Summer is almost over, but the Windows Phone Dev Center Summer Break special price isn't! It's staying at $19 for now...

WMPowerUser - Microsoft To Continue Windows Phone Dev Center Registeration Fee As $19

Back in June, Microsoft announced a “Summer Break” offer for developers who want to build Windows Phone apps. The Dev Center registration was reduced to a $19 annual registration fee (normally $99 for individuals and companies). Todd Brix from Windows Phone team today tweeted that Microsoft will continue its dev center fee as $19 even though the  “Summer Break” offers ends today.

...

Todd Brix

Windows Phone Dev Center

Makes sense... This shouldn't be free, but should also be very reasonable too. I think $19 is a good price point...

Read More

Horton hears a Hadoop [set of icons]

Hortonworks - A Set of Hadoop-related Icons

The best architecture diagrams are those that impart the intended knowledge with maximum efficiency and minimum ambiguity. But sometimes there’s a need to add a little pizazz, and maybe even draw a picture or two for those Powerpoint moments.

We’ve built a small set of Hadoop-related icons that might help you next time you need that picture focusing on the intended function of various components. If you need the official logos then you can grab those from the various Apache project sites. We also put in some thoughts on how to use them for best effect, but feel free to ignore us and use them however you like.

For this v1.0 we’ve covered some basics of physical and software components and put them into a Powerpoint template. Love them? Hate them? Want something different? Let us know and we’ll see if we can add them to the set and maybe even build a Visio stencil…

Because everyone needs Hadoop icons.... um... right? Well if you do, here you go...

(via gigaom - Need help with your Hadoop marketecture? Here are some open source icons)

Read More

Place your bets now on who's going to be the next Microsoft CEO...

TechCrunch - You Can Bet On Who Will Be Microsoft’s Next CEO (Marissa Mayer Pays Out 33 To 1)

A betting service has compiled a list of potential candidates for Microsoft’s soon-to-be-vacant CEO role that you can wager on. It’s a partially serious, partially silly list. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner as CEO? Perhaps. Apple CEO Tim Cook as the new Microsoft boss? Probably not.

But Turner pays out but 6 to 1 while Cook is a 100 to 1 longshot, so place your bets accordingly.

...

Ladbrokes - Next Microsoft CEO

Interesting the odds on Steve Sinofsky... Also a shame we don't the Gu in this list... :P

Read More

[Humor] NSA Job Application Flowchart

AllThingsD - NSA Job Application Flowchart

Read More

Reminder, you only have a couple days left to buy a TechNet subscription... Get'm while you can...

THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS DIVA - Last chance to buy Technet Plus - this time on a VL contract

In just a few days, the window will close on the ability to purchase TechNet subscriptions.  From then on a retail purchase it will be good for a year.  As a partner your TechNet subscription will expire and not be renewed.

But if you purchase TechNet over a three year volume license spread payments contract you can lock in TechNet subscriptions for the next three years. 

...

Like I said, get them while you can, you've only got a couple days...

Read More

Featuring Agile Planning and Portfolio Management with TFS2013 in these Hands On Labs

Brian Keller - New Lab: Agile Planning and Portfolio Management with Team Foundation Server 2013

When we shipped the Visual Studio 2013 ALM Virtual Machine earlier this month we were still in the process of finalizing one of the hands-on-labs / demo scripts. This work is done and you can now access Agile Planning and Portfolio Management with Team Foundation Server 2013.

If you are not yet familiar with the agile planning tools introduced in Team Foundation Server 2012, you should start with Exercise 1 of this lab. In this exercise you will learn how these tools can be used to help a small team manage their backlog, break work down into iterations, and track this work using a task board.

Exercise 2 introduces the new agile portfolio management capabilities introduced in Team Foundation Server 2013. These capabilities allow you to “scale agile” across your entire organization by providing you with a hierarchy for your backlog. This means that I can have several smaller teams sprinting together to achieve related objectives, and I can track that work in either a top-down or bottom-up manner.

Finally, Exercise 3 will show you a few of the ways that Team Foundation Server 2013 allows individual teams to maintain some autonomy in the way they work without requiring core process template changes on the shared team project that you might be using across the entire organization. Features such as the Kanban board and work item tags can be customized on a per-team basis to adapt to the individual needs of those teams.

[GD: Post Leached in Full...]

Nice way for you to see and start getting comfortable the new features coming in VS/TFS 2013 as it related to planning and management...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Visual Studio 2013 ALM and HOL VM now available...
Playing with SQL Server 2014 (and VS2013) the Azure VM way
VS2012 Update 1 ALM VM and HOL / Demo Scripts now available
The VS 2012 ALM Virtual Machine and VS 2012 Update 1 (In short, there's an updated VM coming, don't install it on this VM if you don't have too)
The big BK has updated the Visual Studio 2012 RC ALM Virtual Machine and Hands-on-Labs
VS 11 ALM DemoMates updated for the Beta
Visual Studio/TFS11 ALM Demo's... Mate! See the VS/TFS 11 ALM's hands-on-labs in DemoMate form
Visual Studio 11 ALM VHD's, VirtualBoxed (and even on x86 hosts too)
Want to play with Visual Studio 11 & TFS 11 Dev Preview but don't want to install it (and have access to a Hyper-V server)? Here's a VHD just for

Read More

The .NET Universe Poster for 2013 is now available

Microsoft Downloads - .NET Universe 2013 Poster

.NET Universe Poster (2013) showing the main .NET SDKs, libraries and packages classified by application type and package type (NuGet, official support, etc.)

