I received a really nice and unexpected bit of feedback on my NLarge screen magnifier utility , which is a shared-source project available for download on Codeplex. I use NLarge to magnify the screen, make annotations and focus attention during technical presentations. It turns out that NLarge also...

Evaluation Center Experience the New MSDN Evaluation Center The new central location to register to download trial software. Receive updates during the evaluation period and enjoy a set of technical resources put together to enhance your evaluation experience. ...

[Default] Evaluation Center Experience the New MSDN Evaluation Center Register to download software and receive regular updates during the evaluation period, directing you to technical resources, including how-tos, webcasts, downloads, virtual labs, and more. ...

[Default] Spotlight on: Windows Vista Innovate on Windows Vista Innovate on Windows Vista helps fast-track solutions to success, by qualifying for a logo that tells everyone your existing application works with Windows Vista, and by providing plenty of assistance as you develop new...

The Expression line of applications are a suite of designer tools that help integrate the designer and developer's workflows. Expression Web Expression Web was released earlier this month. It's a professional design tool for creating modern, data-driven, standards-compliant websites, and although...

[Default] Spotlight on: Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Power in Simplicity Are you interested in building robust and reliable, mission-critical applications? From architecture through development and testing, the integrated tools...

Vista has launched here in Ireland, and I'm long overdue for writing about that (soon, soon)... but what better way to wrest myself away from Gears of War than to say that XNA Game Studio Express has been released , and now you can author your own games for the XBox360 in C#! So much for free time...

Inspired by Photosynth's autoplay feature , I created a Photosynth screen saver this morning. :) [EDIT: I've taken this down. I've had enough people tell me that it doesn't work properly on their PCs. I have left a link to the code down below, in case someone wants to make this work! Apologies etc...

I'm impressed by the diversity and quality of the nascent indie games featured in this XNA Video Montage , which was released on Major Nelson's blog in a format which is optimized for the Zune.* XNA Game Studio is a set of tools based on Visual C# Express 2005 that allow students and hobbyists to...

I'm hanging out at the Visual Studio booth in the Ask the Expert area at Tech Ed Europe: Developers. I took a swing around the Ask the Experts area to see what's going on, and to meet some of the folks from the product teams. I met two guys from the SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition team, Manikandan...

Last Wednesday I gave a presentation to SkyNet , the University of Limerick Computer Society. About 30 undergrad and graduate students turned up for Atlas, Vista and pizza, in that order. What I showed them was basically a riff on my ASP.NET "Atlas" presentation from ApacheCon Europe , but I also...

The Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta has just been released. Here's the official announcement . You can register for and download the Service Pack updates at http://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio . (The Connect site is a bit finnicky. If you get stuck, see below.*) The usual caveats about...

Clare asked Dave and me to reveal some hidden gems that are available from Microsoft for technical support and learning. This was our list of the shiniest gems that we find devs and IT pros don't always know about. I also posted the Best of the Rest as an article. 1. MSDN Forums – http://forums...

Dave and Rob ’s Top 5 Tips for Free Microsoft Support and Learning Resources 1. MSDN Forums – http://forums.msdn.com Looking for answers to your toughest technical questions? The MSDN forums are regularly visited by members of the product teams, MVPs, influencers, and experts. Broken out...

Special Section: ASP.NET 2.0 [ASP.NET] [Windows Forms and Smart Clients] Dundas Map for .NET Released Dundas Software has officially launched Dundas Map for .NET - available for ASP.NET with AJAX support and Windows Forms. [ASP.NET] September ASP.NET Support...

One of the image processing technologies that Andrew Blake (of Microsoft Research) showed us during his Computer Science and Illusion presentation was image quilting , where bits of a texture are stitched together into a large, cohesive image. A cool application of image quilting is texture transfer...

Two big announcements: Windows Vista RC1 Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is complete , as per Jim Allchin's announcement , and available to download for TechBeta and TAP participants! Vista RC1 will also be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers next week , and available to the general...

Recently updated to its 2006 edition, Scott Hanselman's Ultimate Developer and Power Tool List for Windows is definitely worth a visit for developers and IT professionals. A few utilities from his list of top ten for 2006 that I have recently found useful: Lutz's Reflector and its addins are...

I just got word (through my free subscription to the Connect program) that XNA Game Studio Express Beta is available for download at the Microsoft Download Center from the location at this link . You may be interested in a discussion in the XNA Team Blog about the XNA Framework Content Pipeline ....

" XNA Game Studio Express is a set of tools based on Visual C# Express 2005 that allow students and hobbyists to build games that target both Windows and Xbox 360." To all the enthusiasts, hobbyists and students who have ever asked me if they could develop apps for their Xbox 360, this is the news...

Through KarstenJ comes this gem of a tutorial in the Expression blog that walks you through building an interactive media player using Expression Interactive Designer for the Windows Presentation Foundation. I went through the tutorial end-to-end tonight. Along the way, you'll: Create a Play...

The MSDN Documentation: It's immense, it's thorough, it eats over a gig of my disk (and is worth it)... but it's never updated quickly enough. And more egregious, it's doesn't include the wisdom that comes from years of community development! I mean, which is more likely to help you find a solution...

Web Resources [Default] Game Developers: Make Contact in Seattle August 14 - 15, Seattle, WA Get smart on developing for Xbox 360, Windows Vista, Xbox Live, and casual gaming at Gamefest. [Mobile and Embedded...

There's a series of four afternoon webcasts coming up about new developer technologies, and you're very welcome to attend. 20 Jun: Irish MVP Kieran Lynam on ASP.NET Atlas , 22 Jun: TFS expert Martin Woodward on Team Foundation Server , 27 Jun: Avalon junkie Rob ("Me") Burke on the Windows...

"You can think of WinFX like .NET 3.0," I often said, while trying to explain how these new technologies fit into the .NET picture. Well, now, WinFX is called .NET 3.0 . It's just a change in branding. WinFX will still run against the 2.0 version of the CLR runtime. It's still the same (impressive...