Kurt Shintaku's Blog

The Windows Summit is a website designed for people who want to build solutions with Internet Explorer 9 or who engineer and test Windows 7 PCs, devices, and software. We just posted new IE9 sessions that highlight the latest web platform capabilities in IE9.

The eight presentations cover many aspects of building solutions in HTML5 using same markup and the rich features in IE9 to bring sites into Windows. In addition to the video recording, each session includes a PowerPoint deck and code samples in the Resources section. Here’s the list of all IE9 sessions:

• Overview of IE9 (two sessions)
• Easier Web development using IE9 developer tools
• Desktop integration using pinning
• Touch investments in IE9
• Getting Started with SVG
• Getting Started with Canvas
• Best Practices for Creating Advanced Graphics in IE9

We hope you enjoy the sessions. We want your feedback so we can continue to refine our content offerings and help you create fantastic web sites that work great on Windows. So please fill out the evaluation form after you watch each session.

• LINK:  Windows Summit 2010 
  http://windowssummit.tri-digital.com/video-gallery/internet-explorer-9/sow-t114.aspx 

Puja Pramudya from the Microsoft Innovation Center in Indonesia produced a new FREE 157 page book on developing in Silverlight for Windows Phone 7.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:

The year 2010 may be a milestone for Microsoft, and also mobile platform. In the computing industry, what Microsoft had done is called reboot strategy. Microsoft  refers  to Windows Phone as  ‘a  revolutionary new platform’. Microsoft rebuilt the whole thing from the beginning, with a fresher, cleaner user interface. Using a design philosophy they call Metro, inspired by signs displayed in metro subways, Microsoft’s  interface shows distinctive characteristics, retrieves information easily, is intuitive, and uses user friendly symbols. Its integration with service available in Microsoft’s cloud—Bing, Xbox Live, Push Notification, and Office to name a few—and third party service has given a unique appeal, something Microsoft should have started long ago.

From the development platform point of view, Windows Phone offers an interesting developing experience for developers. A Windows Phone is bound to have 800×480 WGA or 480×320 HVGA resolution, touch screen, GPS sensor, accelerometer, compass, light, camera, multimedia, GPU with DirectX9, and three hardware buttons. As a developer, it is guaranteed that the whole specifications will be available in any
devices that support Windows Phone. Each and every device driver is created directly by Microsoft to ensure consistency. To develop application over a Windows Phone platform, you have two popular and modern options: Silverlight and XNA.

Silverlight is known to enable web developers to create stunning interfaces with the combination of controls, text, vector graphic, media, animation, and data binding that can run on a number of platforms and browsers. Meanwhile SNA is a gaming platform that supports 2D and 3D games meant for Xbox 360, console, and PC.

Now, all that we need is the apps 🙂

DOWNLOAD:  Silverlight for Windows Phone:  Learn & Practice
http://cid-3543a916eed05fb8.office.live.com/self.aspx/MIC-ITB%20Activities/Silverlight%5E_for%5E_WindowsPhone%5E_English.pdf?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=133767177

PSFK is a New York City based consultancy known for innovating new ideas for creative businesses.  Well known in the trends research & innovations business, PSFK reports on and consults around innovations that help companies get inspired.

Their latest “Future Of” report focuses on Mobile Tagging:

PSFK’s latest ‘Future Of’ report presents key trends in the mobile tagging space, so as to inspire marketers and their creative agencies about their future use of technologies that include QR codes, barcodes and Microsoft Tags in their branding activity and communication campaigns.

Mobile tags offer a unique opportunity for brands and their agencies to interact with potential and existing customers. These two dimensional barcodes can be applied to almost any surface and the information contained within them can be leveraged to create incentives and drivers that lead consumers along the purchase path.

By bridging the online-offline divide with a click of a mobile phone button, mobile tags can drive a brand or product’s awareness. In this report we look at how companies are using competitions and gaming to engage a new audience.

When a shopper scans a mobile tag, they can also gather a deeper level of information that will help them decide about the purchase of a product. Marketers are using the technology to provide an insider’s view about a brand—and they are also using the mobile tag to provide immediate status updates sent directly to a customer’s phone.

Mobile tags can support the purchase stage. Opportunities being explored by brands and their agencies include the ability to scan-to- pay and also the offering of loyalty rewards.

Beyond the purchase, marketers can use the technology to enhance customer service. For example, how-to instructions can be made easily accessible with the simple capture of a mobile tag.

Mobile tags provide an exciting opportunity to interact with customers in ways not previously available to marketers. This report shines a light on to the work of other marketers to both inspire you and present some mobile tagging options as you consider your next campaign.

Get it free, here:

• WHITEPAPER:  PSFK presents, “Future of Mobile Tagging”
  http://www.psfk.com/future-of-mobile-tagging

In this lab you will learn how Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 delivers several breakthrough capabilities that will enable your organization to scale database operations with confidence and will improve IT and developer efficiency, as well as enable highly scalable and well-managed business intelligence on a self-service basis for your users. In this hands on lab, you will learn how to prepare and perform an upgrade to SQL Server 2008 R2, as well as go through new features including StreamInsight and Multi Server Management.

