Windows RT 8.1 update will bring Outlook 2013 to Windows RT tablets

By Russ Boswell June 5, 2013

microsoft-surface-with-windows-rt

Those of you who’ve been clamoring for a Microsoft-based email and calendar service on your Surface RT or Windows RT tablet will soon have access to Outlook 2013. CFO and CMO of Microsoft’s Windows Division, Tami Reller, announced the news at this year’s Computex. The Outlook 2013 program will be added to all Windows RT and Microsoft Surface RT tablets with the upcoming Windows 8.1 operating system update.

“We’re always listening to our customers and one piece of feedback was that people want the power of Outlook on all their Windows PCs and tablets,” Microsoft’s Chris Schneider said in a blog post. “In fact, a Morgan Stanley research study found that 61 percent of people shopping for tablets consider Microsoft Office to be the single most important software feature.”

Related Videos

Microsoft promises a much better, streamlined experience with its newest version of Outlook, claiming that users will be able to easily reduce clutter. Outlook 2013 makes you a “content king,” according to the company, and users can use “peeks” to view calendar events and contacts without having to manually switch between tabs. Microsoft also stated that Outlook 2013 will be available soon across not only Windows tablets, but also its phones and PCs. You can get more information regarding the new Outlook and its features at the company’s website.

This is the second recent Windows RT-based surprise we’ve seen recently. Just last week, Microsoft unveiled that, for a limited time, anyone who purchased a Windows RT Surface tablet would receive a free keyboard add-on (normally a $100 value). Is Microsoft trying to sweeten the deal to sell more RT tablets?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Computing

Firefox just got a great new way to protect your privacy

Canva in Firefox on a MacBook.

If you’re fed up with signing up for new accounts online and then being perpetually spammed in the days and weeks after, Mozilla has an idea that could help. The company has just announced its Firefox Relay feature is being directly integrated into its Firefox web browser, and it could help guarantee your privacy without any extra hassle.

Firefox Relay works by letting you create email “masks” when you sign up for new accounts. Instead of entering your real credentials into the sign-up field, Firefox Relay provides you with a throwaway address and phone number to use. Any messages from the website -- such as purchase receipts -- are then forwarded to your real email address, with all the sender’s tracking information stripped out to protect your privacy.

Computing

Microsoft’s Bing Chat waitlist is gone — how to sign up now

Microsoft Edge browser showing Bing Chat on an iPhone.

It appears Microsoft is doing away with the long Bing Chat waitlist. As originally reported by Windows Central, new users who sign up for the waitlist are immediately given access to the AI chatbot, without having to wait, and Digital Trends has confirmed this to be the case.

Microsoft hasn't officially killed the waitlist, but it should go away in short order. On Tuesday, Microsoft bolstered OpenAI's launch of the GPT-4 model by confirming that it was the model behind Bing Chat. Microsoft is also set to host an AI-focused event on Thursday, where we expect to hear about AI integrations in Microsoft's Office apps like Word and PowerPoint. It's possible Microsoft could remove the waitlist during the presentation.

Computing

Dell’s first Windows 11 ARM laptop is priced like a Chromebook

A woman using a Dell Inspiron 14 laptop.

Dell just launched a new Inspiron 14 laptop with a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, and it's priced like a Chromebook, costing only $500. The advantage of using a Qualcomm chip is the long battery life, and Dell claims the Inspiron 14 can last for 16 hours on a single charge.

The budget laptop includes a respectable 8GB of memory and 256GB of SSD storage, which should be sufficient for productivity and browsing. A 14-inch antiglare screen has an LED backlight and offers 1080p resolution.