It’s here. Finally. Microsoft is now offering Office Mobile for iPhone. This is huge news for Microsoft Office, huge news for the iPhone, and a game changer for productivity on the go.

Starting today, Office Mobile for iPhone is available in the Apple App Store, and it’s free for Office 365 subscribers. (Office 365 Home Premium subscribers pay $10 per month or $100 per year for five installations, and Office 365 small-business users pay per seat.) With this one move, Microsoft expands its reach from a mere 1.2 percent of mobile users who use Windows Phone, to the nearly 60 percent who rely on iOS.

Using Office as a carrot

I’ve been screaming from the mountaintop for years that Microsoft should make Office available on other platforms and devices. Until now, Microsoft’s apparent strategy has been to use Microsoft Office as bait to lure customers to its Windows Phones and Windows tablets, but that tactic has failed.

Instead of driving demand for Microsoft’s mobile devices, it just forced users to find compatible alternatives—Documents to Go, QuickOffice, and Apple's iWork apps— for the devices they do want to use.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Acer has announced that a new version of its C7 Chromebook will be available at Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com for $199. The refreshed model includes a 16GB SSD.

The model C710-2856 Chromebook has an 11.6-inch LED-backlit LCD panel with native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. It's powered by a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor and 2GB of DDR3 memory. Apart from swapping a 320GB mechanical hard drive for an SSD, this computer's specifications are the same as the earlier $199 Chromebook that Acer announced in November 2012.

Acer

“The expansion of our Acer C7 Chromebook line to Walmart is a clear indication of its growing popularity for anyone who wants a new or second mobile PC for web-based computing,” said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing, Acer America. “The new configuration with a speedy and responsive SSD at only $199 is an especially notable value.”

Acer is positioning the Chromebook as an inexpensive secondary laptop for families and professionals who want to use cloud-based services and social networks and shop online, and for students preparing to go back to school in the fall.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM's Edge event hit Hewlett-Packard in Las Vegas with a one-two punch before the executives at HP Discover even got started.

These were more than the traditional shots pitting IBM solutions against HP products, and HP likely won't know how hard Big Blue hit it until its reps talk to IT folks who attended both events.

EMC and Dell joined IBM in hosting events prior to HP. Each presented a similar story, one driven by marketing, showcasing financial customer benefits and largely playing down products, particularly hardware.

But IBM's timing and approach appeared particularly well-planned, much like a campaigning politician who anticipates a mistake an opponent had repeatedly made. This is pertinent-HP CEO Meg Whitman has a political background-but such skills were not evident in Las Vegas.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

On the day we reviewed the Latitude 3330, the “starting price” online was $801.14, but the “Dell price” was $560.80. On the day you look, those numbers could be different. What won’t change is the fact that this 13.3-inch notebook with Windows 7 Pro is aimed at buyers working with very tight budgets. Just remember that you get what you pay for.

Dell

In this case, you’re getting a sub-4-pound laptop with a slim profile but skimpy specs that include an Intel Core i3-2375M CPU (part of the Sandy Bridge family introduced back in early 2011), equally dated HD3000 integrated graphics that share just 4GB of system memory, and an incommodious 320GB hard drive that spins its platters at 5400 rpm.

In real-world terms, the across-the-board low scores it produced in our benchmark translate to longer wait times for basic computing operations, such as installing apps, editing digital photos, and decompressing zipped files. The lag may not be too bothersome if you merely need to write letters and term papers, run simple spreadsheets, check email, and catch up on news in a browser.

