What Do You Think of Microsoft's New Logo?

In preparation for its Windows 8 launch, which is being lauded as one of Microsoft's most important launches of all time, the Redmond-based company has been revamping many of its logos.

Just a few months ago they updated their Windows logo with a clean, crisp san-serif font called Segoe UI, and today they showed off their new Microsoft logo, which follows suit.

The logo contains a slightly bolder version of the same font, but forgoes the bold letters and italics of its predecessors.

There's been plenty of arguments already over the new logo - chiefly whether it's excessively square, beautifully simple, or just plain boring.

Microsoft has uploaded a video showcasing the launch of the new logo.

You can read all about the logo transformation on Microsoft's blog, but more importantly - what do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.

Nic is the Editor of IGN Tech. He loves technology almost as much as Brand New, Boyz II Men, and TMNT Tournament Fighter. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Microsoft Job Listing Outs "Next Generation Surface"

In more than a dozen job listings on the Microsoft Career site spotted today by TechRadar, the Redmond, Washington technology giant let slip a hint that its Surface tablet releasing on October 26 this year won't be the last of its kind. A post on the Official Microsoft Blog echoes the sentiment, calling Surface "our new family of PCs".

While this could be a case of some bad or antiquated terminology (possibly referring to the already-announced Surface as the next generation of PixelSense, for example), the listings were posted after the reveal of the tablet on June 19.

The listings themselves also imply that these new positions will involve working on a different set of devices, as one listing mentions "understanding of touch display architecture and experience in mechanical integration of large touch displays into electronics products". "Large" is a relative term in the world of displays, but it could refer to a desktop monitor or integration with TV monitors.

If these listings do represent a new breed of Surface devices, then they may well feature some unique components mentioned in to the job requirements. "Alternative power sources" seems to imply that the next generation will be even greener than the first, though another listing does include AC/DC power expertise, which means battery-powered machines.

As much as Microsoft has lauded the already-announced Surface tablets for their unique cooling architecture, new developments in "passive and active cooling thermal designs" could further innovate on those models and allow for more powerful processors.

Whatever the next Surface looks like, it's no surprise that Microsoft is getting an early start on preparing it for consumers. Given past software cycles, its likely that these newer Surface devices would still run Windows 8, and that third-party hardware manufacturers will still get shafted as Microsoft dives headlong into the hardware space.

Source: TechRadar 

Dan Crabtree is an I.T. guy and freelance writer with words on IGN, and a league of other gaming news outlets. His dog is considered handsome and well-read. You can find him (the human) on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com