Microsoft Support & Discussions

Apple has released iOS 8.0.2, the rapid update to 8.0.1, itself a quick update to iOS 8, which shipped last week in advance of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6. While the full binary download for iOS 8.0.1 seems to have been fine, the incremental update file served to the new phones cause some problems, namely loss of Touch ID and cellular service. But that was then and this is now. Many people, myself included, have now updated to iOS 8.0.2 and everything seems to be running smoothly, at least for me. If you've updated to iOS 8..2, let me know — what device are you on and how's it working for you? Continue reading...

Apple is aware of the recently discovered bash exploit nicknamed Shellshock, and is working quickly to provide a software update for OS X, the operating system that runs on the Mac. The vast majority of OS X users are not at risk to recently reported bash vulnerabilities," an Apple spokesperson told iMore. "Bash, a UNIX command shell and language included in OS X, has a weakness that could allow unauthorized users to remotely gain control of vulnerable systems. With OS X, systems are safe by default and not exposed to remote exploits of bash unless users configure advanced UNIX services. We are working to quickly provide a software update for our advanced UNIX users…

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are brand new takes on Apple's iconic design. They're bigger, thinner, and their edges are rounded. The camera rises now from the casing even as the screen glides seamlessly into the edge. And the screens have gone from Retina to Retina HD to even denser Retina HD. Combined, how much of a difference does all this make? To find out I grabbed a Canon 5D Mark III and an EF 100mm F2.8 L IS USM Macro lens, and I shot the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6 alongside last year's iPhone 5s at every angle. Enjoy! Above you can see the new iSight camera and updated, rounder, TrueTone LED flash. Below, the FaceTime HD camera, earpiece, and proximity sensor,…

Apple has released iOS 8.0.2. It's available now via Settings > General > Update or over Lightning to USB tether to iTunes on your Mac or PC. This comes just one day after the iOS 8.0.1 update left iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus customers unable to use Touch ID or connect to cellular networks. Apple promised a fix within days and delivered it with a day. Apple also once agains apologized for the bugs: iOS 8.0.2 is now available for users. it fixes an issue that affected iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who downloaded iOS 8.0.1 and includes improvements and bug fixes originally in iOS 8.0.1. We apologize for inconveniencing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who …

It's been a while since much has been said about the Crypto Locker virus and there have been some breakthroughs with regards to being able to recover some of the files encrypted but if anything the danger is not only still there, it may well be greater than anyone realizes. The breakthroughs occurred only because of some great detective work and access to one of the encrypting servers, not because of any technical break through and none of what we now know applies to the copy cats or further advances ion the concept. Let me share with you a recent write-up from Ken Dwight, the Virus Doctor reprinted from his blog with his permission. CryptoLocker Update Submitted by…

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are hitting store shelves in over 20 more countries as the calendar ticks over to September 26th in the respective regions. Folks in New Zealand and East Asia can now get their hands on the latest devices — on account of time zones, it's the next day there already — and those in many European countries will have their shot here soon as well. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will roll out worldwide to more than 20 additional countries on September 26, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland…

Camera+, one of the most popular photography apps on the iPhone, has been update to version 6.0. It's iOS 8-only now, meaning it won't work with prior versions of iOS, but it does add manual camera controls and photo extensions, two of the most anticipated new features, and better macro photography as well. So exactly what controls did we add that utilize these magical, mystical wheels? You're now able to manually adjust focus and exposure to get exactly the shot you desire. Manual focus is very straightforward… easily go from the closest of closeup to the widest of wide angle with a simple flick of the focus wheel. Manual exposure gives you a much wider range…

Apple opened up their testing facilities today to show the world how they put the iPhone 6 Plus through more than its paces long before releasing it to the public. Tests during the development cycle include 3-point bending, pressure point cycling, sit, torsion, and real-life user studies. Here's what the tests involve, according to the Wall Street Journal: Three-point bending: Apple's tests place pressure on iPhones in varying degrees to make sure they can handle "reasonable" force in various situations. Pressure-point cycling: The pressure-point cycling tests place "substantial" force across an iPhone's display and encasing, while it is held along its edges,…

Every day dozens and dozens of new and updated apps and games hit the iOS and Mac App Stores. It's impossible to keep up with them all, but it's not impossible to pick out the very best. Here they are! Today we've got hot new games, a cool photography app, and a new printing project app for the Mac! New and updated iOS apps Anomaly Defenders: The final installment of the Anomaly series. Defend your alien homeworld from a human invasion. You are the aliens' last hope against destruction! $4.99 - Download now Cosmophony: A musical shooter. Control the heart of a fallen goddess within a dying universe. Drum and bass soundtrack. $2.99 - Buy now Interste…

FBI Director James Comey expresses deep concern about the new encryption technologies that Apple had built into the release of iOS 8 and Google will implement with the forthcoming launch of Android L. These new encryption methods are designed to keep data safe and for tech companies to avoid the uncomfortable position of being compelled to hand over private personal data to law enforcement officials. However, Comey says that this move could thwart the fight and prevention of crime. While many could be sympathetic to Comey's pleas that in certain situations, a greater good could occur if law enforcement officials could compel Apple and Google to decypt your iPhone or …

The rain has returned to Seattle, but it didn’t dampen the news this week. Read on to see how Microsoft is helping to evolve business — and the digital dance party. No more huddling around the small screen to share photos! Microsoft introduced its Wireless Display Adapter this week, which connects to an HDTV, monitor or projector, so you can share content from PCs and tablets running Windows 8.1. What is 4-foot square and powered by four Kinects and five computers? The Microsoft Cube, which made its debut with a one-of-a-kind digital dance party at Seattle’s Decibel Festival this week. Perhaps the only thing better than a giant, interactive art installation…

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are a lot bigger than what many iPhone owners are used to. A big concern for many is one-handed use, particularly with the iPhone 6 Plus. This is why Apple created a new feature called Reachability, which while it may not be a solution for everyone, it does make one-handed use a little less painful. What is Reachability? Reachability is available to you no matter what app you're in or what you're doing on your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. It is meant to help you reach buttons and objects on the screen that may be too far for your thumb to reach otherwise. For many folks, this will be top navigation buttons while using the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus o…

The most awesomely epic Angry Birds variant is on the way and will be arriving on iOS October 15th and Android on October 30th. Today we get a look at the official gameplay trailer for Angry Birds Transformers — a side-scrolling, run-and-gun style game that pits you again towers of nasty pigs, only this time you get way more firepower than just a simple slingshot. Soft-launching today in New Zealand and Finland, Angry Birds Transformers is headed to Canada and Australia as well before the official launch next month. If you're a fan of Transformers (or even if you're not) this looks to be one of the best yet in the Angry Birds series. Check out the full gameplay tr…

Anomaly Defenders is now available for iPhone and iPad. Defenders is the final installment of the Anomaly series, and puts you in control of the alien Hive, fighting off a human invasion of their homeworld. While the previous Anomaly games have reversed the traditional format of the tower defense genre, with you trying to move through alien zones, Defenders sees you in a protective role. You'll have control over eight types of towers, each with three possible upgrade paths. You can unlock up to six new tower functions. Deploying your towers strategically will force the human invaders to adapt their tactics, changing the flow of combat. There are twenty-four levels to…

Adobe is now selling the latest versions of two of its long running software programs, Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13, for the Mac as both separate products as well as in a bundle with both applications. Here's a quick breakdown of the new features in Photoshop Elements 13 Better Photo Mashups – Copying people or objects from one photo to another is a consumer favourite, and as easy as copy and paste with new Photomerge Compose. Used in conjunction with the new Refine Selection Brush for precise selections and Adobe's Match Colour Tone that automatically blends lighting and shading, the final photo will look as if it had been taken that way. Stan…

Netmarble is South Korea's largest mobile game publisher, but they've never had much of a US presence – until now. The newly-formed Netmarble US has just released its first game: Animals vs. Mutants. It's available for free on both Android and iOS. Sure, Animals vs. Mutants is a different name for a game. But not that long ago, you'd have said the same about Plants vs. Zombies. The concept is sound – an evil scientist has started experimenting on woodland critters, turning them into malicious mutants. Only the player can rescue the remaining animals, by fighting it out on foot and summoning animal helpers to aid in the battle. Battles in Animals vs. Mutants wo…

If you have more than one connected device in your home, chances are you'll also have more than one app to control said devices. As you add more toys, you also get bogged down with more apps, more hubs, and an all around bigger mess. That's where Revolv comes in. The $299 Revolv hub sets out to automate all of your connected devices — from lights to door locks to home audio — all from one streamlined app. It's great if you're already loaded up with a bunch of connected devices, but if you only have a few, you may not even need it. Lets jump in and see what makes Revolv tick. The red Revolv hub bears a striking resemblance to a CD spindle (for anyone that is old enoug…

Fantastical 2 is a beautiful calendar app for iPhone and iPad, which has just received quite the update. Since Apple has released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, it makes sense for apps to be refreshed with support for the larger displays. This is exactly what version 2.1.3 of Fantastical brings. As well as the native iPhone 6 support, the latest release of Fantastical also bundles the following: Fixed an issue when editing invitees from existing events Fixed a hang when creating reminders with a geofence Various fixes and improvements Fantastical 2 is a sweet solution for those who desire something more from their calendar experience. Give it a download a…

iOS 8.0.2 will be arriving in the next few days and it'll fix the iOS 8.0.1 bugs bugs that caused loss of Touch ID and cellular service on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. That's according to a knowledge base article just now posted on Apple.com: We are also preparing iOS 8.0.2 with a fix for the issue, and will release it as soon as it's ready in the next few days. Apple also details steps that can be taken right now for anyone affected by a bad iOS 8.0.1 install. (Reassuringly for us, they appear virtually identical to the steps we posted earlier today.) The Health app won't work following reversion to iOS 8.0.0, but that too will be fixed by iOS 8.0.2 in t…

A teardown of the Apple A8 processor inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus reveals that Apple has indeed moved away from Samsung, fabbing their second-generation 64-bit system-on-a-chip on TMC's new 20nm process. That's what lets them get 2 billion transistors onto a package 15% smaller than the one that came before. They've also gone with a PowerVR GX6450 GPU and crammed 4 MB of L3 cache inside the application processor. All this, and more, according to Chipworks and expanded upon by AnandTech: Overall, Chipworks' analysis points to A8 being fabbed on TSMC's 20nm process. This makes A8 among the first SoCs to receive the 20nm treatment. Thanks to this smaller node …

If you're down about today's iOS 8.0.1 software mishap, you're not alone. So, to all the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus -wielding souls who are feeling sad and down, Jonathan Mann has a song to try to console you. While Mann pokes fun at the woes brought by the update, his song is about consoling users and those who had worked on the iOS 8.0.1 at Apple. Mann's musical follows an earlier one that comically summarizes Apple's woes with announcing the Apple Watch. And, of course, Mann's video about the iPhone 4 antenna was famously played by Steve Jobs before his press conference. So, if you're one of those "having a bad day," as Mann puts it, be sure to check out our gu…

Sky has today announced that Apple TV owners in the UK will be able to enjoy more live and on demand content from the broadcaster through the Sky NOW TV app. Two new passes are available: NOW TV Entertainment and Sky Movies. The former will set owners back by £4.99 a month (rising to £6.99 on October 16), while the latter goes for £8.99 a month (again, rising on October 16 to £9.99). Previously, only Sky Sports was available, which sells for £6.99 a month. It's a smart move by Sky to take full advantage of just how popular Apple is (just take a look at the recent iPhone 6 launch) and have its full offering available on Apple TV. Check the press release for more detai…

Amazon has finally brought across its Kindle Unlimited service to the UK, which launched in the US back in July. The service offers consumers unlimited e-book enjoyment for £7.99 a month, granting access to over 650,000 digital books, as well as thousands of audiobooks from Audible. The online retailer will have Kindle Unlimited logos on eligible titles, which can be read for free by those with an active subscription. Popular titles like the Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings and others are available with Kindle Unlimited. It's a neat concept and one we can see many utilizing. The best part is Kindle Unlimited can be deployed on all supported hardware. Check out Ki…