MS delays Office for Mac release

Microsoft will delay the release of Office 2008 for Apple's Macintosh computers until the middle of January 2008, in order to fix lingering bugs in the software, says Forbes.com.

The software maker previously said the new suite, which is to include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the Entourage e-mail program, would go on sale sometime in the second half of 2007.

"It really is just a quality issue across the board," Craig Eisler, GM of Microsoft's Macintosh business unit, said in an interview Wednesday.

Google has developed a prototype cellphone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications, according to a story published today in The Wall Street Journal, says The Washington Post.

Google is showing the prototype to cellphone manufacturers and network operators, as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products, the story said.

Google did not return calls for comment.

Sony announced Thursday it's recalling 350 000 digital cameras, a point-and-shoot model called the Cyber-shot DSC-T5 released in 2005, because of a problem that could cause metal on the bottom of the camera to cut or scratch the photographer.

A defect in the bottom of some Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 cameras can cause cuts or scratches, reports CNET News.com.

"Sony has recently discovered that some DSC-T5 Cyber-shot digital still cameras may experience peeling and warping of the metal coating on the bottom of the camera that could result in a slight cut or scratch to the user's skin," Sony said in an advisory on its Web site.

Parallels today began another new beta of its Parallels Desktop software for Mac, and announced that the latest test version is available for free to anyone with a permanent or trial Parallels Desktop 3.0 key, reports MacNN.

Parallels Desktop is a program that allows Mac users to run Microsoft Windows XP or Vista right alongside Mac OS X, without the need to reboot, and supports intuitive operations like dragging files from Windows to Mac OS X and vice-versa.

The latest beta release brings Microsoft application windows to Expose, and enhances the look of each PC-oriented window.