December, 2011

Windows Phone rocks!

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could sign into your Windows Phone using your Live@edu Windows Live ID? If you've already got a phone, or you’re lucky enough to be getting one over the Christmas period, there are some simple steps you need to take to make sure you get the best experience.

It’s simple!

Because Live@edu is supercharged with the power of Outlook Live, which is different to Hotmail, it means that we need to make a minor change in the server name in order to be able to connect successfully:

1. On your phone, go to Start, flick left to the App list, and then tap Settings .
2. Tap Airplane mode, and tap to turn the status to On. Press Back to go to Settings.
3. Tap Email+accounts and then tap Windows Live.
   Note If you receive an error on this step, tap Close to dismiss the error and then tap Windows Live again.
4. On the Windows Live Settings screen, tap Server, and use the keyboard to change m.hotmail.com to read m.outlook.com.
5. Tap Done . The phone will sync and the server should get changed to pod*****.outlook.com. Press Back to go to Settings.
6. Tap Airplane mode, and tap to turn the status to Off.
7. Visit http://help.outlook.com for additional guidance and support.

 That’s it – you’re done! You can read more about this on the Microsoft Support site.

Happy holidays!

‘Twas the night before Christmas…

Can you believe it’s nearly Christmas already? It’s been a whole year since I started writing for this blog and what an exciting year we’ve had!

As many of you break up for the holidays you’ll probably be looking forward to mince pies, roast turkey and the ubiquitous afternoon nap that follows on the big day – but why not get yourself another little present for when you return to the office by way of one of our fantastic little deployment and marketing kits?

If you’re about to deploy Live@edu, or just have, these kits are a great way to help promote the service across your institution as they contain all sorts of great little resources:

• A USB memory stick, containing:
  
  • Live@edu Co-branding Guide
  • Live@edu Deployment Checklist
  • Live@edu Top 10 for Deployment
  • Live@edu Cost Saving Calculator
  • Building Live@edu Into School Portal
  • Live@edu Single Sign On Kit
  • … and more!
• Posters
  
  • Window Clings
  • Pencil Tubes
  • Bookmarks
  • Notepads
  • Pens
  • Monitor Hangers
  • Table Tents

Why wait?

We’re happy to send a kit to you, but if you need more copies of the resources that are included, or don’t want to wait for the post, you can access all of the resources in the kits online and print them yourself. Check out our SkyDrive where you can find not only the resources in the kit, but a whole load of other useful things, including recordings of our webcasts.

Drop us a line!

If you are in the United Kingdom all you need to do to get your hands on one of these kits is to drop us an email telling us about your institution – let us know how big your institution is, what your plans are for deployment, and how we can contact you, and we’ll be in touch with details about the kits. Unfortunately we’re unable to extend the physical kit offer outside of the UK, but the printable resources in the SkyDrive are available for all.

Get in touch NOW!

We’ve reached the end of our webcast series for 2011. The final two episodes were all about how to market the service around your campus, and some best practices for how to get the most out of Live@edu. Unfortunately due to a technical hitch we were unable to record the first round, but the second one is up and available to watch:

How do I?

Part of my day job is answering customer questions about all aspects of Live@edu – it’s not surprising that there are a number of frequently asked questions that seem to come up week after week. When I started working at here one of the first things my boss told me was:

“Never answer the same question 3 times…”

I’ve always tried to live by that since, and so I’ve put together a great little document for you to check out. It’s aimed at answering the most common pre-deployment questions that come up from customers who may know nothing about the service; questions like:

• We’re enrolling a lot of domains – is there a way we can prove ownership in bulk?
• Can I assign multiple aliases to an account in Live@edu?
• I use my current domain name for lots of things – will adding a TXT record, or MX record, affect my existing services?
• I don’t control the DNS settings for my domain! What do I need to do to prove domain ownership?

…and lots more. Of course, it doesn’t answer every question there is, so feel free to get in touch over Twitter, or via the comments if you have any others!

View the FAQ