Apple has just released a new version of iOS for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Listed changes are as follows:

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

The new iOS build is available for download as an over-the-air update for users with iOS 5.0 or later installed on their devices, or it can be downloaded and installed using iTunes. iOS 5.1.1 is compatible with the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2, iPad and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch devices.

Adobe on Thursday released its Photoshop CS6 beta with a new, faster and more modern user interface, re-engineered design tools and content-aware patching. “Photoshop CS6 will be a milestone release that pushes the boundaries of imaging innovation with incredible speed and performance,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “We couldn’t wait to share this beta of Photoshop CS6 with our customers and are looking forward to hearing from them and seeing the ways they are incorporating the beta into their daily creative workflows.” The download is roughly 1GB and comes with “all the features in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended.” PC users are required to have a 2GHz or faster processor with at least 1GB of RAM, while Mac users who have a multicore Intel processor and 1GB of RAM should be fine. The Photoshop CS6 beta is available as a free download from Adobe’s website and the release version is expected to launch in the first half of 2012. Read on for Adobe’s press release.

Photoshop CS6 Beta Now Available on Adobe Labs

First Major Release since April 2010 Packed with New Features and Huge Performance Enhancements

SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 22, 2012 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 beta, a preview of what’s to come in the next release of the industry standard in digital imaging, is available as a free download from Adobe Labs. Customers can download the beta, try out the experience and provide feedback to the product team. Packed with groundbreaking new innovations,featuresand incredible performance enhancements, Photoshop CS6 beta is available for the Mac OS and Microsoft® Windows® platforms. The final release is expected in the first half of 2012.

“Photoshop CS6 will be a milestone release that pushes the boundaries of imaging innovation with incredible speed and performance,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “We couldn’t wait to share this beta of Photoshop CS6 with our customers and are looking forward to hearing from them and seeing the ways they are incorporating the beta into their daily creative workflows.”

New Features in Photoshop CS6 Beta
Photoshop CS6 beta demonstrates Adobe’s focus on huge performance enhancements, imaging magic and creativity tools that offer customers a new experience in digital imaging. Key features include new additions to the Content-Aware tools: Content-Aware Patch allows greater control by letting users select and duplicate an area of an image to fill in or “patch” another, and Content-Aware Move lets users select and magically move an object to a new place in the image.

In addition, the Photoshop CS6 beta offers all the features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, such as new 3D editing features and quantitative imaging analysis capabilities. These features will be included in the shipping version of Photoshop CS6 Extended when it becomes available.

Pricing and Availability
The Photoshop CS6 beta is available immediately as a free download in English and Japanese. At installation, users will be required to provide an Adobe ID to complete a one-time login and online product activation. For information on how to install Photoshop CS6 beta, visit www.adobe.com/go/photoshopcs6. Customers can submit feedback via the Photoshop CS6 beta forum. Users can also connect with the Photoshop team via the community-powered site; on Facebook; YouTube; Photoshop.com blog; or via Twitter.

Apple announced during its press conference on Wednesday that the latest version of its mobile operating system would become available for download later in the day. iOS 5.1 has now been released for the iPad 2, iPad, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and second and third-generation iPod touch handhelds, and the new iOS build brings Japanese language support for Siri along with a number of additional updates. And ridiculous though it may be, AT&T iPhone owners will now see “4G” in place of 3G next to their signal bars while connected to HSPA. We detailed key changes in our exclusive hands-on with the software last month. iOS 5.1 is currently in the process of being made available through iTunes and over the air, but impatient users can download the appropriate update via the read link below.

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One of the most beloved video games in history has been refreshed in a new mashup that gaming fans of all shapes and sizes need to download immediately. The title is “Mari0″ and simply stated, it’s Super Mario Brothers meets Portal. Game developer Maurice Guegan is the man behind Mari0, and he built the title from the ground up. It features a start to finish recreation of Nintendo’s original Super Mario Brothers game, adds a portal gun that shoots portals through which Mario can travel as in the popular PC game “Portal,” and mixes in a 4-player cooperative mode along with several additional features. The result is an addictive game that does a better job adding a new twist to an old classic than anything we’ve seen in recent history. Mari0 is free and open source, and it is available immediately for Windows, OS X and Linux PCs. A trailer video follows below, as does a link to a download that will ensure your Monday is completely unproductive.

