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iriver Story reviewed, incites rebellion over price
If you didn't feel you got the whole Story yesterday, here's a pleasing helping of seconds, this time in the form of a full-on review. The PC Pro team rates iriver's Kindle emulator as a "serious contender," and places its readability on par with Sony's touch-less Readers. While congratulations are also meted out for a decent integrated MP3 player, 3.5mm headphone jack, and the wide variety of supported formats, two issues stood out for the reviewers. One was that the support for Word, Excel and Powerpoint files was somewhat hit-and-miss, with zooming sometimes not working and rendering some files unreadable. But the major gripe related to the asking price of £230 including taxes (around $380), which the Story was not considered capable of justifying. Hit the link below for more -- even if your interest is purely academic.
Microsoft Word allowed to stay on sale... for now
Just as we predicted, Microsoft's request to have that ban on sales of Word put on hold pending appeal of i4i's XML patent victory has been granted. That means IT managers and excitable first-year college students can continue to happily throw down cash for the world's most popular word processor, while the rest of us twiddle our thumbs waiting for either proceedings to resume on September 23 or Stevey Ballms to write the big check and make this whole case disappear forever.
Office 2008 and Spaces issues, finally fixed in Snow Leopard?
One feature of Mac OS X, sometimes forgotten about, that has caused gripes from many users for a long time is Spaces. When it was first introduced almost two years ago in Leopard, some applications would not always "play nice" with each other, causing windows not to display or move correctly. Microsoft Office applications in particular were prone to these problems. There were always some nagging issues that would not allow Spaces to work correctly, due to the way Office windows are drawn on the screen. Over time, they started working better, but a few issues still remained with Office, especially in Word when the Toolbox floating window was in use. With Snow Leopard's debut, however, Microsoft states that these issues have been fixed through "collaborative efforts" with Apple. Hopefully, this will help a lot of eager and frustrated Spaces users manage their many windows on their desktops. Do you use Spaces, or have you held off because of these issues? Leave a comment below and share your experiences!
Spell the day away with Boggle on iPhone
EA Mobile certainly hopes your fascination with crafting words from letter-filled grids on your iPhone hasn't waned -- the developer recently released a port of Hasbro's Boggle onto the App Store. Though it lacks Word Scramble's robust multiplayer system (and free-ness), it does possess one feature that justifies its $2.99 price tag: Achievements. Lots of achievements. Seriously, wordsmithing hasn't been this rewarding since you won those tickets to Dollywood in your fourth grade spelling bee. We take it back. This is way more rewarding than that. Boggle ($2.99, EA Mobile):
Microsoft Mac Business Unit announces details of next version of Office for Mac
With Microsoft Office for Mac still owning a hefty portion of the Mac software market, it's always news when the Mac Business Unit decides to spill the beans on their product plans for the future.TUAW's Michael Rose was on the press call this morning and noted the headlines, with details in the press release in the 2nd half of the post: Next month, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac will be trimmed down to 2 editions: Home/Student and Business Edition. The new SKUs for Business Edition 2008 will be available next month. This makes more sense than the 3 editions currently available. The Office 2008 Business Edition includes Entourage Web Services Edition & Microsoft Document Connection Entourage Web Services Edition ships today (August 13, 2009) Office 2008 Business Edition has extra templates, clip art and bundled Lynda.com training lessons Upgrade costs for 2008 Business Edition $240, full licenses $340; Entourage Web Services update will be free for existing Office 2008 users One More Thing: The next Mac Office version will be ready by holiday season 2010, and includes a 'brand new application' -- Microsoft Outlook for Mac (!) Outlook for Mac will be a Cocoa app, will sync tasks and notes, and has a new database supporting Spotlight searches; IRM for confidential data controls. There was no announcement from Microsoft on any Office for iPhone development to date Visual Basic returns in Office 2010 See the continuation of this post for the full press release from the Mac BU.
Microsoft forbidden from selling Word, will probably keep selling Word
Hey, remember that seemingly random patent case from May in which a federal jury awarded a company called i4i Ltd $200 million in patent damages against Microsoft? Things just got worse for Redmond: the judge in the case today issued a permanent injunction against sales of Word 2003, Word 2007, and any future versions of Word that can open .xml, .docx, or .docm files containing "custom XML." Yeah, no kidding -- that's pretty much all of 'em. At issue is i4i's patent on a method for reading XML, and obviously Microsoft's vowed to appeal, so expect this injunction to be stayed pending that appeal in short order -- and also expect Microsoft to eventually either find a way to win or simply pay up, since there's no way it'll let anyone kill Word. We'll see what happens. Word. Update: CNET has a quick interview with i4i Chairman Loudon Owen, who says that he himself uses Word and that i4i isn't trying to "stop Microsoft's business" or "interfere with all the users of Word out there." It's an interesting read, go check it out. Update: Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone at all, but Microsoft has confirmed that it'll be appealing the decision.
