NVIDIA CEO has announced that they are working on the Surface 2 and helping to make the new version much more successful than the first Surface. Still, an ARM chip that won’t run standard x86 application will be the shortfall of the tablets, but at the lower cost for the hardware, it’s a tradeoff.

A big problem for Surface RT, the version of the tablet that runs on ARM-based chips instead of Intel, is that it didn’t have Outlook available at launch, Huang said.

"It is the killer app for Windows," Huang said. "Now we’re going to bring it with the second-generation Surface. We’re working really hard on it, and we hope that it’s going to be a big success."

Microsoft has announced that it is moving away from the Xbox Live Gold Family Pack and going back to individual accounts. They do have a new Home Gold feature that allows anyone in your home to use the Xbox One for all Gold features. For those currently using the Family Pack, you will get an additional 3 months free on each account, which is nice.

Now, it’s time for my naysayer comments – Although the benefits are nice, this is great for those with a single console in the home or are upgrading to the Xbox One. My kids will still want individual accounts to play their games on separate machines (Minecraft, mostly). I haven’t seen the details of the new Xbox Live changes, but I don’t want to pay $60 a year times 3 for all three of us to play together at the same time. For a single console, it’s great. I only have to worry about the single cost, which would be less.

I’m hoping that the Gold membership works across all profiles on that machine for multiplayer, regardless of who has the membership (me, as PC509, would be the owner and Gold holder, but my kids could log in under their profile and still play multiplayer). It sounds like that is the case, so I’m probably good there.

But, Home Gold is only on the Xbox One. So, I would still need multiple Gold accounts on my older Xbox 360 systems. Not sure if this is the case or if it’s going to be something different, but that’s what I’m reading from the announcement. I’m upgrading to the One, but the kids will continue to use the 360 for at least another year or so. We’ll see on this one. It could be completely different.

A lot of good stuff coming from the changes, but I always look at the whole package before I decide. I think the pros will definitely overcome the cons.

Xbox Live Gold Family Pack Conversion to Individual Memberships

As a valued Xbox Live Gold member, we’d like to thank you and your family for being part of the Gold community.
We continually evaluate our offerings and are always working to provide services that best meet the needs of our customers.

• Starting August 27, 2013, we will be converting each activated account on your Gold Family Pack to an individual Xbox Live Gold membership to prepare for new upcoming features on Xbox Live Gold. Rest assured, each individual membership will work on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
• Through the new Home Gold feature on Xbox One, a single Xbox Live Gold membership will allow anyone in your home to enjoy many Gold features like multiplayer, access to Gold entertainment apps, and more on your Xbox One.*
• As a bonus, we will give each converted individual Xbox Live Gold membership from your Gold Family Pack an extra 3 months of Gold (in addition to the time remaining on your membership term).**
• Before your memberships convert, you can still add family members to your Xbox Live Gold Family Pack, for a total of up to four accounts. However, any unassigned secondary accounts will no longer be accessible after your conversion. Please be sure to update your secondary accounts here.

After your memberships convert, the only Gold Family Pack features that will no longer be available are activity monitoring reports and Microsoft Points allowances. Activity monitoring reports will deactivate at the time of Gold Family Pack conversion, whereas the Microsoft Points allowance feature will no longer be available after the next Xbox 360 system update. Xbox Live family settings, including parental controls for what your kids can access and play on or offline, will still be available.
More Info >>

We hope you enjoy your 3 bonus months of Xbox Live Gold and continue to benefit from your Xbox Live Gold memberships on Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Sincerely,
The Xbox Live Team

Windows Phone has increased sales 77% over last years sales. They are still in third place behind iOS and Android, but are still steadily increasing. The Windows Phone platform is very strong, very stable and easy to use. I would really like to see more people jumping on board and having more applications developed for it. If you’re looking for a new  phone, get into a store and play with these phones. You might be impressed.

According to the IDC’s latest numbers, Windows Phone has seen a surge of 77% year over year for device shipments (8.7M in 2013 versus 4.9M for 2012). With those numbers, Windows Phone has increased from 3.1% market share to a modest 3.7%. While iOS and Android still dominate with 13.2% and 79.3% market share respectively, Windows Phone maintains the largest year over year increase.

Since the announcement of the Xbox One, many have wondered, rumored and speculated on what applications will require an Xbox Live Gold subscription (which runs about $60 a year) and what will require a Silver (free). Well, for those expecting a Playstation like experience that allows you to watch Netflix and others for free, you’ll be disappointed.

