Aaron Long

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Humankind has already lost the war when Resistance 3 begins. The world has been overrun by the alien Chimera, and in a distressing twist, the aliens and mutated humans have split into two groups: the military and those that have gone feral. Humanity tries to scrape together a life in small, desperate clumps of what passes for community, but they are under constant attack. Still, people are coming together, helping each other, and trying to cling to whatever they can.

The problem is that the temperature is dropping—but one old scientist thinks he knows why and how to stop it. It’s your job to keep him safe en route to a dangerous mission in New York. During an attack, your child screams for you as your wife takes him away, convinced your mission is the only thing that will keep them safe.

The situation is dire, but I’m happy to report that the game itself is so much fun.

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One of the things we’ve worked hard to do here in the Windows HPC team is make it easy for the HPC cluster admin to deploy and manage Windows Azure nodes.  By and large, admins that are familiar with the HPC paradigms and processes should be comfortable deploying and managing their Windows Azure nodes. 

Most of the time things work well, however there can be occasions where the cluster admin has to troubleshoot and analyze where deployments don’t quite work as expected.  The Diagnostics suite that ships with Windows HPC Pack 2008 R2 (and which has been beefed up in SP2 for Windows Azure deployments) should be the first point of troubleshooting.

For the admin who wants to dig a bit deeper, or is working in tandem with Microsoft Support to diagnose issues, we ship a command-line tool with Windows HPC Pack 2008 R2 that allows you to operate under the covers of what is happening inside of their HPC deployment on Windows Azure.   This tool is hpcazurecmd, and below are some details of how to use it to get traces from Windows Azure.

Warning: The hpcazurecmd tool is a powerful tool, intended for advanced users.  Usage without knowing what you are doing could have un-intended consequences for your Azure deployments.  Please exercise appropriate care when using this tool.

One of the coolest things about Windows Azure is the powerful and dynamic tracing toolset that it provides.  For those not familiar with it, you can see some details here:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff714589.aspx

Windows HPC takes full advantage of this dynamic tracing.  By default, Windows Azure tracing is turned off.  It can be turned on, on-the-fly, with hpcazurecmd.  Turning on the tracing copies over traces to a table in the Windows Azure storage that was previously configured for use with a HPC Node Template, for a given deployment.  And hpcazurecmd also provides a way to retrieve the traces from the table right to the desktop, so the entire process of turning on and retrieving traces becomes very streamlined.

The steps below assume you have already created a Node Template for your Windows Azure deployment (let’s say, named ‘hpcazuretemplate’), have added some nodes based on this template, and started the deployment.

Start by opening up an elevated command prompt on the Head Node, navigating to the HPC bin folder, and setting an environment variable to point to the template name.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2\Bin>set TemplateName=hpcazuretemplate

Now, issue a command to get the deployment information:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2\Bin>hpcazurecmd /GetDeployments

This should give some output such as the below.  Note the Name field, as you will need to copy and paste it into the next command as a parameter.

Get Windows Azure configuration information from template "hpcazuretemplate"  1 Windows Azure deployment found  Deployment: 4865f261-af99-4bc5-9a68-9320d1234567  Name: hpcdeploymentmachinenamehnservicename75c5e023db8346758531fd6123456  Url:  label: RGVwbG95bWVudCBmb3IgTWljcm9zb2Z0IFdpbmRvd3MgSFBDIDIwMDggUjIgQ2x1c3Rlcjogc  2FsaW1hLWRldi1obg==  Status: Deploying

 If the deployment has not yet started, you will see something like:

Get Windows Azure configuration information from template "hpcazuretemplate"  0 Windows Azure deployments found

 Wait until the deployment has started, and you can see the deployment information as above.  Now issue the command to set the logging level that you desire – e.g.:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2\Bin>hpcazurecmd /settracinglevel /name: hpcdeploymentmachinenamehnservicename75c5e023db8346758531fd6123456 /Level:verbose

 Note that the ‘name’ parameter in the command should be the same as the ‘Name’ from the output of the ‘hpcazurecmd /getdeployments’ command – this is what identifies the specific deployment you will get the traces for.  You can copy and paste it from within the command line window.  The trace level here is set to Verbose, which produces the most detailed trace data.

