Plantronics Manager Pro v3.10 Software Release Announcement

The latest release of Plantronics Manager Pro has been successfully deployed globally. Existing customers now have access to all the new features and benefits. Additional products supported for the Acoustic and Conversation Analysis suites: now including Unified Communication products (Voyager 3200 UC and Voyager 8200 UC ). UC customers can now benefit from obtaining greater insights and improve the quality of conversations, that Contact Centre customers have already been enjoying. New Bluetooth Link Quality report within the Conversation Analysis suite: Helps to identify audio issues caused by the Bluetooth radio link between the headset and the computer, allowing troubleshooting right to the supported end point. Upsell Opportunities Use the Plantronics Manager Pro v3.10 Software Release to upgrade existing customer entitlements to secure future sales and recurring revenue and to acquire new customers. And don’t forget: With the newly added UC product support for the conversation and acoustic analysis suites this release offers also a hardware upsell opportunity. Integration Opportunities The new Open Data Access APIs now provides partners with a development opportunity by accessing the data from Plantronics Manager Pro and integrating into existing or new applications. Allowing partners to solve customer problems with tailored solutions that can now include the data and insights provided by Plantronics Manager Pro. To view the release notes and learn more about what’s new see here. To learn more about Plantronics Manager Pro and what it can offer see here.

Lenovo has uploaded Create Inspirational Art With Amy Tangerine & Lenovo Yoga 720

Newsletter: Plantronics Voyager 8200 UC

NEW: VOYAGER 8200 UC
WHY ELIMINATING NOISE AS A PRODUCTIVITY KILLER CAN HELP YOU EARN MONEY AND TRUST

With the new Voyager 8200 UC Bluetooth® headset we add a new product to your existing portfolio which is designed for voice clarity and for a growing addressable market. The new Voyager 8200 UC Bluetooth® is the first boomless Bluetooth stereo headset from Plantronics featuring business grade audio for communications, passive and dual-mode active noise canceling (ANC) technology for blocking out background noise, and high-quality hi-fi stereo sound for an immersive experience to focus and concentrate when listening to music.

FEATURES

• Contemporary, boomless design satisfies style-conscious professionals
• Best-in-class dual-mode active noise canceling (ANC)
• Soft leatherette cushions provide all-day comfort
• Dual-paired omni-directional microphones with enhanced digital signal processing (DSP)
• High-quality hi-fi stereo sound provides an immersive experience
• Listen time of up to 24 hours and a 3.5 mm audio cable facilitates in-flight use
• Wireless range of up to 30 m/98 ft from Class 1 Bluetooth® device lets you roam
• Microsoft Skype for Business certified and compatible with Cisco Jabber and other softphones

Naked Security: Fake News is Real

Bot armies of fake followers are the footsoldiers of fake news

16 AUG 2017                                                                                                                                by Taylor Amerding

Interesting Article describing how Fake News is being distributed to make it look like the Real Thing! Makes sense that you would want the widest distribution that you can achieve. This report discusses an Indiana University research report that confirms it.

And now comes a team of researchers from Indiana University who say they have the data to confirm it. In a paper titled “The Spread of Fake News by Social Bots,” they reported that an analysis of 14m social media messages regarding 400,000 claims on Twitter during and following the 2016 US presidential campaign and election provided, “evidence that social bots play a key role in the spread of fake news. Accounts that actively spread misinformation are significantly more likely to be bots”.

Click on the link above to learn more…

Should I Subscribe to O365 for myself?

If you are considering using Microsoft Office Suite at home you have several options that you can consider. The first is whether you want to pay on a subscription basis or if you want to move into a one-time purchase model. In the subscription model you have two choices between Office 365 Personal or Office 365 Home.

