Atlanta .NET Regular Guys

Join your local Microsoft Team for The Southern Fried Roadshow, Fall 2009 Tour

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:19:15 GMT

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032429323&Culture=en-US

When: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 1:00 PM

AGENDA:

Introduction to ADO.NET Data Services

The new wave of Web applications are built on technologies such as AJAX and Microsoft Silverlight, which enable developers to build better, richer user experiences. These technologies bring a shift in how applications are organized, including a stronger separation of presentation from data. In this session, you’ll learn how ADO.NET Data Services enables applications to expose data as a REST-based data service that can be consumed by Web clients within a corporate network and across the Internet. We’ll look at how the data service is reachable over HTTP, and how URIs are used to identify the various pieces of information available through the service. You’ll get a solid understanding of data service concepts like HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE) and data formats(ATOM/APP and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)).

Parallel Programming in .NET 4.0 - Much more than Threading!

Come learn how the next version of Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework can help you write better performing and more scalable applications. We take a tour of new .NET APIs, including the Task Parallel Library (TPL) and Parallel LINQ (PLINQ). We also introduce new features in the debugger that help you quickly identify concurrency issues and visualize the internal state of your application. You don’t need any experience with writing multi-threaded code to benefit from this session

Windows 7 and Windows Server – Exciting New OS Developer Features

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 come packed with loads of new developer goodies. Computers are starting to come with more and more hardware built-in – from Ambient Light Sensors to Accelerometers and GPS. Come learn about how the Windows 7 Sensor API can integrate with your applications, and help them rock with these new hardware capabilities. Not to be outdone, Windows Server R2 has seen some really incredible boosts to IIS with version 7.5 and the extensibility models. Now you can manage your databases, delegate control to multiple IIS servers, and configure package deployment from all within one location!

Want to try out ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 for FREE

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:53:00 GMT

Check out this offer from MaximumASP if you are interested in a free BETA Hosted account.

MaximumASP Partners with Microsoft to offer Free Beta Hosting Accounts for ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--MaximumASP, the premier Windows-based hosting and managed IT services provider rolled out FREE ASP.NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 hosted beta accounts based on the new MaxESP platform.

Beta users can create a website and test it out in a scalable environment by utilizing an included Dynamic Capacity Upgrade (DCU). Beta accounts are hosted on Windows Server 2008 R2/IIS 7.5, .NET Framework 4 Beta 2, and come with 1GB Disk Space, 50 MB SQL Server 2008 database, MS Deploy Access and FTP over SSL Access.

Interested developers are welcome to sign up at http://aspnet4beta.maximumasp.com/.

What's new in ASP.NET 4 Beta 2 and Visual Web Developer?

The .NET Framework version 4 Beta 2 includes enhancements for ASP.NET 4 in targeted areas. Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express also include enhancements and new features for improved Web development.

There are many exciting changes in ASP.NET that are coming in .NET 4:

Out of the box support for ASP.NET MVC 2
Dynamic Data
Improved AJAX and CSS Support
Improved core services and
One Click Publishing

About MaximumASP

MaximumASP, based in Louisville, Kentucky, was founded in 2000 as an outsourcing firm for Windows-based hosting services. MaximumASP was named by Microsoft as its 2009 Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year. The company currently hosts more than 50,000 domains for customers in over 120 countries. With a strong focus on hosting solutions that combine advanced monitoring and management tools, MaximumASP has become a top choice for Microsoft developers seeking a robust hosting platform for mission-critical web applications. For more information, visit www.maximumasp.com.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Silverlight Tour Headed for Both Coasts

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

AgiliTrain has announced that there will be Silverlight training coming up in December. Here is a description of the class.

The Silverlight Tour Workshop is a three-day course on Silverlight 3. It divides the content into three distinct areas: Design, Development and the Server-Side. Students should be able to develop Silverlight 3 applications once attending the workshop. The Workshop is structured with a mix of didactic lessons, demonstrations and hands-on labs. Each student will leave the workshop having created several small Silverlight applications. This variety of learning techniques will ensure that all students become proficient in the technology quickly and in an exciting way.

Also get a free version of the RadControls for Silverlight!

For a complete list of stops on the Silverlight Tour, visit http://www.silverlight-tour.com.

Protecting SharePoint with System Center Data Protection Manager

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:56:00 GMT

This is one of those posts where the main target is myself. Today a coworker of mine ran into some trouble getting SC DPM to install properly. The problem turned out to be a permissions issue which is detailed on a TechNet page that seems to be a bit disconnected from the rest of the directions.

Matt Beaver wrote up an extremely easy to follow, concise set of directions for configuring DPM here - http://mattbeaver2002.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=73386213

The missing permissions in our environment came into play during the “Registering the WSS Writer Service” section. As you are attempting to run the configuresharepoint.exe commandline utility, keep the following guidance in mind(Technet):

Type ConfigureSharePoint -EnableSharePointProtection.

Enter your Windows SharePoint Services farm administrator credentials. This account should be a local administrator on the WFE server. If the farm administrator is not the local administrator on the WFE server, you must grant the following permissions on the WFE server:

Grant the WSS_Admin_WPG group full control to the DPM folder (%Program Files%\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM).
Grant the WSS_Admin_WPG group read access to the DPM Reg key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager).

I hope this helps you as it helped me!

Atlanta MS Pros - Migrating from Linq to SQL to the Entity Framework, according to Jim Wooley

Matt Ranlett — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:48:00 GMT

Last night we had about 60 people at the Atlanta MS Pros user group listening to Jim Wooley talk about the migration path developers currently using Linq to SQL might use to move to the Entity Framework. Jim has some deep history with Ling, including being the coauthor of the Manning Press book Linq in Action.

After the informative meeting, nearly 20 of us wandered over to the local Miller’s Ale House to continue our socializing over beer and enormous mounds of the Ale House’s famous Chicken Nacho’s

Don Browning shows Visual Studio 2010 to the Atlanta Microsoft Professionals

Matt Ranlett — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:59:59 GMT

Don Browning from Turner Broadcasting came out of the fun buildings which bring you the Cartoon Network (and those other channels) to talk to the group about the new architecture features of Visual Studio 2010. Those changes include:

6 new designers
- case model – a visual view of user stories (including dependencies) backed to TFS (2008 or 2010) work items
- class diagram – UML class designer NOT tied to code so you can make changes without messing up code
- activity diagram – looks like a flowchart to show logic
- sequence diagram – across a given span of time, what objects get used or come into play
- component diagram – helps you define service interactions
- Layer diagram
architect explorer – architectural view of code supporting class view and solution view
model explorer – model elements that are reusable are listed in the model explorer, which is a repository model of elements
code analysis visualizations – a static analysis turned graphical including graph mode, force directed mode, and matrix mode.
Integration with TFS – supports the storage of model elements in TFS and can be tied to work items.

The talk was clearly popular as we had a huge turnout at about 65 people!

Great news from our hosting provider MaximumASP, great job guys

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:26:00 GMT

Here is the press release we just got from them being awarded the Hosting Solutions Go To Partner.

June 24, 2009 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

MaximumASP Honored as 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards Winner in Hosting Solutions

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, MaximumASP, www.maximumasp.com, proudly announced it has been selected as a 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards winner in Hosting Solutions. The company was chosen out of an international field of top Microsoft partners as delivering market-leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technology.

“We are thrilled to be recognized from among thousands of Microsoft partners to receive the 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year award in the Hosting Solutions category,” said Wade Lewis, co-founder and Managing Partner of MaximumASP.

Co-founder and Managing Partner Silas Boyle added, “This award is a great testament to partnership and cooperation that we have worked to develop with Microsoft over the past nine years. We appreciate the recognition and view this as a great symbol of the benefits of a long-term, strategic relationship with Microsoft.”

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of nearly 2,000 entrants worldwide. The Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year award recognizes partners who have demonstrated solution innovation and a commitment to engaging with Microsoft. As you complete your entry, document how your company and hosted solution focused on an end-customer business challenge either by identifying a new market opportunity or by using technology innovation to address the need. Along with demonstrating innovation, your submission should show how customers have seen you working closely with Microsoft. Showcase this commitment by providing examples, such as which version of Microsoft product your solution is built on or how you have actively promoted your solution through marketing campaigns. Also, if your solution allows for extensive customization or if you are selling through a channel of resellers, be sure to describe those differentiators in as much detail as possible.

