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Internet Explorer 9 to support HTML5


Rumours of Internet Explorer 9 started to surface a few months ago at PDC 2009 and now we’re seeing more evidence from Microsoft about what to expect…although not so much when!

There are 2 sessions running at Microsoft’s Mix 2010 event which are:

HTML5: The future of Web Markup Today

and

Future of Vector Graphics for the Web

It already seems there will be a new Javascript engine in IE9 as well as the GPU being used to render pages, and tabbed browsing will be improved.

It’s expected that a CTP (Community Technical Preview) of IE9 will be made available at the MIX 2010 conference which runs 15-17 March 2010…see more here.

More info can be found over on Neowin.

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Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) Dashboard


System Center, in particular Config Manager aka SCCM, is becoming more and more popular with customers and clients at work. People looking to start enhancing and automating tasks such as OS deployment, app distribution, patch management etc as well as those who’ve started down this path, often with Altiris, and are now looking for a more rounded solution, are all asking for/happy to listen to information about SCCM. There’s more info on SCCM as a product here but in this post I specifically want to talk about the Dashboard that’s in beta.

About the Dashboard

System Center Config Manager Dashboard’s aim is to make it even easier for IT administrators to access and digest key information about their network and infrastructure, quickly and effortlessly even when not at the Management Console. The Dashboard lets you:

  • Track OS & App deployments
  • Track Security updates
  • Check the health status of computers
  • Check compliance with IT regulations

all via a customizable web interface. It’s based on Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS) so it’s key features include:

  • Easy access to key information without using the Configuration Manager console  
  • Centralized view of Configuration Manager data sets
  • Data can be viewed in graph, table, or Dundas* gauge formats
  • You can create custom dashboards for different departments, based on site user’s group membership.

    • *I will try and confirm is this is limited to Dundas or whether SAP’s Crystal Xcelsius can be used here too.

    Join the Beta Program

    Sign up to the English only Beta here.

    How it works:

    Here’s a great diagram from the technet site:

    Ff369719.image1(en-us,TechNet.10).jpg

    The Process Flow goes a little something like this:

  • An IT Service Manager requests a new data set.
  • The IT Administrator uses the Dashboard Configuration Web Part to define the new data set.
  • The IT Administrator stores the configuration information for the new data set (the information is saved in the Windows SharePoint Services Content database).
  • The IT Administrator adds a new copy of the Dashboard Viewer Web Part to the default Configuration Manager Dashboard and then modifies the Web part to display the new data set.
  • The IT Service Manager browses to the Configuration Manager Dashboard site.
  • Windows SharePoint Services queries the Configuration Manager site database as specified by the data set configuration.
  • Windows SharePoint Services renders the new data set using the Dashboard Viewer Web Part.

    • The Technet page is here:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff369719.aspx

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    Microsoft OneAlbum


    Microsoft Research have got another great project on the go, this one is called OneAlbum. Using advanced facial recognition algorithms, OneAlbum will scan the photos on your machine, identify the people that appear most often and then go off and find relevant pictures in other people’s social networking accounts.

    This will be perfect for finding all the pictures of you/your partner/your kids that were taken at the last birthday/BBQ/impromptu gathering and posted by a bunch of people on Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Picasa and countless other sites.

    I’m  not much into gatherings and pictures and social networking (Twitter excluded) but I can imagine that a lot of people spend a lot of time going through people’s accounts trying to find pictures from last night etc 🙂

    Thanks to Mary Jo (again) and her article here.

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    Microsoft Tag for Android


    When Microsoft Tag was released I was a huge fan, I even had them printed on a bunch of my business cards 🙂 It was a great way of directing people to websites or even calling/texting numbers…it was fun, easy and very 21st century!

    Them I got an Android phone and had to give up using Tags…but now it’s back baby! If you’ve got an Android phone, open up the MarketPlace, search “Microsoft Tag” and get your download on 🙂 According to the Microsoft Tag blog, it works on:

    “Windows Mobile, J2ME, iPhone, Blackberry and Symbian S60 phones”

    and now Android. This makes it a great option across all major platforms and should hopefully lead to some great levels of adoption. I guess the only OS missing now is the iPhone…I wonder if we’ll ever see an app for that?!

    See more info on the MSDN blog here:

    Tag_MSDN_Blog_20103320012[1]

    or here if you’ve not got the app yet 😉 <—If that’s the case, head over to http://gettag.mobi (or the Marketplace if you’re Android)

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    Hedge Fund to buy Novell?


    A Hedge Fund has made a $2 billion offer to buy Novell; this perhaps surprising move values the formerly industry leading company at $5.75 a share. Wall Street expect the bid to be increased after shares hit $6.07 once this was announced.

    I have to say I was quite taken aback by this as Novell have, by a lot of people, been written off to a large extent. I’d be interested to see what plans Elliott Associates/their client (the potential buyers) have for the future of Novell and it’s technology should they be successful.

