John at myITforum.com

Interesting site for Windows Mobile....

Sprint has apparently changed up their ad for the Palm Centro...

Looking for accessories for your Palm phone?  Now's your chance...

Offer valid in the U.S. only at the Palm Store. Discount does not apply to taxes, gift wrapping or similar charges. Entire order must be shipped to a single address. Cannot be combined with any other promotional offer nor is this offer valid on previous purchases. Offer not valid on canceled or out of stock merchandise. Void where prohibited. Offer ends May 14, 2008.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has once again raised his stake in Motorola, which now stands at 7.6 percent of the company, up from 6.4 percent. Icahn now owns 172.2 million shares of the struggling company. Earlier last month Motorola bowed to pressure from Icahn and appointed one of his candidates, Keith Meister to the board of directors. The company also agreed to let his other candidate, William Hambrecht stand for election. After the appointees were received, Icahn dropped a suit that sought access to integral board documents.

Just a few brief comments for Windows Mobile 6.1.  I've tested Windows Mobile 6.1 for Windows Mobile Professional, and other than some threaded SMS chat (and domain enrollment for SCMDM), there isn't a whole lot there.  There are some pretty slick IE enhancements if you use the browser a lot on your device.

HOWEVER, Windows Mobile 6.1 on Windows Mobile Standard is a pretty major improvement over Windows Mobile 6 Standard.  The Sliding Panel addition in and of itself is worth upgrading when the WM6.1 OS is released later this month, early next month. 

Sliding panel? 

I've tried to capture some of the essence of the sliding panel above.  At a glance, you can see missed calls, voicemail, SMS text, and email messages without doing anything other than scrolling.  The time savings is incredible with this.  They've also include threaded SMS text and browser enhancements as well, but I really can't live without the sliding panel now. 

Am I a convert to Standard OS now?  Can I live without the touchscreen?  For those I talked to at MMS, the Tilt is still my favorite device.  It's my kitchen sink phone, the phone that can do it all.  However, the Standard OS and the sliding panel is growing on me.

What?  Not checking your email on your Windows Mobile phone?  Yes, I talked to a few of you at MMS...I can help...EMail me offline and we'll get you going with email access on your phone.  You know who you are...

Interested in Yahoo Go! Beta?

http:\\mobile.yahoo.com

Everything you need, all that you love.

Yahoo! Go is today’s essential solution for anyone with a mobile phone. It’s an all-in-one offering that lets you enjoy the best of the Internet on your phone—for free.* Send an email, upload photos, download a map, search for answers, check stock quotes, or get breaking news—all that and much more is available through Yahoo! Go.

*Your carrier’s standard charges may apply.

If you do, are you like me and can't wait another month for the season opener of Burn Notice?  Well, I just found this...

Regardless of her character’s fate on Battlestar Galactica, sexy Cylon, Tricia Helfer [above left] will join USA Network’s acclaimed spy dramedy, Burn Notice, in its upcoming second season.

Previously heard only in vaguely threatening phone calls, Helfer will bring the mysterious Carla out of the shadows. The extremely intelligent and incredibly sexy Carla is Michael’s [Jeffrey Donovan] only contact with the shadowy group that got him burned.

According to a USA press release, Carla has “plans for him and various “assignments” for him to take care of, and she’s not taking no for an answer. Michael’s trapped in a deadly game with Carla where the only way he can keep his family safe, and find out more about her, is to play along and look for the opening he needs to take her on.”

Burn Notice returns to USA this summer.

As if I need another reason to watch the show...

I've hesitated to write anything about the attendee party at MMS last week.  Why?  It's such a great event and I don't like being negative.  There were certainly pros and cons of the MMS conference this year, which I'll deal with later (I'm still filtering through all my notes, photos, and other info), but since I evaluated the MMS 2008 attendee party rather poorly, I thought I'd share my comments here as well.

To start off with, there were only three lines for the "food" tables.  Keep in mind this was a sold out crowd, 4000+ attendees, and only three buffet style tables set up for food.  You can imagine how long the lines were.  And imagine our disappointment once we got close to the table where the food was.  We showed up right at the start (our mistake), and the lines to the food were the longest in the place.  The food itself?  What can I say.  Miniature burritos, hamburgers, pizzas (at least what I think were miniature pizzas), and what I believe was miniature corn dogs.  I guess it was "miniature" night at MMS.  The bite I did take out of one of the hamburgers was almost completely raw, and certainly cold.  The food was awful (I won't go in to the grazing bars they had up loaded with vegetables...none of that was edible either).  There was some freaky looking Dr. Seuss character hanging around the table of vege's so didn't go near it.  Oh, and lest I forget...very SMALL paper plates to put the actual food on.  I think it held three miniature hamburgers.

