Microsoft is offering the Media Center Pack free for a limited time for Windows 8 Professional users. All you need is an email address. It  must be activated by January 31st, 2013. Grab it while it lasts!

If your PC is running Windows 8 Pro and you’d like to get Windows 8 Media Center Pack so you can watch and record live TV with Windows Media Center, you can take advantage of the following special offer:

For those that bought a recent Windows 7 powered tablet running on Intel hardware thinking you’d be able to upgrade to Windows 8, you might not be able to. There are some tablets (some as recent as 4 months old) that cannot run Windows 8. I am glad I didn’t jump on a tablet early just to have a Windows 8 tablet earlier than when the new models were released.

The problems affect systems that use the current version of Intel’s Atom line, known as Cedar Trail. Intel is rolling out a new version of Atom, called Clover Trail, that is specifically designed for Windows 8 hardware, but that’s too late for many users who previously bought systems on the belief they could upgrade later

Todays big news has been the release of the pricing and specifications of the Windows Surface RT tablets. The prices are a bit more than what people were speculating, but the specifications are about right for the price. However, I’m not sure if the pricing will allow Microsoft to get a good foothold in the tablet market or if this is just to release “reference” hardware to the masses to show what the platform can do and as a good point of reference for OEM’s.

As much as I’d really like to grab one, I can’t justify the cost knowing that the Pro models are just around the corner and will allow me to run legacy Windows applications.

64GB with Black Touch Cover – $699

32GB with Black Touch Cover – $599

32GB Surface (no cover) – $499

So how does that compare with the iPad?

Well the iPad with Wi-Fi, 16GB and of course no cover costs $499. In order to get 32GB worth of storage on an iPad the cost goes up to $599. The 64GB iPad with Wi-Fi costs $699.

The ad is definitely targeted towards the Apple user hipster. I don’t care much for it myself, but I’m more of a technical “Show me the specs and what it can do for me” kind of consumer. So, is this ad relevant for you or does it completely miss the mark? I’d like to hear from Apple users (even those that hate Microsoft) and MS users. Does this make you want Windows 8 more or is it just another commercial in the mix?

The holidays are getting closer, and Microsoft has started cutting prices on it’s Xbox 360 console. The 250 GB version and the 4 GB Kinect version have been dropped by $50, bringing them to $250. A good deal if you are in the market this Christmas.

Each bundle is priced at $250 except for the standard and holiday 250GB Kinect bundles, which are $350. Most of the bundles have games and DLC codes packed in, including Forza 4, Kinect Adventures, Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, Fable 3, Halo: Reach and a digital copy of Skyrim.

The Xbox 360 version of Halo 4 has been leaked online, and Microsoft is not happy (duh). The leak is definitely real, and I’m sure that the ones that leaked it will be caught and reamed badly. Not going to be a good holiday season for those that did the leak.

For those with modded Xboxes and are wanting to give this a try, I can suspect that Microsoft will be going through some very tough and frequent banning missions very soon. Is it worth it? Personally, I never really cared much for the Halo franchise, but even if I were – I don’t care much for the pirate scene. Modding, sure. The original Xbox was a huge modding platform that gave birth to the XBMC (Xbox Media Center), which probably contributed a lot to the 360 media features.

According to the publisher, Halo 4‘s second disc "contains data that will need to be installed on an Xbox 360 hard drive or compatible flash storage device with at least 8GB of available memory in order to access ‘Halo 4‘s’ extensive suite of multiplayer features." Microsoft has employed a similar system for first-party games like Forza Motorsport 4.

Office 2013 has finally reached the release to manufacturing stage, meaning it is complete and ready for distribution. For those wondering and complaining about the very bright interface, the Office team has included a darker theme that can help your eyes.

General availability is planned for the first quarter of 2013. Starting October 19, customers purchasing Office 2010 from local retailers or resellers will receive the new Office for free upon availability. Customers will also see a preview version of the new Office on Windows RT devices, beginning with the Windows 8 launch on October 26.

While I’m excited for the launch of Windows Phone 8, I’m sure that Verizon will take their precious time to release any form of device on their network. I am in the market for a new one, and am holding off (I have a broken WP7 – HTC Trophy) until the new devices hit. Sadly, Verizon has great coverage in my area, otherwise I’d jump to a different carrier.

If they can bring the devices sooner instead of later, I’m going to be sporting a new HTC 8X Windows Phone 7 very soon.

One of the most often asked questions I see daily (through many forums, at work and personal friends) is “Why is Microsoft calling me? Do I really have viruses and are they being sent out?”. No, Microsoft isn’t really calling you unless you called them first and opened a support ticket.

Now, it looks like the FCC is taking some action against these scams and will be taking them to court. This is good news, and hopefully the phone calls stop for many people. I had gotten the phone calls, but I was never available to take the call. I wanted to have some fun with these crooks and just waste their time like they are doing with so many others.

Microsoft phone scam warnings: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx

With October being National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the timing of the announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday that, at FTC request, a U.S. District Court Judge ordered a halt to six alleged tech support scams pending further hearings and has frozen their assets (see October 3, 2012 List of Commission Actions) was ideal.

Before the public was given access to the builds of Windows 8, they let the employees test it. Called “Dogfooding”, they let the employees use the products to test it in real world working conditions. If they didn’t like it and they work for the company, how could the public where most have no vested interest in the product? Fortunately, the employees liked it!

Business owners should here be confident that their adoption of Windows 8 across their network will have a massive amount of support both inside the software and from Microsoft itself right from the start. This news bit was made more to assure IT users that they’ve tasted the food first before they send it to the restaurant, so to speak, and that it’s more than safe – it’s tasty.