Hotmailtiene las horas contadas. Microsoft ha anunciado un cambio radical en su servicio de correo web, que pasa a llamarse Outlook.com, igual que su cliente de Escritorio.

El mayor cambio de Outlook.com respecto a Hotmail viene dado por su aspecto, que guarda semejanza con la ya omnipresente interfaz Metro y que supone un paso más en la unificación de estilo que vendrá con Windows 8 y sus aplicaciones.

¿Qué novedades trae Outlook.com? ¿Cómo se lleva a cabo la transición de uno a otro? ¿Perderemos algo por el camino? Este nuevo servicio plantea dudas y muchas de ellas te las resolvemos a continuación:

De Hotmail a Outlook.com

El nuevo webmail de Microsoft es un remplazo de Hotmail que ha comenzado a activarse progresivamente entre los usuarios. Pero no te preocupes porque el cambio es muy sencillo, todo está más o menos en su sitio y no perderás tus correos.

Si lo que quieres es experimentar ya con el nuevo Outlook.com has de acudir a su página web. Una vez allí tienes dos opciones: crear una nueva cuenta de correo o entrar con tus datos de Hotmail para que la migración se lleve a cabo al momento.

Una vez dentro, verás que tu bandeja está tal como la dejaste, pero con el nuevo aspecto. También permanecen los contactos de la agenda, los eventos de calendario, las alertas, etc.

Si quieres volver a Hotmail, puedes hacerlo desde el menú de Opciones

Sobre la dirección @outlook.com

Si realizas la migración desde Hotmail, tu dirección de correo tras el proceso seguirá teniendo el dominio "@hotmail.com". Opcionalmente puedes cambiarlo a uno con el dominio "@outlook.com". Este cambio se lleva a cabo mediante el menú "Configuración > Más opciones de configuración de correo > Cambiar el nombre de tu dirección de correo electrónico."

Al cambiar este dominio no dejarás de recibir correos que te lleguen al antiguo, sino que los recibirás en una nueva carpeta separada. Los que lleguen a la nueva dirección pasarán directamente a la Bandeja de Entrada. Esto previene que puedas perder correos de páginas a las que te habías registrado con la dirección antigua.

Se ha reportado, eso sí, que algunos servicios como el Live ID de Windows Phone podrían no funcionar correctamente a partir de entonces y obligarían a restaurar el teléfono en algunos casos.

 

Tu correo electrónico a lo Windows 8

En el cliente de correo, la estructura de la página sigue siendo la de Hotmail, aunque visualmente todo es ahora mucho más claro y limpio, con los colores planos típicos de Windows 8 y Office 2013.

En la parte izquierda tienes las carpetas y Vistas Rápidas para elementos destacados o adjuntos. En el centro tienes el listado de correos y a la derecha puedes habilitar una previsualización para el que selecciones.

En la barra superior tenemos una de las principales novedades. Esta barra dinámica te ofrece siempre las opciones adecuadas para crear correos o gestionar los que has recibido. Además incluye un acceso a la mensajería instantánea, con soporte para Windows Live Messenger y Facebook, entre otros.

Contactos, Calendarios y Skydrive

Al seleccionar el menú desplegable junto al logo de Outlook, aparecen las aplicaciones secundarias

Outlook.com se completa con otras tres aplicaciones para gestionar tu agenda, tus calendarios y tu espacio virtual en Skydrive, el cual se usa también para almacenar los adjuntos de los correos. De todos ellos, solo Contactos se ha renovado de manera similar al cliente de correo.

Como podéis ver, la gestión de contactos también ha sido muy mejorada. La principal novedad, aparte del lavado de cara, está en la integración con Twitter y LinkedIn y Facebook permite unificar tus contactos de correo y redes sociales bajo una misma agenda, evitando duplicados e importando las fotos de perfil para mejorar la organización.

Respecto a Calendarios y Skydrive, poco o nada podemos decir en este momento ya que no han sido actualizados. Esperamos, no obstante, que mantengan la exquisita apariencia del resto de módulos.

Lo que está por venir

El cambio experimentado por Outlook.com es impresionante pero parece que aún tiene más cosas por mejorar.

Además de la renovación de las aplicaciones que quedan, también se integrará la comunicación mediante Skype desde la misma ventana del navegador, similar a los 'Hangouts' de Google+ y Gmail.

Impresiones

Microsoft ha hecho un trabajo excelente dotando a Outlook.com de un aspecto claro, profesional y, sobre todo, coherente con el rumbo que está tomando la compañía con el resto de sus productos.

Sin embargo, el cambio estético no ha venido acompañado de nuevas funciones. Outlook.com sigue sin soportar IMAP, priorización de correos o un filtro de spam como el de Gmail, aunque gana a este último en organización de contactos e integración con redes sociales. Además la cuota de usuarios de Skype es imbatible.

En cualquier caso, Outlook.com supone una gran mejora para todos los usuarios de Hotmail, así que no lo dudes y accede a su web para dar el paso y conocer el futuro del email para Microsoft.

¿Qué te parece Outlook.com? ¿Lo prefieres al antiguo Hotmail?

