Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ventrilo review: The essential comms tool for the PC gamer

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Ventrilo chat channel screenshot Ventrilo This robust VoIP program keeps you connected to your gaming buddies in multiplayer games.

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In the heat of battle, there's one tool that trumps all. No, it's not your customizable mouse or the fancy keyboard with 100 different macro keys. It's communication.

Ventrilo takes the guesswork out of what your friends are doing in-game by providing a lightweight voice over IP program to stay in constant contact.

Ventrilo screenshotVentrilo comes with a robust amount of options, but you may have to dig to find them.

Despite being completely free to download and use, Ventrilo come with a barrier to entry: You, or someone you know, must rent a server to use. Luckily, renting a 10-20 user server will generally cost less than $50 per year. If you're tight on cash, you'll be pleased to know that Ventrilo does allow you to set up your own server for up to eight people at no charge. Without an active server, though, Ventrilo becomes pretty useless.

When you open Ventrilo for the first time, it offers an online tutorial to run you through the basics of connecting to a new server. This includes creating a new profile, complete with teaching the program to say your username phonetically. In order to add a server, you'll need some very specific information from it, such as the hostname or IP address, port number, and password (if one exists).

Ventrilo lobby screenshotVentrilo separates channels into games and sub-sections. Useful, but not pretty.

Once in the server, hosts and admins can create or organize rooms,  which are great for separating players in specific games and keeping each stream of chatter where it belongs. Ventrilo supports a great deal of custom configuration for the player as well, such as letting players choose when to play notification alerts, letting them set up custom key bindings, and allowing them to select user-specific volume levels.

Communication can also be done via an integrated chat interface. No matter what channel you're in, you can join the chat and communicate via text, complete with text-to-speech as a checkable option. You also have the option to leave comments on your username to display your status (away from the keyboard, waiting to play, etc) and include a URL.

Despite being so robust and useful, especially for games that don't include integrated VoIP, Ventrilo is dull and lacks a user-friendly interface. A plain white window with endless branching menus and buttons can overwhelm the less tech-savvy, who will undoubtedly miss out on the many features Ventrilo hides away in embedded menus. Fortunately, you don't need all those options to use Ventrilo effectively.

The program is light on system resources, but it can be a connection hog at times. Latency can spike causing delayed voices or missed transmissions all together. It is recommended you use a stable, strong connection before investing your multiplayer communications into Ventrilo.

Ventrilo chat channel screenshotVentrilo's integrated chat window will even talk to you via text-to-speech.

Ventrilo may not be the prettiest communication tool of all time, but it is one of the most robust and stable. I've been using Ventrilo for years and have yet to explore the deepest trenches of the options. Luckily, you don't have to dive deep to get the most out of it. It's just nice those endless options are included. For those who don't want the hassle, it's simple to use and effective for the gamers who want to get the job done.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software appropriate to your system.


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Billy’s Yammer Moment: Influencing the business in unexpected ways

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Billy Saqr is an account executive at LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and news and business information and analysis to legal, corporate, government, and academic customers. As a remote employee, Billy works from home but frequently visits his law school clients, educating them on the product and showcasing enhanced features to streamline their research. Over time, he started to receive feedback from power users on ways to improve the product--simple changes that could greatly improve students’ workflow. Yammer gave Billy a platform to share this feedback with teams and executives he’d normally never interact with (especially from his home office). In one instance, Billy discovered a thread discussing designs for the new product, and he felt empowered to chime in with comments he’d gathered from customers. Later, upon seeing the released product, he saw the design team had taken some of his feedback into account. Working in the open on Yammer gave Billy a voice to contribute to the business in unpredictable ways. Watch the video below to hear his story.

Visit the Moments site to learn more about the ways customers like Billy are making an impact at work. Have a Yammer moment of your own? Tweet with the hashtag #yammermoments today!


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Register now: Office 365 "Get It Done" webcast November 7

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Office 365 virtual eventTransform your workplace, enable innovation.

The workplace is changing. Today, over 70% of employees work outside the office. Across your organization, employees need easier access to the right information and insight on any device, anywhere to make fast, informed decisions. Yet over 40% of surveyed workers feel there isn't enough collaboration in their workplaces. Progressive organizations are listening! Social in the enterprise is no longer a nice-to-have but rather a workplace necessity.

Join us for a live session with industry thought leaders and special guests to hear firsthand how Microsoft Office 365 has helped companies harness employee ideas, embrace new workplace cultures and technologies, and spark innovation and spontaneous collaboration in the workplace to accelerate business: getting it done, anywhere. Click here to register today!

Luke Williams: Highly respected thought-leader will talk about how disruption in the workplace can lead to innovation.Adam Pisoni: Cofounder and CTO of Yammer and Microsoft GM of Engineering will share his thoughts on what makes a responsive organization.John Case: Microsoft CVP, Office wraps up by giving a glimpse of what new features will be rolling out in the next 6 months for Office 365.Also hear from Andy Roberts, Head of End User Technology at Telefonica as he discusses how Office 365 has created agility and helped move their business forward. Chat directly with Microsoft Executives and Product Managers throughout the show!

You won't want to miss this event. Register now!


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What's New: October 2013

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We've seen a steady stream of continued app updates and customer-requested features this month. SkyDrive Pro for iOS simplified viewing and editing your documents. Everyone can now join Lync mobile meetings, even those without Office 365 accounts. Admins can now purchase domains directly within the service and view Lync Online usage for their organization. Other October improvements  include updates for developers, Office 365 Education customers, and Office 365 Government customers in California. Let us know your favorite new feature-leave a comment! If you missed last month's updates, see September's What's new summary here.

No updates

New Lync usage reports: See Lync use in your business with new reports that show active users, total video and audio minutes, and total time conferencing.

Excel video tutorials app: This new app for Office adds quick access to Excel 2013 tutorials right from within Excel.

Purchase customer GoDaddy domain directly through Office 365: Now you can purchase a customer domain, such as yourcompany.com, through GoDaddy directly from within Office 365 and we'll automatically configure it to work with your Office 365 account.

Updated Lync mobile for Windows Phone and iOS: New Lync mobile app features let you join Lync meetings without an account and start unscheduled conferences from within the app.

SkyDrive Pro for iOS 1.1 app: Better support for viewing and editing documents stored on your iPhone and iPad, and OneNote files open directly in the OneNote app for their respective device.

Search innovations for site and portal design in SharePoint Online: Show dynamic results and content on SharePoint sites using the new Content Search Web Part and cross-site collection publishing.

Please note that some of the above updates may take time to show up in your Office 365 account, because they're being rolled out to customers worldwide.

California and Microsoft sign CJIS Security Policy Agreement: California local law enforcement agencies can use Office 365 to meet the latest FBI CJIS Security Policy requirements.

 Office 365 for Business updates apply as well.

Student Advantage: Office 365 Education institutions who have licensed Office 365 ProPlus or Office Professional Plus for their faculty and staff may provide Office 365 ProPlus for students at no additional charge.

 Office 365 for Business updates apply as well.

Dev.office.com: The newly redesigned site has simplified and consolidated everything that experienced and aspiring Office developers could need.

Office.com Store improvements: The Office Store is adding support for 5 additional languages, 8 new store fronts, a Seller dashboard, and support for subscription-based apps.

--Andy O'Donald @andyodonald

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Not all updates apply to every Office 365 plan; please check the individual post for specifics.

What's New: October 2013


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Five OneNote tips from the writers of The Conjuring

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Twin brothers Chad and Carey Hayes wrote this summer's blockbuster, The Conjuring, using OneNote. Now the acclaimed screenwriting duo share their top five tips for beginning writers.

 1: Write. Write. Write.

The secret to being a writer is no secret at all. Just write. Write anywhere and everywhere you can. OneNote is great for writers because you can use it virtually anywhere and on nearly any device. Have a few minutes in a coffee shop? Write a couple paragraphs on your tablet. Get an idea on the bus or train? Open OneNote on your phone and write it down. Writing is a skill that must be honed. We write every chance we get.

 

2: Read everything you can get your hands on.

Great writers read as much as they write. If you're a screenwriter, read scripts. If you're a novelist, read novels and short stories. Read bad stories then think about how you would make them good. Read good stories and come up with ways to make them better. We are reading scripts all the time, for both work and our own enjoyment. OneNote makes it easy because we can carry hundreds, even thousands of scripts everywhere we go on our tablets.

 3: Start with an outline.

This part is so important, we're going to repeat it here: start with an outline. We work out the big ideas in outline form long before we write a single line of dialogue or action. Remember, "If it doesn't work in the outline, it won't work in the script." The outline is your roadmap; don't be afraid to return to it again and again as you craft your story. We keep our outline in OneNote right next to the working draft of the script for easy access.

 4: Write. Edit. Repeat.

Writers are revisionists; that's the nature of the job. For The Conjuring we had roughly 150 drafts of the script before we reached the final one. And we have every single one of them saved in OneNote. We rewrite sections (and sometimes entire drafts) dozens of times before we ever submit a script. Then, we'll incorporate notes from studio executives, producers, actors, and the director again and again during the production process. OneNote inking technology lets us easily annotate on the script during meetings using our stylus and touch. Then we can quickly revise it and send another draft to everyone involved. No more hours-long editing sessions. No more costly printing. No more lost notes. It's all done right there in OneNote.

 

 5: Try writing with a partner.

We may be a little biased here but having someone to bounce ideas off of is a great way to stay creative and push the story. We write together during the day, and then at night we each take the working script home in OneNote. There we'll make notes about the day's work - inking up the script, writing questions and exploring ideas right in OneNote on our tablets. And we can each see what the other has written in real time. Working with a partner has given us that ability to expand our creativity and writing in ways we never could have done on our own.

Bonus: Get OneNote

If you haven't picked up on it by now, we're big fans of OneNote. We've used it for years to write our screenplays. OneNote lets us keep all our research together along with our outlines and various drafts. We can easily use the search function to find exactly what we need, when we need it. OneNote is like having your own personal writing assistant.

 -- Chad Hayes & Carey Hayes

Learn more about how Chad & Carey used OneNote to write this season's horror blockbuster, which is now available on DVD!

Any aspiring writers out there? Let us know how OneNote has helped you along the way.

--------------------------
Download OneNote: onenote.com
Follow OneNote: twitter.com/msonenote
Like OneNote: facebook.com/MicrosoftOneNote  


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Review: f.lux makes your computer usable at night

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If you're reading this late in the day, pause to consider your eyes. Can you feel that familiar sting that comes from looking at a glaring LCD for too many hours? That's only the most noticeable symptom of what happens to our bodies when we spend hours staring into what's essentially a big, bright, lamp. F.lux is a simple and free app that helps fix this.

f.lux knows what time the sun sets wherever you are.

Turning down your monitor's brightness may help, but brightness isn't really the main issue: Color temperature is, and that can be trickier to adjust. Most computer screens emit bluish light that looks good in daytime, but becomes uncomfortable to look at in a dark room. It can also affect your sleep: Research suggests that reading on a tablet for two hours before bedtime can delay your sleep by about an hour.

F.lux helps by asking you where you're located in the world, then figuring out the approximate sunset time for your location. Come sunset, your screen will mimic nature, gradually warming up the colors and blending in much better with the surrounding light. You basically get your own private mini-sunset, ending up with a screen that's nice to look at.

f.lux now lets you adjust your monitor's brightness with keyboard shortcuts.

This basic functionality—tuning your screen's color temperature according to time of day—has been part of f.lux for years now. A recent version adds some new bells and whistles: You can now change your screen's brightness using Alt+PgUp and Alt+PgDn. This isn't exciting if you use a laptop, but for a desktop user like me, it's a great feature.

Another new feature is the so-called Darkroom Mode. Whereas the normal f.lux effect just warms up your colors, Darkroom Mode completely takes over your display, shading everything in dark, reddish hues. This makes videos unwatchable, but also means you can probably use your computer at 3am without losing your night vision.

You can dial in your own nighttime color temperature to suit your environment.

Since we don't all work with the same ambient lighting, f.lux lets you dial in a color temperature for nighttime. It uses Kelvin notations (commonly used for color temperatures), but also offers human-readable explanations ranging from "Ember" (1200k) to "Sunlight" (5000k).

All of these color changes are great, unless you happen to be trying to watch a movie. That's where Movie Mode comes in: This mode tones down the color effects for 2.5 hours, to let you watch a movie without having everything tinged red. You can also completely disable f.lux for one hour (for doing color-sensitive work such as photo editing), or until the next morning.

F.lux was a very good app to begin with, and this release only makes it better. If you're not using it yet, but do use your computer at night, you really should try it out today.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.


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Register now for November 5 webcast: Use Project with Visio to boost project management efficiency

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Microsoft Visio webcast series

Join us Tuesday, November 5 at 10:30am PT/1:30pm ET to learn how to enhance the power of Project by using Visio at the same time. Whether you're a project manager, team member or stakeholder, this 90-minute session will show you an easy way to communicate, visualize and share data across the enterprise.

You'll learn how to use the Visio 2013 project scheduler template to create linear timelines with milestones, interval markers and extended timelines and then export them to Project. Plus, you'll see the custom shape data reports, data graphics, legends, and stencils in Visio, and using the Visio data pivot diagrams in Project, you'll learn to create graphical project reports.

Register here for our free Visio webcast series to attend this session.

Presenter: Matt Roderman, Tips & Techniques LLC

To see the complete Visio webcast series agenda, go to aka.ms/VisioWebcastSeries.

To see the complete Project webcast series agenda, go to aka.ms/ProjectWebcastSeries.


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Review: WinZip 18 stays light on its feet with new Express add-ons

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Software grows. That's almost an axiom: As time goes by, more and more features appear... a little bell here, an extra whistle there, and you end up with a behemoth weighed down by its own bloat. WinZip is no stranger to this phenomenon, but its new version 18 fights the trend with new optional add-ons that let you get stuff done without even opening the main WinZip window.

The new WinZip Express add-on isn't flashy, but is clear and useful.

The most useful add-on is one you can get for free: WinZip Express for Explorer. Once installed, it shows up in Explorer's right-click menu. Select a bunch of files, and click Zip and Share (WinZip Express). A simple dialog instantly appears. Its plain looks modestly conceal its power: This one dialog effectively replaces the big WinZip window for most users.

The WinZip Express dialog lets you zip your files in one of two formats, and optionally encrypt either; convert them to PDF; resize and watermark images; and share the resulting archive over email, social media, a cloud storage service, or just put it somewhere on your local machine.

Other Express add-ons include Express for Photos, Express for Outlook, and Express for Sharepoint. Each of them requires the full version of WinZip 18 (either $30 Standard or $50 Pro) to be installed, and of course, you're going to need Microsoft Outlook installed if you want to use Express for Outlook. Unfortunately, the only add-on that comes free with WinZip (Standard or Pro) is the aforementioned WinZip Express, and that too is free for a limited time only. All other add-ons cost $10 and are available from WinZip.com as individual downloads.

The Ribbon is still here, and the main interface is as beefy as ever.

Looking past the add-ons, WinZip 18 can talk to Box, CloudMe, Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, and a host of other services. It presents one interface for them all. The main WinZip window retains in Ribbon interface and its large array of features, with a few minor changes to the way items are ordered in the Ribbon. WinZip Pro also adds a cloud-backup option, but it still isn't as full-featured as a dedicated service such as CrashPlan.

All in all, WinZip 18 is not a revolutionary release, but the Express add-ons take it in an interesting direction: Suddenly, newer doesn't necessarily mean larger. Now if only they were included in the main product's price.

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman


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ConnectedText 6 review: Personal wiki adds long-requested features

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AppId is over the quota
ConnectedText 6 screenshot ConnectedText 6 $40.00 If you've used and liked older versions of ConnectedText, this upgrade is well worth it. If you think you might need a personal wiki, check out the trial.

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Offline personal wiki tool ConnectedText is ideal for college students, researchers, writers, and anyone else who needs the ability to mix freeform text with keywords and structure, or to perform queries and aggregations based on arbitrary criteria. The new version 6 adds long-needed enhancements to content aggregation, display, and searching.

ConnectedText 6 screenshotAt long last, you can open multiple views of the same project in ConnectedText.

With ConnectedText ($40. 30-day free trial), you create projects composed of topics. Editing a topic requires toggling into edit mode and using a simple markup language that rapidly becomes second nature. Flipping out of edit mode renders the topic according to a style sheet. Those who know CSS can edit the style sheet or enhance it in many ways, but I've found the default to be perfectly fine.

Enclosing any word or phrase in brackets marks a link. Click the link to create a topic (if it exists already, you just jump to it). This makes content creation highly dynamic, for people who tend to think while they write. At the same time, those with more organized minds can create a topic fully, then go back and mark up keywords that deserve topics of their own.

ConnectedText 6 screenshotThe built-in browser lets you drag URLs into your topic.

Flexibility is a watchword in ConnectedText. You can use attributes, categories, and properties to organize or find topics, or rely on full text queries. You can create very long topics, or split information into dozens of small topics, which can then be displayed as a single large topic by using queries or by explicitly including a set of topics, or both.

ConnectedText 6 adds a new feature named "blocks." You can surround a block of text with tags to give it a name, then include this block, by name, in another topic—or all blocks with the same name. For example, you might have many topics which all contain some text relevant to "London". You can enclose those blocks in the "London" tag, then create another topic which shows all the blocks with that name (or only the blocks with that name, which also appear in a topic in the category "England", or a wide range of other options.)

ConnectedText 6 screenshotConnectedText allows you to view your project as a web of connections.

For any given project, you can only have one editing window, but you can now open multiple views into a single project in floating windows. This much-needed enhancement makes working with large projects much easier. Anyone who has used ConnectedText extensively would probably find this feature alone worth the upgrade.

There are many other enhancements as well, such as a "trash can" to allow recovery of deleted topics, and the usual round of bug fixes and small upgrades.

ConnectedText is not intended for group or online use. Its primary audience is individual users who manage a lot of non-tabular information (though clever use of properties, attributes, and queries can produce an approximation of a structured database, doing so is like using a screwdriver as a hammer). As a consequence, it really shows its strength in how many ways it offers to present, organize, and collate disparate bits of information, and the features in ConnectedText 6 play to those strengths.

ConnectedText 6 screenshotIf you prefer, you can view your project as an ordered tree.

A 30-day trial with no feature limitations (just a watermark and a startup reminder) should provide anyone curious about the potential of ConnectedText to test it thoroughly.


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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Soundodger+ Review: A much different—much better—way to play your music

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AppId is over the quota

I’ve never understood dance. I don’t just mean I’m bad at dancing—though that is also true. I mean I don’t get it. Where other people see expression, grace, artistry, I see arms, legs, people jumping into the air and kicking. I see the various parts that make up “dance,” I just fail to grasp the larger intent.

Occasionally I can snag some small piece of understanding. I have been known, in the wee hours of the night when Bob Seger's Night Moves comes on the bar jukebox, to sway back and forth in some ritualized, primitive motion. I’m also no stranger to mosh pits, having grown up in New Jersey during its fertile pop-punk and hardcore years.

But on the whole, dance is lost on me. Or was. Until I played Soundodger+.

Soundodger+ is built on a simple premise: you play as a circle, trapped inside an arena. Other objects shoot from the arena’s walls—triangles, cubes, larger circles. Colliding with these objects is bad.

See that white dot in the center? That's you. Don't touch anything.

This is essentially an easier version of what Atari gave us 35 years ago in Asteroids. You don’t even have to shoot anything—just survive. Comparing Asteroids to Soundodger+, however, is like comparing Jesus burned into a piece of toast to The Last Supper.

Also, just like Asteroids, that Jesus toaster seems totally rad.

Soundodger+ is less a game and more an entirely different way to experience music. Each level in the game is a different musical track, spanning artists like Disasterpeace (the composer for Fez, among other things) and Austin Wintory (composer for Journey [the game, not the '80s band]).

Every “enemy” in Soundodger+ is tied to the music. The plink of a synthesizer might spawn a single triangle for you to dodge. A quick smattering of notes sends triangles flying at you from all sides. A violin’s glissando (a smooth glide between two pitches) results in a long, arcing series of triangles.

To an extent, I feel like playing Soundodger+ must be somewhat comparable to listening to music with synesthesia. It’s all about patterns. Precision. Color.

You've never seen music quite like what Soundodger+ can show you.

The result forces you to listen to music on a much deeper level than you might be accustomed to. For a minute or three minutes or five minutes you feel the music. You anticipate where the melody is going, when the drop is coming, when the music will reel in and give you a quick rest.

If one of Soundodger’s tracks came on under normal circumstances you might allow that sweet drum fill or synth pad to get swallowed into the background noise. Here, every instrument matters. You hear everything. Your life depends on it.

It’s a weird feeling. Soundodger+ isn’t very relaxing, especially once you’ve gotten through the first few levels. Instead, you reach a Zen-like state of sustained focus. You’re hardwired right into the game, electrified, focused on each moment. It’s addictive.

You’ll be playing through a track, desperately flitting back and forth through dozens of random bullets until for one single moment it all resolves into something beautiful.

Your favorite beats can form a thing of beauty...

Then it’s gone. All the pieces move away again, crashing into the walls and disappearing. You’re left with a brief afterimage—one that fades quickly, with the music sending ever more obstacles at you.

The patterns, though—the way it all comes together in an instant—I understand now what people see in dance.

...that evaporates in a heartbeat.

“Playing” Soundodger+ is great. It’s a solid, though relatively simple, game. But it’s the music that elevates Soundodger+. The game reveals the grace of each track.

Soundodger was originally a free web game (you can still play it here).  The paid version, which costs $8 on Steam, comes with eleven new levels/tracks and some handy custom-level features.

Due to popular request, the developer included an auto-gen feature: plug in any of your own music and the game will calculate out a level to go with it. Unfortunately, this feature removes much of the magic of Soundodger+. The levels it creates are often artless, failing to spawn enemies on the most obvious beats and instead vomiting them out almost at random.

The Soundodger+ level editor is remarkably robust.

However, there is an incredibly extensive editor where you can build new levels from scratch. You can define enemy colors, placements, patterns—basically any behavior the game is capable of.

As you might expect, this whole process is rather time-consuming; I spent about half an hour trying to build a level for First Breath After Coma by Explosions in the Sky. After those thirty minutes I’d managed to finish the first twenty seconds…of a nine minute song. And hey, those first twenty seconds were gorgeous! I just don’t know how likely I am to finish the job.

Trust me, the first twenty seconds of this level are amazing.

Right now there's no way to easily share the levels you've made with others; hopefully people will figure out a way to share custom levels and tracks down the line. Unfortunately, the legality of that process is questionable because the game needs both the audio file and the level data (an XML file). You’d need to make sure your copy of the song was exactly the same as someone else’s, down to the second, or else the level wouldn’t line up.

Regardless, I can’t wait to see what people build. If anyone is willing to tackle Explosions in the Sky, you know where to find me.

I can’t stop playing Soundodger+; I’m playing it in my sleep at this point. Every time I think I’m done, I end up coming back a few hours later and playing it again.

I’ve run through every track, many of them multiple times, and I’m still enthralled. The opening Disasterpeace track feels like it's burned into my brain. Right now I’m sitting in this office, writing this review, and all I really want to do is load up Soundodger+ .

What I’m saying is, this game is pretty good.


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Windows 8.1 won't rescue PC market this year, IDC says

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The PC market will weaken even further this year, and Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8.1 OS will be unable to reverse the drop in shipments, IDC said on Thursday.

Due in part to increased adoption of mobile devices globally and a drop in PC sales in China, shipments will shrink 9.7 percent in 2013, according to IDC, which previously had predicted a fall of 7.7 percent drop.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 has also been blamed by analysts as one of the reasons for the decline in the PC market. Windows 8.1, due to ship in mid-October, will address some user complaints, but PC shipments will also fall next year, and rebound with only single-digit growth in 2015, said Jay Chou, senior research analyst at IDC, in a statement.

With Windows 8, Microsoft has put a tablet-like touch user interface on PCs, which has baffled users buying non-touch PCs. Touch laptops remain expensive, and PC makers expect enterprises to upgrade laptops to the Windows 7 OS. The Windows 8 OS and high prices of PCs are reasons why people are looking at attractively priced tablets instead, Chou said.

Lower-priced laptops and convertible designs will ultimately help the PC market recover, IDC said.

“Advances in PC hardware, such as improvements in the power efficiency of x86 processors remain encouraging,” Chou said.

The weak China market will be another major factor in PC shipments dropping, IDC said. PC makers like Lenovo have recorded PC-shipment growth due to a strong China market in the previous quarters. IDC is forecasting PC shipments in China to fall by double digits this year, compounding an already weak consumer market in developed countries.

PC shipments dropped by 11.4 percent during the second quarter this year, totaling 75.6 million units, according to IDC. Component shortages also played a part in shipments dropping during the quarter.

Windows 8 Professional $200.00 Windows 8 isn't for everyone. If you're mostly a desktop PC user comfortable with Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8 is probably not worthwhile. If you're a mobile user who needs easy access to the...


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Share, snapshot, and stream your games with these 7 tools

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AppId is over the quota

You’ve honed your gaming skills to razor sharpness. You’ve used the six utilities that make a monster out of a milquetoast. Now it’s time to let the world see just how awesome you and your gaming rig have become. The following utilities let you record, play, and broadcast gameplay moments, and allow you to immortalize your triumphs on your favorite online gaming communities.

Ever have a moment in a game that you wished everyone could see? Maybe it was the time the dragons in Skyrim started to fly backward. Or the afternoon you cleared out the airfield in DayZ without a suffering a single bite or bandit’s bullet. Windows itself handles static screenshots well, but if you’re looking to record footage, you have to crack open the toolbox.

Fraps doesn’t offer much in the way of gameplay recording.

