Filed under: Text, Productivity, Social Software, web 2.0

Online office suites are gaining some serious steam, and Zoho Office (along with Google Docs) remains one of the innovators in the market. Today, Zoho has released an update to Zoho Writer, their on the internet word processing application.

The biggest highlight of the update is the added support for Microsoft’s OOXML file format, mercifully titled DocX. In case you didn’t know, whenever you save a Word document, PowerPoint file, Excel spreadsheet, etc…in Office 2007 (or 2008 on a Mac), the default format is DocX.

Zoho Writer now grants you to export your documents as a DocX file - though it looks like importing a DocX file is still a short time away.

Other notable feature updates include:

• Thesaurus (available in ten languages)
• Groups: Share documents with multiple people without having to enter in multiple email addresses each time you share a document.
• Enhanced support for endnotes, footnotes, headers, and footers.

It looks like the line between on the web word processing and desktop word processing just got a little thinner. How about you, constant reader? Have you made the leap to on the web word processing? Sound off below.

[via TechCrunch]

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Social Software

When we first wrote about Open Source Food, we said we loved the idea but the site needed some love. Well, it seems that OSF’s creator, Jon Yongfook Cockle, thought the same thing because he’s overhauled the whole enchilada and it’s tastier than ever.

Navigation is much more intuitive and background is minimalist so photos of the delicious dishes really stand out (warning: some of the food pictures will make you want to lick your screen). More than just a Web site, it’s a social network and members are encouraged to share photos, recipes, and meal ideas . Of course, tagging, voting, and commenting are also part of the fun.

The thing we really like about this site is that there are plenty of basic recipes for novices — butter baked cabbage, chocolate chip cookies — along with a ton of recipes for advanced cooks. Since the site’s members are all over the globe, OSF also has the international flair thing going on. Hot Thai fish curry, anyone?

Bottom line: if you can’t find a fabulous recipe somewhere on this site, then you’re not really trying.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Raising money, Private equity industry, Investments

Egyptian buyout firm Citadel Capital may actually be coming public. A report out of DealBook from the New York Times discusses that the firm plans to raise $150 million to $200 million from a public offering later this year.

The firm currently manages $7 billion in assets and intends to use the capital for ventures in the energy, food and manufacturing industries.

This article also noted that according to managing director Mr. el-Houssieny, Citadel is in discussions with four undisclosed international banks regarding the offering. It also notes that it is looking into whether it should list in London, Cairo, or Dubai.

In 2007, the company bought Rally Energy Corp, a Canadian oil company, for $849 million and was involved in the Egyptian Fertilizer Co.’s $1.41 billion sale.

This would be an interesting change of pace. Imagine a private equity and LBO firm in the U.S. announcing it would come public. They would be told to go away until next year. Now envision if you were selling this only to Americans and it was an Egyptian company wanting to do this. Maybe the decoupling argument isn’t as ludicrous as we think.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Productivity, Social Software, iPhone

Web-based task scheduling and organizing tool Remember the Milk, has just released a full-featured mobile version that’s specially optimized for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Just to set your mind at ease: when they state full-featured, they mean full-featured. With the iPhone/iPod Touch optimized version of Remember the Milk, you can:

• View upcoming tasks (due this day, tomorrow, and this week)
• View tasks by list (including Smart Lists), tag or location
• Add new tasks and notes
• Complete tasks with the touch of a button
• Edit existing tasks and notes
• Search tasks (supports advanced search operators)
• View handy settings (such as your Inbox email address)

For you home page perfectionists, the webclip for Remember the Milk is also customized for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

One small caveat: the optimized version of Remember the Milk is available exclusively for Pro users. Non-pro users can test the optimized version free for 15 days; after that, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro account ($25 for one year) for uninterrupted access. We suggest paying the fee to avoid those nasty Remember the Milk withdrawals.

Point your iPhone or iPod Touch to http://i.rememberthemilk.com/ to check it out.

[via gHacks]

Read

Share This

Share This