Microsoft seems determined to make the most of its ecosystem and that's never been more clear than the news that the company has launched the somewhat less than exciting Office Remote app for Windows Phone. If you've ever wanted to interact with Microsoft's Office apps by using your Windows Phone instead of a mouse, then you're in luck.
Microsoft is busy getting ready for its Xbox One release around the globe, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been able to find time to release a new Xbox One edition of its SmartGlass app that allows owners of smartphones and tablets to interact with their new game console without having to pick up a controller.
One of the most anticipated app releases for any platform is finally here. The social magazine app, Flipboard, that made headlines over the iPad, then iPhone and then Android, has finally made its way to Microsoft’s latest desktop computing platform, Windows.
No matter which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to websites having their own apps on desktop devices, it has to be said that it it's good to see those apps getting updated. Facebook hasn't always been known for getting updates to its mobile apps out in a timely fashion, but that hasn't stopped the social network from setting things straight when it comes to its Windows 8.1 app. More details can be found right here.
Apple has today updated their iTunes software to version 11.1.3. The latest iTunes release from the Cupertino giant is an attempt to fix a number of niggling and ongoing bugs that were introduced as part of the last iteration of the software. Version 11.1.3 follows hot on the heels of the refresh to version 4.0 of Apple's Remote app for iOS that has been refactored to work in perfect sync with iTunes 11.1.
Windows 8.1 and OS X Mavericks may be the two foremost operating systems available at desktop level, but they weren't always as slick, intuitive and feature-rich as they appear in the present day. Over the past 30+ years, the respective OSes for PC and Mac have seen many changes, and although we certainly couldn't go through a day using the old software from the eighties, nostalgic heads will probably want to check out an interesting Web-based emulator that runs both Windows 1.01 And Mac OS System 7. It's certainly a bit of a throwback, and even if you're not perhaps old enough to remember either of these vintage release, it's definitely worth taking a peek.
One thing that OS X has always excelled at in comparison to Microsoft’s widely used desktop OS, are the platform’s aesthetics. Windows has a long way to go before it can even remotely catch up to the beautiful graphics and rendering of OS X, and that is one of the primary reasons for the existence of several methods, skin packs, tips and software that help Windows users emulate some OS X features on their PCs.
The Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 have seen the light of the day, and as any other company would do, the Redmond technology giant is all about marketing and promoting the new hardware, to make sure that they become a true success. We’ve seen a lot of marketing ploys in the past as well - and not just from Microsoft, either - including Google’s Android statues and Apple’s TV ads. However, never once have we seen anything like what Microsoft has done in London’s Trafalgar Square, where the company has placed a 27 feet wide and 17 feet tall mockup of the newly-released Surface 2, all in the name of good marketing.
Microsoft brought Windows 8.1 to the masses just recently, after putting it through a decently long beta period, and it seems that all the feedback that Windows 8 generated (negative one in particular) got the Redmond giant listening. Windows 8.1 boasts a slew of improvements over its predecessor that are quite minor when looked at from afar, but offer solutions for the most annoying quirks that Windows 8 had on offer. The altogether lack of a Start button (only the button, and not menu, of course), improved Modern UI apps, better customization and configuration control are just the tips of the iceberg, which indicate that things might be headed in the right direction.
Last week, Windows 8.1 made its debut right on cue, but for those in ownership of the Surface RT - admittedly few, judging by Microsoft's own official numbers - as well as other Win RT-based devices, updating the latest version was a bit of a struggle. There was a workaround available for those who didn't want to wait for an official fix that we covered here at Redmond Pie, but now, Microsoft has begun distributing a recovery image for Windows 8.1 RT.