Nevertheless, the Latitude 3330’s Notebook WorldBench 8.1 score of 68 marks it as 32 percent slower than our reference laptop, the Asus VivoBook S550CA. We’ve seen the VivoBook selling online for $650, but that $90 bump buys a lot, including an Intel Core i5 CPU, a 15.6-inch touchscreen, 6GB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive with an SSD cache.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

For many of us, there's nothing more important to do online than check, read, and write emails. Inky is an email desktop client that brings all your email accounts together under one roof. It offers most of the features you're used to, and something different as well.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

As a writer, I find Dragon NaturallySpeaking wonderful. Its time-tested and mature speech recognition engine understands me well, and it can transcribe audio files I record on my phone. But at $100-$200, it's also an expensive piece of software, and no, you can't download a demo. What you can do if you're curious about Dragon's speech recognition is plop down $20 for Dragon Notes, marketed as a smart sticky-note replacement.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Inkjets, which are losing some of their cachet among consumers, are finding new jobs in small offices and workgroups. We’ve tested enough business models over the past couple of years to prove that a high-quality inkjet multifunction is faster and cheaper to operate than a comparably prices laser product in the sub-$500 space. A good place to start is with HP's $400 OfficeJet Pro 276dw. It is expensive to buy, but it's also an excellent inkjet multifunction whose enhanced manageability features lets it play nice even in the corporate environment. The 276dw also installs easily, produces nice output quickly, and ink costs are low.

Control panel includes 4.3-inch touchscreen

The 276dw is a dark-chocolatey shade of brown, which, while a bit old-school, works well with the printer's soft edges and corners. It sports a large, 4.3-inch touchscreen control panel with a well thought-out menu structure that makes it easy to operate. Software includes HP scan, remote email printing, and a complete onboard management console accessible via your Web browser. Management features include email alerts, a firewall, proxy support, etc. You can reach the management interface via the control panel or your browser.

The 276dw sports Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and USB, so you may attach it to your network in any fashion and location that you want. Installation was a breeze: There were no firewall hassles, or other such configuration issues that we commonly see, though there are quite a few dialogs to wade through. Push-scanning to our test PC from the 276dw's control panel was available almost immediately. Quite often it takes printers an inordinate amount of time to get their networking act together.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Years after its debut, Mission Control (formerly known as Exposé) remains one of Mac OS X's most distinctive features. It allows you to to lay out miniature copies of all of your windows on the screen at once, making it both useful and pretty. Microsoft briefly experimented with a fancy task switcher of its own for Windows, called Flip 3D, but the feature was retired in Windows 8, along with the Start button and other familiar fixtures. It also introduced the Modern interface with its own separate breed of apps that defy the notion of a window. This makes it difficult to create an effective Mission Control clone for Windows, but Emcee for Windows 8 is one utility that rises to the challenge.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Sandisk's newly launched Extreme II SSD offers a nice blend of price and performance. In its larger capacities, the drive retails for considerably less than a buck a gigabyte, and it's one of the fastest drives with large files that we've tested. Its performance with small files, on the other hand, is merely average, and the drop-off in write performance from the 240- and 480GB models to the 120GB version is steep.

Sandisk has ditched the SandForce SF-2281 controller found in the original Extreme series, and equipped the 7mm profile, 6Gbps Extreme II with a Marvell 88SS9187. The combination of the new controller and fast, 19nm toggle-mode NAND allowed the Extreme II to outpace the sustained write performance of such capable drives as OCZ's Vector and Corsair's Neutron. The 240GB version wrote our 10GB large file at 644.3MBps and read it at 479.8MBps. With small files, however, the Extreme II was strictly mundane, writing our 10GB mix of files and folders at 352MBps, and reading them at 373.6MBps.

The 480GB version posted numbers nearly identical to the 240GB's, but the 120GB model wrote files significantly slower. That's the norm with SSDs with less than 240GB/256GB capacity, as there are fewer chips and channels to write across, although the dropoff can vary. The 120GB drive was actually the fastest drive we've seen to date—485MBps—when reading our large file, but it wrote it at only 465.6MBps (nearly 200MBps slower than the two more capacious models). The 120GB model read our 10GB mix of files and folders at 378.9MBps, which is about the same performance as the larger capacities turned in, but it wrote it at 300.8MBps (60GBps slower).

