New (and free) Digital Literacy course from Microsoft uses TouchDevelop to teach development basics

Microsoft UK Faculty Connection - New Digital Literacy course teaches coding basics with TouchDevelop

“Build Your First App” – a free two-hour eCourse – launched today at www.microsoft.com/digitalliteracy this is  the newest addition to the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum.

The course is a collaboration among Microsoft Learning experiences, Microsoft Research, and Microsoft YouthSpark. Students start on a path to learning computer science and are inspired to use Microsoft tools and platforms as they build their first apps

If your interested in the Touchdevelop course see at http://aka.ms/buildyourfirstapp

...

Microsoft UK Faculty Connection - Get Started with Microsoft Digital Literacy

Whether you are new to computing or have some experience, Digital Literacy will help you develop a fundamental understanding of computers. The courses help you learn the essential skills to begin computing with confidence, be more productive at home and at work, stay safe online, use technology to complement your lifestyle, and consider careers where you can put your skills to work.and click “go”, and you will be taken to the appropriate page.

Choose your language English (UK) & Welsh both available

The Microsoft Digital Literacy curriculum has three levels.

The Basic curriculum features a course called A First Course Toward Digital Literacy. This course teaches the value of computers in society and introduces you to using a mouse and the keyboard.

The Standard curriculum features five courses that cover computer basics; using the internet and productivity programs; security and privacy; and digital lifestyles. These five courses are available in four versions that use examples and screenshots from different versions of Windows and Microsoft Office. Please read the details below.

The Advanced curriculum features five courses that cover building your first app, creating an e-mail account, creating a great resume, searching for content on the World Wide Web and social networking.

Digital Literacy Standard Curriculum Version 4

Digital Literacy Standard Curriculum Version 4 teaches generic ICT skills and concepts. The curriculum features screen shots and simulations from Windows 8 and Microsoft Office 2013 to illustrate and provide hands-on examples.

• Computer Basics
• The Internet, Cloud Services, and World Wide Web
• Productivity Programs
• Computer Security and Privacy
• Digital Lifestyles

Microsoft Digital Literacy: Advanced Curriculum

Building on the essential computing skills mastered in the Digital Literacy Standard Curriculum, the Advanced Curriculum provides courses that explore core concepts in more depth. Learners may take any or all of the advanced courses in any order.

The Digital Literacy Advanced Curriculum consists of the following course:

• Build Your First App
• Creating an Internet Email Account
• Writing a Great Resume by Using Microsoft Office Word 2007
• Finding and Evaluating Resources on the Web
• Using Social Networking to Connect with the World

Each course has an e-learning module that can be played online or downloaded to a local computer. There is also a Word version that can be downloaded and printed.

Build Your First App

Estimated Time: 2 hours
Prerequisites: Students should have taken the course “The Internet and the World Wide Web” or have equivalent computing skills.
Description: This online course helps you learn basic programming concepts and skills by creating scripts on the TouchDevelop web site. You will learn about code execution, creating loops and defining and modifying variables. You will learn how to include physics, sprites and touch in your apps and games, and learn how to publish your apps online.
View Course Topics

...

Free resources to help those who need a Digital Literacy leg up, be them young or old...

Visual Studio Extension - Error List Manager (ELM2013) - Easily export/save/print/email the VS Error List

Shemeer's World of Programming - Error List Manager – Visual Studio Plugin

Error List Manager extension lets you perform extra actions on Visual Studio’s Error List Window.

Currently Error List Manger supports Export, Email and Print functionalities.

Export

• Excel
• HTML
• PDF

By using the above options you can generate All/Selected Error List Items as an Excel (.xlsx), HTML or PDF.

The setting menu allows you to change the default export options as per your choice

...

Visual Studio Gallery - Error List Manager (ELM2013)

Additional options to Error List Window ( like Export, Email, Print etc...).

This is one of those things that just look so obvious in hindsight. Now I know YOU don't get many errors (I know I don't... um... err... um... yeah) but say you've picked up someone else's project and you're trying to get it to compile. And you want to share all the errors list items, THIS is the extension you'll want.

(via El Bruno - [#VS2013] VSGallery: Error List Manager, #MustHave)

Opening the door on DARPA - DARPA Open Catalog, the DRAPA sponsored open source projects and publications catalog

I Programmer - DARPA Opens Treasure Trove Of Data And Software

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has created an open catalog containing results of its sponsored research in computer science.

