powerpoint
Latest
Haiku Deck extends on-the-go presentations to iPhone
As noted here on TUAW before, the presentation tool Haiku Deck (available as an iPad app and as a beta web app) makes the chore of building out a visually compelling, effective deck for your product or story as easy as it can be. In fact, Haiku Deck's CEO Adam Tratt told me that the spark for the company's product was struck when he and his co-founder Kevin Leneway (both Microsoft alumni) found that neither one of them wanted to slog through PowerPoint to create a critical investor presentation. Tratt and his team have remained focused on the Haiku Deck mission of "making presentations ten times more beautiful, and making people ten times better at presenting." With the iPad app as a validation of their idea and the beta web tool expanding the possible universe of deck authors, they began to notice the surge in deck views coming from those omnipresent 3" iPhone screens. To meet that viewing demand, today the company launched the iPhone edition of Haiku Deck. Rather than scale down the iPad authoring tools, the first version for iPhone leaves out the editing capability (for now) in favor of a no-compromises viewing and presenting experience. With offline caching of your favorite decks, you've got the perfect elevator pitch tool right in your pocket. Haiku Deck for iPhone allows you to present quickly on the device itself, or extend to VGA, HDMI or AirPlay displays for bigger audiences. You can show in landscape mode for slides-only or in portrait mode so you can read your notes as you go. If you've got an iPad with Haiku Deck installed, the iPhone app can act as a remote control for the iPad's display of the deck. Meanwhile, the iPad and web apps have been souped up with new features, including a slick charting engine and a featured presentation gallery. The iPad app allows you to export presentations in PowerPoint or Keynote formats, and you can now pull in your personal images from Box.com, Facebook or Dropbox while putting together your deck. Haiku Deck for both iPad and iPhone is free in the App Store, with in-app purchases available on the iPad app to expand your authoring options. If you spend any time creating presentations, it's worth a look.
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
Office Remote for Windows Phone steers presentations from across the room
Microsoft has long championed Windows Phone's Office integration, but there has been a missing piece in that puzzle: an official way to control Office from a Windows Phone. The company is filling that gap today by launching its Office Remote app. The Windows Phone 8 client lets users navigate Excel, PowerPoint and Word on a Bluetooth-equipped Windows 7 or 8 PC, offering slide notes and other cues you'll need for a big presentation. We can't promise that managers will be impressed when you steer a quarterly results briefing from your Lumia 1520, but it won't hurt to grab Office Remote today from the Windows Phone Store.
Ginger is a new app for creating presentations, somehow tied to Adobe
Ginger isn't available yet, but it is already generating buzz. Not for its marketing video, nor for its simple website, but for its potential tie to a massive company in the software world: Adobe. Ginger promises to enable users to "show your story to the world in minutes" via its upcoming mobile application -- you can create slides with audio and visual components and then push them to various social media. It sounds a lot like PowerPoint for mobile, albeit with fewer options (no mention of video, for instance) -- not exactly Adobe's first foray into mobile, but another interesting step for the company. The Adobe tie-in pops up when signing up for Ginger's "keep me in the loop" email newsletter. A confirmation email from gingerfeedback@adobe.com arrives as confirmation, which tells us that either Adobe's involved or the company's been kind enough to Ginger to offer up free email hosting space (an unlikely scenario, we'd say). Of course, we've reached out to Adobe for further details and will let you know if we hear back. Update: Adobe issued the following statement to Engadget regarding its connection to Ginger: "Adobe is constantly evaluating new ideas and market testing new innovative products. Ginger is one of many explorations in our product pipeline. We'll update you should Ginger, or any other exploration, become an important part of our product offering."
SlideShark is an easy way to broadcast PowerPoints over the web
If you often have PowerPoint presentations that you want to share, SlideShark is a clever and free iOS app that does the trick. I'm mostly a Keynote kind of guy, but many times I've used PowerPoint for presentations, and SlideShark lets me share with remote colleagues as if they were in the same room. To get started, sign up for a free individual account. You get 100 MB of storage (a paid pro version is also available). You can upload a PowerPoint file from your iOS device, or any computer through a web portal. Then you email links to others and they can view your presentation on any device with a web browser. %Gallery-195110% I gave the app a try with an HDR presentation I did a couple of years ago. The upload was 5 MB so it wasn't much of a hit on my free storage. I sent an invitation to a friend, and checked it myself in my browser. The presentation looked fine. My animations held up, and colors and fonts were the same as on the native file. SlideShark allows you to draw on your presentation, and use a virtual laser pointer. I could also skip ahead or go back. My remote presentation followed by a couple of seconds. A few caveats. You aren't going to get audio narration through the app, so you'll have to use FaceTime, Skype or a speakerphone. Also, only embedded WMV or AVI video files will work. There is a presenter mode so you can see notes and timings. The app also supports AirPlay, so you can connect to an AppleTV for people who are local to you. The Pro version is an in-app purchase, and offers one year of 1 GB storage for US$94.99. If you are constantly using PowerPoint, this is a terrific little app. Most people can get by with the free version. It's secure, as online presentations require a password to log in. Reviews for the app are uniformly positive. The app is universal, so the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are all supported. SlideShark is optimized for the iPhone 5 and requires iOS 4.3 or greater.