The 120GB version of the Extreme II retails for $130, while the larger 240GB and 480GB models cost $230 and $440 respectively. That's nice pricing for units with a five-year warranty and top-notch performance. Sandisk rates the drives for 80TBW (TeraBytes Written) plus. If you can scrape up the extra bucks for the larger capacities, you'll get significantly better write performance.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The fairly recent Windows 8 operating system, and the even more recent trend of affordable Windows-operated touchscreen laptops and tablets, call for a new look at the way we're used to doing things. One of the most common actions in my daily routine is to fire up MetroTwit and find out what's new in the world according to Twitter. Even Windows 8 can't change that. Tweetro+ is a $10 Twitter client for Windows 8 devices that brings the Modern interface to Twitter in full blast, while retaining all the important features.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Though barely a year old, Google Drive is already a very popular service. It’s easy to use if you already have a Google account, and its prices put Dropbox to shame. On Google Drive, 100GB costs a mere $5 a month (and Google even bumps up your Gmail storage to 25GB as a bonus). Dropbox charges double the price for 100GB.

But like Google’s Chrome browser, Google Drive becomes even more useful when you take advantage of third-party add-ons and services.

These five totally free and easy-to-use tools will help you to encrypt your data, play your music, collaborate on slides, back up automatically, share files, and more. Some live on the desktop, some in Chrome, and some online, but all of them work to make Google Drive a happier online home for your data.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The idea behind SearchYourCloud is a good one: This application is designed to help you secure and find all of the data you have stored in the cloud. Getting up and running with the application can be a bit tricky, but once you have an understanding of SearchYourCloud, you'll likely find it delightfully simple to use.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If Pinterest and Evernote got married and had a baby, that child would look like Springpad. This Web service/mobile application combo bills itself as a personal assistant that allows you to save, organize, and share ideas and information. And with Springpad 4.0, featuring an enhanced layout that's easier to use and useful search and sharing tools, this free application just might be more useful than either of those digital parents.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

In a recent TekSystems survey, 1,500 IT leaders and 2,400 IT pros were polled on the importance of onboarding. When IT leaders were asked about onboarding's importance, the majority agreed that it's necessary but that many aren't doing it well.

62 percent of IT leaders say an onboarding program is extremely valuable in terms of a new employee.

53 percent agreed that it created better cohesion among their teams.

47 percent agreed that contributed to the long term success within the company.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook has opened its first data center outside the U.S., using 100 percent renewable energy and operating on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Sweden.

Up to now many of Facebook's data centers in the U.S. have been slammed by environmental campaigners for not using renewable energy, but the one in Sweden—located where the River Lule meets the Gulf of Bothnia—may go some way in turning things around.

The data center at Lule is now handling live data traffic from around the world, with all the servers and other equipment powered by locally generated hydro-electric energy.

"Not only is it 100 percent renewable, but the supply is also so reliable that we have been able to reduce the number of backup generators required at the site by more than 70 percent," according to a Facebook statement.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AMD plans to sample its first ARM-based processors for servers early next year, alongside paired CPUs and integrated graphics cores in an attempt to oust Intel's Xeon from its dominance in the server market.

Specifically, AMD's ARM core will be code-named "Seattle," and will ship in volume during the second half of 2014, AMD executives said. In 2014, AMD will also ship "Berlin," a core available in both a CPU form factor as well as an APU, which integrates the processor with an integrated graphics coprocessor. Finally, there's the "Warsaw," which will compete with in high-performance computing (HPC) applications with the Xeon.

Seattle is of interest to both AMD and to other industry watchers because it represents one of the more interesting opportunities for AMD to regain share in the server market. Last year, AMD said last year that it had agreed to license ARM 64-bit technology, and would combine it with its Freedom Fabric, the name given to its high-speed networking technology it acquired via SeaMicro.

Intel sells more than 80 percent of all microprocessors by unit volume, but in servers it's a virtual dictatorship; during the fourth quarter of 2012, Mercury Research estimated that Intel sold about 95.7 percent of all server microprocessors sold. To compete, AMD needs something different, and it's hoping ARM represents that edge.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Yahoo has received between 12,000 to 13,000 requests for user data from law enforcement agencies in the U.S. between Dec. 1 and May 31 this year, the company said Monday.

