Today I noticed for the first time, that the MyAnalytics emails that were coming through weekly, showing where your time was being spent, emails you may need to respond to etc had been replaced by Microsoft Viva. There’s also a post in TechCommunity covering this in detail.
The previous MyAnalytics emails would come in weekly, and be broken up into different editions – Wellbeing, Focus, Collaboration or Network edition. This new monthly digest indicates Microsoft Viva is the way forward. Note that this still works the same way as MyAnalytics where the contents of the email are private to you, and do not come as a normal email that would be trackable (more details in my MyAnalytics article)
The new emails still (for now) link back to the https://myanalytics.microsoft.com/ domain which again for now, shows the message that it’s becoming Microsoft Viva:
That ‘Learn more’ link takes you here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-viva/insights/?s=mya with some details around Microsoft Viva. One of the main links there takes you to Viva Insights on Teams, which is the Insights addin option that’ll show up on the left menu and take you to the Viva Insights Home page.
The Stay Connected tab is worth checking out, as it will highlight email conversations it thinks are things you need to do, or highlight people (team members for me) that you don’t have a 1 on 1 meeting scheduled for the next twk weeks.
Going back to the web page for Microsoft Viva, there’s a lot more content then when I looked when it first launched. One section I thought was notable was under Network, you can see your Top Collaborators and their read percent and response time of emails.
My point on all this, is that there’s a lot going on here. People may find it and have questions around it, especially when these emails are generated to all staff by default. Someone may have stumbled across the ‘Delay Delivery enabled’ option and turned it on, then forgotten about it later, complaining about emails being slow to get to customers or clients:
What we’re seeing above with Microsoft Viva and MyAnalytics (now Viva Insights) is only a part of the full Microsoft Viva solution too – there’s also Viva Connections, Viva Topics and Viva Learning:
Viva Connections and Viva Insights are generally covered under an existing license, but Viva Topics and Viva Learning are at an extra cost.
Lenovo’s X1 Yoga for 2021 is now out – the 6th generation in the line of X1 Yogas, bringing in several changes to the line. We’ve come a long way from the first release too, but in essence it’s still an all-rounder laptop that can be flipped and rotated in all different ways, with a stylus and touch screen to provide an adaptable piece of hardware.
Specs
Tech Specs
Processor
Up to 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor with vPro™ (3.00 GHz, up to 4.80 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 12 MB Cache)
Operating System
– Windows 10 Home – Windows 10 Pro – Linux Ubuntu
Display
– 14″ UHD+ 4K (3840 x 2400) IPS, anti-reflection, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™, HDR, 500 nits, 90% DCI P3 Color Gamut, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions – 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen with Privacy Guard, 500 nits 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen, 400 nits, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions – 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-reflective, anti-smudge, touchscreen, low power, 400 nits Screen to body ratio = 83%; aspect ratio = 16:10
Memory
Up to 32 GB LPDDR4x 4266MHz
Battery
Up to 16.1 hours 57Whr (MM18) Rapid Charge (requires 65W PSU or higher)
Storage
Up to 1TB PCIe SSD
Graphics
Integrated Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
Security
– Discrete Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) 2.0 – Optional: Human-presence detection sensor with IR camera – Smart Power On fingerprint reader integrated with power button (match-on-chip) – Webcam privacy shutter – Kensington lock slot
Audio
Dolby Atmos® Speaker System – 4 x 360-degree far-field mics – Dolby Voice® professional conferencing solution
Camera
720p HD with webcam privacy shutter Optional: Hybrid infrared (IR) / 720p HD with webcam privacy shutter
Dimensions (H x W x D)
14.9mm x 313mm x 223mm x / 0.59″ x 12.32″ x 8.77″
Weight
Starting at 3 lbs (1.35 kg)
Color
Storm Gray
Certifications
Energy Star® 8.0 EPEAT® Gold
Connectivity
– Optional: WWAN* Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System – Optional: WWAN* Quectel EM120R-GL 4G LTE CAT12 – WLAN: Up to Intel® AX201 WiFi 6 802.11AX (2 x 2) with vPro™ – Bluetooth® 5.1 *
Ports / Slots
– 2 x USB 4 Type-C with Thunderbolt™ 4 (DisplayPort, Power Delivery and Data Transfer) – 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (One always on) – Headphone / mic combo – HDMI 2.0 – Optional: Nano SIM slot
Keyboard
Spill-resistant Color-matched keyboard with wider 110mm / 4.33″ TrackPad Backlit with white LED lighting Call-control keys (F9-F11)
Supported Docking
USB-C Dock ThinkPad Thunderbolt™ 4
What’s in the box
– ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 – 65W AC Adapter (Supports Rapid Charge) – 57Whr Internal Battery – ThinkPad Pen Pro – Quick Start Guide
I’ll cover the components I think are worth discussing:
Processor
Intel’s 11th Gen CPU is inside the Yoga X1 Gen 6. Tom’s Hardware do a good comparison of the differences and benchmark comparisons between 10th and 11th gen mobile Intel CPUs, with some rather large graphics and gaming improvements due to the Iris Xe Graphics’ capabilities. As expected, the CPU is a bit faster overall :)
Display
Some big changes here. The first obvious difference is the resolution – 1920 x 1200 instead of the usual 1920 x 1080. This is due to the screen ratio change, 16:10 instead of the 16:9 it used to be. The result is a little bit more space top to bottom, which is actually handy to have. If you have corporate backgrounds deploying out a 1920 x 1080 picture, you might need to adjust it to look good on this screen too.