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Apple’s iOS platform seemed to come out of nowhere and take the world by storm in 2007. The introduction of the first-generation iPhone set in motion a chain of events that lead up to the holiday quarter in 2011, when Apple recorded the most profitable quarter in technology history thanks mainly to unbelievable iPhone, iPod touch and iPad sales. No platform is selling as quickly as Apple’s mobile platform right now, but iOS is still in its infancy and the fact remains: as hot as iOS is right now, and as popular as smartphones and media tablets are, no platform installed base on the planet even comes close to approaching the size of Windows right now.

The Future

Microsoft said this past December that there are now more than 1.25 billion PCs running the Windows operating system. Billion, with a “B.” Smartphones are the hottest segment in consumer electronics right now and people are buying Apple’s iPad in droves, but even still, more people around the world rely on Windows than ever before. This is because the software that powers countless businesses from the ground up is built on Windows. From web browsers to accounting software to point-of-sale systems to 3D animation software to word processors to custom proprietary solutions and far, far beyond… Entire industries are built on Windows.

The future is anything but “post-PC.”

We are now entering the post-post-PC era, and its focus is the PC. A new, smarter, more versatile PC. A PC that lets users browse the web casually in bed and work with massive databases in SQL Server. A PC that can run a $0.99 news reader as well as it can run proprietary $99,000 CRM software. A PC that is as ideal for playing Angry Birds as it is for running a modeling environment that allows its user to build schematics for a skyscraper. This is the future of computing.

That is not to say Windows 8 is an “iPad killer” or that media tablets are going away. Far from it. While their functionality may overlap in a number of areas, light-duty tablets and full-fledged PCs serve different purposes and will continue to coexist for some time. What we will see, however, is media tablets becoming more capable and more powerful as PCs become better suited for touch input. At some point down the road the two categories may merge, but neither will “win” or “lose.”

The OS

I’ve spent the past week playing with and working on a Samsung tablet powered by Microsoft’s new operating system. It’s nice to be able to work and play on the same tablet.

While Windows 8 is not quite in a state where it is ready to be released to the public, it is a completely different beast than the Developer Preview Microsoft released more than five months ago. During a meeting with Microsoft executives, I was told that the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 includes tens of thousands of changes compared to the version that was released to developers in September. Thousands of changes are system-level items that I’m sure I didn’t notice, but thousands more are user-facing changes that have helped improve the user experience dramatically.

One of my favorite features is the implementation of swipe gestures. As can be seen in the second and third images within our Windows 8 screenshot gallery, Microsoft has tweaked the main menus used to navigate the OS and perform a variety of key functions. While using a touchscreen to interface with Windows 8, these menus are opened using gestures.

A swipe from the bezel around the screen in from the right opens the start menu, which includes a search button to search for files and apps, a share button to share the current page via email or using other services, a start button, a devices button that lists devices connected to your PC, and a settings button that provides quick access to basic settings such as brightness and speaker volume, as well as a link to more system settings. A swipe in from the left switches between open apps, and a swipe in from the left and back out to the edge of the display opens the app-switcher. Within an app, a swipe down from the top or up from the bottom opens app-specific menus.

While using a keyboard and mouse, gestures from the sides are replaced by keyboard shortcuts or mouse touches to the corners of the screen. A touch to the top-right or bottom-right corner mimics a swipe in from the right and opens the start menu while a touch to the top-left or bottom-left corners opens the app-switcher.

There are countless other great features new Windows 8 Consumer Preview; from picture password, an enhanced security feature that lets the user unlock a PC by tracing preset patterns on an image of his or her choosing instead of using a simple alphanumeric password, to “roaming,” which automatically syncs settings, apps and other data between different Windows 8 computers. While one convertible slate can handle duties as a tablet, notebook and desktop computer, Windows 8 is all about choice. Some users may opt for a single device while others will want a lightweight 7-inch ARM-based tablet in addition to an eight-core beast of a desktop PC.

In terms of performance, Windows 8 exhibited the smoothness and stability we’ve come to expect in a post-Vista world, and this is just a preview version. There were hiccups, of course, but overall the experience was vastly superior than it has been with any other version of Windows. The setup is remarkably fast and easy, touch responsiveness is iPad-like and I was quite impressed with the versatility of this platform. To understand the concept of one device for work and for play is one thing. To sit in bed hopping around lightweight apps and then walk over to your desk, dock your tablet, and have desktop-grade productivity software running on the same device is something else entirely.

The machine I tested Windows 8 on is a pre-release dockable Samsung tablet with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. Yes, it’s a tablet with a fan. It’s also a tablet that can run your existing desktop-grade enterprise software, consumer software and lightweight Metro-style apps. Get over it.

