Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Well, that was sudden. 

Julia White just announced SharePoint Server 2016 and it’s focus is on several key areas:

• “Hybrid configurations” between Office 365 SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server on-premise
• “Experiences” including advances in:
• Search
• Portals
• Files
• Team Sites
• Business Intelligence
• Social
• “Management”
• “Extensibility”

Julia on where to get more information:

“You can expect to hear a lot more from us come May 4-8, 2015 at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago, IL. We’ll have the best and brightest minds in one place to share all things SharePoint and Office 365. Have a look at the SharePoint and related sessions list with more to come, and know that we’ll soon release our list of hands-on-labs, all breakout speakers and pre-day trainings. Excited to see you there.”

For more, check out the post at:

• OFFICE BLOG: Evolution of SharePoint
  http://blogs.office.com/2015/02/02/evolution-sharepoint/

Most parents have discovered the wonderful, creative effect that Minecraft has on their children, and found that it just as importantly provides an opportunity to play with their children in a safe & collaborative way that other technologies simply don’t provide.  And most kids that discover Minecraft immerse themselves fully in its world and apply their creative juices to its toolset.

It’s generally agreed upon by both educators & child psychologists that this sort of creative playground & parent/child collaborative endeavor is very positive.

But what effect does it have on kids?  What skills do they acquire & what lessons do they learn? 

It turns out there’s a lot that’s been published from research studies that point to the benefit of Minecraft for kids:

• MODERN PARENT: “Hey, Parents. What Minecraft Is Doing to Your Kids Is Kind of Surprising.”
  http://2machines.com/183040/ 
• THE ATLANTIC: Beyond ‘Screen Time:’ What Minecraft Teaches Kids
  http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/
  2014/04/beyond-screen-time-what-a-good-game-like-minecraft-teaches-kids/361261/
• KOTAKU: Study Recommends Kids Play Minecraft Over Watching TV
  http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/04/study-recommends-kids-play-minecraft-over-watching-tv/
• NPR: Why Playing Minecraft Might Be More Healthful For Kids Than TV
  http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/28/295692162/why-playing-minecraft-might-be-healthier-for-kids-than-tv
• SCHOLASTIC: Using Minecraft as a Learning Tool
  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2014/04/using-minecraft-learning-tool
• ACADEMIC: Minecraft As A Teaching Tool – A Statistical Study of Teachers’ Experience Using Minecraft In The Classroom
  http://www.academia.edu/2624927/
  Minecraft_As_A_Teaching_Tool_-_A_Statistical_Study_of_Teachers_
  Experience_Using_Minecraft_In_The_Classroom
• KLARITI: Why Minecraft Makes Your Kids Smarter
  http://www.klariti.com/productivity/parents-minecraft-kids-smarter/
• BBC: Why Minecraft is more than just another video game
  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23572742

For those of you that live in the Windows desktop environment, you know that thanks mostly to Twitter itself, the number of desktop Twitter clients is few & far between. 

After having to drop MetroTwit (pretty much the undisputed best Twitter client the Windows desktop)  due to the authors discontinuing availability of the install, I’ve been searching for an alternative.  I’ve used most of them and resigned myself to using the web version of Tweetdeck. (Because the Windows client is just a view of the web app, and doesn’t provide manageability or offline use)

Robert McLaws, tech enthusiast & CTO of Advanced REI, however pointed me to the actual installer for MetroTwit, something that is not otherwise available off the http://metrotwit.com web site any more.  I suspect that this only usable if you were a PREVIOUS MetroTwit user (since Twitter only allows a certain number of users per Twitter application & MetroTwit I think ran out of allocations) however it’s a great way to get MetroTwit BACK on systems that you no longer have it on, if you were a previous user – especially if you were a paid-for MetroTwit PLUS user.

