30 Oct 2012

(At Least) 5 Things I Hope to Learn at //Build/ 2012

Conferences
Now that //Build/ 2012 is finally upon us, there are a few things I’ve been wondering about that I hope to finally learn more about this week.  These items include: What's new in the Windows Phone 8 SDK.  Although there have been leaked versions of the Windows Phone 8 SDK, I have not given it much thought because a) It is unlikely the SDK is incomplete, b) You are trusting the SDK has not been tampered with (i.e. I don't want to introduce any malware), and c) I'd simply just rather wait for the official SDK. What's new in Windows…
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10 Sep 2012

Introduction to Windows 8 Development–Go Metro!

Conferences, Windows 8
Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at this year’s Heartland Developers Conference (HDC).  I gave an introductory talk on developing “Metro” applications for Windows 8.  The goal of the talk was to cover some of the basic features that every developer writing Windows 8 apps would have to face when first getting started.  Some of these features include: Obtaining Windows 8 Obtaining the developers tools – e.g. Visual Studio 2012 Understanding the Windows Runtime framework Specific application features such as: Roaming data (e.g. app settings) to the cloud Contracts and extensions Using the File Picker Implementing application settings…
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02 Aug 2012

HDC-Connect Format for Events

Conferences, General News
Overview We are currently working on a set of mobile applications (Windows Phone, iOS, and Android) that will be used to scan QR Codes for conference attendee badges.  We want the information contained within the QR code to be basic contact information that is useful to both a conference vendor as well as other conference attendees.  When looking at the various standard QR Code formats, a couple of them stood out: vCard and meCard. The vCard format contains fields for everything we wanted to store but also included fields we didn’t care about (e.g. address, city, zip, country, and URL). …
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28 Feb 2012

Useful Tools from MVP2MVP Day

Conferences, Utilities
Although the 2012 MVP Global Summit officially kicks off tomorrow, there were still plenty of Microsoft MVPs around today for various pre-sessions.  In my case, I joined the other Visual Studio ALM MVPs present for this year’s MVP2MVP day – a day where Visual Studio ALM MVPs are given 20 minutes to get up and present on various tips, tricks, neat projects, etc. to the rest of the group with the goal of sharing knowledge and learning new things.  There was a lot of useful information at this year’s MVP2MVP day so I thought I’d share a few of the tools…
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18 Nov 2011

Even More of Getting Started with the TFS 2010 Object Model

Conferences, TFS, TFS API
Back in October, I presented on Getting Started with the TFS Object Model (as well as a look at what’s coming in Visual Studio 11) at the Tulsa TechFest.  I had intended to post the source code for the demos I ran through during my talk but I never got around to it and it completely slipped my mind.  A few days ago, I was gently reminded by one of the attendees (thanks Sean!) that I had not posted the source code so, here I am! Below is a screen shot of the main window displayed by the demos.  This…
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27 Sep 2011

Tulsa TechFest 2011

Conferences
It’s that time of the year again… Time for Tulsa Tech Fest 2011!  I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at this conference for the past several years and it has always been a well-planned and orchestrated event.  If you are going to be around the Tulsa area next week (Friday, October 7th) then take the time to register (it’s FREE! although a food donation is requested – see the web site for details) and enjoy some great content throughout the day. This year I will be presenting on the following topics: Getting Started with the TFS Object Model - Microsoft's…
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14 Sep 2011

//build/ Observations from the Outside–Day 1

Conferences, Visual Studio, Windows 8
Like so many others, I was not able to attend the //build/ conference (formerly known as the Professional Developers Conference or PDC).  However, I did have the opportunity to watch the streaming keynote live and I’ve also spent a good portion of the day watching various twitter, Facebook, and blog posts from those who are attending.  With so much coming out of Microsoft in one day it’s hard to keep up with everything being announced and talked about so I thought I’d put a few notes together around today’s event. The word of the day is BOLD I didn’t actually…
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08 Apr 2011

Nebraska Code Camp

Conferences
Are you looking to get your geek on this weekend?  Are you in the general neighborhood of Lincoln, NE?  If so, then you will want to attend the Nebraska Code Camp this Saturday, April 9th at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. As always, the Code Camp is free and there a lots of great sessions scheduled covering a wide variety of topics. Date: Saturday, April 9th Start Time: 08:45 (registration opens at 08:00) Location: University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Avery Hall Check out the links below for more information. Nebraska Code Camp Schedule Sessions Speakers
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03 Mar 2011

MVP Global Summit 2011 Comes to a Close

ALM, Conferences
This year marks my third consecutive Microsoft MVP Global Summit.  Each year seems to be a little bit better than the last.  However, this year was a lot better than last year’s summit – mainly due to the timing of products and content of the sessions.  Although there was lots to see and discuss, the content is under NDA so not much can be discussed. However, one thing is certain, working with the Visual Studio/ALM product groups is nothing short of amazing.  Having been an MVP for close to three years now (first a Team Foundation Server MVP and now…
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16 Dec 2010

ALM Summit Videos Available On-line

Conferences
If you were not able to attend the ALM Summit this year, the session videos are now available on-line.  You can view the session video links here as well as in the table below.  Currently, the videos are available only in streaming format for on-line viewing.  It is hoped that off-line (i.e. downloadable) versions will be made available in the near future. Speaker Session Title Downloads Day 1 Ken Schwaber (scrum.org) Keynote: Scrum: The 3rd Decade The inventor of Scrum describes his collaboration with Microsoft to create the Professional Scrum Developer training for VS 2010 customers. Watch video David West…
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