So TechTalkBlogs has been alive for 188 days, that's half a year! I am so happy to see this little thing continue to grow.
Just look how it's grown over the past month
Top 10 posters to TTB
It's the usual suspects
[ Current Listening to : Lovely Day - Donavon Frankenreiter ]
Shall we play a game? - That was a tag line from the classic 1983 sci-fi movie War Games. Ah memories.
Today is August 31, and the download of Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express (Beta) is here.
Overview XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily create video games using new, optimized cross-platform gaming libraries for Windows and Xbox 360. This beta release targets the development of games for Windows. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season and will enable development of games which target Windows and upon purchase of a XNA Creators Club subscription, the Xbox 360 as well. Related Resources XNA Developer Forums XNA Game Studio Express Beta Readme XNA Developer Center Microsoft Visual C# Express 2005
Overview
XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily create video games using new, optimized cross-platform gaming libraries for Windows and Xbox 360.
This beta release targets the development of games for Windows. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season and will enable development of games which target Windows and upon purchase of a XNA Creators Club subscription, the Xbox 360 as well.
Related Resources
So, shall we play a game?
[ Current Listening to : Of All the Gin Joints in All the World [Tommie Sunshine's Brooklyn Fire - Fall Out Boy ]
I had a number of conversations at TechEd last week about people working at Microsoft. Recruiters are going to be in town soon.
Soon Microsoft will be in Australia interviewing interested and qualified candidates for software development positions working on our major products in the US at our corporate headquarters. If you are interested, or know someone who is interested, please have them send their resume/cv to the email ausrec@microsoft.com What are the roles available? Software Development Engineer - Writes product code and solves complex problems. Proficient in C/C++. "You come in every morning and check up on what you've built the night before, see if you've broken anything, or if you've got any bugs to take care of. Right now I'm working on three different design features, so I've got maybe three status meetings a week to check in with everybody--the testers, the developers, the Program Managers, and together we figure out what we need to do. The core of my job is designing new features and figuring out how to get them to work. I loved that you could pursue an idea seriously in college and have other people around to talk to about it. I wanted to stay in a place like that. And Microsoft turned out to be that place." Qualifications: A BA/BS or a graduate degree in computer science or related technical discipline. Strong coding skills, proficiency in C/C++, vision, and a passion for technical excellence. Software Development Engineer in Test - Creates tools to test and improve products. Proficient in C/C++/C#. So what exactly is it? A Software Design Engineer in Test is a developer who designs, develops, and maintains automation systems-often expandable suites containing multiple automation programs-to be used by the development and test teams. They are responsible for utilizing innovative test technologies to develop a product's testing strategy, and for facilitating the creation and execution of automated test suites across a diverse set of technologies. They look at source code for potential problems using Microsoft internal tools. They also reproduce, debug, and isolate problems, and verify fixes. Qualifications: A BA/BS or graduate degree in computer science, electrical engineering or related technical discipline. Strong coding skills, proficiency in C/C++/C#, Visual Basic experience, and a relentless attention to detail. There are multiple positions open, so please share the information with someone as good as you are. All positions are at our corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. We do require functional level English language skills, written and spoken. Who is a qualified candidate?* Someone that has very strong abilities to write code in C/C++* Someone that is very driven and passionate about technology, desiring to make software products that will go all over the world* Someone who holds a 4 year BS/BA degree or a higher graduate degree, or who will receive one within a year.
Soon Microsoft will be in Australia interviewing interested and qualified candidates for software development positions working on our major products in the US at our corporate headquarters. If you are interested, or know someone who is interested, please have them send their resume/cv to the email ausrec@microsoft.com
What are the roles available?
Software Development Engineer - Writes product code and solves complex problems. Proficient in C/C++. "You come in every morning and check up on what you've built the night before, see if you've broken anything, or if you've got any bugs to take care of. Right now I'm working on three different design features, so I've got maybe three status meetings a week to check in with everybody--the testers, the developers, the Program Managers, and together we figure out what we need to do. The core of my job is designing new features and figuring out how to get them to work. I loved that you could pursue an idea seriously in college and have other people around to talk to about it. I wanted to stay in a place like that. And Microsoft turned out to be that place."
Qualifications: A BA/BS or a graduate degree in computer science or related technical discipline. Strong coding skills, proficiency in C/C++, vision, and a passion for technical excellence.
Software Development Engineer in Test - Creates tools to test and improve products. Proficient in C/C++/C#. So what exactly is it? A Software Design Engineer in Test is a developer who designs, develops, and maintains automation systems-often expandable suites containing multiple automation programs-to be used by the development and test teams. They are responsible for utilizing innovative test technologies to develop a product's testing strategy, and for facilitating the creation and execution of automated test suites across a diverse set of technologies. They look at source code for potential problems using Microsoft internal tools. They also reproduce, debug, and isolate problems, and verify fixes.
Qualifications: A BA/BS or graduate degree in computer science, electrical engineering or related technical discipline. Strong coding skills, proficiency in C/C++/C#, Visual Basic experience, and a relentless attention to detail. There are multiple positions open, so please share the information with someone as good as you are. All positions are at our corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. We do require functional level English language skills, written and spoken.
Who is a qualified candidate?* Someone that has very strong abilities to write code in C/C++* Someone that is very driven and passionate about technology, desiring to make software products that will go all over the world* Someone who holds a 4 year BS/BA degree or a higher graduate degree, or who will receive one within a year.
[ Current Listening to : Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) - Cobra Starship ]
Ok, this post has been long over due.
As some of you know, I had a saga with my LOUD Mambo Shirt. The story ended happily and I got the shirt back, and I looked quite smart last week at TechEd
Well, a kind person sent me two *AMAZING* photos from TechEd 2003
OMG! It's *the dude*. The dude who 'borrowed' my shirt. Posing.
Anyone know this dude??
[ Current Listening to : Alison - Elvis Costello ]
Ok, I have finally gotten around to posting the slides from my presentaion. I used a feature in Powerpoint 2007, to Save as PDF.
I also have posted the OPML of the speakers, which I built in realtime during the event.
If I missed anyone, my apologies - just leave me a note and I will update it.
Thanks to the team from Keyforums. I hope that the next one of these get togethers draws many many more people along.
In the lock note, I quoted some stats
Tejas took a photo, just to be sure we captured all the info
What other stats have we got? I'll sniff around and see what I can find.
Update: Slides and OPML Posted
Today I spoke at the blogs, wikis & rss event, which was held in North Sydney
Here's a map where we were.
I created a simple OPML of the speakers and presented it in a tab on my Windows Live page.
The Speakers today were
Here's the OPML as Text
<?xml version="1.0"?><opml version="1.0"><head><title>OPML exported from Outlook</title><dateCreated>Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:11:23 +1000</dateCreated><dateModified>Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:00:00 +1000</dateModified></head><body><outline text="OMG.tv" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://www.omg.tv/blog/?feed=rss2"/><outline text="frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://blogs.msdn.com/frankarr/rss.xml"/><outline text="FrankArr" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://radio.weblogs.com/0124955/rss.xml"/><outline text="Issues in Information Systems Management" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://michealaxelsen.com/blog/feed/"/><outline text="Corporate Engagement" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/trevorcook"/><outline text="incorporated subversion" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://incsub.org/blog/wp-rss2.php"/><outline text="Hugh Martin" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://hugh-martin.blogspot.com/atom.xml"/><outline text="SplaTT's Blog" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://www.splatt.com.au/blog/index.xml"/><outline text="Thinking Home Business" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/thinkinghomebusiness/iIBM"/><outline text="Life in Chippendale" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://life-in-chippendale.blogspot.com/atom.xml"/><outline text="desparoz OnTheGo" type="rss" xmlUrl="http://feeds.feedburner.com/OnTheGo"/></body></opml>
My slides will be up soon