Beta

Microsoft is already testing the waters with the next version of its popular Office suite.

Office 15 officially made its debut as a technical preview yesterday, available to a small number of early testers who will provide feedback that can influence the final release.

And though the technical preview program is already full, a beta of the new Office suite will surface for everyone to play with later in the summer.

A Microsoft blog posted yesterday by PJ Hough, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Office Division, spilled very few beans about the new suite codenamed Office 15. And those … Read more

First it was Microsoft to release an Xbox Live companion app onto the App Store, and now Valve is following suit with a similar piece of software--the Steam app--though it seems to be much more functional than Microsoft's.

The app allows users on the platform to keep in touch with their Steam friends via Steam Chat and also provides access to the entire Steam store. Like the Xbox Live app, players can browse their friends list and see who is online and playing what.

Of course the Steam app doesn't deliver mobile games to iOS and … Read more

After iOS 5 was released alongside the iPhone 4S this past fall, Twitter accounts grew by more than 25 percent, largely because of its integrated place in Apple's mobile operating system.

Now, according to tech site iMore, iOS 5.1 could bring a similar integration for Facebook.

Not that Facebook really needs more users.

But, it should come as a nice addition to iOS for those of us who already use Facebook. It's unclear exactly how integrated Facebook might actually be, but iMore shows a look at the iOS 5.1 beta 3 Contacts app that has an … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Synology, the makers of the most robust and feature-rich NAS servers on the market, now looks to the sky, too.

Despite the fact that by the end of 2011, most NAS vendors used the "Cloud" designation for certain features of their products , Synology has refused to use it for its NAS servers which in fact have many Internet-based features. The company changed its mind today at CES 2012.

It showed off that the show the latest build of its Linux-based operating system for its DiskStation NAS servers, called Disk Station Manager (DSM). Version 3.2 … Read more

While most of the electronics world has its eyes peeled on the happenings at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Apple quietly released another version of iOS 5.1 to developers.

The software, which is the third such beta of iOS 5.1, hit Apple's developer site earlier today.

Among the changes is the addition of the 3G toggle for iPhone 4S users, a feature spotted by Macrumors, which was not present when the phone shipped. This meant users did not have the option to turn off the faster data tier to conserve battery life. While Apple never explained … Read more

The iPad and iPhone are going quad-core, according to a report citing references in the latest iOS beta.

9to5Mac said it has evidence that Apple will bump up future iPhones (iPhone 5?) and iPads (iPad 3?) to quad-core processing. The A5 chip used in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S is dual-core.

"While not quite confirming that a quad-core processor will power Apple's third-generation iPad, we have obtained evidence that suggests Apple is currently working on quad-core iOS devices," 9to5Mac said Friday.

That reference comes in the latest iOS 5.1 beta "processing-core management software," … Read more

Google is preparing some important changes to Chrome's browsing behavior, with predictive powers and better download scanning protocol landing in the latest beta update.

Released today, Google Chrome 17 beta for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome Frame.

Of the multiple improvements and fixes noted in Google's Chrome 17 beta changelog, these two have the potential to affect users the most. The change in security behavior expands Chrome's safe browsing technology to scan not only Web sites visited, but downloads as well. It will analyze installation files downloaded with the browser, starting with Windows-based EXE and MSI. Google … Read more

Facebook Messenger for Windows has just leaked, giving users an unintended preview of the upcoming dedicated chat client from Facebook. … Read more

While the big browser conflagration between Chrome and, oh, just about everybody else tends to suck the oxygen from a room, the Chromium-based RockMelt continues to keep its users warm and toasty with new features focusing on where social intersects the Web.

RockMelt beta 5 for Windows and Mac will be available around 8:30 a.m. PT Wednesday. Beta 4 is currently available for people who want to get a head start.

Facebook is already an integral part of the RockMelt experience, since an account is required to log in to the browser. RockMelt co-founder and CEO Eric Vishria … Read more