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.
For more information on Visual Studio 2010, try these links:
MSDN AA Administrators can use the following steps to find Windows 7 RC in MSDN AA
I’m still waiting to verify on DreamSpark – still says Beta 2 for me.
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 MangoBunnies. Their project:
CAMRA “discreetly and conveniently supports HIV and AIDS patients by providing a medication regimen directly to their personal mobile device. CAMRA uses an XML Web service to send profile data from the Web site to a patient’s personal mobile device and retrieves information about user history. This application leverages the portability and convenience of mobile devices to turn them into stand-alone healthcare products.”
You can vote for them or your favorite US Team from the Top 15 at the People’s Choice Award.
I’m extremely excited for this year’s US Finals event, which kicks off a week from Saturday in Cambridge, MA. We have 15 fantastic teams attending and have a pretty exciting event in store for attendees. Can’t wait!!
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’t even think twice. I volunteered at a regional event at NASA in Ohio and it’s truly life changing.
Oprah recently talked to three all-female teams from this year’s FIRST competition and the winners from 2007. Read more about their inspiring stories here.
What is FIRST? The passion of Dean Kamen, an accomplished inventor, founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With the support of many of the world’s most well-known companies, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Vex Tech Challenge for high-school and middle-school students, the FIRST LEGO League for children 9-14 years old, and the Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6 to 9 year-olds. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.
FIRST won a Microsoft Unlimited Potential Grant this year. I always think of this as Microsoft’s version of the Angel Outreach from Oprah.
Some other robotics competitions that inspire students all around us:
FIRST - high school and middle school BEST – based in Texas, this high school and middle school competition is an alternative to FIRST with a lower cost. It used to be Texas-only but it looks like they are expanding Imagine Cup Robotics – university student competition which is virtual for the beginning rounds RoboChamps – students and professionals compete virtually in simulated robotics competition events like Robot Sumo wrestling
FIRST - high school and middle school
BEST – based in Texas, this high school and middle school competition is an alternative to FIRST with a lower cost. It used to be Texas-only but it looks like they are expanding
Imagine Cup Robotics – university student competition which is virtual for the beginning rounds
RoboChamps – students and professionals compete virtually in simulated robotics competition events like Robot Sumo wrestling
I’m sure there are others these are just the ones I know of off-hand, feel free to list them in the comments.
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 Rock Band® with the fun, customization and humor of the LEGO videogame franchise packed with brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favorites suitable for younger audiences, including:
Blur: “Song 2”
Carl Douglas: “Kung Fu Fighting”
Europe: “The Final Countdown”
Good Charlotte: “Boys and Girls”
Pink: “So What”
Players will become rockers as they embark on a journey to stardom that the whole family can enjoy as they work their way through local venues, stadiums and fantasy locations on Earth and beyond that mimic the imaginative settings that the LEGO world offers. Also continuing the LEGO “build-and-play” gaming experience, players will be able to create their own LEGO Rock Band style as they customize their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, including roadies, managers and crew. LEGO Rock Band supports Rock Band instruments, as well as other music game controllers. “
Read the full article here
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 the Technical Book Club.
Read this post on How to Participate, the motivation, and the first chapter.
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Here are some goals I have in mind for the book club: