Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The folks at ShinySurface.com have instructions & a nice video explaining how to screen capture on your Surface.  It’s quite easy – it’s just “DOWN VOLUME + WINDOWS” at the same time and the screenshot will be saved in \pictures\screenshots.  (And be visible in the Photos app)

Read more at:

• LINK:  How to take screenshots with your Microsoft Surface
  http://www.shinysurface.com/2012/10/26/how-to-take-screenshots-with-microsoft-surface/

If you are using Windows 8 or Windows RT, you no longer need to use the outdated Zune software to manage and sync your Windows Phone. There is a "Windows Phone" app on the Windows Store for both Windows 8 and Windows RT. It’s a Metro-Style app that replaces the need for the Zune PC software to tether your Windows Phone to the PC.

[NOTE:  This is not for Windows Phone 7/7.5 based devices.  The software is targeted at Windows Phone 8 devices.]

Description
Your computer and your Windows Phone 8 work together seamlessly with the Windows Phone app so you always have your photos, videos, and music, and more where you want them.

What’s included

• Get your music, photos, and videos from your computer to your phone (andvice versa).
• Quickly share things from your phone with Windows 8 apps (like Photos, or Search). You don’t even have to open the Windows Phone app to move things around.
• Automatically save photos and videos you take with your phone to your PC.
• See at a glance how much space you’re using for each type of content, so it’s easy to make sure you never run out of room on your phone.
• Get to WindowsPhone.com to download apps, learn more about your phone, or find it if it’s lost.

RELEASE: Windows Phone app for Windows 8/RT
http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-US/app/windows-phone/0e0fbaf6-fd99-4046-b494-9ce469ae3009

For those who need to provide others with a quick step by step tutorial around how to use the Windows 8 interface via:

• Touch
• Mouse
• Keyboard

Whichever way your user prefers to use their computer, this 48-page Windows 8 Quick Reference Card covers it. 

Sample pages:

• DOWNLOAD: Windows 8 Quick Reference Card
  http://sdrv.ms/TS3RJl

Want a cheat sheet with all the keyboard shortcuts for the release version of Windows 8?  Here you go:

• DOWNLOAD: Windows 8 keyboard shortcut Quick Reference sheet
  http://sdrv.ms/PBg5u7

At some juncture, if you’re like me, you’ve been adding Windows 7 PCs, Windows Phone 7 devices, Windows 8 PCs, & newly purchased Surfaces to your Kindle account.

This can only go on so long.  At some juncture, Kindle will not let you load your eBooks up on to a newly added Kindle player since you’ve exceeded the maximum number of players that Amazon allows.

WHAT TO DO?
You need to remove older, unused Kindle readers/players/devices from your account.  The way you do this is

1. Go to the following site:
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage?ie=UTF8&ref_=ya_14&#manageDevices
2. Click ‘Deregister’ next to each device you no longer use.
   You can verify the ‘Device Name’ of each device by going to each device you own and looking into the Options of each player.

For those with new Windows RT-based devices enjoying the Office 2013 Preview Release, (like new Surface owners… yeah!) you’re in luck!  It’s time to start up Windows Update because the final release of Office Home & Student 2013 is available for autodownload and installation to your device at no charge!

The download is 583MB in size so it’s gonna take a bit to download but once completed, you can look forward to immediately seeing this gratifying change:

…

To install the Office RTM:

1. Open the Charms bar by edge swiping from the right of the screen
2. Select Settings & “Change PC Settings” at the bottom.
3. Select Windows Update.
4. Click “No important updates are scheduled to be installed.”
5. Click “Get more info”.
6. Click “Important update is available”
7. Check the box next to “Update for Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013 Preview”
8. Click Install in the bottom right hand corner.

Are you a big Windows user?  Do you have lots and lots of Windows computers assigned to your Microsoft account?  (a.k.a. Windows Live ID)  Have you been reformatting PCs and reinstalling, using the same Microsoft account to log in/  Then at some juncture you will find that you run up against the “5 PC limit” on which you can install your Windows Store applications.

So the question is:
“How do I remove PCs from my account so that I can continue to install my Windows Store apps on my current, active computers?”

If you’ve already used your account to install apps on five different PCs, you’ll need to remove one of those PCs from your account before you can install apps on another PC using the same account.

To remove a PC from your account

1. On the Start screen, tap or click Store to open the Windows Store.

2. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Settings.
   (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Settings.)

3. Tap or click Your account. If you haven’t signed in to the Windows Store, sign in using your Microsoft account.

4. Under Your PCs, tap or click Remove next to the PC you want to remove from your account.

Taken from “Use your Windows Store account to install apps on up to five PCs”
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-store-install-apps-five-pcs

If you’re using a Surface, for more support for Surface with Windows RT, visit:

• SUPPORT:  Surface for Windows RT
  http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/support/browse/surface-with-windows-rt

Interested in a Xbox Kinect for only $50? 

Microcenter has refurbished units available.  (In person pickup ONLY – no delivery)

• DEAL:  Xbox Kinect Sensor – $50
  http://microcenter.com/product/363712/
  Kinect_Sensor_Refurbished_%28Xbox_360%29

Attention owners of the Sony Vaio S (Model: VPCSA25GX): 
Your system is supported for Windows 8 with tested and posted drivers for:

1. Camera
2. Memory Card Reader
3. Motherboard
4. Network
5. Notebook Control
6. Pointing Device (Alps Touchpad)
7. Power Management
8. Security
9. System Drivers
10. Video
11. Wireless Display
12. Wireless LAN

• DOWNLOAD:  Windows 8 x64 Drivers for the Sony Vaio S (Model: VPCSA25GX)
  http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=VPCSA25GX&LOC=3#/downloadTab

The Touch Cover is arguably the coolest part of the Surface’s engineering.  Everyone that’s evaluated it have confirmed that the Surface’s touch cover is awesome and feels great.  But if you were ever interested in how it was created, take a look at this ‘making of’ video by the research team that developed Touch Cover.