Staying Connected

"A Decision to make? Wait! Just Bing it" or so Microsoft hopes

In Microsoft's attempt to re-brand their Live Search engine, the former "Kumo" has now been dubbed "Bing".  Whether this name conjures images of an American pop singer from 1930's, one Chandler Bing from Friend's or a little badda-boom badda-bing, Microsoft hopes you soon equate the term with Internet Web Searches.

According to the Live Search blog, Bing goes 'beyond the traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions' by combining a 'great search engine' with organized results. It also adds unique tools to help the user make important decisions. It is being touted as a 'decision engine.'

The new search tool will be reachable at bing.com, but will not be fully available worldwide until Wednesday, June 3, according to Microsoft. On the Bing.com site you first notice the biggest change is that the different categories for searching, typically at the top of the search bar, have been removed (Images, Video, News, Maps) and placed in a More drop down menu: Health, Local, Products, and xRank. However, the categories: Images, Videos, Shopping, News, Maps, and Travel are under an Explore section on the left-hand side. The left hand bar is the vital component to Bing and will be used to navigate most search result pages.

The biggest outward change users will notice with Bing is how it tries to guess what sections are relevant to your search (see below).

Can Microsoft's new product compell user's to switch from Google?  Only time will tell.  From what I can tell so far, Bing is a very good product and picks up with the strengths of Live Search and evolves the product to its next logical point.

Tired of Your Spaghetti Mess Under the Desk?

Introducing…Dotz.  These helpers are great for untangling the most unruly of cable calamities.  There are two types: straps and identifiers.  Straps obviously bundle cords together, and the different colors help to organize according to type or location (Blue can be all the stuff on the left side of your desk, Red can be all the stuff on the right).

Then there are the identifier dotz.  These are the single attachments that you clip on to individual cables.  This is helpful in recognizing which USB cable or any other cable for that matter goes to which device.  Have you ever needed to unplug JUST your printer, or JUST your camera, then find yourself using your fingers to trace the cable back from the device to the PC in order to know which one is the right one?  Well, no more.

Dotz can be found at a number of different online stores.  Just Google “dotz cable organizer” and you will find what you need.

Join ConnectWise for a FREE Business Continuity Lunch and Learn

Windows Vista SP2, last call for an unpopular OS

Yesterday Microsoft released what will be the final Service Pack (before the release of Windows 7) for its often criticized OS- Windows Vista.  This upgrade offers several significant additions to Vista including: Windows Search 4.0, Bluetooth 2.1, the ability to burn to Blue-Ray discs, Windows Connect Now (WCN) as part of the Wi-Fi setup, and exFAT file system improvements.  The Service Pack also includes nearly 800 Hot Fixes.  Below is a complete list of notable changes in Windows Vista SP2.

Vista Service Pack 2 is not currently available through Windows Automatic Updates, but will be pushed to users in the coming months.  For now, you can download the manual install for Vista SP2 at the links below.

Download: Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 x86 (5 Language Standalone)
Download: Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 (5 Language Standalone)

Other notable improvements in Vista SP2:

• adds support for the 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies, which adds the ID and vendor strings for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.
  
  
• SP2 integrates the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which contains support for Bluetooth v2.1 and Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration. Bluetooth v2.1 is the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology.
  
  
• SP2 improves performance for Wi-Fi connections after resuming from sleep mode.
  
  
• SP2 includes updates to the RSS feeds sidebar for improved performance and responsiveness.
  
  
• SP2 includes ability to record data to Blu-Ray Disc media.

• SP2 includes Windows Search 4.0, which builds on Microsoft’s search technology with improved indexing and search relevance. It also helps find and preview documents, e-mail (including signed e-mail messages), music files, photos, and other items on the computer. The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows® service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote® 2007. Autotuning Diagnostics in SP2 now interprets current network conditions when implementing Windows scaling. This feature includes full netsh support.
  
  
• SP2 improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in the area of content protection for TV.
  
  
• SP2 removes the limit of 10 half open outbound TCP connections. By default, SP2 has no limit on the number of half open outbound TCP connections.

