Software : In Depth: Hands on: Outlook.com review

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• In Depth: Hands on: Outlook.com review
• Dropbox confirms it was hacked, assures it's safe
• iPad newspaper The Daily slashes staff by a third

In Depth: Hands on: Outlook.com review Posted: Hotmail has never had a great reputation. In the early naughties it was the de facto webmail, but when Gmail launched in 2004, it struggled to keep up with the needs of savvier users. Plugging it into Windows Live hasn't helped; the suite of web services is now a broken beast and Microsoft knows it; the whole of Windows Live will be reworked as we go into Windows 8 season. We're betting you probably use Gmail, but it's really rather important to note that Hotmail still has a whacking 350 million users – and Hotmail is an extremely important product for Microsoft. So now it has rebranded Windows Live Hotmail as Outlook.com. Microsoft has pulled off some branding surprises recently; Office 365 will be available for consumers as well as businesses in the Office 2013 world, while Outlook – traditionally a business brand – has also now supplanted Hotmail. The renaming seems a little strange when Mail in Windows 8 is called just plain old 'Mail' yet has a similar design, while you'll now have Outlook on your work desktop and in your browser. And that's before you get to the design; it's hard to distinguish between Outlook.com and Outlook 2013 – they look extremely similar even if the functionality is different. Although it seems almost inpolite to say it, Outlook.com relies very much on the tried and tested columns design of full-fat Outlook and, indeed, the Windows Live version of Hotmail. If you've used Windows 8, it's like the Mail app, but better. If the Mail app in the final version of Windows 8 works as well as Outlook.com, it will actually be useful. Here you can see that the compose view is very much like the Mail app in Windows 8. What's more, this is just a preview version of Outlook.com. It isn't finished as yet, and a few things we tried to do were broken. (Apologies that my inbox is just full of gubbins). Microsoft wants you to plug everything into Outlook.com; it seems like it's a key component of Microsoft's Windows 8-era online offering alongside SkyDrive. Promised Skype integration doesn't work yet while you will be able to plug in social networks as time goes on – though this uses the same mechanism as Windows Live social accounts currently, and clicks through to old-school Windows Live. The calendar does the same at the moment. We also get a preview of how Microsoft Accounts will now work online - here's the app switcher (very Windows 8...). And here's the Account settings pane - very similar to Google's. You can open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in your inbox, which will change how people deal with their inbox. It's a shame it doesn't have the in-place replies from Outlook 2013 though. Messenger is also integrated, too, and works extremely similarly (though better) to the Messaging app in Windows 8. It's difficult sifting through the Microsoft bluster when looking at what Outlook.com brings to the party that's new. After all, Outlook.com is basically what Hotmail was and so features such as inbox tidier Sweep, are presented as new while they're are actually old. Microsoft clearly believes it can attract users from Gmail, and the site gives instructions on how to port email from Google as well as how to set up Outlook on various devices including the iPad. You can also choose an Outlook.com email address that will work in addition to your existing Hotmail one. However, be warned this will cause havoc if you have set up a Windows Phone with your existing Windows Live or Microsoft Account. Early verdict We think Outlook.com works well as a device to appease Outlook-savvy Hotmail users. But for many, it will seem like Microsoft is merely trying to impose the Windows 8/Office 2013 design language on the masses. And it's won't make people switch from Gmail. But Outlook.com is a definite improvement on Hotmail - though we're baffled why Microsoft has chosen Outlook for the name of a totally consumer product. All will become clear, we sense.

Dropbox confirms it was hacked, assures it's safe Posted: Dropbox has confirmed some account names and passwords have been stolen. It was alerted after users started complaining about spam they were receiving to email addresses used only for their Dropbox accounts. It started an investigation, and found usernames and passwords stolen from other websites were used to sign in to "a small number" of Dropbox accounts. One stolen password was also used to access an employee Dropbox account, which unfortunately contained a documents revealing user email addresses. Hence the spam. Most of the people affected are from the UK, Germany and Holland. New security measures Dropbox has apologised for the breach, and has announced some new security measures to keep users safe. Two-factor authentication requires you verify your identity by two methods, such as a password as well as a temporary code sent to your phone. So belt and braces. It'll be rolled out in a few weeks. The company will also launch new automated mechanisms to help identify suspicious activity, and a new page that shows you all logins to your account. So they should spot any fishy goings-on. It says it may also ask users to change their passwords from time to time. It reiterates to stay safe you should use a different password for every website, to prevent one hack compromising all your activity online. If you're having trouble keeping track of all your passwords, it suggests checking out 1Password, which keeps a tab on everything. As long as that isn't hacked. Via SlashGear

iPad newspaper The Daily slashes staff by a third Posted: The Daily, the tablet-only newspaper started by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, with assistance from Apple, is laying-off almost a third of its staff, amid poor sales. The expensively-assembled paper, which started life as an iPad exclusive in 2011 but is now available for Android too, will let go 50 members of its 170-strong staff, mostly from the sports and opinion desks. Amid rumours that the newspaper will close its doors for good, the sports section will be catered for by Fox Sports, while the opinion section will be cut completely. The Guardian reports that security was called to escort those culled journalists out of the building when the announcement was made. Wow, that's rough. Born of change Editor in Chief Jesse Angelo says the team will adapt to the changes after denying reports that the closure is imminent. "The Daily was born of change," he said. "A changing technological landscape – the beginning of the tablet and smartphone revolution – made us want to rethink how we create media. And we believe that a healthy product and a healthy organization is one that continues to change. "Unfortunately, these changes have forced us to make difficult decisions and to say goodbye to some colleagues who have worked hard to make The Daily successful. These moves were driven by the needs of the business. The Daily is the first of its kind, and it remains the best of its class," he added. The paper is also making some design changes and will now only produce pages that appear vertically, rather than dynamically shifting to horizontal. The newspaper, which had an editorial team of over 100 at launch in February 2011 is believed to have 100,000 paying customers, but lost $30,000,000 in its first year, according to the Guardian's report.

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