Fuente http://onsoftware.softonic.com

Microsoft is abandoning its “Metro” branding – the branding that refers to the clean, modern, tiled layout that defines many of its consumer-facing products including Windows 8, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, Office 2013 and more. For over a year, Microsoft has talked about “Metro” in press conferences, blog posts, tutorials, and guides. The reason for the change has to do with a dispute between Microsoft and a European partner, German retailer Metro AG, who has threatened legal action for infringing on its “Metro” trademark.

Oops. Microsoft, of course, is positioning this news as no big deal, saying that “Metro” was always intended to be an internally used code name, not something related to the company’s commercial branding efforts. (Right. Which is why Microsoft is transitioning to new branding without, you know, actually having a new name picked out yet.) But Microsoft may be right on one thing: it’s not really a big deal. Remember what happened with the iPad?

Look, Microsoft doesn’t exactly have a good track record with naming its products and related features, whose labels seemed picked out by a committee of lawyers, not actual people. It even had seven different names for seven different versions of Windows 7. Talk about product confusion. And certainly, many of the names Microsoft picks for these kinds of things seem like they were thought up by people who know nothing about branding. (Does anyone know the difference between Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate and Pro? What about Basic and Starter?)

That Microsoft actually came up with something as catchy as “Metro” almost seemed like an accident. And, as it turns out, it seems it was. But consumer branding, while important, is not all that matters here as Microsoft prepares to launch Windows 8 and its Surface computer.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? When Apple revealed the name for its new tablet computer was going to be called the iPad, there was some notable backlash. You see, the “iPad” seemed to recall an association with some…um….feminine hygiene products. I am not making this up.

It may seem laughable today, but back in January 2010, even The New York Times was reporting on the surrounding brouhaha on its Bits blog:

When Apple announced the name of its tablet computer today — the iPad — my mind immediately went to the feminine hygiene aisle of the drugstore. It turns out I wasn’t alone.

The term “iTampon” quickly became a trending topic on Twitter because of Tweets like this one: “Heavy flow? There’s an app for that!” A CNBC anchor, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, said the iPad was a “terrible name” for the tablet. “It reminds me of feminine products,” she said.

No one was cutting Apple any slack. MSNBC called it a joke. And MAD TV went on to do a hilarious skit which actually involved the iPad as a feminine hygiene product. Granted, the iPad’s branding only initially alienated around half its potential market. Men, not surprisingly, didn’t tend to make an immediate connection. But thanks to the blogged and reblogged faux outrage, they soon got in on the joke, too.

Really, negative reaction to branding couldn’t get much worse than this, right?  But what did the iPad go on to do? Only become the best-selling tablet computer of all time. That’s right. Apple could have called this thing anything it wanted, and it would probably still be seeing record-breaking sales.

So Microsoft will soon put Metro-gate behind them, and maybe with something as uninspired as “Windows 8-style UI.” It doesn’t matter. What matters in the end is that the company focuses on building a great product people actually want to buy. Build something amazing. Ship it. It’s that simple. It’s just not that easy to do.

Source http://techcrunch.com

Be it for whatever purpose, I bet you’ve used some form of a fake ID or throwaway account online. It’s natural to want to have a bit of anonymity in certain behaviors and there’s nothing wrong with queuing up your own fake Internet persona (as long as you’re not stealing the identity of anyone else).

When it comes to filling out such long and exhausting forms and playing a personality that isn’t even your own, things can get a little troublesome and tedious. Most classy signup forms today will require that you match a city and ZIP code between each other, as well as other relevant information. No one likes alternate accounts, and you’ve got to do everything possible to make them look as authentic as the real thing.

To help assist you along the way, there are two websites that I know of that offer the best help when it comes to filling your head with such information.

Fake Name Generator

Fake Name Generator automatically generates literally every single account registration field value that you can probably think of. This includes phone, website, email, username, password, account security questions, fake CC and SS numbers, occupation, company, physical traits, and more.

This website really goes to an extent to provide you with deep information. Here’s a sample:

The information here is very extensive and you’re allowed to tailor it however you want it to turn out:

One of the coolest features on the side is the ability to bulk create identities. Doing so will allow you to queue up to three “orders” at a time of up to 50,000 bulk identities. Files can be output as a spreadsheet, HTML table, SQLite file, and more.

This entire website is a really great resource that takes all of the creative difficulty out of getting your new fake ID.

Name Generator in

NGI is a service very similar to Fake Name Generator, although this one deals in a more visual space as it generates “business cards.” These are generated uniquely, on a state-by-state basis.

After you select a state, a card is automatically generated for you.

Nearly a dozen different card styles will be generated for you, and you can scroll left or right through them. Each card comes complete with business name, real name, position, address, email, and phone number. Though Fake Name Generator offers a huge chunk of additional information, it doesn’t present it to you in such a visual and pleasing way.

NGI’s design and detail is to be appreciated.

Both of these sites are a great source of instant and practically infinite information when you’re itching to set up that throwaway email address or other account for a fake ID. Don’t scramble on Google or rack your brain to come up with information that these two can just as usually generate for you in a single click of a button. Or, 50,000 results in a single click of a button.

