Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The Project Portfolio Management Solutions Guide describes tools in Project Online and Project Server that provide solutions to everyday work, and enable you to effectively execute and achieve your strategic priorities.

It talks about how these tools help to provide a PPM solution that help organizations to reduce costs, drive efficiency, and help set the seeds to grow their business.

• DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Project Portfolio Management (PPM) Solutions Guide
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41549

If you work with Hyper-V, you very well also use System Center to manage it.  If you do not use System Center, you should download this free ebook and give it a review.

We’re happy to announce a new free ebook – Introducing Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 by Mitch Tulloch with Symon Perriman and the System Center Team.

Microsoft System Center is one of the three pillars of Microsoft’s Cloud OS vision that will transform the traditional datacenter environment, help businesses unlock insights in data stored anywhere, enable the development of a wide range of modern business applications, and empower IT to support users who work anywhere while being able to manage any device in a secure and consistent way. The other two pillars of the Cloud OS are, of course, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Azure, and Microsoft Press has recently released free Introducing books on these platforms as well.

Whether you are new to System Center or are already using it in your business, this book has something that should interest you. The capabilities of each component of System Center 2012 R2 are first described and then demonstrated chapter by chapter. Real-world and under-the-hood insights are also provided by insiders at Microsoft who live and breathe System Center, and those of you who are experienced with the platform will benefit from the wisdom and experience of these experts. We also included a list of additional resources at the end of each chapter where you can learn more about each System Center component.

• DOWNLOAD: Free eBook, “Introducing Microsoft System Center 2012 R2”
  http://aka.ms/682832pdf

The System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Analyzer is your first line of defense in troubleshooting issues with System Center 2012 R2 server-side components.

The System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Analyzer is a diagnostic tool that you can use to evaluate important configuration settings for computers that are running any of the following System Center 2012 R2 components:

• Operations Manager
• Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
• Service Manager
• Orchestrator (plus Service Provider Foundation)
• Configuration Manager
• Data Protection Manager (DPM)
• App Controller

DOWNLOAD: System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Analyzer
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41555

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 20, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. announced Friday the appointment of Jim DuBois as corporate vice president and chief information officer (CIO), responsible for delivering a broad range of IT initiatives in support of the company’s billions of customers and more than 90,000 employees in 190 countries worldwide.

DuBois, who had served as interim CIO for the past six months, will lead a team of employees overseeing Microsoft IT applications, infrastructure, solution delivery and process excellence. A tech leader with a unique view of IT innovation and deep understanding of technical strategy, DuBois has been at Microsoft for more than 20 years, during which time he has held several key leadership positions, including general manager of IT and vice president of Microsoft Products and Services IT.

…

Read more here:

• Microsoft names Jim DuBois new Chief Information Officer
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/dec13/12-20corpnews.aspx

All day training on optimizing Windows client performance.  Nuff said?

Windows Performance Jump Start
Starts: Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM Time zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Duration: 8 hour(s)

Learn about the tools used by Microsoft Global Business Support Premier Field Engineers when they need to make a CEO’s computer run faster. Want to improve performance for computers that are starting slowly? Need to diagnose and fix problems caused by resource-hogging apps? Join us for a deep dive on the free Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT), part of the Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (ADK), developed to help you troubleshoot and resolve these issues.

Download the toolkit, and get ready to tackle real-world Windows performance issues.

I’m sorry I’ve been a ghost.  I’ve been on a combination of vacation, sick leave, and CES.  And yes, the stupid CES bug got me like it did everyone else.

I have a post that I’m writing about the “Top 5 Things I Saw At CES That Aren’t In The Mainstream Media” that I’ll have posted this weekend.  I’m writing this because honestly, I have no interest in “curved TVs”, “bluetooth watches”, or “Steam boxes” and I doubt many of you do as well.

See?  I told you I was grumpy.  Until then, please cut me some slack.  I either have a head cold or the Ebola virus or something in between and my cranium’s gonna explode.

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, here’s a listing of the deals I found on at CES 2014 (so far) while scouring the show floor.  They will probably expire once CES is over as of Friday 1/10/14 afternoon, so you might want to jump on them now if you’re interested.

• InfoMotion’s 94Fifty SmartSensor basketball available for$249 ($50 off) at http://t.co/Cd8HPfgEQ9 Use promo code "CES050".
• Sphero Bluetooth Remote Controlled ball show special. Sphero 2 w/ nubby cover for $99! ($30 off) Use discount code "ces2014". http://t.co/lW7XL1hbGL
• Creative Soundblaster AXX200 Wireless Speaker. NFC/BT, 15hr, SDcard slot, ext batt, SBchip: $149 ($150 off) http://t.co/8tfhG4Bls1
• Amaryllo iCam. Worlds 1st Skype wireless IP camera. Motion detect. Recording. All over Skype. Awesome! #ces2014 http://t.co/VGsxIGolG0 Show special: $50 off the $199 MSRP when you order from the link below!  http://t.co/SGQL7E1LDX.
• Pawscam. Camera for dogs with roll up to the cloud and detection of irregular behavior. $149. pawscam.com ($100 off; limited to 500 people) http://t.co/fexyC36psl
• Slingmedia Slingbox show special. $50 off Slingbox 500/350 purchases online for duration of CES using code SLINGCES. http://t.co/sWOScTiHyv http://slingbox.com/go/buy

Microsoft’s Surface Division has just made recommendations around sanitizing Surface 2/Surface Pro 2 devices for use in healthcare.

“Healthcare customers can sanitize Microsoft Surface2 and Surface Pro2 devices using one of our recommended solutions—PDI Sani-Cloth Plus, CaviWipes, Covidien Alcohol Prep Pads, or any similar wipes with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) solution under 70%–without risk of damaging the device. These same solutions can also be used to clean the Surface Type Cover 2 (except fabric area) and Touch Cover 2.  In general, users should not douse the unit with solution, but rather use pre-moistened wipes or apply IPA to application cloth and use the cloth on the unit. We do not recommend the use of bleach-based products”

Read more about the recommendations here:

• MICROSOFT HEALTHBLOG: Starting 2014 with a cleaner (Surface) slate
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/healthblog/archive/2014/01/03/starting-2014-with-a-cleaner-surface-slate.aspx

When I received my Dell Venue 8 Pro, I did a few things to maximize performance and minimize storage utilization.

1. MICROSD CARD INSTALLATION
   Purchase & install a Class 10 MicroSD flash card for documents, music, videos, and other file storage.
   http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-microSDXC-Memory-Adapter-SDSDQU-064G-AFFP-A/dp/B009QZH6JS/
2. MIGRATION OF SKYDRIVE DESTINATION FOLDER TO MICROCD CARD
   SkyDrive will synchronize content from the cloud to your local storage so move that local storage destination to the MicroSD card you just installed.
   http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-move-location-skydrive-folder
3. MOVE RECOVERY PARTITION TO USB FLASH DRIVE
   This will create a bootable USB flash drive with everything needed to reinstall or recover the Windows device by booting off the USB port.  You will need an 8GB flash drive and a USB-to-MicroUSB
   http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Micro-USB-OTG-Adapter/dp/B00BFYH11Q/
   The last step of this process is to “Delete recovery partition”.  Don’t forget to do this to free up 4.7GB of storage from the unit.
   http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-create-recovery-media-144098
4. INSTALL OFFICE 2013 HOME & BUSINESS
   Because I want Outlook.  Not just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.  And the Office 2013 installation software will install whatever revision you provide a product key for.  (This includes Office 2013 Home & Student & Office 2013 Professional Plus.)

We are pleased to announce the general availability of version 9.0 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. This release of the MAP Toolkit helps increase the agility and cost effectiveness of deploying the latest Microsoft technologies. It also enhances usage tracking to include accounting for Remote Desktop Services as well as Server and Cloud Enrollment licensed deployments. MAP 9.0 additionally helps organizations assess their environment for Office 2013 and Office 365, track usage of Windows Server 2012, Lync Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2013, Exchange Server 2013, System Center Configuration Manager 2012, and SQL Server 2012. The Windows Azure assessment report has also been updated to include the latest Azure sizing.

New Server and Cloud Enrollment scenario helps to simplify adoption

Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) is a new offering under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that enables subscribers to standardize broadly on one or more Microsoft Server and Cloud technologies. The MAP Toolkit 9.0 features an assessment scenario to identify and inventory SCE supported products within an enterprise and help streamline enrollment.

New Remote Desktop Services Licensing Usage Tracking scenario creates a single view for enterprise wide licensing

With an increase in enterprises deploying Remote Desktop Services (RDS) across wider channels, RDS license management has become a focus point for organizations. With the new RDS Licensing scenario, the MAP Toolkit rolls up license information enterprise-wide into a single report, providing a simple alternative for assessing your RDS licensing position.

Support for software inventory via Software ID tags now available

As part of the Microsoft effort to support ISO 19770-2, the MAP Toolkit now supports inventory of Microsoft products by Software ID (SWID) tag. SWID enhanced reports will provide greater accuracy and assist large, complex environments to better manage their software compliance efforts by simplifying the software identification process and lowering the cost of managing software assets.

Improved Usage Tracking data collection for SQL Server Usage Tracking scenarios

As part of our ongoing improvement initiatives, Usage Tracking for SQL Server 2012 has been enhanced to use User Access Logging (UAL). UAL is a standard protocol in Windows Server 2012 that collects User Access information in near real time and stores the information in a local database, eliminating the need for log parsing to perform Usage Tracking assessments. UAL vastly improves the speed and helps to eliminate long lead times for environment preparation associated with running Usage Tracking assessments.

• Download the MAP Toolkit 9.0 now!
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?&id=7826