Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac, new Apple TV
In March we covered Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac and I shared my experience with the new 4th generation Apple TV.
Office 2016 for Mac is available as a one-time purchase or as part of an Office 365 monthly or yearly subscription. In the past the Mac Office software followed the Windows edition by about a year. So there was Office 2008 for Mac following Office 2007 for Windows, and Office 2011 for Mac followed Office 2010 for Windows. However there was no Office for Mac following the release of Office 2013 for Windows, so Office 2016 for Mac is kind of a catch-up release for Mac users. For a change it’s coming out in the same year as the Windows version.
Office Home & Student 2016 for Mac includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the OneNote note taking application. Office Home & Business 2016 for Mac and the subscription plans add Outlook, the e-mail, calendar, and contacts application in the Office suite.
Someone asked how to enter a sharp, flat, or natural (music notation) symbol, whether it was in Word or another Mac app. It turns out it can be entered from the same input keyboard that allows you to insert emoji characters. You just need to search for the symbol name.
The other topic was the new Apple TV which I had recently purchased. I already had the 3rd generation model, so I was a bit skeptical about whether I really needed the new one. It now has its own App Store, with many of the same apps as the previous model, plus many more, including a large assortment of games. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a number of iPad/iPhone apps were also available as Apple TV apps. If you purchased an app for your iOS device, you don’t have to purchase it again for the new Apple TV.
The box itself looks identical to the previous model except it is taller and heavier. However the new Siri remote is quite different from the previous Apple TV remote. The Siri remote has a touch surface that replaces the D-pad (up/down/left/right directional pad) of the previous remote. Both have a Menu button that takes you up one level in the Apple TV interface, but the new one also has a Home button that takes you directly to the top-level home screen. The Siri remote also has a volume up and down button that can control your TV or audio/video receiver volume. Finally, there is a Siri button that either summons Siri to respond to your request, or can allow dictation into a search box.
I am not really a gamer, but I was curious enough to try a pinball game I found in the Apple TV App Store. It wasn’t clear to me how to work the flippers with the remote. I tried tapping and clicking on the touch surface, but eventually discovered that I could flip the right flipper by swiping right and the left flipper by swiping left. I eventually found a settings panel in the game that explained this, and there was another panel in case you bought an MFi (made for iPhone) game controller. It also turned out that the same game showed up on my iPad so I could play it there.
I am gradually being won over by the new Apple TV. I knew about the Plex TV app that’s available on iOS and other devices like Roku and TiVo. It allows you to browse and view videos and other media that reside on your computer. I also discovered a nice app called Tangent for browsing your Instagram feed. I would just like to see a few more apps that are available on the Roku but not yet on the Apple TV, such as the Spotify streaming service. If you subscribe to Apple Music, that is of course available on the new Apple TV.