Let me know what you think of these two name generator websites in the comments section.

 

Source http://www.makeuseof.com

Undoubtedly, YouTube is considered as one of the best video hosting and sharing service. Initially, started as a service to host videos, YouTube has become the number 1 video sharing site of the world. It serves videos from different categories to different categories of people. The best part about it is that it is a free service and uploader can earn from it through the YouTube partner channel. The eCPM offered by YouTube is even more that of Google Adsense, which has lured many popular brands to cater more useful videos to the end-users.

Microsoft’s latest OS i.e. Windows 8 is now talk of the town. Microsoft has received tremendously positive response from the developers and the end-users alike. There are already thousand of free applications submitted to the Windows 8 store and is now open for submission of paid applications as well. It will eventually become an iTunes version of desktop application where only Windows 8 applications will be served. The latest software popped up in Windows 8 store is YouTube desktop app – the YouTube 8. As the name implies, it is a desktop application to watch YouTube videos on your desktop or Windows 8 PC. The application has Metro UI written all over it.

YouTube8 is a very sleek YouTube desktop application with slews of features that makes watching videos on Windows 8 not only a treat for eyes. but also delicious experience. It appeases the users by providing different options to tweak the settings for maximum performance. Don’t underestimate it to be just another YouTube downloader, because it is not. Moreover, we respect the policy of YouTube and Google webmasters that apprise bloggers from providing a way to download YouTube videos.

Users are present with abundance of options like Most Recent, Most Popular, Most Shared, Most Viewed, Top rated, Trending videos and many other options. Videos are displayed in medium thumbnails form below these categories, which is then expanded upon selection. Besides, it also displays title, author information, published date, rating, categories, comments and number of likes / dislike information. Like you see in the other places, clicking on Full Screen mode will open the video in full screen mode. Default settings like watch in 3D, resolution are provided in this mode. New videos scroll from left to right. The users are left with various options to choose from. The best option is display of videos according to the category.

If you’re interested in particular category, then clicking on the respective category will bring you all the videos tagged under that category. For example, entertainment category will provide all the videos under this category. Users can also search for the different videos from the search option. All in all, YouTube8 app is arguably the best desktop application for Windows 8 user.

For new Windows 8 user, there is also a Windows 8 partition manager application available, which lets you mange hard disk partition on your new Windows 8 system. It won’t take too long before you see many more useful application in Windows 8 store.

Stay tuned with us for more useful Windows 8 applications.

Download YouTube 8

Source http://www.techieapps.com

Microsoft Office has dominated the market of text documents, spreadsheets and slide shows for years, and for good reason – it’s one of the very best. However, there’s one drawback and that is the price. Sure, it’s a relatively good investment, but for one reason or another you choose to not pay for it. What do you do?

Thankfully, there are other options – and good ones. These range from web-based apps and local software to free and paid. Although some do cost, all have free options and the price you pay for the paid software is a fraction of what you would pay for Microsoft Office. Through this article I will touch upon any unique features such as mobile capability, cost, user interface and compatibility with Microsoft Office files.

Google Docs (AKA Google Drive)

Google Docs has practically become my unconsciously chosen alternative to Microsoft Office. Although I actually own Microsoft Office, I use Google Docs heavily primarily because of convenience. First off, I’m already logged into my Google account either to check my email, watch a video on YouTube, add an event to my Google Calendar and so on. I plain just use Google for everything.

Besides that, I have found the interface to be very nice, although I still think the interface of Microsoft Office 2010 wins hands down – it’s just beautiful.

Features

Probably my favorite feature in Google Docs is the ability to easily collaborate. Collaboration on most sites can be difficult. So often if you want to share a document with someone, they too must have an account. Google is similar to Facebook in this aspect in that (almost) everyone has a Google account. This makes collaboration very nice. But even if the user doesn’t have a Google account, you can still share the document with them.

Ads by Google

Microsoft Word 2010 Word video tutorials taught by pros online. Get Started.
www.lynda.com/Word
Functional Software Testing Search Thousands of Catalogs for Functional Software Testing
www.globalspec.com
Descuento Hasta $1.500 ¡En Portátiles Dell™ Empresariales! Ahora con Procesadores Intel® Core™
Dell.com/MX/Ofertas
Estás en buró de crédito? Si debes más de $35,000 ¡Contactanos ya!
www.resuelvetudeuda.com

But sharing a file is only one aspect of collaborating. Editing a document and seeing the changes live is a tremendous benefit to Google Docs – non-Google users can do this too. Now with Google Drive you can also access all your files right on your desktop.

Other unique features are the research and dictionary tools to enable you to search certain topics or words right next to your paper. Since Google Docs is a web app, it’s also mobile and can be accessed from your tablet or smartphone.

Cost

Google Docs is completely free – plain and simple. There are options to upgrade space, but it’s hardly needed – I wouldn’t recommend doing it.

User Interface

Google Docs has seen some pretty major improvements in this area from the past interface. The interface is now even cleaner and simpler, without lacking essential features.

