Google Chrome is absolutely dominating the web browser market, at least according to social analytics firm Shareaholic, which yesterday released usage statistics for all browsers worldwide.

The data, which covers the 2013 calendar year up until now, reveals Chrome (34.68%) is used more than Firefox (16.60%), Opera (2.02%) and Internet Explorer (15.62%) combined. Adding the stock Android browser (7.36%) into the mix and Google commands over 42% of all browser usage, second to Apple with just 21% after combining Safari (16.15%) and Safari in-app browser (4.86%) use.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has finally confirmed that a version of Office is in the works for the iPad. During a speaking engagement at a Gartner event in Florida, Ballmer said support for the iPad would be picked up once there is a touch first user interface which likely means, it’ll arrive after a Windows version is released.

The touch first user interface that Ballmer mentioned is already in progress, he said.

The VideoLan Organization has released a major update to its popular open-source, cross-platform VLC media player software. Among the highlights in version 2.1.0 are a new audio core, hardware decoding and encoding, initial support for Ultra-HD video formats, advanced subtitles and improved efficiency.

The mentioned audio core rewrite makes it possible to support higher sample rates, introduces better volume management, new channel layouts and new outputs. Hardware assisted encoding and decoding makes its debut on OS X 10.6+, Android Jelly Bean and GNU/Linux platforms, while on Windows support is expanded to include Intel QuickSyncVideo, which is built-into 4th generation “Haswell” Intel Core processors.

More than a year after acquiring mobile documents editing suite Quickoffice, Google has decided to slash its price down to zero, and is throwing in 10GB of Google Drive storage for the next two years to anyone who links Quickoffice to their account before September 26. Up until today, the suite was restricted to Google Apps business users, or as a standalone ‘Pro’ variant priced at $15 for iOS and Android handsets and $20 for tablets.

Quickoffice offers a hassle-free way to open and edit Microsoft Office files without the need to convert them to Google Docs first. Google is likely to merge its mobile and cloud-based documents suites over time, but for now there are still some compatibility limitations between the two. For instance, even though you can save documents to Drive within Quickoffice, documents created with Google Docs can only be viewed -- not edited.

p>The latest version of iTunes is now available for download and with it comes Apple’s long-awaited music streaming service. The update also includes support for iOS 7 devices and seeing as how the new mobile OS just went live, you’ll want to pick up version 11.1 of iTunes if you plan to sync your device(s) with your computer.

iTunes Radio is perhaps most like Pandora in that it offers custom “radio stations” based on artists, song or genres. There are 250 preset stations available from the get-go should you not want to fool with creating a custom station right away

Parallels is best known for its virtualization software that lets people run Windows from within OS X. Now the company is stepping into a different -- and much more crowded -- space with Parallels Access, a remote access solution for controlling your Windows or Mac computer from an iPad. Unlike existing players, however, Parallels says its software “applifies” full-fledged Mac and Windows apps so they run as if they were made for iPad.

The setup process is rather straightforward. Users are required to download an iPad client and run an agent on a Mac or Windows PC. The real highlight comes from the way things are presented once you launch Access on your iPad; rather than just mirroring your computer screen and translating touch into cursor actions, the software detects applications on your desktop and presents them with a grid-style launcher, laid out like other iOS apps.

Internet Explorer 11 was only available for Windows 8.1 until yesterday, but as of today anyone with Windows 7 can download and install the browser too. Although it's not the finished code, this Preview for Developers includes many of the features that will be included in the final release and are currently available on Windows 8.

Among the new features is native decoding of JPG images using the GPU in real time, which allows faster page loads and less stress on other computer components. There is also support for HTML5 link pre-fetching and pre-rendering. These two features allow developers to anticipate where you're going and have those pages ready.

Microsoft is attempting a middle of the road compromise in response to one of the main complaints users have had with Windows 8: it’s set to bring back the Start button to the desktop. But rather than triggering the old and trusty Start menu, clicking on this button will still take you to the tile-based Start screen.

Fortunately third-party developers have been working to keep the classic desktop experience alive with their own take on the Start menu. One of them, Pokki, is set to get a major boost through a partnership with Lenovo.

Connectify is back on Kickstarter hoping to crowdfund a new application that combines multiple internet connections to give you faster access to everything on the internet. Connectify Switchboard works by aggregating all available internet connections on your computer, and then balancing the load between them.

Last year, Connectify successfully funded and launched Dispatch, an application with similar functionality but limited to Windows operating systems and specific applications. In contrast, rather than running as a client-side application, Switchboard operates as a cloud service and allows users to leverage the combined speeds of their connections for any application on Mac of PC.

iTunes is available on Windows 8 like any other 'legacy' application in desktop mode, but Microsoft really wants to see a version built for their Modern-style "Metro" UI. In fact, Microsoft wants the app so bad that it went directly to Apple in an attempt to convince the company to make it happen. In an interview with CNN Money, Windows CFO Tami Reller said "the welcome mat has been laid out. It's not for lack of trying."

But Apple doesn't seem too excited to build a proper Windows 8 version of iTunes, and Reller says that users should not expect to see the app "any time soon."

If the "Metro" design sticks around in future versions of Windows, it seems likely that Apple would have to give in eventually and embrace the look and feel with its music software. But for the time being, they remain reluctant.