New Tablets from Microsoft

Big day for Microsoft. Today they announced the new Surface tablet lineup the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. The event was held by MS Vice President Panos Panay.

Surface 2 Pro

Also known as the tablet for the professional use. Compared to it's predecessor it brings 50% better graphics and color accuracy thanks to Intel Haswell(core i5). Overall performances is 20% increased. Screen is ClearType HD(1080p). Battery life is 75% better then it was with the last Surface Pro. This was the biggest complaint on the last tablet, short battery life. Panos Panay said that Surface Pro 2 is faster then 95% laptops that are currently on the market. It brings 3 USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. Screen size is 10.6 inches with the resolution 1920x1080 Full HD. Surface 2 Pro runs the full version Windows 8.

Surface 2 Pro will cost you $899, you can preorder it from 24 September and becomes available at October 22.

Surface 2

There is no more RT in the title of the tablet. Good call on that one. Design is very similar to the Surface RT, except it's easier and thinner. The screen is now Full HD same as the Pro version. The operating system is RT version of the Windows 8.1. Battery life is increased by 25% and it's 4 to 5 times faster then Surface RT.

This isn't surprising considering it comes equipped with Nvidia Tegra 4 chip. Two cameras are included, the front one for Skype calls and the back one for taking photos and videos.

If you buy the Surface 2 you will get a year of Best of Skype service, witch includes free international calls and ability to make calls over wifi. Buyers will also get a 200GB SkyDrive  free for two years. Microsoft is going all out on this one. It looks like they don't want the Surface 2 to have the same fate as the Surface RT.

Price of the Surface 2 is $449.

What would the Surface tablets be without Type Cover. During this event Panos Panay introduced the new Type Cover 2. Witch is 1 mm thinner then the last version, backlit, silent keyboard and comes on multiple of colors. It's going to be available during next year.

Sony Will Loose Money on PlayStation 4

When PlayStation 4 hits the stores Sony will not be making any money from selling the console. In fact they will be loosing money each time they sell a PlayStation 4. This will be minimal loss, somewhere about 60 USD, witch they will get back once a buyer buys a game and gets a PlayStation Plus membership.

Sony is hopping that PlayStation 4 will become profitable much faster then it's predecessor. PlayStation 3 had a high production cost because of the Cell processor, so it only become profitable after a few years of selling.

Microsoft has announced that they will be selling the Xbox One console whithout losses. Xbox One is a 100 USD more expensive but Kinect is included in the price, while with the PlayStation 4 you have to buy PlayStation Move separately.

Both companies Sony and Microsoft have invested a lot of money in their next generation consoles, so we guess these console wars should be interesting. Witch will be the best thing for the gamers worldwide.

Tim Cook joins Twitter

The CEO of Apple Tim Cook become active on twitter. He wrote his fist tweet on Friday, it was a promotional tweet about the just introduced iPhone 5 lineup.


"Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy costumers reminds us why we do what we do"


So far Tim has over 185.00 followers and he is following twenty other users, among those are Bill Clinton and the Catholic Pope. Last week at the Apple event where they introduced the iPhone 5s and the plastic iPhone 5c, Tim Cook said that the iPhone is environmentally friendly because

"It's arsenic free, mercury free and Android free"

If Tim can make tweets like this he is definitely the guy you want to follow on this social network. Doesn't really matter if you are an Apple fan or not.

You can follow Tim Cook at @tim_cook

Microsoft Office for iPad and Android

Earlier this year Microsoft has released  their Microsoft Office app for the iPhone. However they did not release this app for iPad or any other Android based tablet. According to Steve Ballmer they are already working on bringing MS Office to iPad and Android tablets. The only tablet that supports MS Office at this time is Surface RT.

This is not the first time that Microsoft is bringing their programs to other operating systems. The company has already released SkyDrive, Skype and OneNote for Android and iOS. This is definitely a positive example by Microsoft and something that other companies should do in the future.

Maybe we will here more about this on Microsoft event this Monday, where they plan to introduce the new Surface tablet lineup.

Apple and Samsung Working Together

Almost everybody knows about rivalry between Samsung and Apple. They been publicly accusing each other of different things, they have been a few law suits and much more.  It's easy to say that these companies are not in best of terms. But what most people don't know is that these two companies are working together.

Apple has been looking for someone to take production of A7 chips away from Samsung but they just can't find anyone at this time. The new iPhone 5s has an A7 chip that is being manufactured by Samsung. So I guess it's gone be some time before Apple finds somebody good enough that can take the manufacturing of their A series chips away from the South Korean company.

However Apple is not totally relying on Samsung to manufacture components for their devices. They had better luck finding someone for the M7 chip that is also in their new iPhone 5s. M7 is being produced NXP semiconductors a company from Netherlands.

NASA Needs Workers

Need a job but you're not all that crazy about working. Well NASA has a solution for you. They are hiring people just lay down in bed and do nothing. First you have to go through a trial period that last about a week and then you get the job. The job last for 70 days and it pays 5000 dollars a month.

The goal of this study is to collect data about effects of microgravity on your body. Because laying in bed resembles the conditions that astronaut will encounter in space when they are not in earth gravity field. NASA wants to know what happens to humans bones, muscles, blood and digestion during this period.

During this 70 day period everything you do will have to be while laying in bed. Eating, drinking and even showering will be in bed, plus you will be allowed to watch TV, play video games and anything else you want to do while laying in bed.

NASA has been doing studies like this since 2005. So if you are from USA you can send your application for this job right here.

New Layoffs at BlackBerry

BlackBerry just can't get things going in the right direction. Evan with the release of the new operating system and same new smartphone thins are still looking pretty bad for the company. Guess putting Alicia Keys as the creating director didn't have much effect.

After BlackBerry stock's dropped another 20% the company has announced that they will be firing 40% of their work force, witch means somewhere around 4500 people will loose their jobs. It is expected that their revenue loss will be somewhere around 950 million dollars. I wonder will the creative director aka Alicia Keys be among those 40% workers that get fired.

Canadian company has hinted several times that they are interested in selling but it seems that there is nobody interested in buying. Microsoft has been rumored as a potential buyer but after their purchase of Nokia this is very unlikely.