To be eligible for this award, you must:

Be active in the Hosting Solutions competency.
First profile your nominated solutions in Partner Solution Profiler.

“Microsoft is pleased to recognize MaximumASP as the Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year for its MaxV platform, and for demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of Microsoft technologies,” said Ross Brown, Vice President, Solution Partners and ISVs, Microsoft Corp. “By working closely with Microsoft, MaximumASP contributed to the development of the Microsoft Dynamics Datacenter Toolkit, which enables hosting providers to deploy on-demand managed services and virtualized servers powered by Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center. By utilizing the toolkit, MaximumASP has proven its ability to offer instant scalability, increased support through advanced monitoring, disaster recovery, and ultimately higher customer satisfaction.”

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the last year.

About MaximumASP

MaximumASP, based in Louisville, Kentucky, was founded in 2000 as an outsourcing firm for Microsoft Windows based hosting and IT services. The company currently hosts more than 50,000 domains for customers in over 60 countries. With a strong focus on hosting solutions that combine advanced monitoring and management tools, MaximumASP has become a top choice for Microsoft developers seeking a robust hosting platform for mission-critical web applications. For more information, visit www.maximumasp.com.

Atlanta SharePoint User Group meeting next Monday (6/15/2009)

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Home - Atlanta SharePoint User Group

Come hear Tom Scott talk about “SharePoint Infrastructure Planning and Considerations” and Michael Lotter talk about “Building Browser Based InfoPath Forms for the Enterprise”

INETA helps you grow your career

Brendon Schwartz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:27:00 GMT

Next INETA:Career Webcast - June 4, 2009, 6:00 PM ET - Unlocking the hidden value of your organization through people, technology and innovation...

The implications of collaborative innovation are many—the most important being its potential to reshape not just individual enterprises, but whole industries, perhaps even entire economies. Hector believes in investing in innovation in good and bad times. This session covers the alignment of business and technology to create a flexible environment that fosters innovation without permission. How do we get the most out of your employees and how does the employee get the most out of management. Its a WIN-WIN proposition. This session will provide insights on how to unlock all of the assets that are hidden in an organization. i.e., technical, communications, services, experiences, and most important, the employees capabilities and desires. Unlocking thought leadership and innovation is at the heart of this presentation.

Hector Hernandez and Alex Funkhouser of Sherlock Technology Staffing ( http://sherstaff.com ) will present.

Register at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=81190787250 or simply attend the LiveMeeting June 4 at 6 PM ET at https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=43ZWP7&role=attend

If you missed the first two webcasts in this series, recordings of both are available on the INETA Live site ( http://live.ineta.org ).

You don't need talent to succeed, but Everything else Counts...
http://live.ineta.org/Videos/Player.aspx?video=debb517c-5f70-47b3-98c3-421eb667a80e

How to talk to your manager about your career and actually make it happen...
http://live.ineta.org/Videos/Player.aspx?video=9d2a4d7d-69ab-47ae-8a23-aa5fc4e492c6

Atlanta SharePoint User Group

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:53:35 GMT

The second meeting of this new monthly User Group is next Monday. Head over to the Atlanta SharePoint User Group website and join the dozens other individuals who have registered. The meeting topic will focus on the development process and experience and will feature our illustrious leader Mr. Attis discussing how to build a proper development environment. We look forward to seeing you there!

Talking about Windows

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:07:00 GMT

The Next Generation of Windows® is almost here!

Microsoft has released a video blog called Talking About Windows.

This video blog provides insight on Windows 7 from the Microsoft engineers who helped build the product.

www.talkingaboutwindows.com

Check out what those who have used the product have to say.

Windows 7 Loadfest in Alpharetta

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT

The IT Pro Evangelist in Atlanta will be hosting a Windows 7 loadfest at Microsoft in Alpharetta on June 11th at the Microsoft office. Come Join!

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032410648&culture=en-US

Atlanta MobileCamp later this year

Brendon Schwartz — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Url: http://www.mobilecampatlanta.org/
Cost: TBD
Twitter: MobileCampAtl

Currently you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MobileCampAtl if you want more information or to keep up to date with them.

Also to get more info you can email

jonathan [at] mobilecampatlanta.org

Community News - Mashable online social news aggregator gets physical with Atlanta mixer

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

*excerpt from http://mashable.com/2009/04/01/mashable-mixer-atlanta-tickets-now-on-sale/

Mashable and Regator are proud to announce the first ever Mashable event in Atlanta! We have a special evening planned and we look forward to meeting the Atlanta social media community.

