Kurt Shintaku's Blog

MSDN Events Presents: Understanding Azure
Cloud Development is one of the fastest growing trends in our industry. Don’t get left behind. In this event, Rob Bagby and Bruno Terkaly will provide an overview of developing with Windows Azure. They will cover both where and why you should consider taking advantage of the various Windows Azure’s services in your application, as well as providing you with a great head start on how to accomplish it. This half-day event will be split up into 3 sections. The first section will cover the benefits and nuances of hosting web applications and services in Windows Azure, as well as taking advantage of SQL Azure. The second section will cover the ins and outs of Windows Azure storage, while the third will illustrate the Windows Azure AppFabric.

• Audience(s): NonProfessional Developer, Pro Dev/Programmer and Tester.
• Date/Time: Thursday, April 21, 2011 1:00 PM-5:00PM
• Event ID: 1032480163
• Location:
  Microsoft LA Office
  MPR 1&2
  333 S Grand Ave
  Suite 3300Los AngelesCalifornia90071
  United States
• Register by Phone: 1-877-MSEVENT (9AM-7PM EST M-F)

Register by Web:
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032480163&Culture=en-US

MSDN Events Presents: SharePoint

Event Overview
Join SharePoint architects, developers and other experts that work with Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

This is an educational and fun-filled half day event with sessions from SharePoint team members & MVPs covering a wide variety of SharePoint developer topics.

This MSDN event is FREE, open to the public, and is your chance to learn how to build custom SharePoint solutions using Visual Studio 2010!

• Audience(s): Pro Dev/Programmer.
• Date/Time:  March 31, 1-5PM
• Event ID: 1032473243
• Location:
  Microsoft Irvine Office
  3 Park Plaza
  Suite 1600
  Irvine, California 92614
• Register by Phone: 1-877-MSEVENT (9AM-7PM EST. M-F)

Register by Web:
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032473243&Culture=en-US

Windows Azure developers have always had options when it comes to which languages (such as .NET, PHP, Ruby or Java) and development tools (such as Visual Studio or Eclipse) to use to build applications on the Windows Azure platform. Today, there’s yet another choice with the availability of the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java, which was announced last Wednesday on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog.

The goal of this CTP is to get feedback from Java developers, and to nail down the correct experience for Java developers, particularly to make sure that configuring, packaging and deploying to Windows Azure integrates well with common practices.

Designed to work as a simple command line build tool or in the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE), the starter kit is an open source project released under the Apache 2.0 license and is available for download here.

To learn more about the CTP, please read the full blog post about this announcement on the Interoperability @ Microsoft blog here.

From the CodePlex site:

This Starter Kit was designed to work as a simple command line build tool or in the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) to help Java developers deploy their applications to the Windows Azure cloud. It uses Apache Ant as part of the build process, and includes an Ant extension that’s capable of understanding Window Azure configuration options. The Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java is an open source project released under the Apache 2.0 license.

The Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java is a Zip file that contains a template project and the Ant extension. If you look inside this archive you will find the typical files that constitute a Java project, as well as several files we built that will help you test, package and deploy your application to Windows Azure.

See the tutorials at java.interopbridges.com/cloud

• DOWNLOAD:  Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java (CTP)
  http://wastarterkit4java.codeplex.com/

Yes, this is real.

We created a comic book to help people learn about Windows Azure and I kinda got a nice refresher course on the basics in 28 pages.

They go over Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and what the Windows Azure AppFabric is – something that is often misunderstood.

Download the book and take a look see!

• DOWNLOAD:  Windows Azure Comic Book (29 page .PDF)
  http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/comics/b/weblog/
  archive/2011/02/28/download-a-copy-of-windows-azure-comic-book.aspx

Pass any Virtualization exam between March 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011 and you will receive a complimentary TechNet Subscription*. First 1,000 people only! Registration is required.

*NOTE: Qualified candidates will receive their TechNet Subscriptions on or before July 15, 2011.

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) Certifications

• Exam 70-659
  MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
• Exam 70-669
  MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization
• Exam 70-652
  MCTS: Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) Certifications

• Exam 70-669 TS: Windows Server
  2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization
• Exam 70-693 PRO: Windows Server
  2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator

plus either

• Exam 70-659 TS: Windows Server
  2008 R2, Server Virtualization
       or
• Exam 70-652 TS: Windows Server
  Virtualization, Configuring

Better get hopping… it’s only good for the first 1000 people!

• OFFER:  Pass a Virtualization Exam and Get a Complimentary TechNet Subscription!
  http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2011/03/01/pass-a-virtualization-exam-and-get-a-complimentary-technet-subscription.aspx

This spreadsheet lists the policy settings for computer and user configurations included in the administrative template files (admx/adml) delivered with Windows Internet Explorer 9.

