Getting the word out!

BYOD - Is this really an innovative trend?

Edward Ferron — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:31:07 GMT

Is BOYD really much more than email and calendar sync on non domain joined devices? I mean think about it, I have not really seen any real trends or innovation here. There is always one or two exceptions, so I am really thinking about what else is there to this trend outside of the device is not joined to a domain in many cases or belongs to the employee.

Office applications has been on employees PC's forever and working a document on a work related document on my device and emailing around is not new. One could argue the mass adoption of file sharing services (dropbox, box, skydrive, google drive) is "FTP for the masses".

So is BYOD nothing more than email and calendar sync on non domain joined devices? Again we have had access on non domain joined devices with corporate web mail for several years now, seems like we just added sync. Thoughts? I have yet to see a large enterprise (over 500 information workers), not supply a new hire with one or more computing devices. So where is the real savings in bring your device? Seems like this so called trend has just forced IT to stand up more infrastructure to secure and manage as much as they can. I mean make a best effort by deploying mobile device management tools. It really seems like this entire trend was started by employees not wanting to carry corporate owned smartphones and personal cell phones. There may have been an initial cost savings in dumping the corporate cell phone expense, but my question stands has it gone much further than this?

Migrating from labels in Google mail to categories in Outlook.com

Edward Ferron — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:47:23 GMT

It has come to my attention that there are some customers who are looking to switch to Outlook.com and they are wondering if Outlook.com supports the design concept of labels for organizing email. After fielding this question a few times I thought it was time to capture the response in this blog post.

There are several schools of thought on how to organize your email inbox. Two of those schools of thought include using folders and moving your mail into one or more folders, while the other includes using labels. There are many email users that are used to the folder metaphor for organizing content. Gmail users have had to become accustomed to using something called labels. This post will help customers converting easily make the switch.

Labels help you organize your messages into categories -- work, family, to do, read later, jokes, recipes, any category you want. Labels do all the work that folders do, but with an added bonus: you can add more than one to a message.
Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=118708&from=6560&rd=1

Outlook.com has the notion of categories which have actually been around since the days of Hotmail. Categories allow you to quickly organize content without removing the original message from the inbox. The important thing to remember here is Outlook.com provides you with the choice of using folders, categories or both metaphors together. This gives you the freedom and flexibility to use the method the best suites you and your style.

According to Google folders are not supported some customers may find themselves limited in how they can organize email

Actually, Gmail doesn't use folders. To help you organize your mail more effectively, Gmail uses labels instead.
Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10708&topic=1669016&ctx=topic

Figure 1

Using categories in Outlook.com is easy to do, simply select the message you wish to organize and assign it to an existing category or create new category as shown in the Figure 1. When you create a category you automatically get a Quick View created so you can see all of the email messages associated with a given category.

For more information using categories see the article posted on here microsoft.com

Considering switching to a Windows Phone?

Edward Ferron — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:29:00 GMT

I often get people who ask me the difference between Windows Phone and iPhone. Many people already know the iPhone platform so I thought I would share a few features I love about the new Windows Phone 8 that you may consider when switching phones.

The links below and short videos will address questions like:

What about my iTunes music library?
Can I sync the phone with my Mac?
What makes Windows Phone unique?

Below I have compiled a few of my favorite features I like to share with friends and family:

Kids Corner

Kids Corner is a must have for any parent (aunt or uncle) who have handed their phone over to the kids to play with and worried about them doing the wrong thing by accident (i.e. accessing your email or deleting something important).

Rooms

It is now easier than ever to work and collaborate with groups of people both personally and professionally. Planning an extended family vacation, working on a research project, or just trying to stay in sync with your family events and activities. Rooms is a great way to engage and stay connected.

Music

Can I sync the phone with my iTunes music library? Yes, here is a short video on how to sync your music library to your new Windows Phone.

Professionals, students and business owners will be able to appreciate having access to your documents, presentations, spreadsheets and notes at your finger tips as Windows Phone offers the very best experience with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Learn more about Windows Phone 8 and the fantastic integration with Microsoft Office here - http://blogs.office.com/b/office-next/archive/2012/10/29/introducing-the-new-office-on-windows-phone-8.aspx

Windows Phone work with Windows 7, Windows 8 and yes it also works with your Mac. This link (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/windows-phone-app-for-mac) shows just how easy it is to sync your phone with your Mac.

Finally, here is a quick summary about what is new in Windows Phone 8 - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/features

If you have questions, feel free to post here or contact me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eferron

We at Microsoft realize your phone is a very personal decision and that is why we made a phone specifically designed around you. People are making the switch to Windows Phone it is a fun and productive phone that you are sure to enjoy.

Microsoft - Live Tile Experiment

Edward Ferron — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:19:00 GMT

This is one of the more creative advertisements I have seen to date. Very cool!

Bing Search Results Recommend Windows 8 Apps

Edward Ferron — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:14:05 GMT

When searching for news on Bing I noticed the recommendation to also use the Bing News App. On the right you will see "Apps for Windows 8"

Interesting way to promote apps so you do not need to always search for which app to use in the App Store. I also noticed that Bing gives you direct download links to the store as well.

