Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Windows 8 - Mail, Calendar and People Apps Get Updates



Although their not "state-of-the-art", The built in Mail, Calendar and People Apps, are a nice to have feature that comes with Windows 8.

They have very simple usage and are all connected with the Microsoft Live Services so with a Windows Phone you have seamlessly access to all the content.
Yesterday Microsoft launched an update to this 3 apps.

Mail App

  • Filter by All Unread e-mail
  • Filter by Flagged e-mail
  • "Smart contact suggestions" when writing a new e-mail
  • E-mail search on server (hotmail.com/outlook.com) instead off local search, if needed

         7

Calendar App


  • Calendar view updated
  • Work week view added
        4


People App

  • New swiping from top (or right-click) to open the app commands
  • New top navigation to switch between Facebook, Tweets, etc
  • Filter by social network
      11

Thursday, March 21, 2013

SkyDrive and Office - Perfect Partnership


Continuing my today's incursion over SkyDrive, here's and exemplifying video of how users can seamlessly connect their files with various apps and devices:

SkyDrive - Solutions Compare Chart



Following my previous post, and although this is a little tendentious, here's a chart to compare what SkyDrive offers vs. the other "big fishes" on the market:

Microsoft - Compare SkyDrive

Skydrive on Windows PCs



In the last 2 or 3 years, I've been an huge fan of cloud computing and all the benefits that come with it.
I can now change from my laptop,to my desktop or my smartphone and get access to all my information, favorites and specially...my documents.

Microsoft's SkyDrive it's an excellent cloud application that provides access to all the information and it's integrated on the Microsoft Live ecosystem.

This is my main repository (25GB) and my hard drive it's just used to temporary work. This allow me to have a very complete experience of cloud computing and work everywhere since I've a browser.

So, let's focus a little bit on some tips for using Microsoft SkyDrive:

Windows 8 App
Although I'm not a huge fan (for now) of Windows 8 Apps, the SkyDrive App it's a nice one, for some features like photo viewing, quick edit documents, etc.



For example, you can change your Windows 8 lock screen image, with one that you have on your Skydrive.
To do this:

  • Go to PC Settings
  • Personalize
  • Browse
  • On the drop down list, select SkyDrive
  • Choose your image, and it's done
As simple as that.

Redirect Your Desktop to SkyDrive
This makes the experience of cloud computing even better.
Imagine you're working on something on your desktop, or you have a lot of shortcuts there, and you want to access them easily on any computer or laptop.

Then, follow this:
  • Go to your user folder (usually C:\Users\username)
  • Right-click on it and select Properties
  • Select Location tab
  • Move the folder to your SkyDrive
Done.


User the SkyDrive for Windows Application
Although the Windows 8 App it's fine at some level, the SkyDrive for Windows can give you a lot more flexibility since you'll see and access your file more easily from the Windows Explorer menus.


You can download it here: