Living

As cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service continue to take hold, Microsoft’s flagship Office productivity suite now appears less a standalone product than a hierarchy of services, each with different levels of functionality for different markets. The big question: Will your version of Office do everything you need it to? On Wednesday, sources told the Verge that Microsoft plans a “preview” version of Office for the basic Windows RT version of the Surface tablet. That version of Office will lose support for Visual Basic, macros and third-party add-ons, specifically to optimize the Surface’s battery life. The preview version will apparently be dubbed “Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview,” the Verge reported. If that’s true, Office functionality will essentially be spread across three tiers: Office Web Apps for the most basic consumer use, Office RT for basic tablet use and the full-fledged Office boxed software product, also available in an Office 365 subscription mo...

Demand for Google’s 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet seems to have well exceeded the tech giant’s expectations. Last week, Google posted a message to its online store saying that shipments of the 16GB model were delayed one to two weeks. Now, the store has stopped taking orders altogether. Those who want to purchase the $249 version of the tablet are told to sign up to be notified by e-mail when it is back in stock. The 16GB version is also sold out at GameStop, Kmart, Sam’s Club, Office Depot, Staples, B&H, Best Buy in Canada and, according to The Guardian , Tesco in te UK. The only place to get the device online at this point may be eBay. Google is still accepting orders for the 8GB version however, which costs $199. The 7-inch, Asus-built tablet, which began shipping earlier this month, is the first to run the latest version of Android, codename Jelly Bean. It has a 1280×800 HD display (216 ppi) and a quad-core processor. It has received widely positive reviews from the press — our own Pe...