I’m nearly finished with my site re-design, I’ll freezing posting for now, but will be posting significantly more and with much greater detail once I’m done.
Hang tight!
:: Micah
Windows Blue Leaks: My Favorite New Features
If you are into Technology and specifically Windows 8, you have likely heard the code name “Windows Blue”. Over the past few days, Windows Blue was leaked to the public.
I’m sure Microsoft isn’t overly pleased about this leak, as it means when they officially announce this major update to Windows it will already feel like “old news”. With that said, I think with this being leaked, it will likely help convince people to move over to Windows 8 faster than they currently are.
All of the features we have been seeing in this Windows Blue leak are things that people have been saying were missing from the original release, often preventing them from wanting to upgrade to Windows 8. Now that people see that the features are coming, they might make the switch sooner and the positive reactions I have seen so far will push people even more to using Windows 8.
There are lots of new features shown off in the Windows Blue leak, likely some of which are rough and may possibly not show up in the final release. I’m not here to outline all of these new features, instead I want to highlight a few that I think that will really make Windows 8 more powerful.
Live Tile Size
First up are Live Tile sizes, currently in Windows 8 you only get two sizes, medium square and wide. What we are seeing in the recent leak is that there will be two additional sizes – small square and large square. This is awesome news!
If you are a Windows Phone user, you are already used to the new small square tiles. There are numerous apps that simple don’t need something really large and wasting space. We’ll now be able to see significantly more apps on our Start Screen without needing to scroll.
Split Screen
Up next, we have the ability to do 50/50 split screen with Modern apps. Currently in Windows 8 you can only do full screen and 1/3 or 2/3 views of apps. With Windows Blue we’ll be able to run two apps side by side using half the screen for each. This is a big jump in usability across apps if you ask me.
A second bonus is that if you have multiple monitors, it looks as though you will be able to have metro apps running across both monitors. In theory you could have 4 metro apps displayed at once time, before I believe you could only run metro apps on one monitor at a time. I’m sure there are many more nice adjustments to running Modern apps simultaneously.
I’m curious to see how that works in portrait view.
PC Settings
One of the largest complaints I have heard about Windows 8 is the necessity of having to jump from the Modern UI Settings to switching to the typical Desktop Control Panel. With Windows Blue, it looks like Microsoft has decided to finally include significantly more settings in the Modern UI Settings area.
The UI looks like it is still in need of some polish, but at least it’s heading in the right direction. This new update alone will make a lot of people extremely happy.
SkyDrive
The last new feature I want to mention is the integration of SkyDrive deeper into Windows. There has been a major shift lately for people to start storing their files in the Cloud, having SkyDrive integrated deep into Windows will rapidly increase the adoption of the Cloud and hopefully get people more comfortable with doing so.
Saving files to the Cloud now can feel a bit dis-jointed compared to just saving to a local directory. Anything Microsoft can do to make saving to the Cloud more seamless will be well received.
I have been using SkyDrive more and more lately, and have found it to be very helpful as I travel from home, too work, to meeting with clients on the go. It’s fast, stable and quite powerful.
Wrapping Up
Those few features are my top favorite coming to Windows 8, there are many many more features that I haven’t even mentioned. I think we are on the edge of rapid Windows 8 adoption, Windows Blue will push it over the edge.
On demand driver app – Uber, now on Windows Phone
Well known start “Uber” has finally released a native Windows Phone version of their On Demand Driver service. Previously it had only been available on the iPhone and Android devices, but now includes Windows Phone and even BlackBerry.
Hopefully the release of this app will help to highlight the growing interest in the Windows Phone platform.
Even though this app probably isn’t something I would use personally, I think there are a ton of people who will find it to be a very valuable app on their Windows Phones.
What do you think? Will you use it?
Source: Uber
Get rid of the Bozos
“Why Every Copmany Needs a ‘No Bozos’ Policy” is a great Forbes article that you should read if you run a company or work at a job that you hate but aren’t sure why.
I have always had mixed feelings when it comes to Steve Jobs, he was truly a brilliant man, but some of the quotes I have heard of how he would treat people always turned me off.
I do feel that his approach to hiring is one of the most important pieces of knowledge we can accept when building and maintaining a successful company.
Soda Pop!
Totally off-topic but what is your favorite soda pop?
- Coke
- Pepsi
- Mountain Dew
- Mountain Dew Code Red
- Sprite
- Diet Coke
- Diet Pepsi
- Diet Root Beer
- Dr.Pepper
- Mr.Pibb
- 7-Up
- Fanta
- Sprite
- RC Cola
- Mello Yellow
- Bargs Root Beer
- A&W Root beer
- Sunkist
10 Free Rusty Metal Textures
I have collected 10 of my favorite rusty metal textures that shot and use within some of my work, thought you might like to use them as well. Click Here to download the zip file and use as you wish! Most textures are 2592px by 1944px.
There are many more textures located over on our site TextureArchive.com.
What’s included in the zip:
