Chris Koenig

All you XNA fans – get over to the XNA Creators Club Online – the new XNA Game Studio 3.0 beta has just been released!  This version includes a lot of updates from the CTP released earlier this year – some of the new features include: C# 3.0 coding...

I ditched my iPoo a long time ago because I got fed up with using the crummy iTunes software that crashed my system 60% of the time I plugged the dang thing in, and bought a 30 GB Zune (this was way before I joined Microsoft).  I was instantly taken...

Are you excited about the WPF but concerned about the learning curve? Have you seen Silverlight but don’t know where to get started? Or are you curious about how tools like Expression Blend help designers and developers deliver great user experiences...

… so we spent it at a local .NET User Group meeting!  If you’re looking for one, you can always check http://www.codezone.com , http://www.southcentraldevelopers.com or this blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/chkoenig .  Here is the list of upcoming...

I had a great time speaking at the Dallas .NET User Group meeting last night on WPF and Silverlight Styles, Templates and Data Binding.  I’ve posted the slides up on Slideshare and the demos (with the pptx) out on FolderShare .  Here are the...

ALERT – ALERT For those who haven’t yet heard, the upcoming Houston TechFest has been POSTPONED due to imminent threat of Hurricane Ike.  Michael and the HDNUG leadership are busy scouting new dates in January or February of ‘09.  As soon as...

Not sure if everyone is subscribed to the MSDN Flash or not, but if you’re not – it is a GREAT resource for finding out what’s happening in your area.  I like the fact that it’s customized to show events and happenings in your geography (my copy...

I had a great time last night at the OKC Developer Group meetings.  I love presenting there because you actually get to do 2 presentations – one at lunch (there was about 85 people in attendance) and one at dinner (about 15 people).  That’s...

This one almost snuck by me, but on my Microsoft Downloads email today I saw that the ADO.NET Data Services bits had been updated to work work with Silverlight.  I had a demo a week or so ago that I tried to do where I was wiring up an ADO.NET Data...

Kudos and congratulations to our very own MVP David Walker for his starring role on this week’s Quest Software’s Pain-of-the-Week.  The topic was Quest Software's Pain-of-the-Week: The Converging Paths of SQL Server and SharePoint - Don't Wait Until...

Microsoft MVP Raymond Lewallen is coming to the North Dallas .NET User Group on Wednesday, September 10th at 6:00 PM to present an in-depth look at Behavior Driven Development (BDD). BDD is driven by business value!   The practices of BDD include...

Hey everyone – make sure you’re registered for Houston TechFest next weekend, Sept 13th.  The registrations are filling up fast, so make sure that you get your name in there.  Michael and company have arranged for an AWESOME set of speakers...

I found this GREAT tool for Silverlight developers today called Silverlight Spy .   It’s basically a jazzed-up runtime inspector of running Silverlight applications.  Point it at a web site containing a Silverlight control and it will snoop...

Just a quick note to let you know that the MSDN Events team is coming out to Little Rock, Arkansas on September 25th, 2008 at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock .  There will be three separate sessions focusing on Visual Studio, WPF and Vista Security...

As you all know, the Internet Explorer team has been working hard to make IE8 the most standards compliant browser around.  Unfortunately, not all web sites confirm to these standards today.  If you have concerns about your web site rendering...

As someone who has been using .NET Reflector for a very long time, and actually put their name and email address in the registration form, I received this interesting news the other day in an email from Lutz concerning the future of .NET Reflector: After...

The time is NOW and the word is GO!  The 2008 Tulsa TechFest web site is up and running (and it looks great, by the way!)  Get on over to http://www.tulsatechfest.com to see what David has planned for this year’s extravaganza.  Last year...

The agenda and session list for the 2008 Houston TechFest has been finalized!  Head over to http://www.houstontechfest.com and register today.  Houston TechFest is happening on September 13, 2008 at the University of Houston.  There are...

You all know how big a fan I am of Microsoft Photosynth – for those (like me) that missed their update, they are sporting a new web site featuring a TON of new synths , as well as a tool to create your own synth !  Not sure how?  They’ve got...

For those that don’t know about it, there is a really cool Internet browser for Windows Mobile 6 called Skyfire .   Skyfire shows a web site on a WM device just as it looks on a normal PC browser.  The user can then pan and zoom and interact...

Toi Wright has just updated the We Are Microsoft web site for registration to the 2008 We Are Microsoft Charity Challenge Weekend.  As we did last year, we’re putting together this event to enable developers to give back to their local communities...

I had a great time last night speaking at the inaugural Shreveport .NET User Group meeting!  The first meeting was held in the science lecture auditorium (Mickle Hall 114) at Centenary College in Shreveport.  There were about 26 people in attendance...

In addition to the list I posted the other day, I also want to call out a couple of new and improved event series that we’ll be hosting over the next year.  We’re combining ArcReady and MSDN Events into a one day technical extravaganza, with ArcReady...

Saturday, August 16, 2008 11:00 AM: NTPCUG Microsoft ACCESS SIG - Regular monthly meeting: Special Guest Speaker Excel MVP Michael Alexander will show us some sample Tips for Power Users and give us an overview of what he will cover in his Power User...

Want to learn about all the new features of .NET 3.5 SP1?  Head over to the Microsoft Download Center and download your copy of the .NET 3.5 Enhancements Tranining Kit.   The kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, demos, and event materials...