Kurt Shintaku's Blog

People complained a lot that our advertising & showcase videos didn’t highlight what you could actually DO that was special, distinctive, and competitive on Surface.

So we listened.  And here’s 3 videos that show precisely that.

A quick 1:34 clip that talks about some of the technological improvements made in Surface 2, featuring Panos Panay, Ralf Groene, Steve Bathiche.  Touch Cover & Type Cover improvements & design changes.

We wrote one of our most confusing posts ever on the Windows Blog regarding Windows 8.1 Enterprise Edition, so just to be clear:

FOR VOLUME LICENSING CUSTOMERS: 

• Windows 8.1 Enterprise Edition software is NOT AVAILABLE in the traditional ‘Software Assurance’ section of the Downloads & Keys area of the Volume Licensing Service Center.  It’ll be posted there on October 18th.
• Windows 8.1 Enterprise Edition software IS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD as part of a TechNet Subscription. 
• If you have Software Assurance on Windows as a Volume Licensing customer, you are granted a TechNet Subscription as a Software Assurance benefit, therefore, if you activate this TechNet Subscription benefit, you can then access the TechNet Downloads site and download it from there.

Yeahyeahyeah, I know.  However, it’s at least available & hopefully this clears this matter up.  I don’t know for certain why things were done this way however from past experience, I suspect it likely has something to do with the exhaustive process required of posting the .ISO on VLSC Downloads, replicating it through our Content Distribution Network (CDN), and storing it redundantly with the TechNet copy of the .ISO.  Understand that these two ‘networks’ are completely & totally separate (there is no overlap at all) and we actually outsource the VLSC to a different company, whereas I believe TechNet is handled internally and consequently a lot more agile.

Anyway, here’s the original post.

• BLOG: Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM Now Available To Volume License Customers
  http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/business/archive/2013/09/17/windows-8-1-enterprise-rtm-now-available-to-volume-license-customers.aspx

Here’s a few of the things (but not nearly all) that I learned during the Panos Panay briefing here at Microsoft.

• The new covers flash the backlight upon connecting with the Surface to indicate a proper connection.
• The 8GB models (256GB/512GB) will be a bit faster due to the fact that there are twice as many lanes to the memory.
• I don’t know that the Surface Music Kit/Remix Project will be available for sale – this wasn’t clear to me.  While it will be available on 10/22 with the rest of Surface 2’s launch products, it is a limited production release of 5,000 to 10,000 units.  The existing units will be going to select individuals through the SurfaceRemixProject.com web site.
• Touch Cover 2, along with it’s new 1092 sensors, is now carbon fiber filled & pretty much unbreakable.  It can also be disinfected with chlorine wipes for medical scenarios.
• Power Cover will charge the Surface device it’s connected to.  If left connected to a Surface while turned off, the Power Cover will transfer power to the Surface’s battery.
• The Surface Dock will charge both the Surface Pro & the Power Cover at the same time.

[This is part 2 of a post about NFC for Windows Phone & Windows 7/8.]

NFC is a really interesting and potentially useful technology that Windows Phone 8 & Windows 7/8 users can harness.  In this post, I go over starting to use NFC specifically for Windows 7/8, because if you read to the end, you’ll understand that even with Windows Phone 8, you might still need to have a Windows desktop to write some NFC tags.

NFC FOR MY WINDOWS DESKTOP/LAPTOP
There’s lots of options for desktop/laptop users.  This will become important to understand in just a second.  Here are the places I went to for my hardware & software:

• Read/Write NFC hardware for Windows
  http://www.buynfctags.com/
• NOTE:  I specifically purchased the ACS ACR122U NFC USB Reader and Writer for $45 because it’s really cheap & it’s compatible with the software below.
• Software for Windows
  http://support.gototags.com/hc/en-us/articles/200330196-GoToTags-Windows-NFC-App
• NOTE: This is an app called “GoToTags Windows NFC App” and it’s completely free.  It’s documentation can be a bit lacking however.