The Endgame

Windows 8 gives us a glimpse at the future of computing, but it’s not quite there yet. While the version I spent time with is merely the Consumer Preview and not the release build of Windows 8, it gives us a very good idea of what Microsoft’s new operating system will look like when it launches. The concept is fantastic and I very much like Microsoft’s execution thus far, but it still feels like a marriage of two completely different operating systems rather than a fusion of two experiences.

This is by design, in part. Because the function of a true PC varies so greatly from the function of a media tablet (as we know this category of devices today), Microsoft has created separate experiences for each category. There is a tablet experience with the fantastic Metro UI, a desktop experience reminiscent of Windows 7, and a bit of overlap with each, intended to create some amount of cohesiveness. The end result, however, is not a consistent experience.

There is a disconnect that can be felt across Windows 8. Again, this is mostly by design. In what I call “tablet mode,” the user is presented with an interface that is quite clearly built to be touched. It is characterized by a cascade of large tiles that display live data and can be poked to open apps. The Metro-style apps that are revealed house nice big buttons and a touch-friendly design. Metro-style apps also take up every last pixel of the display, which is a fantastic canvas on which developers can paint terrific experiences.

In “desktop mode,” Windows 8 has the look and feel of Windows 7. In fact, it basically is Windows 7. There are some elements of Metro that spill over into desktop mode — such as the app-switcher and Windows Phone-like lock screen, which displays notifications from up to five apps — but they are effectively completely separate platforms.

Desktop mode has not been optimized for touch at all. In fact, tapping in a text field while no physical keyboard is attached to the tablet doesn’t even bring up the virtual keyboard. Instead, the user must tap on a small keyboard icon in the task bar to open the keyboard, and then he or she must tap another two buttons to close the keyboard once finished typing. And while in desktop mode, by the way, I found that the keyboard often obscured the text field in which I was typing.

Perhaps I can better illustrate my point about the disconnect with this simple example:

Windows 8 ships with two completely separate web browsers. One is called “Internet Explorer”. The other is called “Internet Explorer.”

Internet Explorer is a fantastic Metro-style browser that is designed with touch in mind. Controls are large and easy to poke, menus retract and let web pages occupy every inch of the display, and pages load lightning-fast in this lightweight tablet browser. Then, in desktop mode, users can browse the web using Internet Explorer, the same robust web browser hundreds of millions of people currently use around the world on their Windows PCs.

Confused yet?

Microsoft’s inclusion of two completely different web browsers that share the exact same name is indicative of the separation present in Windows 8. One tablet OS and one desktop OS, together on the same machine.

In the end, this disconnect is probably a good thing for now. Windows users come in all shapes and sizes, and millions of people who will upgrade to Windows 8 in the coming years will be terrified of doing so. They are used to Windows as we know it today, and the look and feel of Metro is a complete departure from the Windows they currently rely on day in and day out. After the initial shock wears off, these people who are so scared of change will find themselves eased into the new Windows because desktop mode is so familiar, and because “tablet mode” is so separate from it.

But this is not the future of post-post-PCs.

Windows 8 is the tip of the iceberg. The start of a shift that will eventually see the “tablet” UI and the “desktop” UI merge into one comprehensive user experience. Apple is taking a different approach; as we’re seeing in OS X Mountain Lion, Apple is slowly readying its desktop user interface for a touch environment by taking some of the elements from its gorgeous mobile UI and adapting them for desktop computers. This varies dramatically from the path Microsoft is taking with Windows 8, but the endgame is the same: one experience that is as capable as it is versatile, and as user-friendly as it is beautiful.

This is the future of computing.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview will become available to the general public on Wednesday as a free download with an initial cache of more than 100 apps in the Store, all of which will be free during the preview period.

Today is the day you can finally reach out and touch Windows 8. Well, the vast majority of you won’t be able to physically touch it — Windows 8 tablets aren’t yet in the market, but you’re free to download the Consumer Preview on your PC. We spent a bunch of time with a reference version tablet device and were impressed with what we saw — plus this is only the beginning. The download comes in around 3GB and if you don’t feel like jumping on your neighbor’s super speedy unsecured Wi-Fi connection, you could always… take your laptop to an Apple store and use their insanely fast Wi-Fi. Oh, yeah.

