Windows Threshold to be released next year?

Similar to Windows Blue which is Windows 8.1, Windows Threshold is the upcoming update to Windows 8.1 that will be coming in sometime next year. The previous news might have said that the product will be released in Spring two years later according to Mary Jo Foley but now, it looks like it will have additional features.
Speaking of additional features, there will be the return of Start Menu and the allowance of Modern apps on the desktop. It may be useful for desktop and laptop users but then, there were already third-party apps that are similar. It's way obvious that Stardock had made those emergency enhancement programs for Windows 8 users that Microsoft had seen them like they wanted to add their own versions of those features officially.
In fact, the Windows Phone devices still haven't got the Blue update until sometime next year and we can imagine that they will get the Threshold update the year after the year of Blue update.

Nexus TV next year

While there may be smart TVs from Samsung and LG, it seems that Google hasn't dominated the Smart TV market. What's helping Google though is the fact that certain third-party manufacturers have been manufacturing their Android TV boxes which allow you to hook them up to the TV. There may be USB keyboard and mouse of course but then, they don't seem to function well as a real Android TV or perhaps the answer to Apple TV.
The real Android TV is the fact that it's a Smart TV device powered by Android that will allow you to watch TV content, movies, listen to music, view pictures and so on. Also, this upcoming Nexus TV will have strong gaming features that allow you to play with the customized touchscreen controller and be released in the first half of next year.

Chrome apps on Android and IOS

Hmm, the Chrome apps may look kind of pointless to use on whichever devices you’re using such as the desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc. probably due to the apps already existing on those devices all along. The mobile apps on tablets and mobile phones are already useful enough but why do you need Chrome apps on those things? We don’t know what those apps are and especially for the games so why do we need to use Chrome apps when we already have better kinds of app to use?

Well, it’s more or less a pointless move from Google but it isn’t on Chromebooks themselves as if you can use those apps on those laptops instead! Jolicloud on the other hand has recognizable services and apps and I’ve already been using it on the live USB probably due to the fact that it can be officially downloaded.

The Chrome apps were already launched in September for desktops and now, they’re going to be available in January next year as well.

Better encryption from Microsoft will be completed by the end of next year

Well, this is taking a long time for this super encryption to be completed and deployed against the evil cyber-spying agencies we already know of and news of such spying scandal has been everywhere around the globe and everyone already knows it. In fact, we already saw a recent news on what they have been up to against the internet users. The services that will be encrypted are, Outlook.com, Office 365, Skydrive and Windows Azure.

Using the highest key length so far which is 2KBit and we’re not joking about that, this is by far the best-in-class industry cryptography Microsoft has planned. Another encryption standard called Perfect Forward Secrecy will also be implemented as well.

Under Legal Protection Reinforcement, it seems that Microsoft had already taken lawful actions against the bad things the governments had attempted to do against the customers. We don’t know when did Microsoft do this to protect us but they said that they will continue to protect us in the future to preserve their ability to alert us when some idiots DARE to force them to hand over the customer data. Of course, the consequences for such refusal are complete BULLSHIT! If Microsoft can continue to protect us, then there may be a reason to use their products again. But until the day of super-encryption, our computers and servers running Apple or Microsoft OSes are nothing but malware-infected junks. Even our tablets and phones are the similar victims as well.

China wants Microsoft to extend the Windows XP Support

Can't you even see that Windows XP is getting DAMN old that we've had enough of using it? It was interesting looking back then in the early 2000s but when the newer operating systems were likely to come out, it might look like I couldn't wait to try them. Nowadays, we're using the recent Windows OSes like Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, etc. And if that's the case that Windows XP's extended support will be ending next year in April, the other editions of Windows XP may have different support ending dates such as the fact that Windows XP Embedded is living even longer than the usual Windows XP editions.
OK, it seems that Windows XP is still the most used operating system in China with Windows 7 being the second most used OS. It was a brave move for Microsoft when it comes to Windows 7 due to having done it right after the performance disaster caused by Windows Vista. Lastly, if the extended support of Windows XP is likely to end next year April, then what about Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7, then? At this rate, it will look like we're using other virtualization software like VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels Workstation, etc. but if you do have Windows 8, you can use Hyper-V.
So, having to end support like that for Windows XP can spell security disaster for China and cause even more piracy to happen. And that's what happens when Windows XP is made way too popular until today.

Valve joins Linux Foundation

Maybe next year, I'll probably start using SteamOS straight away as the next year's New Year Resolutions just like using Windows 8 as part of last year's New Year Resolutions. It seems that Valve joins the Linux Foundation like they're trying to promote their SteamOS to ensure that the gaming on Linux gets popular with Linux version of Steam. Games that are on Steam are already playable on Mac OSX and Linux OSes and it may seem that Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions.
Every year, they will be paying between $5000 and $20000 after joining the Linux Foundation.

Outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act

This outdated cyber-law takes you back to the 80s when it was passed before the users had access to the computers and emails. As this is outdated, hundreds of government agencies have access to the people's content in the cloud without the warrant. So much for the progressing technology that even cloud computing has been affected by this illegal access.
The good thing is that both parties of Congress are supporting the reform of this law but we don't know what are the proper criteria like probably due to the fear that someone may make things even worse with this reform as if the main fault may lie with him. Unfortunately, the opponent against this reform is Securities and Exchange Commission, which is trying to prevent this reform from happening and allow further spying to occur.
So in the end, it seems that the illegal access to your stuffs is even worse than what NSA can do so we must make sure that this reforming should happen as soon as possible.
As the link https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reform-ecpa-tell-government-get-warrant/nq258dxk, looks so freaking governmental, I'm leaving this action-taking to you. You will need your whitehouse.gov account if you want to sign this petition.