Category: Technology

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Technology

Now You Can Subscribe To Microsoft For Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.

microsoftoffice3651

Really though, is that something you would really do? Would you really pay a subscription fee to Microsoft every month to use their Office products? If you would, then the Office 365 series is what you’re looking for.

Office 365 Home Premium (which is the basic version of the suite) includes the core applications that are included in all versions of Office 2013 — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote — as well as Outlook, Publisher and Access. For $100 (there’s a one-month free trial period), users can install it on up to five devices (including Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs and tablets, and AppleOS X computers).

(Note: Other upcoming versions include Office 365 Small Business Premium, which is designed for businesses with up to 10 employees; Office 365 ProPlus, which will include 25 user accounts and 5 installations per user; and Office 365 Enterprise. These will also offer a variety of additional features; there is no information yet on when they will ship.)

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Technology

Ion Audio’s ‘Scratch 2 Go’ Mini DJ Board

Last year at CES Ion Audio showed off an iPad hardware peripheral to give aspiring DJs a better way to control music on their tablets, and this year the company is back with another approach — using suction cups. Scratch 2 Go is a set of controls that users physically stick onto the face of their iPad, giving them a tactile experience without taking their fingers off the screen. Five different controls are provided: a crossbar for switching between tracks, two scrubbers for scratching your favorite MP3s, and two pairs of control knobs, ideally suited for controlling the EQ of each respective track.

Under each controller there’s a small nub, similar to what you’d see on a stylus — so they’re basically just replicating what touching the screen with your finger would do. This opens up what kind of DJ apps you can use the controls with — anything that has knobs and turntables that line up should work — though Ion Audio does offer its own iDJ 2 Go app. The controls stick easily enough to the surface of the device, and seem to offer just the right amount of resistance when removing them; not enough to get knocked off too easily, but not so strong that you’ll be deterred from yanking them off if you want to watch a movie on your iPad.

That said, this obviously isn’t an accessory package for serious musicians, but if you’re looking for a goofy bit of fun, these could be just the ticket. The Scratch 2 Go package will be available this spring for $29.

h/t  The Verge

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Technology

It Is Now Illegal To Unlock Your Cell Phone

I know… You bought that phone and you think you have the right to do whatever you want to do with it, right? Wrong. Starting today, January 26th, unlocking your cell phone without permission from the carrier is illegal.

The new law, which applies to devices purchased after today, came about in October when the Library of Congress’ Register of Copyrights, which determines exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), ruled that unlocking cellphones and tablets without carrier permission should be illegal.

In its decision (PDF), the Copyright Office said there is now “a wide array of unlocked phone options available to consumers,” so reversing the unlocking policy would not have an adverse effect. At the time of the ruling, the Copyright Office provided a 90-day grace period, which ends tomorrow.

Unlocking a cellphone usually requires entering a code or using some third-party service to remove restrictions on a phone that lock it down to a specific carrier.

Once unlocked, you can use a handset with any compatible network.

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Technology twitter

Now You Can Embed Videos Into Your Tweets With Twitter’s ‘Vine’

Today, Twitter unveiled Vine, a new service that allows users to take videos on their cell phone, then embed that video into their tweets.

Vine videos are limited to a maximum of six seconds, and play in a continuous loop. They are shot using the Vine app, and users can choose to have sound on or off, as can anyone who encounters a Vine video in a tweet or blog post. In a blog post, Vine co-founder and general manager Dom Hofmann wrote that, “Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”

The six-second limitation on Vine posts appears to be Twitter’s new atomic unit for video. A Twitter spokesperson said, “The team tested various video lengths, ranging from about 4 seconds to 10 seconds, as they were building Vine. They found that six seconds was the ideal length, from both the production and consumption side.”

See example below:

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Technology

Apple Shares Fall Over 6 Percent On After Hours Trading

A few days ago, we told you about the iPhone 5 and the lack of interest the product was generating. The iPhone 5 even came in worst among the top smart phones. And now this. The company’s shares fell over 6% today.

Apple Inc. shares tumbled more than 6 percent on Wednesday, chalking up their biggest single-day loss in four years as fears grow about intensifying competition in the mobile device market.

The sell-off, fueled by a forecast by an influential research firm that the iPad maker is continuing to cede ground to rival Google Inc. Android gadgets, rounded off a bleak 10 weeks for the most valuable U.S. company.

The stock was one of Wednesday’s biggest percentage losers on the S&P 500, shedding $35 billion of market value as more than 37 million shares changed hands — blowing past the company’s average daily volume over 50 days of 21 million.

