13 useful add-ons for Microsoft Excel and Word 2013

For some reason, Microsoft has taken to calling the mini-programs that you can install into their Office applications “apps.” Functionally, though, most of these are similar to web browser add-ons -- in the sense that they add to or enhance the feature set of the main program. Here are the most useful ones for the latest versions of Excel and Word.

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Britannica Researcher for Word 2013
This official app provides access to the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica. With it, you can search through over 80,000 article entries in the Britannica library, and view their respective images. You can even insert these images, and citations and references, into your document.

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Bubbles for Excel 2013
This app takes selected data in your spreadsheet and represents it in a chart as bubbles -- the size and color of each is based on the number of times a certain value appears. Data from two tables can be “bubbled” so you can compare their differences with this whimsical model.

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Gliffy Diagrams for Word 2013
If you don’t have Visio, here’s an alternative. This toolset lets you design flowcharts, mind maps, organizational charts, and other diagrams. Paid options are available offering extras like larger storage space in the cloud, and more shape libraries. But you can still use the app for free to create an unlimited number of graphics.

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Gauge for Excel 2013

This app is exactly what its name implies -- a chart graphic that displays what looks like a gauge. Imagine embedding a virtual tire pressure gauge into your spreadsheet to get a reading on whether sets of values are “too low” or “too high.”

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Geographic Heat Map for Excel 2013

A model that takes selected values in your spreadsheet that are based on location and generates a map showing their ranges for corresponding regions of it in various colors. The current version features a map of the United States.

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Lucidchart for Word 2013

Like Gliffy Diagrams, Lucidchart is another option for easily and quickly making flowcharts and other such process diagrams within Word 2013. It’s a free service that also offers paid plans where you get additional features that include larger online storage and more shape libraries.

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Excel 2013 and Word 2013

Microsoft offers its own Bing-branded dictionary app for Office 2013, but an appealing alternative is by one of the respected names in the dictionary biz. With the official Merriam-Webster app installed, you can right-click on a word and choose “Define,” and a definition entry for it will appear in a panel to the right of the Excel 2013 or Word 2013 application window.

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Mini Calendar and Date Picker for Excel 2013

This app lets you embed a mini calendar into your spreadsheet that will make it easier for you or others to select a date to enter into the spreadsheet. The calendar can be customized to highlight specific dates, given different theme colors, or resized.

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Radial Bar Chart for Excel 2013

Another colorful chart generator by the author of Geographic Heat Map, this model takes your spreadsheet’s selected values and creates what is essentially a horizontal bar chart that is curved into a circular rainbow graphic.

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TaskIt for Word 2013

TaskIt is a basic to-do list app that runs alongside Word 2013. Just enter into its textbox a simple description for a task you need to do, adding more one-by-one to build a list of them. Then click the checkmark box beside each task after you actually complete it.

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WordCalc for Word 2013

Here’s a tool that could be helpful if you are going over math formulas in documents. You can select a mathematical expression in a document or manually enter one into this app’s textbox, and its answer/resulting value will be shown.

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WordCloud for Word 2013

This app turns your text document into a tech-marketing and typography cliche: a “word cloud” where certain words that the app determines are most significant are displayed larger than others. Supposedly, if you put your document online, these words are latched onto the most by search engines and used as keywords.

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Suite of Excel 2013 feature enhancements by Tyrant Ventures

Tyrant Ventures has developed five apps that add new functionality to Excel 2013, so we grouped them into one. Together they can help ease editing and re-formatting spreadsheets that may not have been created originally on Excel 2013. The suite includes Change Case, which lets you easily change the letters in selected cells to app caps, lower case or proper case.

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Microsoft revenue up, aided by Windows unit sales, though profit declines

The results are the first to include Windows 8

Microsoft reported a drop in profit for the second quarter of its fiscal year, though revenue increased, thanks partly to a 24 percent jump in sales from its Windows division.

Microsoft's revenue increased 2.7 percent to US$21.46 billion in the quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

Net income shrunk to $6.38 billion, or $0.76 per share, from $6.62 billion, or $0.78 per share, in Microsoft's second fiscal quarter of 2011, the company said on Thursday.

CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement that Microsoft's "big, bold ambition to reimagine Windows," along with other initiatives like its Surface tablet and the new Windows Phone 8, are paying off.

The Windows division generated revenue of $5.88 billion, up 24 percent year on year. However, on a pro forma basis revenue was up only 11 percent, when factoring in a net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer and the recognition of previously deferred revenue from Windows 8 pre-sales.

The Server & Tools business, which includes products like SQL Server and System Center, posted revenue growth of 9 percent to $5.19 billion. System Center revenue was up 18 percent, while SQL Server revenue climbed 16 percent.

The Business Division, which includes the Office suite, reported $5.69 billion in revenue, down 10 percent. Adjusted for the impact of the Office Upgrade Offer and pre-sales, pro-forma revenue rose 3 percent. Revenue from server software including Lync, SharePoint and Exchange hit "double-digit percentage growth." Microsoft is expected to ship a new version of the Office suite this quarter.

The Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes the Xbox products, saw revenue decline 11 percent to $3.77 billion. Microsoft sold 5.9 million Xbox consoles in the quarter, down 28 percent, while its Skype business, also part of this division, saw a 59 percent increase in call minutes.

The Online Services Division, which includes online advertising generated by Web properties like the Bing search engine, increased its revenue 11 percent to $869 million.

Overall, Microsoft said that its pro-forma revenue was $22 billion, when adjusted in part to reflect revenue deferrals for several Windows, Office and video game offers, as well as pre-sales.

In a conference call to discuss the results, CFO Peter Klein called the numbers "solid," and said Microsoft is building momentum behind Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, and behind upcoming releases like Office 2013 and its Surface Pro tablet.

Microsoft also experienced "strong growth" in multi-year licensing revenue, he said, exceeding 15 percent year on year, a sign that enterprise customers are making long-term bets on the company.

Windows 8 sports a radically redesigned user interface based on tile icons that is optimized for touchscreens found primarily in tablets but also in newer "hybrid" laptops and some desktop PCs, like all-in-one systems.

The new OS started shipping in October, and Microsoft has said it is satisfied with the product's sales, a message that is at odds with skeptical views from market researchers like NPD Group and IDC, as well as financial analysts from Morgan Stanley.

In November and again in January, Microsoft said that Windows 8 shipments were "roughly" in line with Windows 7 shipments at the same stage of the sales cycle three years prior.

However, NPD Group declared in late November that Windows 8 had failed to give the consumer Windows PC and tablet market enough of a boost, and that in the first four weeks after its launch Windows device sales fell 21 percent year on year.

Later in early January, NPD Group said that Windows 8 "did little to boost holiday sales or improve the year-long Windows notebook sales decline."

About a week later, Morgan Stanley financial analysts downgraded the firm's recommendation on Microsoft's stock from Overweight -- the equivalent of "buy" -- to Equal Weight, the equivalent of "hold," citing concerns over Windows 8 sales and over the PC market dynamics.

Meanwhile, IDC reported that worldwide PC shipments fell 6.4 percent to 89.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, year on year, a steeper decline than the 4.4 percent IDC had anticipated. A big part of the problem was that Windows 8 failed to jump-start sales, IDC said.

Even while expressing satisfaction with Windows 8 sales, Tami Reller, CFO and chief marketing officer of the Windows Division, acknowledged in January that OEM partners hadn't made enough Windows 8 touch devices to meet the high demand for that type of computer.

"Frankly, the supply was too short," she said then at an event held at the CES show in Las Vegas where she answered questions from a JP Morgan analyst.

"There was some misalignment between where products were distributed and where the demand was," she added.

Some tablets running Windows RT -- the Windows 8 version for ARM chips -- didn't get the type of distribution that would have been "ideal," she said.

Microsoft's CFO reiterated these points Thursday, saying Microsoft is working with its chip and OEM partners to fine-tune the availability of Windows 8 devices to make sure there is the right mix of price points and configurations.

A similar effort is under way with developers to increase the variety and volume of Windows 8 applications. And Microsoft is taking steps to expand the distribution of its Surface tablets.

