Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Eye-Fi Adds Wi-Fi to alomost any Digital Camera,

The Eye-Fi. It's an SD memory card that adds Wi-Fi to any camera. Plus the free Eye-Fi service supports automatic uploads to 20 different web photo sites (like Flickr) as well as a computer on your home network.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/review/eye+fi-adds-wi+fi-to-almost-any-digital-camera-316537.php

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

SpineBreakers – What an Awesome SharePoint Site :o)

More and More CREATIVE SharePoint sites: check this out

http://www.spinebreakers.co.u


 

Any Website Developer, Start Now developing your sites on WSS ;)

Wssdemo.com

Ian Morrish, another SharePoint Guru, HE IS IN MY TOP FAVOR SharePoint Gurus. … His website http://www.wssdemo.com is the most favorite for Demos /Projects over WSS/MOSS. I will keep demonstrating his awesome through my WSS pre-sales movies.

Simply his website is AWESOME!!!! ..

Regards,


 

Monday, October 29, 2007

F# (Functional Programming on .NET Board)

Soma had the news today. F# is an official .NET language now! Functional programming becomes a first citizen in .NET :-)

Soma wrote:

One of the really promising current projects from MSR is the F# programming language, spearheaded by Don Syme. F# stems from the functional programming tradition (hence the 'F') and has strong roots in the ML family of languages, though also draws from C#, LINQ and Haskell. F# is designed from the outset to be a first class citizen on .NET. This means that F# runs on the CLR, embraces object-oriented programming, and has features to ensure a smooth integration with the .NET Framework.

I am a big fan of technology transfer between a research organization and a product development organization so that we can "productize" the great research ideas and deliver to customers in a timely manner. This is one of the best things that has happened at Microsoft ever since we created Microsoft Research over 15 years ago. Here is another great example of technology transfer at work. We will be partnering with Don Syme and others in Microsoft Research to fully integrate the F# language into Visual Studio and continue innovating and evolving F#. In my mind, F# is another first-class programming language on the CLR.

This is really great news! Functional programming is very elegant and has a lot of benefits compared to other approaches. There are also some negative aspects: mostly people complain about the speed that functional languages offer. But the best thing about F# is that the team says that programs written in their language are as fast as programs written in C#.

You get functional and dynamic benefits with the same speed as if they would have been written in C#. Isn't it cool?

Channel 8

Mediaroom Personal Server, available Dec 29

Microsoft might have just got the Mediaroom party started four months ago, but already dozens of providers around the world are drinking the kool-aid and having a good time. The much anticipated XBOX 360 integration is also crashing in any day now, but Microsoft's got one last party trick, called the "Mediaroom Personal Server".

On the generously detailed Microsoft Support Lifecycle's portal, where it lists the support availability dates for all previous, current and upcoming Microsoft products, features an entry for "Mediaroom Personal Server". The general availability date provided is "12/29/2007″.


Okay, I have to admit, I have no idea what the Mediaroom Personal Server is. But thanks to Microsoft's ingenious naming conventions, you can't be too far off with a guess either. It is definitely a consumer-orientated software or device bundle, much like Windows Home Server, which serves as an aggregator and hub for your Mediaroom devices.

Some of the scenarios I can think of with a 'personal media server' includes letting you rip and store your DVDs for instant access, let you subscribe to vidcasts which it will automatically download and archive, or even just manage all of your scheduled recordings including remote recordings from web access.

So far, there's not even one reference to this product anywhere on Google besides Microsoft's support page. It is definitely not something they've mentioned in passing. However since it'll be available in exactly two months, I'm pretty sure it's being worked on very hard.


 

Quoted from istartedsomething.com

SharePoint 2009!!!!! Unofficial Statement

There are reports circulating that the next version of SharePoint dubbed as SharePoint 2009 and MOSS 2009 would have its early adopter and CTP by middle of next year. It is also said that knowledge network is included and seamlessly integrated in SharePoint 2009.

