Microsoft Buffs Out Outlook For Mac, Office Update For Mac Coming Next Year

Just when Mac users might have thought Microsoft forgot all about them as it relates toproductivity software, the Redmond software giant made a couple of big announcements that show otherwise. The first is there's a new and polished version of Outlook for Mac available, and the second is that Mac users can expect the next version of Office for Mac to come out next year.

The latter might come as a surprise if you're familiar with Microsoft's release history. Typically Microsoft launches a new version of Office for Mac around 6-8 months after building a new version for Windows. Mac users have already waited a year and a half, so what gives?

"Following the release of Office 365 we made the conscious decision to prioritize mobile first and cloud first scenarios for an increasing number of people who are getting things done on-the-go more frequently," Microsoft explained in a blog post. "This meant delivering and continuing to improve Office on a variety of phones (iPhone, Windows Phone, and Android) and tablets (iPad and Windows) -- brought together by the cloud (OneDrive) to help people stay better organized and get things done with greater efficiency at work, school, home, and everywhere in between."

Microsoft is planning to release a public beta of its new Office for Mac in the first half of 2015 followed by a final release in the second half of 2015. There will be no additional charge for Office 365 customers, and Microsoft will offer a perpetual license of Office for Mac in the same timeframe.

As for the retooled Outlook for Mac, there are a number of improvements, including better performance and reliability as a result of a new threading model and database tweaks. Microsoft also revamped the UI with a modern user interface boasting improved scrolling and agility when switching between Ribbon tabs.

Other changes include the addition of online archive support for searching Exchange archived email; Master Category List support and enhancements; Office 365 Push email support for real-time email delivery; and faster first-run and email download experience with improved Exchange Web Services syncing.

PlayStation 4 Sales Zoom To 13.5 Million Units, Sony Posts Net Loss Anyway

It's a good thing Sony's PlayStation 4 game console is selling so well, because if it weren't, the company would find itself posting an even bigger loss for its fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2014. As it stands, Sony reported a $1.25 billion net loss for the quarter and is on pace to lose a whopping $2.1 billion for the year -- ouch!

On the bright side, Sony sold 3.3 million PS4 consoles during the quarter, which bumps the total number to date to 13.5 million units. Combined with 800,000 PlayStation 3 console sales in the same quarter, Sony's Game & Network Services division saw an 83 percent year-on-year rise in revenues to $2.77 billion.

"This significant increase was primarily due to the contribution from PS4 hardware sales, a significant increase in network services revenue related to the introduction of the PS4 and the contribution from PS4 software sales, partially offset by a decrease in PlayStation 3 ('PS3') hardware and PS3 software sales," Sony said.

Nevertheless, it was an overall tough quarter for Sony, part of which is due to a $1.58 billion impairment charge the company took on its mobile division. Going forward, Sony lowered its smartphone shipment forecast to 41 million units, down from a forecast of 41 million units in July.

Apple Rumored To Be Readying 12-Inch 'iPad Pro' In Attempt To Take On Surface Pro 3

How unflattering. Apple appears to be preparing, at least according to rumors, a 2-in-1 hybrid tablet convertible that's very much competitive to what Microsoft's Surface Pro line offers, along with countless hybrid tablet-notebook convertibles that have custom-built detachablekeyboards. Though Jony Ive gets a little feisty about copy-cat devices as not just flattery butmore specifically "theft," it does seem ironic that Apple appears to be lining up to potentially follow the trend once again, rather than lead. The original iPad may have set the tablet revolution in motion but then eventually came the iPad Mini, as Apple caved to the market share success of smaller 7 to 8-inch devices. 

Now it looks like Apple is taking note of the success of convertible tablet-notebook devices like Microsoft'spopular Surface Pro 3, because, you know, not everyone just wants just a consumption device; some folks want to get real work done too.  Enter the "iPad Pro" or "iPad Plus."  Call it what you want, but this iPad is rumored to offer 12.2 inches of tablet real estate in addition to enhanced functionality.

Apple iPad Air 2 with a companion Bluetooth keyboard. It's just not the same.

Reportedly, this will be a more substantial and thicker iPad device (thicker than the iPad Air 2 at least) that could potentially even sport a different OS than the rest of the iPad line.  Could it be that Mac OS is in the cards for this device and perhaps even Intel's Core M is under the hood?  That's all speculation on my part but it would make for for an interesting product.  The report dose indicate that this device is thicker than the iPad Air 2 and sports another speaker port area for more full stereo audio output. Projections are that this big boy iPad won't hit until Q3 2015.

Drop in a purpose-built keyboard dock and you've got, well, the Mac or iOS equivalent of the Surface Pro 3 or anASUS Transformer.  But we won't call it theft. It's all good. There's iteration and innovation. If these rumors are true, Apple is continuing its iterative cycle and underscoring the legitimacy of the 2-in-1.

MAINGEAR Announces X-CUBE Small Form Factor Game PC With NVIDIA TITAN Z For The Cost Of Just Its Graphics Card

Are you in the market for a seriously powerful graphics card? Are you at least a little bit intrigued if I said you could buy one and get a free PC along with it? It sounds too good to be true, but the wizards at MAINGEAR have made it happen. This past week, the company revealed its X-Cube 'TITAN Z' edition, a PC priced at $1,499, which happens to be the going price for the card itself at retail.

