Microsoft Launcher - With Some Great Features for a Different Approach

Android launchers tend to follow the same theme and do the same things. Sometimes you have to look outside your own ecosystem in order to find something truly different. That's why this one, from a company that used to make their own phones with their own OS, Microsoft, might be a welcome change.

KEY FEATURES
 · People at your fingertips. Have your most important people at your fingertips. Pin contacts to your Home screen and place them anywhere on the Home screen, dock or in folders.

· Choose your look. Personalize the look and feel of your device by customizing your wallpaper, theme and accent colors, icon packs, gestures and more.

· Personalized feed. See your most important information at a glance like news, calendar events, docs, contacts and more in your personalized feed. You can even set your feed as your default Home.

· Continue on PC. Snap a pic on your phone and see it instantly on your Windows PC* or continue editing an Office 365 document on your PC by linking your phone with your Windows PC.

· Search the web and your phone in one place. Search the web or your files, apps, docs, messages and web results using Microsoft Launcher's universal search bar.

· Gesture customization. With deep customization for gestures, you can double tap to lock your phone, swipe up for app drawer and more.

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Microsoft Security Essentials - An excellent, free security suite

I am amazed, amazed I tell you, by people who either pay for bloated security software or use the bloated software supplied by their ISP, when the free suites are so awesome, memory-thrifty and FREE!

Here's an unbeatable suite from a vendor you may have heard of. It's free and it works.

Get Microsoft Security Essentials

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Microsoft Fix it Center - They made it, let them fix it

Some folks scoff at the idea of taking their car to the dealer. But it stands to reason that the maker often knows better how to fix a product than anyone else. Debatable, I know, but an arguable point. Microsoft, the maker in this case, has a nice, simple app that lets you troubleshoot common problems with Windows.

Get Microsoft Fix it Center

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Introducing Office 2010 (Videos)

I'm still hoping to get my Technical Preview invite soon, but for those of us who can't wait to see the new Office suite in action, here are some nice videos.

Office 2010 Introduction



Click on the links to see additional videos:

Word 2010

Excel 2010

Web Apps 2010

OneNote 2010

PowerPoint 2010

Outlook 2010

Access 2010

SharePoint Workspace 2010

Publisher 2010

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Microsoft Holm - Save money and the planet's resources!

I'm not a very green-oriented person in my everyday life, not sure anyone knows for sure whether global warming is man-made or part of a natural cycle, but I can definitely get on board with saving money on energy.

If you want to use Microsoft's new Holm, a web-based app designed to help do just that, you can get in on the action now that they are in public beta.

Go to Microsoft Holm

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Microsoft Security Essentials Beta - Available now

If you try to get the beta app from Microsoft's official site, you'll probably get the message as follows: "Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsoft® Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at a later date for possible additional availability."

If you visit Softpedia, however, you can get it with no problem.

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Bing Travel - Microsoft Bing adds travel to its arsenal

Looking for hotels, flights, or both? Don't know which travel search engine to use? No worries, Bing puts it all within easy reach with its newest addition. It will allow you to compare all of the major search engine results with a single click. Add to the mix Farecast technology and you have a winner as far as I can tell. From the website:

"Bing Travel offers unique features to help you Know When To Buy™ your airline tickets—now from most major U.S. and Canadian cities to destinations worldwide. Our smart travel search also allows you to easily compare, sort, and narrow down flight results for over a hundred websites."

Go to Bing Travel

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Bing Buzz - Get an early look at Microsoft's new search engine

CNET.com's Ina Freid shares an early glimpse of Bing:



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Microsoft SharedView - Safely share views of your screen with friends

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a screen view is worth 1,000 pictures. When you need to show a friend what the heck you're talking about on your screen, nothing beats showing them. From the website:

"Microsoft SharedView is a fast, easy way to share documents and screen views with small groups of friends or coworkers; anytime, anywhere. Use SharedView to put your heads together and collaborate - create, convey, and communicate…across physical boundaries, through firewalls, and down to the smallest details."

Microsoft SharedView

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Blake's Ultimate List of Free Windows Software - Find what Microsoft gives away here

Since this blog deals almost exclusively with freeware, it stands to reason that I would post a link to this... From the web site:

"Microsoft has over 150 FREE Windows XP, Windows Vista & Office Programs available for download -- finding them all is extremely difficult . . . until now."

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft

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