Version: 0.9

Date Published: 8/22/2013

NET_Universe_Poster_2013.zip, 15.6 MB

This poster shows how the trends are changing in .NET as we´re moving from a single large .NET Framework to a more loosely coupled and autonomous libraries and sub-frameworks, many of them even published as NuGet packages and evolving continuously. The number of those libs and packages is evolving and growing, so having a visual photo of it can be helpful. The main idea of the poster is to show that you can create any kind of application with .NET, from the largest applications to the smaller apps: in the cloud, on the web, on desktops, tablets, phones, and in embedded environments (even watches!). Any of those application types is shown as category/bucket in the poster and within each bucket we´re tossing the main libraries/SDKs/packages out. Then we´re also showing cross-cutting concerns buckets like Security, Data Access, and .NET Extension libs. The main categories are the following: - Emerging application patterns (Mobile, Web & Cloud) - Established application patterns (Desktop and Embedded) - Cross-Cutting concerns Finally, the poster is putting a check/mark on every lib/SDK bullet depending if they are or not complaint with the following: - NuGet package - Open Source - Microsoft Official Supported You can print it out or use it as in electronic format (.PDF). Using the electronic format (.PDF) allows you to access each content URL/page related.

And as you would expect, there are active links in the PDF to help take you to the respective tech...

Read More

Putting that new 3D printer to use... printing fossils!

Nextgov - A Database of 3D Fossils, Ready for You to Explore and Print

Fossils are a marvel to behold. Coils of shell, lines of bone, spreading branches of a plant -- these are the records of the lives that once graced our planet, a reminder that our moment is not only the present alone, but an accretion of the years before it.

Beyond their beauty, fossils are also physical objects, with heft and depth, contours and textures. These qualities are not easily conveyed across the Internet, which tends to resolve on screens, brightly colored and flat. 

This shortcoming is being addressed by a new database launched by the British Geological Service, which contains not just thousands of images of fossils held in a host of British collections, but also 3D models of many of those fossils, which can be viewed, rotated, and enlarged in an interactive display case (if your browser supports HTML5) and can additionally be downloaded as .ply and .obj files, for those who would like to try printing out their own version. Here, for example, is a 3D, interactive trilobite for you to play with.

...

GB3D Type Fossils

It's a shame there's no TRex yet... :P

Read More

Wrapping your head about Azure, one infographic at a time... Windows Azure Infographics

Alexandre Brisebois - These Windows Azure Infographics are Amazing Communication Tools!

The Windows Azure Infographics are a great way to get to know many of the Windows Azure services.

Zoom into details, download and print them in order to teach, share and explain Windows Azure to your peers.

Most of these posters and all future posters will link to deeper technical content through the mobile tags for a more complete set of information.

Windows Azure Documentation - Infographics

These technical posters and infographics are excellent for learning and training. Zoom into details, download, or print (26X30"/66.04X99.06cm). Most of these posters and all future posters will link to deeper technical content through the mobile tags for a more complete set of information.

Windows Azure

An overview of Windows Azure features, services, and common uses.

Cloud Services

Scaling an application using Cloud Services, including designing, deploying, and tuning.

Media Services

The workflow for Media Services, from media creation through consumption.

Infrastructure Services

Common scenarios for Infrastructure Services.

Integration Platform

The MS integration platform, including enterprise integration with the cloud.

Mobile Gaming

The features for gaming, including data, computing, authentication, and media.

Mobile Services

Features and capabilities, including storage, authentication, push notifications, and custom server-side code.

Read More

Cool LA Metro Rail Ridership Visualization (and developer.metro.net news too)

LA Metro Ridership

(via reddit/LosAngeles - Metro Rail Network Ridership - class project from last spring I've wanted to show off for awhile (crossposting from dataisbeautiful))

Also of note:

http://developer.metro.net/

APIs / Feeds / Data

• Realtime API
• Trip Planner Information
• GTFS Data
• GIS Data
• Bikeways Data

Developer Resources

Welcome to Metro’s developer site – this is a website for technical individuals and entities who are using transportation and multi-modal data in interesting ways. Since first releasing our transit data in the summer of 2009, numerous developers have incorporated our data into their applications — you can see a list of  featured applications here.

New Items!

• Metro’s Developer Challenge — Winning entries selected! (added June 2011)
• Metro Realtime API — real time arrivals in JSON, JSON-P, and XML (added March 2011)
• Revised Terms and Conditions, specifically Section 2 (added Jan 2011)
• We’ve added notifications/alerts to the GTFS, GIS, and Bikeways pages — sign up and get alerts when this information changes. (added Jan 2011)
• Metro Bikeways Data (added Dec 2010)

Getting Started

Become a member: Joining is FREE and will allow you to comment and have direct communication with our developers responsible for each data sets.

Get an API Key: You must have a valid API Key to utilize the Trip Planner Information Feed. You will be assigned a key at registration. Check your profile page to retrieve your API key.

Read the Policies: Please familiarize yourself with our Terms and Conditions, and Policies for using the various data and this website.

Read the Trip Planner Information Feed documentation: The web services offers data from 65+ Southern California transit agencies.

Read the FAQ: Questions about this site, the data or tools needed to utilize the data.

Read More

Buying your own Mobile Launch Platform from NASA, bid now...

DVICE - Bid on a piece of NASA history

Have you ever wanted to own a piece of NASA history? Here's your chance: NASA is currently seeking bidders for three of its launch pads used during moon missions. Originally built in 1967, each 3700 ton pad was officially used at the Kennedy Space Center to not only carry the Apollo moon program's rockets from an assembly area to the launch site, but to also send those rockets into space. The launch pads were later redesigned to accommodate space shuttles and were used regularly until 2010. Note that it's just the pads themselves that are for sale, not the crawler transporters.

