Samsung Omnia M revealed for Europe: 4-inch Super AMOLED and some software extras

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More new Windows Phones, this time for the old continent. Instead of the Focus 2 , Samsung announced that the Omnia M will take its place in Europe and it's looking an awful lot like its predecessor -- although we're a bit concerned the build quality may not match its older brother.

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Intel: Windows 8 on ARM Is an Uphill Fight [Intel]

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Windows 8 is stirring up a fair deal of controversy for Microsoft. Now, Intel has come out as saying that it thinks that running the new OS on ARM hardware is going to prove difficult. More

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CHKDSK is changing how it works (step 1 of 1) 56 percent completed…

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PC users of a certain age will be all too familiar with defragging and disk checking, normally as a last-ditch attempt to reinvigorate a flagging or faulty system. Fast-forward to 2012, and Microsoft is reassessing the role of the whole NTFS health model for the modern world (well, Windows 8 at least).

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Is Microsoft Planning to Limit Your Browser Choice on Windows 8 Tablets? [Microsoft]

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If you're used to freely choosing which browser you use in Windows, brace yourself: Mozilla is claiming that Microsoft is planning to limit user choice for browsers on tablets running Windows 8. More

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Microsoft gives Windows 8 developers a head start on Windows Store app submissions

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If you've been jonesing to get your app into the Windows Store and don't want to compete for attention with the developing masses when Windows 8 ships, Microsoft might just have your ticket to the front of the line. Developer Evangelist Matt Harrington is offering a fast track for developers that write a "great" app, contact him through his blog and meet all the app submission conditions needed to get Microsoft's rubber stamp. Along with receiving a token to enter the store well ahead of most others, those privileged few who clear the hurdles can get help from a Microsoft engineer to give their Windows 8 apps that extra polish

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Aperion unveils the ARIS wireless speaker, invites Windows devices to the wireless shindig for $499

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Jealous of your iOS-wielding mates and their fancy AirPlay docks ? If so, Aperion Audio is looking provide some relief. The outfit has revealed the ARIS, a wireless speaker that makes use of the Play To feature that resides within the Windows OS.

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Amazon woos Microsoft devs with .NET, SQL Server support

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Amazon CTO Werner Vogels Let it never be said that the cloud computing wars are boring. Within hours of being blasted for locking developers into its ever-rising cloud stack , Amazon announced new managed database services  and Elastic Beanstalk support targeting thousands upon thousands of Microsoft-centric developers. Late on Tuesday, Amazon posted on its AWS blog that Microsoft SQL Server is now part of AWS’ relational database service (RDS) program

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Hey Google, take control of Android already, will ya?

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Google’s “open” approach to Android has certainly helped build the platform’s user base: Android powers more than half of the world’s smartphones .

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Track 8 Music Player Brings Microsoft’s Beautiful Metro Design to iPad [Video]

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People tend think of Macs as the "creative" computer and Windows as the "business" computer, but those lines have blurred for years. System administrators figured out how to support iPhones for enterprise email; Windows Phone looks great from a design perspective; and have you noticed that Apple doesn't even ship a basic image editor anymore, and yet Microsoft remembers to include MS Paint?

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Google Ventures-Backed Location-Sharing Service EchoEcho Raises $750k From Bullpen, PROfounders

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EchoEcho is one of the more useful location-based applications on the market today. Instead of focusing on check-ins and deals, the application simply makes it easy for you to find out where your friends are and lets you set up a meeting with them. Last September, EchoEcho raised $750,000 from Google Ventures , UK-based venture firm PROfounders and Don Dodge

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