Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Internet Explorer 11 (desktop version)

Internet Explorer 11 is the last in its line before Microsoft launched the Edge web browser for the Windows 10 operating system. IE 11 came in two versions for Windows 8.1 with the modeless version and the desktop version. I’ll be going over the desktop version and you can check out a previous post on the modeless version.

The back and forward buttons were made exponentially larger for this model with their rest looking minimalistic, I guess to add more emphasis on the viewable content on the screen. The search bar contains allows searches to be done directly with the assigned search engine as well as for the use of entering web addresses directly.

Just like any other modern web browser, this is no different as tabs are a must for convenient and quick page jumping and navigation. IE 11 can open up an unlimited amount of tabs which can all be reordered by dragging the tab between tabs – so meta!

On the right-hand-side is the Home button for quick access to the saved home page, Favourites button for your online clippings and the Tools button to customise the experience and settings as well as to bring up the developers tools for the technical developers out there.

I’m gonna miss the good ol’ Internet Explorer but even Microsoft knows that it has run its course so I’m really excited to go through their new browser in an upcoming post.

Tech Talk: CaptionBot

CaptionBot is a new creation coming from the minds of Microsoft as part of their Cognitive Services. This is a result of years of studies into new capabilities. "Computer Vision and Natural Language" are used to describe the images which is brought together with Computer Vision API, Emotion API and Bing Image API. So without further ado... let's get down to it!

You could say that...

Ace to the first description but it seems to have picked up on a ghostly presence...

I guess art can be subjective.

It's still being worked on in the building phase and there is a rating system of 5 stars that allows it to know how it did in determining the image. It's not as fun as How-Old.net or What-Dog.net but there is fun still to be had with it.

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Internet Explorer 11 (modeless version)

Windows 8.1 had improvements over its predecessor such as improved security, snazzier tools for favourites and synced settings. Moving forwards into Windows 10, Microsoft have dropped the Internet Explorer brand in aid of their Edge browser.

Windows IE 11 has two versions, the "modeless" app version, which is opened from the Start Screen or the Apps view, and the more traditional Desktop version.

The modeless app version adopts its name from being able to go full-screen without any borders and no visible option to close the application (at first). This is to allow much ease navigating around the web without any background distractions getting in the way of the experience, whether it is through a touch screen or the traditional click and go.

1. Web page
The display of the web page takes up this space once the page is loaded. There are options to go back and forward a page by swiping or clicking from the left or the right side of the screen.

2. Navigation tab
This shows a thumbnail of the page most visited or current page opened. Live tiles can be added which displays the current content in a thumbnail. Right click or hold a tab to bring up options to close the tab, duplicate or open the tab in a window (which comes up side-by-side immediately). Simply click/tap the cross to close the tab.

3. New tab
Click/tap to add a new tab. An unlimited amount of tabs can be opened as opposed to Internet Explorer 10 which could only open 10 tabs.

4. Tab tools
Options to go incognito for private browsing and to open the last closed tab.

5. Back button
Go back to the previous webpage.

6. Address bar
Type the address of the website that you wish to view. Suggestions may pop up or if accessed before, the website will come up above to access quickly. If synced with any other devices, the history will be displayed from the other device.

7. Go/Refresh button
This button is the "go" button if the webpage is being accessed or the "refresh" button if the webpage requires updating.

8. Tabs
Opens up a view of the current open tabs including thumbnails.

9. Favourites bar
View added favourites from devices such as phones (if synced) and add new content/webpages to favourites with a few clicks or add a webpage to the Start Screen. There is also an option to share the page through apps or a screenshot to the internet.

10. Tools

• Get app for this site - able to go the Windows App Store and locate the app for the website. Examples include eBay and River Island.
• Find on page - locate text(s) within the webpage
• Report website problems - send feedback to Microsoft if there is an issue on a particular URL.
• View on the desktop - view the page in the Desktop version of the browser.
• View downloads - see the last lot of downloads made through the browser
• Options - can be accessed via the Charms bar. It provides customisation to the overall experience such as how it reads (colours, fonts, etc.), zoom and showing of the address bar and tabs. Options to save passwords and access phone numbers from the browser can be turned on and off. The history can accessed here.