Now, for the "entertainment".  Break dancers?  Spinning plates?  A juggler that was supposed to juggle chainsaws but tried to entertain us with sword juggling and plugged in hair dryer juggling?  Feats of strength like balancing a refrigerator on your face?  I blogged that night I was there about sensory overload.  Trust me, that's not a good thing.  Depending on where you were standing, you either heard the rock band tournament, the rock paper scissors tournament and the referee screaming, break dancing music, or the juggler screaming at you about his hair and how good it looked.  Seriously, who thought that was a good idea?

How about a Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament?  Does that sound exciting?  How about a game corner with some really nice plasma screens giving you the ability to play XBOX?  How about a Rock Band tournament?  How many thought the guy running the Rock Band tournament looked like a hippy Ricky Schroeder?  I don't want to knock the planners too much here but this is what they can come up with for a sold out crowd in Las Vegas?  Think about it.  It's supposed to be one of the premier entertainment capitals and this is what they plan?  Love to know the company they used to plan the event.

And yes, before I say this I KNOW it was unlimited food and beverage (and I feel sorry for those that paid extra for guests), but how about an hour or so in to the event, and most of the bars set up around the place actually "ran out" of beer (started pulling bottles from the "menu selection" and started telling us there isn't any more left).  Keep in mind, by this time, most had already left.  I believe it was scheduled for 3 hours but most bailed way before then.  Perhaps those that were there were drinking more than planned because there wasn't anything else to do?  The back part of the event hall had almost completely emptied out. 

I've read several write that they showed up 20-30 minutes after it was supposed to start, only to see a mass exodus underway.   Most left after that long.  I was getting SMS text messages from friends asking where I was in the "pandemonium", "madhouse" and other such terms, only to receive a message 15-20 minutes later saying "they've had enough and are heading out".  I've been to MMS probably 5 or 6 times, can't really remember, but this was the absolute worst closing party of any of the events I've attended (even in towns where they roll up the carpets early, like San Diego).  Pretty sad really when you think about it because MMS has really become "the event" for system administrators, and really has a lot of momentum.  For those first timers that attended, please return.  This wasn't "normal".

I will close with this and say however that our own "closing party" held at Carnaval over at Harrah's the night of the attendee party was one of the best events of the week.  A really great band called The Crashers played just about everything imaginable, and a sizeable myITforum crowd ended up there.  So, while the late evening/early morning ended well, the actual attendee party needed some serious help.  If you go to MMS again and are looking for some quality time, find a few folks (yes, both men AND women) from the myITforum crowd and tag along.  You won't be sorry...

Nothing like paying $2.99 for daily access, and $9.99 for monthly access when Google Maps and Windows Live Services provides the stuff for free.  Oh wait, Verizon has their GPS locked down that ONLY works with VZ Navigator.  Now I get it...

Anyway, in a press release today...

Verizon Wireless, builder and operator of the nation’s most reliable wireless network, announced today that VZ Navigator(SM) (Version 4) is now available on select consumer phones. First announced during CTIA WIRELESS 2008, the newest version of VZ Navigator allows customers in 75 cities from coast to coast to access information about traffic incidents on major roadways, obtain traffic updates and find detours around traffic congestion and accidents. More cities are expected to be added in the coming year. In addition, the new version of VZ Navigator offers a 3D perspective view of maps, a movie and events finder, weather reports and forecasts, and gas prices at nearby gas stations.

For those that want to try a free version, go here:

Google Maps

google.com\gmm

Windows Live Services

wls.live.com

The wait is over...

Verizon Wireless, builder and operator of the nation’s most reliable wireless network, announced the MOTO Q(TM) 9c will be available in the company’s online store and in Verizon Wireless business sales channels on May 9. Customers will be able to purchase the newest member of Verizon Wireless’ MOTO Q family at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores, including those in Circuit City, in the coming weeks.

The MOTO Q 9c is the perfect smartphone for business professionals and offers powerful capabilities, including access to more than 14 million points of interest with Verizon Wireless’ popular VZ NavigatorSM service. The phone will also offer the following features and capabilities:

• Windows Mobile® 6 Standard – access to POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail accounts
• Documents To Go® – read, edit and create Microsoft® Word®, Excel® and PowerPoint® documents
• Full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated “hot keys” for shortcuts to popular applications
• 2.4” color screen with innovative adaptive technology to adjust for optimized brightness for indoor and outdoor lighting to maximize battery power
• 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and fixed focus, plus video capture and playback
• 128 MB of on-board memory and optional removable memory future-proofed up to 32 GB (sold separately)
• Voice-activated dialing
• Smart contacts dialing
• Speakerphone
• Stereo Bluetooth® wireless technology supporting both Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP profiles*

Pricing
MOTO Q 9c will be available for $249.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement. An additional $100 credit toward the purchase of the handset is available for customers who sign up for qualifying voice and data plans at the time of purchase. Verizon Wireless Nationwide E-mail plans for MOTO Q 9c begin at $79.99 for 450 anytime voice minutes and unlimited e-mail. VZ Navigator is also available for $9.99 for monthly access.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com. Business customers should contact their Verizon Wireless Business Sales Representative directly at 1-800-VZW-4BIZ.