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Mobile World Congress has been a roller coaster ride so far this year. The week kicked off with a bang on Sunday with both Sony and HTC unveiling their latest and greatest smartphones, and the HTC One X was definitely the star of the show. Things were up and down on Monday and Tuesday however, and the show actually got pretty slow for a while there. Our time in Barcelona isn’t up just yet, however, and Microsoft chose today to unveil the latest version of its next-generation operating system, Windows 8. The technology giant released a preview version of Windows 8 last September, but we’re sure plenty has changed over the past five months. And beyond checking out all the new features Microsoft has undoubtedly baked into its new OS, we might finally get a better idea of when devices carrying the platform will finally launch. Microsoft’s Windows 8 press conference is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern / 6:00 a.m. Pacific (3:00 p.m. local time in Barcelona), so hit the break for our live coverage of the event!

UPDATE: Don’t forget to check out our full review of Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which is now live!

8:49AM:Hey folks. We're in line #2 here at Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview event. Let's see what they've got for us!

8:52AM:Upbeat music, lots of folks waiting around, and free breadsticks. Great.

8:54AM:This 4-on-the-floor drumbeat is driving us a little crazy...let's go, Microsoft!

9:01AM:Annnnd we're in. Microsof has a bevy of devices on display, all running....Windows 8!

9:03AM:As anticipated, we've got TVs, tablets, desktops, laptops, and more, all in a line

9:07AM:Ok...fake afro-beat music is a bit better but still suspect. We're 7 minutes behind schedule. * mins behind schedule and we're calling it fashionably late:)...

9:12AM:As a side note, this Catalonian sun is not helping keep any of our fellow blogger's and press folk's BO at bay...this room does not smell great.

9:14AM:We're beginning to think that the devices themselves might begin presenting...we haven't seen a single representative from Microsoft go anywhere near the stage yet. Wonder what's keeping em!

9:16AM:Of note, while we wait, there are a total of 13 different devices on stage, all of varying size and shape. Mostly tablets, with one of the largest TVs we've ever seen sitting behind it.

9:18AM:"The show will begin shortly" says the announcer...

9:20AM:lights down...er, lights yellowed...seems like it's finally go time

9:21AM:Lot's of thank you's now going on stage, thank you's to press, devs, etc...you're welcome!

9:22AM:Steven Synofsky hitting the stage now

9:23AM:Looks like we'll have immediate downloads of the beta software available following the release, fyo

9:23AM:"Windows 7 most successful Windows of all time"

9:24AM:Talking now about the compromises necessary with today's stratified mobile vs tablet vs desktop world, speaking to how complicated and unnatural the trade-offs are

9:25AM:Now speaking about how the form factor should drive consumer choice, not the set of compromises that one is willing to make. Microsoft is aiming for

9:27AM:Choice is the key word here, folks. The unified operating system experience is intended to allow consumers to decide what type of device best fits their life, and not have to worry about power management, crippled OS, etc

9:27AM:Every subsystem of Windows 8 has been re-engineered for touch and more

9:28AM:100,000 code changes since dev preview went live

9:28AM:Consumer preview is vastly different from initial dev version. They're calling it "complete" hmmmm

9:29AM:"Beautiful, modern, fast, fluid." It's a generational change in Windows. Stressing revolution vs. evolution of product here, but that it won't be a massive paradigm shift for current Windows users

9:30AM:They're calling Windows 8 a "super fun experience", which seems cute. That said, we're happy to see that they're stressing an enjoyable consumer experience over raw power, specs, and things that might appeal to power users

9:31AM:The notion of scaling is key, with a single OS that is scalable across multiple screen sizes, device type, etc. And having a functioning app-eco system that works together. Apps talking to apps, as opposed to apps functioning as an island in and of themselves. Apps enriching apps...

9:31AM:Pretty sure he's said

9:32AM:Pretty sure he's said "apps" over 59 times. Now stressing that everything is cloud connected, with integrated backups and online support. Also speaking about the current version of the Metro design language, which is design from the ground up with scaling in mind

9:33AM:Now we've got Julie Larson-Green and Antoine Leblond hitting the stage, windows program manager and windows web services manager, to walk us through the app and OS experience

9:34AM:No

9:35AM:Everything will be demonstrated using a prototype device. The device itself was designed from the ground up for usability. She's sitting in a chair, looking pretty damn comfortable, using the dev device. Nice touch.

9:36AM:The device is completely customized for each user, with a familiar lock screen, start screen, app environment, etc on each device that contains your profile info. The home screen adapts to provide the most frequently used tiles in the most convenient locations, etc

9:37AM:She's scanning in and out of home screens now. "fast and fluid" are the key terms, and everything is moving really really well. It's pretty impressive!

9:40AM:Xbox live is integrated from the ground up. We also have casual gaming for things like cut the rope and angry birds, etc etc...

