"Mouse without Borders" utility from Microsoft Garage (Software KVM + Shared Clipboard + Files) - Think "Input Director/Synergy" from Microsoft [Note: Prototype and free for non-commercial use only)

Next at Microsoft - Microsoft download from The Garage: Mouse without Borders

...

Mouse Without Borders is a project I’ve been familiar with for the last 6 months or so and it’s a wonderfully useful tool. In a nutshell, it allows you to reach across your PC's as if they were part of one single desktop. I have two PC’s on my desk at work connected to 3 LCD screens and using Mouse Without Borders I can move my mouse between the 3 screens, even though one of them is attached to a different PC from the other two. What’s more, I can move files between the 2 computers simply by dragging them from one desktop to another. In fact you can control up to four computers from a single mouse and keyboard with no extra hardware needed – it’s all software magic, developed by Truong Do who by day is a developed for Microsoft Dynamics. The software is easy to setup and in addition to enabling drag and drop of files, you can lock or log in to all PCs from one PC, and as a whimsical bonus is it allows you to customize your Windows logo screen with the daily image from Bing or a local collection of pictures :) I regularly use it to have one PC dedicated to social media streams while I work away on my other PC connected to two screens.

..."

This is a utility like Input Director & Synergy. It lets you share your mouse/keyboard across machines, has a shared clipboard, shared locking, easy file transfer, remote screen capture, etc. What's different is that it's much easier to setup and configure. It's really drop dead easy to install and configure.

Here's some snaps from the install and after;

One thing to note: During the initial configuration, when you're connecting to different machines via the getting started wizard process, a computers name might get cut off and there's no indication of that in the UI. I kept trying to connect to a machine and it was timing out and not working. I thought it was a firewall, VPN issue or something. Nope. I was just missing a trailing "p" from the machine name I was trying to connect too... Doh!

So far it seems to be working fine and just as advertised.

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Synergy – Finally after three years I gave it a try (and must now accept a –5 debuf to my geek cred)
Synergy - Mouse/Keyboard Sharing Utility for Across Different OS's

The XNA Platformer game ported to HTML5... as in wow (and you can get the source too. wow++)

David Rousset - HTML5 Platformer: the complete port of the XNA game to <canvas> with EaselJS

After a couple of hours coding with JavaScript, I’ve finally finished porting the XNA 4.0 Platformer game sample to HTML5/Canvas with the help of the EaselJS gaming framework. This article will provide you the game and the story of some of the questions I’ve asked myself while coding it. If you’d like to know how the game works, simply read the JavaScript commented code available at the end of this article. Please note that my main goal was to better learn JavaScript by writing pure JS code (with no form of dependency to the DOM) and to write a cross-browsers working game and cross HTML5 compatible devices when possible also.

You can play the game directly inside this iframe (left & right arrows keys to move & W to jump). Just press the “Start” button to launch the download sequence and the game itself.

..."

Holy cow... And it's even playable.

New from Amazon, AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio (Think "If you do AWS from VS, get this ASAP...")

Amazon Web Services Blog - New - AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio

"If you are the kind of developer who likes to live in your IDE, you'll really appreciate the new AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio. We've provided you with enough power and control to allow you to develop, test, deploy, and maintain your applications without leaving Visual Studio.

The toolkit is a small (3.5 MB) download for Visual Studio 2008 and 2010. The AWS SDK for .NET is also installed by default:

..."

This looks like an awesome tool for AWS dev's that use Visual Studio.

Like video/vod casts, like those on Channel 9? Wish you could easily watch them on your TV? Say via a Media Center Plugin? And you could get the source to the plugin too?

In geeks we trust … - Video Podcasts on TV

"Yay! Well this is a big deal for me. I’ve had the BT engineers out a couple of times in the last 2 months looking at our internet connection. (I live in the Country and historically have always had very poor connectivity).

But, …For the first time I can now stream video in real time! Just in time for BUILD!

So the first thing I did was set up the Channel 9 RSS Blog feed in Media Center (using the excellent Media Browser add-in). and now I have a nice list of streamable videos:

...

..."

