Windows 10 Blue Screen of Death Now Shows a QR Code

Microsoft for the first time since Windows 8 has updated its Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) interface that shows up when the operating system crashes due to a critical error. The updated screen now shows QR codes to help technicians identify error codes in the blue screens.

It is worth mentioning that until now, the Windows 'stop code' stayed visible only for a few seconds during a Blue Screen, making it difficult to note, research, and fix the specific. However, now that's not the case. Now users can scan the QR code from their handsets to find an encoded URL with specific troubleshooting information for the problem and related support articles. Nonetheless, the sad ASCII smiley that was introduced with Windows 8 will still be there on the blue screen. Prior to Windows 8, Microsoft used to display more detailed information about the crash.

These QR codes were found by testers in the latest preview version of Windows 10, so it is yet to reach all the users. The QR codes in the Blue Screen of Death will be debuting this summer as a part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Microsoft last week released a preview of Windows 10, build 14316, for Insiders on Fast Ring, with a range of features including cross-device Cortana, and a new Universal Skype app. Some of the features in Windows 10 build 14316 include low battery notifications, and cross-device Cortana sync. With the new update, Cortana will be able to work across different platforms in a much more efficient way.

The build also brings with it Skype Universal Windows Platform Preview app. The Skype UWP Preview app comes with several of Skype's basic functionalities. Along with it, Microsoft is also bringing some improvements to Action Center, allowing users to manage the notification settings for individual apps.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

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