The most common of these requests concerned fraud, homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell wrote in a blog post.

The company did not disclose how many of the requests for customer data were under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which has been at the center of a controversy after reports surfaced that the government was collecting data from a large number of users under the Act, including call metadata from telephone customers of Verizon.

“Like all companies, Yahoo! cannot lawfully break out FISA request numbers at this time because those numbers are classified; however, we strongly urge the federal government to reconsider its stance on this issue,” the executives wrote.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Lean storage techniques will keep a lid on storage investments over the next few years, though the world’s enterprises still are on track to buy 138 exabytes of storage system capacity in 2017, IDC said.

Annual sales of storage capacity will grow by more than 30 percent every year between 2013 and 2017, according to a forecast the research company announced on Monday. But that growth will be slower than the steep pace recorded a few years ago because organizations have adopted ways of using storage more efficiently, including cloud storage services, IDC analyst Natalya Yezhkova said.

Data deduplication, data compression, thin provisioning and storage virtualization all will help enterprises limit their purchases of new storage capacity, Yezhkova said. Those techniques can reduce the amount of space consumed by a given bit of information or help companies allocate new storage as needed instead of overbuying.

IDC estimates more than 102 exabytes of external and 36 exabytes of internal storage system capacity will be sold in 2017, up from just 20 exabytes of external and 8 exabytes of internal capacity in 2012. External storage sits outside of servers, while internal goes inside them.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft said Monday that it is eliminating the ability to link accounts within Outlook.com, replacing them with aliases instead.

Currently, Outlook users can link their account with others from within Outlook.com. Outlook allows users to not only read email from within the Outlook.com context, but also send emails as if they were in those other domains.

Now, according to Microsoft, those Microsoft accounts will be unlinked, and made inaccessible to Outlook.com. In the near term, Microsoft will begin unlinking those previously linked accounts. Instead, Microsoft has proposed an alternative: using Outlook.com aliases instead.

What’s the difference between an alias and a dedicated email address? An alias can provide anonymity for users, without being tied to an actual account. Let’s say that one owned the email address foo@outlook.com. Using the alias feature that Microsoft pushed to the public in 2011, one could set up IamJoeSmithZ@outlook.com, hand that email out to the public, and receive email sent to that address. As an alias, IamJoeSmithZ@outlook.com wouldn’t require a dedicated password; if that address was set up as a second, linked account, it would.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Much of Rambus’ past is associated with lawsuits, but the company is moving forward with dispute settlements.

After years of litigation, Rambus and STMicroelectronics said Monday they had signed an agreement that settled all their legal disputes. The agreement came just a few days after Rambus settled a 13-year-old legal dispute with SK Hynix.

Monday’s comprehensive agreement will settle outstanding claims and expand existing licenses, STMicroelectronics and Rambus said in separate statements.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Many eyes in the tech world will fall on Oracle later this week, when the vendor’s fourth-quarter results are set for release. This is typically the biggest reporting period for Oracle each year in terms of revenue, but a number of questions loom beyond its top-line performance.

Here’s a look at some of the topics Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and other executives may discuss or be asked to address during Thursday’s conference call on the results.

New software purchases versus maintenance

Oracle has consistently made sure to highlight its strong software maintenance revenue, which existing customers pay each year for support and updates. Maintenance fees carry extremely high profit margins for Oracle and other software vendors.

But another key metric to watch is new software license revenue. Growth in this area says customers are broadening their investments in Oracle software, whether by adding licenses for their existing implementation or trying out newer products.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Thursday afternoon, a bombshell dropped: Two leading reports claimed that the U.S. government has been spying on emails, searches, Skype calls, and other electronic communications used by Americans for the last several years, via a program known as Prism.

