Google: No immediate plans for Google Apps on Windows 8

Windows 8 users hoping for native Gmail and Calendar apps could have a long wait in store. But a report that circulated around the Web today saying Google had definitively "ruled them out" is wrong.

In an interview with British tech publication V3, Google Apps product manager Clay Bavor did say his team's products wouldn't come to the platform anytime soon.

"We have no plans to build out Windows apps," he said. "We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are, but they are not on Windows … Read more

Microsoft Surface tablet arrives at Best Buy today

The Surface RT tablet makes its official debut at Best Buy today.

Microsoft's Surface will be available for sale at Best Buy's Web site today starting at 2 p.m. PT. The device will then make it way to Best Buy retail outlets and select Best Buy Mobile stores this Sunday, December 16.

Staples also has revealed that it will start carrying the tablet as soon as today.

The move is part of Microsoft's strategy to expand the reach of Surface beyond its own stores. Company officials said that the expansion was initially targeted for early 2013. … Read more

Microsoft gobbles up AV ground

Microsoft Security Essentials may not have done well in recent independent tests, but it's now the global leader in security suite market share for the first time since it debuted in 2009, says Opswat's latest study.

Opswat gauges usage by looking at the software installed on computers running their AppRemover program. The data came from more than 150,000 computers.

When asked about the differences between Opswat's numbers and research and analysis firm NPD, Opswat marketing manager Elisse Lockhart wrote in an e-mail, "Our data looks at all applications installed on machines and aggregates various versions … Read more

Nokia engineer: Here's how to hack Windows 8 games

A Nokia engineer has posted an explanation on how to hack Windows 8 games.

Justin Angel, who currently works on Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 implementation in Nokia Lumia devices, recently posted the step-by-step guide on his blog, where he explained that the "use of innate Windows 8 security attack vectors" can allow a person with admittedly advanced knowledge to "compromise Windows 8 games revenue stream."

The issue is potentially major (and worrisome) for developers who have delivered titles to Microsoft's Windows Store. As Angel points out, games account for "51 percent … Read more

Windows 8, RT to receive more critical patches next Tuesday

Windows 8 and RT are set to receive their second lineup of bug fixes when next week's Patch Tuesday rolls around.

The patches are also aimed at the other current versions of Windows, including XP, Vista, and Windows 7, as well as Server 2003 and 2008.

Five of the patches are rated critical, while two are deemed important. The critical ones are designed to shore up holes in the OS that could allow an attacker to infect a PC with malicious code.

Assuming Windows Update is set to automatic, critical patches are automatically installed, while those considered important can … Read more

Lenovo exec: We didn't realize how big touch would be

Nearly every day seems to bring another dismal report about Windows 8 and the PC market.

If the forecasts and comments are to believed (and they largely are), few consumers are buying computers, opting instead for the iPad or other tablets. And if people actually want to buy the more innovative computers out there, like the ones with touchscreens, they have a hard time finding them in stores.

But Gerry Smith, who sat down to talk with CNET today after recently being named Lenovo's president of the North America region, said those suppositions are only partially true.

The industry … Read more

Dropbox plans Windows 8 touch support

PARIS -- Dropbox plans to launch a version of its software that will let Windows 8 customers use the file-sharing service on the Microsoft's new operating system.

"We are going to be launching our client app for Windows 8," said Aditya Agarwal, Dropbox's vice president of engineering, speaking at the LeWeb conference here. The software will of course work in the traditional desktop mode shared with earlier Windows versions, but also with the new touch-centric user interface of Windows 8 spotlighted with Microsoft's new Surface tablet, he said.

The move isn't a major surprise; … Read more

8 things Microsoft is doing wrong

A few days ago, Tami Reller, Microsoft's chief marketing and financial officer for Windows, announced that the company had sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses since October 26 -- the day the new operating system launched. All puns aside, on the surface that seems pretty impressive, but recent articles by CNET and others indicate a much shakier start for Windows 8 and the hardware hinged to it.

On November 29, an article by the New York Times cited poor sales figures for both Windows PCs and tablets from NPD, the retail sales tracking firm, painting "a darker picture … Read more

How to enable metered Wi-Fi connections in Windows 8

One of the new features of Windows 8 is metered wireless connections. In the past, you could run Windows programs to monitor your data usage, but they didn't do anything to actually reduce data usage. With mobile hot spot and broadband card usage on the rise and unlimited data plans nearing extinction, every kilobyte of bandwidth saved is a penny earned. Enabling metering in Windows 8 will limit your PC or tablet's data usage by preventing nonessential data transfers.

According to Microsoft's FAQ on metered connections, the effects of enabling a metered connection are:

Windows Update will … Read more