Due to the enormous size and weight of the pads, moving them to a museum would be extremely difficult, and few have adequate space to store and display them. Considering that the launch pads come equipped with the necessary equipment, supplies and connections to launch a rocket...

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON KSC MOBILE LAUNCH PLATFORMS

Synopsis - Aug 16, 2013

RFI - Mobile Launch Platforms - Posted on Aug 16, 2013

General Information

Solicitation Number:
RFI-KSC-MLP2013

Posted Date:
Aug 16, 2013

FedBizOpps Posted Date:
Aug 16, 2013

Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action:
No

Original Response Date:
Sep 06, 2013

Current Response Date:
Sep 06, 2013

Classification Code:
W -- Lease or Rental of equipment

NAICS Code:
237990

Contracting Office Address

NASA/John F. Kennedy Space Center, Procurement, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899

Description

This notice is issued by the NASA/KSC to post a Request for Information via the internet, and solicit responses from interested parties. This document is for information and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to comment and respond to this request. Interested parties are invited to submit written comments or questions to the Contracting Officer listed below no later than August 30, 2013. When responding please reference RFI-KSC-MLP2013.

This presolicitation synopsis and Request for Information is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. Respondents will not be notified of the results.

See the attached RFI file for further details.

The mentioned RFI doc's are actually pretty cool. If you've ever wondered what made up a launchers, check the doc's out...

Introduction: NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is soliciting information and/or concepts relating to traditional and non-traditional reuse or disposal options for the former Apollo and Space Shuttle Mobile Launch Platforms (MLPs). These large structures are no longer in use at KSC, and currently there is not a foreseeable Agency need. NASA currently has no appropriated funds for any divestment option.

The MLPs were used by KSC for stacking, transporting, and launching operations during a Space Shuttle flow. The MLPs were originally constructed and used for the Apollo Program in the 1960’s – early 1970’s, and were then renovated and modified to support the Space Shuttle Program. The last launch off an MLP was July 8, 2011.

Figure 1 & 2. MLP-1 at KSC Park Site, MLP-1 underneath

These three (3) nearly identical MLPs are comprised mostly of steel and weigh approximately 8.2 million pounds each. They measure 160’x135’x25’ (Length x Width x Height). The height does not include the holding post shown in the Figure 1. They also have three (3) flame holes shown in Figure 2. Each MLP is a two-story hollow structure featuring an elaborate maze of pathways, compartments, plumbing, and electrical cabling.

Purpose: The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to gather data for KSC to assess potential divestment strategies for one (1) or more of the three (3) MLP(s) available. This RFI requests interested parties to provide concepts and supporting information on one or several of the options listed below. KSC may be willing to enter into reimbursable agreements to provide working area, heavy equipment operations, and unique engineering support. All options may occur after completion of the General Services Administration (GSA) property disposal process, through which NASA would completely divest ownership responsibilities for the MLPs.

...

Read More

You can have my WP8 when you pry it from... these monkey's fingers...

Windows Phone Central - Even monkeys in Finland enjoy using Windows Phones

Who said it were only humans who could work a smartphone? Pictured above is a cheeky little chap who's currently wielding a Lumia Windows Phone. Visitors were not only able to take shots of the monkey enjoying some tunes through Xbox Music, but they probably found themselves being filmed for the others in the pack to have a gander at later on in the evening. So how does a primate come to own a Lumia smartphone?

A visiting tourist managed to drop the device into the enclosure, which was taken up by one of the primates who refused to allow zookeepers to retrieve the handset. ...

I see a new Microsoft commercial coming...

Read More

[Limited time offer, open unit Sept 6th!] You know you can use TFS 2013 in production, right? But pre-release stuff is scary? How about if there were some Microsoft Experts on standby to help you upgrade? Sign up now for the Team Foundation Server 2013 Upgrade Weekend, September 13-15

Team Foundation Server 2013 Upgrade Weekend

Are you excited to upgrade to Team Foundation Server 2013? Are you comfortable running pre-release software in production? If so, you might want to consider scheduling your upgrade for the weekend of September 13-15. During this weekend, Microsoft experts will be standing by to help support you in the event that you have questions or something goes wrong. If you are interested in taking advantage of Upgrade Weekend, please complete this brief survey. This information will be used by Microsoft to determine our technical support staffing needs. This will also allow us to send you additional information before Upgrade Weekend to help you prepare for a successful upgrade. This survey will remain open until September 6. Please contact VSEAP[at]Microsoft[youknow]com if you have any questions about this offer.

If you're thinking about upgrading to TFS2013, this is an opportunity you really should not miss. How often do you get a chance to have someone standing by just to help you, and free at that? You provide six fields of info, a TFS Server to upgrade and they provide the stand by experts if you need help or support.

Read More

Taking the Bus to the next stop... Why you, Dev and IT, should be looking at the Windows Azure Pack.

In the Cloud - What’s New in 2012 R2: Enabling Modern Apps with the Windows Azure Pack

Don’t let the title fool you – this post is critically important for Developers and IT pros.

The reason I call out this warning up front is that often, when I’m speaking at conferences around the world, as soon as I start to discuss the developer perspective and developer tools, many IT Pros in the room starts playing Angry Birds while they wait for the developer section to be over.

Why is it so important for IT Pros to understand how modern applications are built? The answer is simple: IT Pros are the ones who build and operate the infrastructure that hosts these applications, and, the more you know about how these applications are built, the better you will understand their platform requirements.

