On February 24, 1955, Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco. Some years later, he and Steve Wozniak created Apple, Inc and the world was changed forever. Wherever you are Steve, thank you for the innovation and for inspiring us all. Happy Birthday!
Archive for the ‘Apple’ Tag
Happy Birthday Steve Jobs
Microsoft Office on iPad?
Yes, it’s true, or so says the rumor, I’m still waiting for the rapture, but that’s another story entirely. According to The Daily’s Matt Hickey in an article posted on November 29, 2011, and several articles and posts referring to his Matt’s post, Microsoft is working on a version of its popular Office suite for use on the iPad, as well as an updated version of Office for OS X Lion. If rumors are true, Microsoft would release the Mac version at the end of 2012 and the iPad version possibly sooner.
Although, Microsoft has several apps on iPhone and iPad, none would be as useful as MSOffice which have been missing from both devices since their releases. Realistically, this is an untapped market for Microsoft which could bring huge amounts of additional revenue as MS Office has been the dominating office suite since it toppled WordPerfect. Remember them? If Microsoft uses the same price point of $9.99 each as Apple does for its office suite for iPad, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, then the software giant could realistically make a killing selling Word, Excel, and Publisher in Apple’s App store.
What does this actually mean? Well for business this puts the powerful MS Office suite on a device that is becoming more popular in offices, schools, and even on the road. This lack of MS Office has either kept businesses from using the iPad or searching for expensive third-party apps that let you make changes to and save files such as Word or Excel. If Microsoft actually does release MS Office for iPad, this changes everything. Businesses running a Windows Enterprise environment will have the added power and portability that the iPad tablet offers with the combined productivity and functionality MS Office gives. This could truly be a marriage made in heaven as businesses begin to adopt this technology combination strategy.
Strangely enough, putting MS Office on the iPad could help save Microsoft, especially if Windows 8 fails to perform as hoped. MS Office has traditionally been Microsoft’s bread winner with the Windows operating system pulling in second in their revenue. Not that Microsoft will fall apart, but a Windows 8 fail could definitely hurt them. Adding MS Office to the iPad and iPhone would surely raise their revenue.
As a writer and blogger, and for personal use, this would raise my productivity tenfold. Generally, I’m sitting down at my desktop (yes, I still have one,) or using my laptop, which has become a clumsy big device that I no longer want to carry around anymore. I love the portability of the iPad and its simplistic ease of use but it’s not efficient to write with. When I do write on my iPad, each article must be written on a third-party app, transferred via Dropbox, copied into a Word file, proofed, then saved and posted. Using MS Word and saving directly to my SkyDrive would certainly streamline things a bit.
I’m hoping this rumor is true. I could see the benefits businesses and personal users would gain from having MS Office on their iPads. What’s you take on it? Do you use Microsoft Office? Would you purchase the iPad version?
View Matt Hickey’s article: http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/11/29/112911-tech-news-ms-ipad/
Related articles
- Microsoft Office Is Apparently Coming To The iPad (gizmodo.com.au)
- Microsoft Office Heading to the iPad? (socialtimes.com)
- Is Microsoft Office coming to Apple’s iPad? (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
- Microsoft Office for iPad in pipeline claim insiders (slashgear.com)
- Microsoft reportedly readying Office for the iPad (news.cnet.com)
In the Cloud, TecWhat’s 4 Favorite Online Storage Services
So you’ve got data and files scattered across your computer at work, your laptop at home, your tablet, and your smartphone. You decide it’s time to upload everything to the cloud and get it all in one place yet accessible from all your devices. Your first question is where to start? There are so many cloud services out there it’s hard to figure out which one will work for you and which one will give you the most.
Here at TecWhat, we have several favorites that allow us to upload, download, share, exchange, and sync files. When choosing a cloud service, we look for integration to all our devices and operating systems, how much storage is free, and which offers the best and easiest desktop solution and smartphone app. Additionally, other considerations are complete accessibility from anywhere, the ability to share our files with others, and ease of use.
4shared– 10GB Free with the ability to go to 15GB with email verification. For the storage allotment, this is the best we’ve found. A free 15GB is hard to come by. In addition to the desktop app which allows you to upload and download files in batch, you can configure various folder locations to access from Windows Explorer, where you can add files that are synced immediately. This integration with Windows Explorer makes things simple without the need to open the desktop app.
The web app looks a little clunky, but is easy to use because of this. You can upload and download, in batch if needed, from the web app so you don’t need the desktop app installed on every computer you use.
The iPhone app is simple and easy to navigate. Files and photos can be uploaded but only one at a time. On the iPhone, 4share offers a secondary app called 4photo that allows you to manage your photos.
üWindows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian
CX– 10GB Free with up to 16GB with friend referral. I have just recently started using CX and have found it to be quite user friendly. When installing the desktop version, it places a folder, CX Sync, on your desktop by default and you add files or folders to it as you would any other folder in Windows Explorer. Sync is automatic.
The CX website seems more Web2.0, including a dashboard to gloss over all your latest activity and a social profile to paste your picture and your top social media sites.
The iPhone app is easy to navigate and allows for tagging and favorites. Unfortunately, you can only upload one file or photo at a time.
üWindows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, and coming soon for Android
Dropbox – 2GB Free with the ability to go to 8GB with friend referral. Dropbox is one of my favorites; it integrates seamlessly into my everyday life on my Windows PCs and my iPhone. I have a single Dropbox folder that I can fill with countless folders and files, at least until I’ve reached my storage capacity. Like CX, it’s just like working with files and folders in Windows Explorer. It’s this kind of ease that make is so wonderful and popular.
On the web, Dropbox is simplistic yet elegant. The clean look of it makes it easy to use and share your files.
What sets Dropbox apart from the others it that it readily integrates with other iPhone apps allowing you to add files from those apps directly to your Dropbox account. Additionally, you can upload multiple photos in one batch.
üWindows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry.
Windows Live Mesh & SkyDrive – 5GB of synced storage on the 25GB SkyDrive. Even though these are actually two products, I only count it as one because they work together. Now, I miss the original Windows Live Mesh beta, which gave you an astounding 50GB free (If I remember correctly,) and would sync between any Windows PC and the Mesh cloud. Windows Live Mesh 2011 will sync any folder or set of folders of your choice, on your computer up to 5GB and store it on your SkyDrive. I like this because it offers a good backup of my files and I can easily edit my Microsoft Office files online. Unfortunately, this is primarily a service for computers, not smartphones or tablets.
üWindows, Mac
Honorable mention,
GoAruna – 2GB Free with ability to earn bonus storage via friend referral. The only reason GoAruna did not make it into our top 4 is because it has desktop app that reminds us of the File Explorer from Windows 3.11. It doesn’t have the same integrations into Windows Explorer that the above services have. It does offer integrations with more devices though.
üWindows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Palm, WindowsPhone, Nokia
üMaximum file size: 100MB
Related articles
- The top 5 Amazon Cloud Drive Alternatives – All Free! (netbooknews.com)
- Five Best Online File Storage Services [Hive Five] (lifehacker.com)
- David Pogue: Dropbox Will Simplify Your Life (pogue.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Sync Folders between Computer with Windows Live Mesh (onetechtip.com)
iPhone 4 vs. 4S
iPhone 4S
Okay, so the hype is over! Kind of. The iPhone 4S has been released and all your friends have one but you’re still stuck in a contract with your mobile carrier and it’s going to be awhile before you get that upgrade for your old iPhone 4. The question is: Do you upgrade or stick it out until the iPhone 5? Well here are some things to consider.
The iPhone 4 is only a little over a year old. According to Apple the iPhone 4 was released on June 24th 2010 here in the US, the UK and elsewhere. I actually got mine about five weeks later and two weeks after I ordered it. While you may feel the need to jump to the next model, the iPhone 4 technology is not so old. I find that my own iPhone 4 is more than capable and sufficient for what I use it for. Granted the 5 mega-pixel camera is a little lame, but beyond that, I am happy with it. It’s still useful to me.
So what’s new in the iPhone 4S? Well, notably the dual-core A5 chip, which definitely speeds things up a bit. The iPhone 4 only has the A4 chip, which is not dual-core, but is still speedy enough for most people. What the A5 chip will do is give the 4S the ability to run faster graphics, up to seven times faster, which means faster games. Also launching apps, surfing the web, and basically anything else you might be doing will be quicker. Though, if you are my age, then you know any 14 year old is going to smoke you in a texting contest.
Siri, the on-again-off-again assistant is amazing, even with the troubles she’s had recently with server issues. That aside, I’ve seen her in action, “Find the closest park” or “Call Sam” or “Text Heather.” She answers and does almost everything you tell her. She appears to be the info genius she is purported to be. On my iPhone 4, I use Vlingo which does similar tasks without the sexy female voice talking back to you. If you can live with the silence, then you’re good to go. It’s also available for other mobile devices. Unfortunately, rumor has it that Apple will not be making Siri available for older iPhone models as the A5 chip is needed to run it.
Apple has completely redone the camera for the iPhone 4S. An 8 mega-pixel camera with newer, more advanced optics, including a lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. No, it’s not for the professional photographer, but for your family get-to-gathers it’s a step in the right direction. The 4S even comes with a few editing features such as cropping, image rotation, red-eye removal, and image enhancement. In addition to the camera features, you can record video in 1080p HD, yes High Def! Edit and send your Spielberg-like creation on the fly.
Of course, the iPhone 4S comes with iOS5; however you can upgrade your 4. I love the 200+ features added to iOS5. The pull-down Notification Center is something I’ve been wanting since I bought the phone, and I can see it on my locked screen. Other new features in iOS5 are iMessage, Reminders, and my favorite Twitter as part of the OS. Apple’s online storage, iCloud, which gives you 5GB of storage for free, is also available with iOS5 so you can manage and store all your files in the cloud.
This is just a small sampling of what you get with the iPhone 4S. So do you upgrade or do you wait for the iPhone 5? Well, this is Apple, even without Steve, I think it’s safe to say that they will introduce some amazing new features when the 5 is released. If we are lucky, the iPhone 5 will be released in 2012. But really can I wait that long. I’m trying but it’s getting harder and harder. I’m up for an upgrade next month.
I’ll let you know.
Related articles
- If You Want an iPhone 4S, Check Your Upgrade Date Now [Iphone 4s] (lifehacker.com)
- Cruising Dreams and Desires, iPhone4S Unlocked @ $649 (knowledgetree12.wordpress.com)
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