Microsoft brings Office Mobile to Android smartphones
The once-mythical Office Mobile for iPhone has been available for a while, but what about that rumored Android version? As of today, it's equally real: Microsoft has launched Office Mobile for Android. Its cloud-focused approach to editing Excel, PowerPoint and Word documents will be familiar to those who've tried the iOS release, including SkyDrive storage support. What differences exist are there primarily to accommodate Google's Holo interface guidelines -- as on iOS, there's no tablet-native interface. The pricing certainly hasn't changed. While the core app is free, you'll need an Office 365 subscription to start working.
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote to ship free with x86 Windows 8 tablets (update: only with those smaller than 10 inches)
During today's Computex keynote, Microsoft Windows chief Tami Reller just announced that new x86 Windows 8 tablets will ship with Office in the box. The executive didn't detail the software offering, beyond mentioning that Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will all be included. Windows RT devices, for their part, will now also include pre-installed Outlook, beginning with the Windows 8.1 update, which is due to arrive as a preview version later this month. Update: Microsoft just put up a blog post saying that these free Office applications will come with "small screen tablets" -- in other words, not necessarily all Windows 8 tablets. Tami Reller didn't specify screen sizes during her presentation, and we don't know if small necessarily means the Iconia W3 degree of small (i.e. eight inches), but we're seeking clarification. Update #2: We tracked down a rep at Computex who said that the bundled software will only come with Windows 8 tablets under 10 inches, which will evidently rule out a lot of devices.
Microsoft roadmap leak shows Office for iOS and Android to be released in fall of 2014
Despite a recent preoccupation with the web-based Office 365 service, the folks in Redmond haven't stopped working to bring regular MS Office to mobile users. ZDNet reports that a leaked Microsoft Office roadmap shows that the ubiquitous productivity suite is due to land on Android and iOS in October of 2014. This seems to confirm earlier rumors of an iPad-friendly version of Office, but at a much later date than previously expected. Android and iOS users aren't the only Office aficionados receiving good news, as the leak also indicates that touch-friendly Blue updates for Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote are due to appear for Windows 8 by October of this year. Furthermore, April of 2014 is set to deliver a new version of Office for Mac and Windows phone, and it looks like Microsoft Outlook will finally land on Windows RT by the fall of 2014, too. Naturally, we don't know what features these updates will bring, but it's nice to know they're coming, right?
Office Web Apps update brings web image pasting, PowerPoint slide editing and more
Microsoft's Office Web Apps are great for those with a SkyDrive account and any device with an IE, Firefox, Chrome or Safari browser who don't want to lug the full Office 365 suite around. Since functionality can be a tad limited, however, Redmond's just added more features with the latest update. For starters, you can now copy and paste pictures from the web into Word, PowerPoint and OneNote Web Apps. Other new functions include cursor-following tools in all the programs, the ability to rearrange slides in PowerPoint Web App along with comment viewing, touch-based chart resizing and more in Excel Web App. Microsoft's posted some sample files that work without a SkyDrive account, so if you want to give it a whirl, hit the source.
Office for Android and iOS purportedly caught in screenshots, won't lure away Surface loyalists
We're wondering if Microsoft is a master of the non-denial. While it has twice downplayed rumors of an upcoming Office for competing mobile platforms, supposed new screenshots and details from The Verge hint that the Redmond team's use of the word "inaccurate" wasn't a flat-out rejection. The Android and iOS versions (iOS seen here) are believed to be real, but to serve mostly as hooks for those who crave Microsoft-sanctioned portals rather than full-fledged productivity suites. Excel, PowerPoint and Word apps would start off as free viewers and only unlock editing for those who dutifully subscribe to Office 365; to no one's shock, even the paid versions would be simple enough to leave Surface owners free from buyer's remorse. Anyone who hasn't already been lured away by Google Drive or iWork offerings may have some time to wait if the claims hold true, however. A mobile Office bundle may meet the rumored launch targets for iOS users with a launch sometime in late February or early March, but the Android fans among us might have to wait until May. It's safe to say that Microsoft won't clear the air anytime soon.