That’s the tactical reason. There is also a strategic reason.

If your organization is not already in the process of defining it’s cloud strategy – it soon will be. You need to be a contributor and leader in these conversations. By mastering today’s topics, you can become a part of the conversation and define the long-term solution, rather than someone who is simply reacting to decisions they were not a part of making.

The future of the IT Pro role will require you to know how applications are built for the cloud, as well as the cloud infrastructures where these apps operate, is something every IT Pro needs in order to be a voice in the meetings that will define an organization’s cloud strategy. IT pros are also going to need to know how their team fits in this cloud-centric model, as well as how to proactively drive these discussions.

These R2 posts will get you what you need, and this “Enable Modern Business Apps” pillar will be particularly helpful.

Throughout the posts in this series we have spoken about the importance of consistency across private, hosted and public clouds, and we’ve examined how Microsoft is unique in its vision and execution of delivering consistent clouds. The Windows Azure Pack is a wonderful example of Microsoft innovating in the public cloud and then bringing the benefits of that innovation to your datacenter.

The Windows Azure Pack is – literally speaking – a set of capabilities that we have battle-hardened and proven in our public cloud. These capabilities are now made available for you to enhance your cloud and ensure that “consistency across clouds” that we believe is so important.

A major benefit of the Windows Azure Pack is the ability to build an application once and then deploy and operate it in any Microsoft Cloud – private, hosted or public.

This kind of flexibility means that you can build an application, initially deploy it in your private cloud, and then, if you want to move that app to a Service Provider or Azure in the future, you can do it without having to modify the application. Making tasks like this simple is a major part of our promise around cloud consistency, and it is something only Microsoft (not VMware, not AWS) can deliver.

This ability to migrate an app between these environments means that your apps and your data are never locked in to a single cloud. This allows you to easily adjust as your organization’s needs, regulatory requirements, or any operational conditions change.

A big part of this consistency and connection is the Windows Azure Service Bus which will be a major focus of today’s post.

The Windows Azure Service Bus has been a big part of Windows Azure since 2010. I don’t want to overstate this, but Service Bus has been battle-hardened in Azure for more than 3 years, and now we are delivering it to you to run in your datacenters. To give you a quick idea of how critical Service Bus is for Microsoft, consider this: Service Bus is used in all the billing for Windows Azure, and it is responsible for gathering and posting all the scoring and achievement data to the Halo 4 leaderboards (now that is really, really important – just ask my sons!). It goes without saying that the people in charge of Azure billing and the hardcore gamers are not going to tolerate any latency or downtime getting to their data.

With today’s topic, take the time to really appreciate the app development and app platform functionality in this R2 wave. I think you’ll be really excited about how you can plug into this process and lead your organization.

This post, written by Bradley Bartz, a Principal Program Manager from Windows Azure, will get deep into these new features and the amazing scenarios that the Windows Azure Pack and Windows Azure Service Bus enable. As always in this 2012 R2 series, check out the “Next Steps” at the bottom of this for links to additional information about the topics covered in this post.\

...

We’ve listened closely to our customers and focused on improving the following 3 core scenarios with the Service Bus 1.1 for Windows Server and the Windows Azure Pack:

1. Application Messaging Patterns with Service Bus
   With Service Bus we support basic as well as advanced messaging patterns for use in modern applications. With this release we’ve also added new messaging capabilities, additional protocols, and simplified APIs to enable developers to write better applications faster.
2. Manage Messaging entities across clouds
   Whether you’re developing for the public cloud, private cloud, or a hosted cloud (with your service provider), developers will be able to write applications once and then use it anywhere within these clouds – without needing to recompile. This can be done by simply changing an entry in the configuration file.
3. Offering Alternatives with Service Bus
   Whether you are an Independent Software Vendor developing software and services for others, an enterprise which deploys home-grown applications, or a developer looking for an easy to deploy messaging component, you can use Service Bus in your topology. With this release we’ve improved the hosting capabilities for enterprises and service providers enabling new hosting topologies.

Don't usually see this kind of dev depth on TechNet. And also since it's on one o f my favorite topic's, Private Clouds, couldn't resist... If you're build LOB app's, take a peek at this article. It's take the bus to the next stop... (title!)

Related Past Post XRef:
TechEd NA 2013 Day 1 Announcement Round-up - VS 2013, TFS 2013, InRelease, SQL 2014, Server 2012 R2, BizTalk Services, Azure-in-a-box and even more Azure...

Read More

Trie in C# - Example of prefix string search and substring search to implement auto-completion/Intelli-sense like features

George Mamaladze - .NET Data Structures for Prefix String Search and Substring (Infix) Search to Implement Auto-completion and Intelli-sense

Background

Typing a complete word in a search box is out. So if you are implementing a modern user friendly peace of software you will very probably need something like this:

I have seen many questions about an efficient way of implementing a (prefix or infix) search over a key value pairs where keys are strings (for instance see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10472881/search-liststring-for-string-startswith).

So it depends:

* If your data source is a SQL or some other indexed database holding your data it makes sense to utilize it’s search capabilities and issue a query to find matching records.

* If you have a small amount of data, a linear scan will be probably the most efficient.

* If you are searching in a large set of key value records you may need a special data structure to perform your search efficiently efficiently.

Trie

There is a family of data structures referred as Trie. In this post I want to focus on a c# implementations and usage of Trie data structures. If you want to find out more about the theory behind the data structure itself Google will be probably your best friend. In fact most of popular books on data structures and algorithms describe tries (see.: Advanced Data Structures by Peter Brass)

...

