Office 2011 on it’s way to Macs

Yesterday Microsoft began rolling out behind the scenes videos on the next release of Office for Mac. Many of the new features that will be included sound similar to those in Office 2010, so we are looking forward to a great Office experience regardless of which operating system we use. Otherwise right now Microsoft is pushing new features that will improve efficiency. Most notably however is the release of Outlook for Mac (finally), this is awesome news. We will be sure to keep you updated on all news Office 2011 from beta’s to feature spotlights. In the meantime check out the video from Microsoft below and read their Office 2011 announcement.



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VMWare Fusion: Windows 7 on Your Mac

Recently I have had the pleasure of learning a lot more about Visualization and it’s benefits to IT Departments. My question however was how can Virtualization help me? The answer was actually quite easy. For my own personal use I have a Mac Book Pro, running OS X, my co-workers explained to me that with a Virtual Machine running I could use Windows 7 and Mac OS X using a program called VMWare Fusion 3. The last time I  had tried to run windows on a PC was quite a few years back and initially I was quite hesitant to try using a virtual machine again. Even with my woes everyone convinced me to give VMWare Fusion and Windows 7 a whirl on my Mac.

I was surprised right off the bat, Fusion was a breeze to install, and even easier was installing Windows 7. I entered in my license key, and within 30 minutes a copy of Windows 7 was on my Mac. Even cooler my same desktop from my Mac was right there on Windows, my CD/DVD Drive worked, and I was connected to the internet. I didn’t have to setup anything! Windows 7 runs great on my MacBook Pro and I can use pretty much any software I need on my laptop now. If you are considering installing Windows 7 I would absolutely recommend installing it with VMWare Fusion.

Learn more about VMWare with our VMWare Guide.

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Top 5 Software Programs for College

It’s hard to believe but summer is winding down, and many stores are starting their back to school sales. If you are headed to college for the first time, or ready to start the New School Year off right read on for my recommendations for 5 essential programs for college.

  1. Office 2010 Home & Student – Hands down, no questions you will use Office every day at school. Whether you are typing papers, or working on projects programs like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel will help you get all your work done. The new tools and features in Office 2010 will help you get your work done quickly and easily (…maybe that depends on the person). If you are equipped with a Mac check out Office 2008 For Mac.
  2. Adobe Creative Suite – If you are headed into a degree in any kind of design, or art then programs in Adobe’s creative suite will be truly beneficial to you. A majority of classes are taught on Photoshop and Illustrator. Keep up with the latest edition of CS5 to take advantage of all the great new features.
  3. Kaspersky Internet Security – Let’s face it, if you’re headed to college you are going to be on the internet a ton! (wheatear or not you’re doing homework is up to you) Protect your PC with one of the best protection suites available. Kaspersky’s Internet Security 2010 will keep your PC running in tip top shape all year long so you can keep studying (and use facebook.)
  4. Chrometa Time Management Software – Chrometa 2 is an incredibly useful for staying organized. Use Chrometa to track your daily work habits, and fine tune them to increase efficiency. You’ll start noticing things about your habits that you would have never paid attention to before. Check it out now to find out how you can stay more organized.
  5. Search & Recover – Tired of losing reports, and other important assignments? Search & Recover is here to help you. Not only will the program comb your system for what you are searching for, it also features powerful recovery tools. Don’t worry about losing anything again with the powerful TotalRecovery wizard included with Search & Recover.

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iBank Review

iBank is a great program for tracking your finances if you use a Mac. Not only is it extremely easy to use but it also gives you great visuals to track your personal finances. iBank can be linked to your online bank accounts and will help you manage all your accounts in one easy program.  After using iBank for a few days I found the reports the program generates to be extremely useful. They allowed me to view where my money was going, what was coming in, and where I needed to save.  Unlike other programs I have used I was able to make changes real time in order to see what would happen if I cut down spending in  certain places.

What will keep my using iBank however is its support for iPhone. Using MobileMe and iBank you can track your finances on the go, add new transactions, and monitor your spending. If you are using an iPhone and a Mac iBank is definitely the go to program to track your finances.

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All Editons of Visual Studio 2010 Available Now

Visual Studio 2010 in all editions is now in stock and ready to ship from SoftwareMedia.com. In the 2010 edition of Visual Studio you will find new and enhanced features that will simplify the development process for you, from designing to deploying. New tools for customization and testing will have you developing applications faster than ever. Find out more details about Visual Studio 2010 Professional here at Software News Daily.  Not sure which version of Visual Studio 2010 is right for you? Check out our Visual Studio 2010 Comparison Guide and find out which one is right for you! Purchasing Visual Studio for a Large Orginization? Save Money with Visual Studio Open Licensing!

