Skip to content

Info Laptop

News and Product Reviews

Archive

Tag: standard


Product DescriptionMicrosoft Office Standard 2007 has the key tools and features that users have wanted, to make their computing experience easier. With its improved menus and toolbars, enhanced graphics and formatting, time and e-mail management tools & enhanced security, you’ll be so impressed that you’ll wonder how you got along without it. Office 2007 makes it easier and more enjoyable to get things done. New calendar views and appointment tools help you organize your time and communications Simple signup to RSS feeds Outlook 2007 has a new Instant Search tool helping you find any information you need — e-mail, calendars, tasks and more Enhanced security features protect against junk e-mail and phishing Share documents securely with Document Inspector — detect & remove unwanted comments, hidden text & other informationAmazon. comMicrosoft Office Standard 2007 offers the core Microsoft Office applications, but significantly updated for faster, better results. Comprised of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, this software suite empowers you to create high-quality documents and presentations, build powerful spreadsheets, and manage your e-mail messages, calendar, and contacts. With improved menus and tools, enhanced graphics and formatting capabilities, new time and communication management tools, and more reliability and security, Office Standard 2007 makes it easier and more enjoyable for you to get things done at home or work. The new look and feel of the 2007 Microsoft Office system automatically displays the menus and toolbars you need when you need them. View larger. Office Excel 2007 makes it easy to analyze data. View larger. Including charts in Office PowerPoint 2007 is easy. View larger. Tasks are easy to follow up on because they are included on the new To-Do Bar and within Outlook reminders. You can also drag tasks onto your calendar. View larger. Which edition of Office is right for you? View a comparison of Microsoft Office 2007 editions. Improved User Interface The Office Standard 2007 user interface makes it easier for people to use Office applications. The streamlined screen layout and dynamic results-oriented galleries let you spend more time focused on your work and less time trying to get the application to do what you need. As a result, the Office Standard 2007 interface can help deliver great looking documents, high-impact presentations, effective spreadsheets, and powerful desktop database applications. The Ribbon Office Standard 2007 features the Ribbon, a new device that presents commands organized into a set of tabs, instead of traditional menus and toolbars. The tabs on the Ribbon display the commands that are most relevant for each of the task areas in the applications. For example, in Word, the tabs group commands for activities such as inserting objects like pictures and tables, doing page layout, working with references, doing mailings, and reviewing. For added convenience, the Home tab provides easy access to the most frequently used commands. Excel has a similar set of tabs that make sense for spreadsheet work including tabs for working with formulas, managing data, and reviewing. These tabs make it simple to access features because they organize the commands in a way that corresponds directly to the tasks you perform in the application you’re using. The Microsoft Office Button Many of the most valuable features in previous versions of Office were not about the document authoring experience and instead focused on all the things you can do with a document: share it, protect it, print it, publish it, and send it. Although this focus had its advantages, previous releases lacked a single central location where a user could see all of these capabilities in one place. Office Standard 2007’s new interface, however, bring together the capabilities of the Office system into a single entry point: the Microsoft Office button. This button allows for two major advantages. First, it helps users find these valuable features. Second, it simplifies the authoring process by allowing the Ribbon to focus on creating great documents. Contextual Tabs Office Standard 2007 features contextual tabs which bring important and appropriate command options to the user’s attention precisely when they’re needed most. Certain sets of commands are only relevant when objects of a particular type are being edited. For example, the commands for editing a chart are not relevant until a chart appears in a spreadsheet and the user is focusing on modifying it. In current versions of Office applications, these commands can be difficult to find. In Excel, however, clicking on a chart causes a contextual tab to appear with commands used for chart editing. Contextual tabs only appear when they are needed and make it much easier to find and use the commands needed for the operation at hand. Galleries Galleries are at the heart of the redesigned applications, and they deliver a set of clear results to choose from when working on your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or Access databases. By presenting a simple set of potential results, rather than a complex dialog box with numerous options, galleries can simplify the process of producing professional looking work. For those who prefer a greater degree of control over the result of the operation, the traditional dialog box interfaces are still available. Live Preview Office Standard 2007 features Live Preview, a fresh and innovative technology that shows the results of applying an editing or formatting change as you move the pointer over the results presented in a gallery. This dynamic capability streamlines the process of laying out, editing, and formatting so you can create excellent results with less time and effort.
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 FULL VERSION