Virtually every serious gamer is familiar with the venerable frames-per-second reporting tool Fraps. This handy utility also records gameplay footage in real time, even in its free incarnation (although it limits you to 30-second clips until you fork over $37 for the upgrade). However, the CPU usage is a bit on the high side, and features are limited. Other contenders offer distinct advantages.

Action’s slick interface puts the others to shame, stylewise.

Action by Mirillis is screen-capture software on overdrive, sporting many options that Fraps lacks, such as audio-only and partial-screen recording as well as desktop capture (although you’ll need Aero enabled for that). Tests with Dishonored, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and The Witcher 2 produced smooth recording of both audio and video at full 1080p resolution on a modest quad-core AMD Phenom II test system with Nvidia’s GTX 560 GPU (Action takes advantage of CUDA to speed up encoding operations).

Action also includes a handy built-in thumbnail catalog and an AVI viewer, which employs Mirillis’s Splash media-player software technology. It even offers simple, no-frills streaming to some services such as Twitch.tv (see the discussion below).

Its frames-per-second reporting features are less robust, but it includes an on-screen counter and recordable benchmark routines, which should satisfy most users. The slick, black-and-gray interface is a pleasure to use, as well. Action will set you back $30 for a home license, but you can download it and use it for free for 30 days before you buy. It has also passed Steam’s Greenlight approval process, and there you can find popular forums offering tips on performance and troubleshooting if something isn’t working right with your setup.

Bandicam may not be easy on the eyes, but it is easy to use.

My tool of choice, however, is Bandicam. It lacks the slick interface of Action, but it has all the features that count plus a few extra, including the option to select alternative codecs for video recording to keep file sizes from ballooning into multigigabyte disk gobblers. The Fraps test file I produced for this article came out at just under 2GB for 30 seconds of video. The Bandicam file, created at the same length and resolution, weighed in at 180MB. Impressive. Desktop capture doesn’t require Aero, either.

Bandicam is cleaner and more straightforward than Action, making it quicker to pick up and faster to use. Moreover, the shareware license allows you a full 10 minutes of recording per session. Other than a watermark, the free version imposes no restrictions, which compares well to the 30 seconds of recording on Fraps and the 30-day trial with Action. Its main shortcoming is benchmarking: It supports only a simple frames-per-second overlay.

Keeping a library of pwnage on your hard drive or on your YouTube channel is cool, but you can find more appreciative audiences out there just waiting to celebrate your victories and make memes of your defeats. Twitch.tv, the gaming-centered offshoot of Justin.tv, remains the go-to source.

Newbies, beware: The setup process is laborious, and you must install, register, configure, and coordinate several external tools to make everything work. Twitch.tv and its ilk act as portals to live content, but don’t do the actual job of capturing the gameplay video or uploading it to hosting servers. That’s the domain of specialized broadcasting software running on the local gaming rig.

As with all professional tools, you have to pay to play with XSplit.

The pros broadcast with XSplit, which has a monthly payment plan and boasts wide support among gaming-friendly streaming services. Unfortunately it has also garnered a reputation for its resource-hungry ways and finicky operation. XSplit relies on slick touches such as live camera overlays, multiple input feeds, and other video-mixing features to stand apart from more hobbyist-oriented packages. As you might expect, the system requirements are pretty high for these tricks, although if you’re looking to turn your streams into revenue sources via eyeballs and ads, XSplit and Twitch.tv are the places to start.

OBS makes popular broadcast-destination presets available via a drop-down menu in the settings.

Open Broadcaster Software is the open-source answer to the needs of streaming gamers. Despite undergoing some growing pains, it remains an excellent alternative to the more commercially oriented packages mentioned here. Sitting at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from rental-software models such as that of XSplit, OBS bares its source code for all to see and costs nothing to download or use. The fruit of this approach is a rapid evolution in stability and features since the program’s initial release less than a year ago (although some issues remain, so a visit to the active user forums seems a wise precaution).

OBS supports RTMP streaming and includes presets for popular gaming destinations such as Twitch.tv, so setup is relatively painless. The drawbacks of its rapid open-development cycle are also apparent, manifesting in uneven but acceptable frame rates and occasionally glitchy operation. Most users get along with OBS just fine, though, so it’s worth a look. Keep in mind that it is beta software, so you shouldn’t expect much hand-holding.

Game streaming settings in Xfire allow you to link to your Twitch account.

Xfire made its debut in 2002 as a combined IM and chat client paired with a multiplayer game server browser. Eleven years later, it remains a good destination for your on-screen antics. Over the years, Xfire the company has added various services to the core multiprotocol chat system, and Xfire the program now supports gameplay streaming, group voice chat, in-game Web browsing, and Xfire-hosted clans and guilds complete with ranks, play statistics, and gaming library listings.

You can upload videos to your profile to share with friends and the wider gaming community, as well as broadcast live. Xfire also allows connections to streaming sites outside its own, including Justin.tv and Livestream. The Xfire client’s growing pains as a streaming tool are behind it, and although its performance isn’t on a par with that of the other utilities here, its frame rates are ultimately acceptable on midrange systems. The price remains right (it’s free), and Xfire does so much it shouldn’t be neglected, especially now that the revamped software is coming of age.

Cropped screen recording lets you share selected portions of your desktop on Livestream.

Livestream may not be the most focused streaming community for gamers, but plenty of us wind up there, and it’s not hard to figure out why. Livestream’s free Procaster software is remarkably efficient and versatile, imposing minuscule overhead on the host system, so you don’t see the slowdown issues associated with other products. What’s more, the streaming framerate is superb, rarely dropping below 30 frames per second. Visual quality is also impressive (if a touch soft) at all reasonable bandwidth levels.

Although Livestream offers fewer community features compared to Twitch.tv or Xfire, Procaster does provide dedicated gaming modes. A free, verified account is the way to go, as it provides a 500-kbps streaming channel, 10GB of Web-hosting space for your recorded broadcasts, and unlimited viewers. The only problem with Livestream appears to be the direction of the company itself, as it split its service into “New” and “Original” flavors, predictably focusing on the former and having about as much success as Coke had back in the 1980s. As long as the Procaster software sticks around, however, Livestream will remain a contender.

It has never been easier to get out there and share your virtual exploits with friends and interested gamers across the globe. No matter what your focus, technical level, or budget, there’s a service or software package waiting to turn you into the next gaming superstar. See you on the leaderboards—and remember, if you can see the red dot, it’s already too late.


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Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few tricks for smarter searches.

Of course, not everyone has (or wants) Windows 8, and even those who do may find Microsoft's search engine lacking.

Check out SwiftSearch, a free, portable search utility that's remarkably small and remarkably fast. With it you can find just about any file, on any drive, in about the time it takes to read this sentence. In fact, forget sentence; the time it takes to read this word!

