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Live from T-Mobile's Uncarrier 4.0 event at CES 2014!
Say what you will about some of the things that fly out of T-Mobile CEO John Legere's mouth, but you can't help but admire the endless energy and enthusiasm he shows for his company. The fearless executive will shortly be taking the stage shortly to officially reveal the latest strategy known as UnCarrier 4.0. Its previous iterations, which were designed to create large waves in the normally stuffy wireless industry, focused on getting customers away from the shackles of a multi-year contract, offering faster upgrades and free international roaming at slower speeds. What's the next thing up Legere's pink sleeves? Find out with us!
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's CES 2014 keynote liveblog
No-one was sure what to expect when Google's Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo, but it's clear that she wasn't there for an easy ride. In less than two years, the company has bought a clutch of other outfits, including Tumblr for $1.1 billion, redesigned its logo and brought some much-needed love to Flickr. Now she's here at CES, ostensibly to talk about the "next wave of innovation," which we hope includes some dirt on Yahoo's future direction. Care to join us for the play-by-play? January 7, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST
Kaz Hirai's CES keynote liveblog
2013 was a big year for Sony, with 4K TVs and the hotly anticipated PlayStation 4, among many other products, keeping the company in the news. So, as CES 2014 kicks off, who better to set the tone than CEO Kaz Hirai? We're here at the Venetian hotel bright and early to share his presentation with you. Stay tuned! January 7, 2014 8:30:00 AM PST
We're live-blogging Kaz Hirai's CES keynote, don't miss it!
It's crazy, yes, but CES 2014 is only just beginning. Though we've been on the ground for two days already, the show floor is officially opening tomorrow. To kick things off, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai will be delivering the opening keynote. 4K's a huge trend this year, so expect him to talk about his company's efforts in this area. Of course, there may be some product announcements in store for us as well. We'll be live-blogging his presentation -- catch our updates here. January 7, 2014 8:30:00 AM PST
Live from Intel's CES 2014 press conference
We're here at Intel's CES press conference, and we've saved a great seat just for you (but please, sit down fast, because the guy next to us is giving us a dirty look). So, what can we expect from the chipmaker's big event? There seems to be a fairly good likelihood that the company will be further inserting itself into the uber-hot wearbles conversation by way of those little Quark processors. January 6, 2014 4:00:00 PM EST
LG CES press event liveblog
We hope you like TVs, because we have a feeling LG's got a lot of 'em to show, including huge, 4K, curved affairs that we've already seen teased by the company in the run-up to CES. That's not all, however, because the company is likely to show off some new audio hardware, possibly (finally?) a webOS TV too. We haven't heard much in the way of mobile surprises, but hey, you never know. Join us at 8AM PST -- we'll be there, and we'll even bring the coffee. January 6, 2014 8:00:00 AM PST
Satechi's X-Presenter Smart is a perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite businessperson
If you're looking for a stocking stuffer for that certain someone who gives a lot of presentations, I think I may have just the item for you. Satechi's new X-Presenter Smart (US$29.99) is an iOS app-enabled laser pointer, a stubby stylus, and a remote mouse all in one tiny little package. That package is about .4" in diameter and about 2.2" long. Inside a silicone cover you'll find the removable laser pointer, which plugs into the headphone port on your iPhone. To use the laser pointer, you need to download the free X-Presenter Smart or X-Pointer Smart app. The former provides a way to control a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation running on a Mac or PC through a virtual mouse, while both apps give you the opportunity to blind the audience point at details on the screen. The laser pointer is quite bright, even in well-lit rooms. During my testing, I was able to amuse my elderly cat Ruby for about a minute before she wandered off... But it's the wireless mouse and presentation control feature that's really cool. The X-Presenter Smart comes with a small dongle for communicating with your Mac or PC. I'm not sure why Satechi chose to use this rather than just use the built-in Bluetooth of the device, but perhaps it's to add range so that presenters can wander around stage without being close to their laptops. The app works great with both PowerPoint and Keynote. There's a button for starting your presentation, after which time you can jump into the mouse mode to advance through your bullet points and slides. If you're on a limited time schedule for your presentation, there's a handy countdown timer you can set and start once you've begun your talk. The mouse mode also has a tap and drag virtual laser pointer capability, but I believe that it might only work when connected to a projector as I couldn't see the "pointer" onscreen while watching my presentation on a MacBook screen. There's a blackout button on the presentation tools, perfect for those situations where you may need to go to a black screen