9:40AM:Windows Explorer is killing it right now. The experience is moving so fast, and it actually looks like it's making internet browsing dare we say...fun? This is awesome to watch. Seriously, folks

9:40AM:Video and music stores are built into the preview as well

9:41AM:Now we're looking at a cookbook app. Nothing revolutions, but it does illustrate the beauty of the Metro style across app dev as well

9:42AM:We now have a demo of app switching using gestures. Left thumb flicked left slides back and forth through apps. This is, again, really fast. Really well implemented. We can also bring up a full task switcher by flijing up

9:43AM:Now we're on to social networking implementation. The "people" app function as a centralized hub for all of your social networking accounts. You can also pin this to the start screen with, of course, a live updating tile

9:44AM:Demonstrating multitasking now. We can place IM into a side window dock, while keeping video or any other app running in the foreground. Everything can be dragged around in real time. Awesome!

9:45AM:Nothing overlaps on top of anything else. It just switches back and forth laterally. That way you don't have 400 windows on top of one another. It's clean and efficient, a nice change from existing OS multitasking

9:45AM:The "charms" bar keeps frequently accessed info, like contacts, text, etc...and this is accessible from any app, regardless of where it originated. Apps talking to apps talking to apps...

9:46AM:Ok tablet demo done, on to laptop demo

9:46AM:He's talking about scalability, etc etc

9:47AM:We're looking at non-touchscreen devices now, with mouse and keyboard interface demos

9:47AM:CTRL-ALT-DELETE is a thing of the past!! All you need to unlock is the "enter" key. Ha!

9:47AM:Be sure to check out our Windows 8 Consumer Preview review, which just went live! http://www.bgr.com/2012/02/29/welcome-to-the-post-post-pc-era-a-review-of-microsofts-windows-8-consumer-preview/

9:48AM:Everything looks super fluid (notice a theme here...) and navigation seems pretty intuitive

9:49AM:Gestures haven't been replicated for mouse use, but 4 hot corners are used for specific "gesture" stuff. The corners are the navigation hot spots. Mouse to bottom left goes to start screen, bottom left to task switcher, etc. Seems smart to us, but we wonder how sensitive this thing is

9:50AM:Zoom in, zoom out, it all works as you might expect. And all home screens and tiles can be easily manipulated and re-arranged.

9:51AM:Task switching via hot corner is pretty...hot. We're impressed, though again...sad to see ctrl-tab go the way of the DoDo

9:52AM:

9:52AM:Kindle app, Weather app, Stocks app, etc...all Metro, all awesome.

9:53AM:The home screen is the new windows key. Hitting Windows button brings you directly to the home screen.

9:53AM:This is cool Start typing "USA" and it immediately brings you to an app list, listing USA Today as the top option. Immediate app search and launching.

9:54AM:Sharing between apps is so easy. The charms bar allows you to drop images from web to wordpress, wordpress to twitter, email to facebook, etc. The base app stays in the main screen, and the destination app comes up in the side bar. Drag, drop, post, boom. This is amazing

9:54AM:All existing Windows 7-compatible apps will work on Windows 8

9:55AM:Ok, now we've got Word coming up!

9:56AM:Office seems to work super well here, but it does just look like another Windows 7 app. We'll have to wait for a Metro version of Office to get super sexy, but at least everything will work out of the box

9:57AM:You can also manage tasks in real time, allowing you to pause tasks that need lower priority, etc

9:58AM:Metro and basic desktop functions to allow old apps work side by side. That's pretty cool, and it definitely illuminates how much cooler Metro is, but we're glad to see the desktop survive the transition

9:59AM:Ok. Now we have touch plus mouse plus keyboard. All three inputs can be used together. This is the marriage of input methods that we've been waiting for. And it looks like touch will probably become the predominant method...

10:00AM:All bookmarks, pins, apps, etc...all of these things travel with you from machine to machine, so your tablet looks like your phone looks like your laptop.

10:01AM:Now we've got a demo of the Skydrive app that allows access to documents from the cloud across all your devices. Skydrive is also working behind the scenes to sync your personlized data, profile pic, contacts, app data, etc

10:03AM:Universal search is pretty cool. Search for Harry Potter and it brings up results from the video store, web, flixter app, etc

10:04AM:Antoine is back to talk about the Windows App Store

10:04AM:The store ahs been designed for ease of access...well, that's good to know....we've got rankings, lists, etc. And then categories. Nothing revolutionary here folks, but we suppose that's not a bad thing

10:05AM:Find app, click on app, read about app, install app. Done

10:05AM:All apps in the store will be free during the preview period. Smart move!

