We have seen screenshots of the redesigned Xbox 360 dashboard before that uses the slick new Metro UI but now a video has leaked that gives us a nice little tour of the interface and all the various menu options that we can expect to see when the update is released this fall.

The video is low resolution and a bit blurry. Moreover there is no audio and the text is all in French so its basically like watching a French movie with no audio and subtitles. You still get a good look at the UI, including the new Bing search bar. Unfortunately, there is no web browser built-in and you are limited to searching content for Xbox. Everything else seems the same as what we have now, just in a different looking interface.

Apples implementation of Intel Light Peak technology is going places. Intel has now announced that they will be bringing the technology to Windows-based computers as well, with companies like ASUS and Acer joining the bandwagon and getting their products ready for a 2012 launch.

Being the same essential technology, Thunderbolt on these other devices will work the same way as it does on the new range of Mac computers. It will have the same specifications and features that Apple touts for its new range of Macs and will work with the same set of accessories.

Today, Nokia and Microsoft announced that they would deliver Symbian software updates called Microsoft Apps. These updates will add some serious business productivity tools for anyone buying a new Symbian Belle device, as well as anybody looking to upgrade from Symbian Anna to Symbian Belle. Read on to find out exactly what’s coming, and when.

If you are into downloading apps that wil increase your productivity and we know you all are you will be happy to hear that during the fourth quarter of this year you will be able to start up the Software Update app from within your phone and find the following free apps:

• Microsoft® Lync™ 2010 Mobile – for cost efficient IM, presence, audio and web meetings on-the-go.

• Microsoft® PowerPoint® Broadcast – quick broadcast of presentations directly from PC to mobile.

• Microsoft® OneNote™ – rich note taking with images. Syncs with Microsoft® SkyDrive®.

• Microsoft® Document Connection – single view to documents stored on mobile, including email attachments as well as documents on Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 sites.

A second update in early 2012 will add:

• Microsoft OneNote sync with SharePoint (in addition to SkyDrive)

• Adding Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint as native applications for the first time outside the Windows platform.

Microsoft tablet strategy has always been Windows but previous computer slates it has shown off had Windows 7 on it and this did not fit the form factor because that operating system was never built with tablets in mind. That should change with Windows 8 , as the building Windows 8 blog constantly says that this version has been designed from the ground up with touch input in mind.

We have seen the Metro-style home screen before and it brings a tile-like interface to Windows 8 and elements of this can already be found in Windows Phone and on the Xbox. This is supposed to be a finger-friendly interface that will allow Windows 8 to work properly on a tablet, where touch interface is critical. But Microsoft has to please many masters with Windows, as hundreds of millions of users are familiar with the standard desktop interface and some will freak out with radical changes.

Microsoft Steven Sinofsky addresses this in a somewhat vague way in that blog post about design: Microsoft is taking the middle road where it can still leverage its millions of traditional users, apps and APIs while still designing something that can fit nicely and work elegantly on a tablet.

Windows 8 brings together all the power and flexibility you have in your PC today with the ability to immerse yourself in a Metro style experience. You do not have to compromise! You carry one device that does everything you want and need. You can connect that device to peripherals you want to use. You can use devices designed to dock to large screen displays and other peripherals. You can use convertible devices that can be both immersive tablets and flexible laptops.

Of course, its far more difficult to execute that vision and its unclear if Microsoft is capable of doing it or if thats even the right approach.When Steve Jobs first introduced the first iPhone, he made a big deal about how the OS was OSX.

As time progressed and the iPhone and iPad became tremendous hits, that association has been downplayed if not completely ignored even if there are technologically similar underpinnings. Apple iOS is now the company main platform and many of its elements went upstream with the introduction of Lion.

When Jobs talks about the Post-PC era and the iPad, he means that Apple is trying to strip out many of the frustrating elements of traditional computing to make it easy and elegant for the mainstream to use these devices to check the web, do e-mail and social networking and consume apps. The fact that the iPad has been more successful than any other tablet to date show that its on to something.

Toshiba has announced the Portege Z830, a new series of ultrabooks. The 13-inch model is only .63-inch thick and weighs just 2.45 pounds (1.11kg), light enough for it to earn the "lightest 13-inch ultrabook" moniker.

The Portege Z830 uses a sleek aluminum and magnesium allow case, which makes it light as well as sturdy. Also, the thin design does not come at the cost of connectivity options, as it still has two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, SD card slot and a headphone jack. You also get a large backlit keyboard with a chiclet design.

On the hardware front the Portege Z830 offers Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3, i5 and i7 series processors, integrated graphics and an option of multiple SSD capacities. The 8-cell, 47Wh battery is said to give a battery life of up to 8 hours. No exact models and configurations were mentioned, but Lenovo said the base model will be just under the $1000 mark.

Just when you thought the location troubles in the mobile industry were finally over, Microsoft is now facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly tracking the location of Windows Phone 7 users without their permission. Apparently, when a user decides to turn off all location services on their device, Microsoft ignores the request and proceeds to store location data.