As a result of requests from the R&D community, DARPA has created the DARPA Open Catalog, a place for organizing and sharing those results in the form of software, publications, data and experimental details. It contains the results of the programs that DARPA has invested in, covering both fundamental and applied research in computer science.

In an announcement about the new catalog, DARPA says it has an open source strategy for areas of work including big data to help increase the impact of government investments in building a flexible technology base.

...

DARPA - DARPA Open Catalog Makes Agency-Sponsored Software and Publications Available to All

DARPA has invested in many programs that sponsor fundamental and applied research in areas of computer science, which have led to new advances in theory as well as practical software. The R&D community has asked about the availability of results, and now DARPA has responded by creating the DARPA Open Catalog, a place for organizing and sharing those results in the form of software, publications, data and experimental details. The Catalog can be found at http://go.usa.gov/BDhY.

Many DoD and government research efforts and software procurements contain publicly releasable elements, including open source software. The nature of open source software lends itself to collaboration where communities of developers augment initial products, build on each other's expertise, enable transparency for performance evaluation, and identify software vulnerabilities. DARPA has an open source strategy for areas of work including big data to help increase the impact of government investments in building a flexible technology base. 

“Making our open source catalog available increases the number of experts who can help quickly develop relevant software for the government,” said Chris White, DARPA program manager. “Our hope is that the computer science community will test and evaluate elements of our software and afterward adopt them as either standalone offerings or as components of their products.”

...

DARPA Open Catalog

Welcome to the DARPA Open Catalog, which contains a curated list of DARPA-sponsored software and peer-reviewed publications. DARPA funds fundamental and applied research in a variety of areas including data science, cyber, anomaly detection, etc., which may lead to experimental results and reusable technology designed to benefit multiple government domains.

The DARPA Open Catalog organizes publically releasable material from DARPA programs, beginning with the XDATA program in the Information Innovation Office (I2O). XDATA is developing an open source software library for big data. DARPA has an open source strategy through XDATA and other I2O programs to help increase the impact of government investments.

DARPA is interested in building communities around government-funded software and research. If the R&D community shows sufficient interest, DARPA will continue to make available information generated by DARPA programs, including software, publications, data and experimental results. Future updates are scheduled to include components from other I2O programs such as Broad Operational Language Translation (BOLT) and Visual Media Reasoning (VMR).

The DARPA Open Catalog contains two tables:

• The Software Table lists performers with one row per piece of software. Each piece of software has a link to an external project page, as well as a link to the code repository for the project. The software categories are listed; in the case of XDATA, they are Analytics, Visualization and Infrastructure. A description of the project is followed by the applicable software license. Finally, each entry has a link to the publications from each team's software entry.
• The Publications Table contains author(s), title, and links to peer-reviewed articles related to specific DARPA programs.

...

Wow, that's a number of projects and pubs! There should be something of interest for just about any geek and remember, you, the US Tax Payer, paid for this, so go and get your dollar's worth! :)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
From A to W... The US Gov goes Git (and API crazy too). There's an insane about of data, API's and OSS projects from the US Government...
Happy Birthday Data.gov. You’ve grown so in the last year… (from 47 to 272,677 datasets)
OpenGov.com, where your Local Government can get naked...(well, as in Budget Transparency, that is)
Whoa there's allot of the free NOAA [resources]

"SQL Server 2014 Developer Training Kit"

Microsoft Downloads - SQL Server 2014 Developer Training Kit (and related SQL Server 2014 Developer Training Kit Sample Databases)

The SQL Server 2014 Developer Training Kit includes technical content designed to help you learn how to develop SQL Server 2014 databases, BI Solutions, and gain insights into the new cloud capabilities to simplify cloud adoption for your SQL databases and help you unlock new hybrid scenarios.

Version: 1.0.0

Date Published: 2/7/2014

SQL 2014 Dev Training Guide.exe, 251.8 MB

The purpose of this training kit is to help DBAs and Developers become familiar with some of the new and improved features and functionality in SQL Server 2014. This training kit is a great resource for developers, trainers, consultants and evangelists who need to understand the new features and key improvements introduced in SQL Server 2014 from a developer perspective. It contains a rich set of presentations and demos that are perfect for self-paced learning or for conducting your own training event. The easiest way to get started with the training kit is to download it, install it, and browse the kit for the content that you are most interested in. Many of the presentations and demos in the training kit reference a video that you can watch to familiarize yourself with the content. When you are ready for some hands-on experience, try working through one of the demos. Microsoft SQL Server 2014 builds on the mission-critical capabilities delivered in SQL Server 2012 by providing breakthrough performance, availability, and manageability for mission-critical applications. SQL Server 2014 delivers new capabilities built into the core database for OLTP and data warehousing, which complement our existing OLTP, data warehousing, and BI capabilities for the most comprehensive database solution in the market.