10:06AM:Now he's talking about dev relationships, and how excited devs are to be working with the new software. "The best economics of any major app store..."

10:07AM:Large devs are on board, but they're trying to attract individual devs too. They're announcing the winner of the first apps contest...

10:08AM:Sorry 8 winners, not 1.

10:09AM:Cool. More pounding music...

10:11AM:Now we're talking wrapup stuff. "fast fluid beautiful. Okay, okay, we get it!!!

10:12AM:Now we're talking about how apps need to be brought up to spec. The OS is there, stable, ready to go. But apps need to catch up. This all makes sense. We're being cautioned not to list, review, or categorize apps, with an eye to the fact that this preview is intended to spurn further development

10:14AM:Get ready for some hardware previews, guys!

10:16AM:Okay okay, here we go. We've got Michael Angiulo to demo some new hardware!

10:17AM:We've got a demo of Windows-on-ARM, which was first announced at CES last year. Speaking to a power profile that allows support from smaller processors, like phone chips, tablet chips, etc. Low power state gives access to background tasks while sleeping, and doesn't give huge power spikes when waking to access information lost while in dormant mode

10:19AM:We've got Tegra 3, Snapdragon 5, and other stuff. This is great stuff

10:21AM:All apps are chip independent, so all apps will work on ARM, x86, etc. This makes a seamless consumer-facing experience. It's all about consistency here, ad this applies to drivers too. Printer drivers, etc will work across the board. Input devices are the same, storage devices, etc. This is revolutionary in the PC world

10:23AM:Windows 8 had to smaller overall to work on these lower power mobile processors, which should make it FLY on desktop-grade systems.

10:25AM:Ok, now on to Ultrabook stuff. We've got an Intel Next-Gen Ultrabook here, and it looks pretty...Ultrabooky. We've got 5 more on hand, ost with Ivy-bridge processors, touchscreens, etc. We've got an Acer book starting up in 8 seconds. Whoa!!

10:26AM:It's also super super thin. Approaching, if not exceeding, Macbook Air levels. This thing also has a motorized port cover. Cool touch, we suppose.

10:27AM:Alright, now we've got an HP Envy with Beats Audio, etc. Gorilla glass cover is amazing, and we're seeing some really really fast performance here.

10:28AM:And now on to Samsung, again with insanely fast performance. He's demonstrating processor adaption, with cores starting and stopping based on performance almost instantly.

10:28AM:Apps don't need to be opened or closed, because they don't use any processor power or memory when dormant

10:30AM:We're on to networking improvements, which speaks to the need to simplify connectivity due to the increased portability of Windows 8 devices

10:31AM:"Cost-based network switching" gives intelligent switching from 3G to Wi-Fi based on pre-defined preferences and profiles

10:32AM:Annnnd now the Lenovo Yoga, a convertible touchscreen-enabled laptop, is up to bat. Cool device, with a convertible screen

10:34AM:Side note, but the Microsoft Mouse is 30 years old today...

10:35AM:They're talking now about how Microsoft 8 will force a re-imagination of input methods, etc.

10:36AM:Ok, now we see why the ungodly large TV was there. It's actually a fully-functional Window 8 PC. It's really a giant Microsoft Surface, build out of Gorilla Glass. It's 82". The largest in the world. And it's running so quickly, so beautifully.

10:40AM:Ok, cool. No we're looking at how NFC inclusion allows seamless transfer of audio from internal speakers to wireless speakers. Walk in room, have music transfer from your headphones to your home stereo.

10:43AM:Alright, we've seen demos of image transfer technology, audio transfer, video editing, and...wait for it....a USB drive being connected to a Windows 8 desktop in Real Time!! Microsoft, this is great, but you had us an hour ago with the app demos. This is getting a little long in the tooth...

10:46AM:Allllllright!! Looks like we've actually hit the end point now. This has really ushered in the era of touch PCs for the consumer environment. The coolest part is that the transition is a metered one, allowing you to choose input method, from touch to keyboard to mouse, based on the usage case.

10:50AM:Now we've got a roadmap. Today, consumer preview available in English, German, Japanese, French, and Simplified Chinese. Visual Studio 11 Beta is available for devs, and preview apps are included with the store today. Beginning "really soon" we'll see updates and drivers. Stressing dynamic consumer preview, with many changes along the way. ceBIT will see enterprise features unveiled. The next milestone will be the Release Candidate, RTM, and General Availability. Preview is live already, with downloads from 70 different countries.

