Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Celio Corp released a major phone driver and REDFLY firmware update.

The new phone driver and REDFLY firmware combination increases communication speeds over USB and Bluetooth while providing more stability and adding support for more third-party applications such as Opera 9.5.

As part of the software update, 18 new Windows Mobile phones were added to the list of REDFLY supported phone bringing the total to 54.

This software update is recommended for all REDFLY users. Visit http://www.celiocorp.com/install to download the updates and view installation instructions.

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.celiocorp.com/install

Elevate virtual environment security with the Hyper-V Security Guide!

The Hyper-V Security Guide is designed to provide your customers with guidance, instructions, and recommendations to help them further elevate the security of virtualized Windows Server® environments and address their business-critical needs.

Here’s your chance to help your customers efficiently manage the security of their virtualized environments. Get all the details about the guide by visiting the Hyper-V Security Guide page on TechNet.

The Hyper-V Security Guide provides the following information to address security concerns about server virtualization:

• Hardening the Hyper-V role. Prescriptive guidance for hardening the Hyper-V role, including several best practices for installing and configuring Hyper-V with a focus on security. These best practices include measures for reducing the attack surface of Hyper-V as well as recommendations for properly configuring secure virtual networks and storage devices.
• Delegating virtual machine management. Prescriptive guidance to help IT professionals safely and securely delegate administrative access to virtual machine resources using tools such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager.
• Protecting virtual machines. Prescriptive guidance for securing virtual machine resources, including best practices and detailed steps for protecting virtual machines by using a combination of file system permissions, encryption, and auditing.

This Solution Accelerator provides the following important benefits:

• Secure deployment. The recommendations in this guide will help securely deploy applications on the Microsoft virtualization platform with confidence.
• Comprehensive. This guide was written to address key security concerns around server virtualization.
• Thoroughly tested. All security recommendations have been fully tested in Microsoft labs.
• Free. The Hyper-V Security Guide is free on the Microsoft Download Center.

DOWNLOAD:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140067

Windows Live for Windows Mobile v10.6.0046.0800 is now ‘live’ at http://wl.windowsmobile.com.  This version includes Messenger.  This update to our public release is solid and much improved over what is being used today.

DOWNLOAD:
http://wl.windowsmobile.com

Release Notes:
http://mobile.microsoft.com/live/En-US/mobile/release.mspx?wt.dl=1&sid=bb541ca1629268867560bcc1b2162c859f3d7561

FAQ:
http://mobile.microsoft.com/live/En-US/mobile/faq.mspx?wt.dl=1&sid=bb541ca1629268867560bcc1b2162c859f3d7561

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer is now a freely downloadable product.  Today, the Sharepoint Team Blog made the announcement on their blog.

DOWNLOAD: 
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/HA103607611033.aspx (143MB-296MB)

SHAREPOINT PRODUCT TEAM BLOG:
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/04/02/sharepoint-designer-available-as-a-free-download.aspx

This has a number of ramifications:

1. Customers can now make relatively advanced design changes to Sharepoint sites regardless of whether they are Sharepoint Server based on Windows Sharepoint Services based.
2. Relatively complex workflows can be created without any cost to businesses providing human workflow to reduce error and quicken business process.
3. End users can make customizations to pages which could potentially result in support calls if they have the “Designer” right, which Site Owners do by default.

This blog entry from the SharePoint Designer team does a good job of laying out the options available for locking down the use of SharePoint Designer on an environment if that is something to be concerned about in your organization.

Locking Down Sharepoint Designer
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2008/11/25/locking-down-sharepoint-designer.aspx

To view the rights a group has on a site:

1. Browse the site
2. Site Actions menu | Site Settings
3. Under Users and Permissions, click People and Groups
4. In the Left Navigation, Click Site Permissions
5. You will get a list of groups and any users that have explicit permissions.  Clicking the name will get you the specific permissions the group has.

Cloud computing has huge implications for both developers and business people. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor and be part of the community that helps pioneer this exciting new area. Find out more and register today.

REGISTER:
https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=137135

DATE/TIME:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 5:05 PM – 7:00 PM
Welcome Time:5:00:00 PM Pacific Time

LOCATION:
Neudesic Offices
3420 Ocean Park Blvd Suite 3055
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Join Microsoft’s Client Technology Specialist and Pontis Research for a First Look Session and answer questions on compatibility and deployment. We will discuss how Windows 7 will help make users productive anywhere, enhance security and control, and streamline PC management.

Windows 7 for the Enterprise
Windows 7 is next version of the Windows client operating system and is on track to be available approximately 3 years after the release of Windows Vista. Windows 7 builds on the modern foundation of Windows Vista, and companies that deploy Windows Vista first will find that Windows 7 is highly compatible with their hardware, software, and tools.

This session will showcase some of the key investments in Windows 7 to help enterprise customers address the evolving needs of their end users and IT professionals:

• Make users productive anywhere
  Windows 7 enables users to complete their job no matter where they are-at home, in a branch office, or on the road-without reducing productivity.
• Enhance security and control
  Windows 7 builds on the security foundation of Windows Vista, and delivers increased flexibility in helping secure computers and data.
• Streamline PC management
  Whether IT professionals manage and deploy desktops, laptops, or virtual environments, Windows 7 makes the job easier while enabling them to leverage the same tools and skills they use with Windows Vista.

Location:
Microsoft – Irvine
3 Park Place
Suite 1600 Irvine California 92614

Register:
This is a corporate event only.  If you are an Enterprise customer of mine, please contact me for details on how to register.

For those of you who were available to see Lynn Langit’s presentation on SQL Server 2008 for Developers, here is a link to the Powerpoint presentation.http://cid-00da410c7f7e038d.skydrive.live.com/embedrowdetail.aspx/ProductMaterial/SQLServer2008/GOOD|_tech|_days09|_sweden|_SQLDEV.pptx

I am trying to get the recording for those that are interested.  Let me know if you want to have access to the LiveMeeting.

(Once again, I find myself making an exception to my general rule of not pointing to external blogs.)

A fellow named “Paul” runs a blog called “Slick IT” which has a post on there that is just spectacular.  Heck – I wish I wrote it.

• Internet Explorer: Why It Crashes And How To Fix It
  http://www.slickit.ca/2009/02/internet-explorer-why-it-crashes-and.html

He makes a ton of great points and points to a very important blog post on the IEBlog site.

Yeah… I’m just going to leave it at that.

Hands down… my favorite ad of ours.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=0bb6a07c-c829-4562-8375-49e6693810c7