Office 365 goes to work on an Android

Hands on Unlike the video editing or CAD workstation beasts that are still utterly reliant on Windows, Android is slowly evolving into a workable platform for basic productivity.

Browsers are becoming passable. Onboard applications are decent and there are an ever-growing number of applications designed for both touch input and mouse.

Yes, our little Android is growing up – that is, of course, if we ignore the total lack of a usable productivity suite.

Android is sneaking up on five years of general availability and it still doesn't even have a word processor that can compete with Microsoft Word 2.0 running on Windows 3.1.

If you want to paw at your screen like a primitive, there are plenty of applications to let you consume content others have made. There are even a few applications that will let you edit a word document or enter some numbers into a spreadsheet. Slowly.

Touch input has severe limitations. The first is a maddening upper limit on input speed and accuracy defined by trying to hit touch targets that are significantly smaller than your fingers and offer no tactile response whatsoever. Editing, formatting and related tasks are byzantine in a touch-screen world.

Consider the humble task of highlighting a block of text. On a touch screen you have to stab exactly the right spot, hope the device recognises the great big blob that is your finger, press, hold and then wait for the selector widgets to pop up.

After that you drag them around until you have highlighted the relevant text, go find a touch target that says "cut" or "copy" and then do something with that text.

In the time it has taken a touch-screen user to do that, I have already moved the text where it needed to go and written another four paragraphs of useful text. Touch screens are simply terrible for real work.

One man and his mouse

Despite this, I keep getting users who want me to make their Android devices into all-purpose endpoints. They have an Android phone with four cores and more RAM than that Acer Aspire from the mid-2000s that is wheezing its last.

They have a Nexus 7 or an Asus Transformer that they carry everywhere and they don't want to haul around some ageing notebook that gets the digital equivalent of three miles to the gallon and doesn't make it through a full-day conference.

Android is not going away, so how do we get something usable on there? The answer depends entirely on the device you have, the version and all the other irritating little things that make Android ecosystem fragmentation such a topic of legitimate complaint from developers.

In my opinion, the best option currently available for a productivity app running directly on an Android device is Office 365's web app. The latest version is amazing. It beats Google's efforts and is so far ahead of everyone else that at this point trying to catch up would be a depressing endeavour.

To get the Office 365 web app working on an Android device – assuming you have a subscription – you need to set your browser to request the desktop site.

Chrome can do this out of the box. Dolphin can do it by enabling the "desktop toggles" extension. Unlike Chrome, when you turn the extension on in Dolphin it stays on and passes desktop headers to all future sites.

The problem is that the Office 365 web app simply doesn't work on most Android devices. Chrome flatly refuses to treat the mouse like a mouse. You can't highlight things like an adult and forget right-click context menus.

Dolphin is somewhat better. It doesn't understand the concept of multiple buttons on a mouse and thus you can't get your right-click context menus, but at least it passes the primary mouse button back to the Office 365 application so we have highlighting, dragging and dropping.

Office 365 is actually rather well designed for single mouse button scenarios, so although the lack of a context menu slows me down, it is not a show stopper.

Hardware definitely limits possibilities. My first-gen Asus Transformer's 1GB of RAM simply isn't enough. The anaemic Tegra 2 struggles to keep up, and frankly the whole thing is a mess.

The quad core and 2GB of RAM in my Galaxy Note 2, however, seems to do the trick. Dolphin has no trouble here. Off I go writing articles.

Phone fodder

Microsoft has created a downloadable Office 365 app for Android phones. That naturally lasted about eight seconds after the announcement of availability and you have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to be able to find the .apk file if you go looking for it.

At first, I was rather irked with Microsoft. I figured it was doing something irritating like protecting its office monopoly by restricting the Office 365 app to phones.

But the rationale is far more mundane. In truth, the app is exactly right for a phone and useless for a tablet.

You won't be writing articles on a phone. Not even a Note 2. (I have tried. It causes all of the sads.) You might open a document, make a few token changes and save it… and that is all the Office 365 app is good for, though you can create documents and spreadsheets if you wish.


Microsoft's efforts with the Office 365 app are in line with the previous yeoman's work done on the OneNote and Lync apps. They are absolutely top-quality applications for the intended target market.

Target practice

I expect Microsoft will have to write a separate Office 365 app for Android tablets, assuming we can convince it that there is enough of a target market there to care about.

It is really a chicken-and-egg situation. People steer clear of Android tablets because the tablets don't have a good productivity suite. They don't have a good productivity suite because there is no market for it.