10:51AM:That's it guys! Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check out our full review of Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview!

Right on schedule — sort of — Research In Motion announced on Tuesday that the first major update for its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is now available for download. The highly anticipated update brings a number of much needed functionality to the PlayBook, but the most notable additions are certainly the arrival of native email, contacts and calendar functionality. BlackBerry Messenger support is still absent from the PlayBook as RIM said it would be, but BlackBerry Bridge has been updated, plenty of new social functionality has been added, RIM’s Android app player is finally on board and video chat has been enhanced as well. We took a hands on look at PlayBook OS 2.0 during the Consumer Electronics Show this past January and we can confidently say that if you own a PlayBook, you should download the new update, which will be delivered over the air, as soon as possible.

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At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Steve Ballmer announced Microsoft would ship the Kinect for Windows on February 1st. The company has delivered on its promise and on Wednesday, version 1.0 of the Kinect for Windows SDK and runtime were made available for download. The software giant’s distribution partners across the globe have also begun to ship Kinect for Windows hardware. The device will retail for $249, with a special discounted academic price of $149 for “Qualified Educational Users” that will come later this year.

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Apple’s Mac App Store hasn’t changed the industry quite like its iOS App Store did three years ago, but the Cupertino-based company on Monday announced that it has now served more than 100 million downloads from its desktop software store. ”In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement. “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.” Apple also said that its iOS App Store now holds more than 500,000 apps that have been collectively downloaded more than 18 billion times. The comapny’s full press release follows below.

Apple’s Mac App Store Downloads Top 100 Million

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec 12, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Apple(R) today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac(R) App Store(TM) in less than one year. With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes(R) account, and download and install them in just one step. Apple revolutionized the app industry with the App Store, which now has more than 500,000 apps and where customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month.

“In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

“With Autodesk products in both the App Store and Mac App Store, we can reach hundreds of millions of Apple users around the world,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk. “With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we’re using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers.”

“The Mac App Store has unparalleled reach and has completely transformed our distribution and development cycle,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “Offering Pixelmator 2.0 exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition.”

“In less than one year we’ve shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. “With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels.”

The Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is included with Mac OS(R) X Lion and is available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard(R). For more information visit, www.apple.com/mac/app-store .

Mac developers set the prices for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit, developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Apple on Wednesday made good on its promise to push out the release build of iOS 5 to consumers around the world. The new software is available for download immediately, and iTunes 10.5 is required in order to install the update. Owners of Apple’s iPhone 4 (GSM and CDMA), iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and third and fourth-generation iPod touch handhelds have access to the new build, while owners of earlier devices will not be able to install the update. iOS 5 includes more than 200 new features such as a revamped notifications system, iMessage, built-in Twitter integration, Newsstand and more. Apple also released OS X 10.7.2 with iCloud support and two new iOS apps on Wednesday: Find My Friends, which can be downloaded by visiting iCloud.com on your iOS device, and AirPort Utility.

Mozilla on Tuesday pushed out a new version of its popular Firefox web browser for Windows and Mac computers. Mozilla released Firefox 6 on August 16th, just over one month ago, and version 7 is already upon us, reaffirming Mozilla’s commitment to the world’s second most popular web browser. Firefox 7 brings with it a host of changes, the most notable of which is perhaps “drastically improved memory handling” and other speed related improvements. As of August, Net Applications shows Firefox’s global browser share as 22.57%, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (55.31%) and ahead of Chrome (15.51%) Safari (4.64%) and the Opera browser (1.68%). Firefox 7 is available for download immediately from Mozilla’s website, which is linked below.

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When Apple originally announced its new iTunes Match service, which was launched to developers yesterday inside iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1, the Cupertino-based company said the service would allow users to download previously purchased music. At the time, it appeared the benefit for iTunes Match was that it would allow users to pull down any track from iCloud to an iOS device without being near a computer. The setback to downloading tracks, however, is that your iOS device storage will still likely be clogged with music. According to Insanely Great Mac, it appears that iTunes Match actually supports streaming and not just downloading, which could make the service’s $25 annual fee much more competitive with products such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Google Music Beta and Amazon Cloud Drive. Insanely Great Mac’s video, which we’ve provided after the break, shows that users can download a song by tapping the iCloud logo, or just stream it by tapping the song title itself. According to AllThingsD, which cites an anonymous Apple executive, users will only be able to listen to a song as it downloads and iTunes Match will not support true streaming when it launches this fall. Hit the read link for the video in question.

