Stories by Juan Carlos Perez

Jumping on the trend of using printers to churn out objects, Microsoft has developed a 3D printing app for Windows 8.1, betting that this will become mainstream.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 developers can now integrate Facebook's login system into their applications so people don't have to create a separate user name and password for them.

Google has updated its Gmail iOS app with improvements aimed at simplifying user-interface navigation and enhancing message viewing and composition on iPads.

In its ongoing efforts to simplify Gmail's inbox management, Google has rolled out more buttons to let people perform common actions without having to open messages.

That's good advice for Microsoft, developers, hardware partners and customers.

The rocky rollout of Windows 8.1 should serve as a reminder for consumers, software developers, hardware vendors, enterprise IT pros and Microsoft itself that a period of careful testing and analysis must precede the release and installation of an operating system update.

When BNSF Railway decided it would move its Microsoft email and collaboration systems from its own premises to a public cloud, it considered suites from various vendors, but ultimately picked Office 365.

Office Web Apps, the browser-based, pared-down version of the Microsoft suite, now lets people co-edit documents in real time, a capability its main rival Google Docs has had for more than two years.

In October 2011, Brainshark lunged at the chance to offer a better viewing experience for PowerPoint presentations on iOS devices, and this week the company is declaring its SlideShark app a success.

Gamers who upgraded their PCs to Windows 8.1 are enduring mouse-control problems that affect their ability to play, a problem Microsoft acknowledged this week.

Google has developed a security feature for Chrome that lets the browser detect and stop malware downloads.

When Google Apps arrived in 2006, it stood on the cutting edge of Web-hosted email and collaboration suites for businesses, a bold pioneer clearing a path in the new, wild frontier of enterprise Cloud computing.

Maintenance work on Outlook.com's calendar application is now in its second week, and the lengthy, ongoing tune-up could be causing problems for users.

Microsoft is investigating reports that some users are trying and failing to update their PCs and tablets to Windows 8.1, apparently due to outdated and incompatible drivers.

Microsoft's revenue and earnings per share grew more than 15 per cent each in its first fiscal quarter of 2014, during which enterprise server software products sold particularly well, according to the company.