The more important question for Android users is why would Microsoft be interested in jump-starting the Android tablet market?

Anyone who starts using Android tablets for productivity won't be coming over from Apple. They would be choosing Android instead of Windows and there is not much profit in that for Microsoft.
In almost every technical aspect¸ Windows RT is a better operating system. The problem is that Microsoft blew the launch and missed a very narrow window.

The tablet market is still very much up in the air

Microsoft completely miscalculated the price people would be willing to pay, didn't include Outlook, had no app ecosystem to speak of and artificially restricts developers and end-users from turning Windows RT into a full-blown productivity device.

Despite this, the tablet market – and dominance of the next generation of endpoints – is still very much up in the air. Google constantly machine guns its own feet with exactly the same sort of short-sighted protectionist nonsense that has been hindering Microsoft for years.

The allergy to mice in Chrome for Android is one example: Google sees mice in Android as a massive threat. Android is local-application based.

If people could use a keyboard and mouse with Android properly, then they would have no reason to move away from the local-application model. Google's future is bet on SaaS applications and tied to Chrome OS.

The browser rules

Under no circumstances does Google want Windows to be replaced by Android. Android could fork and suddenly Amazon is somehow a player. Google wants you in the browser where it can own you.

When push comes to shove, however, what people actually want is Microsoft Office on their Android devices. We can get it on our phones. The lucky few can get a mostly working version in their browsers. The rest of us will work around the limitations and wait.

The redefinition of the endpoint brought about by the mobile revolution is still underway. With the release of a working Office app for Android phones – something once considered an outright fantasy – all bets are off.

Read the full article here:  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/20/office_365_on_android/

For more information on anything you have read in this article please contact the IT Experts at Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or visit our website: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk 

The new Yahoo logo underwhelms

You may have missed last month's "30 Days of Change" campaign, during which Yahoo rvealed a new variation on its logo each day, as a teaser for the final version which, according to CMO Kathy Savitt would be a "modern redesign that’s more reflective of our reimagined design and new experiences.”

Well, the new logo, created in-house by Yahoo's brand design group and product designers, has now been released. Yes, it has kept the familiar color (Pantone Violet C), exclamation mark and different letter sizes (which apparently represent a yodel). But the font has changed to a custom one using a curious chiseled color scheme that doesn't work well at small sizes. Even stranger, the exclamation mark animates briefly online, which is rather dated idea. Speaking of the final design, Savitt states that, "We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots (whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point) yet embraced the evolution of our products."

Much of the credit for the final design would seem to go to hands-on CEO Marissa Mayer, who in a post claims to have spent the "majority" of a weekend with her team "designing the logo from start to finish." Mayar waxes poetic about Adobe Illustrator, declaring it to be "one of the most incredible software packages ever made" and claims to be a user, to the extent that she knows "enough to be dangerous :)." Could this be a new trend, for CEOs of billion-dollar firms to spend a weekend with their teams cranking out a new logo? Design firms are trembling at the thought.

Read the full story here: http://stocklogos.com/topic/new-yahoo-logo-underwhelms 

For information on anything you have read here, or for more advice about web or graphic design please contact the IT Support Glasgow experts at Click Networks on 0141 530 9116 or visit our website here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk/Services/web-design.aspx 

Changes to Gmail that may affect your business

You've probably noticed a few changes in your Gmail inbox recently, which may mean that you have been missing your regular emails from your favourite product or as a company your clients my no longer be seeing your mail shots in their inbox.

Gmail has now divided your inbox into 3 main categories, or 'tabs', called "Primary", "Social" and "Promotions". Your messages are now automatically categorized into one of the following optional tabs:

Primary	Messages from friends and family, as well as any other messages that don’t appear in other tabs.
Promotions	Your deals, offers, and other promotional emails.
Social	Messages from social networks, media-sharing sites, online dating services, gaming platforms, and other social websites.
Updates	Notifications such as confirmations, receipts, bills, and statements.
Forums	Messages from online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists.

We've noticed that Gmail is categorizing emails from companys  in the "Promotions" tab. This means your alerts from businesses / sales / discounts no longer appear in your  or you customers "Primary" inbox.

 This has the effect of any email not in the primary inbox being treated as spam of of secondary importace to the user. This is obviosuly nto the case for many of your customers who have signed up to your mailing list to be the fisrt to know of new products, services and offers.

The solutions to these new changes is to contact your customer base or mailing list and direct them to drag and drop your emails from the 'Promotions' tab to the 'Primary' tab and when prompted confim you want all future emails from you to go into the 'Primary' inbox. That way they won't miss out on an offer of deal nad you won't miss out on sales vital to your business.