These are still unconfirmed reports, though we would keep tabs on SharePoint 2009 and MOSS 2009 developments.

Source: http://www.techticles.com/

Wine 0.9.48 Released

http://www.winehq.org/?announce=0.9.48

This is release 0.9.48 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix.


 

What's new in this release?

- Still more fixes for regression test failures.

- Much more complete cryptnet implementation.

- WIDL is now able to generate the oleaut32 proxy code.

- Lots of bug fixes.


 

Military VR Simulator is the closest thing ever for HALO 3

What an Awesome Virtual Reality

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/military-sim-almost-brings-halo-3-to-reality/military-vr-simulator-is-closest-thing-ever-to-real+life-halo-3-315435.phpm

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Awesome Lego Creation

http://srslycool.com/24.aspx

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Running SharePoint Websites in Application Tips for Sys-Admins

Since I receive a lot of issues with "How many Web Applications can be running in the Same Application Pool ?" .. Here is your answer ..

For who has no previous experience on this, Here are some tips for designing your SharePoint implementation:

Source: MS SharePoint Server 2007 Administration Companion Book

What an awesome MS Windows Mobile 6 Website !!!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/startdoingmore/default.aspx?WT.mc_id=sdmvan

Microsoft to push functional programming into the mainstream with F#

Check this out:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071023-microsoft-to-push-functional-programming-into-the-mainstream-with-f.html

Even Microsoft doesn’t value Facebook at $15 billion

I was tracking MS investment in Facebook and I found this awesome article around. The first thing I did when I saw the numbers, is the mouth thing :S

http://www.techsoapbox.com/even-microsoft-doesnt-value-facebook-at-15-billion-use-your-damn-brain/

Watch VE new release on Channel 10

Watch the new Release of Virtual Earth on 10 ;) ---

http://on10.net/Blogs/laura/new-release-of-virtual-earth/

Btw for people who are interested on Integrating Virtual Earth with facebook don't miss Codeplex VE Maps community kit ;)

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/10/14/announcing-community-kit-for-sharepoint-virtual-earth-maps-on-sharepoint.aspx

Is Windows Live Search coming to Facebook ?

Check this out: http://www.liveside.net/blogs/main/archive/2007/10/25/is-live-search-coming-to-facebook.aspx

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

6 Microsoft® Office Business Applications for Office SharePoint® Server 2007

The essential guide for implementing Microsoft Office as an application-development platform

Get the practical guide to implementing the Microsoft Office system as an application-development platform. This book highlights the breadth of approaches developers can take for extending line-of-business information to information workers in the familiar, usable format of the Microsoft Office interface. These approaches, Microsoft Office Business Application (OBA) patterns, are based on real-world implementations in many cases. In other cases, they are built on Microsoft Office features that have a generalized solution rooted in input from customers and partners. This reference delivers the seven key Microsoft Office Business Application patterns and provides professional developers with extensible examples and the architectural guidance needed for developing custom enterprise applications and extending business information to users.

RELEASED IN -> 05 DEC 2007, STAY TUNED <= MS Press

Monday, October 22, 2007

Technology Outsourcing in Arab World …

India is a well-known country in technology outsourcing not only for its inexpensiveness workers but as well the facilities that been provided by Indian Gov which include Infrastructure, Telecommunication, tax pardon and rich investment support escalated from the interest in this sector. I was excited when i heard that Egypt is now moving towards this one but still Taxes, Infrastructure, Investment Facilities, Insurance are key challenges for investors there. China, Philippine is a successful example of Tech. Outsourcing worldwide and Governments there has realized rapid revenue by empowering Technology outsourcing market which represents a high percentage of total incomes. Where is our Arab world from the outsourcing market??? .. i remember the moment when i was speaking about outsourcing in one of events and i targeted the question to Minister of ICT and i remember by heart his awesome answer which has nothing to do with the subject, "We have initiative to give a laptop for each student" he said.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