Compatibility

Google Docs’ compatibility with Microsoft Office is surprisingly good! When a Microsoft Office file is uploaded, it labels it differently than it’s own native files, but the editing process is all the same.

What about synchronization and sharing files? Well we already covered collaborating with others while using Google Docs in the cloud, but what about collaborating with others who are using Microsoft Office? Google offers a solution with a plugin for Microsoft Office called Google Cloud Connect, which has been covered thoroughly here on MakeUseOf.

Microsoft Web Apps

Some may argue that Microsoft Web Apps is Microsoft Office. However, that is completely irrelevant. Unlike some articles, the purpose of this article is not to avoid Microsoft products, but to find cheaper alternatives. Microsoft Web Apps is free – you can’t get cheaper than that. The only thing that can make it better is if it’s a solid online office suite, which it is.

Not only is it available for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but it also offers OneNote online, which was news to me. If you don’t know what OneNote is, it’s a note taking application similar to Evernote.

Features

Web Apps is combined with Skydrive, which gives you access to 25 free gigabytes of cloud storage. That is the best deal anywhere right now! Remember when I said I wouldn’t recommending paying for more storage on Google Docs? I’d be hard pressed to find one logical reason to pay for additional Google Docs storage when you have 25 free gigabytes at your disposal. If you have Skydrive installed on your computer, these files are synced there as well (similar to how Google Drive works, except you get 20 more gigabytes with Skydrive).

As far as other features compared to the official Microsoft Office software, Web Apps can’t really compete, but it’s not too shabby. It’s ideal that they’re used together – that’s how they were made. Can Web Apps be used by itself? Yes it can, but just like Google Docs, don’t expect it to be a full feature office suite. As far as mobile access, to my knowledge you cannot edit documents on your phone, but you can view them – which is still very nice.

Cost

Just like Google Docs, Microsoft Web Apps is entirely free of charge.

User Interface

Remember when I told you how beautiful I thought the interface was in Microsoft Office 2010? Well seeing that Web Apps is practically identical, I just want to reiterate that. Sure Google Docs is clean and simple and even what I use primarily, but Microsoft knows what they’re doing when it comes to creating an office suite user interface.

Compatibility

This is almost obvious, so I’ll keep it short – if there is going to be any “winner” in compatibility with Microsoft Office, I really hope it would be Microsoft Web Apps.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a full featured, open source office suite that “broke off” from OpenOffice. LibreOffice lives up to its name, as “Libre” stands for “free.” As you can see in the image above, LibreOffice has Text Document (Word alternative), Spreadsheet (Excel alternative), Presentation (Powerpoint alternative), Drawing (Publisher alternative), Database (Access alternative) and Formula, a math and equation program.

Features

Like I previously mentioned, LibreOffice is a full featured office suite meaning it has all the same functions and maybe even more than the competing office suites (free or not). Other software typically has alternatives for the “popular trio” as I call it – Word, Excel, PowerPoint. LibreOffice goes beyond that adding software for publishing and databases, as well as it’s own addition – a math-focused software.

One great feature about LibreOffice is that it’s portable. You can install it on your flash drive or portable hard drive, or even an SD card and take it with you wherever you go.

Cost

LibreOffice, like OpenOffice, is completely free. Although, donations are accepted.

User Interface

For a free, full featured software suite, LibreOffice looks surprisingly good. It doesn’t have Microsoft’s fancy ribbon-style menu, but it is still modern and easy to use.

Compatibility

When I opened my resume, a heavily formatted document originally created in Word, in LibreOffice, everything was in place. There were no lines pushed over, or any fonts, styles or settings changed. The only thing that was a little different was the spacing – somehow the last couple lines didn’t make it onto the second page and got pushed onto a third. I’m sure that this could be fixed with spacing settings within LibreOffice. I use LibreOffice as my primary portable office suite on my portable hard drive so that I can open up my files where ever I may be without worrying about having software that is incompatible with my Microsoft Office documents.

SoftMaker Office

SoftMaker is a company that creates a very good alternative to Microsoft Office. They offer two different paid versions of their software, as well as a free version. Another thing they do, which is unique, is they allow free downloads of their previous versions of software. Their free office suite is named no other than FreeOffice.

The benefit to downloading this as opposed to other office suites they’ve created and sold, but are not free, is that FreeOffice is in and will continue to be in constant development, whereas older suites are, in their words, “frozen.”

The screenshot above displays the SoftMaker Office Professional 2012 version of TextMaker.

Below is FreeOffice TextMaker:

Features

I found while using SoftMaker, that it is very similar in features to Microsoft Office and other office suites. There wasn’t anything feature-wise that necessarily made it stand out apart from other suites. That said, it has a lot of features and options within each program. There are two versions, other than FreeOffice, of SoftMaker Office Suites. The professional version includes TextMaker, PlanMaker, SoftMaker Presentations, BasicMaker, SoftMaker eM Client Professional and 4 Berlitz Basic Dictionaries. The standard version only excludes eM Client Professional and the 4 Berlitz Basic Dictionaries.