I came across this via George's CodePlex project today, https://trienet.codeplex.com, and thought it pretty darn interesting and cool. Now to see how I can use this in my code. I've cobbled together some much simpler and lamer, so I'd love to see if this will let me provide something much more polished.

Read More

Avoid virtual stagnation - "INFOGRAPHIC: Top virtualization skills to boost your career"

pluralsight - INFOGRAPHIC: Top virtualization skills to boost your career

Are you a dev pro who dabbles in IT? If so and you’re not building up your virtualization skills, what’s holding you back? It’s possible you’re not sure where to begin your training, and if that’s the case, we’re here to help.

If you haven’t heard, we recently acquired TrainSignal, the leading provider of IT training online. Over the next few months, we’re working to get TrainSignal’s entire library in our platform, so you’ll have access to more training at the same low price, including the virtualization courses below.

Save this infographic for when you’re ready to start training!

The best part, IMHO, is the roadmap at the bottom...

Read More

Free eBook #2 for the day: Dependency Injection with Unity

Microsoft Downloads - Book Download: Dependency Injection with Unity

Unity is a dependency injection container. It is full-featured, with support for instance and type interception and custom extensions. Unity 3 also supports Windows Store apps.

Version: 1

Date Published: 8/20/2013

DependencyInjectionWithUnity.epub, 1.0 MB

DependencyInjectionWithUnity.pdf, 3.3 MB

Authors: Dominic Betts, Grigori Melnik, Fernando Simonazzi, Mani Subramanian.
Foreword by Chris Tavares.

Over the years software systems have evolutionarily become more and more complex. One of the techniques for dealing with this inherent complexity of software systems is dependency injection – a design pattern that allows the removal of hard-coded dependencies and makes it possible to assemble a service by changing dependencies easily, whether at run-time or compile-time. It promotes code reuse and loosely-coupled design which leads to more easily maintainable and flexible code.

The guide you are holding in your hands is a primer on using dependency injection with Unity – a lightweight extensible dependency injection container built by the Microsoft patterns & practices team. It covers various styles of dependency injection and also additional capabilities of Unity container, such as object lifetime management, interception, and registration by convention. It also discusses the advanced topics of enhancing Unity with your custom extensions.

The guide contains plenty of trade-off discussions and tips and tricks for managing your application cross-cutting concerns and making the most out of both dependency injection and Unity. These are accompanied by a real world example that will help you master the techniques. Keep in mind that Unity can be used in a wide range of application types such as desktop, web, services, and cloud. We encourage you to experiment with the sample code and think beyond the scenarios discussed in the guide.

In addition, the guide includes the Tales from the Trenches – a collection of case studies that offer a different perspective through the eyes of developers working on the real world projects and sharing their experiences. These chapters make clear the range of scenarios in which you can use Unity, and also highlight its ease of use and flexibility.

Whether you are a seasoned developer or just starting your development journey, we hope this guide will be worth your time studying it. We hope you discover that Unity container adds significant benefits to your applications and helps you to achieve the goals of maintainability, testability, flexibility, and extensibility in your own projects. Happy coding!

While I use Unity, I'm not really very good with it (and dare I say it's mostly "bing-code"?). I'm looking at this book hoping it will help me become one with Unity.. :P

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Enterprise Library 6 and Unity 3 are out today... (Semantic Logging and Transient Fault Handling Application Block added, other Blocks updated)

Read More

Free eBook #1 of the day: Windows Azure SQL Reporting Succinctly

Syncfusion - Windows Azure SQL Reporting Succinctly

Windows Azure SQL Reporting provides a flexible platform for managing and viewing reports. Its cloud-based architecture means that its services are instantly scalable for any number of users—adding and removing servers through Windows Azure is significantly simpler than managing on-site servers—and maintenance costs are kept to a minimum. With Windows Azure SQL Reporting Succinctly by Stacia Misner, you'll learn how to set up a SQL Database server, migrate your existing data to the cloud, design report items, and deploy complete reports to the server. Instruction is also provided for managing user roles and creating reusable report parts.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to SQL Reporting
2. Getting Started
3. Report Development
4. Report Management
5. Report Parts
6. Security
7. Report Access

NOTE: They ask for your name, email address and phone. Based on past experience, have a care with what information you provide (which is not validated or really used for the download) [cough... possible spam alert... cough] But remember, free isn't free...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Need some help up the WPF learning curve? "WPF Succinctly" from Syncfusion is now available (and free :)
TypeScript Succinctly - Free [Name/email-ware] eBook
Getting sharp with F# with the free "F# Succinctly" eBook [reg-ware]
Syncfusion helps shed a little succinct light on LightSwitch with "LightSwitch Succinctly" (Reg-ware)
"JavaScript Succinctly" - Another free (reg-ware) eBook from Syncfusion
Get into sync with HTTP with the new free (reg-ware) Syncfusion Succinctly eBook, "HTTP Succinctly"
Spelunk the technical details of the PDF format with "PDF Succinctly" from Syncfusion (Free/reg-ware PDF/Mobi ebook)
"Git Succinctly" Free/reg-ware PDF/Mobi ebook)
jQuery Succinctly - Free eBook (reg-ware, PDF and/or Mobi)

Read More

Paul Thurrott shares his latest Windows Phone 8 book online (and free) (651 pages, all about using WP8 and many of its app's...)

Paul Thurrott's Windows Phone 8 - Windows Phone Book - Version 1.02

I've embedded the SkyDrive version of Version 1.02 above, IFrame style. If it doesn't come through, click through and you can get it via his Skydrive/DropBox/Google Drive links.

