Microsoft Support & Discussions

Microsoft will enable developers to do some amazing things in 2015. Our shift to a mobile-first, cloud-first company is in full swing. You can already see a new developer opportunity emerging from the changes we’ve announced for Windows, Azure and our developer tools, including Open sourcing .NET to make our tools more powerful in today’s heterogeneous ecosystem. And that’s just the beginning. I know that many of you are eager to find out what else we have in store, so I am pleased to announce that we will open registration for our 2015 Build developer conference at 9:00 a.m. PT on Jan. 22. As we shared previously, this year’s Build takes place April 29-May 1 in San Fr…

Lots of people — about half the folks walking in to Apple retail stores, according to Apple's own estimates — are getting Macs for the first time. Some are switching from Windows PCs, others have been drawn in by their iPhone or iPad. Either way, If you're buying your first Mac, you probably have lots of questions you want answered before dropping a significant sum. We're here to help. Even if you have a lot of experience buying Macs, you can save this link to quickly pass on to friends, colleagues, and family members. The Apple Store If you live near an Apple Retail Store, that'd probably be your first choice, and it's not hard to understand why. The stores look …

A two-developer team in France wanted to get their "Je suis Charlie" app — a way to demonstrate solidarity with those affected by the attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last week — approved in a hurry. So, they wrote to Apple's CEO, Tim Cook and asked for his help. The result? According to iPhon.fr [translated from French]: While it usually takes more than 10 days to get an app approved on the App Store, they wrote directly to Tim Cook on Friday night to make him part of the idea. It took 10 minutes to get a response from one on of his assistants, who said that they could get approval in 1 hour, on the condition that they become associated with a pre…

This iPhone 6 Plus hybrid case can absorb serious impacts thanks to its dual-layer design that combines a shock absorbing silicone bumper and a strong transparent, textured exterior plastic shell. The back shell is completely textured to provide you with additional grip, too! Yours today for only $17.95 Continue reading...

Announced today in Detroit, Chevrolet's 2016 Volt hybrid car will come with CarPlay integration out of the gate. The vehicle will support Apple's automotive integration along with alternative car connection option MirrorLink, according to The Verge: The 2016 Volt on the stand at Detroit's North American International Auto Show this week has an in-car entertainment system that includes support for both CarPlay and MirrorLink; both systems appear as options in the vehicle's Settings menu. CarPlay allows iPhone owners to connect their device to their vehicle, displaying apps on the dashboard head unit so that you can use certain apps, such as music apps of navigat…

By default, OS X Yosemite's Mail app won't "load remote content" such as the types of images typically requested by marketing emails and spam. You can change that in preferences if you really want to see remote images in your emails — such as the products being advertised by Apple, Best Buy, or other retailers in their mailings — but if you accidentally or deliberately click on spam, those images will load too. Even with "load remote content" left off, however, if any such marketing or spam email shows up as a Spotlight search result, Heisse reports that such remote content will load. So, what's going on and what can you do about it? ITWorld translates: The potentia…

Today, as part of Update Tuesday, we released eight security updates– one rated Critical and seven rated Important in severity, to address eight unique Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) in Microsoft Windows. We encourage you to apply all of these updates. For more information about this month’s security updates, including the detailed view of the Exploit Index (XI) broken down by each CVE, visit the Microsoft Bulletin Summary webpage.

Since launching the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in India in the month of October, Apple has reportedly sold half a million units in the country. That number is double what the Cupertino giant achieved during the same period in 2013. To consolidate its efforts in the country, Apple has introduced a new trade advisory that halves credit period given to retailers (from fourteen days to seven) as well as lowering sales margins by 0.5 to 1 percent. The Economic Times states that Apple will be able to incentivise customer financing schemes more easily by ushering in the changes. "Apple and its distributors have informed the trade that improvements in cash flow by cutt…

I remember visiting my father at IBM and watching the massive doors open so they could wheel out the tray of punchcards. I remember going shopping for an Apple II Plus and staring at the glowing green letters across its monochrome display. I remember visiting my father at LGS, and grabbing the mouse on the LISA sitting on the desk next to his, and dragging everything I could into the pictorial representation of a trash can. I remember picking up the iPhone, tapping the Photos icon, and swiping and pinching my through images as though they were real objects beneath my fingers. I remember holding down the Home button and telling Siri to play my music, and smiling a moment l…

We might not have gotten to quite yet, but the state-of-the-art of personal transportation tech at CES 2015 was still terrific. From rocket skates to gryo-boards to eco-scooters Serenity, Georgia, Anthony and I hit Pepcom, Showstoppers, the CESlive stage, and the Sands to check out the most interesting, exciting, and energizing personal transportation coming our way! Continue reading...

Apple Retail often puts up clever, imaginative displays to show off their products, and this "animagic" iPad display is one of the cleverest and most imaginative yet. It features five iPad Air 2 tablets, each with a distinctively colored Smart Cover — blue, green, pink, red, and yellow — that open and close all on their own. The mystery of how their do it is intriguing, as are the glimpses of apps shown running when they do. They highlight all the creativity that's available to you at the touch of a finger. Next time you're at Apple Retail, check them out. And if you have any ideas on how Apple is doing it — no wires or moving magnets were easily visible — let me know!…

This iPhone 5 skin case is made from a stretchable TPU that features argyle patterns on a glossy exterior and openings for the display, camera, speakers and charging port. Available in smoke, blue and pink, choose the color that suits you and save 74% today [/url] Continue reading...