Ubuntu Edge Project

What is Ubuntu Edge?

The next generation of personal computing: smartphone and desktop PC in one state-of-the-art device.



In the car industry, Formula 1 provides a commercial testbed for cutting-edge technologies. The Ubuntu Edge project aims to do the same for the mobile phone industry -- to provide a low-volume, high-technology platform, crowdfunded by enthusiasts and mobile computing professionals. A pioneering project that accelerates the adoption of new technologies and drives them down into the mainstream.

Support the project here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge 
 
This beautifully crafted smartphone is a proving ground for the most advanced mobile technologies on the horizon, a showpiece for true mobile innovation. And at the heart of it all is convergence: connect to any monitor and this Ubuntu phone transforms into an Ubuntu PC, with a fully integrated desktop OS and shared access to all files.

We’re fascinated by converged computing, the idea that the smartphone in your pocket can also be the brain of the PC on your desk. We’ve shaped Ubuntu so you can transition seamlessly between the two environments. Now all that’s needed is a phone that’s designed from the ground up to be a PC as well.

The Ubuntu Edge is our very own superphone, a catalyst to drive the next generation of personal computing.

The Hardware

We’ve scoured the research labs of the biggest companies and most exciting startups for the latest and greatest mobile technologies to specify the first-generation Edge.

Crafted from cool, textured amorphous metal, the Edge has a distinctive, precise look but its rakishly chamfered edges are shaped to fit naturally in the palm -- our design prototype already has a

wonderfully solid feel. It’s the right size, too. Edge gestures are the next big thing in mobile, and our testing has found that a 4.5in screen is ideal for comfortable control of all four edges with one hand.


We also believe the race for ever higher resolution has become a distraction. Beyond 300ppi you’re adding overhead rather than improving display clarity. We think colour, brightness and dynamic range are now the edge of invention so we’ll choose a display for its balance of resolution, dynamic range and colour accuracy.

We’ll protect that gorgeous display with something vastly tougher than glass: pure sapphire crystal, a material so hard only diamond could scratch it. For a phone to run a full desktop OS, it must have the raw power of a PC. We’ll choose the fastest available multi-core processor, at least 4GB of RAM and a massive 128GB of storage. The battery will use silicon-anode technology, so we can squeeze more energy into the same dimensions.

With that kind of muscle, this phone can be your main PC anywhere -- and we really do mean anywhere. You can use the desktop wherever you can find a standard HDMI screen, and the dual-LTE chip will get you online with 4G even when you’re travelling abroad. It’s desktop computing gone truly mobile.

The Software

 Next-generation hardware deserves innovative software. The Ubuntu Edge will dual-boot both the Ubuntu phone OS and Android, and convert into a fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC.


First, Ubuntu mobile. We designed the interface to create a beautiful home screen that’s free from the usual clutter. You navigate by swiping over an edge of the screen: open your favourite apps on the left edge, switch instantly between open apps from the right, and use the system and app toolbars at the top and bottom respectively. It’s so simple, Ubuntu doesn’t need a home button at all.

Specialist data artists have designed Ubuntu’s welcome screen, with graphics that evolve over time to reflect your use of the phone. We’ve reinvented the inbox so you can read and respond to texts, emails and social media posts in an instant.


From mobile... to desktop. Yes, it’s the full Ubuntu desktop OS used by millions on a daily basis -- and it runs directly from the phone, so you’ll be able to move seamlessly from one environment to the other with no file syncing or transfers required. The core OS and applications are fully integrated with their smartphone equivalents, so you can even make and receive calls from the desktop while you work.

Finally, you can also boot the phone into Android. And there’s a good reason for that...

Technical Specifications

Dual boot Ubuntu mobile OS and Android

• Fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC when docked
• Fastest multi-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage
• Micro-SIM
• 4.5in 1,280 x 720 HD sapphire crystal display
• 8mp low-light rear camera, 2mp front camera
• Dual-LTE, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, NFC
• GPS, accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
• Stereo speakers with HD audio, dual-mic recording, Active Noise Cancellation
• 11-pin connector providing simultaneous MHL and USB OTG
• 3.5mm jack
• Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery
• 64 x 9 x 124mm

Google Launches New Gmail Tabs To Bad Press

A couple of months ago, Gmail launched a brand new tabbing system for inboxes, sending users and marketers into a veritable frenzy. The new tabs aim to organize your inbox into three core sections: Inbox, Social, and Promotions.

