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The highly praised NIS 2010 can be yours for $9.99.

(Credit: Symantec)

Got security? Forget all the system-hosing nightmares Norton put you through in years past; the company's Norton Internet Security 2010 suite improves on the already seriously improved NIS 2009.

Fry's is currently offering NIS 2010 3-User Edition for $9.99 shipped. Unfortunately--and this is really unfortunate--that's after a pair of mail-in rebates [PDF and PDF] totaling $50.

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel today. The pickings, they be slim.

I mean, I don't particularly care for security software. Don't use it, in fact. And I know how most of you hate rebates.

On the other hand, NIS 2010 is already being touted as one of the top security suites, as evidenced by the reviews by CNET, PC Magazine, and even Amazon customers.

And normally it would run you $59.99 (or $69.99 if purchased directly from Symantec). Yeah, the rebates are a hassle, but it's hard to sneeze at saving $50-60 on something you're probably going to buy anyway.

Well? Worthwhile deal, or is it ruined by the rebates? For the record, you can still score IOBit Security 360 Pro for free if you're really trying to keep it cheap.

If the new swine flu vaccine doesn't give you the right dose of inner peace, there's another layer of protection at your disposal. It comes from Japan, which means it looks good, too.

The new anti-H1N1 suit doesn't just make you look dapper, it supposedly also helps keep you disease-free.

(Credit: Haruyama Trading)

According to the U.K. Telegraph, Japanese menswear company Haruyama Trading has developed a suit that it claims can protect wearers from the H1N1 virus.

The suit is coated with titanium dioxide--a chemical commonly used in toothpaste and cosmetics--that breaks down when reacting with light and supposedly kills the virus upon contact. (If you read Japanese, here is the company's press release.)

Despite the new layer of protection, the suit seems pretty much like other suits commonly worn by Japanese white-collar workers. Each suit costs about $580, about how much a decent suit at Men's Wearhouse costs. The suits go on sale Thursday and in four colors and styles, including medium gray, charcoal, navy, and a gray pinstripe. The company says the suit will retain its protective capability even after being washed multiple times.

Japan, like many other places in Asia, has been gripped by the swine flu since its outbreak a year ago. According to the World Health Organization, more than 340,000 people have been infected with H1N1 worldwide; the disease is responsible for 4,100 deaths.

Generally, most of the new cases were reported to take place in urban areas, where population density increases the risk of transmission. It's unclear if there will be a female version of the suit; it's also unknown when or if the suit will be on sale in the U.S.

Finally, a reasonable price for Office 2007. And it's the retail, three-license edition.

(Credit: Newegg)

In case you didn't read Monday's post carefully, I'll say it again: I'm on vacation this week! But here's a little something to tide you over until I return.

A few weeks back I reminded you that Microsoft is still offering Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95. Of course, that deal is for qualified students only, and it doesn't get you a boxed copy, only a download.

Well, good, old Newegg has the boxed, retail edition of Office Home and Student 2007 for $59.95 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCLWNL22 and signing up for Newegg's newsletter (if you haven't already).

Not only does this version come on a bona fide CD in a bona fide box, it also includes licenses for three PCs.

And in case you're wondering, the Home and Student edition of Office includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Note to Microsoft: This is a reasonable price for Office. Not $149.95 or even $99.95. Hope you'll keep that in mind while figuring out how to price Office 2010. (But I doubt it.)

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

It's probably time you said goodbye to your PowerPC-based Mac.

Adobe confirmed Tuesday that future versions of its Creative Suite will run only on Intel-based Mac computers. There will be no support offered for PowerPC-based systems.

The company's decision follows Apple's announcement in June that it was discontinuing support for the PowerPC in its new operating systems, starting beginning with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). With Apple's future development focused on Intel Macs, Adobe is aligning its resources accordingly.

According to Adobe, existing customers who own Creative Suite 3 and Creative Suite 4 will still be able to use the software on either a PowerPC-based Mac or an Intel-based Mac without having to make any changes. However, Adobe will provide support for these two suites only to address critical issues that may arise.

Creative Suite is Adobe System's collection of well-known industry-standard graphic design, video editing, and Web development applications. These applications include Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash, and many others.

