Barely two weeks after playing a prominent role in Microsoft's launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Redmond veteran Steven Sinofsky is out as head of the Windows Division, effective immediately.

Sinofsky, who led development and marketing of Microsoft's flagship product for more than three years, joined the company as a software design engineer in July 1989. His departure, announced late Monday, was abrupt and took the tech and business worlds by surprise, with All Things D likening the suddenness of the news to Apple's ouster of iOS chief Scott Forstall late last month.

The tech site cited unnamed sources as saying that the Microsoft executive's departure "came amid growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives." "Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for," according to All Things D's Ina Fried.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressed Sinofsky's departure in a company statement, describing the move as a "leadership change" without explaining why such a prominent and out-front executive was leaving the company so close to the roll out of its biggest new product in years.

"I am grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company. The products and services we have delivered to the market in the past few months mark the launch of a new era at Microsoft," Ballmer said.

"We've built an incredible foundation with new releases of Microsoft Office, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Server 2012, and 'Halo 4,' and great integration of services such as Bing, Skype, and Xbox across all our products. To continue this success it is imperative that we continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams, and have more integrated and rapid development cycles for our offerings."

Sinofsky took over the Windows Division in July 2009 after more than a decade contributing to and leading the development of Microsoft's Office products. He was also heavily involved in recruiting talent to Redmond over the years.

"It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company," Sinofsky said in a statement.

Julie Larson-Green has been promoted to lead Windows software and hardware engineering, while chief financial officer and chief marketing officer Tami Reller will lead the business side of the Windows operation while retaining her current positions at the company, Microsoft said.

"Leading Windows engineering is an incredible challenge and opportunity, and as I looked at the technical and business skills required to continue our Windows trajectory—great communication skills, a proven ability to work across product groups, strong design, deep technical expertise, and a history of anticipating and meeting customer needs—it was clear to me that Julie is the best possible person for this job, and I'm excited to have her in this role," Ballmer said of Larson-Green's new role.


By Damon Poeter

Microsoft has officially released Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7. The preview build of the IE10 browser can be downloaded today, with the final build launching some time next year.

Those interested in giving IE10 for Windows 7 a try can download the preview here.

On the official IE blog, Rob Mauceri, Group Program Manager, Internet Explorer says, “IE10 on Windows 7 has the same standards based platform for developers to target as IE10 on Windows 8. We built an entirely new browser with Windows 8, with more performance and developer capabilities. IE10 brings improved real-world site performance and additional standards support to Windows 7 that Web developers have been asking for. We look forward to getting your feedback on IE10 on Windows 7, and will provide another update when the preview is available.”

IE10 was originally designed for Windows 8 with touchscreens and tablets in mind and it will be interesting to see how the new browser translates on Windows 7.

IE10 claims to bring with it a bunch of new features such as a faster and more fluid browsing experience, more interpolated HTML5 support, rich visual effects, enhanced web programming model, privacy with “Do not track” on by default and an overall smoother browsing experience. You can read the complete features of the IE10 on the official Microsoft IE blog here.

So, will you download the new browser for Windows 7? Do let us know what you think of its performance and interface, in the comments section below.

PS : I have downloaded it and till now its proving better than any previous version of Internet  Explorer

Sorry guys for keeping the blog off for such a long time,it was due to time and resources crunch,but here we are back !

Now coming to the topic Wikipedia Offline

This post is a treat for Wikipedia users

Imagine no internet ,and you want an  important information to be sought from Wikipedia.

Voila you hit it right , Whole Wikipedia on your PC anywhere anytime and no internet .

But for freebies seekers its not a good news as it comes with a price of Rs 150 (+20 rupees handling charges)

Its not the cost of software,but the charges of magazine your are getting it with and the charges of making it a  dual layer(8 GB) DVD + one another DVD of resourceful software(s) and a full version game Blacklight:Retribution (Its all bundled ,so don't ask for bargain,as its not my product)

Wanna order just email me at jazzatwork8@gmail.com !

Sony has unveiled three smartphones in its Xperia range called the Xperia T, Xperia V and Xperia J at IFA Berlin 2012. It also introduced the much awaited Sony Xperia Tablet S.

Let us take look at what the three new Xperia phones have to offer.

Sony Xperia T
The Xperia T is Sony’s flagship smartphone that will be used by none other than James Bond himself in the upcoming film, Skyfall. In a market dominated by quad-core processors, the Xperia T has a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and Adreno 225 GPU. One of the biggest highlights of the product is its 13MP camera that boasts of the Sony Exmor R sensor with 16x digital zoom. Straight out of the box, the device will run Android 4.0 ICS but Sony says that the device will be upgradable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. You can take a detailed look at the specifications of the device below:

Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8260A processor
Adreno 225 GPU
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
4.6-inch Reality Display (1,280x720) with Mobile BRAVIA engine
13 MP camera with 16x digital zoom and 1080p HD video recording
720p HD video chat camera
PlayStation Certified
DLNA
1850 Li-ion battery (6.5 hours talktime, 300 hours standby time)
Sony also announced the Xperia TX, which is identical to the Xperia T but is aimed for the Asian market. We'd first seen the Xperia T codenamed the LT29i Hayabusa, and Xperia SL.



