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June 25 Open XML converter for Office:macAs promised, Microsoft has finally released an Open XML converter for Mac. This allows users of Office 2004 and Office X to convert files sent in the new Office Open XML format used by Office 2008 & 2007 (docx, xlsx, pptx) and use them in the previous version. The converter can be downloaded from Mactopia. Office 2004 users will also need to download the 11.5.0 update to use these files. BackSorry I haven't posted in a while; I've been busy with a number of other things. I'm not going to try and recap the stories I missed while I was ou, but I'll try to keep the page updated from this point forward. January 17 "The Mole" returns soon!The popular ABC reality game series The Mole will be returning to the network after a long absence! For those of you who haven't seen the show, The Mole is a show in which ten contestants are challenged to work as a team to complete challenges and add money to a jackpot. The challenges varied from the physical to the cerebral. One of the ten players was secretly hired by the producers to work as a "mole" and try to sabotage the team's efforts to win the money. Each week, players would complete a test in which they would be asked questions about the mole, and at the end of each episode, the lowest-scoring player (the one who knew least about the mole's identity) would be eliminated from the game. The game continues over several weeks and challenges until one winner is left, who wins the entire cash jackpot.
The show, created at the turn of the century, was commissioned for the US by ABC after the show became a major hit in several other countries. In a prescient move, ABC tapped then-little-known ABC News correspondent Anderson Cooper to host the show, which served as his big break. After a great performance as host of the show for two series, Cooper became a household name and got his own show on CNN. I've seen the first season of the show, which was terrific. The second season was interrupted by 9/11 and delayed several months. ABC then did two celebrity editions of the show with Ahmad Rashad as host, but those were not as popular as the original two seasons. The show will be returning with a new host, as Anderson Cooper is now at CNN, and Ahmad Rashad is apparently not under consideration. Hopefully the new host can match the high standard set by Cooper. The show will premiere on ABC sometime later this year. If you would like to appear on the show, visit molecasting.com for more information. Personally, I'm very excited about the return of The Mole. I really enjoyed the first season of the show, and own it on DVD. I hope that the renewed interest in the show will spur the producers to release the second season of the show on DVD, which is also supposed to be great. Office 2008 for Mac releasedThe long-awaited Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has been released! The software was officially unveiled this week at Macworld Expo earlier this week. The product is now shipping and should be available on store shelves. Volume licensing copies will become available within the next month.
The site linked above can explain the new features in Office 2008 better than I can, but there are a few notable things to look for in the new version. All of the core Office applications sport a new Mac-like interface, which features an integrated window with all of the application features as well as a customizable toolbar in all of the applications. Also, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all use the new Office Open XML file format, which is the new format used in Office 2007 for Windows. This means that documents that use new features from Office 2007 can now be accessed on the Mac. Of course, Office 2008 can still read and save in the legacy Office 97-2004 file format. There are several other neat new additions for creating documents, such as Publishing Layout in Word and Ledger Sheets in Excel. There are several ways to save money on the software if you are already an Office for Mac user. If you recently bought Office 2004 (within the last few months), you can get a free upgrade to the Special Media Edition. Furthermore, if you recently purchased Office 2004 Student & Teacher Edition, you can get a free upgrade to Office 2008 Home & Student Edition. If you did not buy your copy of Office in the last few months, you can still buy a special reduced-price "Upgrade" edition of the software for either the Standard or Special Media Edition. Again, if you have any questions about the software, be sure to check Microsoft Mactopia, which has detailed information on the software package. December 15 "Duel" begins next weekWith the Writers' Strike in progress, the networks have been stocking up on unscripted shows to air over the next few months. Here's a sampling of what to expect: ABC's new game show Duel is scheduled to launch next week on the network. The show, hosted by Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio, looks terrific. Over the week, 24 players will compete in duels, resulting in one ultimate winner. In each duel, contestants will play a game that combines multiple-choice trivia questions with a betting/strategy element -- contestants will place chips on the answer they believe to be correct, lose those placed on wrong answers, and try to hold onto their chips as long as they can so that they can win the duel and collect prize money. The winner will keep the winnings from each duel they won and also win a huge jackpot that consists of the combined value of all of the chips lost on incorrect answers throughout the tournament. The show is premiering as a week-long event, and will air weeknights at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT starting December 17. Following the five episodes during the week, the championship finale will air Sunday, December 23 at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT. Be sure to check it out! In other news, the quiz show 1 vs. 100 with Bob Saget returns after the New Year. The show will continue to air in its old timeslot of Friday at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT on NBC starting January 4. Based on an ad for the show, it looks like the format has been changed so that players earn a set amount based on how many Mob members they have eliminated, and that the amount does not change based on the question in which they were eliminated like it worked in the first season. Personally, I liked the old arrangement as it was a bit more original, but we'll see how the new format works out. Also returning is the game show The Power of 10 on CBS. This show premiered this summer, and was notable in that it was the first regularly-scheduled game show to offer a grand prize of $10,000,000. No one won the top prize during the first season, so perhaps it will happen for the first time this winter. It will air Wednesdays at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT on CBS starting January 2. December 13 Office 2008 RTM for January releaseMicrosoft Office 2008 for Mac has been released to manufacturing! This means that the release version of the software has been completed and the copies that will soon be on store shelves are being produced at this very moment. Furthermore, it was announced that the product launch will occur on January 15, 2008 at Macworld Expo. At that point, the software should be available by mail order and in stores. Reminder: if you want to get Office 2008 and don't already own a copy of Office for Mac, or if recently bought a copy of Office 2004, you can order a free copy of Office 2008 now that will arrive after the software is released and buy a copy of Office 2004 now if you haven't already. More details here. X-Files 2!This was announced a few weeks back, but I didn't have a chance to post it. Apparently, the long-awaited follow-up to the popular X-Files franchise is finally under way. The new film, X-Files 2, will star David Duchovny as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully. The first film premiered in 1998 as part of a storyline connecting the fifth and sixth seasons of the show. In contrast, this next film will have a standalone storyline, which is probably a good thing since most people don't remember the extensive details of the story arcs, since the show ended several years ago (2002). The new film is already scheduled for a summer release on July 25, 2008. I look forward to seeing it. November 03 Office 2008 Super Suite Deal!Microsoft has changed the technology guarantee I mentioned in an earlier post to an even better "Super Suite Deal". This is an even better deal, because now, if one purchases any version (Student & Teacher or Standard) Office 2004, they will get a full copy of the Office 2008 Special Media Edition, which is the most featured version. This is an especially good deal for students & teachers, as they can buy Office 2004 Student & Teacher Edition now and then get the Special Media Edition when it is released, which has fewer license restrictions concerning qualified users and is presumably a qualifying product for future upgrades of the full version. October 12 Office 2008 for MacIn recent months, Microsoft has made several announcements concerning the eagerly-anticipated release of Office 2008 for Mac. First, a new preview site has been launched with demonstrations of some of the new features. Second, Mac Mojo, the Microsoft Mac Business Unit's official blog, has begun regular posts describing details some of the new and updated features in the next version of Office. Third, Microsoft has enacted a Technology Guarantee, which allows users who buy Office 2004 from now on to get a free upgrade to Office 2008 once it's released. Just to clarify, the software is scheduled for release in January 2008. Million Dollar PasswordIt was announced recently that CBS unexpectedly picked up a revival of the classic word game, called Million Dollar Password, for a six episode run sometime later this season. Regis Philbin will be hosting. I enjoy the classic Password because it's remarkably entertaining and cerebral, so I have high expectations for the revival. Hopefully the producers can work with such a great classic to make it a success again. This is only one of many uncharacteristic series pickups among the networks lately, presumably in preparation for a possible Writers' Guild strike next month. Other interesting games that have been picked up are Duel (ordered for a 10 episode run on ABC) and The Interrogator (pilot for NBC based on the international Where is the Money? game show format) June 23 "Power of 10" coming to CBSThe game shows just keep coming to the network schedules! It was actually reported back in March that Embassy Row was developing a pilot of the new game show The Power of 10 for CBS. The show was picked up by CBS in May for a summer run. Drew Carey, who hosted the pilot, will be the host of the series. The details of the format are still not particularly clear, likely to keep the format from being copied by other networks, but the basic idea is that contestants try to guess the results of pop culture and politically themed polls of Americans. The top contestant of each match has the opportunity to guess the results of five survey questions, each one rising in value by ten times. The first poll is worth $1,000, and the fifth is worth the grand prize of $10,000,000. I've generally been impressed with Drew Carey's hosting ability, and the clips of the pilot make this look very promising, so I am looking forward to watching it! The show premieres on Tuesday, August 7 at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT, and then settles into its regular time slot of Wednesdays at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT the following evening. June 13 "Grand Slam" is finally coming to the US! I mentioned this show a while ago, but I figured I'd mention it again now that there is more information available. Grand Slam is a tournament-style quiz show format that challenges a field of some of the the best game and quiz show champions. They are quizzed on general knowledge, word, and number skills, with the eventual champion winning a major cash prize. The original version aired in the UK in 2003 (here's a clip, although note that the format has been slightly updated for the US version). Michael Davies, the executive producer of the US version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, was developing a US version of Grand Slam for ABC back in the spring of 2004. However, a staff shake-up at ABC led to many scheduled projects being abandoned, which apparently included Grand Slam. Earlier this year, Michael Davies and his new production company, Embassy Row, sold the show to GSN. The show taped earlier in June, and is set to premiere in August. The US version will be hosted by Dennis Miller, and co-hosted by Amanda Byram. Sixteen top game show champions will be participating for a grand prize of $100,000. Four of the notable ones are Brad Rutter (top game show champion from Jeopardy!), Ken Jennings (the second-highest winner from Jeopardy!), Kevin Olmstead, and John Carpenter (both won the top prize on Millionaire). The remaining twelve players will be announced later. Since three of these players (Rutter, Jennings, and Olmstead) were defeated by Larry Zerner in February's 1 vs. 100 "Last Man Standing" special, I hope he's not overlooked. In any case, I'm thrilled the US will finally see this show, and I can't wait to see the top champions compete head-to-head in one place. Michael Davies said "Grand Slam is the best game show format I’ve seen come out of the UK since Millionaire"; I hope he's right! "1 vs. 100" renewedNBC announced that their game & quiz show 1 vs. 100 hosted by Bob Saget will be returning to the network next season. Although early plans and schedules are subject to change, the show is scheduled to air again in the Friday at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT timeslot at the beginning of next season for an eight episode run. The time slot is being marketed as "Game Night", as it will be occupied by an assortment of game shows. After the first eight episodes of 1 vs. 100 air, the time slot will be occupied by the new game show The Singing Bee for a six episode run. In spring, it seemed that NBC had lost confidence in 1 vs. 100, but after its replacement, Identity, performed considerably worse, only 1 vs. 100 ended up getting renewed. Furthermore, it is getting exposure over the summer in anticipation of the next season, with reruns airing on both NBC and CNBC. Hopefully it will do well enough in its initial run next season that it gets a renewal, since it is one of the better new shows. New General Manager at Microsoft's Mac Business UnitRoz Ho has been replaced as the General Manager of the Mac Business Unit, it was recently reported on the Mac BU's blog, Mac Mojo. According to another article, Roz Ho is still working at Microsoft, but now in the Entertainment & Devices division. This is not a new path for General Managers; her predecessor, Kevin Browne, moved to the Games division. Roz Ho has been General Manager for some time now, having taken over shortly after the release of Office 2004. She oversaw the development and release of Office 2004 and much of the development of the upcoming Office 2008. Arguably aided by Apple's surge in market share in previous years, she probably also led the division through it's busiest few years in terms of sales volume and visibility. Craig Eisler, the new General Manager, is taking charge of a much more prominent group than the one Roz Ho had when she began. Mac users already have a couple of Microsoft products to look forward to (namely Office 2008), so hopefully Eisler combined with the team can keep delivering the quality and innovation that the users have come to expect from Microsoft. May 12 "Doctor Who" returns in July!SciFi recently confirmed that the third season of Doctor Who will air in the US on the network this summer! It's a great show, and I look forward to seeing the new episodes. The third series features David Tennant returning as the Doctor with a new companion. The show premieres Friday. July 6 at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT. The next week, it moves into its regular timeslot an hour later. In other news, the spin-off show Torchwood, starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness (who was introduced in the first series of Doctor Who), has also finally been picked up to air in the US. It is set to air later this year on BBC America. Hopefully, like Doctor Who, it will be released on DVD so that people who don't have access to the channel can see the show. April 13 Jeopardy! College Championship starts April 30Jeopardy!'s annual College Championship begins Monday, April 30, 2007, and airs through Friday, May 11, 2007, beginning only a week after the tournament is taped. The list of contestants has been released. There appears to be a good amount of geographical diversity considering (to my knowledge) that there were only four audition locations. Good luck to everyone participating! In other news, it looks like Grand Slam has been picked up by GSN for a run starting in June 2007. It is set to have 16 of the top game show winners play off against one another, so it sounds exciting. This show originally was being developed for ABC back in 2004, but it never got a series order. It looks like this time it will finally air. Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" coming in OctoberThe next version of the Mac OS X, version 10.5 codenamed "Leopard", is now set to be released in October 2007. Initial speculation was that it would be released a bit earlier since the initial presentation was in August 2006, but at least now there is a date to look forward to. That's also around the time that the next version of Office for Mac is going to come out, so there's lots to anticipate! March 30 Parallels DesktopI've been using Parallels Desktop on my MacBook for a few months now, and just wanted to share my great experience with it. I am running it on a MacBook Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz (not the new Core 2 Duo), and the performance is very impressive. It is also fairly easy to use, and improving regularly with the updates as they are released (such as the new Coherence mode that allows Windows windows to run seamlessly on the Mac OS Desktop like the Classic environment). It is supposed to work with Windows Vista, though I won't have time to give that a try until summer (and I would recommend keeping an image of Windows XP since Windows Vista is new software). In any case, it works very well, and I recommend it to any Intel Mac user needing to use Windows applications on his or her Mac. Star Trek XI coming in late 2008Star Trek XI, a movie that I have been anticipating for some time, is now coming along at full speed! It was announced that the film will be released (in the U.S., at any rate) on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008. I don't know if I will go see it opening day, but I know that my family are fans of the franchise, so I wouldn't consider it out of the question as a post get-together holiday event. If we don't, I expect to see it very soon afterwards. In addition, J.J. Abrams, who directed the surprisingly impressive Mission:Impossible III will be producing and directing the movie, which makes me even more excited. Be sure to mark your calendar and see it when it's released! Updates on the entertainment frontI've been busy so I haven't been keeping up on updating the weblog with various news from the world of entertainment. I'll try and recap some of the main points that have interested me over the last few weeks. 1 vs. 100, a quiz show I've mentioned several times on this weblog, aired its season finale on Friday, May 16. They were not clear as to when the show is expected to return, though it looks like it probably will since a reporter stated they will be announcing auditions in the near future, and since its replacement, Identity, hasn't done quite as well in the ratings. 1 vs. 100 is one of the better shows of the new millennium, for sure. The game is also designed such that contestants build their money very quickly during the game, which makes it quite exciting. Hopefully it will be back soon. Also, the new quiz show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? launched last month on FOX; it airs Thursdays at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT. Jeff Foxworthy is the host. Contestants have to answer 10 grade-school level questions to win $500,000. After that, they have the opportunity to win $1,000,000 with a final question. They play along with some real (actors) 5th graders, who are the source of three "cheats" to help them along during the game. It's not as good as other shows like 1 vs. 100 for sure, but it seems reasonably popular and is set to run through May. In addition, Regis Philbin, the former host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Super Millionaire, and America's Got Talent is off the television for the time being while he recovers from heart surgery. NBC previously announced that Jerry Springer would take over from Regis as host of America's Got Talent, which seemed sudden, but Regis's surgery made the reason for the change more clear. Regis was a good host for all of these shows, so I hope he recovers well. As always, I'm hoping for a return of Super Millionaire (be sure to let ABC know you want to see it), but, with Regis's absence, ABC has another show scheduled. After the failure of Show Me the Money, ABC announced that they are launching the new game show National Bingo Night to run Fridays at 9:00PM/8:00PM CT starting May 18. It sounds like a questionable concept for television (yes, it's the classic game of bingo), but we'll see how it does. I didn't think Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? would do well and now it's a hit. Ed Sanders of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is the host. Also, Al Roker hosted a week of shows on Who Wants to be a Millionaire earlier this month. This is the first time to my knowledge that they have used a guest host. Also scheduled to host a week of shows is Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron. I expect Tom will do well as guest host. Meredith Vieira is still the permanent host and will be hosting most of the remaining shows this season. On Jeopardy! two weeks ago, history was made as the first three-way tie in the show's history occurred. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as exciting as it could have been, since the leader had the opportunity to bet to win the game and chose instead to wager for a tie; a forced tie would have been even more incredible. In other news concerning the show, they will be taping the College Championship at USC in April, but not before they do some last-minute contestant auditions. The top prize will once again be $100,000. The tournament will air from April 30 to May 11, 2007, starting only a little over a week after taping! In addition, there will be a second Teen Tournament this season (the first aired in February), called the Summer Games Teen Tournament to air from July 16 to July 27, 2007. The prizes will be the same as usual, with the winner taking home $75,000. What I saw of the February tournament was excellent, so hopefully this one will be just as exciting. In other news, the new Doctor Who got renewed for a fourth season. The third season starts airing in the UK this weekend. SciFi initially announced they would air the third season this summer, but they have since taken down that information. Hopefully it will air eventually, though I still have to catch up with the second season! Also, the entire show Day Break has been posted online for viewing. The show was airing on ABC last fall, but it was cancelled before the series was complete. I haven't had a chance to watch the last episodes, so don't spoil the ending, but I liked what I saw before and I look forward to finishing the show eventually. Lastly, The 4400 returns to USA this summer. The first episode of the fourth season is scheduled to air on Sunday, June 17 at 10:00PM/9:00PM CT. It's a good show, and I look forward to its return. |
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