As a refresher, Office 2010 will come in Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, Professional and Professional Plus flavors. This means that we don't have all the box images just yet and that there's maybe hope for a different color scheme.

[Centrum XP via Neowin]

Yeah, I don't see that happening. More likely is that they'll figure out a way to remove the offending code before explaining their side of the story on September 23. And that's the word. [Seattle Pi Microsoft Blog]

With his revenue finally dried up, he could no longer support the massive drug habit he developed over the last two years as a means of coping with his demons. This final injustice was simply more than Clippy could stand. Although, it's hard to feel sorry for him because he just sucked so...so much. [Tonight Show]

Yes, when the press conference was called, there was some speculation that we'd hear about an Office app for the iPhone, but alas, such was not the case. The first order of business was a streamlining of the current Office for Mac lineup into two editions, the Home and Student version currently on shelves, and the Business Edition ($399 full; $239 upgrade; available Sept. 15), which has, in addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, the new connected applications, Entourage Web Services Edition and Microsoft Document Connection. See what details there are here:

The more exciting news for Office devotees, however, was that Microsoft was building a true version of Outlook that could be as powerful as the Windows version of Outlook, but built on Cocoa to run smoothly and seamlessly in the Mac OS. No more second-class citizen Entourage—full Outlook is on its way.

Me, I still want to muck around with Excel spreadsheets on an iPhone, but oh well. [Mactopia]

The site is still in German, but now it's covered in Microsoft Office Project 2007 branding. I don't get it as I don't speak German, but I can only imagine how well this makes a potential daredevil realize that they need a Microsoft product to complete their most ambitious of stunts. [Mach es Machbar; Thanks, Adam!]

With free or cheap alternatives from Google, Zoho, Apple and Adobe, Microsoft didn't really have much a choice when it came to pricing the online suite: it'd either be free, or a failure. Thankfully, the apps, which include Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote, will be available to anyone with a Live account, and judging by the (lone) screenshot above, will aim to compete directly, feature-wise, with other companies' offerings—although hopefully with better handling of complex formatting.

This announcement is paired with news that the actual suite, shown in the gallery above, has hit the "Technical Preview" stage, and that it'll be available for testing to tens of thousands of users, albeit by invitation. (Although for the rest of us, it's already been leaked) There aren't a ton of surprises in the announcements, but PowerPoint video editing, new grou-editing tools, and a bevy of small tweaks and feature-adds can be expected. [Microsoft]

Office 2010 Hits Major Milestone and Enters Technical Preview
Microsoft showcases new product capabilities and announces Office Web applications will be available to nearly half a billion people at launch.

NEW ORLEANS, La. - July 13, 2009 - Today, at its Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 have reached the technical preview engineering milestone. Starting today, tens of thousands of people will be invited to test Office and Visio as part of the Technical Preview program.
"Office 2010 is the premiere productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones and browsers," said Chris Capossela, senior vice president, Microsoft Business Division. "From broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new data visualization capabilities in Excel and co-authoring in Word, we are delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from any location using any device."
Office 2010 and related products will deliver innovative capabilities and provide new levels of flexibility and choice that will help people:

• Work anywhere with Office Web applications—the lightweight, Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote-that provide access to documents from anywhere and preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device.

• Better Collaborate with co-authoring in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote, and advanced email management and calendaring capabilities in Outlook, including the option to "ignore" unwanted threads.

• Bring ideas to life with video and picture editing, broadcast capability in PowerPoint, easy document preparation through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and new Sparklines in Excel to visualize data and spot trends more quickly;

Microsoft also announced that it is streamlining the number of Office editions from eight to five and enhancing each edition with additional applications and features. The company also announced that Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for the more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.
Partner Opportunities:
Microsoft also is preparing partners for the release of Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 through a number of new and refreshed readiness tools and training programs. These include: the Ignite program for SharePoint, Office and Exchange; Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization (BPIO) University; Masters and Architect Certification for SharePoint; new Partner Business Productivity Online Services features and distributor model; and, Exchange 2010 Readiness Webcast Series and Demo Showcase. More information on these programs can be found at: http://partner.microsoft.com/businessproductivity

Availability:
All Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference attendees will receive invitations to participate in the Technical Preview program. Microsoft Office 2010 and related products will be available in the first half of 2010. More information about Office 2010 can be found at www.microsoft.com/Office2010 .

