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Microsoft Office For iPad Coming Within Weeks? [Updated]

Microsoft’s Office Suite could be launching on the iPad App Store within weeks according to a new report in The Daily. Originally rumoured in November of last year by The Daily, Matt Hickey today says that the design team has “wrapped up the project” but an exact launch date was not known.

Hickey claims to have had a brief hands-on with a working prototype of the Office Suite app and notes that whilst the UI is similar to OneNote for iPad, it has hints of Metro. He notes that Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be created and edited either locally on the iPad or online (presumably using Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud service).

According to his sources, OneNote will also receive an update soon to reflect the Metro design. Those same sources also noted that no Android version was in the works.

[The Daily via The Next Web]

Jump the break to view all updates to this story.

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China Telecom To Offer The iPhone 4S From March 9th

Starting from March 9th, China Telecom customers will be able to purchase the iPhone 4S. It comes about two months after China Unicom first offered the iPhone 4S in China.

Unlike China Unicom (the second largest carrier after China Mobile), the smaller China Telecom uses the CDMA technology. Though because the iPhone 4S has support for both CDMA and GSM networks, China Telecom will be selling the same hardware that customers on China Unicom and customers elsewhere across the world purchase.


[via The Verge]

iPad 3 Variables

With the (rumored) next-generation iPad approaching its (rumored) announcement on March 7th, I thought it would be interesting to collect some of the predictions we’ve made thus far based on the rumors and oft-quoted “inside reports” we have heard until today.

Unlike most Apple product launches, like, say, the iPhone 4S in October, there seems to be a certain degree of certainty in what the device is going to look like and the hardware changes it’ll feature when compared to the existing iPad. Thanks to various parts that have surfaced from China, several mentions by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, and a general assumption that “it’s about time”, it appears the iPad 3 is going to feature a high-resolution, 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Just like the jump from iPhone 3G-era displays to the iPhone 4, a Retina iPad (which John Gruber has been predicting since 2011) would allow for crisper graphics on screen and a better reading experience thanks to the increased number of pixels per inch.

Reported in just about any recent rumor on the iPad 3, the Retina Display has become the marquee addition those who follow Apple rumors expect to see in the next-gen device. As we’ve seen with our previous coverage, however, there are other hardware changes that Apple could bring to the iPad 3, namely better cameras, faster processor, and LTE connectivity.

In the past months, I have seen reactions from people who have followed the iPad 3 rumors typically split in two categories:

Theory #1: iPad 3 has Retina Display, new cameras, LTE, new A6 processor.

Theory #2: iPad 3 has Retina Display, slightly improved cameras, faster A5 processor.

The two theories imply that the new iPad is going to be a major revision with dramatically faster CPU and graphics to power the Retina Display plus LTE connectivity, or a speed-bump of the existing iPad with the addition of a Retina Display, but no LTE, dramatically faster processor, or iPhone-class cameras. Both are based on a series of rumors, patterns, and facts to be considered. Read more

Growl, Mountain Lion, And “Getting Sherlocked”

Last week Apple revealed its new Mac operating system, Mountain Lion, due out for this summer. While not a complete overhaul, 10.8 is a polished update that adds many similar functionalities from iOS 5. Among these changes, and one of the most important pieces, is Notification Center. As the name suggests, it is basically Notification Center ported from iOS, running at a system level on Mountain Lion. Besides having the same UI elements we see on our iPads and iPhones everyday, it also has a badge mode much like Growl, our favorite open source notification system for OS X. It’d be fair to say that almost every OS X die-hard uses Growl, as it’s very customizable with function and appearance. Last year, the Growl team overhauled the app and submitted it to the Mac App Store, where it quickly became one of the most popular utilities in the Top Paid charts.

Following Apple’s announcement, some people have said Notification Center will create a problem for Growl, as Apple’s own solution could hurt Growl by replacing its functionality on OS X. Now, as far as I know, Mountain Lion’s Notification Center will only work with Mac App Store apps, so Growl could still have a place for third-party apps that are installed outside of Apple’s storefront, as allowed by Gatekeeper.

Growl doesn’t seem to think Notification Center will immediately hinder installation or usage of their app, either. In a blog post from February 17th, the developers say Growl still has room in OS X to play with. They have listed some points as to how Growl will continue to go forward:

  • The developers are investigating options for integrating Growl with Notification Center.
  • Growl will work whether your application is from the App Store or not, as long as it supports Growl.
  • They’re still on schedule to release Growl 1.4 and 2.0.
  • Growl is great for customizable notifications.
  • Development of other applications will continue, such as HardwareGrowler, GrowlTunes,  and Capster as Mac App Store apps.

