Kurt Shintaku's Blog

[Before I state anything more, I have to apologize but this is for my customers only, since I don’t have any infinite supply of these.]

Notice anything different?

The Windows logo on the back of my Surface devices is a little more whiter, a little more distinctive, and a little more noticeable than normal.  The reason is I have a vinyl decal that goes over the logo perfectly.  It’s made of the same weather-durable material of the logos & decals you see on the back of cars.  This was necessary because I’ve found that the logo on the Surface wears off relatively easily.

It’s not made of cheap cellophane & it’s certainly not an adhesive ‘sticker’.  This is a professional quality decal with seamless edges that was custom manufactured for the back of the Surface.  Each quadrant of the Windows logo is actually its own decal, but when you apply it, it goes on in one stroke.

If you’re a customer of mine, send me a photo of you with your Surface along with a mailing address and I’ll put one of these in the mail for you.  If you’re a customer of mine, you should know how to contact me.

This was something that was being passed around Twitter over the last couple of days.  Apparently someone with access to a virtual net had a little too much time on their hands.

The is the command below… and in the event it no longer works by the time I post this, I have a snapshot of the humorous, geeky results:

• tracert 216.81.59.173
  

And the new commercial is out for the recently released Surface Pro!

Funny, in all the fervor over Surface Pro, not a lot has been written about the offers they extended to all the people that picked one up from the Microsoft Stores.

There were 3 offers that came with the unit when purchased by way of a pamphlet & a bunch of special one-time-use 25-digit codes:

1. SKYPE – Free unlimited calls for 1 month (US & Canada)
2. SKYDRIVE – 3GB of bonus online storage
3. MAGAZINES – Free bonus digital issues of US Weekly & Rolling Stone Magazine for NOOK

Do you own a new Surface? (RT or Pro)  Would you like to provide feedback about your experience?

We have a Surface Owner Feedback Program in place if you’ve got a device and would like to invite you to visit to sign up.  As a thank you for providing this feedback, we’ll enter you to win $200 in Surface accessories.

NOTE: You’ll need to enter your Surface’s serial number. This serial number is a 12 digit number that can be found on the back of the box or on the back of the Surface itself.

Visit the URL below to sign up!

• INFO: Surface Owner Feedback Program
  http://www.gfk.com/surface

You may have heard that we were planning to launch Surface Windows 8 Pro (a.k.a. Surface Pro) in New York but cancelled the event due to a blizzard that hit the region. 

Well, in less than a week, the product team moved the entire launch to Las Vegas and the ‘Fashion Show Mall’ on the Las Vegas Strip (right across from Treasure Island, Wynn/Encore, and Venetian/Palazzo… my Vegas home base!) with very little announcement or warning.  I personally know what goes into these launch gigs and let me tell you, this is nothing short of unbelievable.  Just think of all that has to be re-coordinated:

• PMs, Event Mgmt, Talent, Assistants
• Props/Event equipment, Flights/Transportation, Hotels/Planning Rooms
• Communications center, tech equipment, product delivery
• Email/phone media coordination, PR & web marketing, public notification
• Event venue, walkthroughs, service agreements/contracts, legal
• …

Much sleep much have been lost leading up to this gig, but that’s how the Surface team rolls… and that’s what our fearless leader, Panos Panoy, is like.  (Did you notice how ON he was in his delivery?) 

So a fellow named UberGamer256 captured the event on his Nokia Lumia 920.  PROPS TO THAT GUY.  It appears to be the only recording of what was most assuredly a very expensive event to coordinate at the last minute in a weather-safe area.

Here’s his video:

Clarification around Surface hardware volume purchase details will be made available shortly.

With the release of Surface Windows 8 Pro, we’ve also released the “Getting Started Guide for Surface”, a 68 page document (1.35MB PDF) that is written for BOTH the Surface Windows RT owner or the Surface Windows 8 Pro owner.

• DOWNLOAD: Surface User Guide (PDF)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/4/
  BD44C612-D08E-4586-9345-ACA8AB978BC8/Surface_Getting_Started_guide.pdf

This is not a “reference manual” but rather a guide for individuals new to Windows 8 & the Surface hardware in general.  More nuanced configuration & support can be found on the Surface support web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/home

If you haven’t seen this photo shoot, you gotta check it out.  It highlights this year’s coolest Windows 8 devices.  And they start with the HP Envy x2 & they go straight to the Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro.

• NEWS: Presenting More Than Performance- The 2013 Windows 8 Device Lineup
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Features/2013/Feb13/02-07OEMFashionWeek.aspx

To quote BGR, “Windows Phone is hammering iPhone in India”.

The latest Nielsen survey confirms one of the major smartphone trends of 2012: That the Windows Phone operating system showed remarkable strength in India even before the new wave of Nokia (NOK) and HTC (2498) models launched in January. According to Nielsen, Windows Phone grabbed 8% of India’s smartphone market last autumn, far ahead of BlackBerry (BBRY) at 3% and iPhone at 1%.

• BGR: Why the Lumia 620 is so important to Nokia: Windows Phone is hammering the iPhone in India
  http://bgr.com/2013/02/08/nokia-lumia-620-analysis-india-322642/