• SP2 provides the Hyper-V virtualization environment as a fully integrated feature of Windows Server 2008, including one free instance with Windows Server 2008 Standard, four free instances with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and an unlimited number of free instances with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter.
  
  
• SP2 increases the authentication options for WebDAV redirector, enabling Microsoft Office users greater flexibility when authenticating custom applications using the WebDAV redirector.
  
  
• SP2 provides an improved power management (both on the server and the desktop), which includes the ability to manage these settings via Group Policy.
  
  
• SP2 improves backwards compatibility for Terminal Server license keys. Windows Server 2008 changed the licensing key from 512 bytes to 2,048 bytes which caused clients using older Terminal Server versions to fail. SP2 allows legacy license keys on Citrix applications to work with Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server.

• Provides a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
  
  
• Includes the ability to detect an incompatible driver and either block service pack installation or warn users of any potential loss of functionality.
  
  
• Provides better error handling and descriptive error messages where possible.
  
  
• Improves manageability through logging in the system event log.
  
  
• Provides a secure install experience.
  
  
• Includes the ability to service the installer post release.

• SP2 also includes a Service Pack Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe) which helps recover the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files (RTM and SP1) that are being serviced by SP2. The Service Pack Clean up tool can also be run offline while creating slipstream images to reduce the size of the image.

Never have to replace your favorite Skynard tracks when you replace your Windows Mobile Phone.

Microsoft announced yesterday that its new My Phone service is available as a public beta. Windows Mobile 6.x users can download the software and test the service. The new Microsoft service (codenamed SkyBox during development) My Phone will allow users to automatically backup contacts, photos, videos, text messages, calendar items, and most other personal data. The service will backup data from their phone to a password-protected web account (which can hold up to 200mb). Your data can later be restored to your mobile phone or a new device when you upgrade.

The official announcement was made on the

My Phone Team blog; below is brief excerpt:

"We just completed upgrading the My Phone web portal. Over the next few weeks, we will be updating the companion software for your phone, at which time you will be prompted to download the updated software. The upgrade process is quick and easy - all your settings and data will be retained -- so we encourage you to upgrade when prompted to do so. Today's web site upgrade includes enabling 19 additional languages on the web portal, adding a Video Demo on the welcome page, providing Help content, and making a number of other improvements based on your feedback. With today's release, we're opening the beta to all users -- no more waiting list or promotional codes!"

Will Morro be the solution to the Window's Malware "crisis"?

   

Microsoft has made the call to discontinue their OneCare product and will release a new security product in late 2009 currently codenamed "Morro". Morro is a free, real-time, anti-malware product for consumers. This application will not be bundled with Windows (MS has learned its lesson in this aspect), and will instead be available as a stand-alone download for Windows XP/Vista/7 operating systems. Morro will be built on the current engine used in Microsoft's malware protection products and will improve further as people use Morro and Microsoft is able to collect larger amounts of data.

A couple question's nag at me regarding Morro. First, how will the product co-exist with third-party solutions? How will Morro interact with the currently bundled Windows Defender? Will it replace Defender?

Let us hope that Microsoft makes a difference with Morro and that the product is received well by the public. We (the consumers) truly need a single adopted solution for the malware epidemic that plagues many PC users today.

Is it hot in here or is it just my HP laptop?

Have you ever been sitting on the couch or in bed, working leisurely on your HP laptop, then found yourself screaming in pain because your legs where on fire?  Well HP wants to make sure this never happens to it's customers, as they recall 70,000 laptop batteries due to "..lithium-ion batteries overheating, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers."  Consumers should note that this is in no way an isolated issue with HP brand laptops. In fact, Dell and Sony have previously had massive recalls for simialr problems.  The core of the problem lies with the battery manufactures. The following HP and Compaq notebook models may contain the recalled battery:

HP Pavilion	Compaq Presario	HP	HP Compaq
dv2000 dv2500 dv2700 dv6000 dv6500 dv6700 dv9000 dv9500 dv9700	A900 C700 F700 V3000 V3500 V3700 V6000 V6500 V6700	G6000 G7000	6720s

or Batteries that are subject to recall may contain the following bar codes:

