We already know about Microsoft's impending Windows 8 overhaul, but previews of app specific updates have been few and far between. Now, thanks to an apparent Windows Store update on leaked builds, we're starting to see what kind of updates we can expect. In addition to updates for the news, weather, travel, finance and sports apps (see the video after the break), images are leaking for the OS' new calculator application, sound recorder, Movie Moments and an Xbox Music redesign. It's hard to judge these tweaks without actually handling the update ourselves, but we'll say it again for good measure: we may have to review Windows 8 all over again.

The moment many Windows fans have been waiting for has arrived — sort of. We now have a video of Windows 8.1′s new Start button in action. In a video filmed this week at Computex 2013 in Taipei by IDG News, a Microsoft representative showed off how the new Start button will work on the Windows 8.1 desktop mode. Anyone who was hoping for a return of the traditional Start button in its entirety is bound to be disappointed, however: The new Start button brings up the same Live Tiles interface that users see when they exit the desktop screen. The difference, though, is that bringing up the Live Tiles menu doesn’t boot you out of the desktop screen now, acting instead as an overlay. It’s still not a traditional Start button, but a free app is available for those seeking a more traditional Windows experience. The video demonstration showing the new Start button is posted below.

Microsoft today launched its Bing Translator app for Windows (including Windows RT). We don’t usually write all that much about Windows apps and translation apps aren’t exactly new, either, but it’s nice to see that Microsoft has finally brought virtually all of the features of its mobile translator app for Windows Phone, including camera-based translations for 7 input languages, to the desktop. Bing Translator, which is only available in Windows’ Modern UI/Metro mode, supports a total of 40 languages and also allows you to download language packs for offline usage.

For the most part, of course, this is par for the course for language translation apps these days. Google’s Translate for Android app also features all of these tools and supports 70 languages.

Here are the languages the Bing app currently supports:

• The 7 camera input languages include: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
• The app can translate to: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong Daw, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Klingon, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.

Microsoft’s implementation of the camera-based “augmented reality” translation mode is a bit smoother, however, as it will just overlay a translation over the camera image (and you can tap to save the caption). Google Translate, on the other hand, makes you tap on the words you want to translate. Admittedly, that’s not exactly hard, but Microsoft’s approach feels a bit easier and more like what iPhone users are accustomed to from tools like Word Lens.

Heavy Windows 8 users (there must be some…) will also appreciate that the app integrates with the Windows 8 “Share” charm to give you easy access to the translation tools.