The Growl developers are optimistic even though they are going to have to compete with Apple. With Growl 1.4 already in beta testing (with many great improvements) and work on Growl 2.0 underway, I wouldn’t say Growl has been been “Sherlocked” by Apple’s announcement.

As a side note, developer Collect3 released Hiss today, a free app that sends all Growl notifications directly to Mountain Lion’s Notification Center. So, if you have an app that supports Growl, not Notification Center, you’re in luck. This could be the first step in both Growl and Mountain Lion’s Notification Center working together in some way (much like Notification Center hasn’t hurt the extensibility of Boxcar), albeit Connect3 was quoted on The Verge as saying that “(Hiss was) just a result of us being impatient to start seeing Notification Center become useful.”

[image via Macworld]

“Creating Flow with OmniFocus” Now Available as Audiobook

The aim of this text then is not just in using the productivity and task management program OmniFocus, but also in getting to the creative space wherever that may be found. The hope is in getting to those things you want to do and enjoy while maintaining the responsibilities that inevitably accrue in life. Be it in work, play, or with family, we are aiming for a relaxed depth of focus and flow.

Originally released in November 2010, Creating Flow with OmniFocus by Kourosh Dini is one of the best resources available to learn more about The OmniGroup’s fantastic GTD software. Specifically aimed at Mac users of OmniFocus, the 555 pages of Dini’s book will take you through the basic concepts of the application, such as Projects and Contexts, to more advanced techniques and workflows that may involve prioritization of your tasks, context management and, overall, finding the right “flow” for your tasks and Getting Things Done system. As a reader of Creating Flow with OmniFocus myself, I’ve always been impressed with the way the author made this book about balancing your own creativity with goals and projects you have to complete in real-life, rather than simply writing a “how to” guide for OmniFocus. Sure, the book has its tutorial-oriented sections with screenshots and tips, but I found the overall “focus” on creating flow and making the system work for you quite liberating.

Creating Flow has been substantially improved since its original release. Kourosh Dini worked hard to bring the book up to speed with the latest refinements introduced in OmniFocus for Mac (now at version 1.9), and today he released an audiobook version that is available on his website. I have been able to listen to a pre-release copy of the audiobook, and it’s a good alternative for those times when you don’t want to sit down with a full copy of the eBook in your Mac or iPad PDF reading app of choice (personally, I like PDF Expert), but still would like to catch up on some great OmniFocus suggestions and discussion. In fact, I would say that the biggest advantage of the audiobook is that, once synced to your iOS device, you’ll be able to quickly navigate between chapters and instantly get to your desired section with just one tap. You’ll lose images and the overall visual style of the eBook (albeit the .zip file comes with a reference of over 300 screenshots), but you’ll gain an improved navigation that makes it easy to skip sections you don’t want to listen to again if you’ve already read the book. In this regard, existing owners of Creating Flow should consider supporting Kourosh again and get the audiobook just to have a refresh on some parts of the original book without having to go through it again.

The audiobook has been narrated by professional voice actor, Bruce Edwards, encompassing nearly 10 hours of listening material. As I wrote in 2010, Creating Flow with OmniFocus is the book every OmniFocus user should read. Now you can listen to it as well with the audiobook available here.

Interview: The Omni Group’s Ken Case

I had the pleasure of enjoying a casual talk with The Omni Group CEO Ken Case and took the opportunity to ask him some questions on their upcoming release, OmniPlan for iPad. We also had some time to talk about potential updates to other Omni products, as well as projects Ken would like to work on, given more time and resources.

Don: First off, what where some of the challenges you had porting the OmniPlan for Mac experience to the iPad?

Ken: One of the challenges we have had with all of our apps is that the Mac has more screen real-estate available, or at least the design we have used for our apps use a lot more screen real-estate than we have available on the iPad. We had already started noticing that some of our apps were starting to feel a bit squished on laptops – we have typically designed them to work with large desktop displays. When we watched people try to struggle through using some of our apps on the nice new MacBook Airs like the ones we’re starting to use here we found it just felt too cramped. So starting with OmniGraffle we had to re-picture what is the focus of the activity and how can we get rid of the physical controls without burying them so deep that they are no longer accessible. We faced this challenge even more so in OmniPlan for iPad because OmniPlan typically uses more screen real-estate due to its task outline on the left and the large visual GANTT chart timeline on the right. So we decided that the most relevant part of using OmniPlan is not the outline which may be of interest for structuring your plan data, but what people are most interested in is the GANTT chart timeline; so, for Omniplan for the iPad we just focused on that being the entire contents of the screen and working with that and trying to create the content in the visual timeline in ways we would normally rely on the outline for doing. If you wanted to have a task and break it down into subtasks, on the Mac we’d have you go over to the outline and create new rows and indent them underneaths as they were subtasks. If we’re only using the GANTT chart, we want to be adding subtasks – be able to show containment of subtasks under the parent task right there in that live timeline. I’m not saying we’re going to be giving up the outline, we’re not done yet, that’s the struggle we’re trying to work with and maybe the real ultimate answer is to flip back and forth between the two but there’s definitely not room to have both at the same time. Screen real-estate is a real challenge.

