Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office brings collaborative multi-person editing to the familiar Microsoft® Office experience. You can share, backup, and simultaneously edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel® documents with coworkers.

Watch the videos below to learn how Google Cloud Connect teaches your old docs new tricks.

Learn how Cloud Connect helped Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Requirements:

* Windows XP with .NET Framework 2.0, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
* Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007, or Office 2010

Using Microsoft Office Home and Student edition? Read more on how to install Cloud Connect.

“Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office.” Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. Google. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect#.

12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer

Sabharwal, Anil. “12 New File Formats in the Google Docs Viewer.” Google Docs Blog. Googledocs.blogspot.com, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. <http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/02/12-new-file-formats-in-google-docs.html>.

The Google Docs Viewer is used by millions of people every day to quickly view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online. Not only is viewing files in your browser far more secure than downloading and opening them locally, but it also saves time and doesn’t clutter up your hard-drive with unwanted files.

Today we’re excited to launch support for 12 new file types:

* Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
* Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
* Apple Pages (.PAGES)
* Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
* Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
* Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
* Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
* PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
* TrueType (.TTF)
* XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Not only does this round out support for the major Microsoft Office file types (we now support DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS and XLSX), but it also adds quick viewing capabilities for many of the most popular and highly-requested document and image types.

In Gmail, these types of attachments will now show a “View” link, and clicking on this link will bring up the Google Docs Viewer.

You can also upload and share these files in Google Docs, so that anyone can view the content using their browser.

And as always, the Google Docs Viewer is available for use on any website, with both a full Chrome and embedded option. More information can be found here.

What Does the IPv6 Transition Mean to Me?

http://lifehacker.com/#!5753686/what-does-the-ipv6-transition-mean-to-me

I’ve heard that we’re running out of IP addresses and we need to switch to a new system called IPv6, but I don’t understand any of it. What does this all mean for the internet and for me?

Signed,
Infinitely Perplexed

Dear IP,

The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is kind of confusing if you’ve never really read much about it, but the idea is pretty simple. IPv4 is what we currently use, and it results in IP addresses with four sets of numbers. For example, the IP address to your router is probably 192.168.1.1 or 10.0.1.1 (or something similar).

What Does the IPv6 Transition Mean to Me? The periods separate each number, and there are a total of four. Because there are only so many combinations, we’ve actually managed to (essentially) run out of IPv4 addresses. Without IP addresses, we can’t keep adding more computers to the internet. That’s a simplified explanation of the problem, but that’s essentially the issue. The solution is iPv6, which results in longer addresses that look like this: 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf. This offers up many, many more combinations so we’ll be able to allocate new IPv6 addresses for a long time. For a good overview of the whole situation, check out this infographic.

How the Change Affects You

What Does the IPv6 Transition Mean to Me?It’s pretty easy to memorize an IPv4 address—it’s not much different than memorizing a phone number—but IPv6 addresses are quite a bit more difficult. On the surface, you’re dealing with something a bit more complex. Beneath the surface, IPv6 also works a bit differently than IPv4 and requires both hardware and software support to function. IPv6 support is built in to most modern computer hardware, but not all. If you want to check if your hardware supports IPv6, the easiest thing to do is head for the command line. In Windows you can run ipconfig. On a Mac or Linux machine you can run ifconfig. These commands should list IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for your hardware. If you see an IPv6 address listed, you’re good.

Sort of.

Software support is also necessary for IPv6 to work. You can’t just enter an address like 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf because, at the moment, your browser probably doesn’t recognize the format (or sort of does). Fortunately there isn’t much to worry about here because, 1) you can’t do anything about this and 2) software support will be on its way.

When the Change is Coming

June 8, 2011, is World IPv6 Day, during which web companies like Google and Facebook are participating in a 24-hour test of IPv6. In reality, the IPv6 change isn’t likely to mean much to you for quite some time. In the United States, the IPv6 compatibility deadline set by the federal government is September 30, 2012, according to Information Week. This is the date after which “webmail, domain name server (DNS), and Internet service provider (ISP) services, must operationally use native IPv6.” This is soon, but not terribly soon, and for most of us, that deadline won’t really mean a lot. If you’re running a popular browser, you can expect compatibility by the time you’ll need it, and likewise with most hardware. Chances are you won’t have to do anything other than keep your software up to date, but if you have IPv6-incompatible hardware, you’ll likely have updated anything that isn’t compatible by then. While the IPv6 transition won’t halt your ability to access the internet, it could cause some issues moving forward.

Hope that helps!

Love,
Lifehacker

New Internet Explorer Flaw Affects All Versions, Every User

http://www.switched.com/2011/02/01/internet-explorer-mhtml-flaw-affects-all-versions/

On Friday, Microsoft announced it had discovered a security flaw in Internet Explorer, used by over 900 million people, that could potentially affect every single user of the browser, regardless of version, on Windows XP, Vista and 7. The flaw rests with how the browser handles MHTML files. Microsoft said an attacker could use a simple HTML link to launch malicious code that could collect user data or redirect the browser to phishing sites. Microsoft has released a temporary security patch that simply blocks attempts to use the exploit, but it does not actually fix the flaw. While IE fans are busy installing hacked-together patches for a serious security flaw that, according to Ars Technica, was reported back in 2007, those using alternative browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Opera are sitting pretty. In addition to being just plain better, faster browsers, they’re also more secure. In fact, Safari, Chrome and Firefox don’t even support MHTML files, a weird Web format cooked up by Microsoft back in 1999 that allowed webpages to be saved to a single file, even if they contained elements normally separated from HTML, like Flash video and images.

If you must use Internet Explorer (and we know some of you have no choice), we strongly suggest you install the temporary fix (found here) now. If you have a choice, though, we continue to urge you to pick an IE alternative. You’ll not only be safer, but you’ll probably have a much more pleasant browsing experience.