Major Windows 8 built-in app updates due Tuesday, Google Calendar sync will be disabled

    2inShare Microsoft is preparing some major updates to its built-in Windows 8 applications on Tuesday. The company is refreshing its communication apps: mail, calendar, and people. In our review of Windows 8 we found that the new built-in apps were significantly lacking functionality, and the performance of them on the Surface RT tablet was poor. Microsoft is attempting to address both of these issues...

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Microsoft blames overheating datacenter for 16-hour Outlook outage

Microsoft's outlook.com webmail service suffered 16-hour long issues yesterday after a firmware upgrade at the company's datacenter went wrong. In a blog post detailing the outage, Microsoft reveals some customers couldn't access parts of SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Outlook. Although Microsoft has updated its datacenter firmware successfully previously, the regular process "resulted in a rapid and substantial temperature spike in the datacenter" due to an unspecified reason. The overheating was significant enough to activate Microsoft's safeguard...

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Intel Capital makes a big bet on Android with investment in Bluestacks

Add Intel Capital to the growing list of companies eager to work with Bluestacks. Intel has invested an undisclosed amount in the startup, BlueStacks told VentureBeat today. BlueStacks “LayerCake” technology runs Android apps on any Windows PC and Mac, bridging a gap between mobile and the desktop that neither Google or Apple have tackled yet. Primarily, Intel wants to make sure that BlueStacks’ software is optimized for its chips. The investment could also be a major help for Intel’s smartphones, like the Europe-only Motorola Razr i, ...

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Microsoft restores transfer rights for retail Office 2013 copies

Summary: As part of its shift to a subscription model, Microsoft introduced a controversial "no transfer" restriction with Office 2013. Now, after an intense outcry from customers, the company has reversed course and agreed to allow users to transfer retail Office licenses between devices. Office 2013 might be brand new, but its license agreement is already getting a significant upgrade. The new language represents a...

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