Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Join Microsoft and IDV Solutions at the downtown Los Angeles Microsoft offices Tuesday or the Irvine Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) Wednesday for a morning discussion on IDVs Visual Fusion, and Microsoft’s SharePoint and Bing Maps.
Learn how these three products combine to form an enterprise platform to flexibly and agilely develop business-focused applications that unite disparate data sources visually, in the context of location and time, for more informed, faster decision making.

Attention to business user experience and empowerment is a hallmark of solutions built on this platform, making rapid adoption and ongoing user satisfaction fundamental characteristics of these business applications.
The use of interactive data visualization combined with business intelligence will be demonstrated and applied to numerous real world scenarios. Current case studies from several organizations across a number of industries will be examined, as well as specific return on investment evidence.
Learn how your organization can benefit when these tools are applied to better understand and act on the key information driving your business.

All attendees are eligible for up to 60 hours of FREE services work from IDV Solutions, and one attendee will leave the event with a FREE Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player.

Both events will conclude with lunch, and the Irvine event also includes a tour of the Irvine Microsoft Technology Center.

Los Angeles Details:
Date:  Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Time: 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM PST
Location:  Los Angeles Microsoft office
333 South Grand Ave, Suite 3300
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 806-7300
Locate on Bing Maps>
Attendee Benefits:

• One Attendee – a FREE Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player
• All Attendees – up to 60 hours of FREE services work from IDV Solutions

REGISTER TODAY!> LOS ANGELES

Irvine Details:
Date:  Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Time: 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM PST
Location: Irvine Microsoft Technology Center (MTC)
3 Park Plaza, Suite 1600
Irvine, CA, 92614
(949) 263-3000
Locate on Bing Maps>
Attendee Benefits:

• One Attendee – a FREE Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player
• All Attendees – up to 60 hours of FREE services work from IDV Solutions

REGISTER TODAY!> IRVINE

Found this and thought I’d share it with a few of you guys that do presentations a lot.  These tools essentially embed within Powerpoint and can provide an interesting level of interactivity between attendees & the presenter by leveraging Twitter & the attendee’s phones. 

Kind of like a LiveMeeting, you can dynamically show on a Powerpoint slide:

• What the worldwide Twitterati are saying about the topic you’re discussing, refreshed in real time
• Live survey results simply by having an audience tweet to a specific keyword of your selection. 
• Written audience feedback in real time with automated filtering to prevent idiots from swearing or saying profane things.

There are currently eight tools – you can easily cut and paste them into your own Powerpoint decks:

• PowerPoint Twitter feedback slides
• PowerPoint Twitter ticker bar
• PowerPoint Twitter voting — bar charts and pie chart
• PowerPoint Mood meter
• PowerPoint Crowd meter
• PowerPoint Zoom text
• PowerPoint Twitter update bar
• PowerPoint AutoTweet

[Taken from http://blogs.msdn.com/dan_fay/archive/2009/12/15/free-powerpoint-twitter-tools-by-sap-web-2-0.aspx]

Ribbon Hero is a game for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2007 and 2010, designed to help you boost your Office skills and knowledge. Play games (aka "challenges"), score points, and compete with your friends while improving your productivity with Office. 

As a concept test, this add-in is not supported, but is an opportunity for you to try out an idea we are working on and let us know what you think.  For additional challenges and the opportunity to earn more points, download Office 2010 Beta.

Apparently the press seems to agree that this is a pretty cool idea for training:

• Ziff Davis:  Microsoft Ribbon Hero: A brilliant training tool from Office Labs
• Web Strategist:  Microsoft Makes Work Fun: Office Launches “Ribbon Hero”, A Social Game
• CNET:  Microsoft turns finding Office commands into game

Requirements: Vista or Windows 7 (32/64 bit), Office 2007 or Office 2010 (32/64 bit)

Limitations: English only, Works with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint only, Does not support versions of Office earlier than Office 2007

• DOWNLOAD:  Ribbon Hero
  http://www.officelabs.com/ribbonhero?WT.mc_id=1009

The Windows Performance team did a monster article about comparing system states across multiple servers to try to differentiate them and understand what could possibly be causing different results to the same tests.

