Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I have a business “MiFi” – a mobile hotspot – that provides Internet access anywhere I need it.  It’s usually 4G LTE speeds (8.5Mbps down/6.5Mbps up) but sometimes it drops down to 3G speed, giving 2.0Mbps/1.2Mbps max.

THE PROBLEM:  NON-RESPONSIVE
Put simply, the thing drops its connection to the 4GLTE network – or at least stops working.  If I turn the device on and connect to it from my laptop, it will work for a while, then suddenly after some amount of usage, usually after a pause of sorts, I can’t surf the web at all.  Even though the WiFi connection works, it seems to be completely non-responsive.  Most of the same issues I’ve had are documented here:
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/700187/

The root cause was hinted at here:
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/534516?start=70&tstart=0

Apparently, the device seems to go into a ‘sleep mode’ when there’s no traffic over the connection, and there’s no way to turn off the sleep mode.  The only way to get the connection working is to turn it off and turn it on again.  There also appears to be issues with it getting warm and “halting”.  I’ve updated the firmware and that didn’t fix any of the problems.

MY SOLUTION:  MAINTAINING A VPN
A user in the support forums mentioned that his MiFi dies the moment he stops using his stock trading application with generates a lot of traffic.  That was what gave me the idea, “Why not just run something that constantly communicates over the connection?”

That’s sort of what VPNs do.  They establish secure connections and keep the connections alive with occasional traffic.  The session NEVER goes dormant and that’s exactly what it sounded like I needed.  Sure enough, if I establish a VPN using Anonymizer or my company’s VPN solution (Microsoft’s SSTP VPN solution) the connection NEVER, EVER drops. 

This little discovery was downright revolutionary for me.

SOLUTIONS:

1. CORPORATE VPN
   If your employer has a VPN solution set up, that’s an easy way to establish a VPN solution.  Of course, if you don’t want your employer to monitor your person Internet activity, then this isn’t an option.
2. ANONYMIZER?
   I pay $79 annually to use Anonymizer, a secure OpenVPN (or L2TP/IPSec VPN) that leverages a random VPN server somewhere around the world.  By rotating the VPN server used & the IP address segment leveraged, it’s a different VPN server every time I connect and clears its logs within 24 hours while providing a 256-bit secure, anonymous connection.  For folks that are tired of being tracked based on your IP address, really ought to sign up for a simple $79 subscription.  The overhead isn’t that bad and it keeps your communications secure – especially over open wireless services like those at coffee shops & hotel networks.
3. KEEP ALIVE TOOLS?
   In theory, you shouldn’t really need a VPN.  Any HTTP keep alive tool should work.  Ironically, this was a problem a long time ago with DIAL UP connections that would drop – usually associated with America Online connections – so people would run tools to keep their connections up.   I haven’t tested this but you might find this tool works as well as I believe it simulates HTTP/Internet usage.  YMMV.
   STAY ALIVE (FREE)
   http://www.stayaliveonline.com/download.html

This is a repeat of something I made available earlier.

Windows has been reimagined to be all about you and your style of working. Put what matters most right on your Start screen, and get instant access to your people, apps, sites, and more, so you can spend less time searching and more time doing. No matter what you want to do, you can get it done quickly in Windows 8. Whether you’re collaborating on a large project, preparing for an upcoming conference, or traveling for work, you can use touch, mouse, and keyboard together–seamlessly–to do what you want, the way you want. This brochure will show you how to get around, navigate, manage apps, and personalize in Windows 8.

EBOOK: Windows 8 End User Training Brochure (5.8 MB – 36pg)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39055

Here’s a list of System Center & Forefront blogs that you should probably follow if you’re working with our Management or Security products:

• Data Protection Manager blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/dpm/ 
• Service Manager Engineering Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/ 
• Configuration Manager Team Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/ 
• Configuration Manager (Support Blog): http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/
• Virtual Machine Manager Engineering Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/scvmm/
• Operations Manager Engineering Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/
• App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
• MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
• Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
• Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
• WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
• Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
• Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
• Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
• Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

I’m pretty late on this but we released a neat tool that allows you to App-V a server application that’s already been installed on a box.  It’s called the Server App-V Remote Application Packager.

Traditionally, packaging an application for deployment through Server App-V has involved installing your application while the Sequencer monitors its progress and packages the results.  Today, we are introducing the Server App-V Remote Application Packager which allows you to package an already installed application following the basic workflow below.

1. Install the Server App-V Sequencer and Remote Application Packager on your sequencing server
2. Launch the Server App-V Sequencer and select a custom installation workflow
3. Launch the Remote Application Packager, when the Sequencer is ready for you to run an installer
4. Provide the machine name with the natively installed applications
5. Select the applications you want to package and click start
6. The Sequencer copies over your application and produces a Server App-V package

That easy and your natively installed applications can now enjoy the benefits of easy and flexible deployment using Server App-V and VMM Service Templates.

…

Introducing the Server App-V Remote Application Packager
http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv/archive/2013/02/04/introducing-the-server-app-v-remote-application-packager.aspx

Microsoft Server Application Virtualization Remote Application Packager
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36216

See more at http://windows.com/compare.

