Office politics are killing Windows 8
A letdown. That's the only way to describe Microsoft's Office 2013 announcement. With the fate of the Windows ecosystem hanging in the balance, the Redmond, Wash.-based giant is doing what it always does when faced with a tough, course-changing decision: It’s playing internal politics.
On one side you have the Windows division. Right now, they're facing an existential crisis, with Apple and Google poised to dominate the emerging post-PC landscape. Division head Steve Sinofsky and his team need all the help they can get to crack into this new territory that threatens to subsume everything that came before.
Mozilla releases Firefox 14.0.1, Thunderbird 14 -- get them NOW!
Mozilla has updated both its open-source browser and email clients with the release of both Firefox 14.0.1 FINAL, and Thunderbird 14.0 FINAL.
Firefox 14’s most notable new features are the switching on of secure connections when performing Google searches for better privacy, plus an updated site identity indicator system in the Address bar. It also introduces silent updates for Windows users for the first time, while OS X Lion users can enjoy native full-screen support for the first time. Thunderbird 14 contains no new features of note, in line with its recent move to an extended support phase.
Samsung Galaxy Note comes to T-Mobile
Let’s assume you’re a big fan of the Samsung Galaxy Note and you want one, but you reside in the United States and your carrier happens to be T-Mobile. Well, take Note! T-Mobile has officially confirmed that it is coming online and to select stores. Phablet fans, rejoice.
There are no details on pricing or when it’s going to be officially available at the US carrier, but what we do know are the juicy details on specifications. You’re still getting that huge 5.3 inch AMOLED display, 8-megapixel back-facing camera with 1080p video recording; 2MP front-facing camera with video recording; 1GB of RAM; and HSPA+ connectivity (42Mbps download is a nice selling point, even better than the international version), among other things. And the biggest news is that it will actually come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box and Samsung Premium Suite preinstalled as well.
Meet Office 2013
On July 16, Microsoft has released a preview of Office 2013. In one sense it is a continuation of the Office 2010 office suite.
In another it is a new direction for Microsoft products. The new office suite has the standard office products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access, but there is more to it. We highlight the many key new features and their potential benefits.
Move apps among virtual desktops with Dexpot 1.6
Virtual desktops are a great alternative to having multiple monitors installed to gain more space to work with. Dexpot is a virtual desktop management tool and it has just been updated to include and impressive new interactive preview screen that can be used to move windows and program between desktops, and even perform more advanced options such as creating copies of windows. There’s also a portable edition of the same version of the app available Dexpot Portable.
The preview window also features support for mouse and keyboard controlled zooming, but one of the most intriguing new features is the Window catalog. This displays all of the windows that are included on a desktop as a series of tiles and if you start dragging windows around Dexpot will automatically switch to full screen preview mode. Old favorites such as the desktop manager and desktop preview have also been redesigned.
Get Office 2013 NOW!
Microsoft has released a Windows-only "Customer Preview" of Office 2013 and Office 365 (the subscription-based service), a major revamp which aims to move the suite firmly into the 21st century.
The interface is cleaner, more tablet-friendly, for instance: Microsoft claims that you’ll “experience Office at its best on Windows 8 devices”. But even if you plan to avoid Windows 8 for a very long time, there are plenty of interesting additions here.
Microsoft moves your Office to the cloud
There's a reason CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Office 2013 early this afternoon. Microsoft's productivity suite has a new face, so to speak. His presence communicates the company's commitment, particularly to businesses -- many of which are gun shy to big changes. The new version really isn't about applications after all but the cloud. Sure, the new suite is finger-licking good, however, it's what Microsoft offers beyond the device that matters more. The software giant is in process of completely reinventing Office for the cloud-connected device era.
The new Office is just that -- a new office for you to do you work. Your new cubicle is outdoors, or anywhere you want to be. In this new workplace Microsoft wants you to pay differently, too, by pushing subscriptions instead of your paying once for perpetual licenses. Ballmer and Co. prefers to collect monthly fees, just like your cable provider. Subscription computing is the Holy Grail sought by Microsoft since the 1990s and something of a pseudo-achievement a decade ago with business annuity license contracts.