    New York Times here.

    Elliott Associates site here.

    Elliott Associates are

    “dedicated to Retained Executive Search for the Hospitality, Foodservice, Manufacturing, Retail and Service Industries”

    and have “functional expertise” in the IT sector.

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    Microsoft Research: Project Gustav


    Microsoft Research are at it again!

    Project Gustav takes digital painting (at least) one step closer to looking like authentic brush paintings, giving it an un-paralleled level of realism:

    Pastel fishSmearing effectsStreaky horsePastel clouds - (Cloud computing??)

    “It achieves interactivity and realism by leveraging the computing power of modern GPUs, taking full advantage of multitouch and tablet input technology and our novel natural media-modeling and brush-simulation algorithms.”

    You can see more info and a video over on the Microsoft Research site here:

    http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/gustav/default.aspx

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    Microsoft’s Cloud Mouse


    Microsoft’s TechFest 2010, a showcase of MS Research technology, has got some gems this time (Mobile Surface & Translate a Phone) and this is another one, potentially.

    A joint project between MS Research Asia & Cambridge brings us the Cloud Mouse:

    “Every user will have one. It will be a secure key to every user’s cloud data. And, with six degrees of freedom and with tactile feedback, the cloud mouse will enable users to orchestrate, interact with, and engage with their data as if they were inside the cloud.”

    That description has got a real “Minority Report” style feel to it or, at least CSI Miami:

    I’d be very interested to find out more…

    Again, thanks to Mary Jo Foley for this…

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    Microsoft’s Mobile Surface


    Microsoft’s interactive, multi touch, 23rd century Surface is brilliant. However it is also, literally, the size of a table and so not particularly portable.

    However, Mary Jo Foley has uncovered information of a planned “Mobile Surface”. Microsoft Research’s site states:

    “Our goal is to bring Microsoft Surface experience to mobile scenarios, and more importantly, to enable 3D interaction with mobile devices. We do research on how to transform any surface (e.g., a coffee table or a piece of paper) to Mobile Surface with a mobile device and a camera-projector system. Besides this, our work also includes how to get 3D object model in real-time, augmented reality and multiple-layer 3D information presentation.”

    I’d carry one of those about if it meant I could turn any surface into a multi-touch surface that I could use, demo, play and work on 🙂

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    Setting up Hotmail via POP3


    Connecting to Hotmail via POP3 might be old news to everyone but I thought I’d cover it here just in case, as it doesn’t seem to be that well publicized online. I set it up on my old phone ages ago but have only just got round to it on my new device; typically I couldn’t remember the details so I did a quick Bing. What surprised me was how difficult it was to find the information…most blogs, forums, sites I encountered either said “It can’t be done” or “It can be done, but you need to pay for it”!

    It can be done and it doesn’t cost anything, here are the details you need:

    POP server = pop3.live.com (Port 995)

    POP SSL Required = Yes

    Username = Live ID

    Password = Your hotmail password

    SMTP Server = smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)

    Authentication Required = Yes

    TLS/SSL Required = Yes

    Using these details I got it all set up and working on my device in just a few minutes.

    Thanks to www.WindowsPhoneExpert.com for the info (again).

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    Exchange Online & Android


    The other day at work I was asked if you can connect Android phones to Exchange Online…so I went off to investigate.

    Microsoft’s page gives a list of devices and supported OS’s:

    image

    http://www.microsoft.com/online/mobility/exchange-activesync.mspx

    I’ve got the HTC Hero and so does the person who asked, so that’s the route my investigation took, I opened up the “Mail” section on my phone and went to work.

    The auto-detect feature doesn’t work with Exchange Online (or so it seems) so it’s on to manual setup, which asks for:

    • Email Address
    • Server Name
    • Domain
    • Username (Same as the email address)
    • Password

    Apart from a couple, they’re all pretty self explanatory but there’s one that could trip you up:

    Server Name:

    There are 3 different server URLs depending on location:

    image

    but it just wasn’t working for  me, so I called Microsoft BPOS support. After a bit of a false start, they were very helpful and gave me a call to work through the issues.

    I navigated to OWA through my browser (mail.microsoftonline.com)but couldn’t log in. I then found it was resolving itself to the “red001…” address, which clearly wasn’t right as I’m in the UK, so I cleared all my bookies, cache etc and went back to the setup screen.

    I tried again and still no luck, but then I tried one last thing…entering the server URL without the “https://” and the start. To be honest, I’m not sure why I tried that (although I’m equally sure that someone more techie than me would have tried that first!) but it worked! Entering simply “red002.mail.emea.microsoftonline.com” worked a charm and BOOM, I could see my emails on my Android device. A quick check revealed that the calendar and contacts were syncing too…brilliant 🙂

    I hope that helps anyone wondering if this can be done and/or having trouble getting it working 🙂

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