Documents to Go supports file formats up to Office 2007&,dash;technically those file extensions include .doc .xls and .ppt, along with Adobe's .pdf for good measure. But apparently that $20 price is only an introductory deal, with the app price bumping to $30 after some arbitrary amount of time. Get it now through Android Market. [DataViz via UberPhones]

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Subject: QuickOfice Brings Microsoft Word,Excel Editing To The iPhone
Date: 1 Apr 2009 19:45:51 -0500

CTIA, Las Vegas, NV – April 1, 2009 - Quickoffice, Inc., the leading global provider of mobile office productivity software, today announced it will unveil the first complete Office suite to provide native Microsoft Word and Excel editing for the iPhone, Quickoffice for iPhone, at CTIA, April 1-3, 2009, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Quickoffice is the first iPhone application to include robust document and spreadsheet editors, along with file access and content management functionalities. Quickoffice's newest suite brings essential high-performance mobile Office productivity to the iPhone with leading-edge innovation and unparalleled ease-of-use.

Enabling quick editing on-the-go with an intuitive user interface, Quickoffice for iPhone offers a comprehensive range of functionality including font formatting, content selection, bullets and cut, copy and paste within Word documents. Users can also modify documents in landscape mode to leverage a wider keyboard. With extensive mathematical and statistical functions, including advanced Excel formulas for spreadsheet processing, consumers can easily revise inputs and recalculate, insert and resize rows and columns within the application.

Quickoffice for iPhone also includes file-sharing capabilities to allow for greater collaboration among colleagues and friends. Consumers can transfer files to and from a desktop using Wi-Fi and remotely access their MobileMe iDisk account. In addition to Word and Excel editing, users can also view iWorks, PDF and other common media files. In addition, Quickoffice supports ‘Auto-Save' to help avoid losing work and ‘Auto-Restore' to retain the application state between uses, which ensures all editing is done while maintaining perfect data integrity.

"Quickoffice is excited to be the first to bring Word editing functionality to the iPhone," said Gregg Fiddes, vice president of sales and strategic partnerships at Quickoffice. "We are dedicated to bringing the most robust, full-featured application to this platform and will continue to add capabilities and services to meet the needs of our users. Quickoffice for iPhone leverages the intuitive iPhone user interface to allow for easy editing, viewing and sharing of Office documents."

Quickoffice for iPhone will be available in early April for an introductory price of $19.99. Quickoffice will also be launching separate applications to cater to an individual's specific needs with Quicksheet® Excel spreadsheet editor for $12.99, formerly named MobileFiles Pro, and Quickword® Word document editor for $12.99. Quickoffice Files, formerly named MobileFiles 2.0, will be available for $3.99 and allows users to access PC or Mac based files via Wi-Fi and MobileMe iDisk accounts.

>>> Slashphone

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Bob Hayes died in 2002 and this letter was supposedly a thank you pre-written in the the hope that he would someday enter into the Hall of Fame after three decades of disappointment. Naturally, a reading at the conference by his half-sister Lucille Hester sparked a lot of emotion among the Cowboy's organization, the fans and the NFL. However, it appears that the letter is actually a forgery, and Lucille may be a Texas-sized fraud.

Hayes' true relatives have long argued that Hester was nothing more than a friend during the last years of his life—and an examination of the letter has concluded that the signature is a blatant forgery and it was typed in Calibri—a font that didn't exist until Microsoft introduced it in Office 2007. If that wasn't enough, his legendary teammate Roger Staubach's name is misspelled in the document.

So, if these allegations are true, what is Hester's motive? According to those involved she is an attention seeker that is using Hayes' name to glorify herself. At this point, the Hayes family is investigating their options. Involving the law is a definite possibility, but in the immediate future they are trying to ensure that Hester doesn't get any where near the stage during the induction ceremony on August 8th. [DallasNews via Yahoo Sports]

The suite is getting a pretty strong set of new features— some fluffy, but many meaty and delicious. See the full list, updated as we get new info, below. But first, the cloud.