—————

There often arises a need to figure out what may have changed on a system, either due to a specific issue or even to compare the difference between two systems. Today I would like to introduce you to the Windows System State Analyzer utility. Unless you are a developer or tester, you probably have never heard of this tool, as it is part of the Windows 2008 R2 Logo Software Certification and Windows 2008 R2 Logo Program Software Certification toolkits.

The basic functionality of the System State Analyzer tool is to allow you to compare two snapshots taken at different points in time. This allows you to compare the state of a machine both before and after an application install for instance. Today I will give you a run-through of what the tool looks like while doing a compare of a system both before and after installing a software package, in this case Virtual PC 2007. The initial UI will look something like this:

• Read more about this tool at the “Ask Performance blog” from the Windows team at:
  http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2010/01/12/an-introduction-to-the-windows-system-state-analyzer.aspx

Do you use the Windows Server Print Server role in your environment?  Are you using the either of the print server management packs for OpsMgr 2007?  Do you use the print management console?  If you answered yes to any of these questions then we would greatly appreciate your input to help form the future manageability plans for the print server role.  Head over to the OpsMgr public Connect site and fill out the "Print Server Management Survey".

Registration to the Connect program only requires a Windows Live ID.  The survey is anonymous and should take about 5 minutes to fill out the 11 questions.

Thank you in advance for your time and your feedback.

• LINK:  Print Server Management Survey
  http://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr

Today we are announcing the opening of the Technology Adoption Program nominations for the next release of System Center Configuration Manager. 

The Technology Adoption Program is designed to provide a consistent experience for Microsoft customers to obtain real-world customer feedback on Microsoft pre-release products. 

There are many benefits for our TAP customers, to name a few:

• Lead the market by adopting critical enabling technologies early
• Influence and shape the final product by providing early and deep feedback
• Connect with expertise to obtain a deep understanding of strategic emerging technologies

Building on over 14 years of systems management industry experience, Configuration Manager (formerly SMS) is the world leader in software distribution, OS deployment, HW/SW inventory and more.  Moving forward, there are both new capabilities as well as enhancements to existing product functionality that form the investments for engineering. 

Over the coming year the next release of Configuration Manager will move into a public beta.  Even at this early stage, we want to ensure that it is the highest quality release possible; the TAP program helps significantly in this effort. 

I would like to highlight for you briefly what the investment pillars for this next release are, and over the coming months we will continue to go deeper on these areas with different product folks through interviews, online chats and other forms of content.

The next release of Configuration Manager will focus on a few main areas:

• Improving client management experiences through enhanced, integrated software distribution models.  The next release of Configuration Manager will provide a framework for the right application format to be delivered to the user based on who they are, the device they are using, and their connection.
• Infrastructure improvements are also a main focus.  Optimizing site hierarchy, replication and content distribution on the backend.  For the managed client, improving client health and remediation capabilities will ensure that when a system is managed, it remains healthy and secure.  Part of this is also improving the Admin experience.  In the past we did this by reducing mouse clicks to get through an activity.  This is only part of the process.  Adding security models to enable role based administration, as well as improving the Admin console experience will ensure that Admins are more efficient everywhere.
• In addition, other areas of focus include expanding device management scenarios, model based configuration management and improving patch management services; just a few of the places we are focused on development.

We hope to see a strong interest in this TAP program, and we want to ensure as many organizations are engaged as possible.  The team is limited in resource, and as a result, not every TAP nomination can be accepted.  Completion/Submission of the TAP nomination form is not a guarantee of acceptance.  All completed nominations are evaluated to ensure the right fit, priorities and alignment of goals are present. 

The TAP is not your only avenue to access the next release of ConfigMgr.  There are other ways you be able to experience the product before release, such as the public beta programs.  Stay tuned to this blog for further announcements.

• LINK: Nomination Survey is here.
  https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=4346&InvitationID=VNXO-DFPW-G6HD&SiteID=892 
• LINK:  More information about the Microsoft TAP program can be found here.
  http://connect.microsoft.com/TAPintoMicrosoft 
• LINK:  System Center product information can be found here.
  http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configurationmanager/en/us/default.aspx

[taken from http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2010/01/08/the-next-wave-of-client-management-begins-now.aspx]

The Influencer Program is a community program that will give influencers — user group leads, MVPs, popular bloggers, and others recognized as influential in the community around System Center — the technical training, content, people connections, and general guidance they need to enhance their credibility and impact in the community.

Key Member Benefits

• Access to key content: Members get access to the latest technical training content to help them enhance their expertise. They can also submit content they’ve created to share with others in the community.
• Meet experts and peers in the community: Members can stay connected with System Center-focused events, or let others know about their upcoming events. Members can register and find events, as well as request speakers for upcoming meetings.
• Grow your influence: Members can learn about new opportunities to lead their communities on and offline, and find out about other opportunities to get more involved with Microsoft.

This invitation-only program is on Microsoft Connect, and offers links to several different tools to support influencer needs. The program is an open forum that welcomes feedback from participants to continue to make it more relevant and valuable.

Who’s Eligible

This program is intended for influencers of all kinds, or simply those who are looking for tools to become more influential in their own communities. The intention is not to supplant any existing influencer programs, such as the MVP program, but rather to complement and extend them, focusing specifically on the needs of the System Center (and soon: virtualization) community.

How to Join

If you are interested in joining this program, send the following to scnetsup@microsoft.com:

1. Your name
2. Your professional description
3. Your Windows Live ID
4. A photo of yourself
5. How the Influencer Program will be of use to you and, most importantly, how you can help contribute to this community.

You can also email this alias with any questions about our tools, resources, or mission.

This past month, two major announcements were made that you might have missed:

• Microsoft provides worldwide National Science Foundation researchers with free Windows Azure cloud computation & collaboration
  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/feb10/02-04NSFPR.mspx

The National Science Foundation is responsible for research in thousands of areas including food production for the 3rd world, robotics, 3D modeling for surgery, computer-based programming, cancer & disease detection, extraterrestrial communications, and other human endeavors.

By providing access to Microsoft cloud computing fabric, the NSF will be able to:

• Take advantage of existing, pre-built research & development
• Improve collaboration amongst researchers by providing a uniform place to share information
• Increase performance and velocity of research through the sheer computation power of the cloud

• Intuit and Microsoft Join Forces to Deliver Web Applications to Millions of Small Businesses
  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2010/jan10/1-20IntuitDevelopersPR.mspx

Intuit, makers of financial software such as Quickbooks & TurboTax, have a base of independent developers that extend the capabilities & reach of their products but leveraging APIs built into their software.

In partnership with Microsoft, Intuit selected Windows Azure as their preferred cloud infrastructure for extending their software.   By providing the free Windows Azure software development kit (SDK) as part of the Intuit Partner Platform today at http://developer.intuit.com/azure, hundreds of thousands of application developers can now extend their financial services software & extensions via the web in a highly scalable, secure, and available infrastructure.

For anyone that owns a Verizon HTC TouchPro 2, here’s a bunch of fixes and utilities that I’ve found that fix a lot of annoying things about the device.  Enjoy.