Hello, I can use some help with a few networking questions please. I have verizon FIOS, there a is huge box on the wall [i am guessing that is my "modem"?] and a router is connected to that big box. I had thought the Default Gateway is the Modem's address but now I am thinking the Default gateway's address is the router's ip address? If this is correct then does this mean the modem will have an ip address of it's own? if yes, how do I ping the modem to find it's ip address please?

Write it. Rewrite it. Write it. Erase it. Cut it. Paste it. Trash-it-trash-it-trash-it. I’m supposed to be writing about Rudy Huyn. Instead, I’m composing my own house music about the writing process with iDaft, an app he created for Windows Phone using beats from French band Daft Punk’s song “Technologic.” My next song is more provocative. Touch it. Watch it. Touch it. Watch it. Touch it. Watch it. Fax. Fax. Fax. Huyn’s approach to developing Windows Phone applications is simple: “I just create apps I like and want to use,” he told me. The 31-year-old French developer is responsible for bringing third-party versions of popular apps like Instagram, Vine …

Verifone, the company behind payment terminals found in millions of stores, has announced a new mobile point of sale (mPOS), the PAYware Mobile e355. Designed to help companies deploy mobile devices in their stores, the PAYware Mobile is meant to outlast current phones and tablets, adaptable to changes in form factor. It accepts multiple payment types, including magnetic stripe, EMV, and NFC payments such as Apple Pay. From Business Wire: The PAYware Mobile e355, the newest mPOS terminal in the Verifone Mobile suite of products, frees merchants from consumer technology upgrade cycles and adapts to multiple OS options. It is a flexible, long-lasting device that …

Apple has launched a new section of its App Store called Games for Kids, with a selection of iOS games that are made with a child audience in mind Some of the apps that are listed in the Games for Kids store include LEGO Ninjago Rebooted, Club Penguin, Thomas and Friends: Lift & Haul, Slides & Ladders and Little Things Forever. It would appear that Apple is trying to offer a one-stop shop for kid-friendly apps as a quick way for parents to check them out and see if they are appropriate for their children. Source: App Store (Twitter) Continue reading...

In December, it was announced that the acclaimed TV crime drama Sons of Anarchy would be adapted into a upcoming game for mobile devices called Sons of Anarchy: The Prospect. Now the first trailer showing gameplay footage has been released, and it looks like it will contain some scenes of first person smoking. That sequence is perhaps the oddest thing about the brief trailer, which also shows some first person shooting and motorcycle riding in a cel-shaded art style. The game's developer Orpheous Interactive hasn't offer much in the way of details, saying only that the episodic game will give "fans a chance to experience the treachery, graphic action, intrigue and li…

NSFW is a weekly op-ed column in which I talk about whatever's on my mind. Sometimes it'll have something to do with the technology we cover here on iMore; sometimes it'll be whatever pops into my head. Your questions, comments and observations are welcome. Time flies. This past week (Friday, more specifically) marked the eighth anniversary of the iPhone, which Steve Jobs unveiled during a Macworld Expo keynote in San Francisco. It's hard to imagine a time before the iPhone and iOS, but it really wasn't that long ago. I wasn't there to see it firsthand, but I did play a part in Macworld's coverage of the event, as Jason Snell graciously reminded me in a recent pos…

Beamdog, the development team behind the popular enhanced versions of the classic role playing games Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 for Mac and the iPad, have announced plans to release an all new Baldur's Gate game sometime in 2015. Its storyline will be set in between the events of the first two games and will use the Infinity Engine that was also used for those titles. Other than that, Beamdog has revealed little about what they have planned for this new Baldur's Gate game, but they did say that more information will be revealed in the spring of 2015. It added, "We have an exciting release planned for this game, something bigger than we've ever done before." The blog post …

The Amzer skin case is made out of 100% premium silicone and is a great, lightweight option for protecting your iPhone 6 Plus. The smooth silicone gives you a sure and lasting grip on your device and minimizes slides on flat surfaces. Comes in black, blue, green, pink and white. Continue reading...

Late last year, the FTC filed a lawsuit against AT&T, stating that the carrier was throttling data for users on unlimited plans, a practice that has allegedly been going on since 2011. AT&T is now looking to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit by invoking the Tier II "common carrier" clause, which exempts the carrier from FTC's jurisdiction and places it under the purview of the FCC. Here's what AT&T states: AT&T plainly qualifies as a 'common carrier' for purposes of Section 5 because it provides mobile voice services subject to common-carrier regulation under Title II of the Communications Act. The fact that AT&T's mobile data services ar…

CarPlay is Apple's way to bring your iPhone experience into any car you own, lease, rent, or borrow. As long as the manufacturer supports it — or you install it after-market — you never have to worry about learning a new "infotainment" system again, nor being stuck with one locked forever to your purchase day. Simply get in, connect, and your latest iPhone hardware and up-to-date iOS software take over the screen and give you the interface you already know so you can use all the apps you already love — all with the date and content you already have. While CarPlay will look and work similarly from vendor to vendor for just that reason, there are also a few differences. Geo…

Apple's HomeKit has been announced and while a few vendors are doing some amazing Siri-powered things with it, not everyone has been as quick to embrace it. Some are playing coy, others are marching to the beat of their own standards and agendas, and yet others claim to waiting to see more from Apple. Yet HomeKit or not, home automation is while hot and everything and anything that can have a chip is getting a chip. That might mean there's not enough stuff that all works together yet, and too many apps needed to control it all, but that's change with time. Just take a look at what Anthony and Georgia were able to find at CES 2015 and it's not hard to imagine what's coming…