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Sign up today to mentor a student team for Imagine Cup 2011. Meet highly qualified student developers who use technology to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.
Windows Azure SDK for PHP version 3.0 has been released. This Open Source SDK gives PHP developers a “speed dial” library to take full advantage of Windows Azure’s coolest features. On top of many improvements and bug fixes for this version. We’re particularly excited about the new service management possibilities and the new logging infrastructure.
W3C’s HTML Working Group has announced that the HTML5 specification has reached Last Call status. This is an extremely important milestone as Last Call is the point at which W3C thinks the group’s work has reached a point of reasonable stability.
Last Call is also essentially a call for all communities to confirm the technical soundness of the specification, after which the group will shift focus to gathering implementation experience and building a comprehensive test suite.
Now that Office 365 is in Beta, we’ve seen increased demand for information about the service and the platform. TechEd North America 2011 was no exception, with packed sessions that covered both IT Pro and Developer topics on SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online.
Below you’ll find links to the hot Office 365 sessions from TechEd 2011, links to the Office 365 Training Course on MSDN and details on how to sign up for your own Office 365 Beta account for self-paced training and customer demos.
Customers have begun ordering the HTC Trophy, the first Windows Phone 7 device to come to Verizon Wireless.
The HTC Trophy is available online at www.verizonwireless.com, and in Verizon Wireless Communication Stores on June 2.
Johnny Simmons, 14, of Salt Lake City, UT won the Windows Phone 7 Unleashed developers contest Friday in Bellevue, WA. Voting for the top spot was made by fellow participants in the day-long event, which helped developers get started writing applications.
Each participant began their application the morning of the event that included speakers and introductory developer demos. For Johnny’s winning application, a user creates a signature block and is able to email or send it via SMS. He showed the application to the other participants, who also showed off their applications, including applications that would report the value of the homes given your current location, an accident reporting app, and a time tracker for handymen.
Once you have tried out Windows Azure on a 30-day Pass, no credit card, free accounts, you can now migrate your work into a paid account. Move your Azure application, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure AppFabric to a Azure account without losing all that hard work.
Your free Azure account is, with your permission, moved to your paying Azure account.
The Windows Azure platform 30-day free pass now meets your need to try it, then buy it.
The links to migrate your apps will be in the introductory email that you receive once you sign up for the 30-day Pass.
Congratulations to Team USA who will join the 124 teams from 73 countries and regions, all of whom will make their way to New York City for the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals this July! With projects ranging from helping provide better drinking water worldwide to addressing disease and disaster relief, these students are changing the world.
Microsoft's Web Camps are events that allow you to learn and build websites using HTML5 technology and more. This event is a unique opportunity, partnering classroom learning and hands-on-labs, and leveraging experts to help you build new and exciting websites. No matter what your expertise in web development, these Web Camps are the perfect opportunity to get hands-on experience and 'unleash your coding genius'.
Previews have begun worldwide of the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango,” through a series of media events around the world. “Mango” will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The “Mango” release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall.
You can get the tools from developer tools for Windows Phone.
Announcements this week at Tech•Ed included new products for System Center, Forefront, and new support for Linux-based CentOS in Hyper-V.
Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) will contain updates that improve stability, performance and security. SP1 will consist of minor updates, including all public updates through June 2011 and all cumulative updates through April 2011, in addition to some previously unreleased fixes that were made specifically for this service pack.
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) v3.5 Extension for SAML 2.0 Protocol enables .NET developers to build applications for the enterprise and government that require SAML 2.0 Protocol support and interoperate with identity services on a wide variety of platforms.
The May service update has been released for SQL Azure that includes Management REST API, multiple servers per subscription, a JDBC driver, and DAC Framework update.
Microsoft announced new enhancements and features specifically requested by developers and IT professionals for a future release.
With the “favorite” functionality on the app, Greektown Casino-Hotel guests can check whether their favorite slot machine is occupied or open. This exciting feature allows guests to maximize their time, whether it’s by checking out other slots or enjoying a break at one of the casino’s dining spots — Bistro 555, The International Buffet, Shotz Sports Bar & Grill Or the Eclipz Lounge. The Application can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Marketplace
Additional features include:
The application was developed by Bally Technologies, a Las Vegas-based company that designs, manufactures, operates and distributes advanced gaming devices, systems, and server-based solutions worldwide. The Greektown app is integrated with Bally’s SDS® slot management and accounting system, CMP™ player-tracking system, iVIEW™ player user interface network, and Bally Business Intelligence™ solutions also in use at Greektown.
Windows Azure AppFabric has released enhancements to Service Bus as part of the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP May release, and an upcoming release of the AppFabric Developer Tools and Application Manager as part of the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP June release.
Announcements were made on the team blog and at Tech·Ed.
At Tech·Ed North America Microsoft announced that the next public community preview SQL Server Code Name “Denali” is expected in summer 2011.
You can sign up today for the community preview.
A new book, SQL Server Hardware, tells you what you need to know about your hardware before you create your database. The book by Most Valued Professional Glenn Berry of Newsgator describes how you can determine your hardware requirements for SQL Server.
Glenn shares his expertise gained at Newsgator with ISV Architect Evangelist Bruce Kyle in this video on Channel 9.
ISV Video: New Book Explores How to Determine Your Hardware Requirements for SQL Server.
Several new features for Windows Phone ‘Mango’ have been announced at Tech•Ed this week for Windows Phone users. The team highlighted a number of new capabilities designed to help you stay productive on the go, including the ability to save and share Office documents through Office 365 and Windows Live SkyDrive.
The new capabilities will be available in the next version of Windows Phone—codenamed "Mango”, slated for release later this year.
Developers submitting 5 new Windows Phone 7 apps will get Free advertising promotion for 1 of their 5 apps. Their choice app will get 25,000 impressions of WP7 mobile advertising across MSN, Windows Live and Fox Sports Mobile networks, approx. 60 days. This offer will end 6/30 and is limited to 4 per developer and a total of 200 offers. The full offer details page will not be active until Monday. http://bit.ly/WP7DevOffer
Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Visual Studio, announced a key pillar of the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio at Tech•Ed North America today. He also demonstrated a connector that will improve the interaction between the development and operations teams.
When your user drags your Web page to their Windows 7 taskbar, desktop, or start menu, Windows creates a shortcut to that Website and can expose additional functionality (like tasks in a jumplist). The feature, called Pinned Sites, lets your Web application acts and feels like an installed Windows application in Internet Explorer.
My colleague Jennifer Marsman has published a 10-part series on pinned sites in Internet Explorer. She describes what it will mean for your Web application and how to provide tons of Windows 7 features from your Web page.