Thursday, October 17, 2013

Microsoft releases Windows 8.1

Long-awaited upgrade released today addresses gripes with Windows 8

The Associated Press
Windows 8.1 is available for download starting today. New features include the return of the 'start' button, gesture controls and the ability to answer Skype calls from the lock screen.
Windows 8.1 is available for download starting today. New features include the return of the 'start' button, gesture controls and the ability to answer Skype calls from the lock screen. (The Associated Press)
Microsoft released its long-awaited Windows 8.1 upgrade as a free download starting today. It addresses some of the gripes people have had with Windows 8, the dramatically different operating system that attempts to bridge the divide between tablets and PCs.
Windows 8.1 still features the dual worlds that Windows 8 created when it came out last October. On one hand, it features a touch-enabled tile interface resembling what's found in tablet computers. On the other, there's the old desktop mode where the keyboard and mouse still reign. The update adds some new finger- and gesture-friendly shortcuts for touch-based apps, while restoring some respect for the desktop mode that a billion PC users have become accustomed to.
The release comes as sales of traditional desktop and laptop computers continue to decline because consumers are spending money instead on the latest smartphones and tablets. It also comes at a time of transition for Microsoft as the Redmond, Wash., company focuses on devices and services, not just software. Earlier this month, Microsoft struck a deal to acquire Nokia's phone business and patent rights for more than $7 billion. Microsoft is also searching for a new CEO to replace Steven A. Ballmer, who announced last month that he plans to retire within the next year.
The Window 8.1 update is free for current owners of Windows 8. It's available starting at 7 a.m. ET Thursday in New York, which corresponds to the start of Friday in New Zealand. Simply go to the Windows Store app to find it. It may take a few hours for updates to reach everyone. Computers with Windows 8.1 already installed will go on sale Friday local time. That's also when people will be able to buy stand-alone copies of Windows 8.1.
The changes range from the cosmetic to improved functionality:

Restoring respect for the desktop

  • Start me up: The Start button is back in desktop mode, although not the way it was before Windows 8 came along. In Windows 7 and before, a click on Start would have brought up programs and important folders in a list. Now, one tap on Start flips you back to the new tile interface, where you can click or tap tiles to open programs. A long press brings up crucial settings such as the Control Panel.
  • Boot to desktop: You can now start up the machine in desktop mode, bypassing the tiles for a short time. That removes some of the headache for companies that want to use Windows 8 but don't want to buy a touch-screen monitor for every employee.

Touch and gesture updates

  • Onscreen keyboard swipes: The onscreen keyboard now includes the ability to type numbers or punctuation marks by swiping up or away from certain keys on the standard "QWERTY" layout, eliminating the need to toggle between numeric and alphabetic layouts. You can also select from suggested words mid-stream using side swipes and taps on the virtual spacebar.
  • Gesture-enabled apps: You can now wave in the air in front of the front-facing camera to get a response. For example, in the new app Bing Food & Drink, a right-to-left wave in "Hands Free Mode" flips through pages of a recipe.
  • Quicker tile organizing: You can tap and hold Windows tiles with your finger to move them. Another couple taps will allow you to resize them in one of four sizes. In the previous version, you had to go back to the mouse or touchpad and right-click on tiles to do this, and you were limited to two sizes.
  • Easier apps access: Finding all your apps takes just a swipe up on your start screen, as long as you don't do it from beyond the bottom edge. Before, you had to swipe up from the bottom edge, then tap on the All Apps button.

Small conveniences

  • Automatic updates: Apps update in the background, replacing the constant reminders to go to the Windows Store to update the apps yourself.
  • Smaller tablets: Windows 8.1 now has a home screen that looks good in portrait mode on screens measuring 7 inches to 8 inches diagonally.
  • Lock screen access: You can now answer Skype calls or take photos from the lock screen without having to log in. Just swipe down. You can also set other apps like Twitter to send notifications when the screen is locked.

Functional changes

  • Better multitasking: In Windows 8.1, you can run up to four apps at once side by side, double the previous amount, though you need a large, high-resolution monitor to do so (On their own, Microsoft's Surface tablets are not big enough for more than two). You can resize panes using a slider that moves side to side, instead of being limited to one larger window and one slender one. This is still not as capable as Windows 7 or in desktop mode, where you can open dozens of items in windows that can be resized horizontally, vertically and diagonally. And many app makers have yet to adapt, meaning some apps still appear as a thin sliver, even if you want them to take up half the screen.
  • Global search: Typing while on the tile-based start screen will pull up multiple search results — if applicable — from your computer, the Web and the Windows app store. If you're searching for a musician, you'll see a list of popular songs you can play using Xbox Music, and if it's someone famous (like President Barack Obama) you'll see biographical details, videos and other information. Before, you had to choose where to search: in apps, settings, computer files or on the Internet.
  • Email update: The standard-issue Mail app now has a "power pane" on left-hand side with folders for updates from social networks like Facebook, messages from favorite contacts and newsletters. Some of these features work only with Microsoft accounts such as Hotmail and Outlook.com, though. A new "sweep" command deletes multiple messages with a couple taps.
  • Better browsing: No longer are you limited to 10 open tabs in the tile version of Internet Explorer. Before, Web pages automatically closed without prompts when you try to open more. You can open as many as you want now. Better yet, you can have two different websites displayed side by side, the way you've long been able to before Windows 8 came along.

