Docs To Go for iPhone finally gets Excel

Filling in a blank spreadsheet is an uphill battle, but one you can win.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

Ever since Documents to Go came out on iPhone--both the standard version and with Microsoft Exchange Attachments--the publisher has been keeping our interest with promises of a version that could edit Excel documents and create new ones in addition to just viewing them.

That version, Documents to Go 2.0, is now here. The update brings Documents To Go back to fairly equal footing with rival Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, which added Excel creation and editing support a month before.

In addition to viewing Excel XLS and XLSX documents, both Documents To Go apps can now also create new spreadsheets and edit existing ones. After taking a quick spin through the features, we can say it looks as if publisher DataViz, like Quickoffice, has been able to cram a lot of core features into a small space. There's support for multiple spreadsheets, and the capability to resize rows and columns and search cells (the Find feature). There are also formatting and typeface tools, and support for older, even password-protected, worksheets.

While the addition of Excel support brings this app back into direct competition with the Quickoffice suite, what's true in both cases is that it's infinitely easier to edit an Excel document on the iPhone than it is to create one fresh. However, if you must put your tapping fingers through the pages, then the opportunity is now, finally, here.

Mozilla Weave revamps synchronization features

The key feature in Mozilla's Weave add-on for Firefox is the ability to synchronize tabs, bookmarks, history, and other browser-sourced, data-rich fields. The latest update, Weave version 0.7, gives a big overhaul to the synchronization component, redoing the setup and configuration interface, and adding incremental download support.

Mozilla Weave's new My Account page, which opens in a new tab.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Compared to previous versions, the installation process on your first computer has been greatly streamlined, though the security questions asked remain the same. The wizard that guides you through the process has been redone to present the information through a tab-specific black overlay.

According to Mozilla, the incremental download support will grab your data in bite-size chunks to spread out, and reduce memory and network usage. To redo the synchronization settings, you still need to load the Preferences via about:weave, and then go to the Tools drop-down menu on the tab that opens and choose Start Over. I was unable to synchronize many settings, but that might be because of a conflict with an installed add-on.

The development of Weave, first introduced at the end of 2007, didn't really begin to take off until earlier this year. Since then, Weave has introduced multiple useful features that other browsers, such as Opera, have had for a while. Weave can also sync data between Firefox and Mozilla's mobile browser, Fennec.

Microsoft finalizes Windows 7 'XP Mode'

Microsoft said on Thursday that it has finished development work on the virtualized version of Windows XP that Windows 7 users can use to run programs that won't work on the newer operating system.

In a statement, Microsoft said that it has finalized the code for the free "XP Mode" and that the software will be made available on October 22, the same day that Microsoft launches Windows 7.

Computer makers will also be able to offer Windows XP Mode with their systems, Microsoft said.

Microsoft said back in April that it would offer the XP Mode. Aimed primarily at small businesses, the virtualization layer is designed to help ease the transition for those still running programs that don't work properly with Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

To use the compatibility layer, users need to be running Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate.

The other tricky point is that to use XP mode, consumers also need a machine that has chip level virtualization support and has that feature turned on, something that isn't always easy for consumers to determine.

At its core, XP Mode consists of two things, the Windows Virtual PC engine and a licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 as a packaged virtual machine, both of which Microsoft will make available for download.

Originally posted at Beyond Binary

Snac: Bite-size widgets for Java phones

(Credit: Snac

Not everyone has a smartphone, and strange as it may sound for those who can't live without their mini call-placing computers, avoiding an $80 to $100 monthly data plan is often driving that conscious choice. But it is possible to get a data add-on to a cell phone plan for as little as $10 a month. For that set of in-betweeners, a program like Snac could bridge the gap between a modest data plan and accessing Web content like social network feeds and news stories.

Snac, in open beta, provides a dashboard of thumbnail-size widgets that periodically grab content from Facebook, Twitter, Gmail (POP3), the weather, Google Calendar, news sources, and so on. Snac precaches a few layers of content, so that when you click a widget, you'll be able to immediately see headlines, status updates, and so on, on a small pop-up window.

Snac isn't just read-only either. For instance, you're able to update your social networking status and add comments in Facebook. Ditto with Twitter, but Snac isn't equipped for direct replies. Opening a news story pushes you to your phone's default browser, but Snac CEO Mark Caron tells us they'll soon add an in-app browser for reading purposes. At this point, you're unable to configure how often Snac pulls in fresh content, but Caron says they're looking into that, too.

Caron demoed Snac beta on a Sony Ericsson TM 506 phone, and a private beta version for BlackBerry. It works on almost 300 Java feature phones, but also on Symbian and Windows phones. There's no limit to how many widgets you can install from the Snac gallery, and managing the dashboard is straightforward from the phone settings and from the Web.

The free, ad-supported app isn't much of a looker, with a boring background, blocky typeface, and sketchbook widget design. But it worked quickly and well in our demo. We'll be keeping an eye out for future developments.

Originally posted at CTIA Fall show

Windows Marketplace for Mobile: First Look

Microsoft launched its new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system this week at the CTIA Wireless conference (see all stories) in San Diego. The OS includes a refreshed Internet Explorer Mobile, the new My Phone media sync and share service, and a brand new app store called, unceremoniously, Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Microsoft may be the last major smartphone platform to get its application storefront, but to its credit, the app store is full-fledged, not in beta like Palm's App Catalog on Pre. Unlike Blackberry App World's use of PayPal at launch, there's a flexible payment system; you're not tied down to a single financial channel. And while the Marketplace may not be the sexiest design around, all the elements are here. All it lacks now is critical mass.

In this First Look video, we walk you through the app store, from search filters to a limited return policy that's still fairly lenient compared to other mobile app stores. Check it out.

Originally posted at CTIA Fall show

Make your Folders Private

Make your Folders Private

•Open My Computer
•Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C:), unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
•If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
•Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
•Double-click your user folder.
•Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
•On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.


Note

•To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
•This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
•When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
•You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS

Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device

Provide Remote Assistance When Using a NAT Device

You can provide Remote Assistance to a friend who uses a Network Address Translation (NAT) device by modifying the Remote Assistance invitation using XML. Network Address Translation is used to allow multiple computers to share the same outbound Internet connection. To open a Remote Assistance session with a friend who uses a NAT device:

1. Ask your friend to send you a Remote Assistance invitation by e–mail.

2. Save the invitation file to your desktop.
3. Right–click the file, and then click Open With Notepad. You'll see that the file is a simple XML file.
4.Under the RCTICKET attribute is a private IP address, such as 192.168.1.100.
5. Over–write this IP address with your friend's public IP address. Your friend must send you his or her public IP address: they can find out what it is by going to a Web site that will return the public IP address, such as

Code:

http://www.dslreports.com/ip

.
6. Save the file, and then double–click it to open the Remote Assistance session.

Now, you'll be able to connect and provide them with the help they need. So that your inbound IP connection is routed to the correct computer, the NAT must be configured to route that inbound traffic. To do so, make sure your friend forwards port 3389 to the computer they want help from.