Here's a snap of it in SkyDrive (which seems to be a pretty darn nice web representation of the PDF)

Here's some snips from the book (page 3)

Who this book is for

Paul Thurrott’s Windows Phone 8 was written for current and future users of Windows Phone 8. It was written for real people—users—not technical experts, or those who need to manage mobile devices in a corporate environment.

The book makes no assumptions about your experience with prior versions of Windows Phone, but by this point in time, I do assume that you have at least some experience using a smart phone in general.

If you are already at least passingly familiar with Windows Phone, you can use the book as a reference and pick and choose from the various topics. Otherwise, you should read the first two chapters in sequence and then branch out from there. There’s no need to read the book in sequence, though you may of course do so if you wish.

For the few times in which you need to connect your handset to a computer, I assume that the computer will be a Windows-based PC, preferably using Windows 8 or RT. Those with older versions of Windows should be able to follow along. (Those with Macs are on their own. Just as in real life.)

This book is…

Free. Paul Thurrott’s Windows Phone 8 is free, my gift to the Windows Phone community. You should never pay for this book, nor should you acquire it from any source other than its author and copyright holder, Paul Thurrott. Updated versions of this book are available from Windows Phone Book and Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows. In the future, versions for Kindle and various e-book platforms will be made available as well.

Not complete. This book is comprehensive but it is never complete. That is, I will continue updating the book to address ongoing changes to the platform and to add more content. I will keep providing these free updates to this free book for as long as Microsoft and Nokia, its primary platform partner, provide updates to Windows Phone 8.

Original. Paul Thurrott’s Windows Phone 8 is an original work, written solely by its author.

Not perfect. If you find any mistakes or omissions, or have suggestions for future versions of the book, or ideas for future books, please email me: This book should be as useful as it is up-to-date.

Specifically about Windows Phone 8. When Microsoft finally moves forward with a new version of the operating system (Windows Phone 8.1, 9, whatever), I’ll provide new editions of the book (Paul Thurrott’s Windows Phone 8.1 or whatever). These future editions will not be free, but will be priced as low as possible. Think less than a dollar. 

Read More

Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel (Insert lame "Fuzzy, wuzzy was an Excel..." snip here)

Microsoft Downloads - Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel

The Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel performs fuzzy matching of textual data in Excel.

Version: 1.0.0.0

Date Published: 8/16/2013

FuzzyLookupAddInForExcel.zip, 1.5 MB

The Fuzzy Lookup Add-In for Excel was developed by Microsoft Research and performs fuzzy matching of textual data in Microsoft Excel. It can be used to identify fuzzy duplicate rows within a single table or to fuzzy join similar rows between two different tables. The matching is robust to a wide variety of errors including spelling mistakes, abbreviations, synonyms and added/missing data. For instance, it might detect that the rows “Mr. Andrew Hill”, “Hill, Andrew R.” and “Andy Hill” all refer to the same underlying entity, returning a similarity score along with each match. While the default configuration works well for a wide variety of textual data, such as product names or customer addresses, the matching may also be customized for specific domains or languages.

Supported Operating System

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

• Preinstalled Software (Prerequisites): Microsoft Excel 2010
• ...

Sounds like something I might be able to use... Now it would be even better if this were a .Net assembly that I could use. Will have to look at this and see what my programming options are...

Read More

Oh Concierge, can you NuGet me [a related package recommendation?]... Hello NuGet Concierge...

NuGet blog - Introducing NuGet Concierge

Twelve weeks ago, Microsoft’s Azure Applications Platform & Tools team welcomed three 2nd-year college students, Jaspreet Bagga, Jeremiah Jekich, and Melissa McNeill, and gave them an opportunity to contribute to NuGet.

Package Discovery

Discovering NuGet packages can be a daunting process. The best way to do so is either via word of mouth or online search. However, your friends aren’t always available when you’re looking for a new package at 3:00 in the morning. You could try to search online, but you’d need to spend unnecessary amounts of time sifting through the results before finding a package that may be helpful. We recognize that this time is better spent actually developing software. We wanted to create an accessible service to deliver package recommendations using real world data about how developers use packages.

NuGet Concierge

Thus was born NuGet Concierge, a package recommendation service that recommends packages to developers based on the packages currently being used in their project. We envisioned developers being able to upload their project’s packages.config file to the NuGet Concierge website, which would then present them with a list of packages they may find useful. Something along the lines of “Most projects that use Package A also use Package B.”

So, at the beginning of the summer, we put out a call to the community via Twitter, asking for developers to upload their projects’ packages.config files to help seed our newly conceived recommendation service. We asked, and you delivered! Armed with a collection of over 350 packages.config files, the NuGet Concierge project was brought to life.

Implementation

The first step was to translate the collected .config files into a structure that would allow us to analyze the relationships between packages. How often are individual packages used? But, more importantly, how are packages used together?

So, we took the community’s .config files and parsed them, using them to construct a graph. In doing so, we tracked the number of times a package was used, a value we referred to as the package’s “popularity.” We also tracked how many times two packages were used together, which we referred to as the packages’ “pairing frequency.”

Determining Relationships

Let’s say we have two packages, EntityFramework and jQuery...

...

NuGet Concierge’s Potential

NuGet Concierge is just a conceptual prototype at the moment. But if the concept proves to be valuable, we imagine NuGet Concierge as a fully integrated part of NuGet, having a presence in the Gallery, Visual Studio’s Manage NuGet Packages dialog, and the Package Manager Console. The greatest part of NuGet Concierge is the data powering it. The ability to reference real data about how packages are actively used together opens up a world of opportunities that can potentially help NuGet better serve developers.