• DISABLE “SENT MESSAGE” NOTIFICATION?
  Have you used the SMS text messaging on the device and gotten annoyed by the stupid dialog box that keeps popping up that reads, “Sent Message”?  This CAB file applies a registry change that stops notifying you of the sent text message every time you send one.
  http://evilkoala.org/download/WindowsMobile/HTCTP2/DisableVerizonSMSMessageSent.cab
• END CALLS FASTER
  Did you ever notice that it takes an eternity to end a phone call when you hit the red “END” button? (To be more accurate, it takes 3 seconds for the call to end from the moment you press ‘END’)  This is a software/registry tweak believe it or not and you can actually end the call in a single second.  Simply copy over this .CAB file to your device and double click on it.  It’ll make the right registry change and upon rebooting, you’ll find that calls end in 66% less time.
  http://evilkoala.org/download/WindowsMobile/HTCTP2/apristel_FasterEndCall.cab
• IMPROVE APPLICATION PERFORMANCE
  Does your device get noticeably slower as you use it?  The primary reason for this is that RAM is not relinquished by applications that are dormant making performance difficult for applications that are actively running.  The easiest way is to simply have your device do some housekeeping on a regular basis to ensure that memory is always available to applications that need it.  cleanRAM is a free program that will regularly sweep your device on a scheduled basis (hourly if you want) to ensure it’s running tip top.
  http://evilkoala.org/download/WindowsMobile/HTCTP2/htcAddictscleanRAMv1.8.zip
• MAKE THE SPEAKERPHONE LOUDER
  The speakerphone on the HTC Touch Pro 2 is one of the best mobile phone speakerphones ever – the quality if fantastic and the availability of a mute button on the back is a great touch, but the volume could be louder.  Fortunately, this is just a software modification.  Install this mod to increase the maximums speakerphone volume.
  http://evilkoala.org/download/WindowsMobile/HTCTP2/AudioPara3.csv.cab
• TWEAK THE KNOWN REGISTRY SETTINGS FOR YOUR PHONE
  It turns out that most of the registry tweaks on your phone are already documented and don’t really require you to go trouncing through the registry.  Scrollbar dimensions, colors, TCP window sizes, etc.  There’s a program called HD Tweak that provides most of these registry changes in a simple, easy to apply fashion.
  http://evilkoala.org/download/WindowsMobile/HTCTP2/HDTweak0.5.4_English.cab

Want more?  How about a program that allows you to remap the buttons & keys on the button to do other things and execute other programs?  There’s a lot of other .CAB files and utilities available here:

• http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=1230305&postcount=6

Unified Communications Ignite 2 Day Event
Seating is limited – Reserve your spot today!

Dates: [Contact me if you are a customer of mine for details]
Time: 8:30am – 5pm
Location: Microsoft Office in Los Angeles, CA
Registration:  [Contact me if you are a customer of mine for details]

As a valued member of the Microsoft community, we would like to extend to you an official invitation to the 2 day Unified Communications (UC) Ignite training event. Day 1 will cover the essentials of Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Day 2 will cover features of Exchange Server 2010.

Please note that we can only guarantee your seat for a limited time, so please RSVP early!

The UC Ignite Instructor lead, hands-on technical training is the best way for you to get a first look at Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Exchange Server 2010. During the event, you will have the opportunity to learn about technical details and key features, complemented by multiple hands-on labs.

Workshop Agenda
8:00AM Check-in/ 8:30AM Start

• DAY 1: Office Communications Server R2
• Lecture: Architecture, Planning & Deployment
• Lecture: IM and Presence
• Lab: Install and Use Office Communicator 2007 R2 and the Office Communicator 2007 R2 Attendant
• Lab: Install and Configure Communicator Web Access R2
• Lab: Install and Configure Group Chat Functionality and enable users for Group Chat Console
• Lecture: Conferencing
• Lab: Configure and Use Conferencing in Office Communications Server 2007 R2
• Lecture: OCS 2007 R2 and Unified Messaging Coexistence
• Lab: Configure and Use Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Unified Messaging
• DAY 2: Exchange Server 2010
• Lecture: Overview New Features and Server Roles
• Lecture and Lab: Exchange Server 2010 Client Access
• Lecture and Lab: Management Tools and Role-Based Access Control
• Lecture and Lab: Information Leakage Protection and Control
• Lecture and Lab: Exchange Server 2010 Transport and Routing
• Lecture and Lab: Exchange Server 2010 High Availability

Note: Lunch will be provided each day.
We look forward to having you participate in this exciting training event!