Every couple years we run an event outside of Microsoft’s campus called D.C. Tech Fair which is a public extension of "Tech Fair” – the showcase where Microsoft Research talks & demonstrates the work that it’s doing.

A WORD ABOUT MICROSOFT RESEARCH
Microsoft Research (MSR) is VERY DIFFERENT from almost every other R&D organization in the world.  It’s focus is on basic research – not product research.  This is a very ambitious endeavor requiring a lot of funding however it makes Microsoft one of only a few companies with basic research labs in the world.

What’s the difference?  In a nutshell, MSR’s goal is to raise the state of the art of a given field of research in the world – period.  It’s not to horde information as proprietary IP, nor is it done specifically to “make a given Microsoft product better”, although that is sometimes the outcome.  The investment is in our people’s knowledge & expertise in a given field of science and to collaborate with the best minds in the world – at universities & even at with our competitors – to raise the level of understanding worldwide. (A frequent collaborator for instance is IBM) 

WHY?
Why do we use a good chunk of the $10B we spend annually on R&D on basic research?  We do this because Microsoft will often turn to MSR for answers to random, unpredicted, and often extremely urgent problems.  I talked to Rick Rashid, our Chief Research Officer, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for & he said essentially that Microsoft is an incredibly complex & we really don’t know the questions that will be answered in the future, so we prepare for everything by learning as much as we can with the assistance of the greatest minds both inside & outside of Microsoft in a field of study.

There are of course very practical and innovate uses for what is learned and some of this was put on display at D.C. Tech Fair:

It’s not often that people get a chance to peek into the future, but that will be the case May 21 in Washington, D.C., when Microsoft Research hosts its biennial D.C. TechFair.

During an afternoon open house held at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in downtown Washington, customers, academia, and governmental officials will get an opportunity to explore the trends and technologies Microsoft Research expects to change the face of computing.

…

Read more here:

• MS RESEARCH: Sharing a Glimpse of the Future of Technology
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/inside_microsoft_research/archive/2013/05/21/sharing-a-glimpse-of-the-future-of-technology.aspx

Xbox now has a new blog called Xbox Wire in which they’ve not only posted a ton of material around Xbox One but also posted an FAQ which answers a lot of questions that the media still hasn’t seem to catch on to.

So to do my part, here’s a link to the post entitled, “Xbox One: Your Top Questions Answered” that answers the following questions:

• Does Xbox One require an “always on” Internet connection?
• How do consumers benefit by being connected to the cloud?
• When will Xbox One launch and in what markets?
• Can I use my current gamertag on Xbox One and will my Gamerscore and Achievements transfer?
• Will Xbox One be backward compatible with my existing games?
• Will Xbox One allow players to trade in, purchase and play pre-owned games?
• Why require Kinect with every Xbox One?
• Do I need to have a specific cable or satellite TV provider to watch live TV on Xbox?
• Xbox One is a more powerful product compared to Xbox 360, but does it also use more power?

Read more here:

• INFO: Xbox One: Your Top Questions Answered
  http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/qa

This may not be news to everyone since it kinda leaked to a couple Southern California publications but Microsoft’s offices in Los Angeles are moving to an entirely new facility in Playa Del Rey called “The Reserve”.

It’s so new, it’s still being built out.  It’s part of our move to the area labeled “Silicon Beach” by the city/county.  We’ll be moving into the same location in which 5 other major label tenants will be, including Riot Games, TMZ, and a few others.

The address for your reference is:

• Microsoft Los Angeles (coming this Fall 2013)
  13031 W. Jefferson Boulevard, Suite 200
  Los Angeles, California 90066
  http://www.thereservela.com/

Parking is $10 (yay!) and it will have it’s own shared cafe – with good coffee I am told.  It is also in proximity to a variety of good restaurants & snack places like The Counter, Pinkberry, and The Shack.

I don’t think I’m permitted to post photos of the inside yet so you’ll just have to come visit us when we open our doors in July/August 2013 when we do a big open house.

• DEAL: Sign up for Xbox One pre-order notification… get $10 Online Store Credit!
  http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbpage.XboxAnnounce

Just announced:

We are pleased to announce that the SkyDrive Pro sync client is now available for Windows and can be downloaded here. This standalone client allows users of SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online in Office 365 to sync their personal SkyDrive Pro and any SharePoint 2013 or Office 365 team site document libraries to their local machine for access to important content on and offline. The SkyDrive Pro client can be installed standalone and does not require any version of Office to be installed.  It can also be installed side-by-side with previous versions of Office (Office 2010, Office 2007).

Please note if you have one of the following versions of Office 2013 installed, then you already have the SkyDrive Pro sync client and do not need to install it separately:

• Office 365 Pro Plus
• Office 365 Small Business Premium
• Office Professional Plus 2013

Once installed, simply click SYNC in the top right corner of your SkyDrive Pro library, SharePoint 2013 or Office 365 team site document library and you’ll be on your way to keep your files in sync across your machines. Happy syncing with SkyDrive Pro–cloud storage for employees!

Read more here:
http://blogs.office.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2013/05/21/skydrive-pro-client-for-windows-now-available.aspx