Memory
The first X1 Yoga to have 32GB of RAM as an option! Nice if you’re planning on some grunt work, like running a few virtual machines.
Battery
The ~16 hours claimed battery life is quite high – so this should get you through a full working day without needing to plug in. Previous models were way over the 8 hour mark too, which to me would be the goal of battery life – last a working day so if you’re travelling, you’re not looking for a power point.
Graphics
Intel’s onboard graphics are still plenty good for general use, even light gaming. Note that Intel claim “Gamers can play fast and hard with new Intel® Iris® Xe graphics featuring up to 1080p 60FPS for more detailed, immersive gaming.”. I’m sure AAA gaming titles will need to be played on low/medium settings, but depending what you play and your expectations, this might be fine (low graphics quality games like Among Us are fine!).
Camera
We’re still at 720p for some reason – which is not isolated to Lenovo. I’m hoping next year we see 1080p as the standard resolution of inbuilt cameras, especially on premium laptops.
As usual, Lenovo progresses forward while keeping the fundamental reason Yogas exist – a flexible device that provides an all round experience. Going all the way back to the X1 Yoga Gen 1 I said the same thing. Now we have a few different laptop options in the ThinkPad series such as the X1 Nano and the X1 Fold (which I’d love to get my hands on), while the X1 Carbon is up to the 9th Generation – a very nice, thin laptop, but no touch screen.
Also worth noting is the touchpad is bigger on the X1 Yoga Gen 6, so this could be a deciding factor if comparing it to older models.
I’m sticking with the X1 Yoga still, but we’ll see what new devices Lenovo come out with, and if they’ll tempt me with something different and new!
Dirsync, Azure AD Sync, Azure AD Connect, and now Azure AD Connect v2. The second version of Azure AD Connect is important because it’s not an automatic upgrade, and has some different requirements.
Microsoft’s documentation Introduction to Azure AD Connect V2.0 covers this off well, and you can do an in-place upgrade, but read that link first. Microsoft are recommending you upgrade to this now, as mentioned in the article.
If you’re not sure what version of Azure AD Connect you’re on, you can log onto your server running the agent, bring up apps and features, and select Microsoft Azure AD Connect. Here I’ve got v1.6.4.0:
If you try to install without doing this, you’ll have to exit, then run Azure AD Connect which will be ready to upgrade – don’t try to re-run the MSI you downloaded.
The upgrade itself is fairly unexciting, which is what we want when making changes in production that allow the entire organisation to authenticate:
You’ll need to use Azure AD Administrator credentials as a part of the install.
Once done, you can go back to Apps & features to see the new version:
Also it’s worth checking Synchronization Service Manager to make sure it’s syncing without error. All you need to do is open the program which is installed as a part of Azure AD Connect, and see the status and times. If there’s an error, it’ll tell you.
That’s it, you’ll be up and running on Azure AD Connect v2, with auto updates happening again to keep you continually updated.
Lenovo released the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 in mid 2020. This was a minor jump from the Gen 4 – they look very similar. The Intel CPU jumps up from 8th Gen to 10th Gen is nice – at the bottom end it’s about a 5% to 7% speed improvement, but there’s also faster RAM.
The laptop itself looks very sleek, feels robust, and the screen hinge is very firm – it’ll stay wherever you put it.