Sony Xperia V
Next up, we have the Sony Xperia V (formerly Xperia 'Mint') that has the same 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with the 13MP camera as the Xperia T but sports a smaller 4.3-inch display. Just like the weather proof Xperia Go (read our review here), the Xperia V will have a water resistant skin and Sony says that the device can survive submersion in water. The device too runs Android 4.0 ICS straight out of the box but will be upgradable to 4.1 Jelly Bean.

You can take a detailed look at the specifications of the device below.

Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor
Adreno 225 GPU
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via a microSD card
4.3-inch Reality display with Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2
ClearAudio+ sound
HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging
13 MP rear camera with 16x digital zoom and 1080p HD video recording
NFC
IP55 and IP57 certification.
PlayStation Certified
1700 mAh Li-ion battery (7 hours talk time, 300 hours standby time)


Sony Xperia J
At the bottom of the line, Sony has introduced the Xperia J, which boasts of a 4-inch display and has a 5MP camera. Being at the lower end of the spectrum, the device has a 1GHz CPU and fairly basic specifications. The device will run on Android 4.0 ICS straight out of the box.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227A processor
Adreno 200 GPU
512MB RAM
4GB intermal storage expandable up to 32 GB via a microSD card
4-inch display with scratch-resistant Gorilla glass.
5 MP AF rear camera
DLNA Certified
1750 mAh Li-ion battery (5.5 hours talk time, 607 hours standby time)


Sony Tablet S
Sony also announced the next generation Sony Tablet S at IFA 2012. The device has a 9.4-inch display with a resolution of 1280x800 and a wedge design just like its predecessor. The tablet is made from magnesium-aluminum alloy and weighs 570 grams. Where the original Tablet S measured between 10.1mm and 20.6mm in thickness, the new tablet S measures between 8.8mm and 11.9mm, making it slimmer than its predecessor.

Under the hood, the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz powers the device and it runs on a 6000mAh battery. The Tablet S will launch with Android 4.0 ICS the device will come with three options for internal storage - 16, 32 and 64GB expandable via a MicroSD card. The tablet also houses an 8MP rear snapper and a 1MP front facing video chat camera.



All the devices were unveiled by Sony without two pieces of critical information – launch dates and pricing details.


By Sameer Mitha

First shown off at Computex in June 2012, the Samsung Series 5 Ultra Touch Ultrabook is the same series 5 Ultrabook that we have seen with the addition of a touchscreen.

The device will launch with Windows 8 on the same day that Microsoft’s latest desktop/tablet OS will launch in the market.

The Samsung Series 5 Ultra Touch has a 13.3-inch capacitive multi-touch display with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, along with 24GB ExpressCache. The device is fairly light, weighing in at 1.73 kgs. The lower end model comes with a Core i3 processor and will cost $799 (Rs. 44,500 approx.) and the higher end model comes with a Core i5 processor and will cost $899 (Rs. 50,000 approx.).

Samsung is adding its own mix of apps to Windows 8. Coming bundled with the device are the Samsung Hub apps (Music, Video, Media and Social). Users may be familiar with these apps as they are similar to the ones found on Samsung’s Android powered smartphones. Also onboard is the S-Launcher, a widget that will give users a replacement to the missing Start Menu in Windows 8.

Samsung is also bringing its AllShare app that uses DLNA to share content between devices. eSettings will also be available, a unified options menu for Windows 8 begineers. Samsung will also include apps that will help users with the learning curve that will be involved with Windows 8.

Windows 8 is Microsoft’s biggest OS revamp in a very long time. The OS is optimized for use on the touchscreen interface of tablets as well as the mouse and keyboard experience of desktops and laptops unifying the Windows ecosystem.

You can take a look at some of the cool features of Windows 8 here. Do also check out DIGIT review of the new Samsung Series 5 (Ivy Bridge) ultrabook.

HP has introduced three Windows 8 devices at IFA 2012 – the Envy x2 laptop-tablet hybrid, the SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook, and the Envy Touchsmart Ultrabook 4. Pricing and availability details have only been revealed for the Spectre XT ($1,400 and December), though the other two are expected to arrive around the same time.

The 8.5mm-thick aluminium-built HP Envy x2 is a Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrid with an 11-inch IPS (1,366x768 pixel, 400 nits brightness) display, and runs on an Intel Atom Clover Trail processor. It features 64GB of built-in storage, complete with a microSD card, and a full-size SD slot. An 8MP rear camera rounds of the specs, apart from two USB ports, and one HDMI port. It is expected to offer roughly 9-10 hours of battery life. The Envy x2 will also feature NFC connectivity, apart from Beats Audio sound. A keyboard dock will ship with the device, and an optional stylus is available.



As for the other two announcements, HP’s basically added a touchscreen and its TouchSmart technology to two of its ultrabooks, the Envy 4 and SpectreXT. The Envy 4 retains its 14-inch form factor, now weighs 4.77 pounds, and is 23mm thick. The originally 13-inch SpectreXT has been given a 15-inch Full HD TouchSmart display with the refresh, now weighs 4.77 pounds and is 22mm thick.



The new 15-inch SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook will run on Ivy Bridge processors, and comes in SSD, and hybrid hard drive (conventional plus 32GB SSD) options. It features two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, a memory card reader, and an Ethernet port. HP’s also bundled a 2-year Norton security software subscription, apart from Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. Read our review of the Envy 4 for a better idea of its specifications.



Do check out our previous coverage of IFA 2012, where Samsung and Sony have made various announcements, from new Windows 8 machines, to Android smartphones and tablets.