Media Browser

Media Browser is a media aggregator plugin for Media Center that takes your recorded, digital, or ripped media and presents it in a simple, easy to use interface. Media Browser prides itself on delivering a fast, intuitive, media rich experience for the whole family.

Media Browser - Download

"Download

Media Browser is available free of charge for NON-COMMERCIAL personal use. Media Browser currently is available for Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7. Further license information can be found on the about page .

The latest version of Media Browser is 2.3.2

Source Code

The latest development version of Media Browser is updated as soon as developers commit any changes, and is hosted kindly by Google Code. Development versions of Media Browser are recommended only for developers, experienced testers, or those otherwise interested in compiling from Media Browser from source code. You may get the code via any Subversion client:

..."

This plugin looks like one of the easiest ways I've found to watch videocasts on my TV. After a minor bit of setup, plugging on the RSS feeds for the shows I want to watch, the rest is drop dead easy. I've tried other means, but none were as easy as this...

Oh and the fact we can get the source to it to makes this +10! :)

Want Denali CTP3 (aka next version of SQL Server)? Here's a Hyper-V VHD just for you (in 36 parts, but I've also provided direct download URL's for use in your DM of choice...)

Microsoft Downloads - SQL Server DENALI CTP3 Demo VHD

"A Hyper-V image of SQL Server Denali CTP3 in action

Quick details

Version: 1.0
Date Published: 9/8/2011

Language: English

...

The following software is configured on the virtual machine:

• SQL Server "Denali" CTP3
• SharePoint 2010
• Office 2010

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

• a Windows Server 2008R2 edition with Hyper-V role enabled.
• Drive formatted to NTFS.
• Processor: INTEL VT or AMD-V Capable
• RAM: 8GB or more. Recommended 16GB+
• Hard disk space required for install: 60GB

..."

Nice means to play with the next version of SQL Server without installing it, assuming you have access to a Hyper-V compatible server (or Win8 in the future... :)

 

There has to be a better way to redistribute VHD's. Anyway, here's the direct download URLs for ready pasting into you download manager of choice...

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part01.exe
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part02.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part03.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part04.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part05.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part06.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part07.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part08.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part09.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part10.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part11.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part12.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part13.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part14.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part15.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part16.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part17.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part18.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part19.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part20.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part21.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part22.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part23.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part24.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part25.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part26.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part27.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part28.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part29.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part30.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part31.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part32.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part33.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part34.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part35.rar
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/E/93E0C6BA-0317-4972-AB56-7C242391DD68/CTP3Image/SQLServerCodeNameDenaliCTP3.part36.rar

Powerful PowerPoint Presentation Points... Professional video templates you can use to spice up your presentations

PowerPoint Blog - Fabulous, free video templates available now

"I'm thrilled to announce a special new collection of 34 PowerPoint 2010 video templates, available now as free downloads on Office.com!

Use them as-is, or step through the procedures (that appear in each template's Notes pane) to learn how to reproduce the look of each template, thereby enhancing your PowerPoint skills.

...

..."

Microsoft Office Templates - Video Templates

I can always use some professional help (NO, not that kind...)(Well...ok... maybe... a little... ;)

I'm thinking of using these in some of my future presentations, just to add a little "hey, you can wake up now" to them... :P

Sell it baby... Sell it! Now that you've built your awesome WP7.x app, how about a toolkit to help you promote and sell it?

US ISV Evangelism - Toolkit Helps You Market Your Phone Apps

"You've built a great Windows Phone app – now you need to market it. The Windows Phone Marketing Kit for Marketplace App Publishers is now available on App Hub.

This easy to use toolkit is designed to help you start promoting your Windows Phone app in all your marketing activities and on your website.

What you'll find in the toolkit:

• Microsoft Logo, Button and Icon Guidelines for Windows® Phone Marketplace Application Developers
• Windows® Phone Logos
• Start screen (in lockup with chassis)
• Windows Phone Chassis
• Download for Windows Phone Buttons (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish)
• Windows Phone Icon to denote that application is for Windows Phone
• PSD file with sample banner

..." [GD: Post Leach Level: 99%]

App Hub - Windows Phone Marketing Resources

"...

