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Microsoft’s well publicized push for Surface tablet use during NFL game seems to have backfired with viewers of the AFC championship game Sunday between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots were told that the tablets on the Patriots’ sidelines had failed.

“They’re having some trouble with their Microsoft Surface tablets,” CBS’ sideline reporter Evan Washburn reported during the game. “On the last defensive possession the Patriots’ coaches did not have access to those tablets to show pictures to their players. NFL officials have been working at it. Some of those tablets are back in use, but not all of them. A lot of frustration that they didn’t have them on that last possession.”

As it turns out the tablets actually did not malfunction. It was a question of network connectivity.

“The outage, which struck during the first half, was brief, and the Patriots’ tablets were soon restored to working order. A Microsoft spokesman blamed the problem on a network connectivity issue rather than a tablet malfunction.”

No tablet, even the iPad would have worked in this situation. The actual announcement should have mentioned it as a network outage. This is one of the risks of paid product placement. Microsoft have paid a lot of money to the NFL for its use of the Surface tablets and unfortunately took the blame.


At some point, you will have to take care of a spouse or relative who can no longer remember their passwords.

Of course, this is someone who might pass on and getting as much information beforehand will ensure that you can get this done quickly and easily.

This is because it can get difficult to gain access to one’s accounts without the password or other information necessary. In one person’s case, it took almost two weeks to obtain control of their relative’s account after contacting the Microsoft Custodian of Records.

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So thinking ahead can help you prevent this sort of hassle in the future.

So, when your loved one agrees to give you a power of attorney, make sure you ask for their passwords too. This includes even the answers to the questions that they have set up on various websites.

On way to do this easily is by using a password manager. In the given situation where both of you use such software, make sure you keep each other’s passwords in both password managers. This must include your Windows logon as well as the master password too.

Yet another simpler option would be to print them and keep them in a safe deposit which can be opened when you are either incapacitated or have passed away.

One such situation where this definitely applies is writing down the passwords of the your aging parents in a password manager or on paper. This will help you access them if something happens in the near future.


With a shift in focus from PCs to smartphones among other computing devices, Intel has lowered its  expectations in term of Q1 revenue by a margin of $900 million and which is due April 14.

While earlier it was $13.7 billion plus or minus $500 million, that figure has been brought down to $12.8 billion plus or minus $300 million.

In explaining the reason for this change, Intel wrote, “The change in revenue outlook is a result of weaker than expected demand for business desktop PCs and lower than expected inventory levels across the PC supply chain. The company believes the changes to demand and inventory patterns are caused by lower than expected Windows XP refresh in small and medium business and increasingly challenging macroeconomic and currency conditions, particularly in Europe.”

It’s clear that the slower response on a Windows refresh will have an impact on companies in the PC industry as well since they also depend on consumers to upgrade their computers so as to keep up with operating system changes.

What will be interesting to see is the impact this has on Microsoft given that it is likely to experience slower-than-likely sales of its latest software.

As for Intel, a substantial part of its investment has been made in areas such as intelligent computing as well as wearables, thanks to the decline that it is facing in other parts of its business. However, one clear reason why it has been doing this is to build markets and products where its processors can continue to thrive in the future.

This statement comes at a time when a number of companies are building smaller and lighter computers that are neither smartphones, desktop PCs or tablets.


Launching Windows 10 is probably one of the most daring software projects yet undertaken by Microsoft. This is because not do they have to bring enterprise computing into the New Millenium but they also have the flaws that have been exposed in Windows 8.x.

With the previews of Windows 10 released recently, that is not all you will get to see, since it is only a raiser of sorts of what is to come.

To sum it up, Windows 10 keeps a lot of the traditional stuff that its users are familiar with but also contains a mixed set of user interface elements too.

For example, and when running this preview version of Windows 10, the tiles that we see in Windows 8.x was next to icons that were taken older versions apart from others that were refreshed from its earlier versions.

In other words, Windows 10 is really a mix of the new, updated old and the old. Yet this odd combination also seems to work according to a number of experts who have used it when it was released recently.

Among the things that do work, Traditional ALT tabbing and Task View works in tandem while metro and desktop apps sharing the same space is also another aspect that is good on Windows 10.

One aspect that seemed odd in the preview was the options of either opening the Start Menu or the Start screen but no integration of the two available just yet.

That said, the changes made will keep most of its customers content even if they have a lot of changes to make until it actual launch next year but not before a consumer preview in January.


Microsoft has been dealt a telling blow by China once more. The reason this time around is because of the company’s decision to stop support for Windows XP.

In fact, this time around the Central Government Procurement Center has banned the use of Windows 8 on government computers as well citing the need to use energy-saving products as well as ensure computer security.

It must be pointed out that almost 50% of China’s desktop market now is powered by the operating system that is almost a decade old.

This latest setback has hurt Windows all that more since it has been struggling to stay afloat in such a massive market where even though the number of sales matches that of the United States, it still earned much less revenue – being only able to equal its earning made from a much smaller market such as the Netherlands.

Of course, the company has been warning others that it’s time to move on to the latest version of Windows but this has only made them far more stubborn to comply. After all, it makes no sense to fix something that isn’t broken.

It’s clear that Microsoft find itself in a tough spot at the moment since it doesn’t seem to be able to market its latest operating system effectively.

Moreover since, Windows XP continues to power a number of systems that are in need of important security patches, it should come as no surprise why China has turned its back on Windows until it complies.