Interesting new features I thought I would share.

Samsung DV300F Camera with Wi-Fi and SkyDrive integration

Edward Ferron — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:20:00 GMT

I picked this camera up from Amazon earlier this week, and in the first few hours I spent playing with it, I am already saying this is an amazing camera! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have my fill of gadgets from camcorders, cameras, and laptops. tablets, etc. Let’s take a quick look at what had me saying this is a great buy for $199 camera.

Integrated Wi-Fi and social services

The DV300F is small and compact, my wife tried to wrestle it from me in the first hour. The camera feels great in my hands and the features were easy to get to, a very intuitive interface. The thing that attracted me to the device was the built in Wi-Fi, SkyDrive, Facebook and YouTube integration. I take a picture and select to post it directly from the camera saving time for those great pictures I want to share right away.

More sharing options

The device also includes options to share to Picasa, Photobucket and directly to email. A bonus for me that I did not plan on is the fact I have 2 Samsung smart TV’s, one in my family room and the other in the basement (aka Man cave). The Samsung AllShare software built into the TV sets, allow me to display pictures over Wi-Fi directly to the large screen televisions for instant friends and family sharing. The device allows me to sync photos to one or more PC’s in the house also over the Wi-Fi network so I do not have to remove the card or connect the camera to the PC to share pictures or take them off the camera. I plan on giving Live Essentials: Photo Gallery a work out after spring break with the family later this week.

In order to connect to the AllShare services running on my computers or TV’s the camera and other AllShare devices have to be on the same access point (AP) or Wi-Fi network. This should reduce if not eliminate the fear of your neighbor being able to see what is on your camera by accident since you tell the camera which Wi-Fi AP to connect to.

All in all there are a lot of neat options to work with, backup and share your pictures for a fantastic price.

Dual View Front Facing display

One of the nice surprises was how well the dual view display is implemented. There is a display on the front of the camera for those who love the self pic Facebook picture. When I took the device out of the box, I was thinking where in the world is the front display. Looking that the camera you cannot tell there is a display behind the plastic casing, it is very well concealed and just lights up when pressing a button on top of the device to activate it. When touching the area where the front facing display is located it is covered with the same material the casing of the camera is covered with. Tough to describe here and even tougher to show in the pictures I got from the internet attempting to show how well done the front facing display is integrated into the case o the camera.

In addition the device does take a mini SDHC card holding up to 32gb of content, again the good thing is you can take your favorite pictures push them up to SkyDrive using Wi-Fi directly from the camera and free some content up on the card right away.

Did I also mention this is a 16 megapixel camera? The device has a number of features for adding fun backgrounds other photo editing capabilities built in. Samsung does have a few other models in this series of WiFi enabled cameras that enable things like long optical zoom (up to 21x) and 1080p HD video recording. I just picked a different device for video recording so I opted to not go with the higher end camera, this was one has enough features at the right price to keep me going for some time now.

Here is the official site for the DV300F camera - http://www.samsung.com/us/photography/digital-cameras/EC-DV300FBPBUS

Windows PC are looking better than ever!

Edward Ferron — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:48:29 GMT

Here is a great video on some of the Ultrabooks that are out today and some coming out soon.

Windows Phone - Mango Coming Soon!

Edward Ferron — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:13:31 GMT

This release will not disappoint!

Enterprise social networks ...

Edward Ferron — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:25:10 GMT

Enterprise social networks are the same as consumer social networks, it is about connecting people. Connecting people is the business value, you higher employees to work together to accomplish a series of goals. Social networking empowers better than any team, department or company meeting you can have in person or remotely. Business leaders make enterprise social networking a priority or it will make itself a priority in the form of employees conducting business outside of your corporate infrastructure on consumer technologies that are not secure [safety tip: threats and policies will not prevent this from happening].

Enterprise social network is fueled by the fundamental concept of getting a solid enterprise search solution in place! You may be saying to yourself search?! Yes, search! The basic principal of establishing enterprise search is it allows me to find people (and content) I might want to be connected to. I should have the ability to search for a topic or skillset and find the experts in the company for a given topic. Now I need a vechile (besides e-mail) for connecting to that person in the company which leads to the 2nd tenant for establishing social networking in the enterprise.

The 2nd pillar of social networking in the enterprise includes access to the company's living org chart or directory. This has to be more than an Excel Spreadsheet, Visio or PowerPoint diagram. This needs to be something that I can navigate and is visually appealing while being connected to your HR or corporate directory. Now that we have found a few people with the information we want, I need to figure out the most approriate means of connecting with this person.

You may have notice I did not mention or prescribe any tools or technologies here (Wikis, Blogs, MicroBlogging, IM, Web Conferening, etc). These tools are easy, integrating your people with the content they produce and the assets you have in effort to realize the real benefit of social networking is where the work really takes place.

Windows 8 - UI Preview

Edward Ferron — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:56:35 GMT

A small taste of things to come in Windows 8. Yes, this is the official video from Microsoft

(Please visit the site to view this video)