Microsoft Windows Phone Marketing Kit (PDF, 611 KB)
The Windows Phone Marketing Kit is designed to help you quickly start promoting your Windows Phone app on your website and in all of your marketing communications. The kit includes easy to follow guidance, examples of how to use the Windows Phone images and logos in advertising and links to resources. Get started marketing your Windows Phone app today!

...

..."

Here's a snip from the 12 page PDF;

Hold my place, please? Sure! And here's a free placeholder image control for WPF, Silverlight and Windows Phone to do just that!

Delay's Blog - Know your place in life [Free PlaceImage control makes it easy to add placeholder images to any WPF, Silverlight, or Windows Phone application!]

"One of the challenges with referencing online content is that you never know just how long it will take to download... On a good day, images show up immediately and your application has exactly the experience you want. On a bad day, images take a looong time to load - or never load at all! - and your application's interface is full of blank spaces. Applications that make use of remote images need to be prepared for variability like this and should have "placeholder" content to display when the desired image isn't available.

Of course, there are a variety of ways to deal with this; I thought it would be neat to create a reusable, self-contained class and share it here. I envisioned a simple control that "looked" like a standard Image element (i.e., had the same API), but that seamlessly handled the work of displaying placeholder content before an image loaded and getting rid of it afterward. Naturally, I also wanted code that would run on WPF, Silverlight, and Windows Phone! :)

..."

Love the reusable code/controls, especially when they are cross platform. This is the kind of control you don't know you might need up front, but once you get into you app, you say to yourself, "I need a placeholder here..."

"Homebuilders' Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction" Free PDF from FEMA

Government Book Talk - Getting Ready for the Next Quake

"For us East Coasters, our recent experience with an earthquake was an unusual one. Of course, they’re comparatively rare here and not as strong as the ones that plague the West Coast, but it still makes you think about what would happen to your house (and you) if a really big one hit. What about my house? Even aside from how it would stand up structurally, I’ve got a lot of books and bookcases – maybe an avalanche waiting to happen. Then there are the china cabinets – it really wouldn’t do to have grandma’s best strewn across the room in shards, would it?

When I start thinking about stuff like this, my natural inclination is to find a book. For example, there’s Homebuilders’ Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction, a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) publication that’s been around for years. It’s for homebuilders, but also for homeowners who want some good information about safe homes and how some things can be made safer. It’s based on the International Residential Code (IRC) and explains the basic principles of earthquake-resistant design and what it calls “above-code” measures that can further reduce the amount of damage from an earthquake. I like the idea of guidelines that not only meet but exceed the standards, especially when they can affect safety.

..."

FEMA - Homebuilders' Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction

This guide replaces the Home Builder's Guide to Seismic Resistant Construction and all earlier versions of FEMA 232. It presents seismic design and construction guidance for one- and two-family light frame residential structures that can be utilized by homebuilders, homeowners, and other non-engineers, and provides supplemental information to the 2003 edition of the International Residential Code. Includes background information on the principles of seismic resistance and how earthquake forces impact conventional residential construction and more detailed information on architectural considerations. Discussions of masonry and stone elements, examples of typical floor plans for earthquake resistant one- and two-story homes, excerpts of seismic requirements from building codes, and checklists for home builders are included. The guide also presents a series of "above code recommendations" and low cost measures that would increase the performance of the building and help keep it functional after an earthquake.

..."

Here's a snap from the PDF;

And a snip from the Preface;

This publication presents seismic design and construction guidance for one- and two-family houses in a manner that can be utilized by homebuilders, knowledgeable homeowners, and other non-engineers. It incorporates and references the prescriptive provisions of the 2003 International Residential Code as well as the results of the FEMA-funded CUREE-Caltech Woodframe Project. The manual includes prescriptive building detail plans based on state-of-the-art earthquake-resistant design for use by homebuilders and others in the construction of a non-engineered residential structure. Further, the manual also uses the results of recent loss investigations as well as current research and analysis results to identify a number of specific above-code measures for improved earthquake performance along with their associated costs. A typical modern house is used to illustrate the application and benefits of above-code measures. This manual replaces the Home Builders Guide to Seismic Resistant Construction (FEMA 232) published by FEMA in August 1998 as well as earlier FEMA and HUD versions

