Author: Richard Hay

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 233 #OTP

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 233 #OTP

Posted by | Jun 12, 2017 | , |

Welcome to Episode 233 of Observed.Tech. While I am not calling this a special episode, I mean it is in sequence but a few days late due to some recent travel, I will say it is uniquely full of a lot of Xbox news coming  out of E3 in Los Angeles. Of course by now many of you have already heard about the Xbox One X and all the game announcements from Microsoft’s E3 Media Briefing yesterday but this show is a wrap-up and summary of all those news items. I do spend a few minutes at the top of the show covering some non-Xbox related news items and some Xbox news that floated up last week before E3 but I spend most of this episode talking about all the goodies that are coming out from E3 so far this week. Guess what – the show has not even officially opened yet! As always enjoy the show and thanks again for listening!

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Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 232 #OTP

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 232 #OTP

Posted by | Jun 3, 2017 | , |

Welcome to Episode 232 of Observed.Tech. It has been a huge busy week to catch up on from all the new hardware at COMPUTEX, a little Windows Insidering adventure with inadvertent build releases, Google blocking ads, continued discussions around system security and real-time protection, and a new podcast I am now hosting for work. Starting with that last item, I am happy to invite all of you to listen in on the inaugural episode of the IT Pro Today PODCAST that we just started over at Penton and the Windows IT Pro website. I co-host with one of my Content Editors and the format will include an interview with someone in the IT Pro/Tech Community plus a follow on round table segment to talk about current news and other items. I hope you will come over and check out the show as we are getting started. Many of you know last week that some builds were inadvertently sent out to Windows Insiders and so we talk about that and how to sort your device out if you ended up getting the unintended build. Of course, COMPUTEX was big last week with so many hardware related announcements so I discuss those and how OEM hardware is improving overall plus what impact some new gear will have on Microsoft’s mobile plans. Sprinkled through out the show is other news such as Google Chrome and blocking ads, how smartphones have impacted customer service, Amazon forking out a lot of money for some unauthorized purchases, the 2017 Internet Trends report, and one of the biggest airplanes you have ever seen! As always enjoy the show and thanks again for listening!

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Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 231 #OTP

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 231 #OTP

Posted by | May 27, 2017 | , |

Welcome to Episode 231 of Observed.Tech. We start off this show talking about Microsoft’s stock price achievement that happened this past week and how the stock price has doubled since Satya Nadella was named the CEO in February 2014. I then hit on a couple of new tidbits relating to the WannaCry ransomware that ran wild earlier this month and the surprising stats about what versions of Windows were heavily infected by this malware. Of course, this past week was the big Microsoft event in Shanghai and we have all the details about those announcements and a closer look at the new Surface Pro that arrives in a couple of weeks alongside of the new Surface Laptop. In China they will see the Surface Studio, Surface Laptop, and Surface Pro all available on the 15th of June. We have an update about the Windows 10 Creators Update roll out and its expansion to new devices plus a couple of cumulative updates for the Anniversary and Creators Updates for Windows 10. In the Xbox world there were a few new announcements this week including the re-branding of their Beam streaming service to Mixer, the official launch of the Xbox Game Pass, and the list of titles that will be available in the June Games with Gold collection. Spread through the show are tidbits such as new hardware from OEMs, Amazon turning 20, Windows on Git, resources for Microsoft Teams in Education, my graphics and image editing tools, and building trust in this post-truth world. As always enjoy the show and thanks again for listening!

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Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 230 #OTP

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 230 #OTP

Posted by | May 20, 2017 | , |

Welcome to Episode 230 of Observed.Tech. It is a short week for this episode of the podcast because I only just recorded episode 229 four days ago but that was a necessity after my trip to Build 2017 in Seattle to get caught up. We get back on track with our Saturday morning recording sessions today and cover some follow up items from Build and the WannaCry Malware episode among other things. This past week we saw a huge update to OneNote that now brings a common UI across all of the platforms it is on from PC to iOS, Android, and the web plus I tell you about the super secret experimental features option you can turn on to try out new features before they go final. We catch up on the latest build of Windows 10 Redstone 3, aka the Fall Creators Update, and also talk more about wider access to Story Remix and the new Photos app on all of your Windows 10 devices. Of course, the rumors about next week’s Shanghai event now include leaked images of the Surface hardware that is supposedly going to be launched next week so we talk a little about that as well. Elsewhere you will find tidbits about Linux on Windows 10 S, Xbox One console updates, Twitter and your data privacy, crowdfunding platforms cracking down on risky campaigns, going underground at Microsoft, and a few updates from Google I/O this past week. As always enjoy the show and thanks again for listening!

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Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 229 #OTP

Observed.Tech PODCAST Episode 229 #OTP

Posted by | May 16, 2017 | , |

Welcome to Episode 229 of Observed.Tech. This weeks show is a couple of days late because of my travel back from Build 2017 in Seattle and some recovery time but in this episode I walk through all the major announcements that impact Windows 10 and the new ecosystem Microsoft discussed last week. Before I dived into details from Build, I addressed an email I received from a listener last week after I talked about and subsequently removed the links to subscribe to the podcast in Zune. It helped me understand some still make tech choices that are different than my own which is OK as long as it does not compromise security of your OS ecosystem. That link is now back on this show page in the options below due to that email. I then spend most of the show talking about new features for the now officially dubbed Fall Creators Update (Redstone 3) such as OneDrive Files On-Demand, Timeline, Pick Up Where You Left Off, a new Cloud-powered Clipboard and Story Remix – the most popular demo from nearly five hours of keynotes. In addition I cover the new Fluent Design Language, what we have known as Project NEON until now, and how that is starting to appear in more first party apps on both Windows 10 desktop and mobile devices. Links to all of the related news are on the Show Notes page so make sure you go visit there and read through all the details I highlighted in this episode. As always enjoy the show and thanks again for listening!

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