2013

People who want to take Office 2013 for a spin can download a 60-day evaluation edition.

The version available is the full Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 suite, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher, and Lync. The software contains all the features in the paid edition, so you won't miss out on anything.

You will need a Microsoft account in order to access the download page, but otherwise there are no strings attached.

Here's how you can grab the free trial version:

Head over to the Office Professional Plus 2013 download page on TechNet. Click … Read more

After Dell reported lackluster earnings today, executives made a case for the company's Windows 8 tablets at businesses.

Dell's earnings fell sharply today, with net income in the quarter ended November 2 sinking 47 percent to $475 million compared with the $893 million reported in the same period last year. Revenue was off 11 percent.

So, what is Dell doing about it? Well, it's trying to transform itself into a supplier of IT services.

But before it can do that, it's still trying to sell lots of PCs -- and now Windows 8 tablets.

Those tablets … Read more

The 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year has all the features you'd expect from a vehicle that has earned that honor. It has a light body, advanced design, a roomy cabin, and plenty of load capacity. What the Tesla Model S doesn't have is an internal combustion engine.

Motor Trend heaps praise on the Model S, saying it drives like a sports car and sashays like a supermodel working a Paris catwalk. I never thought about a car being able to sashay, but it's certainly an evocative comparison.

This all-electric supermodel starts at $58,570 and has a range of 265 miles. That's not enough for a cross-country road trip, though a new network of Supercharger fast charging stations could make it more practical for long journeys.… Read more

You may be planning the 2012 holidays in your house, but the CNET house is already thinking about our big holiday: The 2013 International CES.

Our official coverage of CES starts soon, and of course we'll blog, tweet, and slideshow the living daylights out of any news related to the show. Those are table stakes for good CES coverage.

But as the Official Digital News and Video Partner of CES, we'll also deliver live coverage of every CES event you wish you could attend yourself. We'll start our streaming on CES Press Day (Monday, January 7) and … Read more

NEW YORK -- Believe it or not, the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is just eight weeks away. And that means it's time for the show's organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, to begin drumming up excitement for the world's largest showcase of new gadgets and electronics. First up: the announcement today of the CEA's Best of Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award winners at the CES preview event in Manhattan.

The awards are given across 29 consumer electronics product categories, and include two new ones for 2013: "Accessible and Universal Design Technologies" and "Tech … Read more

Apple crushes its previous first weekend for iPad sales, proving that people will still buy the latest shiny Apple toy. Having two different iPad models probably helped as well. One thing we do know is that stores didn't sell out. If you're holding out for that Retina Display, and you believe the rumor mills, they're already working on it for you.

The future of the iMac is going to look a lot different after reports that Apple is looking to eventually stop using Intel processors in favor of its own mobile processors. Those next-gen iMacs are going … Read more

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Seldom have I received so much e-mail asking me to check out a new car than I have for the new Dodge Dart. So here it is, in this episode, a very promising car with one big flaw in the configuration the company sent us. Stay on it, Dodge, you're that close to having a winner here.

I thought I'd seen every oddball stat about driving until the State Farm team shot me one about hybrid drivers having far lower injury rates in accidents. … Read more

Microsoft's Office 2013 Web Apps suite is now a final and official part of SkyDrive.

The online Office suite has been available for SkyDrive users since July. But it's been in a customer preview mode still being tweaked by Microsoft. A tweet yesterday from Omar Shahine, a SkyDrive group product manager, confirmed that the final edition is now live.

SkyDrive users who create or open a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote file will see it pop up in the completed 2013 edition of Office Web Apps. Opening a file created under the previous version triggers a message that … Read more