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Avaya

Ice Fishing Tackle and Tools

The hype around cloud computing is hard to ignore and as each vendor is trying to put the word “cloud” in front of all its products, enterprises are finding it extremely difficult to sift through the noise and really find which products work best specifically for their data center.

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While the ability to utilize the public cloud is extremely appealing due to the reduced infrastructure management needed in a public rather than private environment, CIOs and data center managers are hesitant to place important data and applications in the public cloud. With this cautious viewpoint, enterprises are turning to private and/or hybrid cloud solutions that will enable them to receive the benefits of a public cloud while keeping their infrastructure under their control and experience improved agility and infrastructure utilization—leading to dramatic cost and time savings.

Therefore, the popularity in turnkey, ready to go, cloud solutions has skyrocketed over the past year as enterprises are on an active search for the simplest and quickest way to get their private cloud infrastructure up and running. A turnkey cloud promises some appealing benefits like simplicity, quick roll-out, and cost savings, but many organizations are still perplexed by how to evaluate a turnkey solution—or even what capabilities one should include—and how to integrate it with their existing network, compute and storage infrastructure.

To help enterprises evaluate here are the three essential elements that should constitute any turnkey private and/or hybrid cloud solution:

1. Intelligent and reliable automation features:

A turnkey cloud solution must be able to automatically provision configurations when needed and decommission devices when not needed. Additionally, it should be able to combine all known devices, discover new devices and compile them into a resource pool. With the introduction of hybrid cloud computing the importance for intelligent automation features significantly increases. Enterprises need to be able to reliably and securely burst into a public cloud when resources are not available in the private cloud.

One of the most important elements of ensuring the selection of the correct turnkey solution for an environment is selecting a solution that not only provisions virtualized resources but physical and public cloud resources as well. Today, when organizations think of cloud solutions they seem to jump right to technology that only handles virtualization. However, this is only a partial solution as enterprises on average have only 50 percent of their applications virtualized. Therefore, when building a private cloud using a tool that provisions hardware is a necessity to gain the full benefits of a private cloud. The ability to provision and decommission entire hardware and virtualized topologies that include compute, network and storage is a crucial element of a turnkey solution. This feature is crucial to controlling resource sprawl and maximizing the utilization of existing resources.

2. Out-of-the-box adaptors for existing infrastructure:

Seamless integration of a cloud management tool into an enterprise’s existing infrastructure is extremely important as CIOs and data center managers are trying to get the most out of their existing infrastructure. All environments these days are heterogeneous with equipment from multiple systems, network and storage vendors. So, when enterprises bring in a private cloud solution it needs to be able to work across these multi-vendor devices.

If additional resources need to be added to a workload IT should not have to hesitate because they have a Dell system but would like an HP system. Similar to the frustration that arises if someone gets a flat tire and has a Goodyear right around the corner but all they can use is Michelin, a turnkey solution that is not able to provision a wide variety of devices can cause a lot of headaches for IT.

There are thousands of hardware devices and several virtualization vendors that exist today and writing an adaptor for each of these resources is extremely time consuming which is why enterprises need to look for tools that have pre-built adaptors for most of the popular hardware devices and virtual resources from vendors including Dell, IBM, HP, NetApp, EMC, Cisco, Juniper, VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, Red Hat, etc. By creating a private cloud out of existing hardware it not only saves on time, but also creates significant CAPEX savings by re-utilizing existing resources and spare capacity for new workloads instead of purchasing new equipment.

3. Predefined templates for commonly used compute, network and storage configurations:

It is important to first mention that without predefined templates a cloud solution cannot be turnkey. The initial starting point to ensure this requirement is met is looking for the library of predefined templates. The greatest expense for building a private cloud is in the designing and crafting of the templates for the topologies that will frequently be used. Additionally, with most cloud solutions one can build custom templates that need to take the existing environment in the data center into consideration.

When the turnkey cloud solution offered a pre-built library of templates for commonly used topologies then enterprises are able to significantly speed up the time it takes to get a private cloud up and running, thus accelerating their time to value. These predefined templates can deliver 50 to 90 percent of the design for an environment and all they require is IT making easy customizations to make the template fit their specific environment perfectly.