11. Forward
Cycle forwards through a series of pages. Only applicable if the back button has been used.

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Start Bar

The Start bar gives access to a list of open applications giving quick access to opening it up or placing them side-by-side. It also allows quick access between the Start Screen and the most recently used app.

Similar to the Charms bar, it can be accessed in two ways:

• Touch-screen: From the left side of the touch-screen, swipe and hold the last app used and bring it to the left again. 
• Mouse: Go to the corner of the left side of the screen, and depending on where your mouse cursor is, swipe down or up with the cursor.

Once the app is brought up, it can be snapped to the side of another opened application. The open apps can be cycled through by pressing Alt and Tab buttons on the keyboard.

Tech Talk: What-Dog.net

From the minds of Microsoft's Project Oxford behind HowOld.Net and TwinsOrNot.net brings What-Dog.net. Utilising artificial intelligence powered by new machine learning technology, the application enables identification of objects to project an image that resembles the closest to a breed of dog.

There are laughs to be had when playing about with this app as it distinguishes what breed it is that your dog or yourself would be. It may not come up with the desired result and pictures of one person can yield different results, so there is a in-built feedback feature where people can submit the photos that they used in the application to help improve it. Not only does the breed come up, it'll also come up with the personalities.

First up is Ed the Golden Retriever:

First pic of me comes up with the German Shepherd Dog:

With a slight variation comes up with Labrador Retriever:

Don't have a dog, so we have... Silver the cat:

Give it a spin yourself and see how it goes with friends, family and yourself at What-Dog.net or download the Fetch! app on iOS, which is developed by Microsoft Garage.

#whatDogRobot

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Desktop

Windows 8.1 introduced the Desktop as a way to add familiarity of the previous operating systems as well as to run legacy programs that could not be launched in apps view. The Desktop can be accessed through the Start Screen or the Apps View. Alternatively, it can be booted straight into the Desktop.

First look at the Desktop will show:

• Taskbar - the taskbar will contain the start button, pinned icons for quick launches, the system tray and the display touch keyboard (for touch screen/tablets users)
• Background - can be personalised to the users preference and application icons and shortcuts

Shortcuts can be pinned to the taskbar from the Start Screen and Apps View, which can also be added vice versa. The desktop arrangements can be arranged just like any predecessor formats with options to sort, view and add shortcuts.

Jump list

Jump lists can be accessed from the taskbar which will show miniature screens of the program opened and gives the option to easily "jump" from one application to the other with ease. In the taskbar properties, you can add privacy to clear the selection so the content does not show on the jump list.

Snap!

The Snap feature can be utilised to view programs side-by-side. It can be done by dragging the program to one end of the screen on the left or the right. To put it into full screen, you can just drag the window up to the top of the screen.

Some handy short-cuts to know:

• Windows key + M: minimises all open windows
• Windows key + D: opens all the windows and returns back to the last used window
• Windows key + E: opens up Windows Explorer

Tech Talk: Windows.8.1 - Windows Store

The Windows Store comes as a first for an operating system in Windows 8 (and Windows Server 2012) first to adopt it. The store introduced metro-style apps as well as desktop apps.

The Windows Store can be launched from the Start Screen, Apps View or, if pinned to the taskbar, desktop. The lives tiles feature allows notification of apps on the Windows Store tile of the Start Screen that are available to download as well as apps that require attention such as if a new update is available to download. A simple tap of click will launch the Windows Store.

Launching the Windows Store, the first thing to pop up is the main page which will contain blocks of apps featured in a particular groups based on general recommendations, featured, top grossing, best rated and recommendations based on the users’ downloads. A bar on top provides navigation around the store with a home button sporting the store’s logo as well as Top Charts, Categories, Collections, Account and a search bar.

In the top charts dropdown, it features top downloads for both games and apps with choices in “top free”, “new and rising”, “top grossing”, “top paid” and “best-rated”.

