For years, OneNote seemed like a promise without purpose. Microsoft developed a fresh, flexible application capable of pulling together content from many sources and in a way that made creative sense. Sure the Office family member imitated note-taking software already available for the Mac, but with surprising approachability for Microsoft-developed Windows software. But who really used OneNote?
Then during the Office 2007 release cycle, Microsoft swapped out Outlook for OneNote in the low-cost consumer edition and millions of users discovered the promise. But not the purpose. Microsoft would later imbue that quality quite unexpectedly by connecting OneNote to SkyDrive. Sync is the software's killer capability -- that gives purpose to promise behind great usability and remarkable flexibility. Where OneNote and SkyDrive really, well, sync is on mobile devices. Windows Phone, then iPhone, iPad and, today, Android. Yeah, if you use OneNote on the PC and are a two-timing Android user, grab the phone. Microsoft has got a treat for you.
From 50 to 500
OneNote is available immediately for download from Android Market. Microsoft takes crap for lots of things, but distribution is something the company often gets right. OneNote is available in more than 50 countries:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The app is free to use for creating up to 500 notes, then you're creativity ends without paying a one-time fee of $4.99. The price is reasonable, so is the free trial. Who let's you use an app essentially 500 times before paying for it? Microsoft calls the one version "free" and the other "unlimited".
If you choose not to upgrade to the unlimited version, you can still view, sync, and delete any of your existing notes even after you've reached the 500 notes limit. However, you will no longer be able to edit your notes or create new ones on your Android phone. For unlimited use pricing outside of the United States, please visit the Android Market in your region (see below for a complete list of supported countries and markets).
Reviewers' Remark
What's that adage? Kids say the darndest things. Grups with new toys are like kids, and they, too, say the darndest things. Mark, a Galaxy S owner, writes in a brief review of OneNote for Android: "Glory hallelujah. Thank you Microsoft. I'm buying your stock now and selling Apple :) Five stars when we have more formatting and other capabilities!" He gives the app four stars.
David, who has Galaxy Tab 10.1, writes:
Almost perfect. Having tried MobileNoter with all of its limitations I was really surprised and pleased at how well integrated and functional this app is. Syncing is quick (both to and from SkyDrive) and I can edit and create new notes with numbered, bullet points and check-boxes.
Finally I can ditch Evernote and go back to OneNote! My only complaint is that, yet again, this is not a tablet optimized app. Screen real estate and time is wasted by navigating between note books and pages when a nice tab/window on the left could have made much quicker. Fingers crossed for a tablet optimized version soon.
I had forgotten about Evernote. It's a great app and companions like Skitch are damn fun. But OneNote is backed by Microsoft, the app is now available on all major mobile platforms and it's real kick comes from SkyDrive. As I've often expressed: Sync is the killer app for the connected world.
So, hey, Microsoft where's the rest of Office -- for Android and iOS -- with SkyDrive mopping Apple and Google off the floor?









Chris Boss is an advanced Windows API programmer and developer of 10 year-old 



When it comes to operating systems, 64-bit is becoming increasingly popular. The ability to access additional, and ever-more-important, memory is a big draw, as is the added security and stability. But despite a general move to 64-bits for OSes, there is still relatively little 64-bit software that has been written to take advantage of them -- well, Windows. This is also true in the browser arena, but it is something that is being addressed by 






Long-time iPhone users, take note. If you have unlimited data, you want to read this: the company will throttle you for more than 2GB of usage in any given month. Do you feel better now about the thousands you've handed over to AT&T for the past several years?

Today, Microsoft Store started taking pre-orders for the 





If you occasionally need to format a text document in advanced ways, perhaps adding line numbers or sorting its lines alphabetically, then your first thought might be to find and install a programmer’s editor. But these can be expensive, and complex, leaving you with a whole new editing interface to learn.
Donationcoder.com has announced the release of 






A plane crash in Boise, Idaho has claimed the life of Micron CEO Steve Appleton. He was 51. Boise Airport officials say that Appleton's experimental fixed wing single engine Lancair crashed shortly after takeoff at 8:58am local time Friday after attempting an emergency landing. NTSB officials say that witnesses reported the plane climbing about 100 to 200 feet, then attempting to turn before falling to the ground.



In a major update to its privacy policy and the addition of "
Jeremy Liu is a high school student who first became obsessed with technology in the 8th grade when his father bought him an iPod touch after months of begging. At a time when iPhones and the iPod Touch were spectacularly rare, the device managed to fascinate both himself and his friends. Liu now shuns the mainstream and roots for underdogs, owning a Windows Phone, Blackberry PlayBook and Sony Walkman X. Since then technology has grown from a passion to an obsession and he now directs his energies towards writing. You can find him on 






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What does
I have two concerns about the WinRT. First its dependence upon COM and C++ classes. As a long-time WIN32 programmer, I can tell you there is a significant difference between the procedural style coding using the Windows API and a COM-based API. The benefits of .NET at times have been clouded by slower and more bloated applications compared to using the pure WIN32 API's directly. Now WinRT is going far beyond even .NET. It pushes COM even to a new level that takes over the operating system (the Metro side).








If you’ve ever tried Auslogics 


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Sony will promote Kazuo Hirai to president and CEO in April, ending Sir Howard Stringer's 





Piriform Software has released the first stable release of
Users of MegaUpload may have a brief window to retrieve files from the site after the law firm representing the file sharing service says it is negotiating a solution with the US Government. While the primary function of the negotiations is likely to gather evidence so that MegaUpload's lawyers can build their defense, it is possible the general public may temporarily gain access to their accounts.
A week after 



Ahead of its official unveiling, 

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Malware takes a variety of forms, starting with the humble virus, but one of the most recent strands is known as ransom malware. As the name suggests, this type of malware can block access to your computer, or offer only limited functionality, until some form of ransom is met -- this could be paying a ransom charge via SMS. The way these infections work mean that they can block access to your computer to the extent that you are not able to run your standard malware software. This is where 


Monday, Microsoft began the technical preview program of "Office 15," the next generation of Microsoft's Office ecosystem, which will include cloud services, servers, mobile and desktop clients. The big thing about Office 15 is that all these separate forms of Office will be simultaneously updated.
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Online password manager 
It doesn’t take long to fill your PC’s desktop. Open a browser here, a word processor there, keep a copy of Explorer running in the background, Notepad maybe, and soon it’s starting to take a real effort to locate and switch to the application you need next.



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You can find plenty of bargains at
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There are a number of tools that computer users will install by default on their Mac or PC -- an email client, web browser, media player and an office suite. Make the move to a mobile platform such as iOS or Android and the range of apps you need changes slightly. Most phones and tablets will comes with a number of apps pre-installed including a calendar, messaging tool, web browser and various other tools. One thing that is generally left out of the mix is a mobile office suite.




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Want to download YouTube videos to your PC? The choices are endless, with
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