TextMaker, as it implies is a Microsoft Word alternative. PlanMaker is the spreadsheet software. SoftMaker Presentations is the PowerPoint alternative. BasicMaker is the macro language that lets you automate TextMaker and PlanMaker. The SoftMaker eM Client Professional is actually an all-in-one email, task, calendar and contact client. This would be similar to Outlook.

Cost

It is obvious that FreeOffice is free, so I’ll jump right into the prices of the Standard and Professional versions. Office Standard 2012 is € 69.95 and $ 79.95. Office Professional 2012 is € 89.95 and $ 99.95. If you’re looking for an all-in-one email client alternative to Outlook included with your office suite, this is a pretty affordable option. Of course, there is Thunderbird however. Another thing to consider with SoftMaker is that if you want to upgrade, you don’t have to rebuy everything again, but instead just pay a fraction of the cost.

I feel the true value of SoftMaker Office resides in FreeOffice, and not just because it’s free, but for what you get in comparison to what you pay for in their other suites. It truly is a bargain and is a great new rival to LibreOffice. Yes, FreeOffice is new. SoftMaker hasn’t officially announced it’s arrival, but we have been given permission to introduce it to you.

User Interface

SoftMaker Office 2012 isn’t bad, but it isn’t superb either. I definitely think that LibreOffice has it beat in this area. I will give it credit though in that it allows you to add and remove icons from the toolbars so that you can customize it to your liking – that’s nice and often a forgotten feature with many office suites.

Compatibility

When opening up different Microsoft Office files with SoftMaker Office, I didn’t notice any changes in them. In fact, the problem I mentioned about an additional page being added in LibreOffice, did not occur in this case. I was quite happy with the overall performance of the program. Again, the only drawback is that the interface seems a little backdated and could be overwhelming to someone who isn’t very tech savvy.

Kingsoft Office

Kingsoft is a software company based out of Hong Kong that should worry Microsoft. They have a pretty good product here. However, the product only includes the “popular trio” as I’ve previously called it: Word alternative, Excel alternative and PowerPoint alternative. If that is all you need then this will suit you just fine. If you need a software for publishing or databases or note taking, you will need to look elsewhere or get “supplemental software” along with Kingsoft Office.

Although Kingsoft hasn’t been covered on MakeUseOf (to my knowledge), it has been mentioned by a reader in response to a question on MakeUseOf Answers. To read his opinion about it, scroll all the way to the end of the page.

Features

Aside from only having three programs, Kingsoft Office still excels (no pun intended). One feature that I really liked was the mobile app for Android, which is full functioning – you can view and edit your files, right from your phone or tablet. Not too many office suites offer that. Unfortunately my lack of owning an android device inhibited me from testing this personally, but I would be happy to hear any reviews in the comments below.

Cost

Like SoftMaker Office, Kingsoft Office has three versions as well: Free, Standard and Professional. The standard version costs € 46 or around $55. The professional version costs € 64 or around $77. In my opinion, this is a great deal. Also note that you don’t have to have the entire suite if you don’t want everything. Each piece of software (free and paid) is available individually too.

User Interface

As I was writing this review, I had to continue to hold back my praises on the interface until this section – believe me, it was hard to do. My first impression of Kingsoft Office happened like this, “Wow! That is nice!”

Of course that faded a little once I realized that the ribbon style was only for the professional office suite and not the free one, but that said, the free version looks pretty nice too. With the ribbon style and full featured software combined with an affordable price, I would say that Kingsoft Office is probably the biggest contender to Microsoft Office. Sure, LibreOffice is free, and it does offer more programs – which in no doubt is a plus, but Kingsoft Office comes in at a super close second place.

Compatibility

Compatibility with Microsoft Office for Kingsoft Office isn’t even an issue. When I opened the files they all looked uniform and I noticed that the program’s own interface actually plays a roll in the look and “feel” of the file you’re viewing. Even in the free version, Kingsoft Office worked awesome.

Honorable Mention

ThinkFree

ThinkFree has web based and mobile apps as well as one for download. Don’t get the online and local versions confused. Contrary to what the name may imply, and although it’s a reputable company, the version for download is not as free as you may think.

Zoho Office

Zoho has been around quite a while and has long been Google’s contender for the calendar and office web apps. If you prefer to not use Microsoft Web Apps or Google Docs, Zoho is the next best choice. They do have a free plan as well as two monthly paid plans.

KOffice

KOffice is a free office suite with Word, Excel and PowerPoint alternatives, as well as diagram and flowchart, and vector graphics software. If you are looking for something that is free and diversified, you may want to check out KOffice to see what it has to offer. The interface isn’t bad and the updates are current as well.

Note: KOffice is the older version of Calligra Suite, which was covered on MakeUseOf for popular Linux office suites. Both are fantastic and Calligra Suite does have some differences. If you are interested in one of these two, I recommend you try them both out to see which one you like better.

IBM Lotus Symphony

Lotus Symphony is another one of the “popular trio” desktop applications. It has been around for a while and seemed to be popular among Linux users for a while until OpenOffice came about. It still is a decent alternative if you enjoy trying out different software, but it isn’t my favorite by any means.