SwiftSearch has nothing to install; it's a fully self-contained executable, which explains its "portable" nature: You can run it from your hard drive or keep it on a flash drive if you're looking to build out your portable toolset.

Either way, it loads in seconds. All you do is type your search parameters and then click Search. I'm not sure how the program returns results so quickly giving that it doesn't index your drive (which is how Windows Search operates), but it does.

SwiftSearch also supports a variety of expressions you can use to perform more exacting searches, though these will definitely take a bit of study if you're not accustomed to searching this way. Click Help, Regular expressions for a cheat-sheet of the expressions you can use.

Once you've got your results, you can right-click any item for a menu of options, including Open and Open Containing Folder.

Much as I'm loving SwiftSearch, the program isn't perfect. Although you can sort your search results by clicking any of the column headers (Name, Directory, etc.), there's no file-type option. I want that for grouping things like Word documents and JPEG images.

Also, it would be nice if you could focus searches on a specific folder, but SwiftSearch works only with entire drives.

That said, if you find that it's meeting your search needs, you could even consider turning off Windows' search indexing, which may make your PC run faster. See Chris Null's "Software Speed Boosts for Your PC" to find out how.

Contributing Editor Rick Broida writes about business and consumer technology. Ask for help with your PC hassles at hasslefree@pcworld.com. Sign up to have the Hassle-Free PC newsletter (which is included in the Power Tips newsletter) e-mailed to you each week.

For more than 20 years, Rick Broida has written about all manner of technology, from Amigas to business servers to PalmPilots. His credits include dozens of books, blogs, and magazines. He sleeps with an iPad under his pillow.
More by Rick Broida


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Pricing and Packaging for Windows 8.1

For consumers with Windows 8 devices today, Windows 8.1 will be a free update via an easy download from the Windows Store* starting on October 18th**. Windows 8.1 will be a must-have update for those devices - bringing new features and improvements such as greater personalization, Bing Smart Search, and more than 20 new and improved Microsoft apps and services. We are excited to be delivering such an important update to customers in just one month and nearly a year after launching Windows 8. However we also recognize there will be some folks who may want to upgrade devices running older versions of Windows to Windows 8.1. The information in this blog post is meant for those people.

Consumers who are not using a Windows 8 device will be able to buy Windows 8.1, either as a download from Windows.com or at your local store as a retail packaged DVD product. While pricing varies by market, in the U.S., Windows 8.1 will be available for $119.99 ERP (U.S.) and Windows 8.1 Pro will be available for $199.99 ERP (U.S.). The pricing and editions for Windows 8.1 are similar to what we have today for Windows 8.

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One shift to note in Windows 8.1 is that we will be offering “full version software” at retail and online for download that does not require a previous version of Windows in order to be installed. The copy of Windows 8 that is currently available for sale at retail and online is an “upgrade version.” This shift allows more flexibility for customers in specific technical scenarios and is in response to feedback we’ve received. It will be easier for those consumers who want to build PCs from scratch, run Windows 8.1 in Virtual Machine (VM) environments, or run Windows 8.1 on a second hard drive partition.

For non-Windows 8 devices, here is how upgrading to Windows 8.1 using the retail DVD and download software will work:

Windows 7: Consumers can upgrade a Windows 7 PC which will bring along all their files, but will require them to reinstall desktop apps including Microsoft Office.Windows XP & Windows Vista: Windows 8.1 is not designed for installation on devices running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Although not designed or recommended for devices running Windows XP or Windows Vista, consumers still wanting to upgrade from Windows XP or Windows Vista should buy the retail DVD instead of using the download and boot from the DVD to do a clean install of Windows 8.1. Note: files, settings and programs will not transfer – Consumers will need to back up their files and settings, perform clean installation, and then reinstall their files, settings and programs.

If you buy a device later this year that comes with the Windows 8.1 edition, you will be able to purchase the Windows 8.1 Pro Pack for $99.99 ERP (U.S.), which unlocks all of the great features unique to Pro, as well as Windows Media Center. If you are on Windows 8.1 Pro, you can buy Windows Media Center for $9.99 (U.S.).

If you are on the market for a new device today, I suggest taking advantage of our PC Selectorto find the right Windows 8 device that is perfect for you. And remember, you will be able to update your device to Windows 8.1 for free through the Windows Store.

Windows 8.1 evolves Windows 8, bringing the latest advancements in hardware, apps and services and the OS to enable a unique experience in everything you do.

More to come on Windows 8.1 including new devices and retail offers as we near October 18th!

* Internet access required; fees may apply.
** Starting at 12:00am on October 18th in New Zealand (that’s 4:00am October 17th in Redmond).


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California and Microsoft Sign CJIS Security Policy Agreement

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

California State flagAs more and more state and local governments are looking to centralize and adopt cloud productivity solutions across their various agencies, including law enforcement, the need to meet unique requirements like the FBI Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) Security Policy become increasingly important. CJIS stands for Criminal Justice Information System. The CJIS Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation operates systems that provide state, local, and federal law enforcement and criminal justice agencies throughout the United States with access to critical criminal justice information including, personal information such as fingerprint records, criminal histories, and sex offender registrations.

A key requirement law enforcement agencies will place on their cloud service provider is signing the CJIS Security Addendum.  By signing the CJIS Security Addendum, the cloud service provider agrees to comply with the security policies required by the FBI. California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) recently determined that Microsoft Office 365 has implemented technologies and processes that will enable the agencies that use it to meet the latest FBI CJIS Security Policy requirements (CJIS Security Policy version 5.2). This means that government customers in the State of California such as City of San Diego, City of San Jose, City of Oakland, Santa Clara County, and San Mateo County can now have their law enforcement agencies use Office 365 as their cloud productivity solution and comply with CJIS. California becomes the fourth state after Texas, Illinois and New York where Microsoft has signed the CJIS Security addendum.

We are committed to investing in technology, processes and partnerships to win our customers' trust and help them comply with an evolving set of US and international standards which includes but isn't limited to ISO 27001, HIPAA, FISMA/FedRAMP, FERPA and EU Model Clauses. 

To learn more about Office 365 Security, Compliance and Privacy please see the Office 365 Security, Compliance and Privacy blog. You can also learn more about the California DOJ's decision by visiting the Microsoft in Government post.


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Prezi Desktop review: Animate your presentations, even when you're away from the cloud

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AppId is over the quota

Once you notice your colleagues are catching up on their sleep during your PowerPoint presentations, you know you need Prezi Desktop. Using this software, you can wake up your presentations using animation that doesn't suck. Forget transitions and effects like dissolve and fly-in, Prezi Desktop focuses in on your important points within your slides, like actually visually focuses in.