According to the reports, the Web’s largest names—AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Skype, PalTalk, Yahoo, and YouTube—participated, perhaps unwittingly. (Dropbox will reportedly be added as well.) The report claims that the National Security Agency had “direct access” to servers owned by those companies. Most, if not all, of those companies have denied participating in Prism, although it’s unclear whether they were unaware of the NSA’s spying, or simply turned a blind eye.

According to The Guardian and The Washington Post, the data covered included: “email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP chats, file transfers, social networking details, and more.”

If nothing else, however, the Prism disclosure is worrying and deeply shocking. If the report is accurate, the government may simply listen in on virtually any electronic communication you’ve made, in the interests of national security. Is this something that should be encouraged to fight domestic terrorism, or is this sort of government intrusion something that should be deeply distrusted? For the purposes of this story, we’re going to err on the side of the latter; whether you take advantage of our advice is up to you.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Commuting is tough. Working out of your car all day is tougher. From traveling salesmen to offsite service professionals to couriers, millions of people worldwide spend their nine-to-five hours behind the wheel. And they need to stay in touch—online, dialed in, and powered up—all day. That’s not easy to do when you’re constantly on the move.

Allow us to show you how to remain a useful member of the information age even when your workdays can take you on trips of dozens or hundreds of miles.

Power

Few cell phones and far fewer laptops will get you through an entire day of serious work without being plugged in and recharged at some point along the way. Fortunately, your car is a mobile electricity generator. How best to get power out of your vehicle and into the gadgets that need it?

Many of today’s automobiles feature USB ports, which are fine for recharging your phone. But if you want to charge your notebook (or even most tablets) you’ll need something with more juice. Here are two options that give you a standard A/C adapter via your 12-volt cigarette lighter socket.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Social media has been a boon for businesses small and large, but it's also becoming a minefield for those unable to manage the increasing complexities of the run-and-gun nature of the beast. On a seemingly daily basis, we suffer through one “Twitter disaster” or another. It's becoming so commonplace that “Twitter disaster” really doesn't deserve to be in quotes.

Damage can occur with incredible swiftness. Although tweets and Facebook posts can be deleted, evidence of their existence is invariably captured and collected for posterity within seconds of their going live. Say something wrong on a social network, and it will haunt you for life.

Don't believe me? Check out these nine all-too-common reasons for failure, all of which involve real businesses being undone by a simple, wayward message on social media.

1. Hand the keys to someone not ready to drive

It's understandable that as a small-business owner you might not want to spend your days tending to the Twitter and Facebook pages. It's a high-effort job that often has minimal bottom-line impact, so it's very tempting to outsource the task to another company or hand it off to a low-level staffer.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A router is the heart of your network, so it deserves to be chosen carefully. Any router will share your Internet connection amongst your computers and other networkable devices (smartphones, tablets, and so on), but better models provide features that will enhance your network and its performance. Whether you're seeking a business- or consumer-class router, here are the eight most essential features to look for.

1. Wi-Fi access point

Most routers targeted at the consumer and SMB market have a built-in Wi-Fi access point (AP) to provide wireless network connections for PCs and other devices equipped with Wi-Fi adapters. You can purchase additional APs to extend the router’s range. A stand-alone AP can also add wireless capabilities to a wired router. There are several wireless standards in use, with IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g considered to be legacy standards. IEEE 802.11n is the latest ratified standard, and 802.11ac is in "draft" mode with final ratification expected late this year or early next. There is a remote chance that devices based on this standard won't be compatible with the final standard, but most people in the industry consider that event highly unlikely.

Wireless routers operate on one of two frequency bands: 2.4GHz or 5GHz. The 2.4GHz band provides only three non-overlapping channels, so it can become crowded very quickly. There are 23 non-overlapping channels available on the 5GHz frequency band, so you'll encounter much less interference when operating a network there. Routers and access points capable of operating on both the 2.4- and the 5GHz frequency bands are described as "dual-band" products. 