Conclusion

I hope that these recommendations have been helpful in deciding what you should use as your primary office suite. Some are much better than others. To sum up my thoughts, I feel the best to consider would be Kingsoft Office and LibreOffice for desktop apps and either Google Docs or Microsoft Web Apps for online files. To me, these have the best user interfaces, the most affordable prices (or are just plain free) and are the most full featured. If you have already tried some of these, I would like to hear your feedback. Which one do you prefer? I’m curious if there are others out there that may not be as popular, but are just as good or better. Let me know!

 

Source http://www.makeuseof.com

Si eres de los que nunca aciertan con el teclado del móvil, la escritura a mano de Google puede ser una solución. Google introduce una nueva función para buscar información desde tu móvil Android, tablet o iPhone con IOS 5.0.

En tiempos donde los teclados sustituyen a la escritura tradicional, Google propone volver a usar la caligrafía tradicional y el dedo como bolígrafo o pluma.

Cómo se activa

Para utilizar la escritura a mano de Google necesitas entrar en la página de búsqueda de Google con un móvil o tablet Android 2.3 o superior, o con un iPhone o iPad con IOS 5.0 o superior.

Para activar la opción, deberás usar el navegador nativo o Chrome, desplazarte a Configuración de búsqueda y, en Escritura táctil, pulsar sobre Habilitar. Guarda los cambios y ya puedes experimentar con la escritura a mano.

Qué tal funciona

Una de las ventajas de la escritura táctil es que puedes escribir en cualquier lugar de la pantalla de tu móvil o tablet. A medida que dibujas letras, Google Instant se encarga de reconocerlos y de filtrar los resultados de búsqueda.

El reconocimiento de caracteres funciona bastante bien, incluso escribiendo sin demasiados miramientos. Como opción interesante, podrás desactivar temporalmente la escritura a mano pulsano en el icono en forma de G que aparece en la parte inferior derecha de la pantalla.

Google recomienda, acertadamente, habilitar el autocompletado para mejorar los resultados de la escritura automática.

Por qué usar la escritura a mano

La gran pregunta. Como hemos dicho, los teclados son cada vez mejores pero no es extraño confundirse de tecla mientras se escribe. La escritura a mano permite prestar menos atención a la pantalla y aprovechar todo su espacio de la pantalla, especialmente en tablets.

Dos situaciones en las que puede ir bien la escritura a mano

¿Nueva forma de escritura?

Resulta curioso ver cómo una función como la escritura a mano se anuncia como algo nuevo. A fin de cuentas, la idea es tan simple como volver a la forma tradicional de escritura. ¿Su futuro? Está por ver.

¿Has probado la escritura a mano en tu móvil? ¿Te parece práctica?

Fuente http://onsoftware.softonic.com

 

Continuing its rollout of updated and revamped services, Microsoft today is releasing a preview of its upcoming mail client reboot. Outlook, as it will be called going forward, is a fresh take on a dated service (cough: Hotmail) that some people still use.

So what’s new in Outlook? A cleaner design for more content, social network (Facebook, Twitter and soon Skype) integration, and 7GB of free cloud storage are just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft has stripped out ads from personal email accounts and even figured out a way to manage those dreaded newsletters we all sign up for but can’t figure out how to unsubscribe from. (Yes, there are others who do this but Microsoft isn’t really going after email power users.)

Over the next few months (possibly year(s)), Hotmail users will be prompted to upgrade to the new Outlook. Watch the video for a high-level rundown of the new service. We weren’t given access to the new service ahead of time, so there may be loads of new features other than the ones listed above.

Sign up for the preview at Outlook.com and grab your preferred handle now!

Source http://techcrunch.com

Right on schedule, Microsoft has just announced on its Windows Team blog that Windows 8 has emerged from its long development and testing phase, and will soon be in the hands of manufacturers and OEMs for installation on new PCs and devices.

Among those on the list to receive the final build (build 9200, if you were curious) are Lenovo, Acer, ASUS and Toshiba, though that’s clearly just the tip of a very large iceberg.

While average users won’t be able to get their collective hands on the new OS before its official launch on October 26, Microsoft revealed when certain subsets of users could access the final build. Developers can download Windows 8 via their MSDN subscriptions on August 15, as can IT professionals with their TechNet subscriptions — lucky devils.

In a separate blog post, Microsoft’s Stephen Sinofsky dives into greater detail about the RTM process and the steps that led up to it. One of the juicier tidbits Sinofsky addressed was just how many people participated in the Windows 8 preview program — over 16 million PCs took part in the preview, with a full 7 million of those PCs running on the company’s Release Preview build. Solid numbers for what the company has referred to as a substantial “reimagining” of Windows as we know it, and the company hopes that same sort of momentum carries over into retail sales.

With Windows 8 finally complete, Microsoft has begun to bring other parts of its ecosystem online. Take the Windows Store for instance — developers will soon able to submit paid apps into the new marketplace, though they’ll have to have their RTM builds installed and ready first. That said, Sinofsky was quick to note that “no software project is ever really ‘done,’” so the company will continue to monitor feedback from both users and its myriad hardware partners.