Patch for Microsoft Office 2008 XML issues now available
As promised, Microsoft has released a patch (dubbed version 12.2.1) to address issues that some Microsoft Office 2008 users have had with opening XML-based documents. When attempting to open a document in Microsoft Office 2008, some users have been presented with an error message that resembles the following: "Microsoft Excel cannot open the file. You may have to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?" For those who held off on the Service Pack 2 update, guess what? Surprise! Service Pack 2 is required to install the patch. Unlike many Mac apps, where update checks are found in an app's namesake menu, in Microsoft Office 2008 it's in the "help" menu. So, click on "help," and "check for updates" and you're all set. Well, you're all set if you already had Service Pack 2 installed. You're only halfway there if you didn't have it installed. If this is the case, simply do this again. And there you go. Opening XML on Microsoft Office 2008 is no longer XM-hell. (You can also download the patch from the Mactopia web site.)
Open XML compatiblity issues spring up in Service Pack 2 update for Office 2008
A few weeks back, Microsoft released its Service Pack 2 update for Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac. While adding a host of features and refinements (such as Custom Path Animation in PowerPoint and increased speed and load times in Word and Excel), the service pack apparently packed too much of a punch. The update has prevented some Open XML files from opening, for which Microsoft provides the following suggestions, and I've done a bit of MS-to-English translation (with apologies to DF)... read on to get the gist.
Microsoft releases Office 2008 Service Pack 2
Today, Microsoft released the Office 2008 Service Pack 2 update. This update brings many improvements and fixes to Office 2008, including improved speed and stability to Word and Excel, new features in PowerPoint, as well as improvements to connecting to SharePoint servers. A brief list of fixes follows below: Two new features in PowerPoint 2008: Custom Path Animation, which adds the ability to author motion-path animations and Default Theme, which lets users define their default theme, including fonts, color scheme and slide layouts. Increased speed in Word 2008 (launch and scroll times) as well as Excel 2008 with features such as calculation performance. Expanded Mac browser support in Microsoft Office Live Workspace to include Safari 4. Microsoft Document Connection. Document Connection is a new application that improves the SharePoint experience for Mac users, allowing for easier collaboration within a SharePoint environment by simplifying how users can browse, access and manage files online and offline. For a complete lists of changes and fixes, visit this description page. To download this update, run the Microsoft AutoUpdate application on your Mac or go to the Microsoft Mac Downloads page. This update weighs in at 182.6 MB and is available right now.
DataViz brings Documents To Go to the App Store
Editing documents? On a phone? We're sure most iPhone users are a little taken aback by this prospect, but we assure you it's completely safe and devoid of artificial preservatives. DataViz just launched its Documents To Go suite for the iPhone, which lets you edit and create Word documents, sync work files with a desktop over WiFi, and view other Office documents with the iPhone's existing viewer -- it's not the first app to offer some of these functions for the device, but it's the first with this level of street cred. An optional version of the app also includes a Exchange mail client with ActiveSync for accessing and editing Word documents from email, which seemingly flies in the face of Apple's vague "don't mess with Mail or any of our other built-in apps" policy. The basic Documents To Go app retails for a limited time at $4.99, while the Exchange version goes for $9.99 -- and anyone who picks up the 1.0 version will get a free update to include Excel editing once it becomes available.
Microsoft releases Office 2008 12.1.9 to patch Word vulnerability
There's a new patch in town. Microsoft Office 2008 was updated today to protect against two privately-reported vulnerabilities in the handling of Word files; these security risks could have allowed an attacker to execute arbitrary code on your machine. The update also patches Entourage 2008 to prepare for the Web Services edition of the mail and PIM app. The 154 MB/268 MB (delta or combo) update is available through Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool or via direct download.
