Windows 8 leads with tiles, apps, sync -- and a learning curve, too

In 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the fictional Star Trek chronology and franchise. In 2011, DC Comics did the same with its superheroes. But now Microsoft is about to reboot the very real Windows operating system, and it will forever change how we use computers.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's answer to the question of how to integrate mobile and desktop computing. For the most part, it succeeds, but it's an ambitious answer that will be best understood only when many people to stop thinking of desktop and mobile as discrete entities.

Touch will drive Windows 8's buzz, but it's so much more. The biggest change in Windows 8 is that it is designed for touch screens, but that doesn't mean that the keyboard and mouse are dead. In fact, to see that the opposite is true you have to look no further than the iPad. Apple's dominating and innovative tablet owns its market, but it drives a booming business in third-party keyboard solutions.

Instead of being confined to a mouse, Microsoft is saying that personal computers -- and mobile devices, for that matter -- are moving toward a variety of control solutions. Touch is one of these, as is voice, but so are the traditional keyboard for lengthy document writing and the pointer. The two-button mouse as we know it may be dying, but it is hard to imagine a scenario where you'll never want the precise control that ... [Read more]

Teens can now join and create Hangouts.

Google+ on iOS and Android has been updated.

The search giant yesterday offered up an update to Android-based devices, adding, most notably, support for joining Hangouts on Air from handsets. Unveiled last September, Hangouts on Air allows users to stream video chats with people around the world. It's differentiated from Google+'s standard Hangouts feature, which lets users hold video chats with a close group of friends.

In addition to that update, Google+ for mobile now allows teens using both iOS and Android to create and join their own Hangouts from their handsets. Hangouts were initially only offered to adults, but earlier this year, Google softened its stance, allowing users who were 13-years-old-and-up to join the chats. Now, it's extending that policy to mobile products.

Google+ received just a few other minor updates, including support for a floating timestamp in photos on Android, and the ability in iOS to open Web links shared through the social network in Chrome... [Read more]

Where are all of the podcast apps?

Hey, Apple, where did all of the podcast apps go?

Two iOS developers yesterday took to Twitter to report that Apple's iTunes is failing to display third-party iOS apps when users search for "podcasts." Apple's own Podcasts app, however, is being displayed in the results.

In a note to Instapaper creator Marco Arment, iOS developer Shahruz Shaukat noted that "iTunes only shows the Apple's Podcasts app when you search for Podcasts." In response, Arment said he too was only able to access Apple's app upon searching for "podcast" and "podcasts."

In its search, CNET found the same result. Upon searching for "podcasts" in the desktop iTunes program, Apple's Podcasts was the only program to pop up. Other Twitter users have said that the same happens in the U.K. iTunes store.

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