Microsoft launches four-year, $80 Office 365 University subscription for students
Microsoft's given Xbox love to PC-buying students recently, and it's just announced that it'll carry on that tradition with Office 365 University, by offering a special four-year, $80 subscription to higher-education students. For that sum, you'll get four years of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access if you're seeking a sheepskin scroll, which Redmond says works out to $1.67 per month. Also included are 60 Skype world minutes per month and 27GB of Premium SkyDrive storage, along with free upgrades and the ability to install on two separate computers, to boot. That should take some of the sting out of those scholarly expenses if you need a copy, so check the source to see how to grab it.
Microsoft Office 2013 releases to manufacturing, reaches most of us early next year
Break out the party streamers and balloons -- if only in an orderly fashion, because this is the day Office 2013 has been released to manufacturing. The completion swings Microsoft's attention towards a rollout staggered over the next few months. Wider availability will have to wait until the first quarter of 2013 -- such synchronicity with your branding, Microsoft -- but companies who've sprung for volume licensing will get access as early as mid-November to December 1st, depending on whether or not they're embracing a Software Assurance plan. In the meantime, Microsoft is offering an easy path for anxious workers by promising a free copy of Office 2013 to everyone who buys Office 2010 from October 19th onwards. The upgraded software might not be cheap for those who aren't already buying a Windows RT tablet, but it's likely to be an important piece of the puzzle for anyone hunting down a touchscreen Windows 8 PC.
Gmail now searches attachment text, homework hoarders rejoice!
As Google continues to improve other areas of its broad ecosystem, it's always great to see that the company hasn't abandoned its search simplification roots. A spokesperson for the company told us, "we recently added the ability to search within Gmail attachments as part of our ongoing efforts to improve search." This potential time-saver plays nice with Word docs, PDFs, PPTs and many other file extensions. Currently in its infancy, some of your older attachments may not have been indexed yet, so you might not be able to "share" last year's term paper with your younger sibling until Google brings the feature up to speed. However, if you're just looking to locate that recently received Word doc filled with notes from your study buddy, then have at it.
Microsoft brings Retina display support to Office for Mac
Microsoft brought Office for Mac 2011 up to speed with Mountain Lion this summer, and it's now back with another update that finally adds support for the MacBook Pro's Retina display. That comes courtesy of version 14.2.4 of the software suite, and that added sharpness naturally extends across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. You can find the update waiting for you in the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool if you haven't been prompted to download it already.
Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions
While we still don't know exactly when Microsoft will unleash Office 2013 and Office 365 upon the world, we do know how much they'll cost. While standalone versions, licensed for use on a single computer, will still be available, the new strategy makes it more affordable for many homes and business to opt for a subscription package instead. Office Home and Student 2013 (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) will cost $139, while Home and Business adds Outlook for $219, and the top of the line Professional package includes all of those along with Access and Publisher for $399. Compare those to the two Office 365 packages, which promise customizations that follow their users around, expanded cloud storage, access to all of the apps and automatically receive any future updates that come out for them. Office 365 Home Premium will cost $99 per year, with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and access on five computers, along with the ability to change out the devices at any time, and use "full featured apps" temporarily on any PC. It's a single subscription for up to 5 users, and will have a 30 day free trial available. Alternatively, small businesses with 1-10 employees could opt for Office 365 Small Business Premium that also comes with all the apps, but lets each user install it on up to 5 different PCs or Macs, along with 25GB Outlook storage, an organization-wide 10GB cloud drive plus 500MB for each user, online meetings and even website hosting. That also has a free trial, but costs $149 per user, per year. If you can't wait, buying Office 2010 or Office 2011 for Mac as of October 19th entitles users to a free upgrade to Office 2013 or one year of Office 365 free. Clearly, Microsoft would prefer it if users took advantage of the new pay-per-year offerings, but what do you think? Check out all the details from Microsoft's blog and check list linked below (or our preview) as well as a few of their examples after the break, and let us know if you'll be upgrading or switching over to an alternative like Open Office.
