In other cases, like with the new settings menu, they were part of Microsoft's plan all along -- the engineering team just didn't get to them before it was time to ship the first version of Win 8.

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Ajax also allowed Web pages to be more dynamic in other ways, letting users, say, right-click and see a menu tailored to their needs.

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Time Machine: Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences), among other things.

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Throughout the built- in applications you can have menu buttons appear at the bottom of the screen, be pulled down from the top, slide in from one side, have the hub alert slide in from the other side, or have the hub alerts replaced by yet another menu.

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One instance shows the controller being split and held like bow and arrow, highlighting that both sides are tracked in relation to each other -- not to mention that the in-game character's weapon automatically changes without any menu-digging by the user.

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