PCWorld Jun-15

Tech and trends that will affect you today and beyond. A Colorado man says he has no regrets after unloading eight rounds into his dysfunctional Dell desktop, though he faces a fine for doing so. “I just had it,” Lucas Hinch, 38, told The Smoking Gun (go.pcworld.com/gun) (via Ars Technica, go.pcworld.com/technica). Apparently the PC had thrown up one too many blue screens of death in recent months, so Hinch took it into an alley, loaded up a 9mm Hi-Point pistol that he’d purchased on Craiglist, and let the bullets fly. “It was glorious,” Hinch told the Los Angeles Times (go.pcworld.com/times). “Angels sung on high.” Hinch admitted that the murder was “premeditated, oh, definitely,” and that he’d made sure there was nothing behind the desktop, and nothing from which the rounds could ricochet.…

YOUR STAR TREK-STYLE universal communicator is ready for download. Well, it’s not exactly universal, but Microsoft’s Skype Translator Preview (go.pcworld.com/skypetranslator-pre) is a step into the future. The company announced that the beta app is now available to all Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 Technical Preview users, no sign-up or wait list needed. If you want to have a translated, spoken conversation with someone who speaks Italian, Mandarin, or Spanish, just download the free app from the Windows Store. Microsoft says Skype Translator works with almost any Skype client, meaning only you need to be the one with the Translator app enabled. bortaS bIr jablu’DI’ reH QaQqu’ nay’ - Revenge is a dish best served cold. (old Klingon proverb) Where no one has gone before The app can also translate instant message conversations (go.pcworld.com/skypetranslator-faq) in more…

ON MAY 12, Microsoft outlined the Windows 10 versions you’ll know, love, and buy when the new operating system launches this summer. But the company withheld key details, such as how it will eventually make money on it. As with Windows 7, 8, and now 10, Windows 10 will be sold in two versions for consumers: Windows 10 Pro, and Windows 10 Home. The Windows Phone brand, as Microsoft has indicated previously, is going away: It will be renamed Windows 10 Mobile, and will ship on phones and small tablets. Businesses and enterprises will also receive their own versions: Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise and Windows 10 Education. And yes, Windows 10 will be a free upgrade—at least for consumers: “As we announced earlier this year, for the first time…

MICROSOFT MAY HAVE formally announced the various versions of Windows 10, tailored for consumers, business, and mobile. But buried in the fine print is an important detail: One of the key features, Cortana, won’t be immediately available everywhere Windows 10 is sold. Microsoft outlined the six major versions of Windows 10 in a blog post (go.pcworld.com/win10intro). They’ll include Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home, and Windows 10 Mobile, plus the enterprise versions: Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education. Under Windows 10 Home, the very first “new innovation” that Microsoft corporate vice president Tony Prophet listed was the Cortana digital assistant, along with the Edge browser and universal apps. Windows 10 Pro will also incorporate Cortana, as will Windows 10 Mobile, where the digital assistant first launched as…

FOR WINDOWS PHONE users, Microsoft’s release of Build 10080 for Windows 10 phones is the big one, adding the Office apps, the Xbox app, the new Windows Store, and more. As expected, Microsoft said the current build is being pushed to those users who have subscribed to the Fast ring of Windows 10 updates, including those who own a Lumia Icon and even the HTC One M8—the first time a Windows 10 preview has been made available to those who owned phones not sold by Microsoft. In short, there’s a boatload of new additions since Microsoft last released Build 10051 in April: the new Office apps, the new Store app, along with the Xbox app now appearing on Windows Phones. As in Windows 10 Build 10074 for PCs, there are also Music…

SURE, YOU’LL HAVE to sell both your kidneys to buy it, but at least now you can finally have 128GB of cutting-edge RAM in your PC. Corsair is now selling two 128GB DDR4 RAM kits while Kingston touted that its upcoming big-ass set will hit speeds of 3000MHz. Why this matters: The move from DDR3 to DDR4 last year (in high-end machines) promised lower voltage, higher-frequencies, and higher capacities—eventually. While the average consumer certainly doesn’t need 128GB of RAM to run Microsoft Word or play a video game, some power users do indeed need seemingly crazy amounts of RAM. Also, can you say 100GB DDR4 RAM drive with 28GB left for system RAM? Corsair’s two kits fall into its premiere Dominator lineup. The “cheaper” of the two uses eight 16GB DIMMs running at…