Mashable team members in attendance will include Adam Ostrow (Editor-in-Chief), Sharon Feder (Features Editor), myself (Chief Operating Officer) and Brett Petersel (East Coast Events Director).

This event does require you to purchase one of 300 available tickets in order to attend. The event will be hosted at the offices of Paste Magazine.

Visit the Mashable article to learn more

Atlanta IPhoneCamp later this year

Brendon Schwartz — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Url: http://www.iphonecampatlanta.org/
Cost: TBD
Twitter: iPhoneCampAtl

I am sure it will make MattR proud that I am letting everyone know about the Atlanta IPhoneCamp later this year.

Currently you can follow them on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iPhoneCampAtl if you want more information or to keep up to date with them.

Also to get more info you can email

jonathan [at] iphonecampatlanta.org

Sweet little apps downloadable from MSFT

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:36:11 GMT

Notes Online

I’m a major MAJOR fan of OneNote, but it doesn’t really have an online interface which makes it tough to use when you’re really mobile (meaning you don’t have access to YOUR machine). Google has a Notebooks offering and there are wikis galore, but now Live Labs at Microsoft has release a cool new app – Thumbtack. Looks awesome!

Video: Thumbtack Introduction

Voice Notes

Lots of devices offer to record voice notes for you, but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from offering yet another entry into this crowded space. This time, Recite from Microsoft (currently in beta) promises to add some really killer features to your Windows Mobile device, including a slick UI and the ability to search through your voice notes!

Obituary

Microsoft Encarta has been discontinued

Community News – Computer workshops for kids

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Spring and summer are coming up and what .NET technologist wouldn’t like to steer their children towards a similarly rewarding career as their own? The challenge is, how to get started. Here is where places like Henley’s Haven Workshops come in. Teach your kids about 3D animation and games programming in fun and camp-like settings. Classes are starting soon!

http://henleyworkshops.com/classinfo.html

The following is a description of one of the many classes offered:

Technology Workshop for Kids-

1 hour class, for 12 weeks

$75/month, Pay in full and get a $25 discount.

12 WEEKS INCLUDE: Programming, Create a Video Game, and Web Design
Kids should have basic computer knowledge. Ages 10 and up

Programming Includes:

Visual Basics for Beginners
Creating a Project
The Windows Form Designer
Writing Visual Basic code
Compiling, Running and Saving your project
Errors and Debugging
Project Files, Properties and Customization
Data
Looping

Create a Video Game Includes:

Backgrounds, Sprites and Images
Basic sound functions,
Special effects
Animated Graphics
Create your video game

Web Design Includes:

HTML and JavaScript
Basic Concepts
Links
Body Tags and Lists
Using Forms
Cascading Style Sheets
Create Web Page
Basic text formatting
Graphics
Search Engines and Meta Tags
Tables

Atlanta Dot Net User Group meeting – March 30th, 2009

Matt Ranlett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:34:00 GMT

Excellent turn out this past Monday – we probably had around 80 or more people show up to the user group to hear Doug Ware give an introduction to the upcoming Windows 7 operating system and Sergey Barskiy give an introduction to Silverlight.

I’ve been so consumed with work recently that it was great to get out and see all the familiar faces and a bunch of new ones. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the Atlanta MS Pros meeting next week, but everyone should come out to see Keith Rome talk about Asynchronous UI in WPF and Silverlight

Are you interested in hearing about Startups and local Entrepreneurs

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:47:00 GMT

“Georgia Innovators in Financial Services and Payments Technology”
Thursday, April 2, 2009
7:30 to 9am
Entrepreneurs-only Roundtable 9:15-10:15am

Centergy One Building
75 5th Street, NW
Hodges Room (335)
Atlanta, GA Map

Event is Free for TAG members and $20 for Non members. Entrepreneurs Only Round Table is FREE for everyone.

There is an joint event from TAG and ATDC that you can attend titled “Georgia Innovators in Financial Services and Payments Technology” that will be held on April 2nd, 2009.