62940^^AXV^^^^

65033^^B7U^^^^ 65033^^B7V^^^^ 65033^^BGU^^^^

65035^^B7U^^^^ 65035^^B7V^^^^ 65035^^BGU^^^^ 65035^^BGV^^^^

67059^^V8U^^^^ 67059

Remedy: Consumers should immediately remove the recalled battery from their notebook computer and contact HP to determine if their battery is included in the recall and to request a free replacement battery. After removing the recalled battery from their notebook computer, consumers may use the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives. Consumers should only use batteries obtained from HP or an authorized reseller.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, visit the HP Battery Replacement Program Web site at http://www.hp.com/support/BatteryReplacement or call (800) 889-2031 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

Microsoft Office 2010....64bit?!?!

Rumor on Nerd Alley is Microsoft Office 2010 will be made available in both 32 and 64-bit versions.  Even better, both versions are rumored to be available on the same DVD and installed using the same product key. 

This past weekend Office 2010 build 14.0.4006.1010 was leaked. This may be the very same build available as technical preview in a couple months.  This build included the following applications:

Office 2010 includes Access, Excel, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, SharePoint Designer, SharePoint Workspace, Visio, and Word.

Emil at Ars Technica writes his first impressions of changes to Office 2010. "As you can see, some applications have changed a lot more than others. The ribbon seems to be on every application now, which is great for consistency's sake. The splashscreen you see for every application is actually animated, which is why the colours at the bottom will look slightly different from screenshot to screenshot. The biggest change, in my opinion, is that the file/orb menu is no longer a menu. When you click the colored office button, you get a screen that is shown in the second screenshot for each application."

Protalinski, Emil. "Leaked: Office 2010." ARS Technica 15 May 2009 Web.19 May 2009. <http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/05/leaked-office-2010-technical-preview-screenshots.ars>.

Internet Service Providers May Switch to a Pay Per Usage Model – Part 4 of 4

A reasonable solution is tiered service levels for residential users.  Multi-service providers already offer that to businesses.  The subscriber pays X dollars for 7 Mbps down bandwidth or Y dollars for 10 Mbps down bandwidth (as an example).  There are other levels, and the levels and prices vary from provider to provider.  The reason this is workable is because providers can bring in more revenue from heavy users, but the user still retains a monthly flat rate. 

The reason why this is so key is that if a user pays per usage, then they have to constantly make decisions about what they can afford to do online, and how much they can do online.  This ultimately affects the businesses that are trying to offer goods and services to those users.  It is just like when gas went up to $4.00 a gallon and people went to the mall less frequently.  Retail stores started losing revenue because it became too expensive for people to get access to the shops.  We do not want the same thing to happen to the Internet.

But if users can pay a flat rate according to bandwidth, then once the user is paying the rate, they will not be afraid to use the Internet to its fullest potential.  This may include streaming video and watching TV shows online.  If the user is on the lowest tier possible, the video may be slow, and it might have to pause periodically to buffer, but at least the user doesn’t feel like the meter is running.  If the user wants more bandwidth and it is important to them, they can pay a little more and get more bandwidth, but either way, they can have unlimited activity without feeling like they are going to pay more if they do more.

This is a way that multi-service providers can offset the losses of fewer subscriptions to TV and landlines, while still retaining the freedom of Internet for users that has made the Internet what it is today.

Can you come up with any possible solutions?  If you had the undivided attention of the President of Verizon or Brighthouse, what would you want to share?  Post your comments below.

Internet Service Providers May Switch to a Pay Per Usage Model – Part 3 of 4

Changing the pricing model to a pay per usage plan has the potential to inhibit technological breakthroughs.  The reason why the Internet has become such a large part of our lives is because researchers, scientists, developers, and users have had unfettered access to it.  Look at how websites have changed both personal lives and businesses.  If people had to pay every time they downloaded something from the Internet, far fewer business transactions would have occurred. 

Think of all the times you have needed information and you were able to find it on the Internet.  What if you had to pay for every instance?  I understand that providers are trying to hold on to revenue that they are losing because people are getting their entertainment through a different medium, but keep in mind that as entertainment advances, so does the business world.

