Finding a Replacement Charger for the Surface Pro

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We have five of the original Surface Pro's in use in our house. How that happened is a long story, but suffice to say they all get significant use by my wife and kids. We have four kids, so the older three each have their own, my wife has hers, and I have a spare for testing purposes. Right now, my personal Surface Pro is being utilized for keeping up on the latest Windows 10 Builds. Windows 10 works great on it, by the way.

As you know, my daily driver is the Surface Pro 3, and unlike some of you (you know who you are) I will not install a beta Build on it. I have enough work to do without having to throw my hands up every time a Windows 10 beta feature stops me from being productive. So, thankfully, the original Surface Pro is available.

With so many of the devices in the house, you have to expect problems, particularly with the power adapter. My youngest son would lose his head if it were not attached, and he's the first one I blame when a TV remote goes missing. He's lost his Surface Power adapter three times that we know of – how many times he didn't admit it is unknown, but I'm sure there are many. After using Sherlock-like deductive skills, we can eventually figure out where he left it – usually at a friend's house. So, that, along with general wear-and-tear, means I need options for replacing the power brick, or having extras on-hand in case a cord gets sliced accidentally (which it has).

Recently, Microsoft stopped selling the power supply for the original Surface Pro. I'm not sure exactly when that was, but only discovered it recently during our last missing adapter drama. Microsoft's online store just says, "no longer available." So, what to do?

For me, any scenario like this warrants an immediate click to Amazon.com. What I found and what I received, is a functional power supply for the Surface Pro. It's not anything amazing like Microsoft's original, but it works and it's only around $15.00.

You can get it here: VicTec Wall Charger AC Adapter Power Supply Cable For Microsoft Surface 10.6 Windows 8 Pro

It does have a single drawback. Though it works wonderfully for supplying power to the Surface Pro, it does not have the integrated USB charging port that the original power adapter included. I don't count that as a huge loss, just as long as it works and fills my needs – and it does.

Incidentally, the company also provides one for the Surface Pro 3 and is only $29.99 versus Microsoft's $79.99. Unlike the one for the original Surface Pro, this one does offer the integrated USB charging port, though it has a bit different configuration than the original:

The Surface Pro 3 version is available here:

VicTec Wall Charger AC Power Adapter For Surface Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet PC Windows 8 – 12V 2.5A

So, there you go. Nice to know there are options. I ended up ordering four of the Surface Pro versions and I'm positive I'll be ordering the Surface Pro 3 version in the future. My only fear is that if my youngest son realizes I have extras, his carelessness could get worse.

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Surface 2: Get ‘em While the Gettin’s Good

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There's been some noise over Surface 2 availability recently. Surface 2 was definitely an improvement over Microsoft's original tablet release, but was also a sort of stop-gap measure before delivering a true solid performer in the Surface Pro 3.

Still, the Surface 2 is used by many. I spent some time in Redmond last year, in attendance with a bunch of MVPs, and they gobbled up the discounted Surface 2's like they were candy. Surface 2 has a lot of value as a second screen, particularly for surfing the web and watching video.

Some have raised concerns over the Surface 2 availability, so I spoke with Microsoft today.

"We are no longer manufacturing Surface 2; however, those still eager to buy Surface should visit Microsoft Retail Stores, MicrosoftStore.com, third-party retailers and resellers for the latest availability." –Microsoft spokesperson

So, it seems if you still want one of these, your best bet is to do some local hunting, as I'm sure the ones from the online store will be snatched up first. $449 is a smart purchase.

Some have asked if this includes the Surface Pro 2 since, on the surface (pun intended), this seems like a simple hardware manufacturing story. The communication only addresses the Surface 2 – on purpose, I believe. Thinking about it, it makes perfect sense considering the Surface Pro 2 runs Windows 8.1 Pro but the Surface 2 is still being powered by Windows RT 8.1. And, I think this gives us deeper insight to what Microsoft might be planning for Windows 10 support for the Windows RT operating system.

During the Q&A portion of Microsoft's last Windows 10 event, Terry Myerson suggested that Microsoft "is working on it" in relation to supporting a Windows 10 upgrade for Windows RT. Later it was further suggested that some, but not all, Windows 10 features might come to Windows RT. Then, yesterday I cobbled together some notes I took during a conversation with a Microsoft person to talk about how upgrades might work for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. Notably absent from that conversation was any reference to Windows RT.

And, I believe that says something without really saying something. Don't you?

So, logically the next question that continues to burn the cockles of everyone's mind is: if Microsoft is beginning to stop manufacturing newer devices, does that mean that the Surface Pro 4 is just around the corner?