Its early days," Klein said. "An ambitious endeavor like this takes time.

Microsoft has sold more than 60 million Windows 8 licenses, he said, repeating what Reller had said earlier this month. At the same time, Windows 7 deployments continue, and it is now on more than 60 percent of enterprise desktops worldwide, according to Klein.

Microsoft is counting on Windows 8 to help improve the operating system's minuscule share in the white-hot tablet OS market, where it lags significantly behind iOS and Android. Meanwhile, the PC market, where Windows has historically been the dominant OS, is shrinking.

Last year, Gartner forecast that worldwide media tablet sales to end users would total 119 million units in 2012, up 98 percent compared with 2011, and that Apple's iOS would continue its dominance with a projected share of over 61 percent. Windows tablet shipments were expected to be only 4.8 million in 2012.

Microsoft has been offering Windows 8 Pro upgrades at discounted prices as low as $14.99, but prices will shoot up after Jan. 31 to $199.99.

One special offer lets people upgrade an existing Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC and lets them acquire Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 via Windows.com download or $69.99 from a retail store DVD. The other offer, priced at $14.99, is for consumers upgrading a new Windows 7 PC bought between June 2 of last year and Jan. 31 -- they have until Feb. 28 to register for the special upgrade price.

After Jan. 31, people will also be able to upgrade for the first time to the regular version of Windows 8 for $119.99.

Windows 8 Pro is more advanced than Windows 8 in areas like security, networking, virtualization and remote desktop access.

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Microsoft's Windows 8 Surface tablets for business ship Feb. 9

Surface for Windows 8 Pro support all legacy laptop applications, Windows Store apps, touch

Microsoft will ship the business model of its Surface tablet for Windows 8 on Feb. 9, later than the widely rumored Jan. 29 release date and about three weeks later than when the company said last year that it would ship.

Surface for Windows 8 Pro (or just Surface Pro) is the device expected to show off Windows 8 to full advantage given that it is made by Microsoft and that it supports all aspects of Windows 8.

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Microsoft initially said Surface Pro would ship about 90 days after the Oct. 26 ship date of the other Surface tablet, which would have made the date Jan. 18. Last week a Microsoft employee tweeted that Surface Pros were rolling off the assembly line.

The earlier released Surface RT, which, with its ARM processor is designed for long battery life, lacks support for traditional desktop applications. The one exception is an abbreviated version of Office that ships with the device.

Surface Pro, on the other hand, supports any application that runs on Windows 7 as well as the new Windows Store applications. It is the support for legacy applications that make this Surface the most attractive to businesses.

It is based on an Intel Core i5 processor and HD4000 graphics. It also has a touchscreen that meets Microsoft's Windows 8 specifications, a detachable keyboard and a pop-out kickstand to prop up the screen when it's used in laptop mode. The keyboard is held on with magnets, and when removed the device becomes a tablet.

Surface Pro comes in two models, one with 64GB storage for $899 and one with 128GB storage for $999. That's without the keyboard/cover, of which there are two types. The Touch ($120) has a keyboard embossed on a thin, fuzzy surface that is sensitive to finger taps but there are no mechanical keys. The Type keyboard ($129) has plastic mechanical keys that move and costs.

A stylus for note taking is included with Surface Pro.

Microsoft is adding a new line of Touch keyboards with cosmetic differences from the initial Touch covers, which come in five colors -- black, white, cyan, magenta and red. The difference with the new ones is they have designs etched into them and cost $129 rather than $120.

With the announcement of the new keyboard/covers, Microsoft is also announcing that it is selling Surface RT -- the 64GB ARM model -- as a standalone without a keyboard for those who want to use it solely as a tablet. It costs $599. With a Type keyboard it sells for $699.

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The 4 leading causes of data security breakdowns

The 4 leading causes of data security breakdowns

This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

A string of high-profile data breaches in 2012, from LinkedIn to Global Payments, have kept enterprise data security in the limelight. But most organizations still tend to be reactive and focus on firefighting when it comes to data security, rather than implementing a more effective long-term strategy. Let's examine the four most common pitfalls of this short-sighted approach.

