Making its unofficial debut earlier this month on Samsung Galaxy S III demo units, Flipboard for Android has finally opened itself up...a little bit. No, the app isn't widely available on Google Play yet, but perhaps just as good, you can now download the official beta version of Flipboard through a public download link.

If you're not familiar with Flipboard on iOS, it's a magazine-style news reader app that has reached an amazing level of popularity. What gives the app extra cool points is its ability to handle social media. See, Flipboard can integrate your social accounts into its feed, and present Tweets or other status updates just as it would news stories or blog posts (complete with images and video thumbnails). Couple this with Flipboard's gorgeous tiled interface, and it's easy to see why the app gets so much buzz.

At first glance, Flipboard for Android looks just as stunning as its iOS counterpart, with its clean, minimal design and vibrant display of photographic tiles. Flipboard's trademark page-flipping animation is also there as you swipe up and ... [Read more]

Microsoft has pulled back the curtain on the penultimate update to Windows 8 today, the last step before it gets shipped to manufacturers. Read CNET's Windows 8 Release Preview First Take on the new touch-pad drivers, new default apps, and improved features, and then go see for yourself. You can get the release candidate for free.

Download it from Microsoft's own site or CNET's Download.com.

What's new in the Windows 8 Release Preview (pictures)

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Windows 8 almost ready to serve

What's new in the Windows 8 Release Preview (pictures)

Accompanying today's debut of the Windows 8 Release Preview, Microsoft has announced a steeply discounted Windows 8 upgrade path for people who buy Windows 7 computers between June 2012 and January 2013.

If you buy an eligible Windows 7 computer between June 2, 2012, and January 31, 2013, you'll be able to purchase an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99. Microsoft said that more details on the upgrade plan would be announced tomorrow, and that further upgrade options will be revealed for current Windows 7 computer owners in the coming months.

The company also said that it will make a push for Windows 8 for businesses at the TechEd North America conference, which starts June 11.

Windows 8 almost ready to serve

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Microsoft has released an update for its AutoUpdate for Mac utility, which is used to provide application updates and security patches for its Office for Mac productivity suites. Microsoft is touting this latest update as a required installation for Office 2011 and Office 2008, since it will be required to apply future updates to the Office suite.

The update is a small 850KB download and will bring the version of the AutoUpdate utility to 2.3.4. The updater is available via the current AutoUpdate utility, but can also be installed by downloading the standalone installer from the Office for Mac support site.

In order to maintain current and future security of the Office suites on your computer, be sure to apply this and any future updates to your system. As always, be sure to back up your system before applying any software update.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or document.write('email us'); ! Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

Microsoft's SkyDrive in action.

Microsoft has pushed out some updates to its SkyDrive apps for Windows and Mac.

Arguably the biggest update is a new feature for the upcoming Windows 8 Release Preview. From within the Photos app in Windows 8, users will be able to find photos stored on other PCs with SkyDrive installed. Microsoft didn't provide too many details on the improvement, but did say it'll offer up some more information in the coming weeks.

In addition, Microsoft said that its SkyDrive users will now be limited to 10 million files in their folders. Previously, that limit was set to 150,000, throttling some "power users," the company said.

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