Twitter Time: 10 words or less con't
RAIDING AND INSTANCES PT. 2 sirurza @wowinsider LEEEEEERRROYYYYY JENKKKIIINNNSS blizatrex @wowinsider dwarf warrior in trouble. shield wall! kesoleil @wowinsider "I'm down." "Forgot you were a rogue again?" "Shut up."str1fe @wowinsider "If it's pretty, don't stand in....oh, dammit" Pnut060 @wowinsider 10 year old guildie literally crying over loot on vent.kesoleil @wowinsider Famous Last Words: "I can Solo heal that." *raid wipes* rikitikitik @wowinsider Fresh from Naxx 10 full clear, we faced Malygos. Splat!Elad @wowinsider "Are you all hard for this ready-mode boss?" rikitikitik @wowinsider "Guys, the debuff is up. Don't move!" Release? Elad @wowinsider Whoops, forgot Righteous Fury. anjldust @wowinsider "This," he said, "is where the epics come from." puzzill @wowinsider Cylindra bubbled her warrior, now to hope and pray ruairi @wowinsider multi-tasking tank causes wipe Pnut060 @wowinsider I can spend all night doing this rofl ruairi @wowinsider bored healer causes wipe XandosFiretree @wowinsider Twenty-four strangers departed Shattrath, hunted Illidan. Two dozen friends returned. DLMDixon @wowinsider Hunter leaves pet on aggressive preparing for Algalon. Dooms Azeroth. cwharton @wowinsider The gaping maws of Yogg-Saron filled her nightmares every night. wow_acia @wowinsider | Healer story - "Get out of the fire or I won't heal you!" ClakyDruott @wowinsider Tonight I ran out of ammo, last boss in Naxx.... locktart @wowinsider run up stairs. Oh shi- "YOU FAIL!" killed by Kologarn. Pnut060 @wowinsider My naxx raid laughing at friend stuck behind a box. benquinney @wowinsider Guiding Star dropped - and I got it. Awesome! Brightbeerd @wowinsider Pug was OK. The tank was bad. Stupid hunter pets. Aeire @wowinsider I murder things for honor, glory, and really pretty clothes. FeistTheRogue @wowinsider "Walk into Ulduar, kill monsters, collect loot, rinse and repeat." Aoikari @wowinsider Me and some undead chicks entered a bar, got lucky. eyuzwa @wowinsider "we'll be alright since everyone has their Onyxia cloaks...right?" Night0wl @wowinsider Ragnaros so close, sons to go, oh no we wiped! Umatar @wowinsider My proct pally gets turned on my being hit hard. omgitsafox @wowinsider "Hey, where'd your pet go?" "...Oh shit. PASSIVE, DAMMIT." Serneum @wowinsider Atkallen the hunter shot Archimonde in the face. LouGagliardi @wowinsider Warrior fights boss, wins and promptly celebrates.LOLZ Stoopid512 @wowinsider I withheld water from Ringo, just to watch him die. Aoikari @wowinsider never going to let you down! Thrall said to Jaina. paulje00 @wowinsider "Orcs, the other green meat" Aoikari @wowinsider Never going to the undercity zoo again... must wash eyes! awlbiste @wowinsider Nelf Rogue killing the Tarren Mill fightmaster. Can't get out. tselmorrah @wowinsider He sought trade but found only Chuck Norris jokes. TragicDog @wowinsider guys, don't go up to the top... damn it! RUUUUUNNNN Jaysen_N @wowinsider Materinty test proves that neither are the baby daddy, GASP! spasticsnap @wowinsider Tauren leaves her fertile homelands to battle frozen dead. Night0wl @wowinsider Hydraxian Waterlords, need daily quests, Ragnaros respawns to slow, Farmed/ knight816 @wowinsider rain fell silently on the windshield; it was actually ichor kiffar @wowinsider Titanium Node! Mine, Paladin! His head stuck to my pick.. <_< Bytorsnowdog @wowinsider female elf dancing naked, sigh deeprun tram all over again! tashalee @wowinsider The priest said to her, "My holy nova prematurely crits." Jaysen_N @wowinsider Thrall and Arthas battle it out on the Jerry Show. Jaysen_N @wowinsider Jaina rumored to be pregnant, with Arthas as baby daddy. Aoikari @wowinsider I wake up and i'm in undercity with no liver.... Metrophelean @wowinsider Arthas would be less angsty if Icecrown had restrooms. rmoore08 @wowinsider I teabagged an enemy player. It was hot! Jaysen_N @wowinsider Jaina and Thrall will marry, then live happily ever after. Metrophelean @wowinsider DOWN DRUID! That is not what EPIC MOUNT MEANS! Aoikari @wowinsider magtheridon took me back to his lair, hes dirty. ;] professorbeej @wowinsider Body of an elf, a dwarf's face, orc's smell: love. arkbites1 @wowinsider Thrall takes Stormwind. Starbuck's soon opens in the auction house. brigwyn @wowinsider mike and turpster were caught in the game closet together Ashayo @wowinsider So this one time, at (band) Camp Taurajo, I /shindig'ed. chuckenorris @wowinsider a priest and a gnome walk into a bar JoshJosa @wowinsider Walking in the Fjord, Carosh discovers three frost wyrms mating. nickhuber @wowinsider When the candle factory closed, Kobolds all over Azeroth wept. maziltov @wowinsider Low railings on Thunder Bluff bridges = long fall, possible lawsuit. kryptongirl @wowinsider The druid turned into a dog tree. He barked. profetacinque @wowinsider Arthas wanted to go see the zoo; Jaina said "no". Matt_LRR @wowinsider Arthas looked on, coldly. "who left the air-conditioner running?" Curtis_Hanna @wowinsider Baby Gnome shoes for sale. Never worn. ravenette13 @wowinsider Sometimes, death knights just like to pick flowers. The end. lttleknownceleb @wowinsider You know, I really thought that gnome was dead.