While Snow Leopard has not been released yet, and the new version of the Creative Suite hasn't been announced, either, Adobe decided to announce these changes now so its customers will have time to plan their migration strategy accordingly. This means you should go get yourself an Intel-based Mac if you haven't done so already.

For more information on the discontinuation of support, check out Adobe's FAQ.

College students get all the breaks, don't they? Like a 91 percent discount on Office 2007 Ultimate (download version).

(Credit: Microsoft)

Welcome to the Cheapskate's Greatest Hits, where I revisit past deals that are still available--and still awesome.

The list price for Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate is a whopping $679.95. The upgrade price? It's an equally whopping $539.99. For that kind of money, it had better come with Megan Fox's Tina Fey's phone number.

Believe it or not, you can score a legal and totally legitimate copy of Office 2007 Ultimate for just $59.95. What's the catch? You need to "borrow" a college student (or, you know, be one).

Microsoft's Ultimate Steal deal is for currently enrolled students who have an e-mail address ending in ".edu" or who attend one of several dozen approved institutions. (Mouse over the "Am I Eligible" link for more details.)

Assuming you qualify, this is a pretty incredible deal. In addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, Office Ultimate comes with OneNote, Access, Publisher, Groove, and other goodies.

There's one other small catch: Your 60 bucks buys you the download version of the suite. If you want discs, it'll cost you another $13--still a steal.

Of course, some would argue that most students (and other users) can get everything they need from OpenOffice 3.0, a full-featured office suite that costs nada (Download the Windows or Mac version here). Let me know if you're in that camp, or if you think Microsoft's offer is too good to pass up.

Update: If you'd rather have a boxed copy, Newegg is offering Office Home and Student 2007 (3-license edition) for $79.95 shipped. (Apply coupon code EMCLVNW56 to get that price.)

(Credit: CNET)

The Microsoft Office 2010 technical preview is available today through invite only and--though it's not in its final form--there are plenty of feature enhancements to be excited about, if Microsoft can pull it off. According to Microsoft, the focus of this update was on three things: to make work flows more efficient; to effectively use Web applications to make your work available anywhere; and to make collaboration with others much easier. In this CNET First Take, we'll take a look at some of the notable feature changes across many of the applications. Microsoft says Office 2010 will let you use your PC, phone, and the Web to make your projects come together more efficiently. From what we've seen, they might be right and the Web applications might also give Google Docs a run for their money.

The Ribbon (introduced in Office 2007) continues to keep frequently used features handy at the top of your work space. But in Office 2010, you'll have access to the Ribbon across all of the applications in the suite, with contextual tabs and features to help you get the most out of each program. In Outlook 2010, for example, a Quick Steps section of the Ribbon has options to let you quickly create team meetings, move threads to specific folders, or custom forward messages (with premade subjects) to specific recipients. In Excel, you can flip through the tabs to access formulas, insert diagrams and charts, and quickly import data from connected sources. Having an easy way to access the most-used functions of each of the Office applications is very handy, and it's clear Microsoft did its research to make the most of each application's Ribbon.

Microsoft Office 2010 technical preview (screenshots)

It's also clear that Microsoft has paid attention to patterns across all of the applications to come up with easier ways to get things done. The new Paste Preview lets you easily switch between paste options so you know your work will be formatted correctly in your document before you commit. In Outlook, it's now possible to turn long e-mail threads into conversations, so you can quickly find information from specific participants without having to scroll through long, confusing threads. Another new feature lets you ignore entire threads including future e-mails on a subject so you can eliminate noise and distractions in your workday. Office 2010 includes many new time-saving features like these across the entire suite, but there's more than just tweaks to existing work flow.

Some of the flashier feature additions will be good news to those who work with media in their documents and presentations. PowerPoint now has options for editing video right within the program. You'll be able to trim video so your audience sees only the video content you want them to see. You also can add video effects, fades, and even create video triggers to launch animations during your presentation. When it's a static presentation you're working on--such as a publication, newsletter, or pamphlet--Office 2010 will let you edit and add effects to images so you won't need a third-party image editor. Microsoft has also added easy access to Ligatures and Stylistic Alternates to fonts in Publisher so you can add your own personal touches to your publications. Like most of the new features in Office 2010, you can find most of these added options in the Ribbon for that particular application.