I believe it is, and will be released as part of the Windows 10 launch wave later this summer. I believe Surface Pro 4 will be the first device out the door that comes with Windows 10 preinstalled. I'm already dusting off my comfortable shoes and polishing my wallet to stand in line.

However, it's just my opinion how the whole Surface Pro 4 thing will go down. If you ask Microsoft (and, I did), this is what they say…

"As we've said before, there is a roadmap of products, but we have nothing further to share." –Microsoft spokesperson

"As we've said before…" Sounds like something I'd say to my kids after they've asked me the same question 10 times and I responded with the exact same answer each and every go round. It amounts to a verbal slap in the face, but that's OK, at least they're listening to me.

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Enabling “Hey Cortana” in Windows 10 Build 9926

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As you probably know by now, Cortana has made her first PC appearance with the release of Windows 10 Build 9926. Microsoft delivered Cortana as a digital assistant for devices with Windows Phone 8.1 on April 2, 2014. But, that's not exactly where the digital assistant got its start. Xbox and gaming fans know that Cortana originated as a fictional AI character in the Halo video game series.

As a digital assistant for devices, the name Cortana was only a project codename. But, based on customer feedback, is one of the only products to retain the codename after release, just because of how cool it is.

Cortana gets much of her intelligence through integration with Bing, Microsoft's Search engine, but is also tied to the Microsoft Cloud infrastructure, allowing capabilities to be updated continually.

In Windows Phone, you can enact Cortana's powers a couple ways. Just using the smartphone's Search function, Cortana is at the ready to serve answers to your questions. Using the Cortana app, you can get customized news, weather, alerts, and many other things, but tap the microphone button and you can speak directly to Cortana and she'll respond. She'll even read your incoming text messages if you tell her to do so. The smartphone I use is the HTC M8 Windows Phone with the Dot View case (detailed reasons HERE). The Dot View case gives me an even different option for initiating a conversation with Cortana. I simply swipe down the front of the case and Cortana waits for my voice direction. It's a hugely valuable function, particularly when driving.

Cortana has truly become a staple in my life. It's amazing how quickly you can integrate something when it's good and useful. Cortana is just that. She's now indispensable.

In Windows 10 Build 9926, and just like with Windows Phone, Cortana powers the new Search, and functions much the same way. Just like Windows Phone you can use your voice to make requests and Cortana keeps track of all the same things offered with Windows Phone 8.1. But, Windows 10 Build 9926 brings something extra to the table – something I've been clamoring for since my very first week using Cortana. Something I hope comes as part of a future update for Windows Phone.

Cortana can now also be configured on a Windows 10 PC or tablet to wait and listen for you to require her service. After a quick setting change, all you have to do is say "Hey, Cortana" with your request and she's already preparing a response. I have so wanted this feature to come to Windows Phone for so long.

One way to set this up (and also gives you a tour of the Windows 10 landscape) is to:

1. Swipe from the right, or tap the Notifications icon in the Windows 10 System Tray to reveal the new Action Center (Notifications) – read about the Action Center here


2. Tap the All Settings option.

3. On the Settings screen, open System – Display, notifications, search, power

4. Highlight Cortana & Search and open the Customize Cortana & search settings

5. Locate and flip the On switch for the Let Cortana respond when you say "Hey Cortana"

But, probably the simplest way is to just open Cortana on the taskbar, access the dropdown menu by opening the Settings menu (the 3 lines that look like a hamburger), and go straight to Cortana Settings.

Now, when you say "Hey, Cortana," she'll be ready and waiting for you, too. There's a small caveat with this that should be noted, though, and it's something that will take a bit of practice to master. When you say "Hey, Cortana" you must be prepared to utter your full request straight after. If you pause after "Hey, Cortana," even briefly, she'll move on, ask "Yes? How can I help?" and stop listening until you voice-prompt her again. I'm sure this will be fixed in future Builds, but it's good to know for now.

One additional feature I'd like to see added, is the ability to customize Cortana's secret phrase. Imagine an office full of cubicles, full of coworkers, all running Windows 10 with Cortana enabled. A single person using "Hey, Cortana" would set off a pretty comical scene that stretched across the entire office. Plus, you don't want your cubicle buddies to be able to initiate Cortana on your PC. No telling what they'd ask her while you were away. And, I can just picture the IT folks handing out browser history reports and asking "now, why again, are you searching for hot Russian babes with a Pop-tart fetish?"

So, yeah. This needs to be customizable per person.