Read [Insanely Great Mac] Read [AllThingsD]

On Wednesday, Walmart subsidiary VUDU launched a new iPad-accessible web app that allows iPad users to stream more than 20,000 movies and television shows directly from the Web. iPad owners don’t have to use iTunes and simply need to navigate to http://VUDU.com for access to rentals and purchases. “VUDU’s launch on the iPad plays into that vision as we’re committed to offering the VUDU experience on as many devices as possible so customers can shop for and access their favorite movies and TV shows however they want, whenever they want,” general manager of VUDU Edward Lichty said. Customers can add a VUDU web app to their home screen by clicking the “Add to Home Screen” button once they have accessed the website. Read on for the full press release. 

Walmart Brings VUDU’s Movie Streaming Service to iPad

More than 20,000 blockbusters, Hollywood classics and independent films can be instantly streamed through VUDU.com on iPad

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and BENTONVILLE, Ark., Aug. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Walmart announced today the launch of VUDU for the iPad. VUDU, a leading subscription-free, video-on-demand movie service and wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart stores, has optimized the navigation experience of VUDU.com to enable millions of iPad owners to rent or buy entertainment content and then stream it easily through any iPad browser.

Beginning today, iPad users can go to VUDU.com and browse through VUDU’s entertainment content library, which includes more than 20,000 blockbusters, Hollywood classics, independent films and TV episodes, then rent or purchase and watch them instantly. For one touch access to VUDU, customers can add a VUDU icon to their iPad desktops by clicking the “Add to Home Screen” button when on VUDU.com.

“At Walmart, one of our key priorities is to provide one continuous experience for our customers to interact with our brand — whether that is in stores, online or from their mobile devices,” said Edward Lichty, general manager, VUDU. “VUDU’s launch on the iPad plays into that vision as we’re committed to offering the VUDU experience on as many devices as possible so customers can shop for and access their favorite movies and TV shows however they want, whenever they want.”

Movies purchased and/or rented on the iPad can also be viewed on Walmart.com/VUDU, VUDU.com or on any VUDU-enabled consumer electronics device. VUDU is currently available on more than 300 consumer electronics devices including Internet-capable HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and the PlayStation 3 — more than any other pay-per-view service.

GameFly announced on Wednesday it will soon offer a new service called “Unlimited PC Play” that will allow gamers to download an unlimited amount of games to their Windows or Mac computer. Much like Netflix’s business model, GameFly will provide instant access to more than 8,000 rental discs or more than 1,500 instant downloads for a monthly fee. The service will require a desktop client that will include news, a feed of HD trailers and screen shots of the latest games. GameFly also said there will be a social component that will allow gamers to interact with one another in real-time. A closed beta will begin on September 8th for current GameFly subscribers and a public launch will occur during the holiday season. Read on for the full press release.

GameFly Subscribers Will Have Access to Free PC Games

Digital Client Will Be The One-Stop Shop for Casual and Hardcore Gamers Alike

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — GameFly, Inc., the #1 online video game rental subscription service will be launching a new digital client, the one-stop shop for gamers, this holiday season. The biggest bonus for active GameFly subscribers will be the addition of free “Unlimited PC Play” which allows them to download and play as many Windows/Mac games as they want, from a large and ever-growing collection of titles. Gamers will have unprecedented flexibility in how they want to consume games, whether it is renting discs by mail from a library of over 8,000 titles, downloading any of the more than 1,500 Windows/Mac games for sale, pre-ordering new console and PC releases or buying used games – all managed via the desktop client. Casual to hardcore gamers can get all of their gaming information with up-to-the-minute news, a live feed and archive of HD trailers, videos, and screenshots, and a robust social component for real-time discussions of what’s hot and what’s not. In addition, users will be able to manage their entire library of games across all gaming platforms, as well as create custom libraries to share.

“We’re thrilled to bring digital to the gaming consumer in a meaningful way, as no other service or retailer brings physical and digital gaming together like GameFly,” said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. “With a library of over 9,500 titles from over 300 first- and third-party publishers, GameFly members have the ultimate choice of how, what, when and where they game.”

GameFly will launch their closed beta at a Los Angeles event on September 8, 2011, exclusively for GameFly members. All attendees will walk away with beta codes for themselves and a friend. Gaming enthusiasts not in the Los Angeles area who want to gain access to the private beta can visit www.gamefly.com/beta. The digital client will launch publicly during the holidays, but for a sneak peak now, see the teaser trailer here –www.youtube.com/gamefly.