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There is a new cloud on the horizon, and it is in the shape of an office. It is called Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, and it is going to be a huge advancement in how people conduct their business and personal lives. DocVerse is a startup company that was bought by Google last March, and now is getting a chance to shine through integration into a widely used application for email.

The combination of a program like Google Docs and an email powerhouse like Office is deadly. One of the coolest features of Google Docs is the ability to access a document and edit it simultaneously with co-workers or other people. Forget about attaching the documents, that takes too long and is a thing of the past.

This is an amazing tool that will make life so much easier, no more having to wait for your client to look over changes in the document you just emailed and send it back, with Google Cloud Connect all you have to do is share the email and you are closer to finishing before you even start.

Another great feature of Google Cloud Connect is that you can connect to it from anywhere, just like Google Docs, all you have to do is save it. Once you save it, the document is given a unique URL(Uniform Resource Locator), allowing you to get it on your smart phone or office computer.

It is really a beautiful thing, this new “software of a service” office suite will be offered for free WHEN IT COMES OUT. Right now it is in the stage of testing.

The main reason Google is using MS Office as its platform to launch this new software is the fact that there are millions of people using Office, and it is not likely they will move to Google any time soon…unless…

Google Cloud Connect is targeting Microsoft Office and is taking over. With this new service users will also be able to work on PowerPoint presentations and Excel documents as well. The ones who need this are small business owners or companies that communicate throughout a large office that is otherwise hard to get things done.

Don’t worry, it will work with all existing Office versions, from Office 2003 to Office 2010.

Perhaps the best feature of Google Cloud Connect is the ability to access it from anywhere in the world with a computer and internet access. This is the cloud feature of the software. Personally I am an editor for a newspaper, so this tool is perfect for a person like me that needs to have constant contact with editors and writers on stories. When I am away from the computer, anything can happen where if I do not get to a computer, the whole operation could be compromised due to the fact that I could not see the article before it went to press. Google Cloud Connect will help a lot of people, including me.

Stay tuned to Geek Choice Blog for cool news and awesome updates that are sure to keep you informed and in-the-know.

If you have not already made the jump to Office 2010, then you are still sitting on the lily pad, with all the other frogs deciding when to jump into something better.

The new edition of Office came out last June, changing the way people use the computer and how they conduct their business through it, and now is standard in new PC’s. Microsoft Office is really just an easier way to handle multiple operations at once when the operating system normally could not perform these tasks. For businessmen and professionals, Office has become the standard for email, meetings, and productivity.

Office provides Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, InfoPath, Groove, and Publisher. That is a ton of operation for one program to handle, and Office fits them all together for you to use them with ease. So if you have the old version of Office, why not turn your ‘ease’ into ‘easier’?

New Features

One new add on to Microsoft Office is PowerPoint LiveWeb, which is perfect for anyone who uses PowerPoint. Who does not love this program? Students especially have benefited from using this program greatly because it offers such a detailed and neat presentation. No more posters or weird looking projects that you have to spend hours on making. With this new feature, you can add web pages right to the slide making your presentation perfect. The OLD PowerPoint is so hard to configure because you have to add the code to the page.

To top it all off, a new feature called Producer takes the cake on ease. It lives up to its name, it produces results allowing the user to import video, photographs, and audio right into your presentation. If you are involved in e-Learning, a conference, office communications, and public speaking, Producer lets you do what you want to do: the best!

Office 2010 gets into the social network scene with Outlook Social Connector. With this feature you can see what your friends and business associates are doing instantly through Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Window’s Live Messenger. Using this feature allows people to follow each others progress and status when at work, school, or home.

Offisync is more than a combination between Office and synchronization, it is a revolutionary change in the way people share, edit, and communicate documents. If you use Google Docs, another multi-usage platform that combines a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation along with storage, then Offisync is the right stuff. With this feature you now have access to your Google Docs within Office. This makes it easier because you are free from being confined to the Google Apps. It is the key you have been looking for to unlock the door to accessibility.

For all of you that travel across the world seeking business and/or pleasure, Office has combined with Bing to create: Bing Travel Planner for Outlook. Especially if you have trouble to begin with trying to plan a trip or multiple trips over the year, Bing Travel Planner helps you schedule flights and also remember them.

Perhaps one of the most useful tools that Microsoft has added to its new edition of Office, is Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word. You can download this free of charge at the Microsoft website. What this allows you math illiterate people like myself to do, or math geniuses like you to accomplish, is graphing 2D or 3D, solving equations in arithmetic and algebra, and even completing statistical functions. How awesome is that? This is something that has been missing in computers, an application that is easy to use and effective in helping the student or businessman who has to deal with numbers daily, finish the work they started.

So for all you Microsoft Office Addicts out there who are off the wagon and need a fix? Office 2010 gives you all that need to satisfy that craving for more.

Microsoft recently made the successor to the popular Microsoft Office 2007, Office 2010, open for public beta. Available for both 32 bit and 64 bit systems, this new package is poised to become the standard once it moves on to its final stage.

To download the beta, you must be subscribed to MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) or TechNet.

Be advised that it is not recommended to access the beta across P2P networks, with obvious concerns about using such services for the exchange of copyrighted software.

Whether you’ve just encountered a catastrophic error that results in a system crash or find yourself upgrading to the latest operating system, reformatting your hard drive is an extreme measure that’s often unavoidable over the course of your computer’s life.  When doing so, it’s of paramount concern that you’re able to retain the data stored on your computer.

While backing up certain data is as simple as transferring it to another form of storage, many of your applications will require re-installation, a process that can often be hindered by the sheer number of apps installed on your PC.

Mitigating this chore is a helpful website that keeps a tally of the applications installed on your computer, allowing you – when ready – to re-install those items with the click of your mouse.

The site is called AllMyApps.com

For now, the only issue I’ve found is that it limits applications to those which are free, excluding commercial software (Microsoft Office applications, i.e.). While understandable, given copyright concerns, this does leave you to install those programs individually. Still, despite that omission, this site logs every other free application that’s installed on your computer.

To the surprise of many, I’m sure, our computers are host to dozens of free applications that we’ve installed over time. Many of these facilitate what are now mundane activities, such as Adobe Flash or AIM. By using this site, after having reformatted your hard drive, you’re immediately returned to the previous composition of your computer – excluding, of course, those commercial applications.

The unavailability of commercial software aside, this is a novel idea that is long overdue.

Should you have any other questions related to preservation of data on your computer, especially you think your hard drive needs to be reformatted, we’re here to aid you.

Whether we’re typing out a quick memo or writing a letter to a friend, word processors are invaluable tools that provide the means to draft documents when needed. Word is the most widely used solution in this regard, but it’s packaged with Microsoft Office, a software suite that includes a host of other applications – Excel, Powerpoint, etc. — that you may not require.

Free and easy to use, Abiword is an alternative for those who need just a word processor, freeing your computer from needless software that’s along for the ride.

Abiword works with every major operating system:

• Windows
• Linux
• Mac

After editing a Word document at work, Abiword can continue editing it at home, allowing for seamless transitioning between the two formats.

This is a nice solution for those looking to keep their system limited to the barest essentials. If you ever have any questions about its use, feel free to contact one of us.

Abiword can be downloaded here.