Until then, please feel free to try out NuGet Concierge at http://concierge.nuget.org and let us know if you like the concept and/or the recommendations. You can also see the code for NuGet Concierge at http://github.com/NuGet/Concierge.

Interesting... But more, I love how it's OSS.

Read More

North by Northwest [Cadence] - Up coming casts from Northwest Cadence

Northwest Cadence - Upcoming Events and Training Courses

Northwest Cadence hosts regularly-scheduled events designed with our clients and community in mind. Come ready to ask hard questions, gain new knowledge, and be part of the social occasion.

What’s more fun than talking about tough technical topics, showing amazingly cool demos, and sharing insiders tips learned through years in the trenches?

...

• Aug. 27. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Agile Development using Visual Studio ALM
• Sep. 3. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Deliver Early, Often, and Exceptionally with Visual Studio Premium
• Sep. 10. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Automating your Software Delivery Pipeline
• Sep. 11. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Enterprise Dependency Management with NuGet and Chocolatey
• Sep. 17. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Introducing the New Git Integration with TFS 2012
• Sep. 18. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Continuous Delivery with Team Build and Octopus Deploy
• Sep. 24. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Automating your Software Delivery Pipeline
• Sep. 25. 13 | 9:00AM PT | Webcast | Register | Enterprise Dependency Management with NuGet and Chocolatey

...

Bunch of free webcasts from the boys and girls at Northwest Cadence.

What's with the dupe's? That's a feature, not a bug... It's a great chance to interact with the presenters for the given session if you missed the first one.

Read More

Get the Getty... Getty Trust opens 4600 free (and original resolution) images in its Open Content Program...

groovy post - Getty Trust Launches 4600+ Free Images in Open Content Program

Are you a fan of classic art? John Paul Getty was also. And this week the Getty Trust launched a new Open Content program that is making available high-res digital reproductions of all classical artwork which the Getty Trust holds the rights to including works from the J. Paul Getty Museum collections, Getty Research Institute and the Getty Conservation Institute. The collections are some of the best in the world including featured pieces by Monet, da Vinci, van Gogh, and Rembrandt. All free of charge to anyone on the planet!

Click here to view all 4,689 entries in the Open Content program.

The best part of this announcement is that the full original resolutions of these images are already up and publicly available to download, completely free of charge. This brings some of the file sizes end up quite large, some over 100 MB in size. The full resolution doesn’t have a link on the gallery page however, to access it you’ll have to visit the individual record (page) for each piece of art.

...

The J. Paul Getty Trust Home - Open Content Program

The Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required.
Please see the related press release and Getty president and CEO Jim Cuno's announcement on The Getty Iris for additional information.

Why Open Content?
The Getty adopted the Open Content Program because we recognized the need to share images of works of art in an unrestricted manner, freely, so that all those who create or appreciate art—scholars, artists, art lovers, and entrepreneurs—will have greater access to high-quality digital images for their studies and projects. Art inspires us, and imagination and creativity lead to artistic expressions that expand knowledge and understanding. The Getty sincerely hopes that people will use the open content images for a wide range of activities and that they will share the fruits of their labors with others.

Access to Open Content Images
Initially, the images available through the Open Content Program are of works in the J. Paul Getty Museum's collections. Over time, images from the Getty Research Institute and the Getty Conservation Institute will be added. Museum images can be found on the Museum's Collection webpages or on the Getty Search Gateway. Those available as open content images are identified with a "Download" link. Images provided are JPEG files at a minimum of 300 DPI. See the Guidelines for Successful Printing (PDF) for more information on file format.
If you need new photography, resizing, or color correction, you can request those services by Contacting Museum Rights & Reproductions. A fee (PDF) will be charged for this service.

Public Domain and Rights
Open content images are digital surrogates of works of art that are in the Getty's collections and in the public domain, for which we hold all rights, or for which we are not aware of any rights restrictions. Rights restrictions are based on copyright, trademark, privacy and publicity laws, and contractual obligations. If an image you want is not designated as an open content image, it is because one or more of the above identified legal rights restricts our ability to make that content available under this program. While the Getty reviews the metadata about each picture before making it available as an open content image, there may be some underlying rights that were unknown to us. For that reason, we strongly recommend that users consider the possibility that rights of third parties may be involved, and permission for those rights may need to be obtained by the user for the proposed use.

Fair Use
Open content images can be used for any purpose without first seeking permission from the Getty. Images of many other works in the collections are also on our website in varying formats. The Getty supports fair use of images when the applicable legal criteria are met. For more information on use of digital images of works in the Getty's collections, please refer to the Getty's Terms of Use.

...

Open Content Search

Now I didn't see an API, but still think an app or Getty Paper of the Day or thing would be very possible... :)

Read More

Free Payment icon's for your online web purchasing...

Six Revisions - Free Online Payment Icon Set (PSD and PNG)

This free set of icons contains the logos of top online payment solutions and credit cards like PayPal, Google Wallet, Visa, and MasterCard. This icon set contains 12 icons and is perfect for use in e-commerce websites. We have also included the PSD file in case you want to make changes to the icons.

This free icon set is brought to you by Responsive, a design and development studio in Bucharest, Romania.

If you've been looking for a free set of these, well here you go! (and if not, well they might come in handy in the future...)

Read More

"The Developer Evangelist Handbook" - A Handbook for hopeful, new or even current, developer evangelists

The Developer Evangelist Handbook

A developer evangelist is a spokesperson, mediator and translator between a company and both its technical staff and outside developers.

If you think this would be a good role for you, here's the developer evangelist handbook which gives you some great tips on how to do this job.

