Paul Thurott was tipped off by a reader who noticed that all of the core apps are named in the Event Viewer and they are listed as "downloaded and ready". Seeing that all of the apps are listed, it looks like Microsoft is on the cusp if pushing out a huge update to hopefully improve the functionally of these applications. The apps that are listed and should be updated in the near future are listed below:

Installation Ready: The following updates are downloaded and ready for installation. To install the updates, an administrator should log on to this computer and Windows will prompt with further instructions:

    Microsoft.BingTravel
    Microsoft.Camera
    Microsoft.Bing
    Microsoft.Reader
    Microsoft.BingNews
    microsoft.windowsphotos (Photos)
    Microsoft.BingFinance
    microsoft.microsoftskydrive
    Microsoft.XboxLIVEGames
    Microsoft.ZuneVideo
    Microsoft.BingWeather
    Microsoft.ZuneMusic (Xbox Music)
    microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps (Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging)
    Microsoft.BingMaps
    Microsoft.BingSports

I'm working to see whether this option is available in Windows RT as well, but wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible.

Thanks to Aaron C. for the tip!

Update: I don't see this list of updates on Surface with Windows RT, but I had a lot of updates to install, so maybe that happens next. Can anyone with an RT device confirm this set of pending updates?

Update 2: I've received multiple confirmations on Twitter that this update is appearing in Windows RT/Surface RT for some as well.