Windows Surface Pro as Benchmark

I read this interesting analysis of the new Windows 8 Surface Pro. He mentions that Microsoft's purpose for producing Surface on its own was really intended to spur OEMs like Dell and Lenovo into producing more for less. It's an interesting point.

"Windows Surface Pro sold out at its US release last weekend. iTWire thinks it is a good product but more importantly it is a good benchmark for others to improve on – and they are. MS entered the tablet fracas for one reason, to shame or spur its OEM partners on to releasing better tablets that it was – let’s call it a benchmarking exercise.

So what is the Pro benchmark? Around $900 buys you: an Intel core i5 1.7Ghz quad core processor and graphics; 4GB ram; can have 64 or 128GB of SSD (not lower cost flash memory) storage (but typically the OS and programs will chew up about 30GB of that); has a 10.6” 1920 x 1080 HD 16:9 screen; 10 point multi-touch; Wi-Fi N and Bluetooth 4.0; USB 3.0 port; microSDXC card slot; Mini Display Port (HP standard - why not mini HDMI?); a headphone jack; microphone; front and rear 720p cameras (assume 2MP); and a Wacom Pen - all in a 903g package.
Most importantly it is full Windows 8 Pro operating system – not the Surface Windows RT version (around $600) that valiantly tried to enter the iPad/Android arena"
 

Article here

Tough, Rugged Tablet

Panasonic, of all companies, is apparently the leader in that niche market of rugged laptops and tablets. Not Dell. Not HP. Not even Apple.

It looks like they are marketing a rugged Windows 8 Pro tablet: ToughPad FZ-G1. By rugged, they mean the devices can be dropped, run over and operate in 20 or 100 degrees with no problem.

Panasonic's Rugged Tablet

Free Microsoft Technical Support

Microsoft is offering a Free Answer Desk. In other words, they will offer free support to you for your Windows PC or laptop. They will assist with software install/uninstall, diagnostics, spyware removal etc. Very cool!

"Answer Desk is here to help you

Come in to find out about the range of services we offer including:

• Performance Tune-up
• Extended Diagnostics
• Software Install/Uninstall
• Hardware Install
• Virus and Spyware Removal"

Here is their link:

MS Answer Desk

Lumia 920 Windows 8 Phone Supplies

Interesting read regarding the apprehension Nokia had about Windows 8 phone sales.

"We’ve all heard the reports that Nokia’s Lumia 920 is selling out amongst retailers, although to be fair some have questioned if this might be due to a lack of supply rather than actual excitement of the product. However at the rate the Lumia 920 is topping AT&T’s charts on Amazon, it’s safe to say that there is a certain amount of excitement surrounding the Windows Phone 8 handset, but at the same time it seems that the skeptics might have been right about the short supply. In a conference call with leading investors and analysts, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop admitted that sales of the device would have been a lot faster had there not been any supply-side issues.

While some of the supply issues were legitimate, Elop admits that they decided to introduce the Lumia 920 in a very deliberate and thoughtful manner. Apparently they were worried that the phone might not be met well which would then leave them with a surplus of units that were unsold ..."

UberGizmo Article

Tablet Sales Are Hot

Tablet sales are red hot, according to this Memphis Business article. It appears there will be no stopping this trend. Many people mistakenly believed that smart phones were the wave of the future, but let's face reality: one cannot get real work done off a smart phone. Send, receive email from a smart phone? Yes. Maybe look at a PDF or JPEG? Yes. Install some apps for low level of productivity? Yes. But the human eyes are not meant to stare at such small spaces for extended periods of time. So, yes PCs and Mac boxes will go away. Laptops will be around for a little longer but eventually most workers of the world will use a hybrid laptop/tablet to get work done. They will be durable, have lots of hardware resources (RAM, drives) and be touch screen based.

"At the D8 conference in 2010, Steve Jobs boldly predicted that tablet computers soon would surpass notebook computers in total sales.
Just three years later, his prediction is about to be realized.
According to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report, tablet shipments are expected to reach 240 million units this year, well beyond the 207 million notebooks that are expected to ship.
It’s a radical change in the computing market. In 2012, one company, Apple Inc., thoroughly dominated the tablet category in a way that no single entity ever has in the laptop market."

Here is the reference

Dell Windows 8 Inspiron at Best Buy

I kid you not, I just got this Windows 8 Dell Inspiron 15 at Best Buy for $299 ($335 with tax) in San Francisco. I bought it as a gift. It is not online at that price, unfortunately - at least I have not found it. I was actually looking for something else, but really, when do you come across a strong laptop with the newest and latest Windows operating system for $299? It was in a semi large box, and believe it or not, included a USB mouse, 1 year of Trend Micro anti virus and an 8 Gigabyte USB flash drive. Huh? For $299?

It is listed at $479 at the Best Buyweb site, which is a decent deal as well. But it may be worth a visit to your nearby Best Buy to see if you can snag this decent laptop for $299.

Note: I do not work at Best Buy - I am simply mentioning a GREAT deal as I see it.

