Consumer software and hardware

Microsoft updates Windows 8 Mail, Calendar, and People apps

Microsoft has tweaked its Mail, Calendar, and People apps for Windows 8 and RT users with some much-need improvements.

The three core apps, which are bundled together, received some long overdue tweaks last night that make them a bit more user-friendly. But along with those improvements comes one negative: the Calendar app will no longer sync with Google Calendar appointments.

On the plus side, the Mail app now offers full folder management. You can create, rename, and delete folders and subfolders to better organize your e-mail.

Managing individual messages is also much easier. You can select multiple e-mails to delete, … Read more

Windows 8 store hits 50,000 apps

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

Apple, Adobe, Microsoft try to justify higher prices in Australia

Australian buyers of digital products from Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft shell out higher prices than do those in other countries. Just why is a question all three companies were finally forced to answer.

Executives from the three tech players appeared today before an Australian Parliamentary committee investigating charges of price gouging on software and other digital products.

The committee is looking into the charges based on a 2011 report that found a huge difference in the prices charged in Australia versus those in other countries.

Last month, Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft were summoned to address the complaints over higher prices … Read more

Microsoft ready to update Windows 8 built-in apps

It looks like Microsoft is indeed poised to update almost all its core, Microsoft-developed apps that shipped with Windows 8.

At the start of this month, I posted that Microsoft was expected to provide updates to everything from Windows Mail to Xbox Music sometime in March.

On March 22, Windows SuperSite editor Paul Thurrott discovered there is a stack of updates that are "installation ready" for Windows 8. These include:

Microsoft.BingTravel Microsoft.Camera Microsoft.Bing Microsoft.Reader Microsoft.BingNews Microsoft.windowsphotos (Photos) Microsoft.BingFinance Microsoft.microsoftskydrive Microsoft.XboxLiveGames Microsoft.ZuneVideo Microsoft.BingWeather Microsoft.ZuneMusic (Xbox Music) Microsoft.… Read more

Pandora debuts ad-free app for Windows Phone 8

Pandora has tuned up a Windows Phone 8 app that's both free and ad-free.

Available as of today in the Windows Phone store, the app offers all the standard features for Pandora listeners.

You can create up to 100 different stations based on your tastes in music. You can tell Pandora what you like and don't like by giving each song a thumb's up or thumb's down.

You can filter certain songs that you won't want to hear and flip on a switch for higher-quality audio. Existing Pandora users can log in with their current … Read more

Nvidia CEO says Windows RT is disappointing

Windows RT has turned out to be pretty "disappointing" so far, the chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia said today.

Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking during a meeting with analysts at Nvidia's conference for developers, noted that devices using the software -- such as Microsoft's Surface RT and Asus Vivo Tab RT -- aren't selling very well.

"Windows RT is disappointing to us because we expected to have sold more than we did," Huang said. "Everybody expected to have sold more than we did."

He said the next question is: How important is Windows … Read more

Microsoft Surface Pro sales hit 400K in a hurry

Microsoft has sold 400,000 Surface Pros since launch, according to a Bloomberg report.

That's not a bad start for a very pricey tablet -- starting at $899 -- considering that the Windows 8-based Pro launched only about a month ago.

"That's a respectable number and it leads me to believe that Surface Pro will end up outselling Surface RT," Bob O'Donnell, an analyst at IDC, said in a phone interview.

O'Donnell is referring to the RT version of Surface, which is less expensive, starting at $499, but it is not compatible with older … Read more

Microsoft pins Hotmail, Outlook outage on hot data center

Outlook and Hotmail users can blame the recent outage on an overheated data center, Microsoft says.

On Tuesday at around 1:30 p.m. PT, the two online e-mail services suffered a service disruption, rendering them inaccessible to many users. Microsoft started to bring them back online the rest of the day and on into Wednesday. But access wasn't fully restored until 5:43 a.m. yesterday, according to the company.

Microsoft's status page confirmed that the problem was repaired but offered no details as to the cause. Now the company has revealed the source of the glitch … Read more

Microsoft offers students three months free of Office 365

Microsoft is dangling a new offer to get students to try its Office 365 University software.

As of today, students with a qualifying .edu e-mail address can register to receive three months free of Office 365 University and an extra 20GB of space for their SkyDrive online storage. Share the offer on Facebook and you'll get an additional three free months of Office 365.

Geared for college students and teachers, a license for Office 365 University costs $79.99 for four years and is good for up to two PCs or Macs. The educational suite includes the same applications … Read more