Because streaming video was made possible and became a big hit for watching funny videos, shows, and other entertainment, businesses started following suit and now there are online demos, product information videos, and podcasts.  And when entertainment evolves, so do business applications.  As the conveyance of video through the Internet shifted from “view only” to interactive online gaming, the business world began utilizing interactive online meetings and webinars where viewers can see the presenter’s screen and mouse in real-time, and the presenter can even give keyboard and mouse control  over to the viewer to test out the product.

But again, all of this was made possible because everyone that paid one flat monthly price had unlimited access to the virtual playground of the Internet.  They were free to create, explore, and experiment.  If that gets taken away, it could stifle creativity.  What new technology might we lose out on if people can’t afford to explore beyond what they do currently, or if people have to scale back on what they do online? Will we see online purchases decrease because it’s cheaper to mail in a check as opposed to paying for Internet charges?  Switching to a pay per usage model could bring consequences that multi-service providers are not expecting. 

So what is the answer?  That topic will be discussed Tomorrow in Part 4
What other unintended consequences do you think could arise from this?  Post your comments below.

Internet Service Providers May Switch to a Pay Per Usage Model – Part 2 of 4

In regards to changing the pricing to a pay per usage model, there would be disastrous effects for a large majority of end users.  For residential users that do go to sites like nbc.com, abc.com, fox.com, tnt.tv, usanetwork.com and all the others for the sake of watching shows like Lost, Burn Notice, Lie to Me, etc. their prices would become unreasonable because streaming video does take up so much bandwidth.  It would be like having to pay for minutes on a half hour cell phone call that was long distance while roaming.  Ouch. 

For Business users, this could have a deep impact on small and medium-sized businesses that rely on providers like Verizon or Brighthouse.  If the company has 3 or 4 employees and no one really uses the Internet that much except for email, then the company may come through unscathed.  But if the company has closer to 10 employees or more, and usage is moderate due to emails, research, electronic filings, online purchases of merchandise, etc.  then the company could see significant increases in their monthly bill.

So there could be a backlash.  If monthly payments for businesses become too high, or unpredictable each month, businesses could switch over to a T-1 line that is provided by a company that is not concerned with what TV viewers do and therefore have retained the flat rate pricing model that everyone is used to.  This leads to a loss of revenue for the multi-service provider and has a negative effect that the multi-service provider does not want to induce. 

Multi-service providers are smart enough to foresee this shift and will do something to prevent it.  The most likely idea will be to allow business subscribers to remain on a flat rate plan called “The Business Plan” while residential users are moved to a pay per usage model since the residential demographic is really where the multi-service provider is losing its money due to cancellations of landlines and TV packages.

But it doesn’t end there.  Many residential users won’t like that, and the clever ones will tell the provider, “Well, I work from home a lot of the time, and the company won’t let me expense a residential account, so my home needs a flat rate business account.”  The effect of this is that the provider’s desired result of residential users paying more will be nullified.  This means that the provider has to make it not worth it for the end user to switch to a business plan just for the sake of avoiding the pay per usage model.  As a result, prices for the business plan will probably go up even though they are flat rate.  This will discourage most residential users from jumping ship to a business account.  So in the end, businesses may end up paying more just so that multi-service providers can force residential users to pay more.
 
Now what about looking at this from the perspective of how it affects the overall technology landscape?  That will be discussed tomorrow in Part 3.
How do you think this change might affect you in your personal life or in the workplace?  Post your comments below.

Internet Service Providers May Switch to a Pay Per Usage Model – Part 1 of 4

A storm is brewing.  Some multi-service providers have been losing money and are considering changing their pricing model for Internet Access.

What has happened is people across the U.S. have been dropping their landlines in favor of cell phones.  And others, albeit a much smaller number, have been dropping their cable TV service in favor of just watching shows online. People who participate in the latter generally attribute two main factors to their decision.  The first is, “I don’t watch that much TV.  I only follow a couple shows.”  The second is the on-demand aspect of watching TV online.  If you want to watch a show on TV, you either have to be in front of the TV during airtime, or DVR (TiVo) the show.  When watching TV online however, you can go to the website whenever it is convenient for you, double click the episode, and watch it whenever you want.