Next, you need to wait for your deployment to move through the provisioning stage.  This can generally take a few minutes.  You can then type in the following command to retrieve the current trace log (with the correct name, of course):

C:\Program Files\Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2\Bin>hpcazurecmd /gettracinglog /name: hpcdeploymentmachinenamehnservicename75c5e023db8346758531fd6123456 /output:log.txt

 The output will tell you the number of trace entries that were retrieved, e.g.:

Get Windows Azure configuration information from template "hpcazuretemplate"  Deployment Id is 4865f261af994bc59a689320d1234567  ....................................  Total 36 entries

Now you can open up ‘log.txt’ in your favorite editor and examine the contents of the trace.

Note that if you get the following error output, you need to wait for the deployment to move beyond the initial provisioning stage, as the trace table is not yet available.  You can check the Node State in HPC Cluster Manager – if the nodes are still in the “Provisioning” stage, they may not have yet had any opportunity to log anything.

Get Windows Azure configuration information from template "hpcazuretemplate"  Deployment Id is 4865f261af994bc59a689320d1234567  System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceQueryException: An error occurred while p  rocessing this request. ---> System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceClientException:  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>  <error xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata">    <code>TableNotFound</code>    <message xml:lang="en-US">The table specified does not exist.  RequestId:1a158cad-0441-446e-95dd-8a5421234567  Time:2011-07-14T19:48:02.0425613Z</message>  </error>     at System.Data.Services.Client.QueryAsyncResult.Execute(MemoryStream requestContent)     at System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceRequest.Execute[TElement](DataServiceContext context, Uri requestUri)     --- End of inner exception stack trace ---     at System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceRequest.Execute[TElement](DataServiceContext context, Uri requestUri)     at System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceQuery`1.Execute()     at System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceQuery`1.GetEnumerator()     at Microsoft.Hpc.AzureCmd.GetTracingLog.RunCommand(IDictionary`2 propertyMap, IAzureManagementBroker broker)     at Microsoft.Hpc.AzureCmd.HpcAzureCmd.Main(String[] args)

A note on trace levels: there are a number of trace levels that can be specified, such as Error, Warning, etc. (you can get the full list and usage info by just typing ‘hpcazurecmd’).   Generally, the trace output will get larger as you go from Error on up.  Verbose traces can spew very large amounts of data, so be extremely careful when turning on Verbose, especially for deployments with large sets of nodes as they can generate multi-gigabytes worth of data in your Azure storage (you may want to delete the WADLogsTable from your Azure storage once you are done with your deployment).

Hopefully this post helped you gain more understanding of Windows HPC and Windows Azure under the covers.  Good luck in your investigative journeys!

Salim Alam, Windows HPC Development Lead

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Microsoft will announce and release Office 2010 Service Pack 1 on Tuesday.

The software giant is readying the Office 2010 SP1 release alongside the general availability launch of Office 365. Microsoft had previously promised Office 2010 SP1 ?by the end of June.? WinRumors understands, from sources familiar with Microsoft?s plans, that the SP1 download will be made available at 9AM PST on Tuesday June 28. SP1 releases for both Office client suites and SharePoint server products will be made available. All language versions of SP1 will release at the same time. Service Pack 1 will be offered as a manual download from the Download Center and from Microsoft Update.

Microsoft will include the following important fixes in SP1:

• Outlook fixes an issue where ?Snooze Time? would not reset between appointments.
• The default behavior for PowerPoint ?Use Presenter View? option changed to display the slide show on the secondary monitor.
• Integrated community content in the Access Application Part Gallery.
• Better alignment between Project Server and SharePoint Server browser support.
• Improved backup / restore functionality for SharePoint Server
• The Word Web Application extends printing support to ?Edit Mode.?
• Project Professional now synchronizes scheduled tasks with SharePoint task lists.
• Internet Explorer 9 ?Native? support for Office Web Applications and SharePoint
• Office Web Applications Support for Chrome
• Inserting Charts into Excel Workbooks using Excel Web Application
• Support for searching PPSX files in Search Server
• Visio Fixes scaling issues and arrowhead rendering errors with SVG export
• Proofing Tools improve spelling suggestions in Canadian English, French, Swedish and European Portuguese.
• Outlook Web Application Attachment Preview (with Exchange Online only)

Microsoft plans to include the following security and non-security related fixes:

Office 2010 SP1 to be released this week  WinRumors

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Google ups its navigation game

Google has upped its navigation game even further announcing an improved level of live traffic information for UK users, with 13 new countries to benefit from the service.?

Smartphone users in..wait for it…Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland, will all be getting live traffic info.?