The upgrade is planned during the regular maintenance window of 2am - 6am EST for this Saturday morning, May 3rd (11 PM - 3 AM for those of you still in Vegas on Saturday).

Just installed the Remote Server Administration Tools on my Vista SP1 box.  Unlike the adminpak.msi that you can install for Windows Server 2003 boxes, the tools don't automatically show up after install.  A couple of extra steps after installing the RSAT tools:

Open Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off under Programs and Features. If you are prompted to provide permission by User Account Control, click Continue.

After the list builds, in the Windows Features dialog box, scroll down and select Remote Server Administration Tools, then click OK.

If you already have your Start Menu configured to show Administration Tools, once the installation has completed, you should see all of the tools.  If you don't have them configured to show up:

Right click Start, and then click Properties.

On the Start Menu tab, click Customize.

In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down to System Administrative Tools, and then select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu. Click OK.

In case you missed it, the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) have been made available for Windows Vista SP1.

Role Administration Tools:

• Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• File Services Tools
• Network Policy and Access Services Tools
• Terminal Services Tools
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

• BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
• Failover Clustering Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools
• SMTP Server Tools
• Storage Manager for SANs Tools
• Windows System Resource Manager Tools

And these tools also fully supported managing Windows Server 2003 servers:

• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• Terminal Services Tools
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools

Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x86)
Download: Remote Server Administration Tools (x64)

While I wait for the closing party at MMS (7-10 PM tonight), I thought I'd give some kudo's to Rodney Jackson and his two 911 sessions.  Very informative and great information (although he ended his second session about 35 minutes early).  Rod Trent mentioned on Tuesday the number of times he heard myITforum.com mentioned in the presentations.  Well, Rodney mentioned myITforum several times during his as well.  Congrats to both Rod Trent and Ron Crumbaker for having great presence at this conference (and Meg too!)

I've been a little remiss with blog posts.  Several reasons why, namely it's been a crazy few days.  First, I forgot my cardinal rule for PDA's.  Vibrate drains the battery way beyond normal rates, so I should turn the volume off rather than vibrate.  I'm carrying two phones to blog and post photos, but then I notice there is no battery left.  Not a good thing.  Second, it's been an absolutely crazy couple of days. 

• I had to perform a little crowd control at the myITforum booth Monday night.  Once again, the line was long at the booth rushing to get the party pin, and folks just couldn't figure out why there were so many people, so they tried to cut to the front to see, and get the "prize".  They gave us all very strange looks when we said there was a line.  They tried everything (i.e. I just want to enter the raffle...hopefully you won't notice that I'll slip in right here and get a pin).  After the opening night, we all ended up over at Tao for dinner.  At least 20 people (I think 23 was final tally), but people just kept showing up.  Very late night.
• Tuesday morning started early and ended very, very late.  From the opening keynote to the last session, focus groups, and event hopping until the wee hours of the morning, just no time to blog. 
• Wednesday morning started early again, and I'm a little tired and it isn't even lunch time.  I've got notes from several sessions, just have had not time.  From my perspective, nothing really earth shattering in any of the announcements.  Brad alluded to several forth coming announcements in the keynote this morning, so sounds like it will be a busy next couple of months for System Center.
• Is it me or is the comedian a little um, well, as entertaining as he has been in the past?  I've been a little disappointed with the video's before the opening keynotes, particularly the "top seven" signs of a bad casino.  Not terrible, but they've been much better.  Maybe I'm tired.

Session summaries will be posted later today (I hope).  I see several are blogging the event and some of the sessions.  Pictures will go up later too.

Is the 3G Blackberry having issues?  Fortune is reporting it is:

Research in Motion (RIMM) is facing a delay with the introduction of its new hotly anticipated 3G BlackBerry phone for AT&T (ATT).

The release of the phone, apparently named Meteor, has been pushed to as late as August, from the planned June launch, say people close to the companies. The reason for the delay isn’t clear, but people close to the companies say AT&T had concerns about call quality.

