Today, Lenovo has Officially announced its ThinkPad Tablet 2, which will be running Windows 8 Pro, and will be available "when Windows 8 launches in October". Unfortunately, since it wasn't part of Lenovo's announcement, there is still no pricing available for Windows 8 tablets.

The ThinkPad Tablet 2 was designed as "a joint effort between Lenovo, Microsoft and Intel", and it looks pretty nice. It will be thinner and lighter than the Microsoft Surface Pro at 9.8mm (.385") and 600g (~1.3lbs), compared to 13.5mm (.53") and 900g (~2lbs). It will have a similar keyboard dock and stylus as optional accessories.

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The term "Metro", describing Microsoft's new user interface design gained popularity starting with the Windows Phone 7. It really grew into prominence when it became the UI style for Windows 8 and now, not long before its scheduled late October launch date, Microsoft renamed it. The renaming came due to a Copyright claim of the Name "Metro" that lead to a legal issue with a German software company.

A leaked memo was the first sign that the name "Metro" is on the way out, supposedly due to copyright concerns. Reports confirm that Microsoft will rename its UI to "Modern UI" instead of "Metro UI" referring to the Windows 8 MoSH (or Modern Shell).

However, Microsoft didn't officially announce that "Modern UI" is the final name as the company didn't settle down on a name yet.

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Windows 8 Official Launch is very SOON, Microsoft will be shipping a version of the new Office 2013 with Windows RT, it will be the only non-Metro application that can be accessed on this particular version of the operating system.

Office 2013 RT version that will be included on Windows RT will be a watered-down version of the Office 2013 full Version that you will experience on standard Windows 8 or 7.

Instead what you will get is the Preview version of the Office 2013 RT pre-installed in Windows RT devices and you will be able to upgrade to the final version, which will come out sometime early next year.

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Microsoft's hardware partners are definitely not happy about the Microsoft Surface. Moreover, Acer chief executive spelled it right out, straight and honest to Microsoft: "It is not something you are good at so please think twice."

That was the advice JT Wang, Acer's CEO, gave to Microsoft about its upcoming Surface tablet. The reason is that the device will compete directly with other tablets from manufacturers like Acer, HP, Dell and others, and this alone would be "negative for the worldwide ecosystem."

Wang reiterated that Microsoft should think twice, and while other manufacturers have kept comfortably quiet, it seems that the Acer chief executive is spelling out the thoughts of not just Acer, but other companies as well.

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Few Months ago, Splashtop launched Win8 Testbed for the iPad to allow aspiring Windows 8 developers to test their apps on an actual gesture-enabled tablet. The core Splashtop app that lets you remote back to your Mac or Windows PC via your tablet is already available for the iPad and Android tablets. Now, it is taking the next step and launching on Windows 8.

The Splashtop Remote Desktop has just popped up in the Windows Store and it is available for free. According to the Windows Store, Splashtop Remote Desktop for Windows 8 supports streaming HD movies up to 30 FPS and the ability to play interactive 3D games with low latency from a PC or a Mac. Again, as we approach the Windows 8 release, we would guess that there may be additional features added to the app.

Source (Windows Store)