There’s a brand new application in Microsoft Office: Office 365 Planner. Think of it as Microsoft’s answer to cloud-based coordination tools like Trello, allowing teams to organize tasks with visually arranged boards full of cards.
It’s not out for everyone yet, but Office 365 First Release customers can start using the app if administrators enable it.
Saying the tool helps teams organize their work visually, Microsoft explained their product in a blog post, saying “each plan has its own Board, and within each Board, each work item or task is represented by a Card that can have due dates, attachments, categories, and conversations associated with it.” All of these features will sound familiar to Trello users, as will some of the screenshots.
But there are some things unique to Planner, including integration with other Office products. Attached Office documents can be edited quickly, online or off, for example. There’s also integration with OneNote — every plan has a notebook created for it.
The Hub view lets teams track how many tasks are assigned to individual users and how much progress they’ve made. It comes complete with charts.
Not everyone can user Planner: it’s currently offered only to Office 365 First Release customers; that is, to customers who have opted in to early releases of Microsoft software. Even then, the app is available to users of the following plans:
Note that this leaves out some Enterprise plans, all Home ones, and all Government ones. Even if your plan offers the app, an administrator needs to enable the app before users can start playing with it. So if you don’t see the app offered, this is why.
Presumably the app will be more widely distributed after this trial period, during which Microsoft is asking users for feedback. It should be interesting to see how the new product evolves.
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.