Some snaps from the install;

The SQL Server 2014 Developers Training Kit is a great resource for developers, trainers, consultants and evangelists who need to understand the key improvements introduced in SQL Server 2014 from a developer perspective. It contains a rich set of presentations and demos that are perfect for self-paced learning or for conducting your own training event.

The easiest way to get started with the training kit is to download it, install it, and browse the kit for the content that you are most interested in.  Many of the presentations and demos in the training kit reference a video that you can watch to familiarize yourself with the content.  When you are ready for some hands-on experience, try working through one of the demos.

Thank you for downloading the training kit, we hope you find it to be a valuable resource for driving SQL Server adoption.

Once installed, here's what you get;

SQL Server 2014 builds on the foundation of SQL Server 2012, so it's nice seeing that this kit provides information on both,

If you're looking at, or thinking about looking at, SQL Server 2014, you've got to get this...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
RTM SQL Server 2012 Developer Training Kit available as a full download or web installer

"10[+1] Things You Didn't Know About Tapatio Hot Sauce" Infographic

OC Register - [INFOGRAPHIC] 11 Things You Didn't Know About Tapatio Hot Sauce

They're like peas in a pinche pod: Sriracha and Tapatío hot sauces. Vietnamese and Mexican. The Orange County future. But while the Sriracha story is well-known, the Tapatío tale is mostly a mystery, namely because the founding family likes it that way, preferring to stay away from the maddening crowds and concentrate on their product at their super-secret Vernon location.

Luckily, I was able to secure an interview with the Tapatío family for my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, and found many fascinating facts about them that the general public doesn't know. And here we go...and, yes: the banner says 10 things, but we're throwing in an extra fact just for the hell of it!

Funny how this comes full circle, I see it on Daily Infographic and in the find out it's from a local'ish (okay, a couple county's over, but close enough, it's all SoCal! ;) newspaper. Also that I'm looking at our big bottle of Tapatio right now... :)

(via Daily Infographic - 10 Facts You Should Know about Tapatio Hot Sauce [infographic])

"Grumpy, Descartes, Mr. Bighead, and Mr. Blasé" and your move to Agile...

Scrum Alliance - Grumpy, Descartes, Mr. Bighead, and Mr. Blasé

Anybody who has had to direct any form of change in an organization must have come to realize how it is about people. This has been recognized for a long time and documented extensively (see http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?field-keywords=change+management).

In particular, there always seem to be some people who will resist and make it difficult.

In a report about the Agile transition at Yahoo!, Gabrielle Benefield writes, "Not everyone is willing or able to change." She also states that "10 to 15 percent of people will not like the status quo at any given time" (see "Rolling out Agile in a Large Enterprise"). And I think I can confirm this statement from my own personal experience.

So lately I've been wondering: Is there a typical profile for those people who have a hard time transitioning to Agile? Are they always the same from one organization to another? Is there a magic formula to spot them right away?

After some time trying to describe the typical profile, I recognized not one but four distinct profiles. Here's how to recognize them, and some tips to help get them on board with Agile.

..."

Which one of these guys are you?

None, right! But you've worked with some I bet. This article has a some good tips on how to help handle them in your move to Agile...

Creative Commons UI Design Pattern Library from Yahoo, (aka Yahoo Design Stencil Kit version 1.0) in Visio, PDF, PNG and more formats

Yahoo Design Pattern Library

Download a Stencil Kit

Yahoo Design Stencil Kit version 1.0 is available for OmniGraffle, Visio (XML), Adobe Illustrator (PDF and SVG), and Adobe Photoshop (PNG), and covers the following topics:

• Ad Units
• Calendars
• Carousels
• Charts and Tables
• UI Controls
• Form Element
• Grids
• Menus and Buttons
• Mobile - General
• Mobile - iPhone
• Navigation and Pagination
• OS Element
• Placeholder Text
• Screen Resolutions
• Tabs
• Windows and Containers

While not very Microsoft'y, this looks like a great UI design resource.

(via Chris Hopkins' Blog - UI Design Shapes)

JSON Debugger Visualizer coming in VS 2013 Update 2

Microsoft Application Lifecycle Management - JSON Debugger Visualizer in Visual Studio 2013

We are proud to announce the addition of JSON Visualizer to Visual Studio debugger in the Update 2 for Visual Studio 2013. JavaScript Object Notation or JSON is a popular format for transmitting data between server and client applications. The new debugger string visualizer displays JSON encoded strings in a treeview control and allows meaningful user interaction like search and highlight, copy key value pairs and copy path.

Getting to the JSON Visualizer

The new JSON visualizer will appear alongside other string visualizers currently available in Visual Studio. These visualizers are accessible through the various places where you can inspect variables, e.g. magnifying glass icon in a DataTip, in a debugger variables window (Autos, Locals, or Watch), or in a QuickWatch dialog box.

..."

Nice! This is going to come in real handy...

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP 1 now available [NOTE: This is NOT Go-Live!]

Application Insights Visual Studio Add-in - Adding App Insights with just a couple clicks...

Brian Harry's blog - Application Insights Visual Studio Add-in preview

In the fall, we introduced a preview of a new VS Online service called “Application Insights” that enables you to instrument your app to ensure that it is available, performing and successful.  It combines APM capabilities with usage analysis, aimed at developers to help them create the best possible apps.

Yesterday, we released a preview of a new Visual Studio add-in that makes getting started with Application Insights so easy that everyone should do it without even thinking about it.  Install the add-in below and get started right away.  The add-in will automatically by-pass the invitation code process necessary to get started with App Insights the first time you connect an app

Download Application Insights Tools for Visual Studio
Preview Release, VSIX for Visual Studio 2013
Express for Web, Express for Windows, Professional, Premium and Ultimate

To get started with a new project, simply create a Web project. In the New Project dialog, make sure that Add Application Insights to Project is checked.

To get started with an existing project, right-click on a Web project in Solution Explorer and choose Add Application Insights Telemetry to Project.
That's it! Then...

..."

I wonder if we're going to get a non-web version of this? Say for our mobile apps? Something to keep an eye open for at Build 2014...

Windows Azure Pack (#WAPack), Related Blogs, Videos and TechNet Articles wiki round-up

Windows Azure Pack (#WAPack) and Related Blogs, Videos and TechNet Articles

Table of Contents

• Solutions and Design Guidance
• Windows Azure Services for Windows Server
• Windows Azure Pack
• Service Provider Foundation
• Usage and Billing
• VM Role
• Service Management Automation
• Database as a Service
• Windows Azure Services Bus
• Hyper-V Network Virtualization Gateway
• Hyper-V Network Virtualization
• Disaster Recovery
• PowerShell Deployment Toolkit
• Development for Windows Azure Pack, SPF and VMM

Hi Windows Azure Pack fans!

Marc van Eijk en I have had some hands-on at Windows Azure Pack (formerly known as Windows Azure Services for Windows Server). There is a lot of info out there, but very scattered. Hopefully we can keep this WAP Wiki updated every now and then. Feel free to add to this Wiki!

...

(via NY Metro Core Infrastructure Team - Windows Azure Pack (WAP) Resources)

Now THAT'S a round-up of WAP resources!

What is WAP (Windows Azure Pack)?

Windows Azure Pack

The Windows Azure Pack delivers Windows Azure technologies for you to run inside your datacenter. Offer rich, self-service, multi-tenant services and experiences that are consistent with Microsoft’s public cloud offering.

Windows Azure-consistent experiences and services in your datacenter

The Windows Azure Pack is a collection of Windows Azure technologies available to Microsoft customers at no additional cost. Once installed in your datacenter, the Windows Azure Pack integrates with System Center and Windows Server to help provide a self-service portal for managing services such as websites, Virtual Machines, and Service Bus; a portal for administrators to manage resource clouds; scalable web hosting; and more.

Download the Windows Azure Pack White Paper

Download the Windows Azure Pack Datasheet

Related Past Post XRef:
Taking the Bus to the next stop... Why you, Dev and IT, should be looking at the Windows Azure Pack.
TechEd NA 2013 Day 1 Announcement Round-up - VS 2013, TFS 2013, InRelease, SQL 2014, Server 2012 R2, BizTalk Services, Azure-in-a-box and even more Azure...

Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP 1 now available [NOTE: This is NOT Go-Live!]

Microsoft Downloads - Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP 1

This is a Community Technology Preview (CTP) for Visual Studio 2013 Update 2.

Version: 30129.00

Date Published: 1/31/2014

rm_Client.exe, 965 KB

rm_DeploymentTrial90.exe, 962 KB

rm_Server.exe, 967 KB

tfs_express.exe, 785 KB

tfs_server.exe, 791 KB

VS2013.2 CTP.exe, 1.2 MB

vs2013.2.ctp1_tfs_enu.iso, 2.5 GB

vs2013.2.ctp1_tfs_exp_enu.iso, 527.0 MB

Visual Studio 2013 Updates provide continuous value to customers, adding new capabilities year-round to features in the main product release. These releases will be aligned with the core software development trends in the market, ensuring developers and development teams always have access to the best solution for building modern applications.

This is a Community Technology Preview (CTP) for Visual Studio 2013 Update 2. These cumulative updates to Visual Studio 2013 include a variety of bug fixes and capability improvements. More details can be found here.

Statement of Support:

PLEASE NOTE: This Community Technology Preview has not been subject to final validation and is not meant to be run on production workstations or servers.

For the Visual Studio update package: The recommended approach for upgrading Visual Studio on test workstations is installing the latest Visual Studio Update CTP on top of an RTM release or a previous CTP build of that Update. Visual Studio CTPs can be upgraded to a different build.

For full-upgrade packages (ex: TFS, Release Management, etc): Do not install an Update CTP on a production server, as it will put the server in an unsupported state. Unlike with Visual Studio CTPs, installing a full-upgrade package CTP completely replaces the current release on the server with the CTP. Full-upgrade package CTPs cannot be upgraded to future CTPs or releases nor “downgraded” to a previous release.

Note: Release Management Update 2 CTP is time-sensitive. The software will stop running ninety days after you install it. You will not receive any other notice. You may not be able to access data used with the software when it stops running.

Description of Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP 1

...

Technology improvements

The following technology improvements have been made in Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 CTP 1.
Agile Planning

Team Foundation Server
• The portfolio backlogs have performance improvements during web access navigation.
• You can query on tags in Visual Studio and through web access.
• You can apply tags to work items in Visual Studio.
• You can apply permissions for who can add new tags.
• REST API is available for work item tracking tagging.
• You can edit tags in the Excel add-in for Team Foundation Server.
• You can configure non-working days, and these are excluded from burndown charts.
• Cumulative Flow Diagram start dates are configurable.
• Lightweight charts can be pinned to project or team homepages.
• You can customize the colors in lightweight charts.
• The look and feel of the project and team homepage is updated.

Testing Tools

• This update provides to testers and test leads the ability to export test artifacts so that these can be sent by using email or as printouts and shared with stakeholders who do not have access to TFS.

Release Management

• The tags are designed to perform the same operation across the servers. If there are server specific actions, the user can always add the specific server and the corresponding actions at that level in the deployment sequence.
• To configure a group of server by using same tag implies that you can set values for the whole group and all the servers in the group therefore share common values for all variables.
• You can easily deploy to identical or clustered servers without having to repeat the deployment sequence on each server.
• You can Copy Tags across stages and across Templates. You can retain the same deployment sequence with all the tags and servers when copied to other stages or Release templates under the same environment.

Debugger

• Identified some refactoring when doing this to increase the development and testing cost.
• Getting the highlighting correct on search is the only piece left when you search JSON return content.
• You can inspect values of objects using the debugger windows. This also involves enabling multi-dump debugging.
• You can trigger a data prefetch in Windows to test a Windows Store application.
• You can programmatically modify the symbol include or exclude behavior to improve debugging performance.

Diagnostics

• The Script Debugger, DOM Explorer and JavaScript Console can now be used against debug HTML and JavaScript that is running inside a WebView control hosted in Windows Store Applications of all types (HTML or JavaScript, Managed and Native).

