Weekend Wrap-Up: Microsoft May Be Working On New RT Surface; EA Access Subscription Service Launches on Xbox One

This weekend is going by way too quickly! Monday will be here before we know it, so before we jump into another week of technology news, let’s look back at what the previous week brought us.

Microsoft Reportedly Working On New Windows RT Surface Tablet

Our own Brian Rubin hopes this isn’t true, and I’m right there with him: according to reports from this past week, it seems Microsoft may be going back to the RT Surface well one more time. The Windows RT-powered Surface tablets haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire in terms of sales, and Microsoft loves to tout the fact that its Pro tablets can run full Windows apps, so it’s unclear where the RT tablets fit into the picture. Maybe we’ll learn in the coming months what Microsoft has in store to set these particular tablets apart.

EA Access Launches for Xbox One

It isn’t that Netflix of video games I wrote about back in April, but it’s close. EA launched a brand new subscription service called EA Access earlier this week, and in an interesting twist, it’s only available for the Xbox One. Subscribers can pay either $4.99 a month for $30 a year to gain access to a “vault” of free-to-download EA titles — currently, Madden 25; Fifa 14; Battlefield 4; and Peggle 2. Additionally, members get a 10% discount on EA games and DLC purchased through the Xbox One Store. The service is currently in beta, but is expected to launch officially within the next several weeks.

New Apple TV Not Coming This Year, According to Report

I’m nearly 15 weeks into my Year Without Cable, and while I’ve gotten along just fine without paying for a cable package, I’m holding out hope that an Internet TV service takes shape soon. Unfortunately, my pick for the company best positioned to launch one may be delaying the product most necessary for it: the Apple TV. According to a report published this past week, Apple may be too trapped in negotiations with cable companies to launch the newest Apple TV, which makes a launch in 2015 more likely. I’m going to cross my fingers that this report is dead wrong. You should, too.

Samsung Officially Delays the Tizen Rollout

Remember when Samsung was Google’s biggest threat, and Tizen was poised to turn the smartphone world on its ear? Well, it seems Samsung is learning that it’s no easy task to develop an operating system from scratch and build an ecosystem around it, to boot. We still don’t have a Tizen smartphone to check out, and the one closest to become real, the Samsung Z, has been delayed. It begs the question: will Samsung ever actually put Tizen products out? Or will the company be content with riding the Android money train it’s currently on? We’ll have to wait and see.