Microsoft releases keyboards dedicated to emoji and Office

Microsoft has created two new keyboards with keys dedicated to Office and emoji, merging work and play. Innovating in the PC peripheral sphere — let alone with keyboards — isn’t the most obvious exercise to carry out, but it’s possible.

Microsoft demonstrates this with two new models: one Bluetooth-connected and the other wired traditionally, featuring two new function keys.

Just like the Start Menu-launching Windows key, the Office and emoji keys are shortcuts sure to save office workers precious time. Deftly pressing Office+W will launch Word (and so on for Excel, PowerPoint).

While its neighboring emoji key, located one space further right of the keyboard, pops up a menu with an array of icons, as with social networks.

Of course, other keyboard manufacturers are not bound to take up the concept, unless they so desire, opening the door to the idea of a new standard.

Available exclusively in the U.S. for the time being, the Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and the Ergonomic Keyboard retail for $49.99 (over P2,500) and $59.99 (almost P3,100) respectively. CL/NVG

source: technology.inquirer.net

Disabling Flash in browser may not be enough to secure your machines

Disabling Flash in your PC browser may help stave off online attacks, but it may still not be enough, a security vendor warns.

Fortinet said Flash files can also be embedded in various document formats including Microsoft Office documents and even PDF files.

"Even if you have disabled Flash in your browsers, Flash exploits can still leverage Flash player vulnerabilities through software like Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader," Fortinet's Bing Liu said in a blog post.

As proof of concept, Liu crafted a PowerPoint file that would cause the caculator program to pop up when loaded in apps with a vulnerable Flash plugin.

The Flash exploit "works well inside a PPT and PDF document until I uninstall the Flash player on my computer," Liu said.

Such a situation "is just one simple example of ways in which Flash can be exploited outside of a web browser," Liu added.

"What all this means, unfortunately, is that disabling the Flash plugin in your browsers isn't a complete solution to Flash security. Flash is a technology that can be embedded in many places and requires vigilance on the part of users as well as smart edge and endpoint protection and rigorously patched software to ensure that Flash exploits don't end up on your network," Liu said. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Here's how to sync Microsoft Office with Google Drive

Thanks to this Google plugin, the Microsoft Office productivity suite can now sync directly with Drive, Google's cloud-based storage service.

"Building on this open approach, we recently made it possible to launch your favorite desktop applications directly from Google Drive. And today we’re taking it a step further by bringing Google Drive to Microsoft Office. Using the new Google Drive plug-in, people using Office for Windows can now open their Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents stored in Drive, then save any changes back to Drive once they’re done," technical program manager Darrell Kuhn said in a blog post.

"With this plug-in, you can use the apps you’re already comfortable with, while benefitting from the security and convenience of Google Drive," he added.

Click here to install Google Drive for Office.

Kuhn said this means one working on a document, spreadsheet or presentation on his or her computer can also save that file to Google Drive, directly from the Office apps.

"This is especially useful for sharing files with teams, or for accessing your files across devices," he said.

A separate report on The Verge said Microsoft already made Office run on the desktop, web, and mobile platforms.

It also teamed up with Dropbox to give users storage options other than Microsoft's OneDrive.

"If for some reason you're a Drive loyalist who also loves using Office, this tool just might make your life easier; it should be available to install today," it said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

You can now remotely edit MS Office documents via Google Docs

 

Google may be attracting more users of Microsoft Office by allowing its cloud-based Google Docs platform to edit Office files.

  

At its I/O Developers Conference, Google said users can now open Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and save them in their native formats, tech site Mashable reported.

 

This means Google Docs users can now save and edit any type of file, "including old Microsoft Office files, and convert them to Google Docs."

 

It also said Google Docs users can "view, create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations on both mobile devices and the desktop."

 

Even better, there is offline support "so users can make edits or start from scratch without an Internet connection and then sync up later."

 

Mashable said Google claimed strong growth and now has more than 190 million active users.

 

Suggest edit

 

Meanwhile, a new "suggest edit" mode tracks collaborators' suggestions in documents.

  

On the other hand, the Slides app and Microsoft Office editing functions are relatively new. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

iPad users may get MS Office in 1st half of 2014

Users of Apple's iPad tablet can expect to get much more productive as Microsoft continues work on a version of its Office productivity suite for it.

The Microsoft Office for iPad suite, presently codenamed Miramar, may even come ahead of Microsoft's touch-first Office version for Windows, ZDNet reported.

"Microsoft officials have acknowledged, in a somewhat roundabout way, that it exists and is coming. Last we heard, it sounded from the words of ex-CEO Steve Ballmer that it was going to arrive some time after Microsoft's own touch-first, 'Gemini' implementation of Office. Gemini is Microsoft's Metro-Style/Windows Store versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote," ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reported.

She cited information indicating Office for iPad may come in the first half of 2014.

Foley added Ballmer approved a suggestion by the Office team that they would bring Office for iPad to market once it is ready, even if it is before the Windows 8 version.

But she said Office for iPad could require a subscription for Office 365, adding it could be corporate or Home Premium.

"The Office 365 tie-in isn't hard to imagine, given Microsoft has made Office Mobile available for iPhones and Android phones, with an Office 365 subscription requirement," she said. — KDM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com