Alan Buckingham

Back at the start of this month, Hulu Plus for Chromecast made an appearance, but aimed only for Android phones and tablets, as well as iPad customers. Those using Apple's platform as a smartphone device were feeling a bit left out, but today the streaming video service aims to right the ship.

"Today, we are excited to add the Chromecast integration for Hulu Plus to your iPhones", announces Hulu's Karan Nischol. "The Hulu Plus integration with Chromecast will convert your app into a custom remote letting you control video on your Chromecast connected TVs, while allowing you to browse the Hulu Plus app directly from your iPhone", the statement continues.

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Despite poor sales for the first gen model, Microsoft is pushing forward with its Surface tablet. While other manufacturers build Windows 8 devices, the Surface serves as a reference tablet, spotlighting the right way to produce the hardware, and that is a good a reason to continue production.

And continue it does, with the second generation sales kicking off tonight, including midnight openings at select Microsoft locations around the US. "Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 and the new accessories go on sale at 12:01am Tuesday, and Microsoft is hosting midnight events at 10 Microsoft retail stores across the country to celebrate", the team announces.

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Few places scream mountain biking louder than Utah. With locations like Canyonlands National Park, the entire state has become a mecca for thrill seekers, and served as the backdrop for the real-life situation that became the movie 127 Hours. Red Bull, famous for its energy drink and its sponsorship of sports, uses the state to stage its Rampage mountain bike challenge.

The event, which took place October 11-13 in Virgin, Utah, was streamed live online and will be shown on NBC December 21st in the US. However, Red Bull is also partnering with Microsoft's Internet Explorer to bring it to you sooner.

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Mobile malware tends to make news on a regular basis, most notably targeting Android. As Microsoft has learned with Windows, being the market share leader also means presenting the biggest target.

Russian virus researchers at Dr. Web are releasing new research around the latest volley from cyber-criminals, this one being dubbed "Android.Spy.40.origin". The Trojan is currently only prevalent in the southeast Asian geographic area, specifically in South Korea, where it's spread by means of unwanted SMS messages containing a link to an APK file.

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Just over 24-hours ago Microsoft unleashed Windows 8.1 upon the world -- a free upgrade, or "fix", for Windows 8 customers; a new operating system for those not already using the latest version. Every shiny new release comes with a marketing plan and this one is no different, as the ads have already begun to roll.

Microsoft is pushing out two new videos to get things under way -- one to show off the hardware and its multitude of designs, and another to focus on the user interface and apps.

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It has been almost a month since Amazon unveiled its Kindle Fire HDX tablets and began thrusting them in consumer's faces via its homepage. While its been long enough for this tablet model to seem the new norm, Amazon was not actually shipping the devices, but that changes now.

The seven-inch Amazon Kidle Fire HDX begins shipping today, coming along with the latest version of Fire OS 3.0, known as "Mojito". Amazon promises "a beautiful 323 ppi perfect-color HDX display, 3x the processing power, 2x the memory, 4x the graphics performance, and Fire OS 3.0, we think customers are going to love the new Kindle Fire HDX", according to Peter Larsen, Vice President of Amazon Kindle.

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With winter coming here in the northern hemisphere, our mindset begins to change. Trips to the beach are replaced by ones to the slopes. The "boys of summer" are replaced by the guys on the gridiron, the court and the ice rink. It's the perfect time for skiers, snowboarders and sports fans.

Now, the Bing Weather app is adding ski reports to its list of features -- "you’ll find the app now supplies current snow and weather conditions at ski resorts around the world, plus weather history and additional metrics like the UV index", reports Microsoft's Michael Stroh.

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Today has been a big one in the annals of Microsoft -- Windows 8.1 rolled out the door to a fair amount of headlines, and Visual Studio 2013 also arrived, to much less pomp and circumstance. Next week promises the same, with Surface 2 hitting store shelves amidst stories of stock shortages.

But nothing in the Microsoft universe is ever as simple as it should be -- the tech giant seems to almost enjoy keeping customers guessing. Hence the case of the Surface Pro 2, which promises to ship on October 22nd -- providing you only wish to score a 64 or 128 GB model.

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Windows 8.1 may be the big news of the day, but that does not mean Microsoft is sitting pat or off celebrating. The perceived vaccination for the Windows 8 illness is not the only product issuing forth from Redmond, Wash. today -- Visual Studio 2013, along with Team Foundation Server 2013 and .NET 4.51 are also now loose in the wild.

"You can download the trials and related products and MSDN subscribers can download the licensed product from the subscriber portal", announces Microsoft's Brian Harry.

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Vizio Co-Star has remained one of the more popular set-top boxes for those looking for a Google TV experience. The tiny device brings along all of the features found in more expensive cousins from the likes of Sony, but with less of the big-name price. While rumors persist of an impending name-change for the search giant's foray into the living room, details of an updated media OS have been tough to come by.

Vizio, leaving nothing to chance, is hedging its bets with a new model of that Co-Star box that shuns Google TV...ah, Android TV...you get the picture. Instead, the television manufacturer is focusing on bringing its smart TV technology to, well, dumb TV's.

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Over the years, I have been, first increasingly, then decreasingly, weighed down on my daily runs. A simple Ironman watch morphed into the first GPS watch, complete with a transmitter strapped to my arm, and then a chest strap for heart rate monitoring was added to the mix. Since then devices have become smaller and functionality has been rolled together. Now iriver announces ON, which takes that concept another step.

The ON is an exercise headset that does a bit more than just let you listen to your tunes to pass the miles away. "Powered by PerformTek sensor technology, the iriver ON accurately monitors more real-time fitness data from a single source than any other personal monitor, including heart rate, distance, speed, VO2 max (aerobic fitness level) and calories burned", the announcement explains.

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Microsoft will release its Xbox One on November 22nd, and a steady build-up is already in full swing. Launch day titles are being announced, and exclusives are aiming to create a reason to choose the console over rival Sony's PS4. Xbox Live gaming chief Larry Hryb, better known as Major Nelson, is at the forefront of this marketing push, continuing to release tidbits of information.

Today Hryb posts a brand new video of himself and Branden Powell, Director of Strategic alliances on the Xbox One partner development team, looking at what is on the horizon in the way of hardware for racing games. Both Forza Motorsport 5 and Need for Speed Rivals are on the list of "day one games" for the new console, and this is the gear that serious gamers will want for playing them.

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When it comes to original online video content, many services spring to mind, but Rdio is likely not one of them. However, not to be outdone by the likes of Amazon and Netflix, the online music service has produced and released its own original documentary that chronicles last year's Red Bull Stratos challenge.

Some of you may remember the event -- that Sunday morning when we sat glued to our computer screens watching as Felix Bomgartner slowly rose into the sky on the way to a record-setting 128,000-foot jump from the stratosphere.

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While there are some Windows Phone 8 customers out there who have only just received the GDR 2 update for their handsets, Microsoft is looking towards the future already, preparing the next iteration of its mobile operating system.

Today the company takes the first step towards pushing it out, announcing features and developer availability.

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Windows Phone customers sometimes feel left behind when it comes to apps and games. Many eventually make it to the platform, but are frequently behind Android and iPhone counterparts. In the case of some apps, such as YouTube, customers are left with nothing but a second-hand mess.

Rovio, for its part, is trying to make up for the shortcomings of others, even releasing its brand new Star Wars 2 game to Windows Phone ahead of the Android release, albeit only by hours. Now the Finnish game maker is rolling out major updates to three more games from its popular bird-slinging  empire.

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