August, 2011

It’s here! It’s live! You can now register for TechDays 2011 in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver!! We are really excited about the great sessions you will be able to attend grouped into the following content areas: Communications & Collaboration featuring sessions on SharePoint 2010, Office 365, Exchange 2010, and Microsoft Lync Server 2010! Cloud Computing & Online...

Everyone knows how competitive the mobile space is.  There are a wide range of platforms available for you as a developer to adopt and build your mobile app masterpiece, each with their pros and cons.  So Microsoft introduces a new mobile platform (Windows Phone 7 and now the upcoming Mango update) which basically is a reset of the Microsoft mobile strategy and therefore started from scratch...

Back when I was a developer, coding all day (and sometimes all night), the idea of networking could not be further from my mind. I wasn’t thinking about making people aware of my professional “brand”, nor was I thinking of connecting with people – neither to start new and lasting relationships nor learn about trends and latest technologies from them. Like most, it only occurred to me that I should...

You’ve heard or read in ads, videos, presentations, and even in some of my previous posts that developing for the Cloud, specifically Windows Azure , is simple if you’re already doing any kind of .NET development – you’d be able to leverage the skills you already have and the tools you already know. While this is true (in relative context), there is some thinking that needs...

If you find you aren’t busy on Tuesday, August 23 and Wednesday, August 24, you may be interested in attending free an online training event that will bring you to speed on how to build Mango apps. If you’re new to building apps on the Windows Phone 7 platform or a veteran looking to understand the new and exciting features of Mango you can add to your app, this training event will be worth your while...

I’m always on the search for stories of Canadian developers who have either built new applications using Windows Azure services or have migrated existing applications to Windows Azure. The mission: To share how Canadian developers are using Windows Azure to create innovating and unique solutions. This is one of their stories. Large Scale, Highly Available Video and Chat Powered By Windows Azure In...

Remember the Coffee & Code Joey was doing in Toronto? It’s the perfect place to code on your project in a casual environment, grab a good coffee, talk about technology and meet others passionate like you. Put a X on your agenda as we will do one in Toronto the 29th of August at Starbucks on the corner of King and Younge streets (4, King Street W.). I will be there from 1:00pm to 4:30pm...

About once every couple of weeks on Reddit , I see a post like this one asking for advice on preparing for an exam. Whether you are preparing for a .NET exam or an Exchange exam, an ITIL or a Cisco exam, there is a simple plan you can follow to get certified and prepare for exams . Choose your certification goal/exam Figure out what you don’t know Fill in the gaps Take the exam In the last blog, “Does...

Are you passionate about technology? Do you have a desire to share your knowledge with your developer and IT Pro peers? Is there a story that you feel you need to share with the rest of Canada? If you answered YES to any or all of the above questions, you’re in luck!! TechDays Canada 2011 is looking for individuals who have a story to share and want to deliver a session in one or all of the...

There are a lot of different ways to learn a product or feature. You can watch videos, you can read blogs and articles. You can download training kits and developer guides. These work very well when you have a sandbox to play in, somewhere you can try out the features and code shown in the articles and blogs. But what if you don’t have anywhere to try it out? What if trying something out requires having...

Being a mobile developer over the past 4 years has been an interesting experience.  With the advent of modern smartphones with differentiate experiences, we found out that not only is there a viable market for great apps, but that market is booming and very competitive.  We have seen mobile apps that have literally changed the way we interact, live our lives and found ways to fill the lulls...

About ten years ago, I was awarded my Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certification, I can honestly say I have never looked back. I really love being an MCT and being part of the MCT community. MCTs are geeks with personality. If you are passionate technology and like sharing your knowledge, consider becoming an MCT! There is something incredibly motivating and empowering about being able to help...

I recently saw a post in a forum entitled “ drowning in sea of exams ” complaining about how confused they were by the current Microsoft  certification process. At first glance, certification can seem that way, but if you break it down it is actually pretty simple and really makes a lot of sense. If you are thinking of getting certified, you need to complete four steps. Choose your certification...

This post was originally created by Atley Hunter here and is re-posted with his permission. More on Atley:  Atley Hunter has been a developer for more than 15 years and a mobile developer since way before it was cool.  With over 30 apps under his belt and numerous talks, blog postings and HackFests, Atley is continually working to expand his development knowledge and share it to anyone who...

Pinned sites are such a cool feature, easy to implement, and they give a great themed look and feel to your website in IE9. But as soon as we implement a feature for a user, the user changes their mind or adds a new requirement. A while ago I wrote a blog describing how to update the static jump list for a pinned site. Today I’d like to show you how to update the dynamic jump list for a pinned site...

I’m always on the search for stories of Canadian developers who have either built new applications using Windows Azure services or have migrated existing applications to Windows Azure. The mission: To share how Canadian developers are using Windows Azure to create innovating and unique solutions. This is one of their stories. Social Gaming Powered By Windows Azure Social gaming –...

Last week, we announced that Windows Phone 7 Codenamed “Mango” RTM’ed (RTM = Release to Manufacturing).  This is great news for a number of reasons because Mango represents a very enticing update to Windows Phone 7 that in essence puts it at least on par with our competitors from a phone capability and experience perspective and even exceeds our competitors in a number of areas. Some of you may...

Wow! This was quite a Windows Azure Wednesday ! First the Windows Azure Code Gallery , and now, just released, brand new Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio and updates to the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit . Browse the code gallery >> Download the tools >> Download the training kit >> Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio The version 1.4 release of the Windows Azure Tools...

Depending on how you go about learning or finding solutions to problems you encounter, books, presentations, and online articles/blogs may not do it for you. Another way to learn is through code samples - snippets of specific functionality or even full applications that you can step through. Luckily, the Windows Azure Code Gallery has both! With the Windows Azure Code Gallery, you can filter code samples...