Product DescriptionWith Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard, you can talk to your computer and watch your spoken words instantly appear in documents, email and instant messages. You can even surf the Web just by speaking! Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 turns your voice into text three times faster than most people type — with up to 99% accuracy. It learns to recognize your voice instantly, and continually improves the more you use it! Just use your voice to dictate and edit in virtually any Windows application, including Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and AOL. This revolutionary and easy-to-use product gives you everything you need to get started, including a high-quality headset. Amazon. comWith Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard, a user can talk to the computer and watch the spoken words instantly appear in documents, email and instant messages. Users can even surf the Web just by speaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 turns voice into text three times faster than typing, and it delivers up to 99% accuracy. It learns to recognize the user’s voice instantly, and continually improves the more it’s used. Talk to the computer and watch the spoken words instantly appear in documents, email and instant messages. Click to enlarge. Quick Voice Formatting makes deleting and formatting text faster than ever. Click to enlarge. New on-screen help and tutorials help users become experts in no time. Click to enlarge. Speech recognition software products like Dragon use the human voice as the main interface between the user and the computer. Millions of users turn to Dragon each day to make PC interaction easier, faster and more fun. Users can dictate and edit in virtually any Windows application, including Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and AOL. This revolutionary and easy-to-use product gives users everything they need to get started, including a high-quality headset. Turn Talk Into Text Accurate Speech Recognition for PC Applications Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard offers unprecedented speech recognition with unrivaled accuracy levels: it’s up to 20% more accurate than Version 9, with up to 50% more accurate results than the product delivered just five years ago. Users gain the added benefit of avoiding spelling errors and typing mistakes. In fact, the product actually learns from corrections over time. Works With the Applications Users Already Have Dictate directly into Microsoft Word and most other Microsoft Office applications running on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Vista. Dragon also supports popular programs such as Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and AOL. Navigate the desktop by voice: launch or switch applications, save or print documents, and more–even control menus and dialog boxes. Create and Edit Documents and Messages Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 introduces new graphical icons to enhance the DragonBar user interface, making the product even easier to use. Users can quickly add custom words, such as proper names, to the system’s vocabulary. Quick Voice Formatting commands allow users to issue a single voice command, such as “Bold Quick Voice Formatting” to make deleting and formatting text faster than ever. In addition, unique Natural Language Commands mean users don’t have to memorize complex instructions. In Word, for example, a user can say, “make that bigger,” and the font size increases instantly. With the automatic punctuation option, users can omit spoken periods and commas during dictation–Dragon NaturallySpeaking enters them automatically. Send Email, Instant Messages and Surf the Web–All by Voice Users can browse the Internet with ease: search the Web, access information and navigate Web pages, simply by speaking URLs and links. User Benefits Faster than Typing Most people speak more than 120 per minute but type less than 40 words a minute. That means users can create documents and email messages more than three times faster using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard. The software never makes a spelling mistake, and it actually gets smarter the more it’s used. Fun and Easy to Use–Get Started Right Away Dragon NaturallySpeaking installs quickly and requires no special script reading. New on-screen help and tutorials help users become experts in no time. Users can dictate letters and emails instantly! A comfortable, high-quality headset is included. Avoid Repetitive Strain Injuries By using voice to control the PC and create documents, users reduce their risk of developing repetitive strain injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Key Feature Differences Between Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard and Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Dragon 10 Preferred Dragon 10 Standard More accurate than Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 • • Faster than Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 • • New on-screen help and tutorials–be an expert user right away • • Create documents, email and instant messages–simply by speaking • • Surf the Web by voice • • No enrollment required–get started instantly • • New on-screen help and tutorials–be an expert user right away • • Dictate directly into virtually any Microsoft Windows application • • Control menus and dialog boxes by voice in virtually any Microsoft Windows application • • Natural commands for Microsoft Outlook Express and Microsoft Excel • Dragon Voice Shortcuts to speed Web and desktop search • Automatically transcribe recordings from Nuance-approved handheld recorders or Pocket PCs • Wireless microphone support, including Bluetooth • Includes Nuance RealSpeak for turning text into human-sounding synthesized speech • Play back your dictation for easier correction and proofing • Insert your signature, logo or boilerplate text in any file with a simple voice command • Import/export your user files to use on any PC with Dragon NaturallySpeaking •
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard

Spinning Color Wheel

The infamous color picker is present among many of the built-in OS X applications and is quite a powerful tool once you dig into it. With the ability to store your favorite colors in “wells” and use them between applications, the color picker can quickly become an indispensable tool in your daily workflow. Here’s some tips and plugins to supercharge the color picker.

Color Picker Basics

Not all applications support the OS X color picker, but to see if one does, look in Format, View, or Window menus for an entry called “Show Colors.” The color picker is not just limited to the Apple-developed applications, as third-party apps such as Coda, Billings, Daylite and others also include support.

The color picker features “tabs” across the top dividing it into the standard color wheel, color sliders (allowing to you fine tune a color by RGB, HSB, CMYK, or Grayscale sliders), color palettes, image palettes and crayons.

You can pick custom colors by tweaking them in the color picker, or by using the magnifying glass to “pluck” a color from anywhere in the system.

To apply a color, simply highlight text and click the color you want. Or drag the color onto an object.

As mentioned earlier, you can organize your favorite colors by dragging them into one of the wells at the bottom of the picker. If the default amount is not enough, simply click the dot and drag down to allow for a total of 250 places to store your color swatches.

Add Some Kuler

MondrianumUsers of Adobe’s Kuler service are quick to tote how great it is to be exposed to a wide array of beautiful color schemes shared among the Adobe community.

Using a free plugin called Mondrianum by Lithoglyph, users can now add Kuler integration to the standard OS X color picker. With quick access to search color schemes by keyword, browse them via Cover Flow, or quickly set them as your desktop background, Mondrianum is a great tool to add to your color picker.

Want a True Artist’s Approach?

With Painter’s Picker ($19.95, with a demo version here), you can add an artist’s color wheel to the color picker, giving you the ability to quickly choose complementary colors, analogous colors, and the like. More advanced options allow for precision modification of the brightness, saturation and more. As someone who moves between different types of media (web to print), I enjoy the ability to see the nearest CYMK colors and nearest web safe colors when working on projects.

What the Hex?

Developers out there will love the “Developer Color Picker,” a free plugin from Panic that quickly allows users to convert selected colors to NSColor, UIColor, CGColorRef, HTML or CSS declarations. The plugin itself is very barebones in style, but is priceless in terms of functionality.

Shades, Schemes and More

ShadesShades ($18 from Chromatic Bytes) is another great plugin for the standard color picker, allowing users to quickly see related color shades. In the words of Chromatic Bytes, “you choose a center color, a step size and a color coordinate to hold constant. Shades then draws a grid of related colors.” This gives you something more akin to traditional paint chips and is useful for finding similar colors.

Another great application for creating and managing color schemes is Color Schemer Studio. While it does not run as a plugin to the OS X color picker, it is a very powerful standalone tool and a great compliment to some of these other plugins. A great feature of this application that really stands out is its ability to extract a simplified color palette from a photo. That’s just the tip of the iceberg and for more details, read our review of Color Schemer Studio here. This application is $49 and more information (including a demo version) is available from its website.

Color Pickers Everywhere

Most modern OS X applications support the color picker, but for those applications who are in the dark, you can use a little AppleScript trick to run the Color Picker as its own application.

Open up the AppleScript Editor (inside the Applications ? Utilities folder) and type in the following code:

choose color

Then save this as an application. Now when you run it, your traditional OS X color picker will appear. Drag and drop colors around to your heart’s content!

If you have any other tips or tricks to share about the color picker, I’d love to hear them!



Your Web is Wireless. Mobilize 09
$595 Regular, $395 limited time
Register now!

