microsoft

Mac users get a better work experience with NeoOffice

Whether they are "switchers" or longtime Mac users, one of the first downloads many people look for when firing up a new Mac are office programs. With Microsoft Office as the most commonly used office program in the workplace, people understandably want their home computers to be able to work with the same types of documents. The problem is, the retail version of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac is $399 (from Microsoft's Web site).

Fortunately, a group of developers started OpenOffice.org to create an open-source solution with the mission of providing a free alternative to Microsoft Office. If you've tried looking for free office alternatives before, you've undoubtedly run across OpenOffice, but if you're a Mac user, there's something else that might be even better.… Read more

CNET Live - Episode 8 - Show Notes

A perfect show! Well except for the whole thing going off the air halfway through. Apparently somebody kicked a cord and unplugged us. I think it was Brian's cat.

Watch the show

And we didn't have our mics on at the beginning of the show. Brian's cat again. Had our tongues.

But beyond that we had some great stuff!

Things we Crave

Warming keyboard

Software prevents cats from emailing. (But not unplugging the show.)

Bill Gates and Steve jobs share the stage at D. Courtesy www.AllThingsD.com.

Grads and Dads gift guide/

Download of the Week… Read more

Gates and Jobs share stage, friendly banter at D5

CARLSBAD, Calif.--Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the D5 conference Wednesday night for a rare joint appearance.

I'm in an overflow room with a half-dozen other reporters, many of whom flew to San Diego to watch the main event on TV from a room several hundred yards from the ballroom.

The keynote kicked off with a 1983 video of a young Jobs hosting the "Macintosh software dating game" with three software CEOs--Gates, Mitch Kapor of Lotus and Fred Gibbons.

In the video, a young Gates in a blue polo … Read more

Steve Ballmer on Web 2.0

Steve Ballmer is being interviewed by Walt Mossberg on stage at D5. Dan Farber is blogging the talk over at ZDNet. Here are the Web 2.0 takeaways:

Ballmer is pushing the inter-relatedness of software and Web services. "We staked our ground... on that value proposition." Mossberg is asking Ballmer about Silverlight running on Linux and the Mac, given that theory. Ballmer says, "Some things will run better on Windows. People ought to be able to exploit the local richness if they want to."

Now Ballmer is showing the new "Surface" computer. OK, not … Read more

Nintendo Wi-Fi service reaches 5 million users

Nintendo said Wednesday that its Wi-Fi Connection service--which allows Nintendo DS users to play wirelessly against each other--has surpassed 5 million users.

All told, the video game giant said, users have initiated more than 200 million sessions, playing games like Animal Crossing: Wild World, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime Hunters and others wirelessly.

And despite the attention paid to next-generation video game systems like the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, the DS is currently the best-selling system of all, having moved 470,000 units in April, according to NPD Group.

Microsoft's top-secret touch screen

Even though so many people were left un-wowed by Vista, Microsoft's latest announcement is sure to elicit some excitement.

Five years in the (very secretive) making, the Surface Computer is a tabletop system that allows users to interact with digital media in some truly remarkable ways.

CNET News.com's Ina Fried has video of the system in action, viewable below.

Surface Computer users can fingerpaint digitally, resize and interact with photos and videos, and even "digitize" some real-life events, such as splitting up a restaurant bill and researching wines. The Surface Computer can recognize some real-world … Read more

Zooming around online maps for real: SpaceNavigator

Here at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference, one of the few and the proud gadgets on the exhibition floor is 3Dconnexion's SpaceNavigator mouse. Calling it a mouse might be an insult though, it feels more like an airplane steering yolk.

Launched in November, the mouse integrates with big Web maps services like Google Maps and Microsoft's Live Maps. Users can navigate the maps with very little effort, pushing, pulling, and twisting the circular handle. I spent about five minutes with it on the show floor, and walked away from the booth dangerously close to purchasing one.… Read more

Microsoft offers browser-viewable 3D maps

On Tuesday, Microsoft began releasing photographic 3D renderings of landmarks in New York and a few other cities via its Live Search Maps site.

In November, the company released Virtual Earth 3D in beta, along with the API and a software developer kit for people who wanted to create 3D renderings for Live Search Maps. At the time, people could also view 3D terrain and some three-dimensional buildings in a few cities. The release of New York in virtual 3D marks the first major effort by Microsoft to create an almost complete rendering of a recognizable city.

Microsoft's attempt … Read more

Microsoft (nearly) reaches 1 million Zunes sold

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Microsoft's Robbie Bach revealed that by the end of the fiscal year in June, they will have reached just over 1 million Zunes sold. The figure meets the sales goals Microsoft predicted at the product's launch last year. Bach was quick to admit that the 1 million mark isn't gangbusters when compared against Apple's recent announcement of 100 million iPods sold. Still, Bach assures that Microsoft's current 10% share of the hard-drive MP3 player market is still a "good start" and that they will continue … Read more

Google launches Street View, Mapplets

This morning Google added Street View, an all new way to browse Google Maps. Launching with five major cities, Street View joins satellite and traffic maps as new ways to view geography. When in an area with a Street View, users can toggle the mode to navigate within a 3-D photograph using their mouse or keyboard shortcuts. Users get their own "person" that shows which direction you're looking at.You can also just click and drag them to new locations. The experience is a mix between Quicktime's VR environment and Microsoft Live Labs' PhotoSynth project since … Read more