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keynotes

Add labels to help organize object transitions in Keynote

Apple's Keynote application is a popular alternative to Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software for OS X users, and was initially distributed as part of Apple's iWork suite but now is available for download from the Mac App Store. As with most presentation software packages, Keynote supports a number of transitions for presentation objects like shapes, text boxes, and pictures. While these transitions can be used in unique and clever ways when demonstrating points on slides, sometimes they may be difficult to organize.

In order to move shapes around on a slide, you can select them and then choose … Read more

Apple shows smarter Siri, new MacBooks

Today's show has Mountain Lions, MacBooks and Siri, oh my!

Apple news overload at Monday's WWDC keynote presentation. Here's a quick summary of what you need to know.

Apple's next mobile software, iOS 6, will bring a few changes this Fall, including:

Video chatting on Facetime will be available on a cellular network, so no more Wi-Fi restrictions. Apple is launching its own Maps app with a 3D mode, called Flyover. It'll also have turn-by-turn directions, alert users to traffic issues and re-route accordingly. You can also ask Siri for directions. Siri is getting several upgrades, … Read more

What I want to see in iOS 6

As is always the case with every Apple event, there's really no way we can know what the company will announce at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday. I'm personally hoping Tim Cook will walk out there with the iPhone 5 (my iPhone 4 is getting a little rough around the edges), but others are saying that won't come until fall. We're probably about due for a Mountain Lion update as well, but many are saying that won't be here until later in the summer.

Tune in Monday anytime after 8 a.m. PT for our Apple WWDC keynote live blog.

Of course that leaves a ton of possibilities, from new laptop refreshes to Apple TVs, and who knows what else Apple has up its sleeve. But most people agree that an announcement about iOS 6 will probably be a major part of the presentation this Monday.

With that in mind, I've got a few things on my personal wish list for iOS 6.… Read more

Microsoft plans to bring ESPN, other sports and shows to Xbox

Microsoft has dramatically expanded the sports and entertainment offerings available via its Xbox 360.

At its E3 keynote today, the company said that it plans to add 35 more content providers to the Xbox, including Nickelodeon, Machinima, and others. That, Microsoft says, will complement the more than 200 million movies, television shows, and videos it has added to Xbox Live in the last year.

The big draw, however, might be the addition of more sports content. According to Microsoft, it will soon offer full access to ESPN programming across many of its channels, including ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, and … Read more

Pandora: We're 150,000,000 music lovers strong

NEW ORLEANS--Pandora has surpassed 150 million users, according to CEO Joe Kennedy.

The Internet radio service remains the second most downloaded app in the history of Apple's App Store, Kennedy said during a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless conference here today.

Pandora recently faced stiff competition from latecomer Spotify, which has managed to capture some buzz from recent announcements, such as its move open up the service to third-party developers. Spotify said a few months ago that it has 3 million paying customers.

But Pandora believes it is at the early stages of the growth curve.

"We … Read more

Build your own Keynote speech

Keynote for iOS lets you create presentations using only a touch screen, your content, and a huge number of ways to present your ideas. Like the other iWork for iOS apps, Apple has made it easy to get started using Keynote with a Getting Started presentation that shows you how to use each of the program's features.

The touch-screen interface is very intuitive with slide navigation on the left side of the interface, and close-ups of the slides in your main working area. In the left navigation you can add, delete, duplicate, or reorder slides, all with only a … Read more

New Apple app roundup for iOS

This was a big week for Apple with the announcement of the new iPad, and though I got to play with it a little bit at the event Wednesday, I really can't wait to put it through its paces when it's finally released March 16.

With that said, the new iPad wasn't the only thing released on Wednesday; Apple also announced the availability of several updates to iOS apps, including the new iPhoto for iOS.

This week's collection of iOS apps is a little different than usual. Instead of a themed collection, I'm going to list the Apple apps released this week so you can have them all in one place. Click the name of the link to head to our download page, or click the link at the end of each one to read our hands-on articles about each of the apps.… Read more

Wireless CEOs warn of industry challenges, call for openness

BARCELONA, Spain--Not everything is rosy in the wireless industry.

That's an unusual thing to say during the kickoff keynote address at Mobile World Congress, the world's largest wireless confab. Yet that's exactly what Franco Bernabe, CEO of Telecom Italia, said during his prepared remarks today.

"I don't want to say we're an industry with problems," Bernabe said. "We're still growing and we have a lot of opportunities. But we have a lot of challenges we need to face."

Bernabe was joined by China Mobile CEO Li Yue, Vodafone CEO Vittorio … Read more

Manage animations in Keynote

Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software is to some degree an industry standard, and its presence on both Windows and OS X allows for a decent level of cross-platform compatibility that new Mac users might gravitate toward; however, there are other options besides Office that might perform as well as if not better than PowerPoint, which you might wish to consider.

As I mentioned in a previous post on Apple's alternative to Excel called Numbers, there are a few Office programs out there that have good offerings and which can import and export PowerPoint file formats. These include the free … Read more