It's a few years old, but I doubt much as changed in this area in the five years since it was published. If you are into construction, professionally or as a hobby around the house, or are just interested in seeing ways to make your house (the biggest investment, besides kids, you'll ever make in your life) more earthquake resistant, this PDF is just a free download away...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
While it can be too later to prepare, it's never too early... Being ready is not hard, just do it, bit by bit...
Be prepared and know what you've got - Free Home Inventory Spreadsheet
A 2012 Survival Guide from How Stuff Works (Nonsense, but being prepared isn’t)
Centers for Disease Control (US CDC) provides Zombie Apocalypse 101 Survival Tips (really...) - And Zombie badges too!
Live on Earth? Then you live in a earthquake zone (your local activity may vary). When should you think about preparing for one? Um… Now!
Your Evacuation Plan – Do you have one? The time to make one is now, BEFORE you really need it…
National Preparedness Month: Don’t be afraid.. Be Ready

Microsoft Channel 9 in the news... Think "A look behind the C9 camera..." or "What is that Channel 9 thing anyway...?"

Microsoft News Center - Developers Tune In to Microsoft’s Channel 9

"Passengers on United Airlines flights have long turned their in-flight entertainment dials to Channel 9 to hear what’s happening in the cockpit. For more than seven years, developers have had a similar opportunity to get inside the mind of Microsoft.

Channel 9 tries "to create a place where developers want to hang out, learn from the people at Microsoft, and hopefully have a lot of fun while they do it," said Jeff Sandquist, senior director of Channel 9.

Microsoft’s Channel 9 – named for United’s cockpit channel – has been broadcasting since 2004 from inside the company’s offices and labs. Be it quirky Halloween videos that get hundreds of thousands of hits or hour-long interviews with the company’s most talented engineers, Channel 9 pulls back the curtain at Microsoft to reveal its human side.

From the moment Channel 9 went live in April 2004, developers worldwide have embraced the often offbeat outlet. Today the site attracts more than six million visitors per month, with videos routinely getting thousands of views and sparking pages of comments. And while times have certainly changed since 2004 – Twitter and YouTube didn’t exist yet – the Channel 9 mission remains the same, said Jeff Sandquist, senior director of Channel 9.

..."

CNET - Behind the scenes at Microsoft's Channel 9

"REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft's June rollout of a niche software development kit that lets developers create PC applications for its Kinect motion-sensing game was a breaking news moment for the tech evangelists of the tiny Channel 9 unit.

Channel 9 is a group of 10 full-time employees and dozens of volunteers from within Microsoft, who produce video programming for the Web to connect the company with the folks who write software applications that run on its platforms. When the Kinect for Windows SDK debuted, it was an all-hands-on-deck moment.

Channel 9 aired four hours of live video with how-to sessions for its coding followers. It ran features on the creations of teams at a code-camp, a 24-hour hack-a-thon where groups cobbled together new creations using the new Kinect SDK. Microsoft experts even answered questions posted via Twitter live on the air. All of this aired in the middle of a weekday morning and still 5,000 people watched it live online. Another 300,000 viewers caught it later, on-demand. It wasn't quite the Royal Wedding, but for the folks who run Channel 9, it was close.

..."

CNET - Making videos at Microsoft's Channel 9 (photos)"

"...A look at Channel 9's primary studio. To the right of the anchor table is a green screen that lets directors change backgrounds.

..."

A couple interesting views into one of my favorite Microsoft web places, Channel 9.

 

Related Past Post XRef:
TWC9 (This Week on Channel 9) and me...
A Feed You Should Read #4 – This Week on Channel 9
This Week C9 at TechEd 2009 with Jeff Hadfield and Greg Duncan

The Coding4Fun blog is now on 9. Two great tastes, now together…

Check out the new Coding 4 Fun Kinect Project Gallery (where you'll see someone familiar posting...)

I'm not too old to have a Piñata at my next birthday.. am I? I wanna Death Star Piñata!

technabob - Death Star Piñata: Stay on Target! Stay on Target!

"Star Wars and piñatas – they go together like… um… Star Wars and piñatas. Despite the fact that there’s not that much in common between the two, I still love this Death Star piñata.