Fun stuff

  • Xbox music refresh: The music streaming app now optimizes playback over discovery with a layout that has more lists and smaller photos. It also adds the ability to create playlists from any website with a couple taps. When on a website featuring artists, swipe in from the right edge and tap the Share button followed by the Music button. It will create a song playlist based on those artists, which you can then stream for free.
  • Picture editing: A picture editor with pre-set effects comes with the update, allowing for photo touchups, cropping, contrast changes and other features.
  • Xbox One integration: You can pick up where you left off if you start playing a video purchased on Xbox Video on a tablet and then watch the rest on Microsoft's upcoming game console, Xbox One.

Maria Sharapova Rags to Riches: The Story of a Superstar


When Maria Sharapova turned professional on her 14th birthday, few would have guessed that a tennis superstar had been unleashed.  Just three years on, and she had won the coveted Wimbledon title.Many are skeptical that it may all be too much too soon for the Russian teenager, but having gone down fighting every point like it was her last at last months French Open, it would seem Sharapova is here for the long haul.
Her recent climb to the summit of the world rankings has come as no surprise to those who watched in awe as the virtually unknown Sharapova clinched the Wimbledon title four years ago.Her incredibly victory over Serena Williams was the start of a new era for woman’s tennis.
Not only did she instantly book her place in history as the third youngest Wimbledon ladies champion of all time, but she changed the face of the game. Now one of the most marketable and recognized faces in sport, Sharapova endorses products for big name companies such as Motorola, Canon, TAG Heuer & Colgate-Palmolive amongst others.
She has recently created her own perfume, and it seems as though there is little Sharapova can do wrong.  She is a shining example of a professional athlete and a great role model to thousand of aspiring tennis players.  The first Russian to be world No. 1, Sharapova has inspired a generation of youngsters.
Admittedly, she is not the complete player and still has a long way to go to achieve her undoubted potential.  With the coaching of Robert Lansdorp, the man responsible for nurturing Pete Sampras and the management of her doting father, it is unimaginable that someone so genuinely gifted will not leave a lasting legacy on the game she was born to play.

Former stars have come out in their droves to lavish praise on the new superstar of the WTA tour.  Attendances are on the up, media interest in the once boring and undesirable, and ‘second rate’ ladies tennis is lively once more.   

Yet beneath Maria Sharapovas precocious rise to fame lays a darker more disturbing story.  Born in Nyagan, in the Siberian region of Russia, Maria first picked up a racket at the tender age of four.  Incredibly only a year later, she was spotted by tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who advised Maria’s parents to send her to the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in the United States. In 1995 Maria, accompanied by her parents, embraced upon her American dream.  She instantly won a place at the academy astounding her coaches with such natural ability, inexhaustible energy, and raw talent, which many of them had never witnessed before in their lives.  Yet success was to come at a price for Maria, who did not see her mother for two years as a result of visa restrictions and the family’s restrictive financial situation.  
Some 20,000 miles away from her mother and her homeland a nine-year-old Maria Sharapova had embarked upon her rapid rise to stardom.  The pain and heartache she suffered through this unsettling period are not reflected in the girl we see walking out onto court today. She is confident, composed, and entirely focused on her opponent.  Winning is her passion, and she is relentless in her approach to it.  Her experiences in America have made her stronger as a person, not just as an athlete.   
She puts much of her phenomenal success down to her parents influence and is forever indebted to them for the sacrifices they made.  Her family is her core, she is not some wild party animal merely entertaining tennis to fuel her erratic lifestyle like so many fellow ‘prodigies’ who have fallen from stardom.  When Sharapova first burst onto the scene in 2002, comparisons were instantly drawn with Anna Kournikova, the Russian beauty who retired at just 24. But those comparisons were ill-advised, while Kournikova fell by the way side and pursued a career in modeling Sharapova emerged as Wimbledon champion. 
She has revolutionized the way the ladies game is looked upon; her intrepid, hard-hitting and at times un-returnable power has guided her to 19 WTA titles in a breathtaking career which is surely set to hit great heights.  Her insatiable desire for winning, her limitless talent and her infatuation with tennis make her one of the most exciting talents to embrace the game in recent times. 
Her winning mentality is faultless, her weaknesses unapparent, and her approach fearles.  In Maria Sharapova, tennis has found a new superstar.

James Perkins

OO