Let’s check out the specifications:
Tech Specs
Processor
10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10210U Processor (1.60 GHz, up to 4.20 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 6 MB Cache) 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U Processor (1.80 GHz, up to 4.90 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 8 MB Cache) 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10310U Processor with vPro™ (1.70 GHz, up to 4.40 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 6 MB Cache) 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10610U Processor with vPro™ (1.80 GHz, up to 4.90 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 8 MB Cache)
Operating System
Ubuntu Linux Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro
Display
14″ 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™ HDR 400, AR/AS*, 500 nits14″ WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS, touchscreen, AR/AS*, 300 nits 14″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, touchscreen low power, AR/AS*, 400 nits 14″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, touchscreen with Privacy Guard, AR/AS*, 500 nits*Antireflective / antismudge
Memory
Up to 16 GB LPDDR3 (Soldered)
Battery
Up to 19.3 hours* (MM14) Up to 13 hours* (MM18) 51Wh battery includes Rapid Charge
Storage
Up to 1 TB PCIe SSD
Graphics
Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics
Security
Fast Identity Online (FIDO) authentication capabilities Match-on-chip fingerprint reader TPM 2.0 chip ThinkShutter camera cover
Audio
Dolby Atmos® Speaker System 4 x 360-degree far-field microphones
Camera
HD 720p with ThinkShutter privacy cover Optional: Hybrid Infrared (IR) & HD 720p with ThinkShutter
Dimensions (W x D x H)
323mm x 218mm x 15.2mm / 12″ x 8.5″ x 0.59″
Weight
Starting at 1.35kg / 2.99lb
Color
Iron Gray
Connectivity
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11AX (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.1 Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11AX (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.1 with vPro™Optional WWAN: Integrated Global Mobile Broadband 4G LTE-A
Ports
2 x USB-C Thunderbolt™ 3 (Power Delivery, DisplayPort) 2 x USB 3.2** (Gen 1) (1 Always on) HDMI 1.4 Network extension for Ethernet/side mechanical docking Headphone / mic combo
Keyboard
Full sized, spill resistant Backlit with white LED lighting
What’s in the box
ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 565W AC adapter ThinkPad Pen Pro4 Cell 51Wh Internal battery Quick start guide
I’ll point out some considerations on the above:
The CPU options are reasonable – i5 or i7 10th Gen Intel. Unless you need more CPU grunt, any of these options should be fine.
Ubuntu Linux officially supported and a pre-install option is good for those who prefer that space, and choice is always good. As much as I like Windows, you shouldn’t be forced to have it if you don’t want it.
There’s a lot of display options here, from 1080p (which I personally still go for in the work space), 2K, and 4K. A 1080p option is to have Privacy Guard – good for people who don’t want others seeing their screen – and it’s a toggle, rather than an always on thing:
The 16GB RAM has been my new minimum standard for the last few years – but also maximum, I see usage in the workplace easily go over 8GB with Edge/Chrome and Microsoft Teams running, but still not go near the 16GB mark.
The two battery options are again nice, with the smaller battery still more than enough for a day’s work. Rapid Charge is a must – you don’t want to have to plug in for hours if you do happen to run flat, before you can be on the go again.
Wi-Fi 6 is a nice upgrade on this model if you’re connecting to infrastructure that supports it. Here’s a good article on Wi-Fi 6 and it’s benefits.
OK, let’s move on to some photos of the device:
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5
Front – 4 mic holes
Left Side – USB-C (inc charging), USB-C/Ethernet Dongle port, USB-A, HDMI, Audio Jack
Back – Hinges, no vents.
Right – Stylus, power button, USB-C, air vent, Kensington lock
Keyboard
As per usual, I don’t have any complaints about the device. This review is a bit late, so I’ve been using it for quite a while without issue. As you can see from the above photos, it’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but nowhere as obvious in real life vs what shows up in a photo.
Microsoft announced that safe links are now Generally Available in Microsoft Teams. This is the same idea of Safe Links for email, and if you already have that on, enabling it for Teams is easy.
I won’t rehash all the details Microsoft have above, but Safe Links give a time of click assessment of a URL to check if they deem it safe. This can be better than time of delivery of the URL, as new threats emerge or the end results of the URL change.
From here, you probably just have one policy but could have more – edit the policy to affect the users you want, and in the “Protection settings” area, there will be an “Edit protection settings” link
Once editing, just set the radio button to ‘on’ against ‘Select the action for unknown or potentially malicious URLs within Microsoft Teams. Microsoft haven’t updated the warning around being in preview despite the GA announcement.
Once done, and waiting for a timeframe I’m not sure on, Teams will start using Safe Links. URLs being used in Teams look the same as before, and even if you hover over them, they show the actual end result link:
But when clicked, you’ll see this jump page while Microsoft Defender for Office 365 verifies the link:
Regardless of the link being clicked, the URL for me always displayed this:
It verified the link very quickly in my testing, less than a second each time. At this stage I can’t see any way to configure this page, or disable the option to Skip verification to enforce security, but we’ll see what happens.