* Lack of standards. Ad hoc security is often based upon multiple "standards" and solutions across disparate functional IT groups. For example, data encryption is often poorly implemented by IT professionals who don't really understand data security requirements. Some organizations are adopting emerging industry standards for encryption like the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP). However, it is still immature and thus no panacea. This overall lack of IT security standards leads to higher management costs, redundant processes, and greater risk of a data breach.

YEAR IN REVIEW: Worst security snafus of 2012

* No central control. In a similar fashion, individual security and encryption tools provide their own management consoles for administration, monitoring/auditing and key management. Each ad hoc solution needs to be configured separately and will provide different levels of functionality, sophistication and certification. This creates an operations quagmire. It also introduces varying degrees of risk depending upon each tool and how it is implemented. Of equal concern, CISOs have no central way to assess, monitor, address and report on how effectively these disparate security measures are working. That's because each individual security tool has its own policies, provisioning and management system. This translates into escalating costs and complexity.

* Disconnected management systems. Multiple security technologies each have to be provisioned, managed and monitored separately. Again, with no centralized management or policies, administration must be performed within each tool. The sheer number of management operations increases the risk of configuration errors, which can lead to a security breach or unrecoverable critical file.

* IT misalignment. Ad hoc security tools are often deployed in a manner where functional IT groups have access to and control over these systems. A good example is encryption keys. When multiple encryption solutions are implemented across an enterprise, encryption keys are exposed to numerous IT staff members. This violates a key information security best practice, namely, separation of duties. Since encryption keys are exposed to a wide group of individuals, this greatly increase the risk of an insider attack.
Three-step strategy to centralize security

There are several steps organizations can take to address the shortcomings associated with ad hoc security implementations.

The first is to consolidate core IT management disciplines. These include policy management, configuration management and reporting/auditing. All of these management activities should be controllable from one central location with actual execution occurring throughout the enterprise. In the reverse direction, all management information should flow back to the centralized management repository for storage, analysis, and reporting purposes.

Second, implement distributed policy enforcement. Centralized security policies must be enforced on heterogeneous systems distributed throughout the enterprise. To accomplish this, central management consoles must be able to distribute agents, configure individual systems, securely manage them and log all activities.

Third, deploy tiered administration. This enables enterprises to set and enforce both enterprise and departmental policies and allows separation of duties where security administrators, not functional IT staff, maintain management control over their security domains. For example, a database administrator at a financial services firm can be granted the power to maintain an Oracle database, but not rights to access regulated financial data. This approach protects the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data by limiting access to security management based on job requirements.

Deploying a centralized enterprise security management strategy will require financial and IT resource investments. However, it will enable organizations to control and share information while managing risk. Most importantly, it will help prevent data security breakdowns that lead to breaches and costly public disclosures.

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Why I abandoned Windows Phone 8

I recently acquired a Nokia Lumia 920 to experiment with Windows Phone 8. But a few weeks in, I'm already back to my Android-based device.

A few months ago, I forced myself to switch to Windows 8 on my desktop system (and laptop) and ended up liking the operating system very much. Once I got used to the quirks and garish look of the new Start screen and learned many of the shortcuts built into Windows 8, I found myself enjoying the operating system and was more than pleased by its myriad of enhancements and performance improvements.

I initially made the switch to Windows 8 because I wanted to fully immerse myself into the OS before formulating any strong opinions. Considering how much I ended up liking Windows 8 on my desktop, I thought I would conduct a similar experiment with my smartphone. For the last few years, I have been deeply entrenched in the Android ecosystem and have experience with a multitude of devices. I enjoy installing custom ROMs on the devices and have experimented with countless apps and utilities. At this point my smartphone is an integral part of my day-to-day computing, and I’ve grown fond of a handful of apps and the convenience of always having my inboxes and access to the web in my pocket.