During this lab, we will cover:

• Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 R2
• Working with the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight Event Flow Debugger
• Querying Events in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight Using LINQ
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: Multi Server Management

Registration: This special, no charge training series will fill quickly and space is limited, so be sure to register as soon as possible to reserve your seat.

CONTACT ME IF YOU’RE A CUSTOMER OF MINE INTERESTED IN REGISTERING 

What is a virtual hands-on-lab:
This isn’t your typical IT class. A hands-on lab online is an invite only event that combines LiveMeeting with a virtual lab. Attendees and presenters login from anywhere. Attendees watch a brief LiveMeeting presentation, then spend most of the time getting hands-on experience working through all, or just self-selected modules of the entire lab – at their own pace, and receive real–time, personal, one-on-one attention from the presenter. In addition, there’s a proctor available for technical support and to answer more attendee questions.

Date:  Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Time:  9:00am – 1:00pm Pacific Time
Location: Virtual Hands On Lab Classroom.
Target Audience: IT Pro, IT Manager

Before the Event:

• Check virtual lab for your computer http://test.vlabcenter.com/hv/default.aspx
• Install the ActiveX control. The Microsoft "Virtual Machine Remote Control" ActiveX control is required to start the virtual lab.
• Review system requirements.
• If you have any issues, please contact support.

Here’s a conference that we are co-sponsoring with Quest Software and damn, if it doesn’t look good.

Welcome to The Experts Conference (TEC) 2011 in Las Vegas, where we’ll venture beyond the boundaries to convey cutting edge expertise on the most vital Microsoft technologies.

Celebrating our 10th year of advanced education and networking, TEC 2011 will deliver expert-led, 400-level training on vital Microsoft technologies. In addition to its highly-acclaimed agenda on Microsoft Directory & Identity technologies, TEC 2011 will also bring back a full lineup of Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint training. And, this year, for the first time ever, we are pleased to introduce an entirely new TEC for Virtualization & Cloud conference!

Join us at TEC 2011 for world-class training and networking – for the experts, by the experts – and learn innovative ways to run and manage the technologies that drive your organization.

Focusing specifically on the following:

• Directory & Identity Training: Join Gil Kirkpatrick for advanced training on Active Directory and Forefront Identity Manager.
• Exchange Training: Unified Communications expert David Sengupta leads multiple tracks on Microsoft’s Exchange Server platform.
• SharePoint Training: Join Joel Oleson, as well as other leading gurus and MVPs, for a deep dive into SharePoint.
• Virtualization & Cloud Training: Join Scott Herold and other experts on deep instruction on server and desktop virtualization and cloud computing.

DISCOUNT:
Toldja it looked good.  What’s more, I have a Microsoft discount code that I can share that will get you $345 off the registration price to knock it down to $1300/registration.  Contact me if you’re a customer of mine, for information about the discount.

Date:  April 17-20th

Location:  Red Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

Registration:  http://www.theexpertsconference.com/us/2011/

Microsoft Lync Unified Communications Overview & Demo Featuring Microsoft IT

Learn how Microsoft is saving more than $215 million annually— Increasing employee productivity, and replacing its PBX infrastructure with Microsoft^® Lync^™

Overview
Success in today’s business world hinges on collaboration —whether it’s with other employees, clients, partners, or vendors. Now there’s a way for your organization to transform every communication into an interaction that is more collaborative, engaging, and accessible from anywhere.

Learn how the streamlined communications performance you’ve come to rely on with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has just gotten better. Improve collaboration, facilitate easier management, and lower the cost of ownership of your communications systems.

Get details on how Microsoft’s internal Information Technology (MSIT) team has deployed the UC solution across Microsoft providing communication accounts to a total of 166,000 users, helped the company save more than $215 million US annually and improved the way that employees work . Microsoft employees conduct more than 7.6 million calls a month by using the voice capabilities of the Microsoft UC solution.

Please join us for a free online conference sponsored by Microsoft and Plantronics.

Speakers: Bill Shelly, Enterprise Voice Technology Specialist, and Johnny Bowman, Microsoft Field IT Manager

Registration— Choose from two dates in February:

The first 100 Conference attendees who complete an evaluation form will receive a FREE headset from Plantronics!

I am very excited to see the growth of our Opalis community, and today I would like to show you some examples of this.

Charles Joy, one of our resident Opalis uber-smart guys (and one half of the “Opalis Guys”) has posted 3 new Integration Packs to Codeplex.  You can read his post here which describes in more detail what the IP’s do.

The new IP’s he has posted are:

• Integration Pack for Text Manipulation
• Integration Pack for MSSQL Tasks
• Integration Pack for Windows Tasks

Here is an example of some of the automated tasks that can now be integrated into Opalis workflows:

• Text Manipulation:
• Blank Line Search and Destroy
• Count Character Occurrence Text
• Find Character Occurrence Text
• In File Replace Text
• Keyword Range Search and Destroy Text
• Keyword Search and Destroy Text
• Passthrough Text
• Replace Text
• MSSQL Tasks:
• Test MSSQL Connection
• Deploy MSSQL Scripts
• Get OIS Variable Info
• Update OIS Variable Value
• Generate XML from MSSQL
• Windows Tasks:
• File and Directory maintenance
• extends the functionality of the Delete File, Delete Folder, and Get File Status Objects
• Multi-Server WMI Query
• extends the functionality of the Query WMI, and Get Process Status Objects

[taken from http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/01/19/3-new-integration-packs-for-opalis-posted.aspx]

Have you ever been on the road and needed to print something to a file on a USB flash drive so that you can move it & print it on another computer?

Here’s the situation I ran into while in Vegas staying at the Mandalay Bay Hotel:

PROBLEM: 

• I bought a $50 certificate from Restaurant.com.  Restaurant.com sells gift certificates to restaurants at huge discounts – in my case, I got the cert for only $4. The certificate is presented on a web page on Restaurant.com and needs to be printed on paper and given to the waiter at the restaurant.
• The issue I don’t have a printer in my room, and I need to get this “web page” to a computer that does have a printer on it.  And the computer will be a generic Windows PC.

SOLUTION:

1. Print the document using the built in Fax printer.  The Fax Setup dialog box will appear.
2. Select “Connect to a fax server on my network”.  A dialog box will appear asking you to “Type the fax server location.”
3. Press CANCEL.  A dialog box will appear saying, “To send a fax, you need to connect to a fax modem or…”
4. Click OK to get past this dialog box.  A “New Fax” will appear with an attachment in it.  This attachment is your print out printed in a low resolution in the fax TIFF format.
5. Click on the .TIF file under “Attach:” and drag it on to your desktop or your Flash drive.  This is the printed file that you will transport to the computer that is print-capable.

At this point, you should now have a small sub-100kb TIFF fax-format file on your USB flash drive.  This is the print out that you need in a graphics file that is readable by any Windows or Mac computer without the need to install a ‘reader’ program like Adobe Acrobat.  This makes is easy to print the files at places where downloading and installing software like an Acrobat Reader is a difficult task.

And best of all – this is free!

SCSIM Winter IT Executive Forum
Communicating The Value Of IT Back To The Business:
Effective IT Financial Management

• Have you ever been asked why IT costs so much?
• Do you struggle to justify project costs when budget time hits?
• If so, this is the event for you!

Whether you call it “IT cost transparency”, “showing value for the dollars spent in IT”, “IT Service Management”, “Technology Business Management” or “transforming CIO’s from Technical to Business leaders”, the message is the same – we need to demonstrate, in the language of the business, the value of their investment in technology.

During this forum, we will share several ways to enhance credibility for the IT organization by employing financial transparency. You will empower your decision-making capabilities by understanding the underlying costs and value of delivering IT services to the business.

You will meet three renowned IT Executives who have successfully built dashboards and analytics to show value. You’ll hear from Charlie NcNerney, GM for Microsoft Global Foundation Services on Delivering Business Value of IT. Sean Worthington, VP Information Technology, Cisco Systems will talk about Transforming IT into a Services Portfolio. Jeff Chasney, EVP and CIO of CKE Restaurants will share his thoughts on Putting the Intelligence in Business Intelligence. Then, join in a roundtable discussion on how to get started, facilitated by Larry Godec, SVP/CIO for First American Financial.

Bring your CFO at half price! Sharing this event will help strengthen your relationship by developing a mutual understanding of the costs and value of technology efforts.
Use coupon code “CXO” to register.

Date: February 2, 2011
Time: 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Register Here

Location:
Torrance Holiday Inn
(310) 781-9100
19800 S. Vermont Ave
Directions

Members: $70
Non-Members: $100
At the door: add $15

Our Guest Speakers:

Increase Productivity – Maximize Your Digital Marketing

Join us for a detailed discussion about “Digital Marketing Strategy: It’s More than Just Infrastructure” to learn how Microsoft Web solutions can bring your otherwise disparate systems together to decrease costs and reduce the time required by IT to maintain your company’s website.

Aaron Sloman of Perficient, will share case studies of organizations currently utilizing this approach along with a demonstration of a site showcasing the best practices for public-facing web. By utilizing technology you already own, Perficient and Microsoft can help you build a customer Web solution that is both cost effective and easy to use and update. Through the combination of familiar platforms, FAST search to drive dynamic content, social networking tools, and thread marketing principles, Microsoft and Perficient can help you create a public facing Web solution that has something to offer for all aspects of your business.

Agenda

• 8:00am – 8:30am Registration and Breakfast
• 8:30am – 8:45am Introductions and Kickoff
• 8:45am – 10:00am Digital Marketing Strategy – It’s More Than Just Infrastructure
• 10:00am – 10:30am Q&A and Networking

Date:
February 23, 2011
8:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Breakfast will be served

Location:
Microsoft
3 Park Plaza
16th Floor
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone: 949-263-3000

Registration:
Please contact me for information about registering if you are a customer of mine.  This event requires enrollment due to it’s subject matter.