Microsoft details Office for Windows RT: shipping on devices as a preview release, upgrade coming later
For all the explaining that Microsoft has done, there's still a fair bit that's not clear about what Windows RT will actually look like when it ships next month. The company has filled in one of those gaps today, though, detailing what it hopes will be one of the operating system's big selling points: Office for Windows RT. Perhaps the biggest news is Microsoft's confirmation of earlier reports that the productivity suite will actually ship as a preview release on Windows RT devices, with a free upgrade to the final version promised between early November and January depending on the language. What's more, Microsoft has also confirmed that Office for Windows RT will unsurprisingly be a bit stripped down compared to its standard Windows 8 counterpart -- there's no macros, for starters, and you'll have to make do without add-ins and some other features like the ability to record narrations in PowerPoint. It's also only going to be available as a pre-installed component of Windows RT -- no standalone release is planned. You can find a full breakdown of the differences at the link below.
SlideShark now available for iPhone
PowerPoint slide decks are easy to create and now, they are easy to present thanks to SlideShark for the iPhone. The app is the highly anticipated companion to SlideShark for the iPad, a PowerPoint presentation tool that was introduced last year. Brainshark is the company behind SlideShark, an online and mobile service that lets you create, share and track presentations online. SlideShark lets users upload PowerPoint slide decks to their online SlideShark account. The service converts the documents to a mobile-optimized format that's compatible with the iPhone or iPad. Users can then download and playback these presentations while on the go. The universal iPhone and iPad app is available for free. Individual SlideShark plans start at US$49 per year and allow you to upload, view, share and track the viewing of PowerPoint slides online. A free account offers 100 MB of storage and the ability to upload, view and share PowerPoint slides. [Via Venture Beat]
Friday Favorite: Haiku Deck for iPad concocts instant presentations
If long-suffering Dunkin' Donuts franchise owner Fred the Baker had decided to get an office job, chances are his early morning grumble would have been "Time to make the PowerPoint." Doing decks is part of every organization, from the military to not-for-profits to businesses of all sizes; even if you make the chore easier with Keynote, it's still a chore. Creating something that doesn't look like every other presentation is possible, but if you aren't gifted with design acumen it might not turn out like you hope. PowerPoint's automatic templating helps somewhat, but how about using your iPad to spice up a slide or two? Giant Thinkwell's free iPad app Haiku Deck may prove to be the spice rack for your flavorless decks. The idea is straightforward: use one of Haiku Deck's provided two-line templates for your slides and the app will search Creative Commons-licensed photos to provide a fitting visual complement to your verbiage. You can swap in your own local photos from the iPad or ones from social services; to share, upload your deck to the Haiku Deck site or export it to a PowerPoint file. The app is beautifully designed and easy to use; some of the free supplied templates are lovely, and there's a $14.99 optional pack of additional looks (or $1.99 per template, bought solo) if you're not thrilled with the built-in options. Yes, you can only use two lines of text per slide, so it's not ideal for bullet-heavy fiscal briefings. Yes, the results have a tendency to wander into Demotivators territory. But you can certainly use Haiku Deck to inspire a theme for a longer presentation built in a desktop app, or pull one or two key concept slides into a presentation that's begging for some creative zing. [hat tip AllThingsD]
Office Web Apps integrate touch support on iPad and Windows 8, brace us for an Office 2013 world
Touch-friendliness is a centerpiece for the upcoming Office 2013, but don't fret if you prefer to live in the world of Office Web Apps ahead of time. As of new preview versions of both OWA and Office 365, those using at least an iPad or Windows 8 will see larger, more finger-ready controls by default. The switch also tweaks the text selection, contextual menus and numerous other elements to work properly with the fleshier input, even going so far as to support multi-touch gestures like pinching to zoom. Windows users get a Touch Mode toggle if they'd rather flip back to traditional control methods. While the web support is still experimental and doesn't have a completion date on the horizon, those willing to live ever so slightly on the edge can stay hooked on Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Word without having to use anything so archaic as a mouse and keyboard. [Thanks, Suraj]
Leaked video promises Office 15 on a crane, on a train, in a boat, potentially with a goat
What's this, then? It's purportedly a leaked promotional video for Office 15, the upcoming version of Microsoft's perennial favorite software suite. Not surprisingly, the animated short, which was "pulled from beta software," talks up the software's cloud functionality. "It's your Office," says the chipper voice. "It goes wherever you go." That includes a number of motor vehicles and electronic devices, all the while being stored safely online. Hop in after the break for one of the happiest office suite promotional videos ever made.