..."

Naaaa! You're never to old to have a Death Star Piñata!

Wait to have a birthday party I'd need friends (What is a party with one person called? "Sad")... and to be social too. GRRR...

And all my kids are too old and no grandkids yet. Double GRRR!!!

Wait! I know!  A Thanksgiving Death Star Piñata! Or a Christmas Death Star Piñata! WAIT, WAIT,WAIT... A New Years Death Star Piñata! Drinking and a Death Star Piñata!... oh... um... wait... um... err... never mind... sigh...

Stanford Web Application class available online free (and more in their OpenClassroom too)

Stanford - OpenClassroom

"Full courses. Short Videos. Free for everyone

..."

OpenClassroom - Web Applications

Course Description

Although the World-Wide Web was initially conceived as a vehicle for delivering documents, it is now being used as a platform for sophisticated interactive applications, displacing the traditional mechanism of installable binaries. Web-based applications offer numerous advantages, such as instant access, automatic upgrades, and opportunities for collaboration on a massive scale. However, creating Web applications requires different approaches than traditional applications and involves the integration of numerous technologies. This class will introduce you to the Web technologies and give you experience creating Web applications. In the process you will learn about markup languages, scripting languages, network protocols, interactive graphics, event-driven programming, and databases, and see how they all work together to deliver exciting applications.

..."

Another cool learning resource...

The "short videos" in the tag on the OpenClassroom page made me laugh. Seems they understand our YouTube generation attention span well... :P

(via Jason Haley - Interesting Finds: September 7, 2011 )

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Free online class, "Introduction to Databases," coming this fall from Stanford University

[Humor] Geek bumper sticker humor - There's no place like...

Saw this picture in another post (P2P lawyer: IP address not enough, let me search all PCs in the house) and got a chuckle out of it...

Photo, There's no place like 127.0.0.1, courtesy of timo_w2s

"Building Applications for Windows Phone 'Mango' Jump Start" sessions are now available on-demand on Channel 9

Mango Jump Start (01): Building Windows Phone Apps with Visual Studio 2010

"Microsoft MVPs Rob Miles and Andy Wigley are back! The "Building Applications for Windows Phone "Mango" Jump Start" was hosted by Microsoft Learning as a follow-up to last year's Windows Phone 7 Jump Start sessions. Mobile application developers rave about the fast-paced, demo-rich, real-world and often-times humorous approach Rob and Andy use to deliver this timely content. Now that "Mango" has made such a huge splash in the industry, we've asked them to put together another great course.

This course is specially tailored for developers looking to build cool applications and games for the new Windows Phone Mango Platform.

During this module, Rob and Andy outline how to create Windows Phone applications using Visual Studio. This introductory content covers how to create Windows Phone solutions, edit program source files, and add and manage program resources, build and run the solution. Next, they demonstrate options for debugging solutions using the Windows Phone Emulator or an actual device as well as managing the solution properties for deployment in the marketplace.

1. Mango Jump Start (01): Building Windows Phone Apps with Visual Studio 2010
2. Mango Jump Start (02): Silverlight on Windows Phone—Introduction
3. Mango Jump Start (03): Silverlight on Windows Phone—Advanced
4. Mango Jump Start (04): Using Expression to Build Windows Phone Interfaces
5. Mango Jump Start (05): Windows Phone Fast Application Switching
6. Mango Jump Start (06): Windows Phone Multi-tasking & Background Tasks
7. Mango Jump Start (07): Using Windows Phone Resources (Bing Maps, Camera, etc.)
8. Mango Jump Start (08a): Application Data Storage on Windows Phone | Part 1
9. Mango Jump Start (08b): Application Data Storage on Windows Phone | Part 2
10. Mango Jump Start (09): Using Networks with Windows Phone
11. Mango Jump Start (10): Tiles & Notifications on Windows Phone
12. Mango Jump Start (11a): XNA for Windows Phone | Part 1
13. Mango Jump Start (11b): XNA for Windows Phone | Part 2
14. Mango Jump Start (12): Selling a Windows Phone Application

..." [GD: Description leached in full]

