store

Microsoft is continuing to slowly and steadily add more brick-and-mortar stores to its roster -- but with a new twist.

Rather than opening nothing but full-service, large-scale locations, the Softies are adding more small-footprint "specialty store" locations across the U.S. and Canada. These specialty stores are what Microsoft has rechristened its holiday pop-up stores.

On the Microsoft Store Facebook page, Microsoft describes these specialty stores as "scaled-down Microsoft retail stores that carry a curated selection of the best products Microsoft has to offer."

In its full-size stores, Microsoft showcases and sells everything from a fairly … Read more

When setting up a new device, it's nice to go back and make sure you've downloaded all of your purchased apps (or any purchased content for that matter), but Google's Play store app doesn't make it easy for this to happen at the moment. Currently your download history contains both free and paid apps, with no way to separate the two.

My Purchases is a free Android app that allows users to view their entire Google Play purchase history with just a few taps, as first reported by Droid Life.

After you install the free or … Read more

Apple plans to dramatically expand the number of stores it'll allow to be opened in India over the next couple of years.

According to the India Times, Apple is planning to triple the number of "exclusive stores" in the country by 2015. The India Times' sources, who currently run some of Apple's exclusive stores, say that the iPad maker will have around 200 of those locations around India by 2015.

Apple operates its stores a bit differently in India than in, say, the U.S. In India, Apple has found 17 franchisees that operate stores that … Read more

Windows 8 and RT users can now shop for more than 50,000 apps.

Microsoft's Windows Store hit that milestone this past weekend, according to data from MetroStore Scanner, a Web site that monitors the number of apps on the store's virtual shelves.

The Windows Store got off to a slow start when it first opened for business around a year ago. Microsoft was challenged trying to convince enough developers to design apps for the new and unproven operating system. A month before Windows 8 and RT officially launched last October, the store housed only around 2,000 apps.… Read more

Google wants to "Keep" your notes.

Yesterday Google introduced Keep, the new mobile and Web-based note-storing service that looks to take aim at products like Evernote. Boasting a simple, easy-to-use interface, Keep will work with Google Drive so that all notes are synced across different platforms. Users can edit their notes from either their phone or the Web and the information will be saved everywhere. You can also use voice dictation and photos to help enhance each note you take.

The BlackBerry Store has topped 100,000 apps, 30,000 of which were just added in the last … Read more

Note: Since this story was published, first Apple, then Google, told CNET that Google Now was never submitted to the App Store. See this article for more.

Google Now, the app that pulls in relevant information based on a user's location, might be being held up by Apple for inclusion in its App Store.Speaking today at the Big Tent Summit in India, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was asked when Google Now would be made available to iOS devices. The coded response didn't necessarily call out Apple, but did seem to hint that the iPhone maker is … Read more

Google just made an announcement introducing Keep, its new note-taking service. Keep is currently available for devices running Android 4.0.3 and up, or through the Google Drive Web site. Notes will automatically sync between the Web site and the Android app.

After installing the Android app you'll be prompted to select the Google account you want to use with Keep. Once that's done, you can begin keeping notes. There are four different methods you can use to enter a note:

I know not all Mac users take advantage of the OS X Dashboard widgets; some even claim that it's time Apple does away with it altogether. But I use it quite often to track packages, and view current weather conditions through the stock Weather widget.

Getting to the Dashboard isn't always convenient, so adding a menu bar icon to detail the current temp and weather conditions seemed like a good idea when I came across Degrees in the Mac App Store.

The free app doesn't offer much in way of features, but it doesn't need to. … Read more

I cover a lot of great-sounding gear on this blog, ranging from the $22 Lepai LP 2020A stereo integrated amplifier, $129 Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers, and the $650 Tekton M-Lore towers. This time I'm going all the way with a true state-of-the-art contender: the JBL Everest DD66000. It's the speaker equivalent of a fire-breathing Ferrari. I got the chance to spend quality time with a pair of these outrageously awesome speakers at EarsNova in New York last week for about an hour. Viva Audio tube amplifiers were driving the speakers, and the digital converter was by dCS Digital.

I … Read more