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Take Your Videos to The Next Level with Vegas

Sony Vegas Pro 9 is Sony’s linear editing program that can be compared to Premier or Final Cut Pro. I like to classify Vegas as somewhere between Windows Movie Maker and Premier. Vegas is a great introduction program to using an advanced linear editing program. Vegas makes it simple to start editing like a pro with lots of powerful tools, and features that are also easy to find, at a fraction of the cost of other editing programs. I would recommend Vegas to anyone who wants to start editing more complicated videos, but doesn’t want to spend extra time learning a complicated program. Read on to find out more details about Vegas’ great features.

The Timeline

The Timeline in Vegas is very straight forward with very easy to access tools. Controls for volume for each specific clip are easy to modify, there is also an easy way to fade audio or video in and out without using an extra effect. You can just choose the area you want to fade and drag the fade control line to the desired starting location.  Shortcuts in the timeline also allow you great tools for modifying video and audio effects.

Effects and Transitions

Vegas makes choosing and adding effects and transitions incredibly easy. One of the main panes of Vegas is dedicated to its effects. In the respective browsers you can preview effects and then drag and drop them on to your media. Once you choose your effect you have a lot of control over its speed and any other options the specific effect has, in a spate effect editor window.

Trimmer

Vegas’ trimmer is a great tool for modifying video clips and audio. Trimmer allows you to isolate a specific clip and control which part of the video and audio you want before dropping it into your timeline. This keeps things a bit more organized when dealing with lots of clips in your timeline

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McAfee Expands Into Mac Security

After years and years of Apple’s computers being considered the safest, and the most virus proof computers, it looks like things are changing. As more and more people begin to use macs on a more regular basis threats are becoming more and more abundant. However these viruses are only threats if users accidentally download them from the internet. That’s why McAfee is launching Internet Security for Mac, including Site Advisor. The program is a two way firewall that scans information coming in and out of your computer to make sure it is safe from viruses, adware, and spyware. The program is pretty much identical to what you would use on Windows however it is helping Mac users have a safer browsing experience when using the internet.

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Posted in Industry News by Brian.
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Best of the Best: Top 10 Creativity Software

Take your summer vacation memories to the next level with the best in creativity software.

Summertime, and the living is easy. I hope you are enjoying summer as much as I am. I feel as if the bustle of spring and early summer  has quieted down a bit and now we are into those hot and lazy days. It’s prime vacation time. Here is a photo I took while kayaking at the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge last week. It was nice to get away and be forced to stop and see nature, in the form of a White Faced Ibis, Sandhill Crane, Snowy Egret, Kestrel and a Huge. White. Pelican.

It was beautiful, but I digress.  I am not much of a design software buff, but since I do work at a software company and have access to all sorts of programs, I decided to edit some of my vacation photos into more usable and interesting depictions.

In my first attempt I wanted to remove the photographer’s kayak from the picture so that all you see is yours truly. To teach myself how to do this I used an article from Layers Magazine outlining how to remove elements from a photo. (If I were using CS5 I would have tried out the Content Aware Fill feature Brian wrote about back in May.)

Original Kayak Photo

Original Photo

Edited Kayak Image

Edited Image

Read the rest of Best of the Best: Top 10 Creativity Software »

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New Release Spotlight: Visual Studio 2010 Professional

The time we have all been waiting for is here, and Visual Studio 2010 has hit our warehouse here at SoftwareMedia.com. Visual Studio 2010 brings forth some great new tools that will help developers when creating applications that work with new technology such as the cloud, and other new internet advancements. With new tools for SharePoint support built in you can even collaborate with fellow developers for real time collaboration using the cloud.

A lot of improvements have been made to how you work with Visual Studio as well. In 2010 a new code editor makes it easy to zoom in and out on specific parts of code, highlight method references, and overlay features. Tools are built in that will also help your applications run more efficiently on new advanced multi core processors. One of the biggest time saving features is the inline call hierarchy in Visual Studio 2010, which cuts down on time debugging. Pick up Visual Studio 2010 Professional right now, and stay tuned as more editions are released.

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7 For 7: 7 Awesome Themes For Windows 7

In our new 7 for 7 series we will periodically be bringing you seven awesome (and free!) upgrades for Windows 7. In today’s addition we jumped over to Deviantart.com to find 7 awesome themes. Check them out.

Click on the Theme Preview to Download.


Mac OSX Theme For Windows 7

Nature Style Theme for Windows 7

Nightfall Theme

All Black Theme

Zune Theme

The Very Clean Blend Theme

Old School Theme


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