Under the categories dropdown, it offers refinement in the type of application being sought. The subcategories under this are games, social, entertainment, photo, music and video, sports, news and weather.

The collections tab contains grouped apps that go under a particular theme or particular build such as “Indie Game Spotlight” and “Made by Microsoft”. It currently stands at 40 collections ready to be explored.

The last tab is the Account tab which features “My Account” and “My apps”. The “my account” section allows details of user account login and payment and billing info to be changed. Gift cards or promotional codes can be redeemed here. Managing where the store is on which PC can be managed here which also gives an option to remove any PCs. My apps is the place to go to see all your apps in one go. It gives it an option to sort the apps by date of purchase or by name as well as an option to see if the app is still installed and on what device. One click of the “Clear” button will wipe the slate clean of the selection. The number of apps downloaded is shown as well.

 

The view on the app information page displays who published the app, the category it falls under, the user rating, the price, age rating, permissions, picture, size of app and additional information. It may display if the app is owned or installed in place of where the purchase button is. The store itself features free to apps that have a price tag on them. The installation may prompt a password if it is switched on informing and confirming of the purchase. Once the installation is complete, a notification (with the added chime noise) will pop up informing of the complete install.

The Ratings and Reviews section comes under the app info page, stating the overall rating as well as written reviews by users and the helpfulness of such reviews with a tallied “yes” or “no”. Reviews can be added by users by scrolling on the left-hand-side of the screen until “Rate this App” comes up. A rating out of 5 stars and a review of 1000 characters can be added, which can be later changed and updated at any given moment.

The Charms bar allow changes to preference, access to available app updates and access to "my account".

The Mayor Gallery presents Calculations, Permutations, Notations - LAb[au]

The Mayor Gallery presents calculations, permutations, notations with all artworks created by LAb[au]. The exhibition coincided with Lumiere London 2016 festival in which Lab[au] is featured with their art installation binaryWAVES. The exhibition ran from 13 – 31 January 2016 at the .

The exhibition, very much like binaryWAVES, employs technology for the most part of the exhibition to animate their work as it plays on the geometry, shape and lighting to create different allusions and added textured layers to the artworks.

The pieces that feature origami has a subtlety to them which is further reinforced with the slender and occasional movements as a flap moves across playing on the surrealistic themes that run throughout the exhibition. More to the this theme is the concept of technology as also appears in print as well in oneOfABillionDays which features a series of alphanumerics that dances and dazzles upon the eye. LAb[au] presents the idea of “algorithmic logic” to challenge the idea of the contemporary vision and appeal.

mosaique 4x4x4 bw

signaltoNoisePermutation

origamiSquare 6x6x4

oneOfABillionDays

Origami Square 6x6x1

origamiSnubSquare 17x1

Tech Talk: MS-DOS Mobile

Launched last year as an Microsoft's April Fools' joke bringing the MS-DOS system, which was the "simplest operating system" Microsoft brought to the market that reached "millions of people". The app had its very own video to accompany it:

It runs like the fully-fledged MS-DOS system which has spiritually transformed into Command Prompt on PCs. To access the applications, you'd have to type the following the following path:

• cd programs
• cd phone
• dir

This will give a directory of the applications from within that path:

• Camera.exe - brings up the camera
• Contacts.exe - brings up the contact list
• Email.exe - brings up an option to open up the e-mail application
• Internet.exe - Opens up internet explorer (with the added bonus of a dial-up tone)
• Maps.exe - brings up the map application
• Phone.exe - will ask for the number to dial and then confirm to call
• Review.exe - review and rate the app in the market store
• Search.exe - uses search tool/Cortana to search the locally and on the web
• SMS.exe - send a text to an entered number or select from contact

The camera comes up with three settings: ASCII, B&W and CGA. It gives option to use the front or back camera. Once the picture is snapped, it can be saved to the camera roll and/or share online.

There are a lot of MS-DOS that are begging to be explored such as Windows 3.1 (typing the "WIN" command) and a real gem of a game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Cortland comes to play as well as she walks through the painstaking adventure of a process of loading up a game.