IEE Forms Based Authentication Solution, THANKS A MILLION !!!!

http://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=CKS&ReleaseId=7675

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/10/13/announcing-the-community-kit-for-sharepoint-internet-extranet-edition-forms-based-authentication-solution.aspx


 

The CKS:Internet/Extranet Edition is pleased to announce the first pre-Beta release of its Forms Based Authentication solution. This solution contains the following features:

  • Automated Solution Deployment - Zac Smith
  • Membership request webpart (including CAPTCHA) - Paul Ballard
  • Membership request list - Paul Ballard
  • Login web part - Paul Ballard
  • Recover Password web part - Edin Kapic
  • Change Password web part - Edin Kapic
  • ULS Logging - Edin Kapic
  • User Management - Zac Smith
  • Role Management - Zac Smith
  • User Properties - Brendon Schwartz


    Special Mentions: Stacy Draper for letting us hijack his code and for moral support

    How To Use This Solution

    1. Setup Forms Based Authentication
    While we plan to add administrative features that will make setting up a SharePoint site for FBA much easier, for now you'll need to follow the instructions outlined in Dan Attis' Blog http://devcow.com/blogs/jdattis/archive/2007/02/23/Office_SharePoint_Server_2007_Forms_Based_Authentication_FBA_Walkthrough_Part_1.aspx.
    2. Install The FBAManagement Solution File
    Unzip FBAManagement.zip onto the file system of the SharePoint server and you will find three files. Deploy/Undeploy command files and the FBAManagement solution file. From the command line enter:
    deploy [SharePoint Site URL]

    This will install the solution and activate all of the features.
    3. Add Webparts to pages
    The self registration aspects of this solution include web parts for logging in users, registering new users, requesting a password reset, and allowing a user to change their password. These web parts can be added to any web part page in the site.

    User Login
    This web part is extremely customizable including changing prompts, error messages, and turning on/off links to registration pages or password change pages. When the user logs in successfully they will see a link under the "Welcome User" control at the top of the page called "My Settings". Click on this will let the user change their SharePoint user settings.

    User Registration
    This web part is also highly customizable. In addition to the standard CreateUserWizard controls, this registration control adds fields for the First and Last names as well as a CAPTCHA field to avoid programmatic registrations. When a user registers on the site an email will be sent letting them know that their account information has been received and that their membership is pending.

    Change Password

    This web part will allow the user to modify their password. All prompts and error messages are customizable.

    Password Recovery
    This web part allows a user to request a password reset by answering the questions they created when the account was registered. This web part also allows modification of all prompts and error messages.

    4. Administering Users
    New Membership Request
    When a user fills out the registration information in the registration web part that information is stored in the Membership Request List. The administrator can then edit the user information by going to Site Settings and under Users and Permissions click on "FBA Membership Request Management". When their status goes from Pending to Approved an email will be sent that will notify the user that they have been approved and will also contain a temporary password for them to use to log into the site. If you deactivate the Membership Request List feature, then all registrants are automatically added to the site and the email goes out immediately.

    Modifying a User's Information
    The administrator can modify the user information from the Site Settings page by clicking on "FBA User Management". On this page you can add/modify/remove the users. If the roles feature is activated you can also add/delete roles (note: these are FBA roles, not SharePoint roles). When roles are activated the User Management will let you add/remove users from roles instead of groups. The roles feature is not activated by default.

Community Kit for SharePoint: Enhanced Blog Edition reaches feature complete Beta 2 status!

When the Community Kit for SharePoint 2.0 pre-release was announced almost 4 months ago, the Enhanced Blog Edition stood out due to its innovative XSLT driven Modular Theme Framework (MTF), which enabled EBE themes to be easily packaged up and simply deployed to a folder within a Document Library on an EBE blog site. And the themes can provide a look and feel that is nothing like SharePoint's default!