Pretty much the whole suite gets towed online here— Pages, Numbers and Keynote all now feature the same online storage and collaboration capabilities, including editing, notation and conversion services. There are two modes of access, too: An online interface, at iWork.com, and transparent integration into the actual apps.

The suite is clearly intended to take on Microsoft SharePoint and Google Docs, but approaches online document management somewhat differently. Rather than editing and organizing documents only through a web interface, Apple has integrated the online aspect into the familiar native iLife apps as well.

New Features:

Keynote:

Motion Move: This Keynote effect will create object transitions between slides, like when teenagers morph into werewolves on low-budget TV shows.

Interstitial slideshows: This interrupts your presentations to display standalone slideshows. Thanks?

Text transitions: There are some news ones! You can slide, twirl, shimmer, etc. All the things that made you hate PowerPoint can now help you hate Keynote, too.

Keynote iPhone Remote: This $0.99 app lets cue your Keynote presentation over Wi-Fi, from your iPhone. It's pretty basic, but also has the capability to display presenter's notes.

Integrated online file storage: Simultaneous group editing with revision control, a la Google Docs.

Pages:

Fullscreen: Pages should have always had a fullscreen-ish option. Now it does!

Advanced outlining, listing: A sensible alternative to a standalone outlining/planning application, it's meant help you plan out longer projects. It's also dynamic, so any embedded document links will automatically update on changes.

Mail merge: Mail merging with Numbers! Again, long overdue, but at least now you can easily do your Xmas cards on your Mac.

MathType: Are you a scientist, mathematician or student? No? Then this doesn't matter for you. The whole suite now has many more functions and full MathType capabilities, for writing formulas into your documents.

Numbers:

Boring! MathType is the biggest addition here, but users also get drag and drop formulas, new chart types, multiple axes, trend lines, and error bars, along with dynamic linked charts. And lest we forget, lots of templates.

iWork 2009 is available now from the Apple Store for $79, a $99 "family pack" for five licenses, or $49 with the purchase of any Mac. The subscription fee for iWork.com will be announced at a later date. Press release below.

[Macworld 2009 Coverage]

Apple Unveils iWork '09

Introduces iWork.com Public Beta for Online Document Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iWork(R) '09, the latest version of Apple's popular office productivity suite, which adds powerful new features without sacrificing Apple's legendary ease of use. Keynote(R) '09 introduces advanced object transitions, which automatically animate objects with a choice of effects and Magic Move, an innovative way to create sophisticated animations just by applying a simple transition. Pages(R) '09 features a new Full Screen view that helps you focus on your writing and an outline mode to organize your thoughts. Numbers(R) '09 introduces a quick way to group and summarize data and a dramatically simplified way to create complex formulas. Apple also announced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork '09 documents online.

"Millions of Mac users have fallen in love with iWork," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With iWork '09, Apple continues to demonstrate that innovation is possible in office productivity software, and that creating impressive presentations, documents and spreadsheets doesn't need to be complicated."

Keynote '09 introduces Magic Move, which allows you to apply a simple transition to automatically animate the position, scale, rotation and opacity of any image, graphic or text that is repeated on consecutive slides. New text transitions morph text from one slide to the next. New advanced object transitions animate objects off one slide while simultaneously animating objects onto the next slide with a choice of effects. 3D charts now include cylinder shapes, beveled-edge pie charts, new textures and four new 3D build effects. The Keynote Remote application, sold separately in the App Store, lets you view slides and presenter notes and control your presentation with your iPhone(TM) or iPod(R) touch.

Pages '09 Full Screen view lets you focus on your document without any distractions and reveals the menus, format bar and page navigator only when needed. Outline mode includes templates that help to quickly build the framework for your document and allow you to collapse, expand and rearrange elements, even inline graphics, with ease. MathType 6 support lets engineers, mathematicians and students easily add sophisticated equations to their documents and EndNote X2 integration lets users add and edit comprehensive bibliographic references. Pages '09 also includes 40 new Apple-designed templates, including newsletters, posters, certificates and coordinated stationery.

