MojoKid writes After last Wednesday’s Windows 10 event, early adopters and IT types were probably anxious for Microsoft to release the next preview build. Fortunately, it didn’t take long as it came out on Friday, and it’s safe to say that it introduced even more than many were anticipating (but still no Spartan browser). However, in case you missed it, DirectX 12 is actually enabled in this Windows 10 release, though unfortunately we’ll need to wait for graphics drivers and apps that support it, to take advantage of DX 12 features and performance enhancements. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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DirectX 12 Lies Dormant Within Microsoft’s Recent Windows 10 Update
The Goal Zero Sherpa 100 Solar Kit is a portable solar charging kit capable of recharging tablets, SLR camera batteries, or even your laptop using only power from the sun. We’ve put it to the test everywhere from Iceland to Nepal. Read more… 
Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s death, and corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication. But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years—an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years. Under those laws, works published in 1958 would enter the public domain on January 1, 2015, where they would be “free as the air to common use.” Under current copyright law, we’ll have to wait until 2054 . Read more… 
An anonymous reader writes Microsoft today announced it is backing the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) technology and will be supporting the ORTC API in Internet Explorer. Put another way, the company is finally throwing its weight behind the broader industry trend of bringing voice and video calling to the browser without the need for plugins. Both Google and Mozilla are way ahead of Microsoft in this area, both in terms of adding WebRTC features to their respective browsers and in terms of building plugin-free calling services that rely on the technology. In short, Skype is under threat, and Microsoft has finally decided to opt for an “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Microsoft unveiled its newest version of Windows last week. While the company was more than happy to tell us about a bunch of new features , naturally they left a few out. Here are some of the best things we found while poking around with the new OS. Read more… 
We know that Windows 9 is on its way —Microsoft even accidentally teased it! —but now we might be, maybe, possibly be looking at what it could look like. Read more… 
Chrome: Gmail does an excellent job of blocking spam, but sometimes you just want to go the extra mile and prevent some mail from ever reaching your account. BlockSender is a Chrome Extension for Gmail that can trick the sender into thinking your email address is incorrect. Read more… 
One of the biggest criticisms Google Glass has incurred since day one is that it’s, well, ugly and/or weird-looking. Believe it or not, Google may have actually just solved the problem. Read more…