July, 2012

Apps, apps, apps – it’s all about apps these days, across phones, tablets, and desktops. It seems that regardless of the size of company, small and large alike, every company has an app. Take a look at the apps that you have installed on your devices and ask yourself how and why you use each app. Then, look at how, by using the app, you interact products, brands, and/or companies. This app motivation...

My dad is in his retirement years, but he’s one of those guys who will never really retire. Once part of the engineering team that built the communications system for the Expo line for Vancouver’s SkyTrain in the mid-80’s among other things, he now works as an IT consultant for a small computer store in a rural Ontario town. One of his clients had some specific technology needs and my dad called me...

Leon Strous was born in 1960 in the Netherlands and he is still residing there today with his wife Pattry. Leon has bachelor-equivalent degrees in business economics and business informatics, a postgraduate degree in EDP-Audit, he is qualified as a registered EDP-Auditor (RE) in the Dutch Association of Registered EDP-Auditors (NOREA), and he is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA...

Journal: ISACA World Congress INSIGHTS 2012 June 25-27 San Francisco ISACA is the world’s premier and largest organization in IT governance, IT alignment, audit, risk management, security and professional certifications with over 100,000 members (and growing) in more than 160 countries. I was an invited speaker on two topics: CIO/CTO Insights; Board/Governance Insights. ISACA membership represents...

If you haven’t taken a look at the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) yet, now is the time to do it and pass the link along to your team. There are 7 new Private Cloud courses available which I outline on the Canadian IT Professional Connection blog . MVA is a free training portal with modules on the latest Microsoft technologies so learners can go at their own pace. You can’t bet that...

Today, Microsoft announced the release of Outlook.com, a new email service which is a preview of modern email from Microsoft designed to work seamlessly on the web and with Windows 8, Windows Phone and the new Office.  The new Outlook is now available by logging on to http://www.outlook.com with your existing Microsoft (aka “Live ID”) account.  You can even get a new @outlook.com mail address...

Dr Hamadoun Touré , Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) since January 2007, was re-elected for a second four-year term in October 2010. As Secretary-General, Dr Touré is committed to ITU's mission of connecting the world, and helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals through harnessing the unique potential of Information and Communication Technologies...

Beginning on Friday, July 20 th , Live ID began its transition to Microsoft Account.  At a high level, this is primarily a name change from Windows Live ID to Microsoft account.  The sign-in page for Windows Live ID will be updated and adopt the new name.  However, this will not change how you sign in to your services, as you will use the same email and password.  This will be a...

    Photo collage attributed to Robyn Jay ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/learnscope/2602795913/ )

This week at Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference , Windows Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller shared some exciting new details regarding Windows 8. Tami confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to Release to Manufacturing (RTM) the first week of August. For enterprise customers with Software Assurance benefits, they will have full access to Windows 8 bits as early...

Here’s an announcement I wanted to share with you … In just a few weeks, Microsoft and partners will descend on Toronto for the 2012 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC).  It will be an amazing week in the city and we felt it was important that startups got in on the excitement.  Please join Microsoft and our partners Communitech , Extreme Startups and MaRS as we bring together the...

Frits Bussemaker has worked in the international IT industry since the 80s. He is Partner at CIONET, a European Community of 3500 CIOs and IT leaders. He is responsible for CIONET's relation with the European Commission. He is the founder and chair of iPoort ( www.ipoort.nl ), a community to link Dutch members of parliament with the ICT community (Government, private companies and ICT associations...

The Windows Store is ever growing, but sometimes the application you’re looking for is only available for Windows Desktop or other environments. WinMetro , launched this week by Visual C# MVP Scott Dorman, is you’re opportunity to request applications and show those companies just how much interest there is for seeing that application on the Windows platform as a Metro style app. Similar to sister...

Andrew Guitarte, PMP, CBAP is the AVP/Business Architect of Internet Services at Wells Fargo Bank. Mr. Guitarte is also the founding Chairman/CEO of the Business Architecture Society and a delegate to the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations (FEAPO) . He has more than 20 years' experience as a Senior Project Manager and Business Analyst managing complex projects and teams...

It was officially announced by Steven Sinofsky that Windows 8 will be available on October 26 th . Click here to read more about it.

The release of the Office Customer Preview is part of the “Wave 15” release of products which also includes updates to Office 365 and mobile apps.  It’s a huge milestone for Microsoft as it is the first time that the Office team is refreshing all of its products at once!  There are a lot of great new features in the new Office as it is designed to work with Windows 8 through touch, typing...