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More details on Microsoft's free Office

Microsoft has said that, starting with Office 2010, it will allow computer makers to bundle in a limited version of the product onto new PCs. However Microsoft has shared relatively little about Office Starter 2010, the product that will replace Works at the low-end of Microsoft's productivity lineup.

Over lunch on Wednesday, Chris Capossela, a senior vice president at Microsoft, shared a little more about what users can expect when they open up Office Starter.

As previously detailed, the product includes scaled-down versions of Word and Excel and is free for consumers, but does include advertising. Capossela said that … Read more

Netflix app coming to iPhone, iPod Touch

CNET's Dan Ackerman called Netflix for iPad "one of the best reasons we can think of to sign on to Apple's new device." And I believe him.

That's why I've been battling the green-eyed monster since iPad launch day. The surprising news of streaming Netflix movies and TV shows was almost enough to get me to stand in line and spend $500 I wasn't planning to spend. Almost.

But surely, I thought, surely Netflix will share the app love with us lowly iPhone and iPod Touch users? Please, please, please, please?

Thank you! Turns out, Netflix does indeed plan to offer an iPhone/Touch version of the app. Here's the word from The Official Netflix Blog:

Steve Swasey, VP of corporate communications, here. Terrific response to our news today about Netflix on the iPad. For those of you asking whether Netflix will be on the iPhone and iPod Touch: We wouldn't invite you to dinner without planning to serve dessert. In other words, we're working on it so stay tuned.

Happy dance!… Read more

iWork on the iPad is a great way to work

Of the many apps available on iPad release day--and the continuing flood of new additions coming in as developers get their apps primed for the new device--a few key apps came straight from Apple. As reported when the iPad was initially announced, Apple has created iPad versions of its popular iWork productivity suite, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps--each of which is available for $9.99 at the iTunes App Store.

We've had a chance to get a close look at each of the iWork apps and have found them to be extremely useful on the new platform. Obviously, … Read more

Rogers Navigator brings 'Shake-to-Go' to Canadian iPhones

Canadian iPhone users on the Rogers network have another option for turn-by-turn directions with the Rogers Navigator app for iPhone.

When you download Rogers' app, you get speech recognition for destination entry and search, text-to-speech reading of turn-by-turn directions with street names, and real-time traffic alerts with one-click rerouting around congestion or incidents. Rogers Navigator also integrates your iPhone's contacts data so you won't have to enter the addresses you already have in the phone, and integrated iPod controls so that you won't have to leave the app to manage your tunes.

The app has a pair … Read more

10 things Netbooks can learn from the iPad

After a weekend of immense enthusiasm and even wide-eyed utopian futurism regarding the debut of Apple's iPad, a bit of dust has settled. Perhaps Apple has hit the nail on the head of a new trend in future computing; perhaps this is just a bump on the road before the next leap.

Either way, from this point going forward, the iPad will be referenced when discussing portable computing, for good or for bad.

Back when the iPad was announced, our first instinct was to reflect on what the cheap, stalwart Netbook could provide that the sleek, homogeneous, iPhone-like iPad … Read more

Apple: Over 300,000 iPads sold on first day

We'd heard analysts' predictions, but until now no one knew for sure how many iPads were sold on launch day.

On Monday, Apple announced it sold more than 300,000 of its new tablet computers on Saturday.

That figure included preordered iPads delivered to customers, sales at its retail stores, and deliveries to channel partners.

In addition, Apple said, iPad owners downloaded more 1 million iPad apps and 250,000 e-books from Apple's iBookstore on Saturday.

Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster had originally predicted Apple would sell between 200,000 and 300,000 iPads on the first … Read more

Movies-on-demand for the iPad

Editors' Take: Netflix came out of the gate quick by offering a free app for the iPad at the device launch. We were able to download the app from iTunes and give it a test drive, and the initial results are very promising

Launching the app takes you to what looks almost exactly like the Netflix Web site. You sign in with your username and password just as you would when using Netflix on a PC, no device authorization required. You can sign out of the site just as easily if you are sharing or borrowing an iPad.

All the … Read more

Digg's app comes to Android, minus some features

Digg users with Android devices, who might have been jealous of Digg's recently launched iPhone/iPod app, now have one of their very own.

The good news is that it's free, and has the same, simple interface as its iPhone cousin. The bad news is that it's not packing nearly as many features.

Just like the iPhone app, Digg's Android app, which went live on the Android Marketplace on Friday, offers a quick way to view and sort through stories on Digg.com. Included are tabs for top, recent, and upcoming stories on Digg, as well … Read more

Fun-loving iPad zombies

Editors' take: The iPad's bigger screen real estate lends itself well to tower defense games such as Plants vs. Zombies HD, a $10 game where players attack hordes of zombies.

The iPad-optimized version brings the game nearly up to parity with the versions found on PC and Mac computers, which cost twice as much. This includes the proper top placement (instead of the side) of all the weapons and resources you must work with to defeat your zombie foes, as well as survival mode, which lets players try to stay alive for as long as possible. For many of … Read more