The purpose for a turnkey solution is to be able to quickly and reliably convert an existing static environment into a self-service dynamic environment. And in order for this environment to be successful the turnkey solution must contain the three elements discussed. These capabilities will be crucial for enterprises looking to deploy a turnkey private or hybrid cloud.

By Garima Thockchom, VP of Marketing at Gale Technologies, a leading provider of infrastructure automation software solutions that power IT as a Service for labs, enterprises, and service providers.

HP

Verizon says it doesn’t use Carrier IQ software

Verizon Wireless said Thursday it doesn’t add to its phones any software from Carrier IQ, the company that has come under fire in the past few days for what some say amounts to spying on mobile phone users.

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Also, Carrier IQ put out another statement clarifying what its software does, in an attempt to calm the uproar, which began when a security researcher published a report showing the software could be used to collect data such as user locations, keys pressed on phones and what applications are running. Phone users typically aren’t aware that their phones have the software and they aren’t able to turn it off.

Apple, AT&T, Sprint, HTC, Samsung and T-Mobile have said some of their phones use the software. Research In Motion and Nokia have said they don’t load the software onto their phones.

On Twitter, Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson wrote on Thursday: “We do not add Carrier IQ to our phones. We do not use other similar software on our devices.”

Carrier IQ, meanwhile, continues to assert that it doesn’t collect any private information about phone users. In a statement it reiterated that its software does not record, store or transmit the contents of text messages, emails, pictures, audio or video. It captures information such as whether an SMS was delivered and which applications drain the battery, the company said. It “vigorously disagrees” with people who allege that Carrier IQ violates wiretap laws.

On Wednesday, Al Franken, the U.S. senator from Minnesota, sent a letter to Carrier IQ asking it to respond to questions about what kind of personal information it collects about users without their knowledge. He suggested the company might violate privacy laws.

His letter followed Carrier IQ’s threat to sue Trevor Eckhart, the researcher whose report kicked off the uproar. Carrier IQ has since withdrawn that threat and apologized for it.

Eckhart reported that Carrier IQ software runs on Verizon phones as well as those from RIM and Nokia. Developers have reported that they have some evidence that shows some Verizon phones run the software. Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about those findings.

IBM

Ten Great Strategies For Today’s Climate

This is a challenging time to be in business but there lies the opportunity. I’ve listed 10 specific characteristics of downtimes and 10 positive strategies that embrace and capitalize on them.

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More time to create a focused business: Use this slower paced market to revisit the business you are in – what defines you. This is the perfect time for repositioning, selling off non-core subsidiaries, sharpening up product road maps and value propositions.
Flight to price and quality: Now is the time to revisit your product mix and pricing strategies. Buying behavior changes dramatically in a recession. Lower priced versions of your product or subscription based business models may be relevant to ease customer cash flow pain.
Measuring the signals is vital:> Mistakes made in downtimes can prove fatal.
Convert your Accounts Department into a Metrics Center. Trap and visualize your key performance indicators. Audit the signals and constantly interpret the significance to your strategies.
Acquisitions just got cheap: PE ratios of the majority of public companies are in single digits and the valuations of private companies are low. Consider a proactive approach to acquisitions by building a robust acquisition process that is proven to work.
The “C” level suite just got a free pass to visit their customers: Never has there been a better time for the inner cabinet to visit their customers to understand the specific issues challenging them. It’s not only productive, it’s essential for shaping strategy. Define your engagement strategy and get on site.
Value Propositions must improve a customer’s performance: Receiving a purchase order, confirming a big deal is very satisfying but it’s not enough. You need to be invested in the improved performance that will be achieved because your customer uses your product. Does your sales process achieve this?
Curiosity & Urgency of managers dramatically increased: Well it certainly should have. This new level of alertness (perhaps it’s fear) needs to be channeled to produce results. Difficult projects shelved in better times are prime candidates for this energy. Staff want to be effective and busy to get things moving again. Tap into this momentum.
People and tasks are mis-aligned: Now is the time to think like a start-up. The key –Define Performance Profiles that your company needs to be executed, not job specs but tasks that need to be done well. This will cause old jobs to be merged and new jobs to be created.
Silo Management is broken: Urgent initiatives will fail without cross-functional support. Company visions need to inspire and flow across functions. Build cross functional teams to execute top priorities.
Competition thins out: It might be difficult to create double digit growth but you can grab market share. The best companies don’t just survive bad times; they grow and develop into more robust and valuable businesses.

