April, 2009

My husband was a philosopher before becoming a computer scientist and uses the following metaphor to describe his work in failure locality. Think back to Christmas time prior to the 80s.  Remember decorating the tree or the house with long strands...

The long awaited developer tooling is here!  The Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4.0 RTM (Release to Manufacture) is now available through DreamSpark, MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDN AA), MSDN, and TechNet Subscriptions. Join the buzz - Bob Muglia...

Microsoft Learning offers Free Learning Snacks around key Windows 7 capabilities Learn more about Windows 7 in these short, easy-to-understand, Learning Snacks. Windows 7 New Features Windows 7 for IT Pros: Troubleshooting Platform in Windows 7 Windows...

“I want to upgrade by one of the programs I use doesn’t work on Windows 7.” “I upgraded to Windows 7, but one of my applications doesn’t work” Are these the statements you mutter under your breath, twitter about, or shout loudly at those around you? ...

Some resources for keeping up-to-date on Windows 7: Develop For Windows 7 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd433113.aspx Windows 7 on Channel 9 - http://channel9.msdn.com/Windows/ E7 Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/e7 Windows 7 Developers Blog ...

Engineering Windows 7 has a list of 27 changes since the Windows 7 Beta.  See the full article on their site for pictures and details. Here are a few I’m excited to try out. 1. Improved taskbar thumbnail overflow Our customers are enjoying how windows...

Visual Web Developer Express 2008 is a free web tool that allows you to build CSS, HTML ASP.NET, C#, VB, and JavaScript and supports additional frameworks like ASP.NET MVC, AJAX, Silverlight and jQuery. ASP.NET is releasing a new series of how-to videos...

I’d like to say that being a Microsoftee, I have the most recent news about Windows 7 RC.  However, I’ve been a part of the guessing game just as much as you have.  Great news with dates from Engadget this morning with official news of the Windows...

To complement our reading of Code Complete through the technical book club, here is a great listing of 10 Programming Proverbs by Kevin Pang that every software student should know.  Read his article for the full descriptions of these in the software...

Before the “ For Dummies ” series swept the category of yellow books, a smaller more targeted set of books helped students everywhere get to know their literature classics called Cliffs Notes . Without these books I would not have understood most of the...

You may have read an earlier C4F article Creating a Vanity Search Page using Windows Live Search.  I wanted to create a Vanity mashup for my Facebook page to show off my YouTube channel, but while there were YouTube blocks on Popfly they didn’t cover...

The first book for our technical book club will be Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell.    Why did I choose Code Complete? In conversations with recent college grads and college students, there are...

As it turns out many people find my blog by searching for this rule, so I thought I’d make a post that’s more on target for people to find.  This is a great concept and especially relevant for teams headed to the Imagine Cup US finals in Cambridge...

I was excited to see Mary Jo Foley’s post about the All-women's team making the Imagine Cup contest finals   Ashley Myers, Erin “Ed” Donahue and Malisa Vongskul are working on Computer-Assisted Medication Regimen Adherence (CAMRA) and make up team...

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition is one of those events that is so amazing you just can’t describe. If you ever have a chance to volunteer, mentor a team, or donate some cash to this organization don...

An awesome combination of LEGO ® and Rock Band ® , check out this announcement. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090421005517&newsLang=en “LEGO Rock Band combines the multiplayer music experience of...

Keith Combs , one of our IT Professional Evangelists and fantastic blogger announces the release of ServerQuest II a learning game for IT enthusiasts.  If you’re a student interested in IT and IT aspects of software, keep in touch with Keith’s blog...

“ Ask anyone over 25 what digit they use to ring a doorbell and most people will pop up their index finger. But ask a youngster and they are much more likely to extend a thumb.”  Read the full article here Do you wonder how texting might change the...

Internet Explorer (IE) 8 has a number of cool features including Color- Coded Tabs that group together connected tabs, web slices, and accelerators.  What is an accelerator ?  An accelerator allows you to quickly take an action based on highlighted...

The first book we’re reading for our Technical Book Club is Code Complete. Order it today if you want to read along. I’ll provide summaries and insights as we go along. Here are some other book recommendations and books I'm considering for this year for...