Why would I choose a perpetual license? First, you only pay a fee one time. You can either purchase “Home and Student” or “Home and Business”.  Main difference between these two? You get Outlook in Home and Business. If you are not using Outlook or are happy accessing your email through a web browser then the “Home and Student” may work for you. Priced at $145.00. Home and Business is $229.99. The Cons on going with a perpetual license are many, they are licensed for only one machine and legally cannot be moved to a new system purchase from an old installation. It doesn’t license installation on mobile devices and you don’t get any cloud storage. Lastly, you don’t get to always use the most current version. Microsoft seems to have major updates every 3 years. If being current doesn’t matter to you then…

Why I like the subscription model. First, I can always be up to date. If you only have one machine but a couple of mobile devices, tablet or phone, then you are licensed to put these most of the suite products on these as well. You also have access to on-line versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote so that you can be on any computer and access your programs. You get 1 TB of cloud space, so you can also store you documents to the CLOUD and have access to these files from any device. Last, you get the full Office Suite. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Publisher, Access and Outlook. Office 365 Home offers installing the office suite for up to five users with each user getting their own 1TB cloud storage space for a cost of $99.99/year. Office 365 Personal is $69.99/year.

Now let’s do the math. If you think you would be upgrading your Office license with each new release you Perpetual licenses would be slightly less expensive then your subscription counterparts. However, you are not getting the ability to install on mobile devices, in the case of Office 365 Home you can install on up to 5 workstations (all the kids, you and your wife’s systems, and you don’t have the cloud apps or storage space. If you need it on more than 1 machine than the Office 365 Home subscription seems to me to be a no brainer. Of course if your employer has opted into Office 365 Business Premium, then that creates a whole different scenario.

Lightroom: Catalog Backup

It is important to not only have multiple copies of your digital photos but if you are using Lightroom to manage and edit your picture collection you should backup this database catalog as well. The catalog holds all of your edits and organization of your pictures. Don’t be caught with your catalog becoming corrupt and not having a backup to fall back on.

I take the few minutes every time I close a Lightroom session to backup my current updates. Having a corrupt catalog is pretty rare but it happens. This simple procedure will keep you from wanting to slit your wrists if corruption error shows its ugly face.

There is a button that you can hit called Repair Catalog if this occurs but it doesn’t always work. So, don’t take the chance and backup.

If you don’t have a backup, you’ve lost all your edits. All your organization. All your star ratings, pick flags, photo books you created, collections — everything — you are starting over from scratch with Lightroom. I don’t want that to happen to you, and the fix is easy — all you have to do is not totally ignore the dialog below that appears when you quit Lightroom.

NOTE: These backups will be saved into a folder named “Backups” and that folder will be in the same folder where your current Lightroom catalog lives on your computer.

This was a tip from Scott Kelby, lightroomkillertips.com that I thought was important enough to reiterate.

Naked Security: Thousands of Android-spying apps in the wild: what to do about SonicSpy

By Bill Brenner, nakedsecurity.sophos.com

Well we always knew that Android was a security nightmare but SophosLabs has found three cases of SonicSpy-infused apps in Google Play:

Researchers from SophosLabs and elsewhere have found three cases of SonicSpy-infused apps in Google Play: Soniac, Hulk Messenger, and Troy Chat – messaging apps that hide their spying functionality and await orders from command-and-control servers.

Google booted the apps from its store after they were discovered. Researcher Chen Yu said the Google Play versions had “tiny installation numbers and existed for a very short time”. Though three were found on Google Play, SophosLabs has counted 3,240 SonicSpy apps in the wild. Some reports place the number at 4,000.

According to multiple reports, a single bad actor – probably based in Iraq – has released these apps into the wild since February.

To read more of this article: click here

A deeper look at Microsoft Teams

This is a May 3, 2017 article written by David Branscome of Microsoft. I have always felt that it is important to take a deep look at the tools that you think that you want to use to fully take advantage of they offer and can do for you. If you are willing to make the monetary investment in it, shouldn’t you also make the investment of your time to get all that you can from the dollar investment.

This article is a great way of taking a closer look at the components of Teams and how it works. I like it because it allows you to create a working SharePoint site with great interactivity for your organization’s use.

Who can access Teams? It is all about licensing through Office 365. See the chart below.

Make sure to read all the planning documentation on the www.successwithteams.com website.

Naked Security: Cyberattacks on GPS leave ships sailing in dangerous waters

This one is scary. Ship running blind out on the open oceans.Take a look at this article that is discussing the potential of this being and issue and what governments are doing to get in front of the issue.

What has brought this to the forefront of thought has been a flurry of GPS jamming incidents. Hopefully, this will help to initiate a more conscious effort to come up with some of the alternatives that have been available for years.

Sophos Intercept X–Good News!