Check out the bios of the panel participants:

Lynne Laube, COO and Co-Founder, Cardlytics
Daniel Drechsel, CEO, FTRANS
Gardiner Garrard, CFA, Investment Partner, Total Technology Ventures

If you are interested you Register for the event now.

Microsoft Surface-like technology as a portable cellphone add-on

Matt Ranlett — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:35:59 GMT

All I can say is “Holy cow, when can I have this?” Oh, and I’ll pay the $350 for that device!

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/481

Truly awesome stuff coming out of the MIT Media Lab

Thanks go out to Joris for showing me this video

10 best iPhone applications

Matt Ranlett — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:19:00 GMT

It seems like a mandatory thing – own an iPhone, download a ton of apps (mostly free) and write about them on your blog. My turn.

My Top Ten (this one goes to Eleven!)

Evernote (free) – truly one of the best apps, Evernote is an extremely usable note-taking tool which combines text, photos, and voice notes with a synchonized iPhone client, web client, and desktop client. I’ve personally used this in place of OneNote to effectively take notes at a three day conference where I simply didn’t want to drag my laptop around. Worked beautifully. I’m not as familiar with Evernote as I am with Microsoft’s OneNote (my favorite Office application) but it is a strong contender due to the super-useful iPhone client. I’m sure this will eventually warrant it’s own blog post. I use it and love it.

mBoxMail ($9.99) – thanks to my complete reliance on e-mail and my possibly insane desire to keep my work and personal mail accounts as separate as possible, I was forced to turn to a distinct mobile app for my personal e-mail. I use HotMail as the mail server for DevCow. Until recently, HotMail didn’t offer Pop3 access in the US and the mobile web UI is less than appealing. Along comes mBoxMail (specifically version 2.0 which I am testing in beta) which offers a slew of features I love, including features which are missing from the current default iPhone mail client. I’ve actually written about mBoxMail already. I use it and love it.

CameraBag ($2.99) – the iPhone is just so appealing to grab and play with that the camera on it is seeing a lot more action than any of my previous cameraphones. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t put a good camera here so I’ve picked up CameraBag to improve my photos with a variety of filters and effects that really make a difference. The filters offered here do a variety of neat little edits such as black and white, sepia tones, super-saturation of color and more. Best of all, the effects can be easily layered. This is about as complex as I’d like to manage when editing photos on the iPhone and it works beautifully. I use it and love it.

Tweetie ($2.99) – I really enjoy social networking. I use it a lot, talk about it a lot, and have even co-authored a book about it, Social Computing with Microsoft SharePoint 2007. In my social networking life, Facebook and Twitter feature prominently. On my iPhone, I’ve tried out several different Twitter applications and in my mind the undefeated champion is Tweetie. Tweetie offers a great deal of features including the ability to save individual tweets and searches. These last two are favorite features of mine.

Stanza (free) – By far, this is the app I use the most on my iPhone. I’ve got a small library of e-books which I’ve been carrying around for years. This little tool can consume a wide array of formats and offers access to a number of built-in book stores, including a huge amount of free content and the Fictionwise premium store. I’ve never really used a Kindle or the Kindle iPhone app, but I can’t envision myself switching to that given the free content available and the online Google book search stuff recently released.

Facebook (free) – I freely admit that I like Facebook. I even like the new UI with the live feed on the home page. This app makes it easy to keep up on the go with a view into your feed, notifications, and inbox. You can even use this to send photos from your iPhone directly into Facebook (which has dramatically increased the number of photos I upload) as well as to chat with online friends with Facebook Chat. I actually use this mobile application more than I do the website these days.

LiveStrong ($2.99) – This calorie tracker integrates bi-directionally with the Daily Plate feature of LiveStrong.com. I’ve been using this website for nearly a year now and it’s helped me lose (and keep off) nearly 30 lbs since June of 2008. The UI is simple and the food database is enormous (and frequently full of duplicate items). This fits my needs as I’m not looking to count points or strictly regulate anything – I just need a way to keep an eye on what goes into my body so I know when I’m in danger of overdoing it. I managed to scoop this app up while it was still free a while ago.

WootWatch (free) – I love Woot.com. Take a product and discount it, write funny stuff about it, and sell the heck out of it! Great idea! Woot seems to have become a wildly successful little website, so much so that now there is a shirt.woot and a wine.woot. This fantastic little application lets me check in on each one of the woot sites every day and should I so desire, purchase the product right from the app. This is one of the most intuitive and easy to use apps on the phone and I regret that there will not be future updates because the application’s developer was hired into Apple.

