11/20, 12:15am
QuarkPromote.com for small businesses
In brief: To help U.S college and graduate students dealing with heavy educational-based costs, Microsoft's MacBU has announced a special deal for the Office 2008 for Mac, dropping the price by over 70 percent. Office 2008 Business Edition provides a series of different applications to help support all areas of education, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Entourage 2008, and Document Connection for Mac with SharePoint support.
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06/30, 11:55pm
Videohub 4.0 update
In brief: Microsoft's Mac Business Unit, known as MacBU, has launched a new promotion for students, with discounted prices on Office 2008 Home and Student Edition for Mac. TeamViewer’s online communication and collaboration software is now available in six different languages. Blackmagic Design has released Videohub 4.0, a software update for its Videohub routers that allow users to connect and all editing workstations or decks to be controlled directly from a computer.
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12/19, 5:50pm
DealNN: Garmin GPS
Today's DealNN deals include a wide selection of items from GPS units to iPods. For today only (12/19/09) Newegg.com has reduced the price on the Garmin StreetPilot c330 GPS unit from $199.99 to $79.99. The 120GB iPod classic is priced at $219.97 with free shipping at Amazon.com. Two deals on Transcend memory products are currently featured at TigerDirect.com: the 8GB JetFlash flash drive is $14.99 and the 4GB Micro SDHC memory card is priced at $8.99. Get a free 12 month subscription to Mac|Life magazine with the purchase of Office 2008 for $159.98 at MacMall.com. J&R.com has reduced the price on the Polk Audio miDock iPod speaker system from $79.95 to $39.95.
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11/21, 12:40pm
Big Mean Folder, EasyBatch
StoryMill 3.2 ($45) provides a series of tools that help writers manage the creative process from the beginning of a story to its end. Users can track, tag and filter characters, scenes, locations and research. StoryMill also offers options for managing information including Smart Views, which allow writers to organize ideas in a project according to selected criteria. StoryMill 3.2 introduces a Project Find and Replace feature, word frequency filtering, text zooming available everywhere, and support for international date formats. [Download - 15.6MB]
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09/16, 3:35pm
Spellex ships MacMedica
Spellex has announced MacMedica, a medical and pharmaceutical spellchecker for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. The software verifies the spelling of medical terminology, and provides various options whenever a mistake is detected. It works side-by-side with the Standard English dictionary, allowing a user to search both concurrently.
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06/28, 6:05pm
Solver for Excel 2008
Microsoft says it is working on briging Solver functionality to its latest Excel 2008 release, after removing the functionality that was available in its previous Excel 2004 version. Solver enables linear programming within Excel, useful for capacities, minimums and maximums and scheduling loads; it is commonly used in both business and higher education applications. The company said it had to remove the functionality because it relied on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which was removed from the latest Office 2008 release. "We definitely hear you, and we’re working on it" says the Office for Mac Team Blog in an update on Solver, an Excel add-in users are clamoring for.
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06/25, 1:45am
MS Open XML converter
In addition to its latest Office 2004 XML update and Office 2008 stability update, Microsoft on Tuesday quietly (and finally) released its much-anticipated Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0, which allows users to convert Open XML files that were created in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for Windows. The software allows them to open, edit, and save the files in earlier versions of Office for Mac. Open XML Converter can convert Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations that are in the Open XML Format and can convert and open a single file, or convert a large number of files. The download is 45MB; it is available free of charge.
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05/14, 3:45pm
F. Look: OpenOffice 3 Beta
Microsoft Office may be the most popular office suite in the world, but not everyone needs or wants to use it. Some people object to its cost, while others feel that it doesn't offer the features they need. If you don't want to use Office on Windows, you can choose from plenty of alternatives, including the free OpenOffice suite. Until recently though, Mac users have had far fewer options, limited to either Microsoft Office 2008 or Apple's iWork. While OpenOffice has been available in some form on the Mac for years, it used to rely on the X11 interface, which made the program look different from other Mac OS X applications. With the latest beta, you can now run OpenOffice as native code on Intel Macs.
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05/13, 5:05pm
Office 2008 triples sales
Microsoft is selling copies of Office 2008 for Mac to the order of three times the rate of the former 2004 version, a trend which it hopes to continue once Visual Basic functionality is restored in a future version. CNET reports that while Microsoft will not share exact sales numbers, it says that they are the highest in the unit's 19-year history. Microsoft gave partial credit to Apple for the milestone, saying that increased Mac sales are "one of the components that is helping us."
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05/07, 4:40pm
Parallels with Expression
Microsoft is reportedly strengthening its relationship with Parallels, and will offer Parallels Desktop for Mac for users who purchase a Microsoft Expression Professional Subscription. According to InfoWorld, this allows customers to run the full studio suite, rather than just Expression Media 2, which ships mid-May, which is also bundled with future versions of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Editions. A Microsoft Expression Professional Subscription will be available in June for $1000.
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05/01, 7:10pm
Expression Studio 2 Mac
Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Expression Studio 2, and with it, Expression Media 2 for the Mac platform. The digital asset management solution for photographers and other creative professionals adds support for the latest file formats including RAW, provides geotagging functionality; it will ship with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition come mid-May. Expression Media allows users to create media databases containing pictures, movies, and audio files for over 100 supported media formats. Microsoft Expression Media 2 for Mac is currently in a 30-day trial, and will be available with Office for $500.
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03/25, 7:35pm
Office 2008 "missing manua
In brief: Apple will open a store in Cherry Hill, NJ this weekend, Office 2008 "the missing manual" is now shipping, Sofa Control is one of the new applications on its way from Gravity, ... Apple will be opening its latest retail store in Cherry Hill, NJ this weekend. The Apple Store Cherry Hill will open to the public on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The last Apple retail store to open was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Thursday, March 6th. Apple is also planning to open four new stores in Europe, branching out with retail outlets in Monaco, Zurich, Geneva, and Ireland. Apple posted job listings for three of those stores, but refrained from specifying opening dates or exact locations.