More Info

Zune 80GB Multimedia Player & Home Audio/Video Pack might be a bit old but still is a savvy gadget. Zune 80GB Multimedia Player & Home Audio/Video Pack is only priced at $149.99 on Woot sale (plus the standard $5 shipping fee) and features picture sharing, song sharing, podcast sharing between Zune users. Besides, 1 Zune [...] … More Info

Last month I commented that Apple’s substitution of Secure Digital Card (SD) slots for ExpressCard slots in the 15″ MacBook Pro made considerably good sense. It would be nice to have both, but the ExpressCard support wasn’t being heavily used, according to Apple, while SD was growing more popular. The 13″ MacBook Pro also gets an SD slot where the preceding unibody MacBook was slotless, so it’s pure value-added there.

However, as I learn more about the Secure Digital format, both what’s already available and what’s coming, I’m even more convinced that Apple made the right call.

For one thing, while ExpressCard 34 cards are smaller than the old PCMCIA CardBus cards they replaced, the standard SD Card format measures 32mm x 24mm in footprint (roughly the viewing area of a 35mm film negative or slide) vs. 75mm x 34mm for the ExpressCard, and it is only 2.1mm thick. That is especially helpful in computers as thin as Apple’s MacBook family — even more so if Apple builds a tablet or notebook smaller than the MacBook Air.

Another SD Card advantage is hardware standardization. The SD format shows potential for becoming the standard for removable storage in portable computers. The majority of PC laptops, and most netbooks, are available with SD Card slots, so Apple is no longer the odd man out in that context. Apple portables honcho Todd Benjamin told PCMag’s Mark Hachman in an interview that one reason the company went SD is that the format has become “really ubiquitous,” and not just in laptops. Consistent with Apple’s focus on consumer electronics and Mac market positioning as a digital hub, SD Card support is built into a myriad of consumer digital devices, especially cameras and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).

The iPhone doesn’t support removable storage as of yet, but in my opinion, it’s virtually inevitable that it will, and when it’s added, the tiny Mini SD variant (15mm x 11mm) is a likely bet.

SD Cards Just Have More to Offer

Currently, standard SD Card storage capacity tops out at a modest 4GB, but a much higher capacity variant, called SDHC, offers up to 32GB, and an eXtended Capacity SDXC spec that was unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show supports memory capacities above 32GB up to a potential 2TB, with data transfer speeds up to 104MB/sec and potential future throughput up to 300 MB/sec. The SDXC standard uses Microsoft’s exFAT file system (FAT64). Existing SD and SDHC host devices won’t be compatible with the new SDXC cards, but SDXC host devices will be backwards-compatible to work with SD and SDHC cards. A microSDXC card also is reportedly in the works for use in small mobile devices, with plenty of development headroom apparent in the SD format.

Cards conforming to SD (4MB to 4GB) and SDHC (4GB to 32GB) standards are supported by the slots in the new MacBook Pros. MultiMediaCards (MMC) can also be used in this slot, while MiniSD, MicroSD, and higher density formats like MiniSDHC and MicroSDHC can work but require “passive” adapters that conform to the standard SD width and thickness specifications.

MacBook Pro SD Card slots support a maximum throughput of 240Mbit/s, which exceeds the transfer rate of most SD media (about 17-21Mbit/s to 30Mbit/s, depending on type) by a substantial margin. MacBook Pros recognize cards inserted in their SD card slots as USB storage devices that can be mounted, read from, and written to as with any other USB storage device.

You can even make SD Cards (with a capacity of at least 8GB) bootable by changing their default partition table to GUID using Mac OS X Disk Utility and formatting the card to use the Mac OS Extended file format, instead of standard FAT32 DOS formatting. Macworld’s Roman Loyola has posted a video tutorial showing how to create a bootable SD Card. Loyola also reports that a variety of other Macs, besides the SD Card equipped mid-2009 MacBook Pros, including an iMac and a Mac mini, can be successfully booted from SD Card boot disks via a SanDisk MicroMate SD card reader.



Market research you can use:
Keep informed about Cloud Computing and IT Infrastructure.
Learn more »

More Info