushups
• 300 air squats
• 1-mile run

The upshot is that there aren’t a lot of smokers among those who can perform Murph and live to tweet about it (I can’t speak to paleo-friendly pot brownies, however).

Aside from the Thiel’s insult, it’s impressive to see the CEO of a public company also have such an intense workout routine. How does your company compare?

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations. At the heart of Twitter ar... read more »

She shames them in such an awesome way.

A video of an anonymous woman riding around a city on a motorbike throwing litter dropped by motorists back into their cars has gone viral.

The accompanying text is in Russian, so presumably the city she's riding around in is located in Russia.

youtube.com

The woman – who is only heard, not seen – captures the litterers in action on her headcam. Her video helpfully circles the moment the litter drops.

youtube.com

The anonymous vigilante then rides up to confront the litterers, who are very disgruntled.

youtube.com

After a bit of back-and-forth shouting, she throws the litter back into the car and on to the driver's lap.

youtube.com

View Entire List ›

só li verdades

If you ran a large and prosperous online payments company, you might feel threatened by Apple’s announcement that they’ will start their own mobile payments service, called Apple Pay. Not PayPal, though. Nope. Paypal isn’t scared. In fact, PayPal has started taunting Apple over security issues, mocking the company over the recent public dump of nude celebrity self-portraits that had been stolen and circulated online.

It is rather odd that two Internet companies are taking out ads in a newspaper, but makes sense when you think about it: nobody looks at online banner ads.

Here’s the full-page color ad, originally put online by PandoDaily:

Of course, Apple wants users to know that its systems weren’t breached during the global selfie crisis: baddies gained access to photos never meant for the public through social engineering, most likely guessing at answers to password reset questions such as the account holder’s birthday or the name of the elementary school they attended. (See, there’s a good reason for entertainers to lie about their ages.) Keeping accounts secure is important, but at the same time no online service wants to be so secure that it’s onerous for users to log in. Eventually, they’ll stop bothering.

PayPal surely won’t be the first competitor to mock Apple. Congress wants to learn more about how the attacks happened, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised that the company will put more safeguards in place to keep strangers from changing your password behind your back.

No online service will ever be immune to human greed or human stupidity. Baddies try to get PayPal customers’ data all of the time.

“We the people want our money safer than our selfies.” PayPal goes after Apple in a full page NYT ad [PandoDaily]

Above: The iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch screen.

Image Credit: Mark Sullivan/VentureBeat

This morning Apple announced it took more than 4 million pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in the 24 hours after they went on sale.

This is a new sales record for the company. By comparison, in 2012 Apple sold 2 million in pre-orders of its iPhone 5 in 24 hours.

Apple is saying the demand for its new phone exceeds pre-order supplies. Though pre-ordered iPhones should start arriving on Friday September 19th, many who pre-ordered won’t receive their new phones until October. However, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will be available for purchase starting on Friday as well.

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last week to a 1,000 person strong crowd. The new phones are larger than their predecessors and have a host of new features including longer battery life, NFC payment technology, an 8 megapixel iSight camera, and a barometer that can discern differences in atmospheric pressure.

By Friday the phones will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will roll out to another 20 countries on September 26th.

Apple designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes t... read more »

(via Reddit)

Microsoft confirmed this morning that it's buying massively popular game Minecraft and the studio behind it, Mojang. The purchase amount is $2.5 billion. Don't panic: Microsoft says it "plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation." Though Microsoft is purchasing the Minecraft intellectual property -- game, licensing, and any other rights involved -- it isn't getting the game's creator, Markus "Notch" Persson. A note from the Mojang team says, "Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don't know what they're planning. It won't be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool" (Carl Manneh is Mojang's CEO and Jakob Porser is a co-founder).