One other caveat, particularly for Surface (and other tablet) users. If you allow the tablet to go into Standby, Cortana stops listening. I'm sure there would be a battery detriment for giving Cortana listening capability when in Standby and or running over the Windows lock screen, but if plugged into power (like inserted into a docking station), it shouldn't matter. I'd love it if Cortana could be used to "wake" my Surface Pro 3.

Still it’s a fine feature and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I expect the same capability to show up next month when the first Windows 10 bits for Windows Phone deliver.

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Getting your bugs on Apple’s radar

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This week Apple rolled out updates to OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. These triple-dotted updates–10.10.2 and 8.1.3 respectively–are generally pretty boring, since they are almost always bug-fix updates. Still, bug fixes aren't minor when it's your bug that's being fixed.

If you're someone working in Enterprise IT, it's worth noting that Apple has recently begun adding an "Enterprise content" section to its update notes. In the OS X 10.10.2 update there are five bullet points featuring Enterprise-related issues, the majority of which involve Exchange calendaring issues.

My friend Andrew Laurence, a systems administrator at UC Irvine, told me that he appreciates the addition of the Enterprise section of the update notes. But what really thrilled Andrew this week was that one of his bugs was among those that were fixed. Specifically:

Fixes an issue for Microsoft Exchange accounts where the organizer of a meeting might not be notified when someone accepts an invitation using Calendar

Calendar is Apple's built-in Calendar app for OS X. One of the quirks of supporting Macs in an Exchange environment is that there are two different paths that lead to Exchange connectivity: the Microsoft path and the Apple path. If you take the Microsoft path, you use Outlook 2015 for Mac for all your mail, calendar, and contact needs. If you take the Apple path, though, you enter Exchange information in the Internet Accounts window of Apple's System Preferences app, and then use Apple's stock apps–Calendar, Mail, and Contacts–to work with Exchange.

Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. Outlook is the more pure Microsoft experience, to be sure. Users who are accustomed to Microsoft software and services will find it similar to what they've experienced on Windows, though it's not quite the same. Longtime Mac users will find it more foreign, while Apple's apps will be familiar–they're the same apps those users might be using at home for their personal email, calendars, and contacts.

Unfortunately, Apple's support for Exchange in its native apps, while admirable, has always been quirky on the Mac. (I once made the mistake of commingling my work Exchange contacts with the personal contacts I'd been storing on my Mac, and I'm still slowly undoing the damage.) Andrew's bug is just one example. Using Calendar to handle event scheduling with multiple attendees, while theoretically possible, was never anything but a disaster for me–I always ended up retreating to OWA (Outlook Web App) when I needed to schedule something.

In any event, this quirky experience is slightly less quirky now that Andrew's bug has been fixed. While we'll never know if it was Andrew himself who caused this bug to be addressed, he did report it to apple after a coworker complained about the issue to him in December. After checking out a discussion on Apple's support site, Andrew emailed a friend at Apple who confirmed that the company didn't know about the issue. The next day, Andrew filed a bug, and now it's fixed.

Yes, it's nice if you can pick up the phone and call someone at Apple to find out if a bug is known. But even if you don't have someone from Cupertino in your contacts list, you can still make yourself heard. Using the discussions.apple.com community can be good for a sharing of tips and frustrations, but that's not how you get Apple to fix bugs. For that, you've got to use Radar.

Radar is the nickname for Apple's Bug Reporter tool, available at bugreporter.apple.com. If you're outside apple, Radar is a weird, semi-opaque web app. But bug tickets filed with Radar are like currency within Apple. If you file a bug using Radar, you will probably have it marked as a duplicate with no other communication, which is supremely frustrating.

But I can tell you from talking to people at Apple, the more dupes a bug has, the more likely it is to be prioritized. (And no, it doesn't hurt to let anyone you know at Apple, whether it's someone in development or even your account rep, that you're being bitten by the bug. And that you filed a Radar.) And nothing bugs an Apple engineer more than having you complain to them about a bug, then hearing that you didn't ever file a Radar on it. (The off-color phrase popularized by Apple's Michael Jurewitz is "Radar or GTFO.")

I've filed numerous Radars and only once did I not have my bug marked as a duplicate. (The one outlier, I was asked to provide more specific debugging information, which I did, and then the bug was marked as a duplicate.) But many, if not most, of the bugs I filed did get fixed eventually. Even if I wasn't the first to report the problem, perhaps my additional duplicate hastened the fix? Dare to dream.

The larger point is that Apple can be a pretty opaque company. Apple likes to be a black box, revealing as little as possible until a big reveal at a press event or with the dropping of a press release. Even the company's release notes can be infuriatingly oblique, along the lines of "assorted bug fixes." It can be frustrating if you're used to dealing with companies that are externally responsive. Actually, it's just plain frustrating. But in the end, if using Radar can draw Apple's attention to a problem that's been vexing you or the users you support, it's worth the frustration.