Loosely priced out, you'd be spending about $2,200 if you were to build this PC yourself, but not only would you be paying a lot more, you wouldn't have the great MAINGEAR warranty that encompasses the entire build. So, we know that this build comes with an incredible graphics card; how well does the rest shape up?

Well, we'll be honest: You'll want to be making some upgrades, but I'm sure that's not surprising. The default IntelPentium G3258 dual-core processor, even when overclocked to 4.4GHz, isn't going to do the games and detail levels the TITAN Z can muster any justice. You might also find the 8GB of RAM to be a bit lacking, and no SSD to be problematic. Beyond that, this version of the X-Cube ships with a 500GB Seagate hard drive, a 600W Builder Series power supply from Corsair, GIGABYTE's GA-Z97-DS3H motherboard, an external ASUS DVD burner, MAINGEAR's EPIC 120 Supercooler (an all-in-one liquid cooler) and a Windows 8.1 license.

It's impossible to not be impressed with all that's included here for the going price, but as I said, you'd be wise to make some upgrades. If you want to make modifications, you can go with any current top-end Intel CPU, including the i7-5960X eight-core, up to 32GB of Corsair Dominator memory, up to 3x 1TB SSDs, up to a 1200W power supply from Corsair, and an improved cooler, by way of MAINGEAR's EPIC 240 Supercooler.

So, if you're in the market for a TITAN Z, it goes without saying that this deal is where your eyes should be looking. I feel bad for anyone who happened to pick up a TITAN Z in recent weeks, because this deal really is crazy good.

Panasonic Reveals Toughbook Tablet: Take That, iPad!

It's funny how history repeats itself. Rugged tablets have been around for ages. They first hit around a decade or so ago, underpowered and with terrible battery life. they were chunky, rugged, and ready for the field. But no one bought into them, as their flaws superseded the pros. Panasonic has now announced that things are coming full circle, with the Toughbook entering the tablet space soon.

The company recently announced that a future Toughbook Tablet would be shipping in order to address a current gap by delivering a product designed with security, functionality and real-world reliability in mind. By delivering this purpose-built business solution, the new Toughbook tablet will appeal to a wide variety of users, including mission critical government personnel, highly mobile field forces, SMB's looking for a competitive edge, security conscious IT managers and bottom-line focused CFOs. The new tablet will also include an active stylus, allowing mobile workers in sales, customer service and mobile point-of-sale environments to capture signatures on the device's 10.1" XGA multi-touch display.

Other features to be offered on the Toughbook tablet include satellite-based GPS, full-shift battery life, professional-grade accessories and optional embedded 3G/4G mobile broadband connectivity. It'll ship for an undisclosed amount...well, that's the mystery. The company hasn't come clean with an actual launch date, but we're definitely looking forward to it.

Intel Core M Broadwell Architecture Preview

Intel's latest processor design and manufacturing effort marks a first for the semiconductor industry. No other semiconductor manufacturer in the world is building chips at the level of Intel's 14nm (nanometer) process node; even large memory manufacturers like Toshiba and Samsung are just now hitting 19nm. As we've reported previously, the processor Intel is rolling out for its first volume production vehicle at 14nm is code named "Broadwell." And, as we learned in a recent meeting at the Intel's Hillsboro, Oregon development and fab center, the first processor family based on Intel's Broadwell microarchitecture, will be known as Core M.

Broadwell and the Intel Core M family is what Intel refers to as a "tick" in their product design cadence, where a 'tick" generally marks a die shrink and a "tock" marks a new microarchitecture. The last tick we saw from Intel was their 22nm Ivy Bridge design, then came Haswell's tock. Broadwell and Intel's Core M family are a shrink and optimization of Haswell at 14nm, but Intel took the opportunity to engineer in a few new features as well...

Intel Core M Broadwell Architecture Preview

Nintendo Posts Surprise Profit As Wii U Console Sales Double Up

After falling on tough times for the past several quarters, Nintendo appears to be back on track, at least momentarily. The Japanese video game company surged to an operating profit of 9.3 billion yen (around $86 million in U.S. currency) during its fiscal second quarter, an impressive turnaround from an 18 billion yen (around $166.4 million) loss in the same quarter a year ago.

A big reason for the turnaround is increased Wii U console sales. Nintendo reported 1.1 million Wii U game system sales during the six-month period from April to September, which is more than double the 460,000 Wii U consoles it sold a year ago.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata credited the upswing in Wii U sales to Mario Kart 8, which hit store shelves in May. Given that the holiday shopping season is just around the corner, Satoru still believes Nintendo can hit its goal of selling 3.6 million Wii U consoles by March 2015, the end of its fiscal year.

"Through April to September we saw [Wii U console] sales improve, especially overseas in the U.S. and European markets," Iwata said. "This year is different to last year, when we headed into the year-end without momentum or good software prospects...The goal is fully achievable."

As for software sales, Nintendo sold 9.4 million Wii U games worldwide during the six month period, with Mario Kart 8 accounting for 3 million.