outlook

Microsoft said on Monday that it will open up the data format behind its Outlook program.

In a blog posting, Microsoft group manager Paul Lorimer said the company is working to publish the specifications behind Outlook's .pst files.

"Data portability has become an increasing need for our customers and partners as more information is stored and shared in digital formats," Lorimer wrote. "One scenario that has come up recently is how to further improve platform-independent access to e-mail, calendar, contacts, and other data generated by Microsoft Outlook."

The move, he said, will "allow developers … Read more

Outlook, Thunderbird, and Yahoo Mail put Gmail and Hotmail to shame in one important area: handling attachments. Moving e-mail-attached files to a folder on your PC is a breeze in Outlook, Thunderbird, and Yahoo Mail. Doing the same in Gmail and Hotmail? Forget it!

Freeware strips e-mail attachments in a few clicks Back in June 2008, I wrote about Kopf Outlook Attachment Remover donationware, which lets you save some or all of the files attached to Outlook messages to your PC or network. The program adds a button to Outlook's menu that opens a single dialog box showing your … Read more

Microsoft Outlook search extension Xobni (Windows) gets a new extension of its own this week: Twitter.

Best known for speedily hunting down e-mail contacts and conversations in Microsoft Outlook, Xobni also has a social networking aspect. It includes photos courtesy of Facebook, phone numbers via Skype, Yahoo Mail, LinkedIn profile information, corporate information from Hoover's, and now, a Twitter stream.

Click on the Twitter icon in the contact view to see a list of recent tweets. Icons below get you started on a reply, retweet, or new post. You can also follow, unfollow, and view the person's profile. … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between The Lines.

Hewlett-Packard is bullish on 2010.

CEO Mark Hurd said Thursday at a meeting with analysts that he expects the IT industry to return to growth in 2010 and went so far as to say that HP will outpace the market.

"Our broad product and services portfolio and global scale give HP a clear competitive advantage," he said in a statement. "As a result, we see tremendous opportunity to grow our business and improve earnings while delivering value to our customers."

The company provided HP's outlook … Read more

Gmail has long had a feature that automatically suggests and fills out the name of people you've corresponded with. On Tuesday night, the service got a tweak that makes that process easier--it's also likely to be second-nature to Microsoft Outlook users.

Now clicking on the link next to the "to" field pulls up Gmail's contact list manager, where you're able to very quickly sort through your contacts, or anyone you've e-mailed, and pick the ones you want to include in the message. The same goes for removing anyone; you just have to click … Read more

Despite ongoing problems in the company as a whole, Sony's electronics division is looking on the bright side when it comes to the all-important winter retail season.

Looking ahead to the holidays, Sony Electronics' Executive Vice President Mike Fasulo said Tuesday at a small media gathering in San Francisco that the gadget maker is hopeful about better sales this year than last.

"I'm cautiously optimistic about (holiday retail sales). Though I'm cautious about saying I'm cautiously optimistic," he said. Among retailers that sell Sony products, there's also "some notion this will be a better holiday than the previous year."

Sales of consumer electronics sunk 26 percent in the 2008 holiday season, according to one survey.

Fasulo's remarks came on a day filled with announcements from Sony, both on the electronics side, and the video game division, Sony Computer Entertainment America. Although it's only August, the company, like many in its industry, is already gearing up to introduce the products it hopes shoppers will snap up before they head back to school, as well as for holiday gifts.

Sony Electronics introduced a new line of home audio equipment Tuesday, called Altus, that it developed in partnership with Best Buy, though other retailers will eventually offer it too. Altus receivers, speakers, and iPod docks are aimed at a less tech-savvy audience, with minimal setup required. … Read more

Sales managers will appreciate how this add-on exploits Outlook's powerful Contacts feature as a basis for managing existing customers and adding new ones.

Some apps adopt the typical e-mail client interface to lend a sense of familiarity and ease of use to its functions; this one adopts the client itself. If you use and like Outlook, you'll be happy. If you rely on another e-mail client, you won't be so happy. SalesOutlook installs an unobtrusive minitoolbar to Outlook's existing toolbar. It provides quick access to the add-on's tools and features and simply folds into the … Read more

OrgScheduler Pro is a calendar and schedule manager that allows users to keep track of their schedules in several ways. Although we like the interface, some of the program's key features are hard to figure out.

The program will look familiar to users of Microsoft Outlook. For the most part, the program's functions are well organized with tabs and large, graphical buttons. The interface has a sleek, professional feel to it that allows it to integrate well with later versions of Windows. We liked the fact that the calendar interface is so customizable; users can view calendars that … Read more

Keeping Microsoft Outlook's calendar functions open without having to launch the entire e-mail application will be very handy for users who rely on a different e-mail client. But we had some view problems during our tests that may prove a problem to some users.

Outlook on the Desktop lives up to its name: it loads an icon into the system tray, so merely clicking it launches the calendar. Configuring the font, colors, and the view (Day/Week/Month, entry previews, categories, and so forth) is simply a matter of choosing an option from a right-click menu. This free little … Read more