I picked up a [Windows Phone 8-based Nokia Lumia 920 and was initially impressed. The hardware itself is excellent. The Lumia 920’s camera is top notch. The device is obviously well-built. The screen looks great, and navigating through Windows Phone 8 was smooth as silk. At first, my Android-based device (currently a Samsung Galaxy Note II) remained my daily driver. I kept the Lumia 920 handy until I felt I was comfortable using its email client, browsing the web. But eventually I customized the Start screen to my liking and got a good feel for what Microsoft and Nokia were trying to accomplish with the phone. I installed only a couple of apps and got comfortable with them too.

After a couple of weeks and a good initial impression, I decided to dive in head-first and make the Lumia 920 my daily device. At first, I was happy with the decision. I dug the Live Tiles and the Lumia 920 never lost its luster; it’s a great phone.

But as I started to install more and more apps and dig deeper into the Windows Phone App Store, I was regularly disappointed. There seemed to be three kinds of apps available for Windows Phone 8:

Apps specifically designed for the OS that showed signs of greatness
Quick-and-dirty ports of apps obviously designed for other platforms
Kludges that were nothing more than wrappers for mobile websites

The apps designed with Windows Phone 8 in mind were mostly great. I especially liked the IMDB app, which blows away its counterparts on other mobile platforms. The Facebook app was also very fast and responsive, but it wastes a TON of screen real estate with larger-than-necessary fonts in the navigation menu and wasted white space in the feed. There were times when I could only see a single post in my news feed because of all the wasted screen real estate. I’m not sure what the app developers were thinking with that one.

Then there were the obvious ports that just didn’t look right on Windows Phone 8. One in particular, Words with Friends, comes to mind. I know it’s an older title and games aren’t a necessity, but I enjoy playing Words with Friends; it’s a nice break in the day. Anyway, fonts (like the one used to display the score) were nearly illegible and the game is just plain broken. As of a couple of weeks ago, you couldn’t use words with the letter “Z” and the main screen wouldn’t update when it was your turn. You’d think with the amount of complaints logged in the app store someone at Microsoft would fix the game, but no such luck.

And then there’s apps like YouTube, which seem to be little more than wrappers for the YouTube mobile site. Minimal effort was put into optimizing the app for Windows Phone 8, and it shows.

As you probably guessed by now, my little experience was a failure. I’m back to my Android device and don’t plan to give Windows Phone 8 another try for a few months. If Microsoft wants people to give Windows Phone 8 serious consideration, they’ve got to get serious about offering quality apps for the platform. It’s not just about the number of available apps, it’s about the quality, and at this point in time Windows Phone 8 trails in both departments.

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Google, US FTC settle antitrust case

The company agrees to license mobile patents to competitors and to stop scraping rivals' content

Google has agreed to change some of its business practices, including allowing competitors access to some standard technologies, to resolve a U.S. Federal Trade Commission antitrust complaint against the company.

BACKGROUND: Lawmakers question FTC's investigation

Google has also agreed to give online advertisers more flexibility to manage advertising campaigns on Google's AdWords platform and on rival ad platforms, the FTC said Thursday. After a 19-month FTC investigation, Google also agreed to stop some of its "most troubling" search practices, including scraping Web content from rivals and allegedly passing it off as its own, said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz.

Google has agreed to allow competitors access to standards-essential patents the company acquired along with its purchase of Motorola Mobility in 2012, the FTC said. The FTC raised concerns that Google had reneged on commitments to offer some mobile and Web patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, or FRAND, terms.

Without the patent agreement, a number of smartphone and gaming console devices were "under threat" of patent litigation, Leibowitz said during a press conference. "Today's action makes clear that the commitment to make patents available on reasonable terms matters, and that companies cannot make these commitments when it suits them ... and then behave opportunistically later," he said.

The agreement doesn't include a fine, but the FTC could fine Google up to US $16,000 per violation if the company violates the terms of the patent settlement, Leibowitz said. The agency will monitor Google's compliance with the settlement, he said.

The settlement also doesn't include an agreement on search bias because the FTC didn't find enough evidence to force an agreement, he said.

The FTC did see some evidence of search manipulation, but Google's actions "didn't violate the American antitrust laws," Leibowitz said.

