Kurt Shintaku's Blog

HP has released integration between insight manager and SMS 2003… 

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/sms2003/index.html

SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Update Release Candidate 2 (English-Globalized) has been signed off for release
The Dell update tool helps customers deploy BIOS, Firmware, and Driver updates to Dell servers using software update feature of SMS 2003. 

RC2 is the final release candidate and includes the following improvements (compared to RC1 build released on Nov 15):

• International language support – French, German, Japanese, Spanish (client only), and Chinese (Simplified) language  SMS site servers and clients.
• Redesigned and optimized reports for Dell updates
• Works with the Dec 6 release of Dell update manifest, inventory tool, and other components supplied by Dell. (This is the RTM version of the Dell components).

Next milestone: RTM (end of January) after a quick production deployment and validation of RC2 build by the TAP customers.

Availability:

RC2 build will be posted to the beta place website on Dec 30.

http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/downloads/2003/tools/dellupdates.asp

Microsoft Executive Circle Webcast: Security360 with Mike Nash: Keeping an Eye on Spyware – (Level 200)

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 – 9:00 AM-10:00 AM

Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President Security Business & Technology Unit, Microsoft Corporation

Security360 is a monthly webcast series hosted by Mike Nash, senior executive of security at Microsoft. January’s Security360 will discuss the latest spyware techniques and highlight technologies and best practices organizations can use to mitigate the threat of spyware. As with every Security360, this session will include commentary from industry experts, a checklist of recommendations and resources, a live question and answer session and a progress update on Microsoft security enhancements.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=39701

Honestly:  This isn’t about you guys.  It’s more about a previous Enterprise customer I used to have that took great delight in having me run around doing senseless tasks and getting blamed for everything from the "latest security patch" to "why our products don’t integrate 100%", instead keeping focused on how Microsoft’s technologies can help them move their business along.

Nonetheless, after 5 years of being wailed on, this article written by the CIO of American Airlines brought a tear to my eye.

http://www.cio.com/archive/011505/lead.html  

After some searching and testing, I’ve determined that it is possible to use the HTC XV6600, Verizon’s latest Pocket PC Phone, as a wireless modem just as the previous Samsung i700 and i600 did.  The difference is that the XV6600 is EvDO capable delivering wireless speeds up to 500kbps in Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego.   Note that you obviously have to have a data plan for the unit.  This retails for $44.95/month.

You should download the drivers and dialer from.
http://www.myehud.com/xv6600

The process is a little more convoluted than with the Samsung i700. 
1) Turn off Activesync on the laptop.
2) Go to File…connection settings and uncheck the USB box.
3) Turn off the EvDO connection on the 6600 by holding down the end call button.
4) Start WModem on the phone.  Be sure to pick "USB" on the popup in WModem and hit the Start button. 
5) Plug your phone into the laptop via USB.  This will kick off the New Hardware Wizard on your system.
6) Point to the drivers on your laptop which you should have already downloaded above.
7) start the dialer and use the following information:
User: <phonenumber>@vzw3g.com
Password: vzw
Dial number: 777#

Holy moley.  Has anyone seen Microsoft Technet recently?  Remember Technet?  That big batch of CDs that you used to get every month?  The stuff with the patches, Service Packs, Beta software, etc?

Now it comes with FULL VERSION SOFTWARE.  No joke. The full software – not evals.   Here’s a list of the software you get for usage and test with Technet "version 2.0" now.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/abouttn/subscriptions/evalsoftware.mspx

It also comes with 2 Product Support incidents and access to unlimited full Support Newsgroups.  This is on top of the Beta software, the knowledge base, the security resources/patches on CDROM/DVD, etc.

Wow.

Subscribe today by going to:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/abouttn/subscriptions/default.mspx

For MN-700 Microsoft Wireless Router owners:

Did you know that there were firmware upgrades for the MN-700?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814080

I believe these are quite recent… as of December 2004

1 Expandable USB cable…
1 RJ-45 Network cable…
1 RJ-12 Modem cable…
… all for free + $10 shipping.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=u10-751&SRCCODE=BIZRTGB&CMP=OTC-BIZRATE