Microsoft announced Thursday that the next edition of Microsoft Office for Mac will be released in late 2010. The new edition of the venerable office suite will include Outlook for Mac, a new application that will replace the Entourage.
“We’ll bring forward all the functionality from the Entourage Web Services Edition, including public folders, managed folders, and category syncing, but with Outlook we’re going even further and building a whole new application,” said Microsoft Mac Business Unit general manager Eric Wilfrid.
Category: General Tech
Adobe Going Intel-only
It’ll probably come as no surprise that Adobe is following Apple’s lead & going Intel-only with the next generation of the Creative Suite. That is, CS4 is the last version that’ll run on PowerPC-based Macs. You can read the details in the FAQ on Adobe.com.
By the time the next version of the Suite ships, the very youngest PPC-based Macs will be roughly four years old. They’re still great systems, but if you haven’t upgraded your workstation in four years, you’re probably not in a rush to upgrade your software, either. Bottom line: Time & resources are finite, and with big transitions underway (going 64-bit-native, switching from Carbon to Cocoa), you want Adobe building for the future, not for the past.
Another Mac Trojan Horse Spotted
Ars Technica has info on a new Mac trojan horse:
The latest version of this trojan, dubbed OSX_JAHLAV.D by Trend Micro, comes from a number of websites like comandtryx.com, simplexdoom.com, and sinisteer.com—all which originate from a server with the IP address 91.214.45.73. When clicking to play the videos on these sites, you’ll be prompted to install a QuickTime update or plug-in. If you agree, a file called QuickTimeUpdate.dmg will be downloaded.
Interesting Facts About iPhone Aps
AdMob just released some data about how iPhone users discover new apps in the App Store and how they use them once they have downloaded them. According to AdMob, most users download apps from the App Store directly from their phones. Only 7% go through iTunes to download apps. To find new apps, 62% of all respondents searched for a specific app and 60% looked through the lists of top selling apps in the store. AdMob also found that the majority of users (62%) install between 1 and 6 new apps per month and 22% of all iPhone users download more than 11 apps per month.
Over-the-Air Syncing Coming to Things?
From the creators of Things, a wonderful to-do manager for the Mac and iPhone:
Believe it or not, we have been working on over-the-air sync since the beginning of this year. In the meantime, our goal changed from “something that works” (check out our competition if you want to know what we mean by that) to “a really sweet solution”. The tough challenge here is to develop a highly performance-oriented solution that works for everybody. In particular, we wanted it to work for Mac and iPhone users alike, without requiring a MobileMe account (or any WebDAV disk for that matter).
WWNC 2009
Each year, the Newton hardcore have a conference to discuss development and survival of the platform. This year, they’ve posted a PDF containing all of the presentations given. (I’ve decided to post a copy of the PDF here, since the site they have it at is real, real annoying.)
Presentations include a history of the Newton platform, a history of tablet computing as a whole, tips and tricks on programming for the Newton OS and some nifty hardware upgrades. If you’re a fan of the Newton, this is heaven.
Matte Display an Option for 15-inch MacBook Pros Again
We’d heard just under a month ago that Apple was mulling the possibility of adding matte display options to more than just its flagship 17-inch MacBook Pro, and lo and behold, it seems the anti-glare revolution has begun. Starting now (like, right now), those in the market for a new unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro can order one directly from Apple with an anti-glare widescreen display, packing 1,440 x 900 pixels and a LED backlight. Sadly, the privilege will run you an extra $50 over the traditional (mirrored) glossy panel, and it will replace that svelte borderless look present on glossy MBPs with a silver frame bezel. A brief look around Apple’s international sites also shows it available elsewhere in the world for similar amounts, though we’re still curious as to what machine will be next in line for the upgrade, er, “option.”
On Verizon
I know Apple has a sweetheart deal with AT&T, and that the notorious wireless provider pays handsomely for the privilege. However, it’s been over two years, and I think it’s time for Apple to give the public the option of a choice of wireless providers.
If that day ever comes, the iPhone is going to destroy a lot of competitors that are currently safe simply due to being on a different network.
Farewell, tr.im
With Twitter’s 140-charcter limit on updates, several URL shortening service cropped up in the last 18 months out of nowhere.
A few months ago, Twitter added bit.ly support to its homepage, effectively making it the most popular URL shortener out there.
It didn’t help rival tr.im:
tr.im is now in the process of discontinuing service, effective immediately. Statistics can no longer be considered reliable, or reliably available going forward. However, all tr.im links will continue to redirect, and will do so until at least December 31, 2009. Your tweets with tr.im URLs in them will not be affected.
‘A Community Lens’
From WMCTV Channel 5, here in Memphis:
In Tennessee, The Chattanooga Times Free Press has been setting aside more space for local news and puts all national news through a community lens, says publisher and executive editor Tom Griscom. The newspaper has a weekday circulation of about 73,000.
Griscon says if people “really want to read about the Iraq war every day, you are not going to buy our paper. You will buy The New York Times.”
Ice-T, The Apple Technician
On Upgrading to a New OS
Microsoft has produced a chart outlining the different options available to users who are looking to upgrade to Windows 7. Gizmodo has a nice big version of it here.
It’s unbelievably confusing. Just looking at it gives me a headache. With so many different versions of Vista and 7 in the mix, the possibilities are almost endless, but many users will have to take the “Custom Install” path, which Microsoft describes as basically a clean install.