With this Beta 2 release, the team has added the remaining key features that make the EBE complete in terms of enabling you to make your blog look as smart as you think you are. :-) These features are:

  • Support for trackbacks.
  • Category specific RSS feeds -- e.g. appending "?cat=SharePoint" without the quotes to the end of the Feed URL would filter the blog's RSS feed to show only the posts that have been associated with the SharePoint category.
  • Displaying the categories as a clickable tag cloud. Clicking on a tag would filter the blog's display to show only the posts that have been associated with a category that matches the tag.
  • Related posts control, which shows posts with the same categories as the one you are looking at.
  • Dynamic per-post links such as "Digg this".
  • Compliance with the MetaWeblog API.
  • Compliance with Feed Validator for the RSS feed.
  • Spam flagged by Akismet can be configured to be automatically deleted rather than stay in pending status.
  • Numerous code clean-ups/refactoring and some performance improvements.

The CKS:EBE Beta 2 release is available at https://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=CKS&ReleaseId=4767. Please provide feedback prefixed with "EBE" via the CKS Issue Tracker (for reproducible bug reports) or the CKS Discussions list (for Q&A and discussions). The EBE team would really appreciate some aggressive testing, especially for usability and robustness, so they can address any showstopper issues prior to finalizing the release within the next month or two.

Source: <Lawrence />

Known issue: Office 2007 on Windows Vista prompts for user credentials when opening documents in a SharePoint 2007 site

Finally I got an answer for this well known Issue. Thanks SharePoint Team J

We've received several reports of this issue through our Customer Support Services. Although it would be impractical for us to post every known issue or confirmed bug on this blog, I have a strong feeling that this particular problem is much more widespread than has been reported. If you have experienced this problem and can consistently reproduce it, please leave a comment. While we're still investigating a possible long term fix, here are several workarounds for you to try.

Problem Description

With Office 2007 running on Windows Vista, opening an Office document hosted on a SharePoint (i.e. WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007) site results in a prompt for login credentials even if the user is already logged on with an account that has access to the document. Canceling the credential prompt may still (but not always) allow the document to open in read-only mode.

Potential Workarounds

Go to IE7 -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings.

  • Behavior 1: Clearing all checkboxes on this dialog will cause the credential prompt.
  • Behavior 2: Automatically detect settings - enabling this option will prevent the prompt if it effectively enables a proxy server and enables bypassing the proxy for local addresses.
  • Behavior 3: Use a proxy server - enabling a proxy server in conjunction with enabling "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" will prevent the credential prompt.

When the user does not have a proxy in the environment, it's still possible to work around this issue by setting a "fake proxy" and "blanket bypass" as follows in IE7's LAN Settings dialog.

  1. Click the Proxy Server checkbox. Set the address to "fake proxy" without the quotes and the port to 80.
  2. Click the "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" checkbox.
  3. Click Advanced and put an * in the Exceptions list to cause all addresses (including external ones) to be bypassed.


 

Source <Lawrence />

Microsoft Powers Up Web 2.0 With Innovative Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Partners

Okay, the press release has just been posted, so please take a quick look at it first. Essentially, we've announced two very significant product releases from NewsGator and Atlassian as follows:

Several of us in the SharePoint product group have been busily working over the past few months with these two companies to ensure that their SharePoint integration features are useful, compelling, and straightforward to deploy for SharePoint customers. I hope that you will agree, but if not, please do let us know by leaving comments here. We look forward to doing much more with NewsGator and Atlassian as well as a handful of other partners in the next year to bring the best of Web 2.0 capabilities to the enterprise via a unified SharePoint user experience. The integrated functionality that NewsGator and Atlassian have been able to develop in a relatively short period of time provides further validation of the extensibility and interoperability of the SharePoint platform.