Your default inbox will mostly contain personal or business-related emails that are likely from people you know directly. Social contains blasts from social networks, like LinkedIn connection requests and Facebook mentions, as well as news from any social tools you subscribe to. Promotions is pretty

self-explanatory – this ought to contain consumer-focused newsletters, discounts, and related marketing materials.

It’s obvious why marketers would specifically be worried – will their meticulously crafted newsletters be sent into utter obscurity, now that users must click one more section to read them?
The answer is simple: there’s nothing to panic about. If you already create quality content that your audience wants to read, they will still get your blasts. If you’ve been sending meaningless drivel, however, you’ll still be ignored or marked as spam.

See? The sky isn’t falling. Here’s proof.

Users are Still in Charge
The new tabs are simply a way to keep our oft-cluttered inboxes much more organized. Some, however, are erroneously touting that Google is getting bossy.
Take the team of customer support experts HelpScout. In a recent article about the new tabs, they had this to say:

“The premise behind these changes is sound, but there’s a major concern to be addressed: Google is now organizing your inbox for you, and it can be argued that they are filtering messages without your consent.”

Without my consent? That’s a bit dramatic. The truth is, Gmail users still have full control over their inboxes. Google now attempts to organize things into folders, but we all have a very easy way to override the filtering. Nothing is etched in stone.

See an email in your Promotions tab that you feel belongs in your default inbox? Simply drag it from promotions onto the Inbox tab, and wahlah, it’s official. At that time, Gmail will ask if you’d like to move all emails from that sender into your inbox – if you click yes, it’s a done deal (until, of course, you move it elsewhere.)

Google hasn’t become the email police. They just decided to respond to the bazillions of users complaining inboxes were too crammed and messy.

Now, the real question is, are the new tabs preventing folks from reading newsletters? Let’s investigate.

How the Tabs Affect Online Marketers
We will first tackle this from a user perspective. The verdict’s still out about whether or not this will decrease readership of marketing-centric emails, but regarding those that are actually appreciated by consumers, they will still get read.

The Promotions and Social tabs illuminate nicely when new email lands in either one, and it’s incredibly simple to click over and see what’s landed. If you, as a marketer or business owner, have worked hard crafting worthwhile emails that users have voraciously consumed in the past, expect that to continue now. Organization is not a barrier to entry.

Most people already organized their email consumption; meaning that when one has free time, one dives into the promotional type emails, and responds accordingly. Nothing dramatic will change with the new tabs, except that perhaps you can’t get away with sending bad content anymore. Those days have been numbered for some time anyway.

The concerning part of all of this, however, lies in the additional way Google is using the Promotions tab. They are now sending unsolicited advertisements through this tab, thinly veiled as promotional emails. It’s easy enough to spot them – they have an “ad” label – but it still smacks of a sneaky way to shove more ads at us. Still, that’s how they make money – and since they’re only doing it in the promotions area, it’s not so heinous.

Don’t Believe the Negative Hype
Since the tabs were released, the internet has been teeming with angry marketers making extremely dramatic claims. Many quote a recent MailChimp survey that tracked early statistics on newsletters, and they did show a slight decrease in readership. But please don’t jump to conclusions like the masses, as this survey did not capture a huge majority of Gmail users that just recently enabled tabs. In other words, it was a premature survey with limited reach. Nothing to bet the farm on.
So what should you do? First, don’t panic. There’s no data supporting the negativity and fears, so hang in there. Next, follow the steps below to ensure you’re creating content your users want.

How to Weather the Gmail Tab Storm
Be proactive in your approach now that the tabs have launched; let them motivate you to create better marketing materials. Here are some top tips:

• In your next communication (and all future blasts), ask your users to move your content to their primary inbox, and link to easy instructions that tells them how (either through the drag/drop process or reverting back to the Classic view.)
• Study exactly how Gmail is filtering all communications, and take steps to prevent your other sends from landing outside the primary tab.
• Concentrate your communications on valuable information in your niche or industry, and not so heavily on your own company promotions. In other words, create content people actually want to read, and you seriously have nothing to worry about.

Why Marketers Should Embrace the Tabs
There is a big upside to these new tabs that few are discussing. These changes may even increase the readership of newsletters overall. Think that’s crazy talk?

Consider it this way – in the old model, all emails were crammed into a single view, with little rhyme or reason. That means your company newsletter had to compete with an email from mom, from various critical business partners, or from little Tommy who just learned to write. You aren’t going to win that battle for attention.