Profiler

• There is a new CPU Usage tool for examining which managed, native, and JavaScript functions are using the CPU. The CPU Usage tool replaces the previous CPU Sampling tool for Windows Store Apps and has fast time filtering, fast thread filtering, and an improved Just My Code experience.
• The diagnostics hub now allows more than one tool to be run at the same time. Data from each tool is correlated on a common timeline for faster and easier performance analysis. Tools that can be combined are:
  • CPU Usage
  • Energy Consumption
  • HTML UI Responsiveness
  • XAML UI Responsiveness

IntelliTrace

• You can load the SQL statement in a new query window and run a test execution plan in Visual Studio rather than needing to open and use other tools such as SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
• You can see problems that are collected by the MMA grouped. This helps to easily identify key problems from many instances.
• Group the performance events by entry point and by the slowest node. This will reduce the overall number of rows and make it easier to identify a specific event to investigate.
• Add a hotpath indicator to the Perf Event Details for each of the slowest nodes.

Purple

• In Visual Studio Ultimate 2013, when you use TFGit as a source control system, you can access the deployed version of the solution by opening the iTrace file that is generated by the Microsoft Monitoring Agent.

Fixed issues

Note Unless otherwise indicated, linked items will take you to Microsoft Connect webpages.
Code Analysis

• Visual Studio 2013 Code Analysis check-in policy does not trigger on websites.

IntelliTrace

• A Security.VerificationException is raised on a custom event handler if IntelliTrace is enabled.
• Visual Studio crashes when loading a corrupted IntelliTrace file.

Visual Studio IDE

• When you open webpages by using the internal Visual Studio Web Browser, you will no longer receive JavaScript errors.

...

Important This update applies to Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server (TFS). Visual Studio and TFS installation mechanics are different. The Visual Studio update is an update that installs on top of whatever is already installed on the computer. The TFS update is a full layout that replaces whatever is installed on the computer. Before you try to apply the TFS update, make sure that you have a full backup of your current databases. If the TFS update installation fails, you will be unable to restart the update or roll back to the earlier version of TFS without performing a restore.

The Release Management update is a full layout that includes the latest feature additions and bug fixes for "Release Management for Visual Studio 2013". Before you try to apply the Release Management update, make sure that you have a full backup of your current databases. If the Release Management update installation fails, you will be unable to restart the update or roll back to the earlier version of Release Management without performing a restore operation.

Awesome to see the cadence continues... I would expect that if there's another CTP that that might be Go Live (i.e. okay to use in production) but we'll see. RTW date? My WAG is at Build 2014, April 2nd.

If you've ever dealt with a "Project Type Unknown" you'll love this list, Visual Studio Project Type GUIDs

CodeProject - List of Visual Studio Project Type GUIDs

Background

Knowing these GUIDs will allow you to edit .csproj files to easily change a project type in cases where Visual Studio will not allow using the GUI

With what I blog about in the different areas, new VS versions, etc, I run into this, "Project Type Unknown" all the time. Then I search with the GUID and try to figure out what the actual project type was. In short, I've needed this list for about forever. If you've every had to deal with this too, you'll know the value of this list...

$3.99 or less for 330 330 Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Kindle eBooks

SF Signal - 330 Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Kindle eBook Deals $3.99 or Less

Here’s our monthly roundup of some inexpensive science fiction, fantasy and horror Kindle eBooks for you to check out on your favorite reading device. All of these titles are priced under $4 at the time of writing this post. But prices are subject to change, so check the price before clicking “buy”. If Amazon is not your eBook ecosystem, please do look up the titles wherever you buy your eBooks; discounts are often applied at other outlets

...

This collection of Kinect eBooks is enough to keep even a guy with a reading addiction like me busy (for a few days anyway... ;)

New, classic, short, long, series and more, it's all here. Get them while you can at these prices (remember the prices are very subject to change...)

"10 Steps to Becoming a Ridiculously Agile Developer" humorous infographic

quicklycode - 10 Steps to Becoming a Ridiculously Agile Developer

Click to download 10 Steps to Becoming a Ridiculously Agile Developer

All stuff you've heard before, but with a tongue-in-cheek view. Comes to us from http://www.git-tower.com

Visual Studio Android++ (Think "Build Android NDK based C/C++ in VS" [Closed Beta] Extension)

I Programmer - Android++ For Visual Studio

A new extension for Visual Studio lets you use Visual Studio to create Android apps in the Microsoft IDE.

Android++ is a freely distributed extension that comes with MSBuild scripts that enable Android application development within Visual Studio.

It is aimed primarily at NDK based C/C++ applications, though it also incorporates customisable deployment, resource management, and integrated Java source compilation.

Justin Webb, who created Android++, is an Android programmer at game company NaturalMotion of Oxford, England. In a blog post about the new extension, he says that Android++ augments Visual Studio to support NDK-based “native” development, continuing:

...

You have a choice of  LLVM/Clang or GCC-based source compilation and it includes multi-process (parallel) compilation and Pre-Compiled Header (PCH) support and the custom-built MSBuild scripts support C/C++, Java, and resource generation and provide dependency tracking and minimal rebuilds on every stage of deployment.

The extension is currently in closed beta, and while Webb is still accepting applications he says he will prioritise anyone who has existing Android experience to minimize the support needed. Rollout to registered testers will occur in a staggered fashion over the next few weeks.

If you’re interested in taking part in the beta, visit the Download page to send a request email.

...

Android++

Native development and debugging extension for Visual Studio

Android++ is a freely distributed extension and associated MSBuild scripts designed to enable Android application development within Visual Studio. Primarily for NDK based C/C++ applications, it also incorporates customisable deployment, resource management, and integrated Java source compilation.

Features

Zero Hardware Restrictions

Unlike some alternatives, you can debug on the majority of devices – there are no hardware or vendor restrictions, and no license checks to get in the way.

LLVM & GCC

Customisable compiler options offering you the choice between LLVM/Clang or GCC-based source compilation. Including multi-process (parallel) compilation and Pre-Compiled Header (PCH) support.

MSBuild Flexibility

Custom-built scripts to support C/C++, Java, and resource generation. Dependency tracking and minimal rebuilds on every stage of deployment. You won’t even need ANT.

Integrated GDB Debugging

Support for device and emulator source-level debugging using the IDE you’re used to. Automatically deploy and run your applications, or attach to an existing running process.

...

Rationale

The Android operating-system powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries around the world. It’s the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast – every day another million users power up their Android devices for the first time and start looking for apps, games, and other digital content.

Despite this, development on Android lacks the coherence and simplicity offered by iOS – specifically with regard to those developers targeting native (C/C++) applications. There are many reasons for this, but much of it is down to the lack of a dedicated Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and native source-level debugging.

Large numbers of these developers world-wide use Visual Studio as their primary IDE. Either by preference, or other external factors. The goal of Android++ is to assist and transition those developers to target the Android platform by providing the ability for them to use their existing skills and working practices.

While I'm not a C++ guy, I still thought this pretty awesome...

Microsoft's Channel 9 gets loco (...um... I mean... localized) - Plus many of videos are now getting captions too!

Willy's Reflections - Localized video gems for Visual Studio 2013 … get the popcorn!

There is a great collection of Visual Studio 2013, available in several languages, developed by the Cloud & Enterprise Intl. Team. Special mention for Carsten Kneip, for making me aware of these gems on Channel9, and Shawn Donat, for being the main driver.

Captions now available on many Channel 9 videos

Hey folks, starting a few years back, Channel 9 has been working to add caption support to our videos. There are two sides needed to make this happen; first we needed support in our code to store the captions, associate them with a video and display them in our primary players (Silverlight and HTML 5). Second, we needed to actually have captions created for our content!

Well, the first was an engineering problem, and we managed that quite a long time ago, but the second took quite a bit longer. At this point though, I feel we can declare some measure of victory. New content published by the Channel 9 team is being professionally captioned in English, then Bing's translation service is used to convert those captions into 13 languages (Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Turkish). These captions are available when viewing the content on the site, through either the Silverlight player or the HTML 5 player. Here are some shots of what it should look like:

...

I've said again and again, that Channel 9 is a resource that any and all Microsoft sphere dev's must use and follow. That said, it's been less of a resource for non-English speakers. With this update, it's now so much more open and available to the rest of the world. Congrats to the team on this!

Going APE for The Asset Pipeline Editor (think an XNA Content Pipeline for the 10's)

The Asset Pipeline Editor

What Is THE APE?

The APE stands for "The Asset Pipeline Editor" created by Pedro Güida -a former MSFT XNA/DX MVP.

(i) Some of its key features:

• It is a highly-customizable tool,
• It eases the task of managing game content throughout the whole development process,
• It helps you build asset files and processes for the platforms you desire, tailoring them for each platform,
• It is a perfect choice not only for solo devs but also for teams, and
• Its GUI is independent from any programming IDE!!!

ii) Build your own import process, the one you dream of, with C# ...

