Microsoft yanks update that wrecked the Surface Pro 2

Many Surface Pro 2 users who have updated their device using recently released system firmware have posted complaints all across Microsoft’s support pages demanding that the company completely remove the update with a few days to go until Christmas. Some of the affected Surface Pro 2 owners reported that the update simply failed to install correctly despite numerous tries, while others who were successful or partially successful with the updates experienced battery-charging issues with their devices, problems with putting the device to sleep and/or shutting it down and even overheating caused by the tablet's inability to sleep.



Continue reading...

Read More [...]

Posted in 2013 at 01:30AM, December 19

Google, Microsoft ordered to remove pirate sites from search results

A French court on Thursday ordered Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to remove from search results 16 websites that host pirated media, in a case started in December 2011 by various French organizations and groups that protect the interests of entertainment companies such as Paramount and Sony. Local ISPs including Orange, Free, Bouygues Telecom, SFR, Numericable and Darty Telecom are also ordered to “implement all appropriate means including blocking” these websites, TorrentFreak reports.



Continue reading...

Read More [...]

Posted in 2013 at 01:30AM, November 30

Head of Steam: Valve’s store now has more active users than Xbox Live

Valve seems to have hit on a good thing with its Steam online store for PC games. The Verge reports that Steam now has 65 million active users, which represents a 30% year-over-year rise from 2012 and which has helped the store blow past Xbox Live's active user count of around 48 million users. The reason this is interesting is that Valve will be taking on both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 next year when manufacturers start cranking out Steam Machine consoles based on its free-to-use Linux-based SteamOS gaming platform. While it's going to be hard for a third player to make waves in the gaming console market, Valve's 48 million active Steam users give it a better head start than any other prospective players.

Read More [...]

Posted in 2013 at 01:30AM, October 31

LG loses money selling smartphones despite hot sales

Samsung still looks like the only company consistently turning a profit selling Android phones these days. LG revealed in its third-quarter earnings report on Thursday that its mobile division actually lost money in Q3 and posted a -2.6% operating margin despite shipping an impressive 12 million smartphones. Even though LG's $2.75 billion in mobile sales represented a 24% increase over mobile sales from Q3 2012, the company said that it still lost money in mobile due to "increased competition and higher marketing investments." Looking forward, LG says it "plans to focus on increasing sales of new premium products such as the LG G2 smartphone during the peak holiday season as well as maximizing 3G and mid-tier mass devices such as the L II Series and F Series." The company's full press release follows below.



Continue reading...

Read More [...]

Posted in 2013 at 01:30AM, October 25