The app is available for download at the Microsoft App Store.

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Apps View

Window 8.1 Apps View allows a view of most or all of the apps in a metro-style view allowing quick glance and quick access to apps customised to the way that you want to view it. It comes as a change from the Start Screen as all the apps are on display instead of having to scroll through to get to an app.

Apps View can be accessed by swiping up from the Start Screen if using a touch screen, otherwise clicking the down arrow on the bottom left of the Start Screen will send the Apps View into view. The whole page will display the apps, a drop down next to the main header “Apps” and a search bar on the top right. The search bar will search for the apps dependent on the letters that are gradually typed in.

On default, the Apps View will sort all the apps by name. This can be sorted by name, date installed, most used and category. Clicking on a sub-heading will bring up the full list of categories in which the apps would correspond accordingly to.

Apps can be added on to the Start Screen as well as the desktop which can just take a few seconds to do so. Apps can be added on to the screen by holding down using the touch screen or right clicking on the desired app to be added and then tap on either adding it to the Start Screen or the taskbar in the desktop. This will immediately position it at the end of the Start Screen or if you chose the latter choice it’ll come as the last icon on the taskbar. Other options may come up as well such as Uninstall and Find in Start. The Find in Start view will locate and bring up where the app is on the Start Screen. Multiple apps can be checked to add several apps to taskbar/Start Screen or even to uninstall multiple apps.

Using the Charms bar, the amount of apps shown on the screen can be changed exponentially by going to Settings, then Tiles and then clicking yes to Showing more applications in Apps View. You can even boot it straight to the Apps View screen once the system is booted, which can be changed in the properties found in the taskbar of the desktop.

Launching an app is simple stuff. A simple click or tap would launch the application immediately as oppose to the casual double click of what it was before. Dependent on the app, it will go full screen or launch into the desktop if the app is a legacy program.

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Start Screen

The start screen of Windows 8.1 were met with a lukewarm reception with some disappointed by the abandonment of the familiarity of the previous operating systems and with some embracing the new change. The Start Screen brought a colourful screen with new colour schemes and background patterns which could be adapted and personalised to the users' preference. The Start Screen became a hub for just about a lot of things with information gleaned at a glance such as e-mail and news headlines, which I find makes it that much more easier and fluid to use due to less management.

At first glance, the screen shows apps and of any live notifications on apps that have live tiles. An arrow can be seen near the bottom right which is used to access Apps view which shows of all the program/apps listed. Top right of the screen shows:

• Microsoft login name - Can be used to sign out of the account or change the profile picture.
• Power button - Gives options of Sleep, Shutdown and Restart.
• Search button - Search through everything or refine the search to a specific area and even gives an option to search the web.

There are options to customise the app tiles to make it personal to your liking. You can access them by holding down on a app or if you're using a touch screen or right clicking and a tick mark will come up on the highlighted app. By doing this, the following options come up:

• Unpin from Start - removes from the Start Screen but does not uninstall it.
• Unpin from taskbar - unpins it from the taskbar found on the desktop.
• Uninstall - uninstall the app completely from the system.
• Resize - resize the app to Small, Medium, Wide or Large.
• Turn live tile off - turns off the live notification on the display of the tile.

Not all the apps will have the full resize scale and may just have one or two on display such as Internet Explorer only having Small and Medium. Resizing the app to small may not be to everyone's taste either as some app live updates may disappear as a result of it.

Accessing the settings on the charms bar will give you different options:

• Personalise - You can change the background and colour schemes that fits your mood, it especially helped me in seeking new inspirations - makes a nice change!
• Tiles - Show more tiles on the Start Screen so there is more apps in view without having to scroll along the screen for the rest. You can also change the amount in view in Apps view. You can also hide personal info from the live tiles should you wish not to have it displayed in view of the public such as E-mail live notifications.
• Help - Get tips and tricks on using the Start Screen and other aspects of using Windows 8.1

There are also an option to turn off the notifications for a duration of time which can be found at the bottom of Settings in the charms bar. It can be turned off for a duration of 8, 3 or 1 hour. The charms bar is useful for finding out the time and date as it is not found on the Start Screen and can be found on the bottom left of the screen when it comes up. This can be used at any point when using Windows 8.1 to find out the time/date.