Rebecca Cousineau, a bold Windows Phone 7 customer, claims the camera application in particular transmits the latitude and longitude coordinates of a device when in use. The lawsuit states Microsoft built the camera app specifically for this purpose, and that Microsoft falsely told Congress it does not track the location of customers once they specify not to.

Earlier this year, Apple and Google faced very similar problems over accusations that both companies were using location services for their own benefits. The stored data was supposedly being shared for marketing purposes without users ever knowing. Weeks laterApple released iOS 4.3.3, which served to relieve any security concerns. The update reduced the size of the cache, put an end to backing up the cache to iTunes, and completely deletes it when a user switches location services off in Settings.

Over the years, Explorer and its forerunners have gone through several major iterations:

 
File Manager in Windows 3.1

 
Explorer in Windows XP

 
Explorer in Windows 7

Its a bit daunting but also pretty exciting to have the opportunity to revisit and rethink this cornerstone of our product. Many of you who are reading this are among the most extreme power usersof the file management tools in Explorer and likely start from a different perspective than the broad base of customers. As we approach the work to improve file management in Windows, we do so knowing many of you have long ago given up on Explorer and are using some of the wide variety of add-ons or alternatives.

Explorer in Windows 8

Microsoft has published a very detailed post about the new Explorer in Windows 8. It brings the ribbon interface well known from the latest MS Office packages. Many of you may not like it, but wait until you hear all about it.

The Explorer in Windows 8 brings at front a lot more functions thanks to those ribbons, there are a lot more customizable settings and even some old goodies back from XP are brought once again to life.

According to Microsoft, the new Explorer has three major goals: to optimize the management tasks, to create a streamlined command experience and respect the Explorer heritage. Well, all these sound like a big advertising talk, but it’s not. Those three goals have been taken very seriously to create a better Explorer.

So, the ribbon UI. Many people still disapprove the MS Office ribbons and use older version just to avoid it. I have to admit the ribbon UI is awkward in the beginning, but then you get used to it and starts feeling natural. The new Explorer utilizes exactly the same UI.

The ribbon UI has four tabs that should concern you the most File, Home, Share and View. Clicking on File opens a sub-menu where you find some trivial functions plus Open Command Prompt Menu where you can run the CMD in the current folder as normal user or admin. Thank you, Microsoft, for listening to our requests.

The Home tab hosts almost every of the most important elements of the Explorer Copy, Paste, Cut, Properties, Delete, Rename, etc. Some old fellas return from the past too Move to and Copy to. There are also Copy Path and Paste Shortcut keys. As you can see, the Home tab should be the place for the average Explorer user.

The Share tab allows you to Email, Zip, Print, Fax, Burn to CD and Share things with just one click.

The view tab will spare you the right clicks it hosts all the viewing options from Windows 7 plus switches for navigation and preview panes, groups and columns, file name settings (hide extensions, show hidden files, etc.), Refresh and more.

All those tabs are fully customizable and all functions in there have a dedicated keyboard shortcut (also customizable).

If you think the ribbon UI is a mess, you can rearrange, add or remove items in the tabs, assign them your own shortcuts, so every tab can fit your needs. But there is more you can minimize the ribbon UI in a lot smaller line of shortcuts. It can look much like the previous Windows versions and have all this functions still available for you. This should satisfy those who are not fans on the ribbon UI.

There are additional tabs that appear at some occasions picture files, libraries, etc.

I mentioned something about panes above in the View tab. There are three of them navigation (the left one), preview and details. The preview on details are now on the right instead at the bottom (as in Windows Vista/7) and show all the available file info. This way Microsoft fully utilizes the wide aspect screens.

Have you have ever heard about the Quick Access Toolbar? It includes a few small shortcuts at the very top left corner of a window. For example the QAT in Office 2010 has Save, Undo and Redo shortcuts by default. The Explorer 8 offers the a QAT in every window. Its fully customizable too, you can add whatever you want there.

One last thing, the Up key is back.

This is a classic example of the saying that there is an opportunity in every loss. In this case, Microsoft is taking advantage of webOS demise by offering its developer community "free phones, dev tools, and training."

As you can see above, the words come from no other but Brandon Watson - the senior director of Windows Phone 7 development in Microsoft.

Here is one for frequent travelers with an iGadget Skype released an app called Skype Wi-Fi, available for all iOS 4.1+ devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

What Skype Wi-Fi does is give you access to over a million commercial Wi-Fi hotspots around the world and lets you pay for using them on the go with your Skype Credit. Its good for quick connections to the Internet at odd places, but not so much for all-day usage as you are charged by by the minute.

For example, if you have a layover a some airport and need to check your email Skype Wi-Fi is an easy solution you do not need vouchers or anything, just some Skype Credit. Prices start at $0.06/€0.05 per minute and the app clearly displays how much it costs to use the current hotspot. This weekend (20-21 August) you get an hour of Wi-Fi use for free.