1
2
3
4
Well, it was Friday! Due to a very busy schedule and lots of technical issues, the article was delayed for 2 days! So, here are the Friday News Bits of this week!
Windows 8.1 Getting A New Update and The Return Of The Actual 'Start Button'
The Windows 8.1 Update:
Microsoft revealed some new updates for Windows 8.1 which will be out on April 8th.
The new updates include:
- "Easier access to your favourite apps and key controls". The highlights of this is that the 'Start screen' will now contain a 'Power' button and a 'Search' button at the upper-right corner next to your account picture, which allows you to quickly shut down your PC and to quickly do a search right from the Start screen. (see picture below)
- Windows will automatically boot to the desktop instead of the Start screen on default settings.
- You can now pin both desktop and Windows Store apps, as well as your favourite websites on your taskbar. You can open and switch between apps right from the desktop as you can now pin any app you want. The taskbar will now also appear anywhere when you're using a mouse, simply moving the mouse to the bottom edge of the screen will make the taskbar appear and clicking any of the apps will switch to the app.
- After installing the update, the Windows Store will now be pinned to the taskbar by default so "you can easily discover new apps". You can unpin it if you do not want it there. (see picture below)
- On the Start screen, right-clicking on an app tile will get a context menu next to the app tile that will show you what you can do with the tile, such as un-pinning it from the Start menu, pinning it to the taskbar, changing the tile size or uninstalling the app. The right-clicking on the apps is as simple as right-clicking on something located on the desktop. (see picture below)
- After installing new apps, you'll get a notification at the lower-left corner of the Start screen that will point you to the Apps view so you can see what you recently installed. (see picture below)
- The mouse will now work "more consistently anywhere in Windows". If you move the mouse to the top of the screen when using a Windows Store app, you will see the familiar Close and Minimize buttons that are seen in the explorer and such, and as mentioned before, moving the mouse to the bottom of the screen in a Windows Store app will also bring the taskbar up, from which you can switch through apps. (see picture below)
The Future Return of The Start Button:
Start menu's photo credit: LifeHacker
The start button(pictured above), looks similar to the classic Start menu button, but has a tiled interface on the right side, which looks similar to the Metro interface. It is debatable whether Microsoft should have added that new touch to the Start menu or not, because users just might complain that they do not like the Start menu because it has the tiles. But I, and pretty surely Microsoft, are hoping that doesn't happen!
EA Apologises For "Unacceptable" and "Stupid" April 1st Tweets By The Frostbite Twitter Account Mocking The Wii U
Our apologies to partners @NintendoAmerica & fan @FrostbiteEngine ’s poor attempt at April Fools not condoned by EA : unacceptable/ stupid
— Peter Moore (@petermooreEA) April 1, 2014
EA has apologised for the now-deleted tweets from the Frostbite Twitter account that mocked the Wii U.
The account holder of EA's Frostbite on Twitter made April 1st joke tweets, one of them which was very harsh on Nintendo's under-performing Wii U game console. The tweet read:
Frostbite now runs on the #WiiU since it is the most powerful Gen4 platform, our renderer is now optimized for Mario and Zelda.
After this was tweeted, it instantly came into the sight of the media and fans alike, being heavily criticised as rude and very harsh. The tweets were later deleted by EA and EA's Chief Operating Officer(COO), Peter Moore apologised for the tweets to Nintendo and fans on his personal Twitter account(the tweet can be seen above), calling them "unacceptable" and "stupid".
Another Tweet from the Frostbite account that was tweeted alongside the harsh tweet was:
Frostbite will power #HalfLife3, coming out summer 2014! #WiiU exclusive.
EA has confirmed that there are no games being developed for the Nintendo Wii U currently.
Teenager Gets Stuck In A Drain While Trying To Rescue Her iPhone
Photo Credit: MailOnline
A 16 year old teenager from England, Ella-Anne Birchenough, dropped her iPhone in a drain while trying to put it inside her pocket. She removed the metal cover of the drain and lowered herself into the drain hole, trying to get her phone out, only to be ultimately stuck within the drain herself.
After unsuccessful attempts of getting her out of the drain by friends and her mother as well, emergency services had to be called. Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called by Ella-Anne's mother, Joanne Birchenough who is 36 years old, at 7:17PM and within 10 minutes, three firefighters appeared and pulled Ella-Anne out of the drain hole, freeing her at 7:26PM. Two rescue service men pulled Ella-Anne out, while another watched(picture of the scene above).
Many pictures of the incident were taken and it became a viral topic on Social Networks.
Ella-Anne Birchenough is a GCSE student at Astol College, and she had bought the phone only two weeks ago. She stated that:
Brendan Eich later confirmed the news in his own statement on the topic of his resignation, stating that:
While some have praised Brendan Eich for not changing his statement or apologising, and standing up to his opinion, other are against him for not supporting gay marriage. Brendan Eich has not stated what he will be doing next yet.
A 21 year old Spanish woman was having a sexual intercourse with her partner, and fell down in a well after the waterwheel well shaft got loose, sending her down into the 15m water below. Rather than trying to rescue the woman, the man pulled up his pants and ran away.
