Cisco Partners & Year of the Slate

Despite the snow and ice Wytech have been plowing on with all things IT related, and we are very pleased to announce our recent upgrades to Cisco Select Certified Partner and SMB (Small & Medium Sized Business) Specialised Partner.

This new status strengthens our partnership with Cisco, the world leader in networking solutions, and at a time when the company are releasing a new range of VoIP and network solutions aimed at the 0-75 employee market. As you should know by now, Wytech specialise in Small Business solutions and we have immediately begun testing the new Cisco kit.

I'll post the results of our experiments soon, in the meantime this week I'd like to take a look at the new wave of tablet PCs as mentioned in my last post.

Over the past few years touchscreen technology has made a big impact on next-generation smartphones and laptops.In particular it has allowed the iphone and other such 'smartphones' to usher in a new generation of intuitive interfaces designed for the modern electronic consumer. PCs have changed too, with less media hype perhaps. But now the two technologies are being combined in the form of a next-gen PC/smartphone hybrid.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) the technology was pigeon holed into a new category of device called 'slates'. The devices, also known as tablets, have an interface similar to a smartphone and, with no keyboards, are lighter than netbooks.

PC manufacturer Dell announced its first device will launch this summer. The Mini 5 will feature Google's Android operating system, SIM card, wi-fi, and offer multiple windows for social networking. Users can also make phonecalls, but the device is not designed to replace a handset or even a netbook. Large touchscreens are also power-hungry so battery life could also be a limiting factor.

Hewlett Packard's chief technology officer, Phil McKinney believes slates will appeal to consumers as their web habits begin to change. The firm showed off its Windows 7 powered machine during a Microsoft event at CES.

"People are enjoying more and more content from the web. And the real challenge is there aren't any good consumption-designed devices," he said. "All devices today have keyboards which are really designed for input but there's a large population that really just want to consume whether it be video, text or audio."

With the advent of the Amazon Kindle and the Sony E-Book Reader, media is increasingly becoming delivered and demanded in a digital format, and the result is that consumers are moving towards a wider dependency on screen-based content. If 2009 was the year of the netbook, then 2010 will perhaps be the year of the 'slate'...

Written by R. G. L. Birkbeck

Introducing Microsoft Office 2010

Happy New Year! And welcome back to the Wytech Blog.

With the new year comes new products from all the major software and hardware developers worldwide. ICT research & development never sleeps and this year looks like a particular treat for technology and innovation lovers.

Already HP and Microsoft have demonstrated their new 'slate PC', in advance of Apple's new 'tablet PC'. These ultra-slim portable devices incorporate laptop functionality with a large screen and touchscreen technology to bridge the gap between laptops and mobile phones.

But more on those another time, today I want to discuss the long awaited Microsoft Office 2010, which is still in beta development stage. See what you make of the Microsoft produced marketing below! Brave new world or same old problems? We hope to run a trial version soon and see for ourselves.


The Top Ten Benefits of Office 2010 Beta

1 Express your ideas more visually
New and improved picture formatting tools such as colour saturation and artistic effects let you transformand develop your document visuals with improved control and many more possibilities. Pre-built Office themes and SmartArt® graphic layouts provide even more options to the user.

2 Accomplish more when working together
Brainstorming, document collaboration and deadline organisation are made easy when you start using co-authoring for Microsoft Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Excel Web App and OneNote shared notebooks. Co-authoring lets you work on a file with several people at once, from different locations!

3 Enjoy the familiar Office experience from more locations and more devices
With Office 2010, you can get things done more easily, from more locations and more devices. Using a smartphone or virtually any computer with an Internet connection, you can work when and where you want to work.

4 Create powerful data insights and visuals
You can track and highlight important trends with new data analysis and visualisation features in Excel 2010. The new Sparklines feature delivers a clear and compact visual representation of your data with small charts within worksheet cells. Filter and segment your PivotTable data in multiple layers using Slicers to spend more time analysing and less time formatting.

5 Deliver compelling presentations
Captivate your audience with personalised videos in your presentation. Insert and customise videos directly in PowerPoint 2010—trim, add fades and effects, or bookmark key points in the video to call attention to selected scenes. Videos you insert are now embedded by default, relieving you from managing and sending additional video files.

6 Manage large volumes of e-mail with ease
Compress your long e-mail threads into a few conversations that can be categorised, filed, ignored, or cleaned up. The new Quick Steps feature let you perform multi-command tasks, such as reply and delete an e-mail in a single click, saving you time and inbox space.

7 Store and track all your ideas and notes in one place
Get the ultimate digital notebook for tracking, organising, and sharing your text, picture, video and audio notes with OneNote 2010. New features such as version tracking, automatic highlighting, and Linked Notes give you more control over your notes so you’re always on top of where your ideas came from and the latest changes when working in teams.

8 Get your message out instantly
Broadcast your PowerPoint presentation to a remote audience, whether or not they have PowerPoint installed. The new Broadcast Slide Show feature allows you to share your presentation through a web browser quickly without additional set up.

9 Get things done faster and easier
Microsoft Office Backstage™ view replaces the traditional File menu to give you a centralised space for all of your file management tasks, such as the ability to save, share, print, and publish. The enhanced Ribbon across Office 2010 applications lets you access commands quickly and customize tabs to personalize the experience to your work style.

10 Access work across devices and platforms
Enjoy the freedom of using Office 2010 from more locations on more devices. When you use Microsoft® Office 2010, you’re getting the familiar and intuitive Office experience across PCs, Smartphones, and Web browsers on the go.

Written by R. G. L. Birkbeck