Prezi Desktop screenshotMany of Prezi Desktop's 50+ templates include 3D animation. In this one, you start out in a forest and then move through the trees.

Prezi Desktop is similar to the online Prezi, but as you might guess from the name, it doesn't require an Internet connection after the initial registraion. This means that any storage limits are on your end, not on Prezi's cloud. It's also awfully handy to work offline when you're incorporating last-minute changes on a flight or at the slightly-too-rustic site for the company retreat.

The program opens with over 50 slide templates to choose from, all of which include animation built right in, and many of which include photo-realistic graphics or 3D aspects. You add text, images, and YouTube movies to areas of the slide and create a path for the animation to follow. Prezi flows seamlessly between these areas.

Prezi Desktop screenshotFilling in Prezi Desktop slides in a simple click-and-type affair.

Some of Prezi's 3D effects are better than others, with a few giving the impression of rotating the base image rather than actually occurring in three dimensions. You can add shapes and drawings from Prezi's library but they are not editable, so if you want to create a very unique Prezi you'll also need software to create PDF, PPT, or image files to import. And you may want to stick to a very basic Prezi if you're presenting to the National Association of Motion Sickness Sufferers, because the flow of the presentation can be disconcerting.

With credit card information in hand, Prezi Desktop offers a 30-day free trial of the Enjoy ($59 annually) or Pro ($159 annually) subscription, as well as the completely free (no credit card needed) Public version. Once the 30 days are up, only the Pro version supports Prezi Desktop. Your presentations are all public with the Public version of Prezi, and you get only 100MB of storage per user. With Prezi Desktop Enjoy and Pro subscriptions, you can keep your presentations private, eliminate the Prezi branding, and receive 500MB (Enjoy) or 2GB (Pro) of storage space.

Prezi Desktop screenshotYou can tweak the text formatting in your Prezi Desktop slides.

Prezi Desktop can get pricey, and it won't fix a really bad presentation, but it will certainly help keep your visuals—and your audience—focused. Plus you'll never be bothered by snoring during a presentation again.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.


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Skype for Windows 8.1, engineered since the acquisition

This blog post is part of a series of guest posts we’re publishing this week from different people in groups across Microsoft who helped us build Windows 8.1. – Brandon

For an engineer, nothing is as rewarding as seeing the product you’ve been working hard on used by the people it was created for. I work with a team of talented engineers and we are responsible for delivering the best Skype and Lync experiences. We pull together all of the underlying technology (the video and calling stacks, signaling protocols, runtimes, etc.) and match them with the scenarios, user experiences and UI that (hopefully) make communications a great experience for you. We develop the client applications for multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, web, and Xbox – and we’re very proud of the work we’ve done with Windows to bring the Skype built-in experience to consumers!

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Yesterday marked the two year acquisition anniversary of Skype by Microsoft. And our work integrating Skype with Windows began then. The journey of Skype for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 has been about addressing user needs through innovation in design, features and infrastructure. We’ve been releasing updates to Skype for Windows 8 pretty regularly over the past year and consider it a point of pride that we’re not doing “big bang” releases. We were able to scale Skype’s brand and technology innovation while enhancing Microsoft’s portfolio of real-time communications products. Most importantly, we were thrilled by the opportunities to extend the value of Skype to other Microsoft products and services – Windows 8.1 is a direct result of these efforts.

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When Skype for Windows 8 launched, we took a fresh approach to our UI and debuted the new Modern look of Skype. Working closely with the Windows team, our focus was to collectively design a great experience for the new, reimagined platform. Now, with Windows 8.1, we’re continuing to invest in optimizing and simplifying the experience so you can do more at once, which has always been a cornerstone of Windows. For example, new to Windows 8.1, users can answer an incoming Skype call from their lock screen, launch apps side-by-side with Skype and scale to the size of your device. We worked closely with Windows engineering to make sure Skype was seamlessly integrated with Windows 8.1 – so it’s not just the communications app that comes with your operating system, but a useful tool to stay in touch with your friends, family and colleagues.

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Being part of Microsoft has opened up doors and increased collaboration and innovation across products. With Windows, we had a unique seat at the table to help inform the product from the ground up. One such example is the ability for users to answer Skype calls from their lock screen. This was a shift from Windows 8, where applications couldn’t really do anything when the device was locked. However, the Windows team introduced a new toast model for VoIP applications that allows users to answer the call using video, answer with voice only or ignore the call completely. We worked to make sure the transition from locked call to unlocked device was smooth and secure. We made sure that when users input their password while inside a Skype call, they’d move from this state of running over a locked screen to the complete operating environment. I think you’ll be pleased with how intuitive the experience feels and it will be fun to watch other apps take advantage of this functionality.

side by side view

The lock screen and other great features on Windows 8.1 like app-to-app launching and new screen size support steamed from our teams coming together to address user needs. With app-to-app launching, we made multitasking even easier. Now Skype users can not only share the screen with other apps but open another app (the browser, a picture, an Office document, etc.) and have it snap to the side of Skype. As Windows 8.1 reaches more and more products we realized the Skype client needed to automatically adjust the size and layout of the device. With the help of the Windows team we created an application that intuitively changes based on the aspect ratio and orientation of the devices’ screen.

We’ve been working hard on Skype for Windows 8.1. I am proud of what we produced so far and excited about the future development possibilities. It’s a pretty cool app, and I think I speak for the entire engineering team when I say, we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it.

Noah Edelstein
Director of Program Management
Skype


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October 22 webcast now available on demand: Managing projects is easier with Project 2013 and SharePoint 2013

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AppId is over the quota

Microsoft Project webcast series

Join us Tuesday, October 22 at 10:30am PST/1:30pm EST for a 90-minute webcast to learn how using Project 2013 and SharePoint 2013 together makes managing projects easier.

The new capabilities in SharePoint 2013 make it an awesome platform for project collaboration, and Project 2013 provides improved 2-way sync with SharePoint 2013. We'll demo both so you can see why it's a project management match made in heaven!

Register here for our Project webcast series to access the ON-DEMAND version of this session.

Presenter: Éamonn McGuinness, Founder and CEO, BrightWork

To see the complete Project webcast series agenda, go to aka.ms/ProjectWebcastSeries.


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The Garage Series: Explaining data security and your control in Office 365

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In this week’s show, hosts Jeremy Chapman and Vijay Kumar tackle one of the most common questions asked about cloud services, “How safe is my data?” Security is an important element of trusting the service of any service provider. But even beyond security, they cover related concerns around data privacy, availability and show some of the controls your IT administrators have to configure access policies, lock down clients and build your own control set for data stored in or transferring though Office 365 services.