Crayon Physics Deluxe ($4.99) – The first game I purchased for the iPhone and still the one I turn to over and over. The game is based on a simple concept – get the little ball to the little star. The trick is that you can draw crayon lines with your fingers and these lines have strength and weight which are affected by physics and gravity. Draw lines, ropes, pulleys, catapults, etc. Get the free desktop demo of this award winning independent game at www.crayonphysicsdeluxe.com. No, really. Go get it. Show it to your kids. Watch the videos on the blog about some of the clever Rube Goldberg solutions.

Lux Touch (free) – Risk for your iPhone. Lots of fun for a free game. I keep coming back to this one when I’ve got time to kill. This is the free version of an $8 game which looks good, but not worth $8 to me (yet).

Wolfenstein 3D Classic ($4.99) – How could I resist this one? The grandfather of first person shooters fully reproduced on the iPhone by the original designer, and completely open source. The game was fun back in the day and the iPhone version has this really amazingly clever touch control that makes it a blast to play. Hunt down some *** today!

Other apps I use (or at least have downloaded and not deleted yet)

Easy Wi-Fi (free) – I’ve not actually used this yet, but the claim is that this tool will streamline the connection to AT&T WiFi (which comes free with the iPhone) whenever you happen to walk into a place that offers AT&T WiFi (Starbucks?). Having attempted to manage the irritating connection details for AT&T wifi when wandering through the airport and such, I have to say that I’m really hopeful that this application lives up to its claims and I never have to deal with that junk again.

Wi-Fi Finder (free) – WiFi is faster and easier on the battery than 3G, so why not use a tool like this free Wi-Fi Finder to locate the nearest publically available and advertised Wi-Fi. Eat lunch there. Browse the web faster and for free on your iPhone at the same time. Good stuff. I’ve used this app once. It turns out that for me, I’m never really just wandering around in parts unknown looking for a wi-fi connection. I always have a destination in mind.

Microsoft Tag Reader (free) – I have no idea if this concept will take off or not, as I’ve only seen a single Microsoft product with a colorful Microsoft Tag on it (and that was a copy of the Halo Wars Xbox 360 game) but if it does take off I’ve got an app which can read them and react accordingly. For those who are unaware, this is similar to a barcode – except it’s a code readible by the terrible cellphone cameras. If we all had high resolution lenses capable of capturing a barcode, I’m sure we’d just be snapping photos of those. Since we don’t, the fine folks at Microsoft Research have come up with this clever information sharing tool. I’ve used this app once, inside the Microsoft store.

Cooliris (free) – search for pictures from a variety of locations like Google and Flickr. If you find one you like, Cooliris lets you set that as your iPhone wallpaper. The UI is pretty neat but there is a ton of data flowing through for this app so be prepared to be a bit patient when on a 3G connection. I use it and love it, although the speed at which it resolves some of the images does occasionally leave something to be desired.

SnapTell (free) – The promise of this app is great – find the book, DVD, CD, or video game you’re looking at in a store more cheaply online. It’s got great reviews in the iTunes AppStore but I’ve never actually used this. I think the reason is that I very rarely buy books, DVDs, CDs, or video games and when I do it’s always online. Come to think of it, that very logic might cause me to uninstall this app and clear out some space

Shovel (free) – Digg news aggregator. Works pretty well, but I’m not a huge fan of Digg so I don’t use this app very frequently. I have another news aggregator I prefer – Mobile News. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this app, its just that I tend to think that most of the stories which get to the top of Digg are terrible and in general, a waste of time. But that’s just me. I also don’t like that you have to click the story twice to get to the story, the first click takes you to people talking about the story, but that emulates Digg itself.

TED (free) – Unfortunately I have been unable to devote the time I’d like to this app and the associated website. Basically this presents a very compelling UI for access to the video and audio content of the TED convention. The TED convention is a gathering of the best and brightest in the world discussing solutions to real significant problems. The problem is that I’ve never been able to sit around and watch stuff on my mobile devices. Maybe someday, perhaps in an airport.