For those of you that have already jumped on to the bandwagon and have implemented Intercept in your Organization you have great news from Sophos Labs. The recent outbreak attacks that have been in the news of recent Ransomware attacks “WannaCry” and “Petya”, protected those machines that had Intercept X installed on them without any needed updates to recognize the attacks. This is another proof of concept behind the security that this products brings to your systems from this type of attack.

This product is only going to get better. Later this year you will get a incremental upgrade to the product that also contains some increased “Smarts” that will do an even better job of determining malware that is attacking our systems out there. If you don’t have Intercept X yet, maybe you should think about adding it to your systems.

Robot Revolution: It's on!

MattV this morning sent out an email from The Sun:

ROBOSTOP Facebook shuts off AI experiment after two robots begin speaking in their OWN language only they can understand

Experts have called the incident exciting but also incredibly scary

By James Beal and Andy Jehring   1st August 2017, 12:03 am   Updated: 1st August 2017, 6:38 am

If you think that we are under control of our technology innovations, think again. Hollywood has a habit of coming up with ideas about futuristic events that might happen and then suddenly technology catches up and makes it real. Here is the scary part of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to have machines begin to create, communicate without any type of control or intervention. This article brings up the notion of military bots getting out of control. That is really scary.

I don’t know if this bothers you as it does me but I get chills just thinking about an out of control machine bringing violence and devastation on mankind. We have enough problems with humans becoming unhinged to create another problem that could escalate into this direction. What are your thoughts?

Nice Article about making sense about Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1, and USB Type-C Connections.

B&H’s Cris Silvestri put out this white paper on this new group of connections that we are finding on the new computers that we are buying. It is important that you use the right cabling with the right connection to prevent damage to your devices. So take a few minutes and download this article and have a read.

Windows 10 How To: Placing two Windows side by side using short cut keys…

Closer Look at Microsoft's upcoming Whiteboard app

This is an upcoming app that is targeted to the Education Market. Very simple UI with lots of easy to understand capabilities. Has built-in shape recognition. Automated graph creation by writing out the equation. You can insert images from Bing. You can then share the white board with other people easily. You can also share the same board with off-site individuals as well for collaboration.

Microsoft originally introduced this in May 2017. It was designed to work with Surface devices and provides two-way inking for windows 10. Currently in private preview for Surface Hub devices, the new whiteboard includes collaborative inking, geometry recognition, table conversion, and automatic table shading. It’s really designed to let people share ink across multiple devices, and will be available on all Surface devices later this year.

*Note that collaboration features require Office 365 business accounts with OneDrive for Business, and are only available on Surface Hubs at this time.

No information that I can find when it will be available for other Surface devices or on Windows 10 generally.

Updates to Windows as a Service Model

If you wanted to know how Microsoft is planning on keeping your copy of Windows 10 updated with security and bug fixes and new feature update builds.

NakedSecurity:Privacy dust-up as Roomba maker mulls selling maps of users’ homes

Another example of how embracing technology and automation can come back and bite you! The more technology that has reach back to the manufacturer you have in your home, the more data that they will be able to acquire about your habits, likes and dislikes and your infrastructure. So… you can either continue to acquire the products that seem to make your life easier and/or more enjoyable or you can run back to your cave and pull the rock back in front of your door. Is there a happy medium? I don’t think so! I look at the number of services and devices that I use and it has become enormous.

Take a look at this article to give you another insight into what companies like iRobot have about you and your environment and how it could be used as a commodity sale to other companies.

SharePoint Public Website

If you are or were thinking of using the Office 365 SharePoint Public Website realize that it will soon be disappearing. It is a pity since it gave you a quick website that you could add content to that your clients could visit. It was probably not often used since it did not utilize the domain name of your choice right out of the box. Of course this can be done but it wasn’t done without getting into the system and your domain hosting service to make the changes.

But of course this is all mute now since Microsoft is cancelling this service. The SharePoint Online Public Websites feature is primarily used by a small percentage of our Office 365 customers for their own external-facing websites. Office 365 customers who currently use the SharePoint Online Public Website feature will continue to have access to the feature for a minimum of two years after the changeover date of March 9, 2015.