Are you programming your games with C++, Objective-C, C#, Java, Phyton ... <pick your language here> ... and you need a content pipeline? Not using authorware like Unity3D, UDK, CryEngine or others? Have your own game engine? Then the APE will help you (and your team) manage your game assets with ease!

Use the well-known developer-friendly C# language to implement the software elements that will drive the behavior of the APE for your game-dev process.

Why Does APE Exist?

Good question.

(i) The answers ...

• Microsoft decided not to continue developing the XNA Framework any further,
• Many alternatives do not come bundled with a handy content pipeline tool,
• XNA's CP only runs on Windows machines since it uses the MSBuild API,
• XNA's CP GUI has not been updated to work with the latest versions of the Visual Studio IDE,
• Can you use the XNA's CP from within VS 2012 or VS 2013? Nope ...,
• Why non-programmers should use any programming IDE as a CP in the first place?
• XNA's CP only produces binaries targeting Microsoft's platforms.

(ii) Think of the APE as a replacement of XNA's content pipeline "in spirit" since ...

• ... it does not strictly work the same way as XNA's CP did, ...
• ... it does not come bundled with content importers for your game assets, ...
• ... but it could have some importers if the extended goals are reached (wink!).

...

...

While I don't usually highlight projects that in the process of crowd funding, I'm also pretty grumpy with what happen (or didn't) to XNA. So I wanted to make sure and shout-out to this project  from Pedro Güida. Make sure you check out the videos, screenshots and such.

Also of note is that this project has been mentioned by 3D Artist magazine AND Telerik is now sponsoring the campaign with a free license of its WPF controls. It just needs a little backing... :)

Window-Eyes - Free (as in free) screen-reading software from Microsoft and GW Micro

Microsoft UK Health Blog - Free screen-reading software for the visually impaired offered by Microsoft and GW Micro

Accessing technology is a special challenge for millions of people who are blind or visually impaired. Imagine the difficulty of trying to use common productivity programs with limited vision – or the frustration of being unable to use them at all due to blindness. Microsoft and GW Micro are working together to make the benefits of technology more available in hospitals, offices, schools and homes around the world. Anyone using Microsoft Office 2010 or later can now download GW Micro’s popular Window-Eyes software for free. The software is also available for free to Office 365 customers who install an Office client on their machine.

The Windows Eyes software makes programs with graphic interfaces accessible by reading what appears on the screen to the user. The software offers narration in more than 15 languages, allowing it to improve access to technology for millions of people around the world.

Thousands of Microsoft Office users have already downloaded free copies of Windows-Eyes. Join them today – and be sure to check out all other initiatives Microsoft is pursuing to make technology more accessible to everyone.  [Post Leached in Full]

Windows-Eyes for Office

GW Micro, in collaboration with Microsoft, is excited to provide people who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled with a completely functional* and free license of GW Micro's Window-Eyes screen reader. Microsoft is offering customers who have a licensed** version of Office 2010 or later the ability to download Window-Eyes, a screen reader for Windows PCs, free of charge.

If you are ready to get started, select your preferred language and activate the Download Now button.

Key Features

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Supported Windows Servers: 2012, 2008 R2, 2008, 2003

Available in multiple languages

Compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013

While luckily neither myself or my family needs this, I still think this is easily worth highlighting and sharing.

Creepy 3D Printing Project of the Day: Turn a 3D sonogram into a 3D printed baby at 3D-Babies.Com (I kid you not)

technabob - Your Unborn Baby, Immortalized in a 3D Printed Figure

Technology has made it easier for prospective parents to see what their child looks like, even before he or she is born. There’s ultrasound (to get a rough outline), 3D imaging, and even 4D ultrasound so you can clearly see your unborn baby’s face and physical features in real time.

Now there are 3D printed figures of your unborn baby.

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3D Babies

Imagine holding your baby before he or she is born.

New Years Special!

Use the coupon "30-OFF" to get 30% off the price of your

Halfsize (4 inch) or Mini (2 inch) 3D Baby.

Enough said I think...

Being prepared is easier than you think... Here's a shopping list to get you started

USA.gov - Basic Disaster Supplies Kit

Building an emergency kit is easy. Start with items in your house: flashlight, water and canned foods.

Ready.gov - Basic Disaster Supplies Kit

Recommended Supplies List (PDF)

A basic emergency supply kit could include the following recommended items:

• Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Manual can opener for food
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

...

See, that doesn't look all that hard does it? Buy a little at a time and before you know it you'll have your basic supply kit done!