CES is upon us, and as such there will be many new announcements and new hardware. Windows 8 devices are on deck now, with some great new additions from Panasonic, Lenovo and more. Panasonics Toughbook is great for the manufacturing industry and those that are extremely rough on their devices. Lenovo has their MIX 2 devices (10” & 11”), which look great.

One of my favorites is the Toshiba Tecra W50, with a 4K display. Very nice!

We’ve seen huge growth and momentum in the tablet space over the past year. Partners have launched several small Windows 8.1 Intel-based tablets with great value, power and performance. They are also differentiated from tablets on other platforms by providing the ports users need, support for the broadest range of peripherals like older printers, pen/stylus support that makes note taking easy and Microsoft Office for productivity. Windows tablets also include the unique touch first Internet Explorer browser, Skype and Xbox so people can watch movies, play games and connect with their friends on social media, but also get stuff done on the go with Microsoft Office.

Microsoft has quietly been upgrading the CPU on new Surface 2 Pro devices, including replacements being sent out. The old Intel Core i5-4200U has been replaced with the Core i5-4300U, bring the speed to 1.9 GHz (2.5 GHz Turbo Boost) from 1.6 GHz (1.9 GHz Turbo Boost). This should give the newer units a bit of a performance increase.

Answers Post – http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro2-surfhardware/surface-pro-25-i5-4300u-19-ghz-25-ghz/bb77fa47-1516-4979-ad74-af6b021d6656

In a statement to The Verge, Microsoft has confirmed the change:

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the change in a statement to The Verge. "Microsoft routinely makes small changes to internal components over the lifetime of a product, based on numerous factors including supply chain partnerships, availability, and value for our customers," says a Microsoft spokesperson. "With any change to hardware or software, we work to ensure that the product experience remains excellent."

After E3, with the huge backlash against the Xbox One policies, Microsoft was debating on removing the Blu-ray disc drive and going fully digital. I am unsure why they would even consider that considering the issues people had were because of the focus on the digital media and always on connections (which would be more of an issue with no disc drive).

As much as I was against the idea, I think now would be a great time to start transitioning into a digital distribution system. Give incentives for digital releases – lower prices than physical media, exclusive in game items, maybe an earlier release date (1-2 weeks before physical is released). Get people interested in the new distribution system and show that it is as good as promised. Once you get people hooked, then the next system release could be all digital and people won’t have as much of an issue with it. Very similar to Steam. When it was launched, it was not as popular and had a lot of controversy (similar to the Xbox E3 issues) – what happens when servers are down? Offline mode? Do you really ‘own’ the games? Now, Steam is absolutely amazing and doing great. A lot of people haven’t bought physical media for a long time (Steam sales have nothing to do with that, though… Right? ).

I prefer physical media. But, throw a discount or a freebie in there to entice me and I give that up fairly quick. Right now? The only thing the digital copy gets me is a download to a single machine, no disc to share or put on the shelf. Same price. What will I choose? Physical.

Bandwidth? Sure, that can be an issue. Hence the physical copy. You’re not locking out customers at all. Download caps with digital downloads? That’s something customers need to complain to their ISP about.

For those with children, and for us adults that enjoy great cartoons, Phineas and Ferb are common names. Perry the Platypus is just as famous, if not more so. Newly released for the Windows Phone platform is ‘Agent P’.

Windows Phone Store Link – http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/agent-p/116d48ac-55a0-450e-b990-36e47e8ef188

Grab the game, and defeat Dr. Doofenshmirtz!

Microsoft has once again been suspected of sending customer data to the NSA. This time, in the form of crash reports from Windows.

Microsoft has been one of several US companies that is asking for more transparency from the NSA and would like to disclose what information is and isn’t given to the NSA when required.

"Microsoft does not provide any government with direct or unfettered access to our customer’s data," a company representative said in an email Sunday. "We would have significant concerns if the allegations about government actions are true."

January 2014 starts with a bang, with Live Gold members getting Sleeping Dogs for the Xbox 360 for the first free download of the month. Mid-January (16th), the free game will be Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Both are free to download for Xbox Live Gold members during the free download period (January 1-15 for Sleeping Dogs and 16-31 for Lara Croft). Grab them while you can!

For those Xbox One owners with a bad drive (as well as replacing the drive), Microsoft is offering a free game, digital download of course, from the launch titles – Forsa, Ryse, Zoo Tycoon or Dead Rising. This is good PR on Microsoft’s part. There is also an Advance Exchange Program available so you can receive a replacement console before sending out your defective unit. So, your play time is not impacted much with digital games. Still out of luck when using physical media, though.

Following the Xbox One launch this past Friday, reports of defective disc drives prompted Microsoft to say it was "taking care of our customers" affected by hardware issues. Microsoft said defects were "affecting a very small number of Xbox One customers."

Microsoft has released some beautiful new themes for your Windows devices. These backgrounds are perfect for the holidays. Some even support multi display’s. Download them and enjoy the Winter feel at your desktop, hopefully staying warm!

Microsoft’s controversial ranking system, which pitted employees against each other in a somewhat unfair ranking system, is being tossed as Ballmer is cleaning out his office. One of the major complaints I’ve heard from several Microsoft employees has been the ranking system that was in use.

I believe that after the initial shock and people get used to not having it, things will improve greatly, and as consumers we will see better products.

Stack ranking is a process where each business unit’s management team has to review employees’ performance and rank a certain percentage of them as top performers, or as average or poorly performing. Former Microsoft employees have claimed it leads to colleagues competing with each other, especially when some employees in a group of individuals need to be given poor reviews to match the method. It’s a system that’s similar to Yahoo’s new alleged internal process of ranking employees.

Windows 1.01 was released November 20th, 1985, but that was after years of delays. It was formally announced November 10th, 1983 – 30 years ago (yesterday). I was excited, but didn’t officially jump on the Windows wagon until Windows 2.0, which I used a little. Windows 3.0/3.1 was where I really got into Windows. Before Windows, we used MS-DOS (or PC-DOS…). I didn’t have any issues with DOS, but using a mouse was great.

So, Happy Birthday, Windows. Here’s to another 30  great years!