So, if you like scrolling column layouts, are tired of dealing with the instability of Tweetdeck & you want to return to MetroTwit like myself, here’s your ticket to freedom:

• DOWNLOAD: MetroTwit 1.2.0.1 (Installer)
  http://download.cnet.com/MetroTwit/3000-12941_4-75452678.html

Today, Raspberry Pi 2 & Microsoft announced that:

• Windows 10 will support the upcoming Raspberry Pi 2 & it’s ARM v7 architecture
• A free license for Windows 10 will be made available with each unit through the Windows Developer Program for the “Internet of Things”.

Eben Upton, CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, said:

"We’ve had people queuing up and saying they want Windows, the whole time." 

"I think there’s a sense that ‘you’re a real PC’ if you run Windows."

Kevin Dallas, GM of the Windows IoT Group, said:

“We see the Maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we’re excited to be a part of this community. Last year we took an important step in embracing the Maker movement by creating the Windows Developer Program for IoT and delivering Windows for the Intel Galileo board. We are taking the next step by bringing Microsoft’s leading development tools, services, and ecosystem to the Raspberry Pi community for free through our Windows Developer Program for IoT.”

For more on the Microsoft & Raspberry Pi Foundation announcement:

• WINDOWS BLOG: “Windows 10 Coming to Raspberry Pi 2”
  http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2015/02/
  02/windows-10-coming-to-raspberry-pi-2/
• NEOWIN: Raspberry Pi CEO: "There’s a sense that ‘you’re a real PC’ if you run Windows"
  http://www.neowin.net/news/raspberry-pi-ceo-theres-a-sense-that-youre-a-real-pc-if-you-run-windows

Our little ad. Watch for it in the 3rd quarter:
"Microsoft Super Bowl Commercial 2015: Estella’s Brilliant Bus"

Estella Pyfrom brings technology access to kids, literally. Her Brilliant Bus is a mobile learning station that gives under served communities access to the technology that will help them reach their potential.

Join us as we celebrate empowering stories of people who achieve their goals, helped in part by Microsoft technology. What can you do?

Watch more empowering videos here:
http://awe.sm/gLwvC

Those of you who’ve updated your Microsoft/Nokia Lumia Windows Phone to the generic build of the Developer’s Preview of Windows Phone 8.1 may want to return to Windows Phone 8. 

VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS: 
This will be the case, for instance, when your wireless carrier publishes an official release of Windows Phone 8.1 for your device – like the Lumia Icon.  You’ll need to start with WP8 to get to the official release.

To begin, you’ll need to download the “Nokia Lumia Software Recovery Tool”.  This is available here:

• DOWNLOAD: Lumia Software Recovery Tool
  http://download-fds.webapps.microsoft.com/supportFiles/phones/files/
  recovery/LumiaSoftwareRecoveryToolInstaller.exe

It’s pretty self explanatory once the tool is downloaded and installed however if needed, the remaining instructions on how to accomplish this once downloaded are documented here:

• FAQ – How can I recover/reset/restore my phone software?
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/support/faq/?action=singleTopic&topic=FA142987

Today, Microsoft has launched Outlook for iOS and a preview of Outlook for Android.

Outlook is a free email app that helps you get more done from anywhere with one unified view of your email, calendar, contacts, and attachments. Outlook automatically surfaces your most important messages – across all your email accounts.

Swipe to quickly delete, archive, or schedule messages you want to handle later. Easily view your calendar, share available times, and schedule meetings. And attach files from your email, OneDrive, or Dropbox with just a few taps.
Outlook works with Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail.

Why use Outlook?

• Manage your inbox 
• Outlook automatically triages your inbox for you, surfacing your most important email. Less relevant email is placed in your “Other” inbox.
• Swipe to quickly delete, archive, or schedule messages.
• Schedule emails and they will return to your inbox at a later time.
• Your calendar built-in 
• Switching between your email and calendar apps is a thing of the past. Outlook includes your calendar and notifies you with appointment reminders.
• Find available meeting times and share them in email or schedule a meeting.
• Attachments made easy 
• View and attach any file from your email, OneDrive, Dropbox, and other accounts with just a few taps.
• Send large files even if you haven’t downloaded them to your phone.
• Find anything fast 
• Filter your inbox to only show messages that are unread, flagged, or have attachments, with a single tap.
• Quickly find the right messages, people and files by typing just a few letters.
• Outlook shows people you communicate with most often, and lets you conveniently drill down to see all related emails, meetings and files.

For Outlook for iOS users, we’re developing the apps from the Acompli code base. (The acquisition we made a few months ago) You will see us continue to rapidly update the Outlook app, delivering on the familiar Outlook experience our customers know and love. To hear more about this journey, check out the Office Blog from new Outlook GM and former CEO of Acompli, Javier Soltero.

For more information:

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Outlook for iOS
  https://itunes.apple.com/app/id951937596
• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Outlook Preview for Android
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook
• FAQ: Frequently asked questions about Outlook for iOS and Android
  http://aka.ms/outlookFAQ
• BLOG: Microsoft Blog – “Office everywhere: More great news for Office on iOS and Android”
  http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2015/01/29/office-everywhere-great-news-office-ios-android/
• BLOG: Office Blog – “A deeper look at Outlook for iOS and Android”
  http://blogs.office.com/2015/01/29/deeper-look-outlook-ios-android/

—————–

Please note that support is only available in-device. Premier-level support is not enabled for this launch.

Premier customers looking for a mail solution that is supported at the Premier level, should use OWA for iPhone/iPad/Android.  OWA has some advanced O365 and Exchange Server features which are not yet available in Outlook.

Finally!  The OneDrive for Business for Mac & iOS Public Preview is released!

We know you have been waiting for this moment for a long time, and today we’re excited to announce new ways that you can access and manage your OneDrive for Business files from your Mac and iOS devices.

You can download the iOS app from the app store, and the Mac sync client preview from the Microsoft Download Center. For further details on today’s releases check out the OneDrive blog.

• DOWNLOAD: OneDrive for Business for iOS (Public Preview)
  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onedrive/id477537958?mt=8
• DOWNLOAD: OneDrive for Business for Mac (Public Preview)
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45519
• BLOG: OneDrive Blog – Your Work and Life on All your Apple Devices
  https://blog.onedrive.com/your-work-and-life-on-all-your-apple-devices/
• BLOG: Office Blog – OneDrive for Business comes to Mac & iOS Devices
  http://blogs.office.com/2015/01/28/onedrive-business-comes-mac-ios-devices/

The Microsoft Band collects data about you throughout the day as you wear it and through your phone or desktop, it uploads this data into the Microsoft Health service.  The $64 question is, “How do you get at that data?  How can you export it?”

Enter the “Unband Beta” application.

Unband is a 3rd party application for Windows that has the following features (as taken from the developer’s web site):

1. Change Theme colours to arbitrary colours.
2. Change Background to arbitrary backgrounds.
3. Export all of your activity data from the Microsoft Health cloud service.
4. Supports exporting GPX files for those of you who like viewing your runs elsewhere.

The app is a click-to-run .NET application that is actually about 6MB when it’s fully downloaded and installed.

WARNING: Unband is still ‘alpha’ code and isn’t rock solid so while it’s super cool, you need to set your expectations appropriately.

• DOWNLOAD: UnBand:  Unleash your Band!
  http://unband.nachmore.com/
• REDDIT: Wiki site for UnBand
  http://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftBand/wiki/unband

The Surface Pro 3 actually has 3 batteries in it, in case you forgot. 

It has 1 AAAA Alkaline Battery that powers the pen itself which most people know about, but it also has 2 watch batteries that power the “Purple Click” button that initiates OneNote.

These batteries are #319 Button Cell Silver Oxide Watch Batteries.  You can purchase backup batteries here:

• AMAZON: 10 SR527SW 319 Battery Energizer Watch Batteries ($8.03 w/ Free shipping)
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OVNLQA/