Tiny Basic, Signetics 2650 and a SC/MP: HalfByte’s early days

I am sitting here, banging away on a run of the mill HP Windows computer. It has a decent set of specs for today, but is no match for even a low end gaming PC or a research oriented computer. For the few games I play, the Internet browsing, code writing and Microsoft Office tasks, […]

Surface Book: A true, high end laptop from Microsoft

In addition to three new phones and Band 2, Microsoft has also introduced Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Today, I’m going to look at the remarkable and very expensive Surface Book. The Surface Book is a laptop, first and foremost. It was designed to be a laptop with a touch screen that can be […]

New Lumia phones and a new Band

Microsoft introduced a pandora’s box full of new devices. Among them, the new Surface Pro 4, a new Microsoft Band, new Lumia phones and a new laptop, the Surface Book. They also showed off some XBOX One stuff, which I’m not going to talk about here and a nice demo of the HoloLens, which will […]

Apple Announcements 2015: iPad Pro, Watch, iPhone

Microsoft has often be accused of ‘firing up the Xerox’ to copy Apple’s ‘innovations.’ Well, during the Apple presentation on Sept 9, it seems that they are the ones who ‘fired up the Xerox.’ Indeed, the new 12.9 inch iPad Pro they introduced has many Surface 3 Pro features, including the docking keyboard and the […]

IFA 2015: ACER and Windows Mobile Phone 10

It seems the death knell for Windows Phone/Mobile has yet to fall. Indeed, At the IFA2015 conference in Berlin, Germany, Acer announced not one, not two but three Windows Mobile 10 phones. Two are aimed at low to mid range markets while the third is a high end phone called Jade Primo. The Jade Primo […]

It’s a feature: Family Safety’s Activity Report in Windows 10

Ever since Windows 10 was released to the general public, there has been a concerted effort to discredit the operating system and Microsoft. This release has been the target of those who believe that their privacy has been compromised and that Microsoft is collecting all it can on them. While a few of the default […]

Start! Me up! Windows 95 hits 20

In early 1995, I saw on America Online that, for $15, you could join the ‘open public beta’ program that Microsoft was starting for something called ‘Chicago’, aka the next version of Windows. Boy, was I excited. I eagerly handed them the money and awaited my DISKS. Yes, disks. For another five bucks, I could […]

Customize your Windows 10 experience

OK, you upgraded from Windows 7 or one of the Windows 8 flavors and want to personalize your machine. In previous versions of Windows, all the way back to Windows 95, you could create themes, have slideshow backgrounds and change your color scheme. You can still do that, but Microsoft seems to have gone out […]

Don’t want to move to 10 yet? Like Windows 8.x but want some of those cool features? Read on..

No doubt, you are aware that Windows 10 has been released and adoption is going at a NASCAR pace. But, you’ve heard the privacy concerns surrounding the new operating system. While those concerns are unfounded, you may have reservations nonetheless. And, you may think, Windows 8 is working well, why should upgrade and run the […]

Windows 10 and Privacy: what you need to know

Much has been said about the privacy – or, rather, lack of – in Windows 10. Well, don’t worry about it, it is much ado about nothing. Most of what’s been written is FUD or a poor understanding of what you can do in Windows 10. There are a couple of features in Windows 10 […]