Using the handbook you'll learn how to:

• Find great web content and promote it.
• Write for the web and create engaging code examples.
• Use the web and the social web to your advantage to reach, research and promote.
• Prepare and deliver great presentations.

...

Jump directly to a chapter

• The developer evangelism handbook
• Defining developer evangelism
• Start with the right mindset
• Find your role and play to your strengths
• Remove the brand
• Work with the competition
• Work with your own company
• Prepare for outreach
• Get speaking opportunities
• Deliver a talk or workshop
• Write great posts and articles
• Write excellent code examples
• Prepare great slide decks for presentations
• Record your output
• Know and use the (social) web
• Work with the conference buzz
• Additional presentation tips
• Thanks!

You can also go to the full table of contents.

...

Table of Contents

A this is the kind of role I hope to grow up and be one day, I supposed I better get reading!

Read More

It's official, we've got a Windows 8.1 GA/release date...

Blogging Windows - Mark your calendars for Windows 8.1!

I know a lot of folks are eager to find out when they will be able to get Windows 8.1. I am excited to share that starting at 12:00am on October 18th in New Zealand (that’s 4:00am October 17th in Redmond), Windows 8.1 will begin rolling out worldwide as a free update for consumers on Windows 8 through the Windows Store. Windows 8.1 will also be available at retail and on new devices starting on October 18th by market. So mark your calendars!

Though I'm sure it will be available on MSDN much sooner... :)

Read More

Eight tips for the Windows Live Writer Power Blogger...

Jon Galloway - 8 Windows Live Writer tips

Windows Live Writer really is an amazing application. It does one job really, really well. I've been using it on several blogs including this one (running on Community Server, Herding Code podcast (running on Wordpress). I've also used it to manage content in a variety of ways, including posting content to "hidden" blogs which were really content repositories for consumer facing sites.

Scott Hansleman's post last week (Download Windows Live Writer 2012) reminded me that I've been meaning to post some of my favorite tips I've picked up along the way.

1. Change Editor Font Size with a Simple CSS Edit

2. Sync Your Drafts With SkyDrive

3. Export Your Settings as a Reg File

4. Look Up Your Blog Password Using the WLW API

5. Enable HTML5 Features

6. Use (And Write) Plug-Ins

7. Post Drafts To Your Blog

8. Installers

Some awesome tips from Jon on using our favorite Blogging tool...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
One way to avoid Windows Live Writer "Temporary Post" spam - Use Scott Lovegrove's WLWBackup
Windows Live Writer Backup v3 Released – Don’t leave your WLW without it…

Scott's "Type what I mean and not what I type" (aka AutoReplace/Correct) Windows Live Writer Plugin is back...
Cool Windows Live Writer Tip of the [whatever] - Changing the location where your drafts and recent posts are stored with one click...

A story about the web tech used to get a nonprofit up, running, online and all free

Get a little more Live... QFE Windows Live Essentials 2011 update released

Love Windows Live Writer? Wish it did more? Then write a plugin… and here’s some tips for doing just that… (with even some VB in there for flavor :)
Writing Windows Live Writer Plugins, or want too? Then Scott has written an article just for you!
Guide to Writing a Windows Live Writer Plugin in C#

Snag Rick's updated SnagIt Windows Live Writer plugin

Windows Live Writer Twitter Notify URL Shortner Setting Utility OR How to tweak the URL Shortner used by the Twitter Notify plugin without edit your registry
Windows Live Writer, Twitter Notify and bit.ly? Yep, here’s how…
Windows Live Writer, the Twitter plugin and changing its URL Shorter
Scott, Mr Windows Live Writer Plugin, has released the source to his Insert Video Plugin

Read More

WPF/SilverLight IG Theme is now free from Infragistics

Brian Lagunas - FREE IG Theme for WPF and Silverlight Microsoft Controls

It’s that time again!  Time for another free WPF and Silverlight theme for the Microsoft controls.  The last free theme I gave away was the Metro Light and Dark Themes for WPF and Silverlight Microsoft controls.  Soon after I released that theme, there was an overwhelming positive response from the community.  So, I am fulfilling the promise I made in my last post.  I am releasing another free theme.

Today’s free theme is the standard Infragistics Theme, also referred to as the IG Theme.

Silverlight

First up is the Silverlight version of the Infragistics’ “IG Theme”.  We are providing a style for each primitive control that appears in the Visual Studio toolbox, the controls that ship with the Silverlight SDK, and of course some controls from the Silverlight Toolkit.  As you can see, we organized the themes by their respective source so that you have the option to use which ever control you need and not add any unnecessary dependencies on other assemblies.  Here is the list of resource dictionaries you are getting.

...

WPF

Next up is the WPF version of the Infragistics’ “IG Theme”.  Just like the Silverlight version, we are providing you with styles for the primitive WPF controls that appear in the Visual Studio toolbox, as well as some controls in the WPF Toolkit.  Just like for the Silverlight version, we organized the themes by their respective source so that if you don’t use the WPF toolkit, there will be no need for your code to take a dependency on it.

Here is the full list of support controls:

• Accordion
• AutoCompleteBox
• Button
• CheckBox
• ComboBox
• Expander
• GridSplitter
• GroupBox
• Label
• ListBox
• PasswordBox
• ProgressBar
• RadioButton
• Rating
• RepeatButton
• Slider
• TextBox
• ToggleButton
• Tooltip

Kudo's again to Infragistics and Brian for releasing this theme for free...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Brian (and Infragistics) is having a theme give-away... As in giving away some of their WPF and Silverlight themes

Read More