Twitter Time: 10 words or less
tweetmeme_source = 'wowinsider';I've been manning the WoW.com official Twitter for the past few nights and having a great time of it. The three nights previous to last, I did some reader-participation art and ended up drawing a tauren rogue and two druids (undead and gnome!). Tonight I thought I'd go a little more literary and had the Twitterati, in the spirit of tweets, send me WoW-related stories of ten words or less. Here are some of my favorites, and the rest are after the jump.Make sure to follow us on Twitter and YOU TOO MIGHT SEND ME BRIEF MESSAGES SOMETIME. I'll see you there! Frito_KAL @wowinsider No matter what the humans say, gnomes are NOT piñatas. Iamfivebears @wowinsider "Thanks for the summoooooooooooooon...." the rogue yelled up the cliff. kryptongirl @wowinsider The druid turned into a dog tree. He barked. MsJenni @wowinsider We entered Deadmines nude, voting who came out best dressed. TheCorruptOne @wowinsider Armor drops from a clear desert sky. Incoming gnomish engineer! threeparts @wowinsider How many edge of winter's does this damn dryad -have?-
Jury awards i4i $200 million in damages in Microsoft patent suit
It's not quite on the level of some of Microsoft's past patent showdowns, but a Texas federal jury found yesterday that the company should pay a still hefty $200 million in damages to Canadian software firm i4i Ltd for some supposed wrong doing. That company had alleged that Microsoft knowingly infringed on one of its patents in both Word and Vista, which apparently concerned "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately." For its part, Microsoft unsurprisingly begs to differ, and says that "the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," adding that it will, of course, "ask the court to overturn the verdict."
iPhone app roundup: Quickoffice, Otto Matic, Evernote 2
In the hustle and madness of yesterday's wayback machine activity, there were a couple of App Store introductions (and a notable upgrade) that might have slipped through... First up: The long-awaited version of Quickoffice for iPhone that allows editing of Word and Excel files hit the store today and was demoed at CTIA. [Looks like the new Quicksheet is available now, but the full bundle and the Quickword standalone app aren't on sale yet as of Thursday morning.] While QO has had a 'mobile files' tool on the iPhone for a while now, this is the first build of the venerable portable office suite (which has been a favorite on Palm handhelds for years) that can do editing in both formats. Quickoffice for iPhone can do font formatting and cut, copy and paste within Word documents -- presumably to be tied in with system-wide C/P in the OS 3.0 world-to-come. Both the Excel and Word tools will support landscape mode for extra editing area. Files on the iPhone can be transferred off the device using WiFi to a local Mac, or straight to a MobileMe account. Quickoffice for iPhone is shipping now for an "introductory price" of $19.99, but if you just want the Excel spreadsheet editor (formerly MobileFiles Pro) you can have it for $12.99; the Word document editor is also $12.99. Quickoffice Files (previously known as MobileFiles 2.0) is $3.99 and offers similar file transfer capability to Readdle and other file managers. We're getting a review copy for a more thorough walkthrough later this week. It's worth noting that a Microsoft exec hinted at a version of Office itself for the iPhone that may be coming sometime in the not-too-distant future. Second... who doesn't love a good robot game? For $4.99, you can now dive into Pangea's classic Otto Matic series with the company's new title for iPhone, Otto Matic: Alien Invasion. The B-movie style game pits Otto against the attacking Brain Aliens from Planet X; his job is to save as many humans as possible. Otto Matic: Alien Invasion features 10 levels and 25 different enemies, multiple weapons and activities, and quite a bit of fun. Lastly, the TUAW top pick Evernote has been updated with a nifty landscape mode, thumbnail viewing, improved performance, favorites sorting, and an embedded web browser to reduce the tap a link --> Safari --> back to home screen --> scroll around --> relaunch Evernote loop-the-loop annoyances. Evernote 2.0 for iPhone remains a free download, and the basic Evernote service is also free; a year of pro-level service costs $45.
iHangman gives you instant, classic entertainment on the go
If you're looking for a quick "pick up and play game," give iHangman a try? iHangman [iTunes link] allows you to play the timeless game of hangman right on your iPhone.In iHangman, you pick letters from the side to make a word. If you don't get the word after a couple tries, then you complete the hangman and lose the game. However, if you guess the word, then you win. iHangman gives you plenty of options in the Settings tab -- you can change the timer, have single or multiple players, see the leader board for your iPhone, turn sounds on/off, and choose the word list categories. You have the option to choose from a myriad of word lists including: Animals, countries, sports, SAT, GRE, Science, and more. This game includes over 36,000 words and their definitions. That's right ... definitions! When you lose or win a game, you are presented with the full word; when you shake your iPhone side-to-side, you will see the definition of the word. This is a very nice feature. Overall, iHangman is a fun game to play, and at $0.99US, it's not very expensive. You can download this game from the iTunes App Store. %Gallery-37961%
Forbes: iRex to introduce 10.2-inch E-Ink Reader 1000 on Monday
If you don't like spoilers then look away, now -- seems Forbes has all the details related to iRex's 22 September announcement. The Netherlands-based group is set to release an evolved iLiad e-reader called the iRex Reader 1000. Like Plastic Logic, iRex is targeting business users with its new 10.2-inch E-Ink e-reader able to display "any file format" including PDF, Word, and HTML-rendered documents -- sorry, no video, no color. The Reader 1000 brings a stylus with touch-screen for making notes and markups for up to 80 hours on a single charge. The base Reader 1000 is boldly expected to start at $650 (compared to the $359, 6-inch Kindle). It then ramps to $750 for the writable screen version before topping out at $850 to add WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G data connection. Now get to it CIOs, we suspect you'll need some time to argue the case why some personnel require a laptop, smartphone, and e-reader to get through the day.[Via mobileread, Thanks Spencer H.]
Omar the Test Dragon
Once upon a time I had a Carrot on a Stick. Then I copied my shaman to the Wrath beta server. To my surprise, when I logged onto the beta realm for the first time, waiting for me at the mailbox was the curious message above. Now, we've covered the riding enchantment ground already (that is, it may not ever go live), but what I want to talk about on this post is my new buddy, Omar the Test Dragon.I think I have a crush on him. I wonder what he looks like. I expect Omar looks like a cross between Mr. T. and Justin Timberlake -- ohhh, dreamy! Is he a Troll, a Goblin, or is he really a member of the Dragonflight? How wonderful that would be! Nighttime flights above Netherstorm or setting fire to ogres in Stonemaul. How romantic! But if Omar really is a dragonIflight, he speaks differently than I expected. His language style is utterly intoxicating. I mean, his use of exclamation marks alone is enough to give a girl the dizzies. Maybe that's why he doesn't reply to my emails -- perhaps there is a language barrier between us? O, my dear Omar, if you can hear the sound of my voice, I have but one message for you. I am no dawg, just a simple bovine from Mulgore. Peace out.
Mac 101: Search Wikipedia from your desktop
When Apple made the move from Tiger to Leopard, they decided to throw in more than a few features. One of those new features was the ability to search Wikipedia right from Dictionary. To start searching Wikipedia, just open Dictionary (located in /Applications). Next, click on the Wikipedia button and enter a search term. Leopard will then browse Wikipedia for the answer.You can access the dictionary from most applications by highlighting a word, right-clicking and selecting "Look Up in Dictionary."Want more tips like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
First Look: MiGhtyDocs
Google Docs gives you document storage in the cloud, so why shouldn't you be able to access your documents anywhere you are connected to the cloud -- including your iPhone? Well, Google Docs viewing on the iPhone has been a bit kludgy ... until now.Thanks to MiGhtyDocs (iTunes link), you are now free to roam about the office to view your Docs on the go. You can't edit and you can't view spreadsheets or presentations, but MiGhtyDocs does cache your documents for offline viewing. This application just does one thing, and does it great. And did I mention that it's free? You can download MiGhtyDocs from the iTunes App Store today.