The agency looked at allegations that Google threatened to remove websites from search results if they complained about the search giant scraping their content, Leibowitz. "If the allegations are accurate, they describe conduct that is clearly problematic and potentially harmful to competition because it undermines incentives to innovate," he said. "Why would you create a new site for restaurant reviews if someone else can take them and appropriate them as if they were their own?"

The settlement shows Google's services are "good for users and good for competition," David Drummond, Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer, wrote in a blog post..

The settlement will give websites the ability to opt out of Google's search results and allow advertisers to mix and copy their Google ad campaigns with third-party services that use Google AdWords APIs, Drummond wrote.

"We've always accepted that with success comes regulatory scrutiny," he added. "But we're pleased that the FTC and the other authorities that have looked at Google's business practices ... have concluded that we should be free to combine direct answers with web results."

The FTC began investigating Google for antitrust violations in its search and advertising businesses in mid-2011. The agency reportedly has looked into Google's relationship with Android handset makers and whether Google favors its own services in search results.

In December 2011, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, and Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, asked the FTC to look into whether Google listed its products and services first in search results. Other lawmakers have urged the FTC to tread carefully in a dynamic tech industry.

Google competitors, including Microsoft, Oracle and other members of the FairSearch.org coalition, have accused Google of search "discrimination" by manipulating search results. Google has also used its dominance to force competitors out of the search marketplace, the group has said.

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Microsoft Patch Tuesday: Just two critical fixes but they affect a lot of Windows systems

Internet Explorer zero-day exploit is not addressed, but businesses should implement the workaround

Microsoft is issuing two critical fixes on this month's Patch Tuesday, one of them affecting its most popular operating system -- Windows 7 -- in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 R2.

That problem allows remote execution of code on unpatched machines without users doing anything, a situation Microsoft always deems critical.

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The other critical bulletin addresses a vulnerability that affects the full range of Windows desktop operating systems from Windows XP to Windows 8 as well as Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012, and also leaves the systems open to remote code execution. "It is likely that it is a vulnerability in one of the base libraries of Windows that is widely used, such as Windows XML Core Services, which had its last fix in July of 2012," says Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek.

While that's a relatively light load in terms of numbers of critical warnings, it doesn't mean it will be easy on IT departments making the patches. "There are a lot of restarts this month and they impact nearly all of the Windows operating systems," says Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension, a security, vulnerability and risk management company.

One of the five bulletins designated important - No. 5 - may end up being the most significant in terms of wiping out the threat, says Alex Horan, senior product manager, CORE Security. The problem is located in Vista SP 2, Server 2008 and Windows 7. "This has the potential for the most long-term issues as it represents an extremely large base of potential targets if it is not rectified properly," Horan says.

This includes Windows RT, the new power-pinching version of Windows 8 for devices based on ARM processors, which is affected by the vulnerability addressed by the second of the critical bulletins as well as by three others that are ranked important, Henry notes. Users should get accustomed to it, he says. "The system has been patched a few times already since being released late last year, and we expect to see it included in many of this year's Patch Tuesdays," he says.

None of the bulletins this month directly address a zero-day vulnerability found in the wild over the weekend in fully patched versions of Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8. The flaw allows attackers to gain control of affected machines. The attack comes from malicious Web sites containing content that exploits the vulnerability in visiting browsers, Microsoft says.

BACKGROUND: Microsoft issues quick fix for critical zero-day hole in IE

The company has issued a workaround but not a patch, and IT departments should make implementing the workaround their top priority, Henry says.
It would have taken a miracle for Microsoft to patch a zero-day one week after a zero-day advisory.
— Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle

It would be surprising if Microsoft had developed the IE patch already, says Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle. "It would have taken a miracle for Microsoft to patch a zero-day one week after a zero-day advisory," he says.

However, it is possible that one of this month's patches will repair operating-system vulnerabilities the IE attack could exploit, says Henry. With the details Microsoft has released so far it's impossible to tell. "If the browser is just a path to an underlying vulnerability in the operating system, then this issue will likely be fixed by one of the patches. If the vulnerability is exclusive to the browser, on the other hand, then this is still something to watch out for," Henry says.

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