There is also a tool from a company called TagStand.  I have no idea if it’s any good but they charge $30 for what appears to be built into the the GoToTags Windows NFC app… but the tools is command line which may make it useful for scripting so who knows.

• TagStand: NFC Writer for Windows
  Introducing Beta software to read and write to NFC tags for Windows using ACR122U readers. (supports making Ultralight tags read-only (write-protection))
  http://writer.tagstand.com/windows

A WORD ON LOCKING/READ-ONLY NFC TAGS
When an NFC tag is locked, the data cannot be modified. Locking a tag is a permanent action and cannot be undone.  This is important because without locking a tag however, anyone can change it’s contents when you’re not looking.  Imagine the embarrassment of someone changing one of your tags to, say, redirect people to your competitor’s web site.  Or overwriting your business card’s tag with something other than your vCard as a prank.

The issue is, locking/Read-only NFC tags is not possible from Windows Phone 8 as the operating system’s libraries don’t support the feature.  Therefore in order to create locked, unmodifiable NFC tags, you must do so from another device.  This can be accomplished using an USB-connected NFC reader/writer for Windows.

SO… HOW DO I LOCK NFC TAGS USING WINDOWS?
What I did was really simple.  I got a USB NFC Reader/Writer – the cheapest one I’ve found is the ACS ACR122U NFC USB Reader and Writer ($45) from GoToTags – and download the FREE GoToTags NFC Windows App.

Then I used my Windows Phone & an NFC writing app to write the NFC tag I wanted.  I encoded an NFC tag with a vCard with my contact information in it which was derived by my contact card in Outlook on my Windows Phone.  NFC Interactor & Nokia NFC Writer makes doing this very easy. 

At this point however, the NFC tag can still be overwritten, so I took the NFC Tag I wrote and used my desktop to read it using the USB Reader I bought & the GoToTags software.  The software immediately picked up and loaded the NFC tag’s contents (my vCard) into memory.  By default, when you write/encode NFC tags using the GoToTags software, it writes a “read only” NFC tag (something Windows Phone can’t do), so I just simply rewrote what was loaded into memory, write back out to the NFC tag – but this time, it was written “read only”, meaning the tag can’t be changed.

And there you have it.  You might ask, why I didn’t just write the vCard on to my NFC tag directly in the first place skipping the Windows Phone process.  Well, the GoToTags software doesn’t connect into Outlook so pulling contact data from an Outlook record isn’t possible.  Windows Phone’s NFC writing apps however makes that easy.

OTHER WINDOWS PHONE 8 APPS FOR NFC

• NFCsms – Create NFC tags that initiate pre-formatted SMS text messages for the device owner to send
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/nfcsms/55e57a87-d1fd-420a-8f3c-892c0b7da8af
• NearSpeak – Store voice messages in NFC tags for others to hear
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/nearspeak/88d56abc-43b5-4be4-ad73-8704eed50157
• Desktop Mode – Initiate a display that shows time/date, weather, and next appt.
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/desktop-mode/49aec48a-2c0d-46d0-8642-ac5d078f087c

REFERENCES:

• The Mopius FAQ for NFC
  http://www.mopius.com/faq/
• Documentation on NFC tags
  http://www.nfc-phones.org/nfc-tags/

Remember PhoneFactor?  That two factor cell phone based authentication solution that we acquired that everyone liked?  Ever wonder where Microsoft’s first implementation was?

Enter Windows Azure Multi-Factor Authentication.

Identity and access management is an anchor for security and top of mind for enterprise IT departments. It is key to extending anytime, anywhere access to employees, partners, and customers. Today, we are pleased to announce the General Availability of Windows Azure Multi-Factor Authentication – delivering increased access security and convenience for IT and end users.

Multi-Factor Authentication quickly enables an additional layer security for users signing in from around the globe. In addition to a username and password, users may authenticate via: 1) An application on their mobile device. 2) Automated voice call. 3) Text message with a passcode. It’s easy and meets user demand for a simple sign-in experience.

Windows Azure Multi-Factor Authentication can be configured in minutes for the many applications that require additional security, including:

• On-Premises VPNs, Web Applications, and More — Run the Multi-Factor Authentication Server on your existing hardware or in a Windows Azure Virtual Machine. Synchronize with your Windows Server Active Directory for automated user set up.
• Cloud Applications like Windows Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM — Enable Multi-Factor Authentication for Windows Azure AD identities with the flip of a switch, and users will be prompted to set up multi-factor the next time they sign-in. 
• Custom Applications — Use our SDK to build Multi-Factor Authentication phone call and text message authentication into your application’s sign-in or transaction processes.

For more details, read here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2013/09/26/announcing-general-availability-of-windows-azure-multi-factor-authentication.aspx

I have a personal longer list than this that I’ll publish some day HOWEVER, here is what they published over at the Office 365 blog about what makes Outlook so much better for business mail than Gmail.

1. Integration across email, calendar and contacts
2. Offline access to email
3. Organize email your way
4. Categorize email items to stay organized
5. Multiple ways to find email
6. Flags, changing importance of email
7. Rules to minimize email clutter
8. Rich contact information
9. Scheduling meeting rooms
10. Mail tips
11. Ignore conversations
12. Sharing and delegating calendars

For explanations on each of these, check out the original post here:

• OFFICE 365 BLOG: 12 reasons why users prefer Outlook over Gmail at work
  http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/archive/2013/09/26/reasons-why-users-prefer-outlook-over-gmail-at-work.aspx

Rights Management is now an implicit service within Office 365, which of course begs the question, “What’s Rights Management?”  Here’s a brief explanation:

Have you ever had your email or documents shared or given to other people than you intended, or seen your company’s information shared with people outside the company by accident? Maybe you have information that you want to share confidentially with only a few trusted colleagues for purposes of collecting feedback, but you’re concerned that the information may get leaked inadvertently before you are ready?

Fortunately, with Rights Management in Office 365, you can secure your information and apply an intelligent policy so that only specified internal and/or external people can "act" on your information. For example, you can allow recipients to edit and print, while restricting them from forwarding to others. This policy is attached to the information, so it applies no matter where your information lives-in the datacenter, in transit, or on your laptop, mobile device, or a USB key. Rights Management lets you assign policies to email, SharePoint Online libraries, individual Office documents, and other file types. 

Rights Management for Office 365 isn’t just data security or encryption, although you get both with access control and 128-bit AES encryption. Rights Management is about putting you, the creator of content, in control. Now, with you firmly in the driver’s seat, you can confidently share information with anyone.

…

Here’s a quick demo of these functions.

Read more about Rights Management for Office 365 here:
http://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech/archive/2013/09/10/collaborate-confidently-using-rights-management.aspx

Yes, the products are from a functional standpoint very similar but there are some key differences in the end user experience & the IT administration workloads that people need to know.

Get the break down of the differences in this video from Jeremy Chapman and Tal Krzypow in The Garage video series.

Read more here:
http://blogs.office.com/b/office365tech/archive/2013/09/18/the-garage-series-365-days-later-office-365-vs-office-2013-on-the-desktop-review.aspx

Join Microsoft Certified Master and Premier Field Engineer Mike Pfeiffer and senior technologist at Concentrated Technology Jason Helmick to learn what you need to know about deploying Exchange Server 2013 in this one-day course. These high energy instructors will teach how to manage the messaging infrastructure and provide high availability and security through real world demos geared to your business needs.

It’s appropriate for anyone upgrading from earlier versions of Exchange as well as IT Pros new to Exchange but with prior networking experience. If you are pursuing the MCSE: Messaging certification, it will help you prepare for Exam 70-341.

Date: October 8, 2013
Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Where: Live, online virtual classroom
Cost: Free!

Register now

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Taken from:
http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/events/b/weblog/archive/2013/09/20/register-for-core-solutions-of-microsoft-exchange-server-2013-jump-start-on-october-8.aspx#fbid=8X_LeVIXNv3