The policy settings included in this spreadsheet cover Internet Explorer 5, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9. These files are used to expose policy settings when you edit Group Policy objects (GPOs) using Group Policy Object Editor (also known as GPEdit).

• DOWNLOAD:  Group Policy Settings Reference Windows Internet Explorer 9
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=21e84c24-b967-4d6d-850a-5eb554d18447

Here is a list we’ve posted of known Tracking Protection Lists that you can download and engage into Internet Explorer 9.0 with it’s new “Tracking Protection”.

Currently there are 4 providers and 5 lists.  (PrivacyChoice delivers 2 different lists, one for less restrictive restrictions, the other more.)

• INFO: Summary of Internet Explorer 9.0 Tracking Protection Lists
  http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Browser/TrackingProtectionLists/Default.html

I’ve seen an interesting comments about TRUSTe however so caveat user:

• ED BOTT:  Privacy Protection & IE9:  Who can you trust?
  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/privacy-protection-and-ie9-who-can-you-trust/3014
• DOWNLOAD SQUAD:  Internet Explorer 9 Tracking Protection Lists not all created equal
  http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/15/internet-explorer-9-tracking-protection-lists-not-all-created-equal/

A competitor to CCleaner, BleachBit is a tool that cleans out workstation storage while eliminating cookies and other tracking objects in the system.  Architecturally, BleachBit is unique in the sense that it actually has very specific ‘plug ins’ for clearing out the temp directories for specific applications or cleansing systems of particular targeted threats or concerns. 

One of the unique capabilities of BleachBit is its ability to clear Evercookie, a NASTY tracking cookie implementation that is exceptionally persistent.  It’s not so much an individual cookie as much as it is MANY “markers” (including cookies) that are stored in various locations on a machine.  The markers tell a remote web site if the Evercookie has been placed, and it will “repair” or “rebuild” Evercookies even if you’ve deleted them, by looking for Evercookie backups in various locations.

According to Windows Club, Evercookie stores “markers” in the following locations:

• Standard HTTP Cookies
• Local Shared Objects (Flash Cookies)
• Silverlight Isolated Storage
• Storing cookies in RGB values of auto-generated, force-cached PNGs using HTML5 Canvas tag to read pixels (cookies) back out
• Storing cookies in Web History
• Storing cookies in HTTP ETags
• Storing cookies in Web cache
• window.name caching
• Internet Explorer userData storage
• HTML5 Session Storage
• HTML5 Local Storage
• HTML5 Global Storage
• HTML5 Database Storage via SQLite

From the BleachBit web site:

BleachBit 0.8.1 deletes DOM Storage (HTML 5 cookies) in five major browsers; deletes evercookie tracking; cleans Silverlight cookies, .ini configuration files, and VLC.

BleachBit quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn’t know was there. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean 90 applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari,and more.

Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster. Better than free, BleachBit is open source.

DOWNLOAD: BleachBit – Privacy Protection & Disk Cleaner Tool (v.81BETA)
http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

Here’s another free tool for Windows 7’s taskbar that will show how much memory, CPU, or hard drive storage is being used.  This one uses taskbar real estate in comparison to “RAM CPU Taskbar” but if you prefer

It’s similar to a Windows Desktop Gadget except that it’s integrated into the system taskbar.  Frequency of update is configurable using the meter configuration panel and there’s quick links to Task Manager and Resource Manager.

• TOOL:  Taskbar Meters for Windows 7 (3rd party)
  http://taskbarmeters.codeplex.com/

Today, we announced that Microsoft’s Hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Services for Exchange Online will be free moving forward. 

In other words, if you want to use Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2010 implementation in our datacenters for your company’s email services, and you have BlackBerries, you can anticipate being able to hook them up to your “Exchange Online” subscription at no additional charge from Microsoft.

Quote from Office 365 blog:

We have exciting news for Microsoft Online Services customers. We are in the process of updating pricing for Hosted BlackBerry Service for Exchange Online to make this service available free of charge. Starting today, BlackBerry mobile e-mail for new Exchange Online customers is now free through our Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). For existing customers, we expect to be able to provide more information later this month on how you can take advantage of this change.

In addition, Hosted BlackBerry service will be available for free with Office 365 after it launches later this year.

BLOG:  BPOS & BlackBerry
http://blogs.technet.com/b/msonline/archive/2011/03/17/bpos-and-blackberry.aspx

BLOG: Office 365 and BlackBerry
http://community.office365.com/enus/office365/b/microsoft_office_365_blog/
archive/2011/03/16/office-365-and-blackberry.aspx