Google’s maps team is based in Zurich and, until now, has not been able to make use of the feature. Thanks to its efforts it too can now enjoy proper traffic info.?

Activating the service is done via the traffic layer in the maps application. It updates itself every 5 to 10 minutes to help keep information as current as possible. The live information also has a sort of time warp feature where you can set the day and time to view differing traffic trends, great if you are planning a journey.?

Google continues to improve its navigation services, with things getting to the point now where it really is becoming difficult to justify a dedicated satnav purchase. Then again, try running Google maps on a phone all day and watch what happens to your battery.?

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Tags: Google Google Maps Google Navigation Tablets Online Mobile phones GPS

Improved European traffic info hits Google maps originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:18:00 +0100

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News feed gets a refresh as well

Facebook has updated its Android mobile app to include video uploads on the go. You can now send footage straight from your smartphone to the social network.?

The news feed has also seen a revamp, with a much cleaner UI and easier way to comment on friends’ posts.?

There is now proper pages support, meaning you can view a complete list of the pages you like as well as the ones you admin. Pages posted in status updates can also be tapped on using “@”.?

The new Android update brings the app even closer to its desktop cousin, with little of the functionality at home left out from the mobile version. The bug fixes included in 1.6.1 also make things the smoothest yet on the mobile.

With Google+ stealing the limelight it is nice to see a decent release from the Zuckerberg towers. It isn’t the first either, only yesterday the company announced Facebook for Every Phone, bringing the social network to even the lowliest of dumbphones via a web browser app.

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Facebook for Android 1.6.1 launched - now with added video uploads originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:02:00 +0100

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We get as close as is humanly possible

The Sony S1 and S2 Android Honeycomb tablets have broken cover in London albeit still behind the safety of a thick, nailed down glass case. The two, currently software-less, prototypes have made their first UK appearance giving some clue as to what their selling points are set to be.

The striking feature of the S1 is its folded magazine profile with a wedge shape not that dissimilar to the Sony Vaio Z laptops. The idea behind the shape is to skew the weight more heavily to one of the edges meaning that it should be easier and more natural to hold; something which Sony feels is missing on current market devices.

As well as its own 800x1200px 9.4-inch screen, the S1 will also be good for throwing content back and forth between both Sony and non-Sony devices via DLNA. With IR remote control technology also built in, you’ve also got another gadget to rely on when you start losing things down the back of the sofa.

The S2 is the more curious of the pair with its foldable 5.5-inch display. So far, there appears to be no HDMI for getting your content off via a hard connection but mercifully it’s got the same content throwing credentials as its bigger brother.

Both tablets are set for an Autumn launch with no prices available at the moment. More details to come and we might even get to actually, you know, touch them and turn them on and stuff some day soon.

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Sony S1 and S2 shown in London originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:29:00 +0100

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Boeing built a new website to market the 737 airplane on Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure.

Microsoft showed the site, called 737 Explained, at its Worldwide Partners Conference in Los Angeles this week.

The site has high resolution photos of a United Airlines 737 that lets you zoom in to the plane to fine details — “rivet level,” as Anthony Ponton, Boeing’s 737 brand manager said. For instance, if you keep zooming in on the nose equipment, you can see a blurry stamp where it says the plane is made in “Seattle, WA, U.S.A.”

The 20,000 images of the 737 are stitched together using Microsoft’s animation software, so you can zoom in fluidly, rather than clicking on different images.

“We wanted marketing tools which were reflective of the technology that we’re investing on the aircraft itself,” Ponton said. He considers it the next best thing to seeing the plane in person.

Here is a screenshot of the website below.

Boeing has been showing the website in marketing meetings on the computer, on large touchscreens and on displays where the company uses the Kinect motion sensor to navigate around the aircraft. The company has also started building a version to run on Windows Phone.

Developer partner Wire Stone built the site for Boeing and it is running in Microsoft’s cloud, which means the content is stored and served from Microsoft’s data centers.

“There will be periods of spike traffic where we will have to up the potential bandwidth of the site,” said Jon Baker, chief technology officer for Wire Stone. Putting it in an elastic environment like the cloud means Boeing doesn’t have to worry about provisioning new servers when the website will get a lot of visits, such as during the Paris Air Show, Baker said.

Boeing is speeding up 737 production, from its current rate of 31.5 per month to 42 per month by mid-2014, the company said.

Here is where you can check out the 737 Explained website.

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