As more of our data moves into the cloud, sharing and collaboration have become a major part of project execution, and Office 2010 will offer several options to help people work together. Though the Web-based components of the Office suite are not available in the technical preview, adding these options will make sharing information easier--whether it's from your home computer, your phone, or when you're traveling for business. Lightweight Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote have been announced, and, according to Microsoft, they will preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of the device you're working on--even if it's your smartphone.

New coauthoring in Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote and advanced e-mail management and calendaring capabilities in Outlook will make collaboration much easier, reducing the time it takes to finish large projects with several contributors. Businesses will be required to use Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to gain access, but private users will be able to access their work using Windows Live. Obviously, we can't predict how well the Web components of each program will be implemented or how they will translate to different hardware, but offering access to shared documents in key business applications from anywhere is something any international business or business traveler can appreciate.

One of our favorite improvements to Office 2010 is what Microsoft calls the Backstage view. Offered as a replacement for the File menu, Backstage gives you a launching point to share documents, print out your work, set permissions, and other program specific options to get your project ready for distribution. You'll find all of the usual document management features, like open and save, here as well, but you'll also get a nice layout of templates for new documents, several different ways to share your work, and print settings and page layouts all in one place. We think people might initially be resistant to a new way of doing things (as is often the case), but once you get used to using the Backstage view for all of your file management, we think you'll find it useful and efficient to have access to everything in one place.

Microsoft Office 2010 will be released early next year and it appears Microsoft has made extensive usability improvements across the entire Office suite. We're told the Web components of Office applications will become available for testing later this year, so check back as more information becomes available.

The Farago AirCool suit is lined with silver ions to absorb sweat.

(Credit: Aoki)

During the heat of summer, a distinct smell is known to permeate public transit and elevators. It's the sweaty stench of business professionals who still have to wear suits to the office, despite the outside temperature and humidity.

The Japanese have caught on though, and Aoki is now selling a suit that emits deodorant, keeping its wearer in the cool. The Farago Aircool suit is made (Web site in Japanese) with a deodorant antibacterial silver ion lining, to absorb sweat and stifle smell.

Of course, a suit with special silver ions will cost some cash, and the Farago Aircool suit runs for the equivalent of $370 on sale, while other good-smelling apparel like a polo shirt or socks, run for $37 and $8, respectively.

While the deodorant suit's a perfect item to wear over an air-conditioned shirt, the most useful outfit might come from pairing it with a stylish bullet-resistant jacket.

Adobe.com's online CS3 tutorials have received 5 million plays over the first year.

(Credit: Adobe Systems, Inc.)

So you got yourself some Adobe CS3 products, but you're still trying to get your workspace organized or iron out your cross-product workflow or how to use the Puppet tool in After Effects? Apparently lots of other people are in the same position according to a case study from EffectiveUI, developers of Adobe's online Video Workshop application built using Adobe Flex. The tutorials have seen more than 5 million plays over its first year.

The video tutorials cover 22 of Adobe's products including all the CS3 components and span 47 topics. The information comes from product experts across the Adobe community and the videos are produced by Lynda.com. And aside from viewing them online, a number of the tutorials can be downloaded for viewing offline.

Oh and in related news, You Suck at Photoshop is back on, fresh from a Webby win.

As unexotic as it may sound, I really do enjoy a good game of digital solitaire from time to time. But once you've got the basics down, doesn't it get old? Probably not if SolSuite Solitaire is laying down the deck. A list of games nearing 500 tests luck and skill, and ranges from easy to difficult play. The game has a fair amount of customization, as well as automated tutors and ways to look up rules. High scores are also posted from around the globe. SolSuite Solitaire is thick with statistics that track how many points you score over how many moves in how many seconds, and it packs tools to track your progress over time. Though it's a solo card game in an Internet epoch where social gaming is king, be forewarned: get a little curious about new game arrangements and this app will suck you in.