Microsoft dips its toes in the coy pond over a supposed iOS version of Office, a roundup of uninteresting iPad 3 rumors flounders, and Apple may be swimming upstream in its Chinese trademark case. Give a man the remainders for Tuesday, February 21, 2012 and he’ll read for a day—teach a man the remainders for…yeah, I don’t know where I’m going with that one.
Suite anticipation: Microsoft Office for iPad expected in coming weeks (The Daily)
Whoever coined that expression about “tangled webs” surely had the Internet in mind. First, The Daily breaks news of an iOS port of Microsoft Office, complete with screenshot. Everybody goes crazy. Then statements from Microsoft intimated that The Daily was, politely, “full of it”—though without expressly denying that Microsoft may be in the process of creating an iOS version of Office. The Daily, for its part, says that it was demoing the one, true Microsoft Office for iOS. Somehow I’ve ended up following a soap opera in which a salient plot point is Microsoft Excel. So, uh, this is what Hell must be like.
The iPad 3 Rumor Roundup (M.I.C. Gadget)
Thirsting for the latest in iPad 3 rumors? The site that brought you the Most Incredible Apple Counterfeits of 2011—yes, that’s reassuring—has a round-up of iPad 3 rumors, featuring blurry photos of supposed iPad 3 production facilities (ooooh!), photos of an iPad 2 next to a possible iPad 3 rear shell (ahhhh?), photos of a pallet of boxes marked “Samsung” (wait, what?), and, of course, the eternal rumor of a 7-inch iPad (I’m just going to go and lie down now and hope the nausea will pass). I did not think it would be possible to make me unexcited about the iPad 3, but congratulations, guys.
Apple’s China trademark battle moves to Shanghai (Reuters)
If you were hoping this last piece might redeem them all, turn back now. A Shanghai court will pick up the trademark dispute between Apple and Proview over the iPad name. Proview has had mixed success with legal suits in other, smaller cities, but Shanghai would be the biggest venue yet for the company. I just hope that Apple doesn’t have to change the iPad 3’s name in China, but if they do, may I suggest the “iProviewer?”
Product News:
Camptune X – Paragon’s new hard drive utility is for users of Boot Camp. It allows for the resizing of HFS (Mac) and NTFS (Windows) partitions, without having to delete the NTFS partition and reinstall Windows. $20.
Devonsphere Express 1.1 – Devontechnologies’s newest app keeps track of what information you’re working on and puts related documents and websites at your fingertips. Click the menu bar icon to see files on your computer related to the document you’re currently working on, or search with its Spotlight-like interface. The program includes support for Quick Look and Safari’s Reading List. $5 introductory price until the end of March.
iClipboard 4.1.0 – The latest version of Chronos’s clipboard manager for the Mac has several improvements. iClipboard now translates format names so users can understand the data format of clipboard content, and formats are also organized into categories. iClipboard also has a new application icon, and bug fixes. $30; $50 for a family pack. The version 4.1.0 upgrade is free to owners of version 4.
VLC 2.0 – The venerable media player hits version 2.0, with a completely reworked Mac interface, faster decoding on multicore systems, support for more formats, and experimental support for Blu-ray. Free.