The news makes me wonder, though. Is this a tactic to bring in more Gold subscribers for those that want an Xbox and Netflix, or is there more to it? Does Netflix, Hulu and others require the Xbox Live service and servers, or is it just forwarding everything through to the media servers with no middleman? I really have no idea, myself. I know it’s very doable to access the Netflix servers without a third party service (Roku, PS3, PC’s, iOS, etc. do it). Perhaps it’s part of the contract, or they do get a significant amount of revenue from media viewers on the service…. For me, it doesn’t matter. I use Gold for the multiplayer gaming. Netflix, Hulu and others are there as an added bonus. For others, paying $60 a year on top of the $8 a month for Netflix is a bit too much. Paying twice to access the service.

Microsoft has released another Surface RT vs. iPad commercial. The one bit that gets me is the integrated keyboard and kickstand. Kickstand, yes. Keyboard? It’s an optional accessory at an additional cost. Other than that, and the much larger library of applications, the Surface RT beats the iPad all around. At $350, I might bite. For a strict tablet, it’s great. For any standard desktop apps, I have my laptop.

Bing Search on Windows Phone 8 has been updated and improved. It is currently being rolled out in the US, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you will soon. Other regions will be updated in the coming months.

Some good updates that should help speed things up while you’re on the go.

Today when you tap Search and flick left or right, you see four different search result categories: Web, Local, Media, and Shopping. Once the update rolls out, you’ll see just three: Web, Images, and Videos.

Why the design change?

As useful as some of the existing views might seem, many people just don’t use them all—or know that they’re there, Bing product manager Alisher Saydalikhodjayev told me. Consolidating and streamlining the views should reduce confusion and help people find what they’re looking for more easily.

The new Web category, for example, is designed to be smart enough to show whatever’s most relevant to your search, including images, videos, and local results (check out the screenshots below). “We’re gonna put more info on your first search result screen,” Saydalikhodjayev says. This also means less swiping on your part, he notes. The Bing team has also worked to improve the freshness of the service’s local results and made it easier to get things like directions and phone numbers for local businesses.

For those that were waiting for a price drop for the Surface Pro, here’s your chance. The Surface RT dropped a month or so ago, and makes it a good deal for nice machine. Now, the Surface Pro has followed suit, with a $100 price drop. Whether this is to improve sales following Ballmers admitting it hasn’t done too well, or if it is to drop inventory in anticipation of a release of a Surface 2 is anyone’s guess. A few rumors on that one, but nothing solid.

* Offer valid 8/4-8/29; subject to change. While supplies last. Valid on Surface Pro 64 & 128 GB only. Cover not included.

Microsoft has launched the newly redesigned MSDN site. For those developers out there, this may be of interest. I do have to admit it looks a lot better than it did previously.

There were a few things we targeted in the Microsoft Developer Network:

• Simple:   We designed the site to help developers get started with Microsoft more easily, and get them to the information that they need.  We heard from the community that finding the right information, often spread between different locations, could be challenging.  The Microsoft Developer Network addresses that feedback by providing a single point of entry for all developers.
• Relevant: We want to meet developers where they are and talk with them on their terms.  With the Microsoft Developer Network, an iOS developer, for example, can quickly understand the opportunity available from our platform and then easily navigate to the educational or technical content he needs to get started.
• Community Driven: Microsoft has an incredible developer ecosystem, and we wanted to provide even more opportunity for the community to engage with us and with each other.  We designed the Microsoft Developer Network with that in mind creating a “Perspectives” section with community blogs, an integrated social feed, and a “Connect” area that allows developers to tell their stories, get advice and connect with us directly.

First it was Metro that was renamed Modern UI due to trademark issues. Now, it is coming to SkyDrive. A UK court ruled earlier that SkyDrive infringed on a trademarked owned by British Sky Broadcasting Group and Microsoft is forced to change the name of their cloud based storage service. Of course, they get some time to transition to the new name. What’s odd is that Microsoft didn’t fight the rules, nor do they have plans to (publically, of course).

So long, SkyDrive, hello —-? Lots of possibilities there. With Microsoft putting a lot of effort into SkyDrive lately, with my phone and PC automatically syncing to my SkyDrive folders (easy backup), it’ll be weird to see it under a different name.

For those still using Office 2010, Microsoft has released Service Pack 2. It is available via Windows Update, so most will get updated automatically. For those with Windows Update disabled (or for admins using SCCM), the download is available at the information page.

Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides the latest updates for Office 2010. This service pack includes two kinds of fixes:

• Previously unreleased fixes that are included in this service pack. In addition to general product fixes, these fixes include improvements in stability, performance, and security.
• All the public updates that were released through May 2013, and all the cumulative updates that were released through April 2013.