Some of these people speculate however that AT&T may be using a tech glitch as an excuse to avoid having two competing 3G smartphones launch at the same time. Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone is expected to debut in June, and analysts have speculated that the release will likely coincide with the one-year anniversary of the original iPhone, which is June 27.

AT&T declined to comment. A RIM spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the company does not discuss unannounced products or comment on “rumors and speculation.”

The delay of the new BlackBerry comes at a particularly sensitive time for RIM. As product cycles and phone fashions go, the current crop of BlackBerries - the Curve, the Pearl, etc. - are due for a refresh as demand slows. Among the big things expected from RIM was the first 3G version of BlackBerry, being called Meteor or the 8900. It is a black phone with a silver metal edge, curved corners and a flatter Qwerty keyboard than the namesake bumpy berry-skin keypad.

A new product delay from June to August would mean fewer phone shipments and lower subscriber growth than some may be expecting in the company’s fiscal second quarter ending Aug. 30.

I stopped down at Grand Lux cafe to see da king (you know who that is right???), and have already ran in to Paul G, Ron C, Brian T, Josh S, and Sherry K.  Sure doesn't take long for myITforumer's to find each other...particularly around da king...what a great thing...

Well, I'm here.  Is this Day 0, or is it really Day -1?  Labs are tomorrow, opening keynote is Tuesday.  So I guess depending on how you look at it, it can be either Day 0 or Day -1.  Flight was uneventful and I've already played a quick round of "Can You See Me".  Got here about an hour ago.  Look for as many blog posts as I can cram in for one week, as well as pictures (and of course, video's).  Yes, I plan on live blogging all the action and activities.  I've got my PDA's (as many as I could cram in my bag) fully charged and ready to go.  You saw the post...La Scena....heading over there in the next few...

Once again the Microsoft-Yahoo fandango dominates the quiz this week, but we also find time to dwell on the Webby Awards, smelly cell phones, and things Wal-Mart would rather you did not know. Correct answers are worth 10 points, and remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid quiz masters. Ready? Then get crackin'.

http://www.infoworld.com/tools/quiz/news/2008/04-11/news-quiz-1.php

So you think you're a good photographer?  Now's your chance to snap some photo's and take a shot at winning $10,000 and appear in National Geographic.  if you're one of the weekly winners, you'll win an LG phone.

http://www.viewtyfulworld.com/uk/

SanDisk has warned that IT managers are unaware of the extent to which unsecured flash drives are being brought into their organizations, backing this with a new study of corporate end-users and IT executives.

The study found that 77 percent corporate end-users surveyed have admitted to using personal flash drives for work-related purposes. However, when asked to estimate what percentage of the workforce uses personal flash drives, corporate IT respondents said only 35 percent.

Users meanwhile admitted that data files most likely to be copied to a personal flash drives includes customer records (25 percent), financial information (17 percent), business plans (15 percent), employee records (13 percent), marketing plans (13 percent), intellectual property (6 percent), and source code (6 percent).

The survey highlights that due to the highly portable nature of USB flash drives, they represent a significant risk of data loss for enterprises. Approximately one in ten (12 percent) of corporate end users reported finding a flash drive in a public place. Additionally, when asked to pick the three most likely actions they would take if they found a flash drive in a public place, 55 percent indicated they would view the data.

SanDisk meanwhile hopes to give IT managers a fighting chance of controlling the usage of flash drives in organizations, and earlier this week unveiled a new version of its CMC (Central Management & Control) software used to manage its Cruzer Enterprise USB flash drives.

Source

Microsoft on Thursday plans to introduce a Web-based service for driving directions that incorporates complex software models to help users avoid traffic jams.

The new service’s software technology, called Clearflow, was developed over the last five years by a group of artificial-intelligence researchers at the company’s Microsoft Research laboratories. It is an ambitious attempt to apply machine-learning techniques to the problem of traffic congestion. The system is intended to reflect the complex traffic interactions that occur as traffic backs up on freeways and spills over onto city streets.

The Clearflow system will be freely available as part of the company’s Live.com site (maps.live.com) for 72 cities in the United States. Microsoft says it will give drivers alternative route information that is more accurate and attuned to current traffic patterns on both freeways and side streets.

A system for driving directions that Microsoft introduced last fall was limited, because without Clearflow there was no information available about traffic conditions on city streets adjacent to the highways. Because the system assumed that those routes would be clear, drivers were on occasion sent into areas that were more congested than the freeways.

The new service will on occasion plan routes that might not be intuitive to a driver. For example, in some cases Clearflow will compute that a trip will be faster if a driver stays on a crowded highway, rather than taking a detour, because side streets are even more backed up by cars that have fled the original traffic jam.

Source