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November 06, 2006, 4:25 PM PSTBuzz Out Loud Show Notes: Warm, fed, and dead
Posted by: Veronica Belmont
TODAY'S BUZZ
--Veronica
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EPISODE 349 |
I'm not Amish. I use my Blockbuster online account for obscure stuff. Now, I can take those in and exchange them for the stupid Hollywood movies. I really like what they did. They may have got me back.
What is Microsoft Office Live? There's no there there. Last week, I tripped upon Office Live. Instead of using Google, I put it in the search bar. It not only took me to a map of the location; it also popped up a short wizard to call the store. When you hear your phone ring, we'll connect you.
I heard you had problems with iTunes 7. I delayed until last night. It installed fine but it eliminated my playlists and ratings. 3,000 songs.
Tom is full of crap. Suse is pronounced [SOO-suh].
Long-time listener, first-time writer. I know I'm not the first one this has happened to, but I was so psyched to get my red 4GB Nano on Tuesday, until I saw the Friday BOL show notes, and I find out the 8GB came a full three days later! Of course I think no big deal. I can take it back to the Providence Apple Store, return it, and get the new one, right? Wrong. They'll gladly exchange it, after a 10 percent restocking fee! What's the point of buying at the store if they charge you a restocking fee? Might as well buy online! It's not as if they're not gonna make bank selling it refurbished, plus my extra $50. Anyway, I kept my 4GB 'cause it's awesome, but Apple really needs to get themselves a "new model protection plan" where they take stuff back at no charge for a week or two after purchase or something to protect its customers. Keep up the good work.
What is the rumor about the "New iPod" touch-sensitive screen. I am thinking about getting an 80GB video iPod, but should I wait for the new one to come out or is it even coming out!
Thanks for putting my e-mail on the air! Sorry about the prisoner's dilemma reference not being explained. I promise you I wasn't trying to be a shill for the RIAA. On the public radio analogy, I did not mean to suggest that the record companies should post their catalogs and hope people pay. I just think it is an interesting application of the "honor system," and I think that is what non-DRM music or video is, an honor system. If a content company sells recordings with no DRM, they will have some people (like you, I expect) pay for the download for your use on all your devices, legally. They will also have people getting the song illegally e-mailed from their friends, burning CDs, or downloading the song from a foreign Web site. I'm not on the side of the content providers on this, I just think they have legitimate concerns about their intellectual property. (For me personally, the Apple DRM system works fine. It has enough flexibility for me.) Where the content providers lose me is the money they have spent in politics to lengthen copyrights over the last 20 years.
I've got the news from a Microsoft VP that RTM has been released internally today (Friday). He told us he could get a copy, but didn't bring one home today. This means Vista won't have any more non-last minute changes. Keep up the great work.
- Read also: cnet, buzz out loud
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November 06, 2006, 1:09 PM PSTMicrosoft launches Google Earth killer
Posted by: Rafe Needleman
Microsoft is about to upgrade its mapping product, Live Local, to Microsoft Virtual Earth, a competitor to Google Earth. [See news story.] We got a live preview of the product a few days ago and will have a hands-on review shortly. These impressions are based on the demo.
In a word: Wow. Microsoft is doing with its Earth program what I've wanted from Google for a while: creating one integrated mapping and globe-exploring service, not two products with different interfaces. With Virtual Earth, you get all of Microsoft's Live Local features (traffic data, e-mail integration, bookmarks) with the additional capability to zoom around the 3D planet and see your locations from any angle.
Microsoft, like Google, has 3D buildings in its virtual world, but Microsoft's are photo-realistic, not just gray boxes. There is expected to be 15 cities with 3D buildings at launch, with 100 by next summer. In the San Francisco city demo, the buildings looked great.
The service will have an API, so people can use the Virtual Earth globe in their own apps and mash-ups. However, don't expect too many people to create Virtual Earth mash-ups, since the service works only in Internet Explorer.
There are some other snags. The super-zoomed "bird's eye" view continues to have a different interface than the map and globe tools, and this might cause some confusion. And there's no
But Virtual Earth is great eye candy, and if you're an Internet Explorer user, the integration between it and Microsoft's online mapping product is very powerful.
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November 06, 2006, 10:02 AM PSTYour future fuel tank
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham
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[+] Enlarge photo
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November 06, 2006, 7:36 AM PSTMicrosoft seals the deal with Office code
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel
Changes to the code of Microsoft Office 2007 are complete today, and the renovated software is set to become available to corporate customers by the end of this month. The consumer editions of Microsoft Office 2007 are expected to hit stores in tandem with the Vista operating system early next year.
We've followed the development of Microsoft Office 2007 for more than a year, test-driving various rough-draft versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and companion applications. We've found that the fresh face of Office takes some time to get used to, but it also surfaces tools that used to be buried within drop-down menus. Among the sweeping changes are ground-up interface rebuilds and new file formats. Office 2007's XML-based files will squeeze more data into fewer kilobytes. However, as with the release of Office 1997, you won't be able to open a file in the new format immediately when using earlier versions of the programs. This could cause grief if you've got the new software but need to share work with people who haven't upgraded. The 2007 applications let you save backward-compatible files, but not by default. Those running, say, Word 2003 who need to open a Word 2007 DOCX file will first have to download a one-time Compatibility Pack.
Office 2007's other notable features include a strong emphasis on style templates, with the ability to preview changes to fonts and graphics on the fly. There are more options for dressing up documents with the sorts of charts, diagrams, and pictures usually offered by desktop publishing software. New shortcuts for analyzing information within Excel let you display patterns of data as a colorful heat map, for instance. There's new support for blogging within Word. Outlook gets deeper search and task management abilities in addition to SMS text messaging. And Office 2007 features easier-to-manage document security overall.
Oddly, however, Microsoft won't let you easily access, author, or edit those letters, reports, spreadsheets, and presentations within a Web browser. Microsoft and Google are battling to win over small-business users with free, Web-based services. But there is no Microsoft equivalent to the online Google Docs & Spreadsheets, just as Google's productivity services don't match the depth of features within Microsoft Office software.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook will make up the $399 Office Standard package, while Office Home and Student for $149 will come with the same applications, though trading Outlook for OneNote. The $449 Office Small Business, $499 Professional, and $679 Ultimate editions will throw in more services for businesses, including Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Publisher, and Access. Office 2007 is supposed to work the same whether running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Vista.
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