As an experienced business leader, Ian Smith is passionate about maximizing the potential of fast-growing companies. The Portfolio Partnership offers Corporate Development Services on an advisory, operational or investment model. Specifically we execute growth strategies by repositioning companies organically and/or by acquisition.

Ian was educated in Scotland, earning a BA degree from the University of Strathclyde and qualified as a Chartered Accountant of Scotland with Grant Thornton. Post qualification he joined Thomson the publishing giant and became one of their youngest divisional Finance Directors at 26 and was awarded the prestigious, UK Accountant of the Year ahead of many experienced FDs. From 1988 to 2000 he successfully built up two major boutique M&A advisory firms, Livingstone Guarantee and Capita Corporate Finance. During this period he completed over 40 acquisition, disposal or finance transactions, many cross border, many in the technology sector. He assisted dozens of entrepreneurs execute their vision.

In late 2001 he moved to the states to successfully reposition and grow Teamstudio, an IBM business partner with HQ in Beverly, MA and offices in the UK and Japan. During the next 5 years the top line was grown by over 45% and losses were turned into EBITDA of over $10m. high achiever, Ian expects the highest performance from his staff but always mixed with a Glaswegian sense of humor!

IBM

Court rules that HP’s Hurd probe document can remain secret

A document tied to an internal Hewlett-Packard sexual harassment investigation of former CEO Mark Hurd will remain sealed, according to a ruling handed down this week by the Delaware Supreme Court.

HP shareholder Ernesto Espinoza had filed a lawsuit seeking to inspect the document, which was prepared by the law firm Covington and Burling on HP’s behalf.

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The Delaware Chancery Court had already ruled against Espinoza on grounds his need to see the document wasn’t sufficient enough to override “attorney-client privilege and work product immunity protections,” the state supreme court said in its ruling, which was handed down Monday. “We affirm, but on the alternative ground that Espinoza has not shown that the Covington Report is essential to his stated purpose, which is to investigate possible corporate wrongdoing.”

Hurd resigned from HP in August 2010 and also reached a confidential settlement with a former HP contractor, Jodie Fisher. Shortly thereafter, he took a job as co-president of Oracle.

Although the internal HP investigation did not conclude Hurd was guilty of sexually harassing Fisher, it found he had broken HP’s business conduct standards and uncovered a “systematic” series of inaccurate expense reports meant to cover up his relationship with her, the ruling added.

Hurd received a lucrative severance package from HP. Espinoza had argued that if HP’s board had reason to fire Hurd “for cause,” then the payments shouldn’t have been made, the court said.

Oracle, Tech

Oracle: HP paying Intel to keep Itanium going

Hewlett-Packard has secretly contracted with Intel to keep making Itanium processors so that HP can maintain the appearance that “a dead microprocessor is still alive”, and make money from its locked-in Itanium customer base and take business away from Oracle’s Sun servers, Oracle said in a court filing on Friday.

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The market has never been told that Itanium lives on because HP is paying Intel to keep it going, Oracle said. Intel’s independent business judgement would have killed off Itanium years ago, it added.

HP however described the filing as a “desperate delay tactic designed to extend the paralyzing uncertainty in the marketplace” that it said was created when Oracle announced in March, 2011, in a breach of contract, that “it would no longer support HP’s Itanium platform”.

HP has made statements to the marketplace to the effect that Intel’s commitment to Itanium is its own, based on its normal calculations for investing in processors that it believes have a future, Oracle said in a filing before the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Clara.

