Reading Notes #228

Cloud

• But Why Do You Trust Your Data? (Buck Woody) - I consider this post as a really great teaser. After ready his post most chances are you will check the video it recommended... and next give a shot to Azure data Catalog.

Programming

• An update on ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC2 - This post explains why the next release is taking "so long".
  
• PowerShell: Simplify Complex Function Calls (John Kirkham) - I love it! It's time to clean our scripts or at least stop writing more obfuscated ones.
  
• How to host your own NuGet Server and Package Feed - Wow, I didn't know it was that easy to have a private Nuget server...Definitely something to explore more deeply.

Data

• Analyzing your Azure Search traffic (Berni Torres Garayar) - Great post that explains how to improve our services by listening to our client's search requests, leveraging the new Azure Search Analytics and PowerBi.

Miscellaneous

• Give yourself permission to have work-life balance - In a connected world, it's easy not to slow down a moment and raise our head to look around us. Interesting post to read before you win the race to the burnout.
  
• Check out the new MVP Channel 9 page! - Channel9 has a brand-new section where you can see all MVPs video... see it by yourself.

~Frank

Reading Notes #163

Suggestion of the week

• Save the date! Connect(“November 12 & 13”); is almost here - If you missed this incredible event, don't cry because all the presentations were recorded. We can watch them on demand on Channel 9.

Cloud

• Azure API Management Part One: An Introduction - Really nice post to get started with the brand-new API manager of Windows Azure.

• Building a Text Adventure with Azure and Orleans (Chris Risner) - While the game is not a triple A, I find the idea quite interesting.

• Opening up Visual Studio and .NET to Every Developer, Any Application: .NET Server Core open source and cross platform, Visual Studio Community 2013 and preview of Visual Studio 2015 and .NET 2015 (S.Somasegar) - This article explains all the new things that came out this week.

• Success by a thousand cuts: Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 and SQL Azure - Ha Ha, I will quote the author: “Oh man, there is so much stuff I don’t know”.

Programming

• .NET Core is Open Source - Get a better understanding of what is .net Core and the meaning / purpose of the open source announce.

• Visual Studio Community 2013 - Now that all developers can have their Visual Studio, learn what's in this community version.

• The Roadmap for WPF - This post gives all the details about what is coming next for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

• Announcing Open Source of .NET Core Framework, .NET Core Distribution for Linux/OSX, and Free Visual Studio Community Edition - Another good summary of all the great things that was released this week in the Microsoft world.

• Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 (2013.4) RTM - Learn all about the new features in this update... Codelens, webjobs, Intelisense and so much more!
  
• Visual Studio Community 2013 - Now that all developers can have their Visual Studio learn what 's in the free version called community.

Miscellaneous

• Agile Lifecycles for Geographically Distributed Teams, Part 1 - Interesting. Agile is more than scrum...

• Why Citi Got Rid of Assigned Desks - Nice post that explains how a re-organized floor can help the productivity and the team spirit.

• Visual Studio 2015 Preview, Visual Studio Community 2013, Visual Studio 2013 Update 4, and More - Learn more about all the amazing releases that happened this week during the Connect event.

• Announcing .NET 2015 - .NET as Open Source, .NET on Mac and Linux, and Visual Studio Community (Scott Hanselman) - This post lists some post that cover all the new stuff that just came up this week. Happy reading.

~Frank

Reading Notes #71

Cloud

• Bootstrapping a Virtual Machine with Windows Azure (Michael Washam) - Nice quick tutorial about going forward with startup task but with vm.
• WaIISHost.exe.config does not work with Windows Azure SDK 1.8 - Nice catch and nice workaround.
• How to upload an Image to Windows Azure Storage using Mobile Services (Nick Harris) - Nice tutorial to upload directly your images (gif, jpeg) into blob storage.
• Backup SQL Database Federation (Herve Roggero)- Introduction to a very useful tool call Enzo Cloud Backup that gives you the ability to backup and restore Azure Federation Database. These options are available through a graphic interface and API. You can even setup a schedule.
• Windows Azure Virtual Machine: A look at Windows Azure IaaS Offerings (Part 1) (admin) - