The New Task Manager

One of the stand out features of Windows 8 that hasn’t got much attention is the updated Task Manager. It displays a wealth of useful information laid out logically and in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Some of this functionality existed in previous versions of Windows but was not nearly as accessible.

I am very impressed with Windows 8′s new dual approach of supporting novice and power-users alike. A good example of this can be seen on the initial launch of Task Manager where it is launched in a minimal state and can be expanded easily to the full fledged manager. Some of these exciting features and more can be seen in the new Windows 8 Developer Preview or you can follow the Building Windows 8 blog from Microsoft.

Pokki, a new HTML5 based App Store

Pokki is a brand new app store for Windows (coming soon for Mac) that resides in the taskbar. Currently offering 8 elegant apps which include Facebook, Twitter and GMail. These apps are built using HTML5, CSS and Javascript. With the release of the SDK today everyone can start making there own creations immediately.

Currently in its beta incarnation Pokki’s framework is provided free of charge for anyone wanting to develop quick and light web applications that function outside the browser.

TermKit, the next gen Terminal

Sometimes you come across an idea and wonder why no one else thought of it. TermKit is definitely one such idea. It aims to replace the 1980′s terminal with one that has the same power but makes use of the extra pixels available on today’s displays.

Pretty sweet. Only a matter of time before we see a Windows implementation.  An in depth breakdown of TermKit’s architecture can be seen here.

UPDATE: Stumbled on to a Windows implementation of TermKit here.