I had said here, 16 hours, 2 Days, 1 Mango - Online, live and free training, "Building Applications for Windows Phone Mango Jump Start" August 23 & 24 (i.e. next week), that I hoped these sessions would be available and they are! The Channel 9 On-Demand Video Fairy [err... um... err... del del del... I mean the Channel 9 Genie! Yeah... that... ] granted my wish! :)

(via Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson - Windows Phone Mango Jump Start Workshop Now On Video)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
16 hours, 2 Days, 1 Mango - Online, live and free training, "Building Applications for Windows Phone Mango Jump Start" August 23 & 24 (i.e. next week)

The "Windows Phone 7 Quick Start Developer Guide" free PDF [reg-ware]

Marius Bancila’s Blog - Windows Phone 7 Quick Start Developer Guide

"Earlier this year I published a series of articles on Codeguru about WP7 Silverlight development. Later on I have remastered them a bit and merged them together with a couple of articles by Vipul Patel into a small eBook that was published on internet.com, called Windows Phone 7 Quick Start Developer Guide. There is also a ZIP archive with the source code for all the sample projects presented throughout the book. While you can still find the articles online on the site, I recommend the eBook as a better learning material as it puts the various topics together.

The eBook is intended for developers with a fair knowledge of .NET programming that want to start developing Silverlight applications for Windows Phone 7. However, it is not a complete guide to Silverlight development for Windows Phone 7. The eBook covers a smaller set of Silverlight topics that is intended to prepare the reader for the most common challenges a Windows Phone 7 developer faces.

..."

Here's a snap from the PDF's table of contents;

I like how the TOC was done... Those pictures add a very nice touch.

Used to be addicted to Command and Conquer and C&C:Red Alert? What if I was to tell you about a free, open source clone? And that it was written in C#?

OpenRA

"Welcome Back, Commander

OpenRA is a Libre/Free Real Time Strategy game engine supporting early Westwood games like Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

News

Release 20110906, 05/09/2011 1:43pm

We have just unleashed release-20110906, based on playtest-20110904

This release includes a totally reworked UI for C&C, many new maps, and many bugfixes.

Stay tuned for our next release which will add some really great new features!

The full user-friendly changelog can be found on GitHub.

..."

Here's a snip from the project's github (note the *.cs, *.csproj, etc :)

I've been following this project for a while, but earlier releases wouldn't work on my notebook, so did feel right in blogging about it. But with the latest release, the app seems to run just fine...  :)

Why oh why do eBooks cost more than print/hardcover? Here's some backstory why...

Nathan Bransford - Why Some E-Books Cost More Than the Hardcover

"The good people at Reddit recently noticed something peculiar and engaged in a spirited debate about it. The topic? A bete noir for many an e-book reader: E-books priced more than their print edition.

How could this possibly be? Paper costs more than electrons, so surely e-books should be cheaper, right?

Believe it or not, this isn't a glitch. And it's not happening because publishers are asleep at the wheel either.

Come down the rabbit hole with me into the wholesale/agency tunnel, and I'll tell you why this is happening.

...

But the biggest problem, as that Reddit discussion illustrates, is that it creates a great deal of consumer confusion and angst. It doesn't make any intuitive sense for e-books to cost more than paper. By keeping e-book prices high, it opens up a huge opportunity for the 99-cent Kindle bestsellers to exploit. Also: As the music industry found out, annoy digital consumers at your peril.

And it just took almost a thousand words to explain why it's happening.

..."

What how much I whine about Kindle/eBook pricing, I had to highlight this...

A few recent "books for" post round-up

Been a number of posts in the last couple days related to books for different dev purposes, etc, and so I wanted to do a quick round-up of them for future reference. And if you find this round-up useful, then that's cool too!  :)

• Codovation - 3 books every (not just junior) development manager should read before diving into practice
• CodeClimber - 8 books (and 3 kits) to get started with Arduino
• Info World - 10 must-read books for developers
• agilepainrelief.com - Books for newly minted Scrum Masters

Here's a snap of each post;

3 books every (not just junior) development manager should read before diving into practice

8 books (and 3 kits) to get started with Arduino

10 must-read books for developers

Books for newly minted Scrum Masters