NPR Mobile (free) – Do you listen to NPR? Do you like the stories and perhaps want to be able to listen to them at your convenience? Would an easy to navigate set of categories help you find what you’re looking for? If you answered yes to these questions, this app is for you! Some content is audio only, some is text and audio, and all of it is pretty darn good. I still tend to use the AP Mobile News app more frequently, but I do like this one b/c I can find the programs I like and see what I’ve missed.

Pandora (free) – Personalized radio on your iPhone. Brilliantly easy and familiar to anyone who uses the desktop version. I’ve never really been a user of this app on the iPhone or desktop b/c I have my Zune with me, but if I need it, I’ve got it.

Shazam (free) – This app is pretty remarkable. It’s able to listen to a song (radio, TV, restaurant background music, whatever) and identify it. It can get a bit screwed up by loud ambient noise, but when the area around you is quiet enough, Shazam is dead-on accurate. Very cool. Once you’ve identified a song, the app will bookmark it for you with a tag which you can refer to later or use to find the song in iTunes for purchase. This is slightly cooler than the Zune FM purchase capability b/c this app recognizes songs from anywhere, not just songs which are coming from a radio station broadcasting RDS.

BargainBin (free) – This app scans through the iTunes AppStore to find the apps which are free or have been marked down. I’ve been able to download at least one application for free which otherwise would have cost me about $3 so it’s been a worthwhile addition, although in general it’s of dubious value in that it mostly reveals applications I don’t care about.

More apps

Other apps I’ve installed and just ran out of patience trying to write a paragraph description for. I’ve included links at least!

Urbanspoon (free)	PhoneFlix (free)	OpenTable (free)
Yelp (free)	AroundMe (free)	Nimbuzz (free)
Flixster (free)	Fandango (free)	Amazon.com (free)
eBay (free)	Craigsphone (free)	Mobile News (free)
Inquisitor (free)	Google (free)
GAMES
Aurora Feint II: Lite (free)	Sudoku Daily (free)	Chess with Friends (free)
Sol Free (free)	Labyrinth LE (free)	SpaceX (free)
Bounce On Lite (free)	BurnBall ($0.99)	Topple (free)
Rolando Lite (free)	Star Wars – Force Unleashed (free)

SQL Saturday is full hope you didn’t miss it

Brendon Schwartz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:22:00 GMT

This is just a reminder that the Atlanta MDF group is hosting the SQL Saturday event on Saturday, April 25th, 2009. The event is full so I hope everyone that wanted to attend got in.

The event will be a full day of training for SQL Server professionals featuring more than
20 technical sessions covering Business Intelligence, Development, and Database
Administration.

Some of the local sponsors are

SharePoint Saturday Atlanta Registration Open

Brendon Schwartz — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:20:00 GMT

Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals that work with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for ‘SharePoint Saturday’, on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at the Microsoft Office on Sanctuary Pkwy in Alpharetta, GA. SharePoint Saturday will be an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint!

Michael Lotter and Dan Attis are happy to announce that registration is now open. If Atlanta follows the trend as other SharePoint Saturday events registration will fill up quickly. So don't delay and register today.

http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=136991

Lot’s of great talent from Atlanta will be speaking Brendon Schwartz, Doug Ware, Matt Ranlett as well as many more! Some great out of town guests too Joel Oleson and John Holiday

SharePoint Saturday - 4/18 - Atlanta

Matt Ranlett — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:40:00 GMT

Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals that work with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for SharePoint Saturday, on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at the Microsoft Office on Sanctuary Pkwy in Alpharetta, GA. SharePoint Saturday will be an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint!

Registration is now open !!!!

We are happy to announce that registration is now open. If Atlanta follows the trend as other SharePoint Saturday events registration will fill up quickly. So don't delay and register today.

Sweet times at SweetWater Brewery

Matt Ranlett — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:57:00 GMT

Stephen, Ken and I wandered down to the SweetWater Brewery for their weekly tasting event yesterday. I was blown away by how many people came out for this – maybe 200 to 300 people in total.

Stephen and Ken

Backstage tour of the giant brewing tanks

We even witnessed a couple getting engaged

Why is this significant news? While there, with Ken’s help, I managed to secure a donation from Sweetwater Brewery to the Atlanta Code Camp – 1 free keg of beer! This wonderful sweet nectar will be available for all comers to the after Camp dinner