V. I. K. I.

We have been asked many times during last few days whether there will be any more Lumia devices coming in near future other than Lumia 650. While we have reported mid-ranger Lumia 750 (or whatever the name may be) coming between mid-December to early-January via our sources and we can confirm that it is under testing in India. Lumia 850 is also under testing but we don’t see it coming before February- March, when we hear two more Lumias are expected in budget to mid-range. It may very well be the Lumia 650 and Lumia 850, the Lumia 830 successor. As we can see in the above screenshot we now have couple of entries of a Lumia device that will be finally priced around INR 18000 ($270). It can’t be Lumia 650 (which we can expect to be priced around $160-$170 and we reported it from Zauba data) and it is certainly a device in the range of Lumia 730. So, it is a confirmation of what we have heard from our sources. Recently we have reported a statement from Microsoft that more Lumia d...

Yesterday, Bloomberg wrote a story on how Microsoft Research is transforming itself within Microsoft. Instead of leaving most of research work in patents and papers, Microsoft Research’s MSR Next group is working with product teams in improving Microsoft products significantly using their research work. Microsoft Research is working on a technology to include secondary display on the inside of the Flip Covers. There are several use cases for this idea, the secondary low power display can act as a touch keyboard when you want to type something, it can display Cortana and its contextual info always-on when you open the cover and more. Microsoft Research is aware of the fact that startup like Yotaphone is exploring similar idea by including e-ink display on the back of the device, but Microsoft thinks there are usability issues when you have the display on the back. The good news is that Microsoft Research is already in deep talks with Lumia devices team in Finland to explore the pos...

Last week, we reported about Microsoft’s WordFlow keyboard coming to the iPhone. Today, the folks over at Thurrott reported that the WordFlow keyboard for iOS will have a one-handed mode. Now, The Verge has confirmed the report, showing off the one-handed mode in all its glory. As you can see on the above image, WordFlow for iOS has an interesting one-handed mode. If you have been following the Microsoft world for a while, you may remember that Microsoft has been working on this one-handed mode for almost 4 years. Back in 2012, our friends at WMPoweruser reported that Microsoft Research was working on a new keyboard designed for one-handed thumb typing. Other than the one-handed feature, there doesn’t seem to be any huge difference between WordFlow for iOS and Windows Phone. Here’s a picture of the keyboard in the “normal” mode: For those who don’t know, Microsoft is expected to bring WordFlow to other platforms, including Android. The company is expected to release the app ...

There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. - Phil Karlton It's very easy to armchair quarterback and say that "they should have named it Foo and it would be easy" but very often there's many players involved in naming things. ASP.NET is a good 'brand' that's been around for 15 years or so. ASP.NET 4.6 is a supported and released product that you can get and use now from http://get.asp.net. UPDATE NOTE: This blog post is announcing this change. It's not done or released yet. As of the date/time of this writing, this work is just starting. It will be ongoing over the next few months. However, naming the new, completely written from scratch ASP.NET framework "ASP.NET 5" was a bad idea for a one major reason: 5 > 4.6 makes it seem like ASP.NET 5 is bigger, better, and replaces ASP.NET 4.6. Not so. So we're changing the name and picking a better version number. REINTRODUCING ASP.NET C...

Windows 10 users will soon be able to purchase mobile data plans directly from Microsoft. The software giant says that this option will be introduced to make it easy for its customers to have Internet access in areas without Wi-Fi coverage. The mobile data plans will be offered via the Cellular Data app that Microsoft has published in Windows Store. To take advantage of this offer, Windows 10 users will need to get a Microsoft SIM card first. Microsoft has teamed up with European mobile virtual network enabler Transatel to use the latter's 901 SIM card, which is designed to enable users to buy pre-paid 3G and 4G LTE data.  It is an interesting alternative to buying mobile data directly from the carrier. "We want to promote the adoption of cellular connectivity on Windows tablets and laptops to complement classic Wi-Fi connectivity and make it easier for consumers to connect to the internet, anywhere, anytime", says Microsoft Corporate VP Eric Lockard. "The Trans...

While I've been running Windows 10 for what seems like forever now, a desktop computer sitting in my office running Windows 8.1 has been crying out for an upgrade for some time. Having had a problem-free upgrade on three other machines, I expected nothing out of the ordinary with this computer. I was wrong. Initially I left Windows Update to do its thing, but this failed on countless occasions. The error message suggested that a problem with my internet connection had interrupted the download, but this seemed unlikely. After numerous attempts, I decided to opt for a USB-driven installation. This also failed, this time with error 0xc0000017: "There isn't enough memory available to create a ramdisk device". Thankfully, the problem can be fixed -- here's what you need to do. There are lots of absolutely nonsensical 'solutions' out there -- from disabling antivirus and unplugging peripherals, to disabling integrated graphics. None of these are helpful. ...

As the offices at Microsoft begin to churn again with regular employee traffic, questions about Windows 10 Redstone are starting to resurface. Many have speculated that Windows 10 Redstone will be the fit and finish update that the seemingly early Windows 10 release missed. While Microsoft has been rather cagey on the details of Redstone, Windows engineers and developers are ready to talk about an important aspect of the operating system with regards to scaling. With the Consumer Electronics Show under way, the event has helped showcase a centralized resolution theme for PC and PC-like devices for this upcoming year. Unfortunately, many Windows users have notoriously fallen victim to the operating systems lack of standardized scaling practices. That is, until Windows 10 Redstone. In a series buried away in the Insider Hub called “Made by you,” the Windows team goes into great length and detail about how things are going change when it comes to scaling in Windows 10. "Scalin...

Windows 10 Mobile has shipped, that is if you have a new device like the Lumia 950 or 950 XL, but the wait continues for those with older Windows Phone models. Now, according to a T-Mobile Germany support forum post (via WMPU), listed as “Current releases for upcoming software updates in 2016”, it looks like some Windows Phone users will begin to see official updates to the latest operating system. The post lists a number of Lumia devices, specifically the 950, 930, 830, 640, 640 XL, 635, and the 535 as being in line to get the 10586.29 update, which is set to begin. The updates are being rolled out gradually, so as not to “overload the servers”, but the update is listed as current as of January 4th, so T-Mobile users in Germany should be seeing Windows 10 Mobile updates for their phones soon. Once the phones are updated, users should be able to get further updates directly from Microsoft, to bring their phones up to the current version 10586.36 and beyond. Currently, Windows Phon...

Story of a girl - "I Married a Stranger.." I was on the bed, feeling terrified. I opened my diary and wrote, 'I married a stranger' and quickly hid it under the bed. My whole body was shaking.  "What do I do?" I questioned myself. "Do I act like a virgin?" "But what if he finds out? Do I tell him to wait for it for a few days? But what if it makes him angry?"  The front door opened and my heart jumped in my neck. I was breathing heavily. The sound of his footsteps gave me goosebumps. I looked down and pretended to be calm. I saw him stopping at the door though I wasn't looking at him. "Ghauri", he said with ever-so-calm voice. I dared not to look at him. "Ghauri, I am going to sleep in another room", he said. 'If your husband doesn't want to sleep with you, you have failed as a wife', echoed my mother's voice in my head. But I didn't look up. I stayed quiet. "Don't you want t...