If you like organising your apps on the screen, you can group them together and create a group name for them. You can re-arrange the apps by click and drag or hold and drag the app to the desired location. If you want to move a whole group of apps, click or tap the dash found on the bottom right of the screen and drag the group to the desired location.

To name a group, you can right click anywhere in the background and select "Name Groups" or drag up from the bottom of the screen and click customise to bring up a space to fill out the group name.

Apps can be added from the Apps view on to the Start Screen which will be explored in another blog post!

Tech Talk: TwinsOrNot.net

After HowOld.Net follows TwinsOrNot.net, which follows the same premise as the predecessor. The website comes under Microsoft's Project Oxford.

In this one, you could either search for an image online or upload one and a second image is also required to pair up. Once done, the #TwinsOrNotRobot groups them together and scores it out of 100% out of the likeness of the images. You can help improve it by submitting the pictures after the works been done to improve their "computer vision and related services".

After numerous attempts at finding facial pictures that it would recognise, I went for the "finally" look and my sis went for the "model" look (the only look that it only seem to take - humph!). Ann and I were paired up and it came up with 22% based on the two pictures provided...

Whereas Ed and I came up trumps...

Give it a go yourself and see who you may share likeness at TwinsOrNot.net or even download the app if you have a Windows Phone.

#TwinsOrNotRobot

Tech Talk: Windows 8.1 - Charms bar

One of the new features to Windows 8 and 8.1 is the introduction of Charms, which in a sense gives that extra magic to the operating system. It keeps the interface move smoothly by removing the extra buttons away from the screen giving more room for apps and content so that it is clutter-free. 

It can be accessed in three ways:

• Touch-screen: From the right side of the touch-screen device flick in the left direction. 
• Mouse: Go to the corner of the right side of the screen, and depending on where your mouse cursor is, swipe down or up with the cursor. If you go to the corner of the screen with the mouse cursor and do nothing, a ghost shell of the Charms will come up.
• Keyboard: Press the Windows button and “C”.

 

The main display of the charms come up with 5 things:

• Search: Search through all the content such as apps, videos and photos as well as being able to define where to search. You’re also able to use it to search through the web.

• Share: Able to share files, photos and links through a varied channels of medium.

• Start: Takes you back to the Windows start screen.
• Devices: Able to connect to devices.

• Settings: Able to personalise the Windows 8.1 experience and change the functionality of the PC. It will also tailor the setting options to the particular application that it may be opened up on, such as bringing up a game app may provide an option for “Permission” and “Rate and Review”. 

Tech Talk: How-Old.net

The How-Old.net was unveiled at the BUILD 2015 conference, which uses intelligent API's to discern the age of the users' pictures. It was brought together by Microsoft and Bing under Project Oxford, which showed off one of the many facets of Azure.

The website subtitled "How old do I look?", detects the face and uses a series of algorithm in Face API to find the age and gender to come up with the penultimate or an even accurate age. 

I plugged Ed's picture in and came out with - ahem - 37. That's 10 years younger than he was at the time of when this picture was taken. As you can see from the bottom of the picture, it is still a work in progress as they group and analyse the image data. The images are not kept if anyone is worried about that!

It doesn't always going accordingly to plan as they've added 6 years to me at the time of when this was taken. If you're not satisfied with the result, then you get an option to "Get a human opinion" which may be more lenient (or less as I found out in some cases).



So what you have is a "game" where you try and guess the age of others online with you as they guess yours. What I had was a vast range which brought it actually closer to my age which I assume works on the average of what the users feel that my age of the photo is. This time it got me closer to what I was in the photo by 2 years off.

You can give the website a shot yourself and see how it fairs with you or download the app if you have a Windows Phone which offers the same mechanics of the website.

#HowOldRobot