[Jason Snell has been writing about Apple stuff for a couple of decades. He's the editor in chief of Six Colors and was previously editorial director of IDG's PC World, Macworld, TechHive, and Greenbot. Email him at apple@sixcolors.com.]

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Microsoft announces release of Outlook app for iOS and Android

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Remember during the Windows 10 event last week when Microsoft showed off what the new universal Outlook Mail app would look like in the upcoming Windows 10 release?

Well in today’s announcement it appears Microsoft is not only looking to make your app experiences across Windows 10 familiar but that is extending that same concept to iOS and Android. This may be the first sign that Windows 10 will enjoy similar rich experiences that we see with other Microsoft services on iOS and Android and that in turn should make many Windows device (phone/desktop) users happy.

Back in December of last year Microsoft acquired Acompli, a company that had created mobile email apps for iOS and Android. It was their former CEO Javier Soltero, who is now the Program Manager for Outlook at Microsoft, who penned one of the blog posts concerning this announcement.

In our early discussions with Microsoft, we realized that the closer we could work together, the more value we can deliver over the course of those 24 seconds. There is extraordinary power and untapped potential across all of the Office 365 technologies, and we think an extremely compelling and beautiful e-mail app will provide one effective portal to tap into it. Since the acquisition, we’ve been working hard on integrating our team and development processes to ensure we’re able to continue rapidly delivering new features and functionality to our customers.

I would definitely say they have been working hard and fast because the acquisition was announced on 01 December 2014 and now the app is released just a little under two months later.

So let’s summarize some of the features and info of this app:

• Mail divided into two tabs – Focused and Other. Focused contains your important emails while less important emails are under Other. As you work with your mail and move things around Outlook learns what matters most to you and handles incoming email accordingly.


• One button newsletter unsubscribe.


• You can customize the swipe gestures to quickly look through your email and decide how you want to approach your inbox for immediate or later action.


• Email can be scheduled to return to your inbox at a later time and thus be temporarily clear of your more important items at any given time.


• Built in predictive search for locating emails, contacts, meetings, files shared.


• The Outlook app works with email accounts on Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.


• Meeting scheduling and calendar fully integrated.


• Attachments can be added to email from cloud storage services such as OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive and Box. Future support will be added for OneDrive for Business.


• This app replaces the Outlook Web Access app on iPhone, iPad and Android.


• Runs on iOS 8.0 and Android 4.0 or higher.


• Designed to accommodate use on either a tablet or phone.

That last bullet sounds a lot like universal apps doesn’t it?

Screenshots:

Outlook Mail App on iPhone

Outlook Mail App on iPad

Outlook Mail App on Android Phone

Outlook Mail App on Android Tablet

Addiitonal Resources and Information:

• A deeper look at Outlook for iOS and Android


• The future of mobile email—how much can you accomplish in 24 seconds?


• Outlook for iOS


• Outlook for Android

Stay tuned for a hands on review of the Outlook Mail app on Android as I will be installing it on a Galaxy S4 today and giving it a spin.

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A Formal SuperSite Intro from Me, Jason Snell

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You are reading a story written by someone who has spent nearly twenty years writing primarily about Apple and the Apple ecosystem. I know, I'm as surprised as you are.

My name's Jason Snell, and for a decade or so I was the lead editor at Macworld. For the past couple of years I was also in charge of IDG's other consumer properties, including PCWorld. But there's no denying that I have made a career of covering a certain fruit company located in Cupertino, California.

We would seem to be mismatched, this site and me. And it's true that I put on a face mask and a tomato-resistant jacket before I got up on this stage, just in case someone brought in a case of rotten tomatoes. Still, I think we have a lot to learn from each other.

Before we kick things off, I wanted to take a hint from Richard Hay and tell you a little bit about my background. My first computer was a Commodore PET, and my second was an Apple II. As such, I've always been a child of the command line, and I haven't been far away from a Vax or Unix shell prompt since about 1988.

I've always mixed technology and writing, from editing articles for my college newspaper using vi to creating and distributing one of the Internet's first magazines via FTP and Usenet in the days before the web. I taught myself HTML and, as an excuse to learn some early server-side extensions, created one of the first television-related blogs on the Web in 1996. I was the editor in chief of my college paper–while I was running network cable so that I didn't have to use a floppy disk and sneakernet to get to the computer attached to the laser printer.