Don: Now when you guys released OmniFocus for the iPad, there were some things that a lot people thought the iPad did better than the Mac version. Is there anything in OmniPlan you guys feel is better suited for the iPad?

Ken: There is, but not quite as strongly as there was with OmniFocus. The biggest benefit of OmniPlan on the iPad is that it’s mobile, so you can bring it around with you and have it everywhere. But there isn’t – there aren’t any big features like the forecast and review modes we added to OmniFocus on the iPad where we could say “Oh no, now you can use the app in a whole other way that you couldn’t use it before”

Don: I read on your blog around the release of OmniOutliner for iPad that you wanted to offer 90% of the functionality that people wanted with about 10% of the effort. Do you think that also applies to OmniPlan, were you able to fit as much in without sacrificing the usability?

Ken: I think we were able to get a lot of the info in we wanted – it was a little bit harder, this was a specific challenge to OmniPlan – with OmniGraffle or OmniFocus it was easier to find parts of the application you could live without on the iPad on Day 1 or maybe forever, and just leave that out altogether and maybe bring back in later or maybe not, but you have a useable, cohesive, coherent application you can sit down and work with. With OmniPlan, you’re talking about an audience of project managers who really need to have all the same project details they’re used to typically. If we left out some piece, like, say, cost accounting, then people who are trying to do cost accounting will be stuck, and they can’t do it at all anymore. They can’t partially use it and then go up to their desktop later. If you have that then you probably want to bring all those details to a meeting that you are bringing your mobile device to. That was another challenge with OmniPlan – it was harder to find things we could cut out. We couldn’t cut out any of the data model, which we had done with all the other apps. With OmniFocus we left out time estimates altogether on the iPad – most people didn’t use it and it was more cluttered to try and fit in there. With OmniPlan we have all those fields, all those details, and the change tracking, mechanisms and so on. We did find some areas we could cut out and leave out, like printing. Our hope is, part of the reason you’re bringing this around with you on a mobile device is so you don’t have to bring paper around with you. Showing people the plan right there, live and making changes – you couldn’t do that with a printed document.

Don: So it sounds like it could be a great addition to the current OmniPlan for Mac product.

Ken: Yes, we really wanted it to be as complete as the Mac version and try to leave as little out as possible, but we did have to in some situations. For example, in version 1.0 we are not providing printing because we are not trying to make it do everything the Mac version can do. We do want it to be a standalone tool so if all you’re using is OmniPlan on the iPad, you’re still able to do the complete project management and planning you would’ve done on the Mac including collaborative editing. Plus, change-tracking is there, so you can review other people’s changes, accept and reject them and so on.

Don: Is there anything you can tell me about the tentative release or pricing for OmniPlan iPad app?

Ken: We haven’t announced pricing yet because we like to finish what we’re building, and then decide how much it costs, but if you look at our pricing to date it has been remarkably consistent. The iPad app – every single one – is half the price of the corresponding Mac app. Read more

MacStories Reading List: Special Mountain Lion Edition

As the majority of East Coast Apple users were sipping on their morning coffees either in front of their Macs or on their way to work last Thursday morning, Apple’s PR department prepared to lift the embargo on one of the most unusual Apple product announcements to date: Mountain Lion.

At 8:31 AM on Thursday, February 16, the Apple community came to a full stop as publications like The Loop (they tweeted first), Macworld, and TechCrunch unveiled the details of Mountain Lion, the next major version of OS X set to ship this summer. After an initial shock due to the surprising nature of the announcement (hotel rooms? Good hot coffee? Private briefings with Phil Schiller? Apple PR is on to something here), you could hear the Internet fell silent as millions of eyeballs quickly skimmed through the iOS-inspired feature set of the next big cat. Notification Center, Reminders, Notes, iCloud – the next OS X (just don’t call it a Mac OS X) surely is something worth keeping an eye on. Because, stay assured – the thing is going to keep its eyes on you.

With this week’s Reading List, we’ve collected the best articles from around the web about the recently announced Mountain Lion. If you’re looking for more Mountain Lion coverage, make sure to check out our newly created hub as well.

