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If news about Word, Excel, and PowerPoint makes you writhe with anticipation, watch this live stream of Microsoft's Office 2013 announcement. Microsoft hosts this broadcast from San Francisco.

Instead of talking tablets, the company is discussing the next edition of its Office suite, Office 2013.

(Here's a photo (left) that PCWorld Senior Editor Melissa J. Perenson shot earlier today at the event site in San Francisco.)

PCWorld is covering the event and providing liveblog commentary as well.

Although the company hasn't made any details of the event public, USA Today reported last week that the new Office will be the topic of conversation, citing industry sources. Microsoft previously said that it would announce details on its productivity suite during the summer, so the timing is right.

The news should be significant, as this new version of Office is the first iteration of the software that must straddle the line between the new Metro-style interface in Windows 8 and the traditional desktop.

From the leaked screenshots we've seen so far, the new Office will be a desktop app with some Metro design flourishes, and a touch mode that will make tablet use easier.

It's unclear whether Microsoft will offer a proper Metro-style app, or a version of Office for other tablets. (The latter is on my wishlist of new Office features.)

Go here to see the original:
Microsoft Office 2013 Press Conference with Steve Ballmer

STEPPING OVER THE LINE Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, known for her outbursts, recently offended advocates and parents of children with Down syndrome with her 'mongoloid' remark during a Senate forum.

She may not be aware of it but Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has disappointed and earned the ire of a certain sector of the society with her recent pronouncement at a Senate forum.

Last week, Defensor-Santiago labeled her political enemies as mongoloids, a long outdated derogatory term for people with Down syndrome. News reports have quoted the solon as delivering this statement: I tell all my enemies who just want to get off me, stop molesting me, you mongoloids!

Advocates and parents of children with Down syndrome took to social networking sites to condemn the feisty senators pronouncement. Describing Santiago as insensitive, uneducated and even racist, members of the Down Syndrome Association of the Philippines, Inc. (DSAPI) are demanding a public apology from the senator.

Ferdy Valdivia, parent of a child with Down syndrome, wrote a note on the Senators fan page to get their message across.

On behalf of the Down syndrome Association of the Philippines, I would like to tell you that your behavior using the mongoloid word to describe the members of Congress is very unbecoming of a statesman like you. First, you have denigrated our children with Down syndrome by referring to them as unintelligent, inefficient, and unproductive. In other words, you have described our children as inutile and no use to society, he said in the note.

Valdivia adds that what the senator had said is the exact opposite of who the children and persons with Down syndrome really are.

This is not the case with our loving, sweet, and full of love children. They have always shown how much they care for us parents, to their siblings, and to other people. In fact, they manifest more their humanity than normal people like us. They all have a heart and they all have a brain that they use to love and to care for others. The children with Down syndrome are very functional and have truly shown other people their talents and intelligence which has become so obvious in the way they act and care, he added.

USE WORDS WISELY

For many years now, advocates and parents of children with Down syndrome all around the world are working hard to stop the use of the term mongoloid to describe their children. Like the term retarded, the term mongoloid is a word advocates are seeking to be banned from usage in media and in society due to its derogatory nature.

More here:
PWD advocates score solon for use of word ‘mongoloid’

By Roger Dobson

PUBLISHED: 16:19 EST, 14 July 2012 | UPDATED: 16:19 EST, 14 July 2012

Internet use has been blamed for mental health problems and social isolation among young people but new research suggests that silver surfers are less likely to suffer depression.

The study, based on a survey of almost 8,000 men and women aged over 50, shows that regular users of social-networking sites are almost a third less likely to be diagnosed with depression compared with non-users.

It is known that rates of depression increase with age. Research from the University of Illinois found the incidence of depression was at its lowest around the age of 45, and highest among the over-80s.

Silver surfer: Regular users of social-networking sites are almost a third less likely to be diagnosed with depression compared with non-users

Prevalence increases from five per cent at the age of 70 to 13 per cent at 85.

Loneliness, social isolation and lack of emotional support are among the reasons for the trend.

In the new study the biggest so far on the health effects of internet use among older people participants were asked whether they regularly used the internet and were then assessed for mental illness.

Our findings suggest that internet use has a positive effect on depression, says Dr Shelia Cotten, who led the research at the University of Alabama and other centres.

Follow this link:
Over 50s who regularly use social networking sites less likely to suffer with depression

Darrin Underwood's father died from cancer 25 years ago, but he still thinks about him each day. And while Facebook didn't exist when his father was alive, his memory now lives on there.

Underwood created a memorial page on Facebook for his father through Evertalk, a new Facebook app. It's one of the burgeoning services that have launched in recent years to cater to the digital afterlife, that is, all that happens online after a person passes away.

The Internet, after all, continues ticking. More than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook daily. Some 340 million tweets are sent each day. But what happens to the photos and tweets after the person who created them dies?

Evertalk - as well as 1000memories and about 30 to 40 other startups - are trying to respond to that thorny question. Many offer a way to remember and honor the person online, so friends and family can write messages and share photographs in a digital memorial. Others look after a person's digital assets, such as their e-mail and social media accounts and passwords. And some online services enable people to send pre-written messages to their friends and family years after their deaths.

"We've had this huge shift happen. This physical world has become a very digital world. Elements of our lives are now digital," said John Romano, a researcher and co-author of the book "Your Digital Afterlife" and the blog "The Digital Beyond."

Take Facebook again. With more than 900 million users on the social network, it has become the destination to share, rant and rave. But at some point, a person's Facebook timeline ends. San Francisco's Evertalk wants to be there to pick up where it left off.

"We are using Facebook as a story of our digital life, but what happens after you die?" said Evertalk founder Russ Hearl. Evertalk "picks up where the Facebook timeline ends."

Hearl said he was inspired to start Evertalk a few months ago after a friend passed away and he only heard about it a few weeks later on Facebook.

Online memorial sites have been around for years, but Evertalk takes the trend to Facebook. It notifies friends and family on the network about the person's death and allows them to upload and share photos, write messages, make donations and send announcements about the memorial, without having to go to another website and create a new user name and password.

Underwood, who works in technology sales in San Jose, created the page for his father a few weeks ago and plans to share it with some of his friends and family on Facebook. So far, he's uploaded a few photos and written a biography about his father. In the future, he'd like to share it with his children.

Go here to read the rest:
Death doesn't stop social networking

The family of a Dorchester pastor is praying for his safe return from captivity in Egypt, after he and an Everett woman and their tour guide were kidnapped while traveling on a religious mission.

Michel Louis, 61, pastor of the Free Pentecostal Church of God, appears to be all right but has diabetes and may require medical attention before long, his son said.

Were all in good spirits because we know the God we serve is in control of the matter, his son, Jean Louis, the churchs youth pastor, said.

He said his father was on an annual mission to Israel with a group of clergy. Jean Louis confirmed the identity of the female captive as Lisa Alphonse of Everett.

Louis family thanked clergy from around the world for their support.

The Egyptian Bedouin who kidnapped Louis and Alphonse and their guide Friday said hell take more hostages of different nationalities if police dont release his uncle from prison.

If my uncle gets 50 years (in prison), they will stay with me for 50 years. If they release him, I will release them, Jirmy Abu-Masuh said of the captives.

But Abu-Masuh, a 32-year-old truck driver from the Tarbeen tribe in the Sinai Peninsula, said the hostages will remain safe.

He said they were treated as guests and given tea, coffee and a traditional lamb dinner reserved for special occasions in Bedouin culture.

I told them nothing will happen to you. You are my guest, he said.

Read the rest here:
Family of pastor kidnapped in Egypt waits for word