Best Buy Web Ad for this Inspiron

SkyDrive, Outlook, Photos

I am really enjoying saving files, like photos, to the Cloud. In this case I am referring to SkyDrive. It is awesome. A great starting point on this for me was to get a Windows 8 phone (a Lumia 920). SkyDrive is basically a way to save your files off the phone. This is good in case something bad happens to the phone (is stolen, for example), or if quick access to these files is needed from another computer. Another way to see the benefits of this (somewhat) new Cloud based service is Outlook.Com. This is or was Hotmail or Live.com email. Hotmail can be converted to the new Outlook.Com interface. I recommend this. It may take a few minutes to get used to but it works very well.

Once in the web based Outlook, you can easily navigate amongst these items:
Mail, People, Calendar, SkyDrive

The secret is in the upper left hand, specifically at the arrow. Once the arrow is clicked, you will see these options. My recently taken photos show up automatically in SkyDrive. From here, they can be seen at any computer. Very nice!

Microsoft's SkyDrive Introduction

Microsoft and The Cloud

Well, everybody and their dog has heard all the hype about "The Cloud" lately. And it is for good reason. Sooner or later, much or all of your content will exist in the Cloud. What is "The Cloud"? The Cloud used to be known as off site backup. For businesses or most medium to large organizations, this has been critical for many years or decades now. Systems Administrators (like me!) have fought long and hard to get Owners and CEO types to approve datacenter or colocation contracts. This is basically rented rackspace for server storage. You connect your office to this leased or rented rackspace, and voila, you have colocation. It is more complicated than this, in no small part due to networking considerations. Moving large data chunk can be a challenge.
Some organizations do not have servers onsite or in their office. They connect to a colocation facility from the get go. This is a good and safe way to set up infrastructure, but a very solid connection between the 2 sites is required, as applications, email, and databases will require this in order to be used. Also, not all datacenters are created equally. Some are more natural disaster proof and have 24/7 security, while others do not. Some organizations only use colocation for backups. Their servers are located in offices and backups are done nightly or so to the colocation. This is a decent way to do business, but if a floor or power outage takes these servers out, then there better be colocation backups available and ready for use! Another common scenario is a mix of the above. More and more organizations are moving not just data but applications to the Cloud. But it takes careful  planning and analysis.
I have installed Windows Server 2012 beta. It is very much a product of the modern age. It is heavily geared towards The Cloud and Cloud Services.

Heavy Duty Information on MS Server 2012 Cloud Services

Lumia 920 Windows Phone Will Not Connect to Laptop

I spent a few hours trying to connect my new Lumia 920, Windows 8 to my laptop. I had Zune installed and working with the previous Lumia 900 (Windows 7) series phone. I was able to synchronize pictures, music and contacts. However, when connecting the new phone, Zune did not recognize it whatsoever. I tried uninstalling Zune, then reinstalling, but that did not work. Research with coworkers and online showed that the specific USB cable that came WITH THE PHONE must be used and also that Zune appears to be on the way out for synching purposes.

So, even though another phone connector will actually plug into both the phone and the laptop correctly, it will not synchronize. It may charge via the USB, but that is all. I was keeping the connector that came with the phone in my laptop carry bag as a backup. I had a spare connector from the previous phone. That was the culprit.

Once I used the proper connector, my phone was immediately recognized and there was a link to the Windows Phone App for the Desktop.

Bing Takes on Google Ads

Maybe I should not be posting this on a GOOGLE Blog, but hell, it sure is interesting! Microsoft is using the term, "Scroogled" in order to compete with the mighty Google ad network.


"In the beginning, Google preached, "Don't be evil"—but that changed on May 31, 2012. That's when Google Shopping announced a new initiative. Simply put, all of their shopping results are now paid ads.
In their under-the-radar announcement, Google admits they've now built "a purely commercial model" that delivers listings ranked by "bid price." Google Shopping is nothing more than a list of targeted ads that unsuspecting customers assume are search results. They call these "Product Listing Ads" a "truly great search."
We say that when you limit choices and rank them by payment, consumers get Scroogled. For an honest search result, try Bing.
Don't get Scroogled this holiday season. Watch the video

Warn your friends now

Nokia Lumia 920 Gets Hot with Maps

I noticed my Nokia Lumia 920 with Windows 8 gets VERY hot sometimes. It becomes so hot on the backside, that I need to turn it off. It does not seem to be a deal breaker. In other words, it does not stop the smart phone's functionality. It is the same as with many laptops, Windows or Macs. After much use, they sometimes can actually heat up noticeably on the bottom. This is especially true when dealing with heavy video editing or other heavy duty multimedia usage or work.

My Windows 8 Lumia 920 last night became extremely hot after using the Nokia Maps version 3.0. The good news is that the Nokia Maps app is awesome. It not only shows directions, it actually vocally points you in the right direction via voice. I love it. And it is free. I just wish it did not get so hot!

MACKLEMORE Thrift Shop

Ok, so it's not really related to Windows technologies per se, and I'm probably too old to like this song, but Thrift Shop is a great song!

It is actually very creative. The video has a Delorean in it. How cool is that? The song mentions  jammies, honky, RKelley, grandpa style, velcro sneakers, Gucci, 99 cents, fur fox skin, Goodwill, mamie, and poppin' tags. D'oh!

Wait, Macklemore is from Seattle, Washington, very close to Redmond. Now this makes sense!

Warning -  this song has multiple cuss words ;>

Macklemore Thrift Shop Video