A public redacted version of the filing was made available to The Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD blog. Intel said it is not a party to the lawsuit, and therefore does not have any comment on it. “Intel does not comment on commercial agreements that we may or may not have with our customers,” the chip giant said in an e-mailed statement.

Oracle also claimed that HP had kept secret from the market, but revealed in a filing two days previously, that HP and Intel have a contractual commitment that Itanium will continue through the next two generations of microprocessors.

HP’s strategy behind its “false statements” about Intel’s support for Itanium was to take away business from Oracle Sun, and “reap lucrative revenues from the locked-in Itanium customer base using HP’s HP-UX operating system on Itanium servers”, as the company gets few service contracts on operating systems like Linux that run on x86 processors, Oracle said.

Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems last year.

HP filed a suit in June over Oracle’s decision to stop developing software for the Itanium processor, the chip used in HP’s high-end servers, claiming that Oracle’s decision violates “legally binding commitments” that it made to HP and the companies’ 140,000 joint customers.

Oracle said at the time that HP tricked it into signing an agreement last September to continue its support for Itanium, even though HP knew of an Intel plan to discontinue Itanium. HP already knew all about Intel’s plans to discontinue Itanium, and HP was concerned about what would happen when Oracle found out about that plan, Oracle said in a statement in June.

As Oracle well knows, HP and Intel have a contractual commitment to continue to sell mission-critical Itanium processors to customers through the next two generations of microprocessors, thus ensuring the availability of Itanium through at least the end of the decade, HP said in a statement.

“The fact remains that Oracle’s decision to cut off support for Itanium was an illicit business strategy it conjured to try to force Itanium customers into buying Sun servers — and destroy choice in the marketplace,” HP said.

IBM, Tech

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IBM

IBM to build e-commerce research labs for Chinese retailer

IBMhas reached a deal with Chinese electronics retailer Suning Appliance to build research centers in China and the U.S. meant to develop e-commerce products for the company.

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IBM, already a provider of internal management systems for Suning since 2005, will now help the Chinese company expand its e-commerce site and services, said IBM spokeswoman Harriet Ip.

As part of the plan, IBM will build a research center in the Chinese city of Nanjing that will be staffed with 15,000 Suning employees over the next three to five years. Some of the products the center will develop include applications to allow household appliances to connect with the Internet and mobile handsets.

IBM is also establishing a joint development lab with Suning in Silicon Valley. The planning for the lab is still in the preliminary stages, but it will also focus on developing e-commerce services, Ip said.

Suning made the deal as the company is aiming at a greater presence in China’s burgeoning e-commerce sector. While Suning has 1,700 physical stores, the company has to compete with the likes of China’s Alibaba Group, which operates two of the top online retail sites in the country.

Suning has launched its own business-to-consumer (B2C) site, which now has a 2.4% market share, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. In contrast, Alibaba’s Taobao Mall has a 35.5% share.

“There is no question that we live in a time of rapid change that calls for the transformation of organizations in many industries,” said Frank Kern, an IBM senior vice president in a speech last Friday.

Suning’s goal is to build an e-commerce platform that will better personalize the shopping experience, by recommending appropriate products and providing better search. Financial terms of the detail were not disclosed.

Suning could not be immediately reached for comment. The company’s president Zhang Jindong said in a statement that his company was moving to a business model that could leverage both e-commerce and physical retail shopping.

“With this innovative business model, consumers, suppliers and businesses along with society can all benefit,” he said.

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Luidia’s eBeam Edge – Setting the standard for interactive whiteboards

Who needs an actual whiteboard? Give me a light-colored wall, a mini projector, and the Luidia eBeam Edge and I can teach anywhere, anytime, in person or online.

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I’ve had an eBeam Edge sitting in a box in my office for a while now, waiting for me to unpack it and give the interactive whiteboard tool a test drive. This past weekend, I finally broke it out and I’m glad I did. At first blush, it reminded me of a small version of the early Mimio bars that attached with suction cups to any whiteboard and allowed capture of drawn content. Although Mimio devices have come a long ways, at the time (almost 5 years ago), our experience with them was pretty negative. Fortunately, the eBeam is vastly more sophisticated than the old Mimios and, more importantly, is supported by great software.