during your presentation before starting up again. Once you're done with your presentation, you can slide the laser pointer back into the silicone sleeve, where it provides rigidity for a nice little (albeit stubby) stylus. Conclusion This is the perfect accessory for anyone who gives presentations on a regular basis. The combination of a Bluetooth remote virtual mouse, the ability to start and progress through presentations, and the real laser pointer -- all for thirty bucks -- makes the Satechi X-Presenter Smart a no-brainer for a gift at any time. Pros Bright laser is perfect for pointing out details on presentation slides X-Presenter Smart App is free and very powerful, providing capabilities that aren't available on some dedicated wireless remotes that cost much more Works with both Keynote and PowerPoint on both Mac and PC Cons So small that the laser/stylus and dongle might be easily lost -- be sure to put them into a safe place between presentations You may need to remove some cases prior to using the laser pointer Who is it for? Anyone who gives presentations for a living
Authors rejoice! Pages for iOS now does a better job round-tripping to MS Word
One of the very few remaining reasons why I don't go all "Ticci" and do all of my writing on the iPad is that when I'm writing books for traditional publishers, they have a tendency to get queasy with anything that isn't written in Microsoft Word. Since they also like to keep an eye on what changes authors are making to documents, change tracking has to be turned on in Word all the time. So in the past, the vast majority of my offline writing has been done in Word on a Mac just to keep those publishers happy. Not any more. Through a happy experiment this morning, I found that Pages (for both Mac and iOS) now does a much better job of round-tripping with Word. That's the term for shifting a document back and forth between different applications on different platforms, hopefully without too many formatting changes happening in the process. So here's my workflow: Open Word document from editor in Pages (currently version 5.0.1) on the Mac Turn on change tracking in Pages (Edit > Turn On Tracking) Save Pages document to iCloud Open Pages document on the iPad or iPhone Make sure change tracking is turned on (tap the "Wrench" button, then make sure the change tracking button is green [on]) Work on the document anywhere at any time, and changes are auto-saved to iCloud Once back on the Mac, open the document in Pages on the Mac Export as Word .doc or .docx Sure, it would probably be a lot easier for me to just do the editing on my MacBook Pro, but it weighs more than my iPad Air or iPhone and it's owned by my employer, so it's probably not a good idea to work on a side project on it... Is this a perfect solution? No. My book editor came back almost immediately saying that the tables in one chapter weren't formatted properly, so I'll need to fix them in Word before shipping the files off. But other than that, it's comforting to know that I can now do this work on an iPad or even an iPhone (see title image) from basically anywhere. If you're doing any round-tripping between iWork for iOS or Mac and Microsoft Office, what problems are you running into? Do the current versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers work better for you for round-tripping than they used to? Let us know in the comments.
iWork apps updated with customization options
Apple has updated the three apps that make up the iWork suite. Pages was updated to version 5.0.1. This upgrade adds the ability to customize the toolbar with the tools you deem most important. In addition, the center and edge guides are now on by default. Keynote is up to version 6.0.1. The update adds the ability to customize the toolbar with the tools you deem most important. A number of slide transitions were added. Numbers* received a bump to version 3.0.1. The toolbar is now customizable. In addition, the window size and placement is preserved when you save a document. You can also set the default zoom in the preferences. The current iWork suite is compatible with OS X 10.9 Mavericks only. The iWork 9.3 update is recommended for OS X Lion 10.7.x and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x users. *Typo corrected.
Apple updates iWork iCloud beta with new collaboration tools
The ongoing beta of Apple's iWork for iCloud received an update today that delivers new features aimed at improving collaboration. New features for Keynote, Numbers and Pages in iCloud are fully explained when you first activate the apps on iCloud.com, but we've got a list of what you can expect. Most of the feature additions are largely the same across the whole suite. Each app now has the following new features: Collaborator list: View the list of collaborators currently in a document. Collaborator cursor: See cursors and selections for everyone in a document. Jump to collaborator: Instantly jump to a collaborator's cursor by clicking their name in the collaborator list. Collaboration animation: Watch as images and shapes animate as others move them around. Print: Print your documents and presentations directly from the Tools menu. Folders: The ability to organize documents into folders. In addition, the beta for Numbers is now able to reorder sheets in a spreadsheet from the browser and add hyperlinks. Keynote beta users are also getting an extra feature; the ability to right-click any slide in the navigator to skip it during playback.