While we can’t offer you a good coffee with Apple’s Phil Schiller, we still think this week’s Reading List will fare pretty good next to your favorite cup of Americano. Enjoy. Read more

VLC 2.0 Released: What’s New, And An Interview With VideoLAN Developers

Back in February 2010, I wrote a post for MacStories about Lunettes, a codename of a new interface for VideoLAN’s popular media player VLC. Back then, I used to spend a good portion of my days fiddling with media players and skins for VLC, which I used to access a well-organized media library on my MacBook Pro and various external hard drives. Lunettes was promising, and it proved that VLC could have an interface design more suitable for the needs of the Mac community. I didn’t know, however, that work on the next major version of VLC, VLC 2.0, had already begun in 2008 with the first concepts and technical drafts, with Lunettes being the complete rewrite of the application that stemmed  from that original vision that eventually led to VLC version 2.0, released today.

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux machines, VLC 2.0 is a major update that brings several new optimizations on the technical side, new features, and a brand-new Mac interface that we’ve already covered here on MacStories. It can be downloaded for free from VideoLAN’s website.

Often regarded as “the media player that can open almost anything”, VLC has indeed become many’s de-facto choice over the years when it comes to dealing with a variety of video file formats, or audio files that other media players such as iTunes won’t open. If you weren’t aware of all its functionalities and secrets, you’d say VLC’s best feat is the fact that it can launch almost any kind of file you throw at it. From the strong foundation of VLC 1.x, VLC 2.0 introduces support for new formats – as well as enhancements and fixes for the currently supported ones – with better handling of H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and WebM thanks to multi-threaded decoding, support for 10bits codes and WMV image, completely rewritten support for images, changes in RealVideo and Real Format integration, correct support for FLAC, RV and Hi10p in MKV, and a plethora of other minor adjustments and refinements that contribute to making VLC one of the most (if not the most) versatile and customizable media players around. For instance, professional users will find support for ProRes 422 and 4444, AVC/Intra, Jpeg-2000 and DNxHD/VC-3 in 10bits and a new, faster Dirac/VC-2 encoder, whilst anime fans will be pleased to know VLC 2.0 features a “vastly improved” MKV demuxer. If you simply care about formats and the stuff VLC can open or has been optimized for, this release shouldn’t disappoint you.

With over 7000 commits to the open source project and 160 contributing volunteers in the past couple of years, however, VLC 2.0 isn’t only focused on making its media player capabilities play nicer with audio and video formats. As we detailed in our previous coverage, one of VLC’s new visible changes is the application’s design on the Mac, a radical change aimed at unifying VLC’s file management and playback functionalities in a single window that, among other things, also happens to support Lion’s native full-screen mode. Available in two color schemes – Lion gray and QTX black – VLC’s new single window interface integrates playback and browsing in a way that, for example, allows you to start playing a movie, hit a button, and go back to the browsing UI with the movie still playing in the background. In my tests, transitioning from a movie (streamed off the MacBook Pro mentioned above, now used as a media server in my house as I upgraded to a MacBook Air) to VLC’s new Library was immediate, and the footprint on system memory minimal, or not visible at all. Because the new VLC for Mac integrates media, sources, and playback in the same window, you’ll be able to open a file, invoke the Playlist shortcut from the Window menu (CMD + Shift + P), look for another file (either manually or from the integrated search view), and adjust its position in the media queue right away.

Thankfully, those who don’t like the change to a unified window will be able to revert back to VLC’s standard multi-window system with an option in the app’s Preferences. The Preferences menu has also been overhauled with a new design and more settings, including one to disable Apple’s full-screen mode for OS X Lion and enable Growl notifications on playlist item change. As usual, there’s a lot to explore within VLC’s settings if you really want to adjust the app to your tastes (and media configuration).

What I’ve always liked about VLC since I started using it in 2003 is that it can be extremely simple and accessible, or extremely complex and “advanced” thanks to the amount of options and settings it brings at your fingertips. If you really want to get geeky with video formats, inputs, codecs and streaming sessions, VLC 2.0 will most definitely have you covered with its variety of new features and tweaks to the underlying engine. If you, however, simply prefer a lightweight, elegant and powerful alternative to iTunes and QuickTime for browsing and playing your music and movies, VLC is an equally great alternative as it’s easy to use, fast, and stable. And whilst the new Mac interface will be heavily criticized (especially in its black version) by those that dislike change on principle, I think change is good, as it confirms that VideoLAN and its community strive for innovation in order to bring VLC to an even broader audience. The single window interface is useful, simple to understand, and helps you save time; performances in version 2.0 have been dramatically improved, and there’s lots more to come. Go download VLC 2.0 here.

For the release of the new VLC, I was able to chat with VideoLAN’s President Jean-Baptiste Kempf and lead Mac developer Felix Paul Kühne about the 2.0 milestone, the process that went into developing this new major release, and what’s in store for the future. Check out the interview, as well as a visualization of VLC’s development activity in 2011, after the break. Read more