 

Source <Lawrence />

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

SECURITY PACK MS07-59 released for MOSS 2007

Just thought you should know about this. It is an important update to improve the security of your SharePoint system: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-059.mspx

It fixes a vulnerability that would allow someone to gain elevated privileges within a SharePoint site. Note this will not affect the server or the user's PC, just the rights they have in the site they have access to. Still, security is always preventative not reactive, so you should get it.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Enhances CQWP on CODEPLEX

The Content Query Web Part (or CQWP) in MOSS 2007 is one of the most often used components on SharePoint-based Internet facing content publishing web sites and intranet information portals. This introductory post on how to configure and customize the CQWP was one of the most widely read and commented entries on the ECM Team Blog. While the MSDN how-to article and several other people's blog entries provide more details on how to customize and override some of the CQWP's features, Ishai Sagi, a SharePoint MVP, has gone above and beyond all that by developing an enhanced version of the CQWP and posting it along with source code on CodePlex at http://www.codeplex.com/ECQWP. The enhanced version includes features such as context menus for the items, toolbar for lists, and much more that you can read about from the release log.

Ishai is ready to wrap up the development of the ECQWP and move on to something else, but he would like to get a few more testers to make sure that it's rock solid. So, if you're a frequent user of the CQWP, please try out Ishai's ECQWP and give him some feedback -- good or bad. Thanks!

Post Source >> <Lawrence />

Important Security Hotfix for WSS

Please Install New Security Hotfix MS07-059

We will be releasing a security hotfix for Windows SharePoint Services MS07-059 on October 9th. Be sure to note that as Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is included with all editions of Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office Project Server 2007, and Performance Point Server as well as any others which include WSS 3.0 you need to apply this hotfix on those environments as well.

We recommend applying this hotfix during your next planned downtime, or change management window and scheduling this with priority. This hotfix contains previously released hotfixes including the DST (Daylight Savings Time) hotfix.

First, if you have deployed "host named site collections" previously known as "host header" sites you should wait to apply the hotfix if you have more than 50 host named site collections. We will be issuing a performance related fix related to the hotfix. This hotfix will include the same hotfixes as the October 9 public update in addition to the host named site collection update performance related hotfix. You need not wait if this does not apply.

The most important thing as the title suggests is this hotfix addresses a security vulnerability in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 that could allow cross-site scripting. This update resolves this vulnerability. Please read the entire contents of the KB article before applying the hotfix as there are a number of known issues which should be well understood.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942017

934525 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934525/) Description of the security update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: October 9, 2007
937832 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937832/) Description of the security update for SharePoint Server 2007: October 9, 2007

To view the complete security bulletin, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-059.mspx

How to deploy software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

We recommend that you follow the process and procedures in the Deploy software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 topic for most deployment scenarios, from stand-alone server deployments to very large server farms.


http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/WSS/en/library/91649a7e-6b5a-4e5a-9ee5-51951f4b857f1033.mspx

If you are running Office SharePoint Server you may find additional guidance in the article Deploy software updates for Office SharePoint Server 2007.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/f484f5f2-35bb-4d70-bf56-dd1c4c287c721033.mspx

Other relevant recent posts:

Hotfixes, Service packs, and password resets

Daylight Savings Time Hotfix post

Thursday, October 11, 2007

MS to Acquire Parlano

How Parlano (Now Microsoft) MindAlign Technology will empower Office Communications Server ?!!!

Stay Tuned ..

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Transfer Visions into Realities..

How many times we try hard to unleash our creativity in building our economic, environment and executing every tiny idea that supports THE CHANGE and break the boundaries between us. It's our vision, having our Arab world on the common worth port. Now it's the moment for change, wither we be or not, Now or NEVER.


Every one of us has own vision and indeed his own way in translating his/her thoughts into actions. Effective Plans and Project Management is a key success for any improvement. I believe in the quote "Every person is a King/Queen in his/her Job". I'm burning to death when i navigate the web and watch countries other than Arab is moving forward a thousand miles compared to our Arab progress. Well, WE ARE LEADERS of Tomorrow. No more whine. No more slow down the process. It's the moment to employ our superior efforts in building our Arab.