Numbers '09 provides a great way to quickly categorize data by column, which you can then collapse, expand and summarize to easily make sense of large sets of data. Numbers '09 makes formula writing dramatically easier with an enhanced function browser which includes built-in help for over 250 functions, and visual placeholders with tool tips that explain each variable in a formula. Use the new Formula List to view all formulas in your entire spreadsheet and jump directly to any formula cell with a single click. Expanded chart options include mixed chart types, two-axis charts, and the ability to apply trend lines and error bars. Numbers charts pasted into Pages or Keynote are linked, and can be updated with a single click.

Apple also introduced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork '09 documents online. Using your Apple ID, just click the iWork.com icon in the Keynote, Pages or Numbers toolbar to upload your document and invite others to view it online. Viewers can provide comments and notes, and download a copy of your document in iWork, Microsoft Office or PDF formats. A consolidated online list of all your shared documents indicates when your viewers have posted comments.

Pricing & Availability

iWork '09 is now available through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $79 (US). iWork '09 is available for $49 (US) with the purchase of any Mac(R) through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

iWork '09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.4.11 or Mac OS X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, PowerPC G5, or 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 32MB of video RAM, QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later, a DVD drive for installation and 1.2GB of available disk space. iWork.com Public Beta is not included with the purchase of iWork '09. Account setup and activation are required. Fees may apply. Internet access and iWork '09 are required. Terms of service apply and are available at http://www.apple.com/legal/iworkcom/en/terms.html.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iWork, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhone, iPod, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090106/AQTU044)

SOURCE Apple

It's a good solid upgrade full of very nice features. One big catch, though: You need Leopard for it to run. Here's the rundown, app by app:

iPhoto stuff:


Faces: Goes through and identifies distinct faces, automatically tagging them so you don't have to slog through all your photos yourself.

Places: Geotagging, basically. iPhoto gives you a map with pins of where photos are taken. If your camera or iPhone encodes GPS info, iPhoto can figure out if the shot was taken at a particular landmark.

Facebook and Flickr support: Automatically upload your pics straight to your service of choice. (So glad to hear that one!) iPhoto will even grab Facebook image tags and use them in Faces. Flickr geo tags can be used in Places.

Themes: Page layouts for slideshows, with different fonts, caption boxes, etc., with crazy transitions. You can save slideshows to iPhone and iPod touch. It can detect faces in shots, so that they are centered during the slideshow. There's a geo-tag slideshow called Travel Books that looks and acts like a scrapbook.

iMovie stuff: Sounds like they're finally putting back some power functionality—let's hope so...


Precision editor: It's an expanded timeline for audio and video, for tighter cutting.

Advanced drag and drop: You can drag one video on top of another and get advanced context menus.

Themes: Select a theme and it automatically sets style for titles, transitions and credits.

Advanced travel maps: Put in starting and ending points, and it renders a 3D globe of where you traveled.

Video stabilization: Helps you fix shaky shooting when you're editing. Takes some processing time, but the results are amazing.

Other editing features: Skimming, seeing edits (before and after cuts), overlaying audio.

New project library: Organize videos in a more logical way with helpful thumbs.

Garageband stuff:
Yes, Garageband is still getting developed, even though I think it's been a while since even Walt Mossberg recorded a solo project. (Knowing Pogue's talents, he probably has a nice ProTools rig, or at least Logic.) Good thing this version is apparently looking for new musical recruits...

Learn to play: It has an instructional feature that helps teach you how to play instruments like guitar and piano.

Artist Lessons: Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, John Fogerty, Sting and other FOJ jam for your edification. Only $5 a lesson. Hmmm. (More on this.)

