The title says it all.  Amazing.

"Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Today at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will unveil Microsoft Surface™, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects. Beginning at the end of this year, consumers will be able to interact with Surface in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues."

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

Announcement here
Video on 10

You may have seen Johann at some of our recent Microsoft events.  He is a keen advocate around our Unified Communications Technology.  He is a National Technology Specialist in the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft Australia.  Johann's areas of speciality include Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, Live Communications Server, VoIP and Video over IP. He works with Enterprise and Government customers assisting with the development and design of Unified Communications and messaging platforms and strategies.

Prior to joining Microsoft Johann was the Network Manager at ninemsn where he was responsible for the design, deployment and strategic planning of network infrastructure and security services, as well as engineering and development of the IP network.

He is also known as Mohann during the month of Movember and he plays Rugby for Waverly Rugby Club.

So keep up to date with whats happening around Unified Communications Technology from Microsoft at Johann's Blog http://blogs.technet.com/jkruse/

It's security month again. Learn how User Account Control in Windows Vista protects the machines you manage by limiting the administrator privileges users normally run with. BitLocker Drive Encryption, another Vista feature, adds security as well by providing full volume encryption and the validation of startup components.

Also this month, finally get the tools you need to manage and control the kinds of hardware users install and connect to your network. You may be surprised at the range of security improvements this provides. Plus, read up on the four security must-haves: risk management, anti-malware, network anomaly detection, and configuration monitoring.

Finally, see how the Windows Vista firewall offers protection right at your doorstep and how ACL enhancements offer better permissions control.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/

Features
Inside Windows Vista User Account Control
User Account Control, or UAC, is one of the most misunderstood new features in Windows Vista. But its goal—to enable users to run with standard user rights—can solve many security issues. Get an inside look at the problems UAC is designed to address and see exactly how this new feature works. Mark Russinovich

Keys to Protecting Data with BitLocker Drive Encryption
BitLocker serves two very important purposes: it provides both full-volume data encryption and a way to validate the integrity of early startup components before Windows Vista starts. Get an overview of how BitLocker works and see how it can help you protect your organization. Byron Hynes

Exploring the Windows Vista Firewall
Mobility has changed computer threats and the techniques that guard against them. As laptops wander outside the perimeter and come back to the network, you need better ways to protect your systems. Find out how you can use Windows Firewall to protect your computers—on the Internet and on your own internal network. Steve Riley

New ACLs Improve Security in Windows Vista
While ACLs haven't had a major overhaul, there are a number of important changes you need to know about when managing ACLs in a Windows Vista environment. Discover how 30 ACLs have changed to improve security, find out how they will impact your organization, and learn how to manage these changes in your infrastructure. Jesper Johansson

Managing Hardware Restrictions via Group Policy
USB thumb-disk keys and other removable devices can make your personal life easier but your professional life harder. For improved security, you need a way to control what hardware devices your users are installing on their work systems. Now you can use Group Policy to control which devices they can use and which ones they can't.
Jeremy Moskowitz

4 Security Technologies Every IT Organization Must Have
Most businesses share similar security issues. In today's connected world, there are four general types of security tools that every organization absolutely must have. Find out what these tools are and explore how the technologies involved may work together in the future to create the ideal security solution. Matt Clapham and Todd Thompson

A Powerful New Tool for Certificate Management
Certificates are a key component in your infrastructure— when one expires, productivity can come to a halt. If you rely on a Microsoft PKI environment, the new Identity Lifecycle Manager Certificate Management (ILM-CM) solution can help keep things running smoothly. Find out how this tool can help you improve authentication processes and reduce certificate management costs. Kevin Dallmann

With more and more interest in our Virtualisation Technologies I thought I would provide you with some information around our own local Virtualisation Expert Peter Fitzsimon.  After nearly 10 years as a PTS/ATS in Brisbane, Peter now works for the Windows Server Product Group (his boss is in Redmond) in a new team called the Global Solutions Technical Team which was set up last year to be a “swat” team for the Windows Server Product Group, primarily around Virtualization, and going forward to include High Performance Computing (Compute Cluster Edition).

Peter looks after APAC, so he does quite a bit of travel (He is in Seoul this week) doing customer, partner and internal meetings around Microsoft’s Virtualisation Strategy.

His blog can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/peterfi/ make sure you subscribe to his feed to keep up to date with the latest information regarding Virtualisation.

Support TechEd 2007 with your very own Tech Ed Signature!