Microsoft Excel: What Is Spreadsheeting?
By Chris Le Roy
The concept of spreadsheeting has been around for hundreds of years. The process can be described as the ability to arrange numbers, characters and other objects into rows and columns. It is most common that spreadsheets only contain numbers and text.

The software version of spreadsheeting basically takes the manual processes described above and puts them into an electronic format. Whilst the accounting industry which most commonly uses spreadsheets they can be used in any situation.

The types of industries that use spreadsheets include the science industry, financial services industry, aviation industry, civil and mechanical engineering industry, education, research, science, bio-sciences, marine biology, the list is endless.
Essentially any industry that requires the ability to plan, analyse and model data.

Data is defined in terms of spreadsheets as text, numbers or mathematical formulas. The data is what is used to create the electronic model and the model is then shown on the screen. A model in essence is an electronic version of a real life situation. For example you

BUSTED! iPhone.com now owned by Apple, Inc.

There was a point recently, where the ads appearing on iPhone.com, began to cross the line of someone simply looking to run a business, and someone who was clearly deriving profit from Apple, Inc's joint trademark with Cisco.  The whole descent into ad-monger was detailed in a previous article, and is experted below.  Apparently, Apple has finally caught up with them, and however it has been worked out, the domain name now uses Apple's nameservers, and redirects to Apple's iPhone website joining iPhone.org is Apple's iPhone domain name portfolio.  It seems like this was only a matter of time, and could possibly have already been in progress when the ads began to show up last week. 

The details are beginning to crystallize on the availability of the iPhone on June 29th, 2007. For some, this will be the day that lived in infamy, for others it will be their short-lived moment in the sun, the envy of throngs of others.  Apparently, the 29th is being considered something of a "soft launch" for the iPhone.  AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook confirmed that the phone will only be available through the company's stores (roughly 1800), and those of Apple itself (around 170). The following represents additional tips and info.

]]>

Proving how crucial its June timing was, it appears that the Bluetooth headset announced in January at the MacWorld convention alongside the iPhone, has finally received FCC approval. Much the same as its parent product, the FCC has granted Apple a period of time before which detailed product photos and information would not be disseminated to the public.  The device will carry the model number A1221 and the FCC ID BCGA1221.

]]>

"Get Ready for iPhone", are the words written in an e-mail sent out to those signed up to be notified about the device being launched by Apple and at&t late this June.  "iPhone arrives June 29th" according to the e-mails that began going out on Tuesday according to the partners.  Aside from reiterating its numerous features, the e-mail goes on to detail numerous points regarding what customers might do to prepare themselves to start using their new iPhones.  Contacts, Calendar, Email, Photos, Music/

]]>

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, Apple is in advanced talks with Hollywood's largest movie studios to enable iTunes users to play rented movies on their computers, as well as one additional device, like their iPhone.  The service, set to be released in the fall of 2007, would have consumers pay $2.99 for a 30-day rental.

]]>

Amongst the storm of commercials for the Apple iPhone created by its growing fan-base, comes this gem from director Ryan Landels.  A spec ad done as a collaboration with producer Christina Ferguson and visual effects artist Phil Broste, "the Future is Calling" borrows from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, cutting together a shortened version of an existing sequence.  The Monolith, from the film, was the perfect stand-in for what would be images of the iPhone rendered in 3D and composited into the scenes. 

More... ]]>

Forbes has run a story informing readers that this year, the FCC is set to auction off another block of the wireless spectrum. According to the publication, if a band of "technology veterans" and "wireless entrepreneurs" have their way, the FCC will reserve part of that spectrum as a "sandbox" for innovative companies. This notion is not at all something put out by starry-eyed idealists either, and has taken the form of an open letter to the FCC on Thursday...

]]>

The Economist has released an article entitled "Lessons from Apple", that details some important aspects to this innovative company that many often overlook.  They go on to list four specific lessons that have helped Apple in its road to success.  Among these are: "Innovation can come from without as well as within" acknowledging that not all good ideas start at home, "the importance of designing new products around the needs of the user", "Smart companies should sometimes ignore what the market says it wants today" and finally "fail wisely, not stigmatising it, but learning from it".

]]>

Member Cindynjgirl79 from the MacRumors forum, has apparently scored a copy of the AT&T sales training manual for the iPhone.  Describing herself as neither an employee of Apple nor an employee of AT&T, and neither obtaining the guide by theft nor break-in, the MacRumors forum member sent them scans of 15 pages out of a 33 page guide.  Included with the scans were a picture of her holding the guide next to her face.

]]>

Qualcomm, the second largest manufacturer of mobile phone chips will be banned from new mobile phone models sold in the U.S. While Qualcomm seeks an emergency stay of the rulling from the Federal Circuit Court, as well as a presidential veto, the company, along with partners like Verizon Wireless must contemplate how this result will impact their business.

]]>

An article on emsnow starts off by detailing a report by Topology Research, on how global shipments of touch-panels are expected to reach 55 million units this year, and jump to about 95 million units in 2010 thanks to the demonstration of the Apple iPhone.  Some interesting details into the technology side notes that:

]]>

GigaOM interviews Randall Stephenson new CEO of the new AT&T. While it sounds right out of a boilerplate, here's what he had to say about the iPhone and its importance to the company:

The iPhone is a radically innovative new device and it only makes sense that AT&T and Apple would partner to bring it to market. This device is very important to us, it’s important to Apple and it is going to do very well with customers. It also reinforces with consumers that AT&T is the place to turn for the latest in wireless devices and services.

http://gigaom.com/2007/06/05/att-ceo-randall-stephenson-interv

]]>

could model your businesses profitability and then run scenarios based on what money you spent, what money came in and when. You could even investigate whether a cash flow crisis was likely with a particular scenario.

The key advantage of electronic spreadsheets is their ability to have their data modified quickly and the result be provided almost instantaneously. Calculations undertaken using the manual method could have taken hours, months or even years.
Once the data is entered into a spreadsheet it can be used to produce Graphs for documents, reports or even presentations. For example you could enter your data in Microsoft Excel and then create a graph. You could then copy and paste the graph into a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

Key Advantages of Excel Spreasheeting

Spreadsheet software has a range of key advantages over traditional manual methods. Listed below is a small list of those advantages:

1.the ability to reuse the data as many times as required
2.the ability to automatically recalculate the spreadsheet
3.the ability to share the data from one application to another
4.the ability to be able to apply different types of font and cell formatting to your spreadsheet
5.the ability to be able to include drawing objects such as photos, lines, Excel art, cartoons, moving text and even video
6.the ability to spell check the whole spreadsheet in one go
7.the ability to add up and apply different formulas to your spreadsheet
8.the ability to carry out What If scenarios in real time

What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is an advanced spreadsheeting software application developed by the Microsoft Corporation in the United States of America.

The first version of the application was originally written for the Apple Macintosh in 1985 but the first PC version wasn’t released until 1987. There are many versions of Microsoft Excel available for the Windows Operating system such as Excel 4.0, 5.0, 95, 2000, XP and 2003. There are also versions available for other operating systems such as the Macintosh operating system and OS2.

Late in 1999 Microsoft released its next version of Microsoft Excel as part of the Office 2000 Suite. In 2002, a new generation version was released called Microsoft Excel XP (also known as Microsoft Excel 2002). Microsoft Excel XP was the first truly Internet enabled application and was specifically designed to work on the Microsoft Windows XP platform and included voice recording functionality.

Finally Microsoft has released its next generation Office Software application called Microsoft Excel 2003 and in 2007, Microsoft built the new generation of interface with Microsoft Excel 2007.