There are also updates to iWeb and iDVD, but Apple didn't feel the need to show them off, so they must not be terribly exciting. Here's the press release:

Apple Introduces iLife '09

Major Upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie & GarageBand

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iLife(R) '09, which features major upgrades to iPhoto(R), iMovie(R) and GarageBand(R), and includes iDVD(R) and an updated version of iWeb(TM). iPhoto '09 builds on the ability to automatically organize photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as breakthrough new ways to easily organize and manage your photos. iMovie '09 expands on the revolutionary super fast movie creation introduced in iMovie '08 by adding the depth users want through powerful easy-to-use new features such as the incredible new Precision Editor, video stabilization, advanced drag and drop, and animated travel maps. GarageBand '09 introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar with 18 basic lessons and optional lessons from top artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting. iLife '09 is included with every new Mac(R) purchase and available as a $79 upgrade for existing users.

"iLife continues to be one of the biggest reasons our customers choose to get a Mac," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With iLife '09, we've made working with photos, making movies and learning to play music a lot more fun, and iMovie users are especially going to love the advanced but easy-to-use new features."

iPhoto '09 makes it even easier to browse and search photos, not only by when they were shot (Events), but by who appears in them (Faces) and where they were taken (Places). iPhoto automatically scans photos to detect people's faces and when you assign a name to any face iPhoto will automatically find more pictures of that person. The library can be searched by name or browsed using the new Faces View. Places automatically imports photo location data from a GPS-enabled camera or any iPhone(TM) or you can manually assign a location to any photo, group of photos or event. Once iPhoto knows where photos were taken, you can easily explore them with a simple search or an interactive map. iPhoto '09 lets you easily publish photos to Facebook or Flickr. Photos published to Facebook include assigned names, and name tags added on Facebook sync back to iPhoto. You can also share photos by creating a themed slideshow to play on your Mac, iPhone or iPod(R), or create a beautiful travel book, complete with customized maps of your journey.

iMovie '09 adds powerful, yet easy-to-use new features to let you create a movie quickly, or add refinements and special effects to your project if you have more time. Drag and drop one clip on top of another to reveal new advanced editing options, including replace, insert, audio only, and even picture-in-picture or green screen. With the revolutionary Precision Editor, you can skim and click on a magnified filmstrip to view clips up close and fine tune any edit, like identifying precisely how much to keep, where to cut, use sound from one clip with video from another and more. iMovie '09 analyzes video and reduces camera shake in clips when added to your project. New titles, transitions, cinematic effects, speed changes and animated travel maps add professional polish to your movie.

GarageBand '09, the updated version of Apple's popular software used by millions to play and record music, now gives budding musicians a fun new way to learn to play piano and guitar. Basic Lessons let you learn the fundamentals at your own pace with Apple instructors in beautiful HD video synchronized to animated instruments and notation. Artist Lessons feature original artists showing how to play their hit songs with everything from finger positions and techniques to the story behind the song. Choose from lessons by popular artists including: Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, John Fogerty, Ben Folds, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and Sting. Artist Lessons are sold separately at the new GarageBand Lesson Store, available inside the GarageBand '09 application. GarageBand '09 also includes exciting new guitar amp and stomp-box effects, and Magic GarageBand Jam that lets you play along with a virtual band that you create.

iLife '09 includes iWeb '09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD '09 for creating DVDs. iWeb '09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight(R) video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.

Pricing & Availability

iLife '09 will be available this month for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Artist Lessons are available through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.

iLife '09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later (included), a DVD drive for installation and 4GB of available disk space. iPhoto print services and GarageBand Artist Lessons are available in select countries. Full system requirements and more information on iLife '09 can be found at http://www.apple.com/ilife.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD, iWeb, iPhone, iPod, iSight, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

[Macworld 2009 Full Coverage]

If you've got $849.99, you can pre-order it now (the page says in stock soon) and get your mobile computing groove satisfied. It comes unlocked, so both T-Mobile and AT&T customers can get in on it. And if you're not keen on buying this before the actual reviews are in, you can make like 12% of Amazon shoppers who viewed the page and buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows instead. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Amazon via i4u]

Product Page [via Laptop]

Pantech IM-S130, the mobile office [Akihabara News]