Visions will remain visions with no plans. There is no limit for creativity and we need to KICK OUT anything says "It's not possible" unless we didn't hit the wall. If you have a vision, protect it, pursuit in making it a real, and U will inshallah DO IT.


"Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper. If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it will be barren of results", Eugene V. Debs Said.




This is not enthusiasm; this is the heart of our OPERATIONS.




Regards,
Mohammed Zayed

Saturday, October 06, 2007

MS HealthVault Beta Release: Health Information Platform for your Family

Yesterday, Microsoft launched HealthVault, a health-information platform and service online. If you can get your head around the fact this is provided by the same company who makes a computer operating system and game console, read on.

Currently in beta, just like your GP, HealthVault offers three online services as part of the health-information management strategy: HealthVault Search, HealthVault Account and HealthVault Connection Center. HealthVault Search is an overhaul of the recently available Live Search Health tool. The latter two work together, unified by a Windows Live ID to form a platform to upload and store and interpret personal health data.

HealthVault Search is a search engine specifically tuned to return only health-related web results through a variety of trusted and credible sources, including notably Wikipedia articles where available.

LiveSide has already uncovered Live Search Health a few days ago and HealthVault Search is pretty much identical to that, except a minor cosmetic change - to a vibrant and reassuring green theme. The search interface and search results are presented in a neat three-column layout with articles in the left, websites in the middle and sponsored results on the right. Relevant topics are also suggested at the top of the results leading to deeper or broader understanding of the medical conditions.

HealthVault Account is an extension of your Windows Live ID account (required) to store and share personal health information. A HealthVault account will then allow you to store search results in a scrapbook, store personal information, upload or fax in health records, manage family records, collect data from devices on your PC, share health data with websites, applications and doctors, record prescriptions history, and store imaging or lab results.

With any health information comes the issue of privacy, and Microsoft isn't taking any chances. In fact when you first sign into HealthVault Account, it will likely ask you to change your Live ID password to a much stronger password before you can use the account.

The third part is a desktop client called HealthVault Connection Center, used to upload health data and view medical analysis from those data. Its interface has a strong resemblance to Live OneCare, the desktop security software, which I thought was an interesting connection.

You can download device drivers for your medical devices such as heart-rate monitors and blood analyzers so they can upload data directly into HealthVault, which then can be uploaded to your account from the same interface.

You can also download applications made by a variety of partners who can then (with your authorization) analyze your health data and present useful medical analysis back to you with all the pretty bar graphs and charts that either show you how healthy, or unhealthy you are.

MOSS Deployment Plan

Ever wished you just had a sample project plan that you could then modify for your own use? I'm sure this comes up on occasion.

Announcing the Office SharePoint Server Deployment Plan sample (MOSS Deployment.mpp) build using Microsoft Project.

The more you become familiar with SharePoint Server, the more likely you'll notice that there are a mirad or a plethora of ways to deploy. This really is intended to be a sample that you modify and use as a starter. There are over 300 items in the project with the idea of sparking ideas and in an attempt to be inclusive. I welcome feedback and encourage people to use this and make it their own. Thanks Ascentium for allowing me to bounce this project plan off your deployment teams.

Quoted from Joel Oleson Blog

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Quran Explorer based on AJAX and ASP.NET

Try this pretty awesome Website http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/

I like it … Simply it's magnificent.

FIKR 6 CONFERENCE

My participation in FIKR 6 Conference has been confirmed (1-3 December 2007, Bahrain). I will fly to Beirut for Youth Brainstorming session in 20 Oct 2007 held at Le Royal Hotel. Through my participation I will present my Proposals at the following (Technology R&D (Technology), Outsourcing in ME (Economy), University that adopt HyperGeniuses (Responsibility and Education)).

Am really passionate to participate for this one and am pretty sure it's going to be one of a kind. Million Thanks for Arab Thought Foundation for their valuable efforts in making this possible.

For more info http://www.arabstrategies.org/En/