Just a few years ago, there was a sharp divide between fans of Microsoft and fans of the iPhone. But in this “mobile first, cloud first” world, it’s now possible to combine Apple’s iPhone hardware with Microsoft’s best-in-breed productivity apps and not feel terrible about yourself. Things really have changed, and for the better. And…

Digging around through my old gadgets this week I found a few interesting and semi-historical hardware devices. The original iPhone. A Palm Treo running Windows Mobile 6 Pro. The original Windows 8 Slate. But none triggered the same reaction as the Windows Phone prototype handset that I used throughout summer 2010 before Windows Phone first…

  UPDATE: Audible for Windows Phone [BETA] is now available for anyone to grab in the Windows Phone Store! As noted, it does require Windows Phone 8.1. There are the apps that simply don’t exist on Windows Phone. But equally embarrassing are the apps that do exist but are either never updated or simply fall well…

In a post announcing a minor upgrade to the Skype app for iPhone, Microsoft revealed something far more interesting: It is creating a new Skype pre-release program for iPhone so its most enthusiastic users can help shape future versions of the app on iOS. Before you start complaining, Microsoft actually does have a similar program…

Happy Friday! Here is an absolute marathon of thoughtful questions and hopefully decent answers to kick off the weekend. Switching to iPhone jbinaz asks: Does the stuff in your "iPhone for the Windows Guy" article(s) still hold up? I'm about through with Google and their lack of respect for privacy, and thinking about jumping to…

Happy Friday! Here’s another round of questions and answers to wind down the week. Contacts in Android cwfinn asks: I have finally accepted reality and bought an Android phone (Samsung Galaxy, fwiw). I can't seem to get my Microsoft People contacts to sync to the Android (Samsung?) Contacts. Exporting from Outlook to a DSV file…

Tech tidbits from around the web: A reminder about Games for Gold, the HoloLens experience “Destination: Mars” is now open at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, a look back at 10 years as a professional developer, Google Play Books adds a new Discover feature, and much more.

Happy Friday! This is another monster set of questions with many deep-thought debates to consider. So buckle up, it's going to be a long ride. -- Before getting into this, I want to figure out a plan for the ideas I mentioned in the "Some questions for you" section of Ask Paul back on March…

I’ve been using the MacBook Air 15-inch M3 each day since it arrived in late March, and I took it to New York last week for the Qualcomm briefing on the Snapdragon X Elite hands-on experience. Between these experiences and my ongoing work with Windows 11 on several PCs at home, it’s clear to me…

Happy Friday! Well, it’s another monster edition of Ask Paul, so buckle up: It’s time to kick off the weekend. pAId? will asks: Right now AI is considered in many ways a paid add-on for most services from Microsoft and Google. However, there are some services that are starting to provide AI features at no…

Happy Friday! Welcome to the last Ask Paul for March. It's another great set of reader questions, but I also have a question for you! So let's start with that. Some questions for you I was going to post this last week, but that installment of Ask Paul went super-long, so I didn't want it…

Happy Friday! This has been an incredible and momentous week, but I’m ready for the weekend and some terrific reader questions. This one’s a doozy. Eternal Spring doon asks: Wanted to take a moment and say "thanks" for your Eternal Spring series. It's fascinating and informative to watch your experiences in Mexico. Your candor is…

Well, we're back in Pennsylvania and feeling lost. Hopefully, another great set of reader questions can get me back on track. Also, happy Ides of March. It was a super site gg1 asks: I distinctly remember you sharing that you tried to find a way to keep your old content from Penton in a win-win…

Happy Friday! Let's put this incredibly busy and contentious week behind us, and I know exactly how to make that happen, with this terrific set of reader questions. Advanced Eero ianceicys asks: Hi Paul, you mentioned that you upgraded your Wi-Fi to an eero Wi-Fi network. Yes. We upgraded to a three-node Eero Pro 6E…

Happy Friday! Let's kick off the end of another busy and momentous week a bit early with another great set of diverse reader questions. Windows vNext wright_is asks: Is there any news of when the next versions of Windows are due for release? There's no literal news, but we know that there will be a…

Happy Holidays! And welcome to a mammoth, pre-Christmas edition of Ask Paul with some terrific reader questions. I’ve done my best. Ghost of Windows past hastin asks: I'm going to propose three "A Windows Carole" questions: Ghost of Windows Past: What defining thing do you think the Windows platform did to get it at the…