So with Windows 8 only a few weeks away, more and more details are being uncovered.
Take a look at the applications that will come built in with Windows 8
Across the board, you’ll see performance and reliability improvements in the apps, but there are some great new capabilities as well. Here are some highlights of the changes you’ll see:
| SkyDrive - Search within SkyDrive
- Rename and move folders and files
- New first-run experience
- Custom sort order
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| Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging - Conversation view of your inbox
- Complete IMAP account support
- Accepting and declining invitations in email
- Capturing and updating your account picture
- Improved search
- Search for a contact within the Messaging app
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| Photos - Crop and rotate photos
- New auto-curated collage slideshows
- View photos and videos on network locations in your Pictures Library such as Windows Home Server, network shares, and HomeGroups
- Move through photos in your Pictures Library even when you open them from the desktop
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| Maps - Bird's eye view
- 3,000+ indoor venue maps
- Driving directions hints
- Improved navigation and layout
- Improved customization, including custom pushpins and roaming options
- Integration with Bing and Travel apps
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| Bing - Richer search results for local content and images
- Bing rewards integration
- Use zoom on your search results to see related queries
- Use the file picker to select an image from Bing to use on your lock screen or in your other apps
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| Finance - Additional news and magazine content
- More market exchanges enabled
- Finance videos
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| News - Additional news content from partners such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal
- Enhanced article reader, including font customization, zoom, pagination, and more
- Improved offline reading experience
- News videos
- Slideshows
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| Sports - Additional news and magazine content
- Sports videos
- Slideshows
- New soccer leagues, including MLS, J. League, and Brazilian League
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| Travel - Additional news and magazine content
- Improved flight search and new flight progress indicator
- Improved hotel listing page
- Interactive 360-degree panoramas (gyroscope supported)
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| Weather - Improved default location usability
- Hourly weather forecasts, up to 10 days
- Day & evening high/low temperatures
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| Video - Purchasing in local currencies
- Closed captioning
- Search by actor or director
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| Music - Expanded music services
- Rich "Now Playing" experience
- Discover more music with SmartDJ
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| Games - Exciting new games
- In-game purchasing
- Invites and turn notifications
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