Source http://techcrunch.com

Hoy es de esos días que, quizás, puedan marcar un antes y un después en la gestión de nuestro correo electrónico puesto que Microsoft ha presentado su nuevo servicio de correo, Outlook.com; un servicio que supone un salto cuántico con respecto a Hotmail y que parece llegar dispuesto a darle la vuelta a un mercado en el que Gmail acaparaba la atención de los usuarios puesto que Hotmail parecía anclado en el pasado.

Outlook.com, que viene a sustituir a Hotmail, es la reinvención que Microsoft le ha dado a su servicio de correo dentro de este aire de renovación y, sobre todo, de convergencia que están dándole los de Redmond a todos sus servicios, algo que se materializa en un nuevo gestor de correo (con nuevo dominio @outlook.com) que facilita al usuario la gestión de sus mensajes y que, además, le permite acceder desde múltiples clientes puesto que, además del interfaz web, se ofrece la posibilidad de acceder desde clientes de escritorio o móviles (a través de POP) así como servicios de sincronización como Exchange ActiveSync.

Ante este punto de inflexión que marca Microsoft en Hotmail (y que da paso al nuevo Outlook.com), vale la pena dedicar unos minutos a conocer los aspectos claves de este nuevo servicio, su puntos fuertes y, en definitiva, qué cosas vale la pena conocer del nuevo Outlook.com

Nuevo interfaz

Uno de los cambios más evidentes, como es lógico, es la renovación del interfaz del servicio de correo electrónico y, la verdad, es que con este cambio el servicio gana bastante. El cambio de diseño, tan limpio y tan funcional, tiene unas claras reminiscencias al interfaz Metro de Windows 8 en el que lo que es realmente importante (la bandeja de entrada de mensajes) ocupa la mayor parte del espacio y donde se dejan las opciones y acciones en barras laterales (izquierda y derecha) evitándose así el exceso tan barroco de opciones que nos ofrecía Hotmail en la barra de botones de la parte superior del interfaz.

Cuando accedemos a Outlook.com, nuestra atención se centrará en dos cosas fundamentalmente: un botón que destaca con el que poder redactar un nuevo mensaje y, como ya hemos comentado, la bandeja de entrada de mensajes. A partir de ahí, lo lógico es que accedamos a los mensajes que tenemos por leer y, una vez dentro, sí que aparecerán nuevos botones para responder, reenviar, marcar como spam o clasificar en alguna de las carpetas que hayamos creado (lo cual es una práctica bastante recomendable). Algo parecido sucederá si desde la vista principal, la bandeja de entrada, marcamos un mensaje o varios puesto que también aparecerán botones adicionales cuyo número (y por tanto opciones) se adaptarán automáticamente a si hemos seleccionado un mensaje o varios.

La interfaz, bajo mi punto de vista, se hace bastante cómoda de manejar y, la verdad, es que parece muy orientada a su visualización desde dispositivos con pantalla táctil.

Detalles interesantes a tener en cuenta

Si el cambio de interfaz, y las mejoras en usabilidad, son un punto importante a reseñar; Microsoft ha salpicado el nuevo Outlook.com de otros detalles que vale la pena probar y tener en cuenta a la hora de utilizar este servicio de correo:

• Las vistas rápidas son uno de los aspectos que más me han llamado la atención del servicio puesto que, por experiencia personal, creo que va a ser algo muy útil para los que solemos extraviar correos u olvidamos en qué carpeta los clasificamos. Gracias a esta función podremos realizar filtros rápidos con los que, por ejemplo, visualizar los mensajes que llevan documentos adjuntos (de texto, hojas de cálculo, pdf, etc), fotografías o mensajes que hayamos marcado (como importantes o a realizar un seguimiento).

• Parece que con Outlook.com el espacio de almacenamiento deja de ser un problema puesto que, según parece, contamos con espacio “ilimitado” así que, al fin, vamos a poder olvidarnos del molesto contador del espacio ocupado (que aunque pueda parecer del pleistoceno sigue aún vigente en muchos servicios).

• Los correos que vengan con archivos adjuntos también los vamos a notar “algo distintos” puesto que, por ejemplo, en el caso de imágenes adjuntas éstas se mostrarán en forma de miniaturas y, además, se integra un cómodo visor para poder verlas más grandes. De hecho, los adjuntos a los correos electrónicos ganan importancia porque pasan a estar en la zona superior del mensaje (algo que también veíamos en Hotmail) pero con sus miniaturas.

• La vista de conversaciones está activada por defecto, algo de agradecer para no perder el hilo de nuestros mensajes y que, en el caso de la versión anterior, había que activar de manera expresa.

La convergencia, el nuevo valor de Microsoft

Microsoft está llevando a cabo un plan bastante interesante en estos últimos meses puesto que, paso a paso, está implementando una convergencia de todos sus servicios y plataformas con la que enriquecer la experiencia del usuario dentro de un ecosistema Microsoft en el que Windows 8, el interfaz Metro o los servicios en la nube de Microsoft están presentes dentro de experiencias unificadas en las que también se unen aliados de los de Redmond como Facebook o Twitter.