As of February 2017, customers have had the ability in the SharePoint Admin Center to postpone the removal of their SharePoint Online public website, which would allow them to continue to use the site through March 31, 2018. Customers will continue to have the option of subscribing to third-party solutions for public website functionality. To postpone the site deletion through March 31, 2018, follow these steps:

1. Select Admin from the App Launcher. 
2. Select Admin Centers.
3. Select SharePoint.
4. Select Settings.
5. Scroll to Postpone deletion of SharePoint Online public websites.
6. Select the I’d like to keep my public website until March 31, 2018 option.

Beginning May 1, 2017, anonymous access for existing sites will no longer be available. If customers need more time to move their public website, they have a one-time postponement option for up to one year (March 31, 2018). Customers must select the postpone option by May 1, 2017.

On September 1, 2017, when Microsoft deletes the public site collection in SharePoint Online, customers will no longer have access to the content, images, pages, or any other files that reside on their public website. Before September 1, 2017, customers should make a backup copy of all their public website content, images, pages, and files, so they don’t lose them permanently.

On March 31, 2018, Microsoft will delete all public sites that have been postponed.

Why is Microsoft making this change?

As part of the evolution of the Office 365 service, we periodically evaluate the capabilities of the service to make sure that we’re delivering the utmost value to customers. After careful consideration, we concluded that for public websites, Office 365 customers would be better served by third-party providers whose core competency is public websites. Therefore, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the SharePoint Online Public Website feature so that we can focus our efforts and investments on delivering capabilities in Office 365 that will bring more value to our customers.

New feature: Microsoft Forms Preview

MC106358 - Published On : July 11, 2017

Microsoft Forms is a simple and lightweight app for creating polls, surveys, and quizzes that lets your users easily gather customer feedback, measure satisfaction, learn what employees think, organize team events, and more. It works on any web browser, and includes features such as themes, logo and image support, real time responses, automatic charts, question branching, and support for collaboration. With this Preview, we will also be upgrading the Excel Survey feature, which will be renamed “Forms for Excel”. This update comes with a modern experience powered by Microsoft Forms to make it simple and easy to collect information into Excel. It can now be used without changing the organization’s sharing settings in OneDrive. The Preview comes with the quality, compliance, and security you’ve come to expect from Office 365. We have already enabled Microsoft Forms Preview for all First Release customers configured for entire organization, in June. - Allow users who access forms.office.com directly to create and share Forms (completed) - Enable app launcher tile for licensed users of Forms (completed) - Upgrade Excel Survey with Forms-powered “Forms for Excel” feature (completed) We will begin rolling out to the rest of Office 365, starting the second half of July, and the roll out will be completed by September. We have enabled Microsoft Forms settings in admin portal, so you could pre-configure Microsoft Forms for your employees before the roll out. There is no change on Microsoft Forms for education customers, as it has been available since August 2016. This message is associated with Office 365 Roadmap ID 16254.

How does this affect You?

With this release, administrators can now assign or remove Microsoft Forms licenses to employees on a per user basis. Removing the license from a user will prevent the user from creating forms in Microsoft Forms, but they can still respond to forms created by others. By default, Microsoft Forms is enabled for your organization.

New feature: Column creation in modern SharePoint lists and libraries

MC110033  -  Published On : July 18, 2017

Microsoft is improving the column creation experience in modern SharePoint Online lists and libraries. You’ll begin seeing this new feature in the coming days.

How does this affect you?

Microsoft is adding the ability to create and configure the following column types by clicking the "+" icon that next to the column headers in modern lists and libraries:

• Number
• Yes/No
• Person
• Choice
• Hyperlink
• Picture
• Single line of text
• Multiple lines of text

They will be rolling this out in late July, and the rollout will be completed in the next few months.

Microsoft Inspire 2017

I know that I am a couple of weeks late reporting on this conference but there were a lot of interesting things announced and discussions on how to help Partners like ourselves to work with our customers in understanding the Microsoft Cloud World and how we can help you to understand what is available and how to use it.

From some of the sessions that I watched I have attained some ideas of what I want to do on this blog. I enjoy sharing some of the things that I find useful to me with you, but I need to get back into the exploration of what is available to you through your subscriptions to the different products that we support. So, you can expect a little more how to instead of just straight reporting on subjects that I have found interesting.

Hopefully that will make this site more useful and interesting to all of you that are following it.