Jeremy: In last week’s show we rounded up all of Office apps and services to show cross-platform mobile devices coverage – from the core Office Mobile apps on iPhone and Android to new experiences like OWA for iPad. We also put Office VP, John Case, and skateboarding legend, Bucky Lasek, along with Office Mobile to the test as they navigated a rally course using roaming pace notes an Android phone, iPhone and Windows Phone all accessed from a single Office 365-stored document. 

This week, I’m joined by Office 365 security and compliance lead, Vijay Kumar, to address the topics of security, privacy, configurability, availability and overall trust of Office 365 services. We also hear from Office 365 General Manager of Engineering, Kevin Allison, and hear back from Mark Russinovich, then we return to Madrid to hear from European-based security experts and get their perspective about Cloud versus on-premises security and data access. 

Vijay: In fact today’s show we hope to give you the 101 on how we protect and manage access to your data with Office 365, as well as the behind the scenes view on Microsoft’s approach. We explore the topic in two halves. First, the measures that Microsoft has put in place to manage and monitor the Office 365 online service and second we look at what you can do to configure Office 365 for your specific organizational needs.

Jeremy:  So let’s explore the first side of the coin, if you are considering a shift to Office 365 Cloud services, the first thing that you may want to know is who has access to it and how it’s safeguarded by Microsoft?

Vijay: Well we do all the things that you would expect from a physical security perspective in terms of how we lock down our data centers including perimeter and personnel access and replicate your data across data centers to protect from data loss or natural disasters. What many people don’t know is that access to every file is gated based on access permissions with a lock box process. Also, your data has its own unique footprint and is isolated from the data of other organizations.

Jeremy: And speaking of access, a related fear is around overall privacy. Whether or not you sign up with Microsoft as the service provider, you don’t want your data being mined for other purposes such as advertising and you want your data to move with you if in future, you decide not to use the service. 

Vijay: Absolutely, and these measures are a given with Office 365. It’s your data and we simply process it while providing productivity services through email, Office applications, unified communications etc.

Jeremy: So even if a third-party requests access to my data it’s protected? 

Vijay: That’s a great question and very topical given the recent press reports around domestic and foreign government access to stored data and data in transit. Ultimately unless legally obligated, Microsoft cannot fulfill requests to access your data. We have to inform you of third-party requests and require your consent. We even provide reports of non-owner access to email inboxes from the Office 365 Administrator Console.

Jeremy: So let’s talk about vulnerability of the service and how Microsoft mitigates criminal attempts to hack its data centers and your data. What most people want to know is how secure is their data in the Cloud compared to on-premises? One of the points that resonated with me made by Marcus Murray, a European security expert that we spoke to on location in Madrid was that one key advantage of the Cloud is that it’s difficult to hack into a system if you don’t have machine level access as you would do on-premises. The way most malware works is to install software or replace system level services on host machines to access data and mask the existence of the malware, if the host layer is abstracted as with Office 365, it is much more difficult to infect a system.

Vijay: We also take extra measures to ensure that services are sufficiently hardened from external hacking threats. Mark Russinovich discussed are red and blue teaming approach where we have experts on staff tasked with the challenge to penetrate the service. They employ all standard means from automated and code execution to social engineering in order to access infrastructure and service layers. At the same time, the blue team works to detect any successful breaches and block any points of entry. They also review access logs and details from the red team to look for patterns and issues to inform ongoing security hardening work.

Jeremy: And of course, a related point on how Microsoft safeguards data access is what happens if the service goes down? How can I trust that I will always have access to my data when I need it?

 Vijay: We get asked that all the time, and we’ve had a lot of practice in maintaining ongoing application availability with our email and collaboration services that have been around for decades. The first thing to know is that we have a financially-backed SLA of 99.9% - which means the service cannot be down for more than 43 minutes in any given month or we need to compensate you as a customer. 

We want to be transparent and accountable too. In fact, we publish our historical uptimes quarterly on the Trust Center. More than that though we built the code and so we know how to fix it and as Kevin Allison explains, we have a Dev Op process, which means the developer who wrote the code is the assigned operator and is on point to fix – resulting in faster and more agile issue resolution compared to traditional approaches for on-premise software.  

Jeremy: Switching gears to explore the other half the coin has been a continuous topic on the Garage Series shows, that is how you define your own control set for managing Office 365 which is a key differentiator for Microsoft compared to other service providers. This is particularly important if you are concerned about meeting regulatory or company Compliance requirements around access to corporate data.

The good news is that, you have control over where your data resides – you can run Office 365 Services along-side your on-premises environment and keep your most sensitive data within your organization’s walls. Importantly too, can apply the same type of access rules that you would typically use to configure your on premises environment and in many respects they are easier to implement and faster.

Take for example Rights Management Services (RMS) – you can now set up file level access in 5 clicks in a large organization versus setting up and configuring a whole array of servers as you would do in the on-premises world. RMS protects the document and ensures that only those with access rights can view it. It is much stronger than simple password protection, because if the document does leak out of an organization, even employees of the organization where it was created would need to authenticate that A. they are still a member of the organization and B. have appropriate permissions to view or edit the file. For example, if a user were to load a USB drive with documents, then leave the company, then any document with RMS protection would not be viewable until that person authenticates against the Rights Management Service. In this case, since the former employee is no longer with the company, his log in and authentication attempts will fail and he won't be able to access the file.

In addition to RMS, we also have tools like Data Loss Prevention where an IT administrator set up rules for sensitive information like credit card or personal identification numbers. Then Outlook will mount an attached file or scan the email text and warn users or if the information leaves the inbox, transport rules in Exchange will block that information from sending. We saw this in a previous episode as Mr. #DealWithIt (played by Stephen Rose) attempted to send his boss's credit card details in a New Orleans bar. 

Vijay: So today’s show was just an overview, we are just scratching the surface in terms of what’s possible – which is why we have two security show specials coming soon in the New Year 

Jeremy: And, in fact we tackle mobile device control and security with Office 365 on next week’s show, when I’m joined again by all things data management and SharePoint expert, Mark Kashman. I’m also joined by Exchange engineering lead Greg Baribault to discuss the genesis and evolution of mobile device management in the advent of the ‘bring your own device’ trend where more and more people are using multiple devices of choice to get work done and to work from anywhere. 

See you next week.

Jeremy and Vijay

More Resources:

Office 365 Trust Center

Garage Series Video Channel

Garage Series Season 1 Blog Archive

Follow @OfficeGarage on Twitter

 


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