After unsuccessful attempts of getting her out of the drain by friends and her mother as well, emergency services had to be called. Kent Fire and Rescue Service was called by Ella-Anne's mother, Joanne Birchenough who is 36 years old, at 7:17PM and within 10 minutes, three firefighters appeared and pulled Ella-Anne out of the drain hole, freeing her at 7:26PM. Two rescue service men pulled Ella-Anne out, while another watched(picture of the scene above).
Many pictures of the incident were taken and it became a viral topic on Social Networks.
Ella-Anne Birchenough is a GCSE student at Astol College, and she had bought the phone only two weeks ago. She stated that:
I was talking to somebody and I went to put my phone in my pocket and it fell down the drain. I thought to myself 'I'm not leaving this' and I jumped down to get it. I wasn't really even stuck, I just need somebody to help lift me out but my mum got all panicky. When they pulled me out I ran straight home and jumped in the bath. I think it was just water but I wasn't taking any chances. I was just laughing the whole time, I have seen the funny side of it. You just have to laugh along with it. There have been a few nasty comments about me being fat which isn't nice but I'm trying not to take it to heart.
Ella-Anne was completely unharmed, however, according to a Facebook post of a friend of Ella-Anne, her phone has said to have been "completely ruined".
9-Month-Old Baby Accused of Attempted Murder in Pakistan
A nine-month-old baby boy named Muhammad Mosa Khan(pictured above) from the city of Lahore in Pakistan has been accused of attempted murder by the police, claiming that the baby had hit them with rocks.
The baby had appeared in the court for a hearing, sitting on his father's lap and was bailed and not charged, with the main case being adjourned until April 12th.
The case is quite confusing. BBC News reports that the police had raid to catch suspected gas thieves in the city of Lahore, with the police saying that the suspects tried to murder security officers by throwing stones at them, and mentions that the Times of India newspaper quotes the baby's father saying the group of the protesters(30 people) were protesting against an electricity shortage.
While Time wrote that it was about an unpaid gas bill which the police went to collect(which was unpaid since February 1) and the family of the baby started throwing the rocks at the officers(according to the police), to which the police charged the family for, including the baby.
On the other hand, the Telegraph reported that according to one of the protesters, the police officers came with some people from the gas division to the town and randomly started cutting gas connections(possibly sent by a rival political party according to the person) and then the people of the town started protesting against the officers. Then some senior officers appeared and said no injustice will be done, only to later learn that all of the protesters, including the baby were charged with attempt murder.
Whatever story is true or whatever story is false, one thing is confirmed. The Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif has suspended the police officer who registered the attempted murder case on the baby boy.
Microsoft Has Made Windows Free for Smartphones and Tablets
Microsoft has made Windows free for smartphones and tablets with screen sizes below 9 inches.
This means that manufacturers will no longer have to pay for Windows Phone licenses or for the small-screened(below 9 inches) Windows tablets.
This is a great step for the smartphone and tablets market, as manufacturers will now have the liberty to make devices without paying for the OS, like they already do with the Android OS. This could make Windows-powered smartphones and tablets more common in the market, opposing the Android-powered devices which are being developed at a rapid rate by even the local manufacturers of different countries.
Mozilla's CEO Brendan Eich Resigns Over The Anti-Gay Controversy
Mozilla's Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Brendan Eich, who is also a co-founder of Mozilla, has resigned due to the anti-gay controversy.
The whole thing started when it came into spotlight that Brendan Eich had donated $1000 to support California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in 2008. As a result of this, websites started to protest. Rarebit withdrew from the Firefox OS, stating:
We thought that last week Mozilla would immediately come out with a statement of support of equality and Brendan would issue an apology. Unfortunately, this has become a far larger issue and I'm not sure there is a solution that would please everyone.
A dating site called OKCupid also protested against Brendan Eich, blocking the browser Firefox, preventing Firefox users to accessing the site by forcing them to see a letter of protest written by OKCupid's co-founder Christian Rudder. After the resignation, the website was unblocked by OKCupid for Firefox users.
Mitchell Baker, the Executive Chairwoman of Mozilla posted on the Mozilla Blog about Brendan Eich's resignation in a post. In a long post, she stated:
Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community. Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.
Brendan Eich later confirmed the news in his own statement on the topic of his resignation, stating that:
I have decided to resign as CEO effective today and leave Mozilla. Our mission is bigger than any one of us, and under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader. I will be taking time before I decide what to do next.
While some have praised Brendan Eich for not changing his statement or apologising, and standing up to his opinion, other are against him for not supporting gay marriage. Brendan Eich has not stated what he will be doing next yet.
Woman Falls In A Well While Having Intercourse
The half-naked woman was having sex on a well near a park, and did not notice that the waterwheel well shaft had gotten loose, and ended up falling into the 15cm water below while being half naked from the lower body, not wearing any underwear. The partner quickly ran away instead of helping her out.
Emergency services later received an anonymous phone call which may or may not have been the partner who fled the scene, and then Firefighters came to rescue the woman, with the partner nowhere near the scene. The Firefighters then rescued the woman.
The woman was suffering from shock and hypothermia, and was taken to the hospital. She was soaking wet and had no underwear. The woman was discharged from the hospital at 10AM the next day.
Muhammad Junaid
Muhammad Junaid is the writer of Entertainment Ghost. He writes articles, reviews, previews and entertainment news about gaming, technology, the media and so on. You can follow him on Twitter @Mr_MJunaid and Facebook MJunaid