Apple now offering Keynote Remote for free
Apple has made its last paid iOS app available for free. Last night the company dropped the price for Keynote Remote from US$0.99. Now everyone who buys a new iOS device from here on out will be able to get every iOS app Apple makes for free. Keynote Remote allows users to control Keynote on their Mac from their iOS device: Keynote Remote lets you control a Keynote presentation on your Mac, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch from another iPhone or iPod touch in the room. While you present, view your current slide and presenter notes in portrait, or the current slide and next slide in landscape. Swipe forward to advance and swipe back to return to the previous slide. Keynote Remote works with your WiFi network, so you can control your presentation from anywhere in the room. Keynote Remote can use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth when connecting to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. However, though Keynote Remote is now free, Apple has not actually updated the app since 2011 and it still does not offer support for a 4-inch iPhone screen, nor has it received a makeover for iOS 7.
Sony CEO Kaz Hirai to kick off CES 2014 with opening keynote
CES 2014 is creeping up on us, and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced that Sony President and CEO Kaz Hirai will deliver the headline keynote on the show's first day. Last year, the honor went to Panasonic and its head honcho, Kazuhiro Tsuga. Mum's the word on exactly what Hirai will cover -- other than his thoughts on "innovations occurring at the intersection of content and hardware" -- but if he takes a page out of Panasonic's book, most product reveals will happen at a separate press conference. Admittedly, it's a tad early for scheduling, but if you're ready to clear your calendar, mark yourself as busy for 8:30 AM PT on Tuesday, January 7th.
Apple wisely brings its iLife strategy to the iPhone and iPad
Perhaps lost in the shuffle amidst a slew of announcements on Tuesday is that Apple is making its fleet of iWork apps available free for download on new iOS devices. In addition to Pages, Keynote and Numbers, users will also be able to download iMovie and iPhoto free of charge. Think about that for a second; in one fell swoop, Apple made its entire range of productivity and creativity apps (save for GarageBand) available for free. As it stands now, purchasing all of the aforementioned apps would set you back US$40. This is significant on a number of levels, and harkens back to Apple's strategy with the Mac when it first began introducing what would soon become a formidable collection of apps that together comprised Apple's iLife suite of software -- iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD (now defunct), iWeb (also defunct) and, last but not least, GarageBand. Steve Jobs first introduced Apple's "Digital Hub" strategy back at Macworld in 2001 (though iMovie had already existed at that point). "If you use iMovie," Jobs boasted during a vintage performance, "it makes your digital camcorder worth 10 times as much because you can convert raw footage into an incredible movie." In relaying the thought process behind Apple's digital hub strategy, Jobs explained that the "glue that's going to make all this happen are the applications: iMovie. iTunes. iDVD. They are going to be our passport into our new digital lifestyle era." And Jobs was spot on. Macs in the early 2000s began shipping with powerful software applications that enabled users to harness their creative juices and manage their digital media right out of the box. I myself was a heavy iMovie user early on and remember being blown away by what was now possible. While my videos were hardly award-winning productions, my friends would often excitedly remark, "You were able to do that on your computer? And the software to do that just comes with it for free?" Once iPhoto hit the scene in 2002, soon followed by GarageBand in 2004, Apple's suite of iLife software really empowered the average user to create ambitious and professional-grade projects. Apple's iLife strategy with the Mac provided a value proposition that was simply unmatched on the Windows side. While it's impossible to quantify how many Macs were sold on account iLife, there's no denying that iMovie and its brethren created a lot of happy customers who became reliant upon and excited about the Apple ecosystem. Now, Apple is taking that same strategy and applying it to iOS. While the aforementioned iOS apps won't be pre-loaded, they will be available as free downloads on new iOS devices. Much like the Mac, this strategy aims to enhance the value of iOS devices, especially when measured against competing devices from the likes of Android and, well, I guess mostly Android. During yesterday's event, Tim Cook explained: We think that iWork is a really key advantage for our customers' productivity, and that iPhoto and iMovie are great for are customers creativity. No other platform has any apps like these. We think that all iOS devices are made even better if they have these apps. And almost all of our customers want these apps. Sounds a lot like Jobs back in 2001, right? iLife on the Mac put powerful media creation tools at the forefront of the PC user experience. Now, Apple is implementing the very same strategy for iOS and it's hard to see this as anything but a savvy business move on Apple's part. Out of the box, productivity and media-creation tools will be more accessible and intuitive on iOS than on any other mobile platform. Well played Apple, well played.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally's IFA keynote liveblog
Live from the land of BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz , it's Alan Mulally. Ford's CEO is taking the stage here at IFA in Berlin to discuss making his fleet of vehicles safer, more user-friendly and, of course, more connected. This is a tech show, after all. Join us right here, won't you? September 6, 2013 11:00:00 AM EDT
We're liveblogging Ford CEO Alan Mulally's IFA keynote at 11AM ET!