I started as an editor at MacUser magazine in 1994, just as I was wrapping up my master's degree at UC Berkeley. A few years later I was brushing up on my Windows NT skills as Apple had a near-death experience. Then things got really weird: Steve Jobs came back to Apple and turned the company around, and I got to have a front-row seat for a remarkable and unlikely 15 years of success.

Today, Apple products are a fact of life for most businesses. If it's not MacBooks and iMacs, it's at least iPhones and iPads. And it's not just Apple's hardware success that's driving this, but the embracing of Apple's platforms by some sources that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago.

Sure, Microsoft Office is on the Mac. I've been using Word for Mac since the late '80s. (And it's high time for an update to the suite–fortunately, one's coming later this year.) But Office is on the iPad now too, and it's really good. Meanwhile, old foe IBM has become a strategic partner of Apple, developing enterprise apps and deploying iPads in large organizations. Apple in the enterprise, and not accidentally? These are strange days indeed.

Though I've been a Mac user for ages, I've also frequently found myself in organizations that were deeply committed to other platforms–including the last few years in an all-Exchange shop. My Macs have been officially supported, half supported, and unsupported, and all the while I've gotten my work done.

So let me explain my presence here. Obviously there are a lot of changes going on at this site, as new contributors arrive and Paul departs. (As someone who also recently left his old home and started a new site of his own, I wish him all the best!) I've been asked to contribute a weekly column relating to Apple, what it's doing, what its users are doing, and how that affects you.

I can't profess to be an expert in Windows (although I've got Windows 8.1 installed on my iMac, as well as a trusty old Windows XP VM, and am looking forward to checking out Windows 10) or even in Microsoft's platforms. I've been a user of them for ages, but I come from another perspective. I'm one of those users that many of you need to support or otherwise interact with.

What I have been is a keen observer of Apple over the years, from the days in the '90s when the company was doomed right up to today. I've learned a lot about how Apple works, why it behaves the way it does, and what its product philosophy is–and I'd like to think that this gives me some good insight on what it'll be doing next.

If you're not someone who has ever used Apple's products, I'm hoping that this column can bridge the gap a little bit between our worlds. When I was starting in technology, vast gulfs separated the Mac and Windows worlds. But these days, cloud services and mobile operating systems and the middle ages of both Apple and Microsoft have led us to a much messier place. If I can help provide some perspective about how Apple's stuff fits into the larger technology world, I will have done my job.

Now I need your help. I'd love to hear from you about what you'd like this column to be about. What are your burning questions relating to Apple, its platforms, and its ecosystem? What are your greatest frustrations in dealing with Apple products? Let me know in the comments below, or send your questions and comments to me at apple@sixcolors.com.

[You can follow Jason Snell on Twitter at @jsnell, read his blog at Six Colors, listen to his tech podcasts at Relay FM, or listen to his geek culture podcasts at The Incomparable.]

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Office 2016 and Office Universal Apps for Windows 10 to Deliver This Year

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During Microsoft's recent Windows 10 ultimate reveal (my term, coined in a recent Short Takes), we saw tidbits of the next Universal Office in demos of upcoming products launching as part of the Windows 10 wave. The demos highlighted what we've all been waiting for, touch-first Office applications. Office for Windows 10, as Microsoft is calling it, will bring a touch-optimized experience of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook to small screens. For phones and tablets running Windows 10, the new Office apps will come pre-installed. If you want a good first look for touch-heavy apps, Microsoft will deliver them as part of a new Windows 10 Technical Preview build in a few weeks. If you're not part of the Windows Insider program yet, this is a good reason to join now.

Additionally, and despite it releasing in the 2015 calendar year, the next version of Microsoft's desktop productivity suite will be titled Office 2016. Office 2016 is the update to Office 2013 and will continue to deliver an optimized experience for mouse and keyboard users. Reports suggest that this version of the next Office is already in limited testing by unnamed customers.

I'm providing some screenshots of Office for Windows 10 below and I think it's important to highlight something for the keen eye. The UI is very similar to what Microsoft has built into the apps for iPad and Android tablets already, and may seem additionally familiar to Windows 8.1 users – particularly the next version of Outlook. This version of Outlook looks strikingly similar to the Mail app that comes pre-installed with Windows 8.1, which is decidedly not the best design, suffers from lack of robust functionality, and is often times severely quirky. But, I'm sure Microsoft has already taken those flaws under consideration.

Outlook for Windows 10

Word for Windows 10

Excel for Windows 10

PowerPoint for Windows 10

OneNote for Windows 10

To get a deeper look before the preview is available, join the Office Mechanics in a 7 minute tour…

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