If you're buying a router today, pick a model that's based on either 802.11n or the draft version of 802.11ac.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Running a household smoothly is like heading up a small business—even more so if you manage a home office on top of it all. You need to be detail-oriented, organized, and well equipped. Luckily, even if you lack those first two traits, the proper tools can go a long way toward filling the gap.

The following hardware, apps, and Web-based services are designed to help the chief technology officer of your family. These offerings can step in to assist with everything from syncing schedules and planning meals to securing your home and monitoring your kids’ content consumption.

Everyday organization

Sync schedules

An easy way to minimize the stress of running a household is to stay organized. The first step is for family members to share calendar access. Google Calendar is universally accessible online and simple to use, and it lets you add and view other people’s calendars while keeping some events private. (Read up on 21 Google Calendar tricks.) As for mobile devices, CalenMob for iOS or Chronos Calendar for Windows Phone both sync with Google. On Android, you can simply use the native app or try Touch Calendar.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LinkedIn, the traditionally text-heavy social network for professionals, is getting visual with the launch of the LinkedIn Professional Portfolio, which lets you upload images, videos, presentations and documents to showcase your work.

"This means you can illustrate your greatest achievements in the form of stunning images, compelling videos, innovative presentations and more," says Udi Milo, project manager at LinkedIn.

"From the analyst who makes annual predictions on tech trends to the 3D animator who is looking to fund a new short film, the opportunities are limitless for how professionals can now use the LinkedIn profile to help showcase these unique stories in a visual way," Milo says.

You can upload images, videos, presentations and documents to your summary, experience and education sections of your profile. LinkedIn members can also like or comment on the work samples you've posted.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Just a few short years ago, cloud storage services that synced files and folders across multiple PCs and mobile devices were just a dream. But thanks to the rapid rise of entities like Dropbox, SugarSync, and Google Drive, cloud storage and syncing services are nearly ubiquitous today, acting as hard drives in the sky that help you do all kinds of things—such as creating a bulletproof (almost) backup system or turbocharging your productivity to blistering new levels—no matter where you are.

If you have the space, that is. Truly wondrous setups require robust cloud storage capabilities, but that doesn’t mean you have to drop dollars for extra gigs.

Most services offer free accounts with modest quantities of complimentary cloud storage. In isolation, these pittances don’t amount to much, but merged into Voltron-like unity, the free storage from several services can achieve mammoth totals. With some patience, you can build your own supercloud with more than 100GB of free storage. With a lot of patience (and pestering of your pals), you can nab more than 225GB. And all that online storage is free-as-in-free-beer free.

Here’s how to do it, along with some tips on how to manage your storage hoard to take advantage of each service’s unique properties.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

If you’re only using LinkedIn as a glorified business-card collector, an email replacement or some kind of Facebook counterpart for business contacts, you’re missing out on its recruitment potential.

With 200 million users, LinkedIn has been making great strides lately to offer better tools for searching and posting jobs. With that in mind, here are five ways your small business can use LinkedIn to catch the next great candidate.

1. Approach anyone via Talent Finder

The free version of LinkedIn may not cut it for finding suitable employees, but that's not the case for the premium LinkedIn Talent Finder.

Businesses can use Talent Finder to contact all LinkedIn members with the InMail feature, see expanded profiles, get more search filters and results, and even discover great candidates who aren't actively seeking a job.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What’s the best way to tell an expert PC user apart from a bumbling amateur? The expert doesn’t waste time. Time is money, after all, and there are tons of ways to speed up even the most basic computing tasks.

We’re going to contribute to your expert education with 21 simple things you can do to waste less time while you’re using a PC. Even if one of these tips saves you just five minutes each week, it’ll save you hours over the next year.

1. Tame your email with Inbox Zero

Email is a core tool, but also a huge time waster. For every second you spend messaging productively, you probably lose five more seconds searching for old emails or fretting over the mass in your inbox. Organize your inbox today, and you’ll save minutes every time you log in.

First, do whatever it takes to empty your inbox, and then try to keep it that way. Among the popular systems for organizing your email, Inbox Zero is straightforward, easy to understand, and a snap to start using.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here