Apple’s shares, once among the most desirable of portfolio holdings, have headed steadily south since September on growing uncertainty about the company’s ability to fend off unprecedented competition. This year saw a surge in sales of Amazon.com Inc.’s cheaper Kindle Fire and Microsoft Corp.’s first foray into the tablet market with its Surface.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics continues to chip away at the iPad’s dominance with its Galaxy line.

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Technology

Coming To A Store Near You – The Samsung Galaxy S4

The iPhone killer is at it again with another device that could be the final nail in Apple’s coffin. Rumors that Samsung, the company responsible for the very successful and much loved Galaxy S3, is getting ready to debut the Galaxy S4 is the new buzz in the techie world.

Remarks attributed to JK Shin, Samsung’s head of mobile communications, recently confirmed an MWC debut for the Galaxy Note 8.0, though the top exec was less specific about the arrival of the Galaxy S4.

In the report, published by Korean publication News1, Shin said that the firm’s next flagship handset was in the off, but refused to be drawn on an exact release date.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has been frequently tipped with a launch at Mobile World Congress, though Shin’s ambiguity has been interpreted by some as evidence that the annual Barcelona mobile showcase can be taken off the watch list.

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Technology

Keep Track of Friends at Busy Locations

Whether at a trade show, convention, or even an amusement park, finding far-flung friends and colleagues can be a challenge. Sharon Vaknin shares some tips for tracking people in a crowd.

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Technology

Get Started with Facebook Graph Search

CNET

Graph Search is an entirely new way to explore people, places, photos, and interests. Sharon Vaknin shows you how to navigate the new feature — and maybe even land a date.

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Technology

Tech Toys for the Entrepeneur


Okay, so you have a main computer, an all-in-one printer, a monitor, a power supply, and a shredder. What else do you need? That’s right: coffee. This office-ready brewer (call Tassimo Pro for prices), which uses cartridges called T-Discs to make the coffee, holds about a gallon of water. Flavors range from light to dark roasts, and you can also make lattes, specialty drinks, tea, and hot cocoa. Yum.

See more here.

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Technology

Google Chrome Browser Expands Search Security

Google will beef up security in the next release of its Chrome browser (version 25) by encrypting all search queries sent from the software. Currently, only queries sent by searchers logged into a Google account are encrypted by Chrome.

Starting with the next version of Chrome, now in the development and beta channel, searches by anyone will be encrypted using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Google Software Engineer Adam Langley explained in The Chromium Blog.

When a browser is using SSL to encrypt information from a browser to a website, a green padlock appears beside the Web address in the address box. Google calls that box the “omnibox” because it does double duty as both a place to insert URLs and type in search terms.

“Serving content over SSL provides users with a more secure and private search experience,” Langley said in his blog. “It helps ensure that malicious actors who might intercept people’s Internet traffic can’t see their queries.”

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Technology

Facebook Enters The Search Engine World With ‘Graph Search’

Facebook Graph Search — a new tool that brings an Ask Jeeves-like function to the social-networking giant’s search bar — offers tantalizing possibilities. Want to find friends who like both Pulp Fiction and The Sound of Music? Type the question into the search bar and see the photos of your friends, as results, on the left-side of your profile.

What’s their favorite Mexican restaurant in nearby Palo Alto? Results are listed by restaurant, with the “Likes” of friends listed. (The new search might enliven Likes, as friends decide to share everything with everybody, a recurring theme of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.)

Such a panacea of data isn’t just salivating to advertisers and marketers who want to target their ads on Facebook, but a potential broadside to Google, Yelp, Foursquare and Match.com. Even LinkedIn faces competition: Graph Search is a good way, as Facebook demonstrated, to job recruit.

Zuckerberg insists the new feature, which is being slowly rolled out over the next few months, is not a Web search. But as Graph Search develops, it may more closely resemble Google.com, assuming Google integrates Google+ into its search service.

h/t USA Today

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Technology

A Cheaper iPhone Coming Your Way

Apple is working on a “lower end” model of the iPhone in response to its declining position in the global smartphone market, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal cites “people briefed on the matter” as saying that a cheaper version of the iPhone, often dubbed the “iPhone Mini”, could launch later this year.

Apple is known to have explored the launch of a less expensive iPhone for several years, but the Journal‘s sources say that the plans are now “progressing”.

They claim that the iPhone Mini could resemble a standard iPhone in design, but with a different and less expensive body.

For example, Apple could lower production costs for the device by using a different shell, such as polycarbonate plastic rather than the aluminium body in the iPhone 5.

Other parts could remain the same, or be “recycled from older iPhone models”, said the Journal‘s sources.

h/t Digital Spy

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