But you may very well earn the click-through when you’re sitting next to other, less interesting promotional sends. If a user clicks the Promotions tab, they know exactly what to expect – you have their attention. It is therefore up to you to not lose it in those critical moments.

See, it is possible that Gmail’s new system is a win-win. I challenge you to view this as a glass half-full scenario and see what the data tells us in the near future!

Read the full article here: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/08/12/google-launches-new-gmail-tabs-the-fallout-report/

For more information or advice on any of the topics raised in this article or with more specific IT Support questions why not contact the experts at Click Networks today with your query. Visit our website for all contact information and support here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk

O2 to launch 4G in UK on 29th August 2013

Mobile network O2 has announced that its 4G service will launch in the UK on 29 August.

The new network, which it claims will be up to five times faster than 3G, will be switched on in London, Leeds and Bradford first, followed by a further 10 cities before the end of 2013.

O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica, aims to make the service available to five million people on launch and an additional two million people per month thereafter. It aims for its 4G network to reach 98 per cent of the UK population by 2015.

It will be the second 4G network to launch in the UK, after EE, which launched its 4G services to 20 million people eight months ago across 11 cities.

O2 will therefore be playing catch-up with EE, which has also already rolled out "double-speed" 4G in 15 cities, and stated that by the end of June, it had 687,000 customers signed up to its new network.

O2 invested £550m to secure the 800MHz spectrum at the 4G auction earlier this year, but was tight-lipped on a launch date. It has, however, beaten rivals Vodafone and Three in launching 4G, and claimed that it will be differentiating itself by "bringing to life the digital experience for its customers".

It said this would start with 12 months free music content for consumers that buy a 4G tariff directly from O2.

The mobile operator will offer 4G phones such as the Sony Xperia SP, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, Nokia Lumia 925 and the BlackBerry Z10. The iPhone 5 will not initially be offered on O2's 4G network.

O2's cheapest tariff will be £26 per month, but details on what is included in the tariff and what alternatives will be available are yet to be disclosed. In comparison, EE's cheapest tariff is £21 per month, albeit with a capped data limit of just 500MB. 

Read the full article here. For more information on anything you have read in this article or for any IT Support or advice call the IT Support Experts at Click Networks today on 0141 530 9116. Visit our website for all our latest news and goings on http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk  

Speed up your browsing with these Google Chrome tips!

1. KNOW YOUR KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Like any good browser, Google Chrome has several dozen different keyboard shortcuts that can help improve your productivity. Below is just a few of our top favorites. 

Ctrl + 1-8 = Pressing Ctrl and any number 1 through 8 will move to the corresponding tab in your tab bar.
Ctrl + 9 = Switch to the last tab.
Ctrl + H = Show history
Ctrl + J = Open Downloads window
Ctrl + K = Move the cursor to the Omnibox (address bar)
Ctrl + T = Open a new tab 

Click here for a full listing of Google Chrome shortcut keys

2. USE THE 'OMNIBOX' FOR MORE

The Google Omnibox does more than displaying the URL and allowing you to search. It is also capable of performing mathematical calculations (as shown in the picture) and even answer questions such as "how many cups are in 2 liters?" Try adding any math calculation now in the Omnibox without pressing enter to have the results shown. 

3. SYNC CHROME WITH YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT

Chrome allows you to sync your settings, passwords, and bookmarks to your Google account. This is a great feature for anyone who switches computers (e.g. work computer and home computer) and needs access to all their bookmarks and account settings. You can log into your Google Account and adjust your sync settings by going into Settings under the "wrench"  or "Menu" icon.

4. PIN YOUR FREQUENTLY USED TABS

Pin your favorite tabs to save space on your tab bar without losing quick access to your favorite pages. In the above picture, you can see we have eight pinned tabs, which would have normally consumed our tab bar. 

To Pin a tab right-click on any open tab and click Pin Tab.

Bonus tip: You can also click-and-drag a pinned tab to the position of your choice. 

5. QUICKLY CLOSE A TAB

Any tab can be closed by clicking on the x on the tab. However, there are much quicker ways to close a tab. For example, if you have a mouse with a wheel pushing in on the wheel anywhere on the tab will close the tab. The shortcut keys Ctrl + W or Ctrl + F4 will also close the current open tab.

Bonus tip: Middle-clicking on any link will also open that link in a new tab.

For more informaiton on anything you have read in this blog post or for IT Support Help in general contact the IT Support Experts at Click Networks today! Call us now on 0141 530 9116 or drop us and email to info@clicknetworks.co.uk. Visit our website for more details: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk