Office 2010 beta, Outlook, meet Facebook

The just-released Microsoft Office 2010 beta shows Microsoft's vision for integrating Office with the greater Internet. Most notably, it introduces a potentially powerful Outlook feature that can combine your e-mail with social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Also on display is the Web-based version of Office, another way Microsoft is trying to make sure that Office is no longer the island it has been for too long. However, that is marred somewhat by the lack of some important features in the Web-based version of Office, such as the ability to create charts in Excel.

Like the previously released Technical Preview, the beta also incrementally improves Microsoft's best-selling Office suite, putting the Ribbon at center stage as the default interface for all Office applications, powering up individual apps with tools such as built-in video editing, and including a variety of productivity enhancers, such as a better paste operation.

One of the most significant changes to Office is not an interface change, but a feature that could dramatically improve the way people connect with others and share information. Called Outlook Social Connector, the new feature has a twofold purpose: to track all of your e-mail and other history with each specific contact, and to extend Outlook's reach beyond Office to the Internet and social networking sites.

When you're reading an e-mail message to or from someone, the Connector appears at the bottom of your message in its own separate pane. The pane displays a history of your communications with that person in Outlook -- e-mail messages, attachments exchanged, meetings scheduled in Outlook, and so on. You can see all these items in one big list or click a tab to view just one type -- for example, just e-mails you've exchanged with that contact -- then click an item to go directly to it.

PS3 and its new price cut

It is a long lasting debate that essentially wonder around which is better? playStation 3 (PS3) or Xbox 360? Unfortunately, there is not yet a clear answer. Some might think it is the PS3 and others might think it is the best seller; the Xbox. This is not really our concern. It is the question of who is going to win the holiday season. According to this article, the winner could be and for the first time ever finally the PS3. In the following paragraphs, two industrial and developers views are going to be expressed.

From an industrial point of view, purchasing the PS3 for $299, which also has a built-in blue ray dvd player, rang warning bells for Xbox. The biggest challenge would be continuing the same price for the PS3 until the arrival of the holiday season. As a response to the price cut, Xbox and Wii prices were reduced last month to $199 which intensified the competition. As pointed earlier, the only hope for PS3 to swipe off the floor during Holiday is for people to realize the value gained from purchasing a world class gaming experience along with an impressive blue ray dvd player.

From a developers point of view, two main points may be looked at. First, the free online network offered by PS3 versus the prepaid service fee required by Xbox. This ultimately enables games developers to take advantages of that in a way that attract the customers into purchasing the online supported games. Second, the different platforms of the two consuls. You've got the Xbox with a windows like interface that is easier for programmers and game developers to work with versus an impressive multiple cell processors that if utilized properly will yield in a high processing power that can ultimately make a difference.

In conclusion, all we can do is wait and see who is going to take over? The PS3? or the Xbox360?