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03/25, 12:20pm
Microsoft iPhone software
Microsoft is considering software development for the iPhone, writes Fortune. The financial magazine notes that for over a week, a team based in Silicon Valley has been experimenting with Apple's beta SDK, which come June will let developers publish and sell native iPhone applications. Microsoft executives explain that they are not sure whether any apps will actually be put into production, but are deeply interested in the possibility. "It's really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone,” says Tom Gibbons, corporate VP of the Specialized Devices and Applications Group.
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03/11, 5:15pm
Office 2008 12.0.1
Microsoft has released Office 2008 12.0.1 for Mac OS X, a new update to the productivity suite that fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code. The new release also fixes an issue that could give a local user who does not have administrator permissions access Office 2008 program files. This issue occurs when the non-administrative user account was assigned User ID (uid) 502. This issue affects only computers that have more than one local user account, and primarily affects environments, such as public computer labs and workplace networks, where access to program files is restricted.
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02/22, 6:10pm
iToner, Mactracker
- Default Folder X 4.0.2 ($15) makes it easier for you to manage files by adding features and correcting flaws in the file dialogs of all Mac OS X applications. Default Folder X 4.0.2 corrects problems that occur when using Mac OS 10.5.2, Microsoft Office 2008, and Fetch Softworks' Fetch file transfer application. It also fixes a problem with its preview window failing to appear in Mac OS 10.4 and adds an additional option in its Finder-click feature. [Download - 8.4MB]
- Sound Byte 3.4.6 ($40) turns your Mac into a" cart machine" for playing sound recordings, such as music and special effects. The latest version of Sound Byte includes these changes: adds an option to allow carts to be played backwards; click restarts playback now works with hot-key presses as well; fixed Apple IR Remote support for Leopard. [Download - 4MB]
- iToner 1.0.6 ($15) iToner lets you easily transfer your own MP3 or AAC audio files to your iPhone, and enjoy them as custom ringtones. iToner 1.0.6 features the following improvements and changes: support for iPhone OS 1.1.3; support for .mp3, .mp4, .wav, and .aif files; intelligent audio processing for added ringtones; French, German, and Italian localizations; and more. [Download - 7.2MB]
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Mactracker 5.0.1 (donationware) database of Mac models. The latest Apple hardware has been added and "My Models" has been expanded to include Apple TV, Displays, iPhone, iPod, and Wi-Fi Base Stations. Additional specifications items range from "Coprocessor" for Classic Macintosh to "Floppy Drive" port information for Classic Macintosh and PowerBook models. This release also fixes an issue with receiving Apple Events. [Download - 21MB]
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02/14, 5:55pm
Macworld show videos
Organizers of the Macworld Expo have posted numerous videos of special sessions held at the conference. Featured videos include Microsoft Office 2008, Digital Photography Safari, and iPhone Super-Session. Other videos are categorized under Mac OS X, Applications, Photography, Design, iPod, and Technology. Various videos include Best of Leopard OS X Hints, Mac OS X Features You Don't Use but Should, Real World Mac Troubleshooting, and Running Your Mac Clean and Mean.
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02/07, 10:00am
PDF2Office Pro 4.0 ships
Recosoft has released the fourth edition of PDF2Office Professional, its flagship conversion utility. The program primarily converts PDF documents into Microsoft Office formats such as Word or PowerPoint, but also outputs to more generic formats such as RTF. As much of a document's original layout is preserved as possible, including paragraphs, styles, graphic elements and tables.
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02/04, 7:55pm
Office '08 VL to ship
The Mac Business Unit (Mac BU) today announced that Office 2008 for Mac will be available for Volume License (VL) customers on February 1st. Office 2008 for Mac is currently available in English, French, and Japanese for VL customers. Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Nordic languages are slated for VL availability on March 1st, according to the Mac BU.
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01/26, 11:30pm
Office 2008 update coming
Microsoft has acknowledged a security flaw in its recently released Office 2008 suite and has promised an update to fix the issue. The installer flaw, reported earlier this week, incorrectly grants ownership of the files to a particular local user as it installs them, allowing a second local user -- without administrative access -- to modify the Office 2008 install. According to the company, the issue, however, does not expose the Office 2008 install to modifications by any networked user account or to any local account other than the second one created on your Mac. The Mac BU says that it is working on an update to Office 2008 that will automatically fix the file ownership (will be made available via Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool and via a web download), but offered a set of terminal commands users can run to repair the issue if the suite has already been installed.
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01/25, 2:00pm
Office 2008 security hole
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac allegedly ships with improper permissions handling, installing files under user 502, which is a common user ID, rather than the 501 administrator account. According to blogger Brunerd, this issue makes it easier for large-scale deployments to occur, but can be a huge hassle for IT specialists, and a security risk for users. In large office environment, an IT team usually handles software installs and modifications of software, so by placing control over file integrity in the hands of a standard user account, the software could easily be removed or broken by an ignorant user.
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11/27, 5:40pm
Office 2008 features
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has updaed the Office 2008 Sneak Peek site, unveiling a few new features from PowerPoint and Word. PowerPoint 2008 now allows users to export slideshows directly to iPhoto in either PNG or JPEG format, which the company intends for users to be able to upload to their iPods so they can bring their presentations with them, without requiring a computer. Apple Remote support has also been introduced, allowing presenters to make use of the small six-button remote in PowerPoint. Word 2008's Notebook Layout View has been improved, providing greater flexibility for idea management. Users can customize their workspace background with different images, and color-coded tabs can be used to ensure efficient note-taking.
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