IFA's doors opened to the public today, and the show is marking the occasion with a keynote from Ford CEO Alan Mulally (and yes, we've met before). Not only will the perennial subject of the connected car be discussed, but we're told a brand-new concept vehicle and a handful of announcements are slated for the event. We're also expecting the firm's head honcho to provide an update on Ford SYNC AppLink. The outfit's Jim Buczkowski, director of Electrical and Electronic Systems for Advanced Research and Engineering, and Ed Pleet, director of Connected Services for Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa, will join Mulally on stage as well. Join us here for the latest from IFA. September 6, 2013 11:00:00 AM
Samsung 'Unpacked Episode 2' IFA liveblog!
Are you ready for IFA's most-anticipated event? We're live from the Tempodrom in Berlin, and we'll be bringing you the latest on the Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch and any other surprise announcements. Follow along with our liveblog to get the news -- it's the next best thing to getting a front-row seat to JK Shin and co.'s notoriously elaborate event. September 4, 2013 1:00:00 PM EDT
Sony IFA 2013 press conference liveblog
It's cold, gray and rainy here in Berlin, but we've never let a little lousy weather get in the way of a perfectly sunny liveblog. Sony's always got a ton of stuff to show of at IFA, and we don't expect this year to be any different. Cameras, phones, and maybe even a wearable or two will likely be on hand at today's event. So join us here at 10AM ET, and bring some snacks. It might be a long one. September 4, 2013 10:00:00 AM EDT
Apple confirms September 10th iPhone event, and we'll be there live!
The next iPhone will be (presumably) unveiled on September 10th, as hinted at on the Apple-delivered invite that you see above. When the curtains pull back, it'll be nearly a year to the day since the iPhone 5 was ushered into reality, and it'll no doubt be a monumentally important day for the company. Particularly compared to the barrage of products Apple introduced in 2012 -- iPad mini, iPhone 5, the MacBook Pro with Retina display, enhanced MacBook Air / iMac / Mac mini lines, a redesigned iPod nano, a revised iPad / iPod touch / Apple TV, ad OS X Mountain Lion -- 2013 has been eerily quiet. Outside of a tweaked iPhone 5 for T-Mobile's network, a Haswell-infused MacBook Air and a tease of the next-generation Mac Pro, we've been left with little more than hopes for newly-inspired versions of iOS and OS X. That changes on the 10th of September, as at the very least, we're expecting a next-gen iPhone to hit the stage. We'll also be holding out hope for an oh-so-colorful lower-end iPhone 5C for emerging markets -- markets where Android and even Windows Phone are the platforms of choice for communities making the move into the smartphone era. We wouldn't put it past Apple to also revise its iPad line while it's at it, and naturally, iOS 7 should be just about primed for release to the masses. As you'd expect, we'll be on hand in Cupertino in order to liveblog every second of the action, and we'd invite you to cast your best guesses on what's to come in comments below.
iWork for iCloud beta now open to anyone with an Apple ID
First it was available to developers, then a select few who received invitations, and now the beta of iWork for iCloud is available for all. Apple's made no official announcement, but point your browser to icloud.com, punch in your Apple ID details, and there you have it: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Seeming as you normally have to pay for the iWork software suite, this could be a time-sensitive public beta that'll be pulled once you've found all the bugs (this editor has full access without owning any of the iWork programs). So, you might as well have a go at being productive in the cloud before it's too late.
Google's breakfast with Sundar Pichai liveblog
We've been invited to a breakfast with Sundar Pichai, the man with the [Chrome and Android] plan, and we think we know what you're dying to find out: will we feast together on bran muffins or jelly donuts? Coffee or orange juice? Kidding aside, we imagine one of the biggest fellas on Google campus doesn't just want to have us over for tea, so we're going to be there with our liveblogging hats on, ready to get you all of the latest product announcements and other news at a second's notice. Perhaps Android 4.3 and the latest Nexus 7? Or is it something else entirely? Will there be dancing?
