EdJonesTwitterFeed

Friday, December 25, 2015

A holiday gift from Microsoft? Depends on your point of view...

If you are using Windows 10, you may have received a gift from Microsoft sometime during the holiday season in the form of the first major update to Windows 10. Skype and Skype Messenger are a part of Windows 10; you can change the colors of the title bars of active windows (yaay); the Start menu may include advertisements (boo); and there's a "find my device" feature similar to Apple's popular "find my iPhone/iPad" feature. GPS location services must be turned on in Windows settings and the device has to be turned on and Windows 10 loaded at least as far as the login screen in the background for this to work, although you can set an option to periodically send the device location to Microsoft's servers so if it's lost, you can retrieve that location. There's an excellent article with specifics at the howtogeek.com website; see

http://www.howtogeek.com/232176/whats-new-in-windows-10s-first-big-update-the-windows-10-fall-update/

Samsung's new Galaxy View tablet is a carry-around television set...

Millenials may call this a tablet, but those of us that are of the baby boomer set will think of this as a tv set you can drag all over the house.  With its mammoth 18.4 inch screen and power-on one touch access to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Showtime, Crackle, and more, this is one tablet that's clearly designed for entertainment. You can add more services to the startup menu, setup of your services is as simple as with any Android tablet (this one is running Android lollipop) and the Galaxy View runs smoothly with Comcast's xFinity app and with the DirecTV app.

(The drawback is the $600 price tags; for that kind of cash, you could pick up two 32-inch flat screens, set both to start up loading a Roku stick or a Fire TV Stick, and get similar choices in entertainment.)  If you are curious, you'll find the Samsung View here on Amazon.com-

Samsung View