Haven't heard of Minecraft? Frankly, we're impressed. The game's rise from indie darling developed by a single man -- "Notch" -- to multi-billion dollar powerhouse has been meteoric, and highly publicized. Not only did it pioneer a movement in the game industry toward releasing early, unfinished games, but Minecraft became a massive mainstream hit. The game's iconic "Creeper" character is a staple among both gaming's hardcore and casual mobile gamers.

Rumors of an acquisition by Microsoft began last week, with a rumored purchase price of $2 billion. According to those reports, Notch approached Microsoft about a buyout. Mojang's statements today seem to confirm that report. "He's decided that he doesn't want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance," says Mojang's statement on the news. "Over the past few years he's made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang."

Notch's own statements are far more serious. "I don't see myself as a real game developer," his statement leads with. He says that Minecraft became far larger than he ever expected, and that massive entity has become overwhelming for him to deal with. Moreover, he's done with "big" games forever. "As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately," he writes. Addressing the subject of the buyout's price, Notch says, "It's not about the money. It's about my sanity."

As for Microsoft, Xbox lead Phil Spencer is very excited about the deal. "Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world," he said. And for the investors in the crowd, apparently Microsoft isn't too worried about shelling out all that cash. "Microsoft expects the acquisition to be break-even in FY15 on a GAAP basis," the release reads. That's to say Microsoft expects to make back the $2.5 billion it's spending on Minecraft by July 2015. No joke!

The deal isn't finalized just yet, as it has to go through regulatory approval and such. Microsoft's expecting that to happen in "late 2014." The announcement video is below:

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Mojang, Microsoft, Microsoft (2), Notch

Next year the Super Famicom (SNES) will see its 25th birthday. In human years that will amount to 62 which means it’s time for the beloved console to begin taking stock of the days in front of it and make them count.

One Super Famicom in particular could feel the yellowing of its case and decided to scratch one more thing off its bucket list: climb Mt. Fuji. Acquiring the help of a human male, the Super Famicom set off to scale the iconic mountain and document the journey on Japanese textboard 2-channel.

The Super Famicom set off in the afternoon so it could watch the sunrise while at Fuji’s summit. It had packed just enough supplies to keep it going throughout the climb such as the games Bahamut Lagoon and Tenchi Sozo (Terranigma).

It was a perilous trek with dangers like “falling debris” and jagged rocks that one could easily snag their controller cables on. Out of the corner of its eye, the Super Famicom spotted a group of virile current generation consoles climbing wirelessly and swiftly, as if without a care in the world.

This depressed the machine right down to its Ricoh 5A22 processor, so it bought a 600 yen (US$5.60) beer and sat down for a bit. “What am I doing here?” it sullenly thought looking back on its life with its 128kB of RAM.

After some more climbing, night fell. As if by fate, the Super Famicom just happened to climb on the eve of the super moon. Meanwhile below, the city of Gotemba twinkled a welcoming glow through the clouds as if inviting it to turn back.

“No” thought the Super Famicom summoning all 16 of its bits and its Mode7 capability to complete the final leg of the climb. Sure enough they reached the summit before sunrise! The Super Famicom raised its human companion’s arm in victory.

The sunrise was truly beautiful and touched the Famicom right down to its W65c816S core. Unfortunately, it was so mesmerized by the beauty it forgot to take photos. Still the feeling of satisfaction was immense as the console sprawled out its controllers on the mountain’s edge.

It even met a man from another country who recognized the machine despite its different appearances abroad.

With this goal accomplished there was nothing left to do but head back down and get back to its spot on the shelf and plan the next trip. Where to go next? The Grand Canyon? Maybe the Great Wall of China? They recently started letting consoles into the country. “If only I was a GameCube, I could probably be around to go to the moon,” it thought and sighed.

“Naw, this’ll do.”