Samsung accuses LG of corporate espionage
In a rather unexpected move, Samsung Mobile Display Co. is throwing a corporate espionage bomb, by accusing LG of stealing and leaking OLED technology secrets. The news comes as a shock indeed, because if found guilty of orchestrating it the consequences can be disastrous for LG.
Eleven people were indicted Sunday on charges of leaking or stealing core OLED technology from Samsung. The list also includes executives from LG, which currently trails Samsung as the second largest LCD panel manufacturer in the world. To top off bad news with more bad news, it is reported that six more suspects were formerly or currently working for Samsung.
Sprint 4G LTE service goes hot in 15 cities in southern United States
Sprint announced today it has flipped the switch on 4G LTE coverage in 15 cities in the Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas markets.
Running on the 1900 MHz spectrum, Sprint's LTE will not be as fast as competing networks of Verizon running on the 700 MHz Band 13 frequency or AT&T running at 700 MHz band 17 and 2100/1700 MHz band 4 frequencies. Also Sprint's service is limited by the backhauls to its towers, as well as limited to using only two 5 MHz bands for uplink and downlink. This will only allow speeds of 2Mbps to 3 Mbps on Sprint's current LTE network, far less than AT&T or Verizon.
Holy Moly, Google's Marissa Mayer takes over Yahoo
Suddenly there's hope for the iconic Internet brand.
After the market closed today, Yahoo named Marisa Mayer chief executive officer, someone with the chops capable of reviving the struggling online giant. Mayer is best known for her role at Google, where she has had huge influence over cloud products during much of the last decade.
Microsoft delivers Customer Preview of new Office suite
Microsoft unveiled the latest version of Office on Monday, intended to take advantage of the latest features of Windows 8 including touch, an ARM-based version for Windows RT, and two new Office applications including OneNote and Lync.
"We are taking bold steps at Microsoft", CEO Steve Ballmer said at the press conference in San Francisco. "The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8".
Anonymous supports Greenpeace, hacks oil companies
In what the loosely-tied hacker group Anonymous calls #OpSaveTheArctic, over 1,000 email credentials and Hash checks of email passwords from five major international oil giants were released. The companies targeted included Exxon Mobil Corporation, Shell Petrochemical Corp., and BP Global; as well as the Russian based Gazprom Corporation and Rosneft Petroleum Corp.
The data dumped on anonymous text post website Pastebin includes 317 emails and their unsalted MD5 hashed passwords from a hack on Exxon mobil from June. Added July 13th: a further 724 emails and hashed passwords from BP, Gazprom, and Rosneft, and 26 emails with clear-text passwords from Shell Petroleum. Also listed: all of the internal mail system information, detailing routers, operating system type, database details and server hardware vendor. Further detailing of the type of data gained is available at the DC/Nova/Maryland network security blog site NovaInfoSeco.com.
Panda Cloud Antivirus 2.0: Security gain, without PC resource pain
Virus protection is a must for all computer users and in addition to the level of security that such software provides, it is also important to bear in mind the impact that such protection programs can have on your system. It is all well and good having a program that protects you from every known virus, but there is little point in it if running the software causes your computer to slow to a crawl. Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 2.0 takes the strain off your computer by ensuring that all of the hard work is done for you in the cloud.
This in itself is nothing new, but version 2.0 of the program, available in both free and paid for varieties, brings a number of changes, additions and enhancements that make this worth a second look if you have previously dismissed it. Probably the biggest change in this particular release sees the inclusion of the behavioral analysis engine that was previously only available to Pro users in the free edition of the software as well.
Who will buy Windows 8?
Quite likely you, or somebody you know -- and as soon as possible.
Early results are in for our Windows 8 buying poll, and many of you are ready to upgrade. More than 46 percent of you will buy the new operating system as soon as it's available to you. Volume-licensing subscribers get the software in August and everyone else in October. Twenty-one percent and 25 percent of respondents will jump in immediately, respectively. Nearly 55 percent will go Windows 8 within 3 months of release. The remainder either will wait much longer or not buy at all.
Ape Windows 8
Customization website Windows X Live has released both Windows 8 UX Pack 5.0 and Windows 8 Transformation Pack 5.0. Both tools are designed to provide a Windows 8-like user interface in older versions of Windows.
Headline features for both version 5 builds are new themes and updates designed to ape the user interface found in the recently released Windows 8 Release Preview.
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