Bajo esta premisa, Outlook.com tiende un puente hacia múltiples servicios como SkyDrive, los servicios web de Microsoft Office (Office 365) o hacia las redes sociales y, la verdad, las primeras impresiones son bastante positivas.

Integración de servicios

Tal y como hemos avanzado, Outlook.com es un perfecto exponente del ecosistema que Microsoft está creando entre sus productos puesto que desde este servicio de correo podremos usar, por ejemplo, SkyDrive para enviar los archivos adjuntos (de la misma forma que si compartiésemos un archivo en Dropbox y enviásemos el enlace) en vez de adjuntarlos directamente a los mensajes (y no penalizar el buzón del receptor del mensaje). Además, se espera que en un plazo breve de tiempo se incorpore una de las adquisiciones con más proyección de la compañía, Skype, que nos ofrecerá un cliente web desde el propio Outlook.com.

Además, gracias a la integración con Office 365, los usuarios del servicio podrán editar en línea archivos de Word, Excel o Power Point desde la misma bandeja de entrada, almacenar los adjuntos de los mensajes directamente en SkyDrive y, por tanto, trabajar de manera unificada sin demasiado esfuerzo.

Con esta idea integral, Outlook.com nos brinda acceso, además del correo electrónico, a un potente gestor de contactos (en el que visualizar en las fichas de éstos sus actualizaciones en LinkedIn o sus imágenes de perfil en futuro cercano) y un calendario para anotar nuestras citas y reuniones (el calendario que podíamos encontrar en Windows Live y que, quizás, también evolucione hacia el estilo Metro de Outlook.com para que no quede tan extraño estéticamente).

Correo electrónico y redes sociales

Las redes sociales también están presentes en Outlook.com puesto que podremos integrar el chat y los mensajes de Facebook (solamente habrá que vincular nuestra cuenta y las nuevas conversaciones estarán accesibles desde Outlook, aunque no los antiguos). Además, también tendremos la posibilidad de vincular nuestros contactos de LinkedIn para que nutran también nuestra libreta de direcciones al igual que tamibién podremos integrar Twitter, YouTube o el propio Messenger (lo cual es bastante lógico). Gracias a estas integraciones, Outlook.com se convierte en una especie de consola centralizada con la que estar en contacto con nuestros amigos desde un único lugar, facilitando bastante las cosas.

Esta integración de redes sociales, bajo mi punto de vista, es una elección más que adecuada porque, hoy en día, el correo electrónico se ha visto complementado por estos servicios que nos permiten contactar de una manera mucho más directa y cercana con nuestros amigos. Por tanto, obviar estos servicios es negar una vía de comunicación que es utilizada por millones de usuarios a diario y, de hecho, es algo que ya nos mostró Microsoft en la preview de Office 2013 hace unas semanas.

Conclusiones

8,5/10

Después de estas primeras impresiones de uso con Outlook.com debo reconocer que estamos ante un producto con muchas posibilidades y, si tenemos en cuenta que Hotmail poseía unos 360 millones de usuarios, es muy probable que éstos agradezcan estos cambios y los que habían abandonado su cuenta quizás las retomen porque, al final, éste será el sistema que sustituya a Hotmail.

El rediseño, bajo mi punto de vista, es todo un acierto que ha conseguido que el servicio sea sencillo de manejar, libre de distracciones y, seguramente, muy enfocado a que sea cómodo de manejar desde dispositivos móviles (smartphones y tabletas) puesto que cada vez es más habitual la navegación y la consulta del correo desde estos dispositivos.

¿Estamos ante un Gmail killer? La verdad es que es complicado responder a esta pregunta puesto que el servicio de correo electrónico de Google es también muy potente pero he de reconocer que con Outlook.com, Microsoft ha dado un salto significativo que lo acerca hacia su competidor más directo (y actual líder en este sector). De hecho, su integración con Office 365 y SkyDrive me hacen pensar en la posible orientación del servicio hacia las empresas, por ejemplo, para gestionar correos corporativos con dominios propios aunque, por ahora, lo que sí que está claro es el guiño al usuario para que migre hacia Outlook.com sus cuentas de correo electrónico en otros servicios (Gmail incluido).

El control que tiene el usuario de la cuenta es otro de los puntos fuertes de Outlook.com, algo que queda patente en las múltiples opciones de configuración y personalización (estética, filtros, combinaciones de teclas, opciones de privacidad, precarga de mensajes, etc) donde parece que se pone un especial énfasis en la privacidad y, sobre todo, en evitar molestias para el usuario puesto que éste tendrá la potestad de eliminar la publicidad (un detalle más que interesante) y cuenta con potentes herramientas de lucha contra el spam.

¿Y qué hacer para usar el servicio? Para poder utilizar Outlook.com lo único que tendremos que hacer es usar nuestra cuenta de Hotmail para acceder al servicio o bien pasar por el proceso de registro y abrir una cuenta nueva. Vale la pena echar un vistazo porque, aunque aún falten algunos servicios y detalles por activar, Outlook.com deja buen sabor de boca.