Source: 2-channel via Hamusuta Sokuho (Japanese)

• Sunrise Over a Sea of Clouds at Nearly 10,000 Feet 【Photo Gallery】
• Relive 16 childhood video games with “NES Remix” on Wii U
• Our Top 3 Meals of Mt. Fuji! (Because It’s Not All About the Climb)
• The top 5 places to see the sun set in Japan
• Ugoita fashions musical umbrellas and game cartridges for your low-fi pleasure

Origin: Super Nintendo climbs Mt. Fuji, brings Japanese guy along for companionship
Copyright© RocketNews24 / SOCIO CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

Destiny has been out in the wild for a few days—and while it's had a mostly smooth launch, some folks have found a few funny glitches.

Take the glitch above, for example. That guardian is having some trouble keeping it together, judging from this footage by XeXSolutions that is appropriately titled "A normal day in Destiny."

Yup. Nothin' wrong there.

Other people are finding that some enemies can get stuck in entertaining loops—if not outright disappearing after acting strangely:

And of course, at least few people have found the traditional/mandatory "fall through the map" glitch in Destiny:

So far, I've seen nothing out of the ordinary while playing Destiny—I don't get the feeling any of these glitches are particularly widespread. Still, I'm curious. Have you found any good glitches while playing the game?

Wes Anderson // Vehicles from Jaume R. Lloret on Vimeo.

(via Coudal)

We agree with The World's Best Ever's statement about Willie Nelson: "Without a doubt, one of the top 3 people we’d want to hang out with on earth."

Above: The iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch screen.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple today released the new iPhone 6, along with the larger iPhone 6 Plus. And after the long, and product-packed, two-hour presentation, I managed to get a good look at both the iPhone 6 and its bigger brother, the iPhone 6 Plus.

I was impressed with both phones, although I still prefer the smaller iPhone 6 with the 4.7 inch screen. Apple managed to hit a sweet spot between the screen size of it’s older phones, and the larger screens that are better suited to video and gaming.

But to each his own. Samsung has proven that there is a strong market for phones that are somewhere in size between the smartphone and a tablet, in other words a “phablet.”

Related: Apple gets even more personal with the Apple Watch (hands-on preview)

I also note that the aesthetics of the new phones’ design also seem to have borrowed some flavor from Samsung. The iPhone 6 still has the pretty brushed metal look, but the flat surfaces on the edges of earlier iPhones have disappeared. They’re rounded, like that of the Samsung Galaxy Note and others.

Beyond all the design issues, I was pleased, as were most analysts, with all the new and upgraded features contained in the new phone. Compared to past releases, the iPhone 6 is a sizable leap forward.

Since we already knew a lot about iOS 8 (it was announced in June) I focused mostly on the hardware. Here’s the walk-through:

Many of the things we predicted would be in the product turned out to be in there: the faster LTE and Wi-Fi radios, A8 chip, new NFC chip, larger and harder screen, better battery life, and improved camera.

The one thing we had hoped for but did not get was wireless charging. That may come in the next release if Apple feels that the technology has matured enough.

Here’s a quick video walk-through of the long-awaited iPhone 6, shot at the Apple event today:

And here’s a clip of the larger iPhone 6 Plus:

We’ll be getting the new iPhone 6 at least by September 19, and we’ll be doing a full review.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, according to "a person with knowledge of the matter", Microsoft is in "serious discussions" to buy Mojang, the studio that made smash hit Minecraft.

The deal is reported to be worth a whopping $2 billion, and "could be signed as early as this week".

We've contacted both Microsoft and Mojang for comment, and will update if we hear back.

It's worth remembering that in June this year, Mojang founder Markus Persson wrote in a blog post:

Mojang does not exist to make as much money as possible for the owners. As the majority shareholder, I'd know. Every time a big money making deal comes up that would make a lot of money, it's of course very tempting, but at the end of the day we choose to do what either makes the most sense for our products, or the things that seem like fun for us at Mojang.

Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Minecraft Maker Mojang [WSJ]

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This sketch suggests the name on your Starbucks cup might be intentionally far from the name you actually gave.

A young Ricky Gervais when he was in the new wave group Seona Dancing in the 80’s.