So how does this affect businesses?  Because multi-service providers like Verizon and Brighthouse that offer phone, TV, and Internet are losing dollars, providers are looking for a way to re-capture that revenue.  One idea they have come up with is changing the pricing model of Internet access from the current model of “pay one price and get unlimited access” to a “pay per usage” model.  This means the subscriber would end up paying according to the amount of bandwidth they used during the billing cycle.  This would be similar to having a cell phone plan where there were no minutes included.

Time Warner, the parent company of Brighthouse has already begun considering this change in some markets, but Tampa Bay has not specifically shown up in any statements that I am aware of.  I contacted the Brighthouse public relations department for the Tampa Bay area, but the representative gave a non-response when asked about plans for pricing model changes.

Is this potential change completely a bad thing, or does it have some redeeming qualities?  That will be discussed tomorrow in Part 2.

Windows 7 Ultimate RC1 (Build 7100) - Going Live, first impressions

 

Well somebody has to be the first to test the water in the pool, or in this case, jump out of the plane.  I made the commitment to go live on my ConnectWise work PC with Windows 7 RC1, upgrading from Vista SP2 late last week.  This will be a true test for the upgrade path of Windows.  The PC I am using began as Windows XP Pro, was upgraded to Vista Enterprise RC, then upgraded again to Vista Enterprise upon final release.  Now I planned to perform a 4th OS upgrade (with no rebuild) to Windows 7 Ultimate RC1, a scary scenario for most.  In my line of work a fresh rebuild could be an entire day of downtime to get setup properly, which is something I cannot afford to do.

Needless to say, the upgrade went flawlessly (including a small registry "tweak" needed for the upgrade).  Taking around 1.5 hours to complete, I am now running Windows 7 Build 7100 on my live PC at work.  For comparison I ran a fresh install on a much slower PC, the entire process, including formating the disk, only took 30minutes.  But not having to re-install applications and adjust settings again was worth its weight in gold to me.

The following is my list of initial impressions and findings after install and Day 1.  I will update in further posts my long term impressions.

-Ultramon now crashes.  I uninstalled due to substantial Window management upgrades in 7.  I do miss some of the other multiple monitor features Ultramon added (I use 4 monitors), but will have to wait for a later release as the Vista version is still in Beta.

-On that note, all 4 monitors worked great.

-Audio Driver not working.  This was a struggle for me upgrading to Vista as well, so no surprise.  Downloaded a couple drivers, with installers hanging.  To my surprise, just as I was about to move on, Windows located a driver that somehow made it to disc and automagically installed it.  My sound is now working.  I am still unsure how this occurred, Windows 7 almost seemed to fix itself.

-All other Vista drivers worked without issue.

-Cross-site scripting in IE8 re-enabled itself.  This is especially important to ConnectWise PSA users as this "feature" stops portions of PSA from functioning.  Disabled XSS in IE again without issue.

-Firefox didn't want to load after my initial bootup.  After several reboots I tried again, Firefox launches without issue.

-The Vista to 7 upgrade yielded a 6 Gb gain in hard drive space for me.

-Some web applications are crashing in IE and Firefox. I find myself mixing my usage of the two browsers. Oddly enough, if the application doesn't work in one it seems to work in the other.

-Desktop widgets load and run much smoother.  This is especially key to me as I have several custom Power Gadgets for PSA.

-Boot time of Windows is decreased significantly.

-Management of multiple windows using the Taskbar is 100% better. Some very nice and smooth transitions between Windows with innovative snap shot previews.

-ConnectWise PSA runs as well as it ever did in IE8.  For PSA partners reading this, I want to highly discourage you from using Windows 7 or IE8 at this time.  PSA does not currently support either and my usage is purely for training and testing.

-Windows UAC is much improved, and I immediately turned off the "fade to black" feature which in Vista always made me immediately disable UAC.  I think I can live with this.

-Control Panel layout and access is basic and simple, the way it should be. Be sure to choose "Small Icons" for the best view IMO.

-Last but not least, when Windows is "thinking" if Vista fealt "squishy", then 7 feels "snappy".  This is more of a design change in Windows dealing with lag and load times to give the user the impression of "snappy" than being actually faster.  But it works, 7 does feel faster.

...more early Windows 7 impressions to come.