The eBeam Edge is about the size of one of the candy bars that are so coveted on Halloween and only obtainable in the wealthier sections of town. At around a quarter of an inch thick, the radio receiver magnetically attaches to a small bar that is mounted on any wall or whiteboard with 3M Command Strips. Every eBeam Edge system comes four of these magnetic mounts, meaning that the eBeam itself can move with a teacher from room to room or among teachers easily during the day. Just pop the device off the wall, grab the USB cable, and go (wireless BlueTooth versions are also available).

For me, the Edge will live in my laptop bag, along with extra Command strips and a micro portable projector. Since the interactive whiteboard components interface so easily with virtual classroom applications (and, in fact, Luidia offers their own free synchronous whiteboarding solution to customers), a complete e-teaching setup can fit in one main pocket of my small messenger bag.

There are a few things other than size that set the eBeam apart from other interactive whiteboard solutions. The most important is speed and accuracy. A quick calibration routine (tap 9 spots with the stylus in order) accessed from a virtual button the software places on the projected desktop, and you can have an interactive whiteboard up to 100″ diagonally on virtually any surface. From there, you can write on the native projected whiteboard or any other application that accepts mouse/tablet input using the stylus in near real time. Annotating a PowerPoint slide, for example, with written text, equations, underlines, arrows, and highlighting with none of the lag that often accompanies interfaces of this type.

The second is the software itself. While SMART and Promethean are the undisputed masters of prepared content for their interactive whiteboards, Luidia has focused on an incredibly intuitive interface for everything from drawing and annotation to mouse control with their stylus. The teacher in the image above (OK, she’s probably not a real teacher, but it’s a good marketing photo of the software in action) has the stylus resting on the palette that controls virtually all of the stylus capabilities. With simple taps, the palette shifts from straight mouse control to highlighting (including color selection) to drawing (including color and line size selection) to calibration. Many other functions are included in the icon-based palette as well, but it never feels cluttered. The palette also features adjustable transparency, so the instructor can make it more or less obvious based on need.

eBeam hardware comes with Workspace software (essentially an overlay of interactive features on any desktop application, including tablet-style input to touch-aware applications), Capture software (for building presentations and capturing either still shots of the projection or recording movies of the content loading on the whiteboard), and Scrapbook (for creating archives, organizing and sharing screen shots, building e-learning courseware, etc.). These launch automatically (or prompt the user to launch them) based on user actions and work across Windows, Mac, and Linux (there are currently some limitations on OS X and Linux, in particular a lack of Lion support). The software also supports interactive Flash content, including prebuilt widgets from Luidia (virtually any other Flash modules can be loaded into the Scrapbook.

The hardware isn’t cheap, but is competitive with Mimio; prices for systems hover around $1000 and schools/teachers will need to have a projector and computer in place. However, because an in-room PC is commonplace and projectors are increasingly ubiquitous, the Edge allows for easy use of existing whiteboard and projection resources without investing in expensive, full-blown interactive whiteboards.

For schools looking at more permanent installations, Luidia offers similar technology in fixed “digital-ready” whiteboards, short-throw mounted projectors, and multi-projector “InfoWall” setups.

Interestingly, Luidia also recently announced a partnership with Polycom to add their interactive whiteboard technologies to video conferencing installations. They also just announced a new partnership with NEC to layer not only their interactive capabilities on NEC mounted projectors but also to provide real-time whiteboard sharing and collaboration for distance and hybrid education using their synchronous technologies. This sort of industry traction certainly suggests some long-term viability, but more significantly, demonstrates the flexibility and utility of the core technology.

This is starting to read a bit like Luidia marketing schtick, but only because I was incredibly impressed with the usability and quality of the eBeam Edge. If I were looking at whiteboard solutions in a school at this point, I’d skip expensive, heavy interactive whiteboards and just leave big blank walls, ready for eBeams that can be purchased, deployed, and used as budgets allow for far less money and far greater whiteboard real estate than any smartboard manufacturer can currently match. The Edge has officially made my list of dead-finger tech (the hardware and software that you’d need to pry from my cold, dead hands if you wanted me to give it up).

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HTC reports record numbers, sells more smartphones than RIM

After reporting sales of 13.2 million smartphones during the third quarter, HTC is now the fourth largest smartphone vendor after having outpaced Research In Motion, according to market research company Canalys.

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A diverse product offering, expanded distribution network and growing global brand recognition resulted in HTC’s highest-ever quarterly revenue at $4.5 billion for the period ending Sept. 30. That is a 79 percent improvement year-on-year, the company said in a statement on Monday.

At 13.2 million smartphones, shipments increased by 93 percent year-on-year. For example, in China HTC sold nine times as many phones during the third quarter this year compared to the same period last year. That has helped turn HTC into the fourth largest smartphone vendor, passing RIM by a margin of 1.4 million units in the process, according to Canalys. “It has seen a lot of success in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is doing very, very well in the U.S. market,” said Pete Cunningham, analyst at Canalys.

The company is also closer than ever to Apple and Nokia, which sold 17.07 million and 16.8 million smartphones, respectively. “It is going to be very competitive. Nokia is probably the vendor that is the most vulnerable from HTC in the short term. Nokia’s Symbian volumes will tail off, and its success depends on how fast it can ramp up Windows Phone sales,” said Cunningham.

Good products combined with a lot of support from operators have helped HTC increase its shipments volume, according to Cunningham. When an operator wants an Android-based phone, HTC and Samsung, which is the biggest smartphone vendor, are the first port of calls, he said.

To further expand volume, HTC is opening a factory in the beginning of next year, which will help increase the company’s total manufacturing capacity to about 40 million phones per year.

Two areas in which the company is currently investing are LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology and entry-level smartphones. An LTE device upgrade cycle will come in 2012 in the U.S. and some advanced markets in Asia, and HTC hopes to take advantage of that. At the same time, it aims to continue to attract first-time smartphone buyers, it said.

“In the long term, we will have a very healthy market in terms of competition and that drives innovation, which is great for end users,” said Cunningham.

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Windows 8 Features Vastly Improved Boot Times

Windows 8 news continues to trickle from the Building Windows 8 blog at a steady clip: today, Gabe Aul detailed changes to the Windows 8 boot process that promise to drastically reduce startup times.

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The team wanted to come up with a startup method that would deliver the benefits of a cold boot (a “fresh session” at startup, no power usage when off) while reducing the amount of time that it takes to load the operating system from disk to RAM.

To accomplish this, Microsoft has combined aspects of a traditional Windows shutdown with system hibernation, which saves the contents of your RAM to disk and then restores it to RAM at next boot. While a Windows shutdown currently closes all user programs (the “user session”) and then all system services and processes (the “kernel session”) completely before powering off, Windows 8 closes the user session and saves the rest of your RAM’s content to disk. The kernel session can then be restored to RAM quickly at next boot – this is more speedy than traditional hibernation both because there’s less data to restore to RAM from the disk (just the kernel session, as opposed to the kernel session and the user session), and because restoring hibernation files is a fully multithreaded process in Windows 8.

Microsoft notes that drivers are still initialized during this startup process, which means that driver and system updates should no longer require a “full” reboot of the system (something Microsoft has been promising since the Longhorn days). However, for those of you more comfortable with a traditional “full” shutdown, there are command line options to toggle the new feature on and off (“powercfg /hibernate off” which has the unfortunate side-effect of completely disabling hibernation), and also to initiate one-time full shutdowns (“shutdown /s /full”).

According to Microsoft, these improvements should benefit users with SSDs and HDDs alike, and will be especially noticeable when paired with systems supporting UEFI, the BIOS replacement that is slowly being adopted by most major PC manufacturers and motherboard makers. For full details, as always, you can check out the very detailed post on the Building Windows 8 blog.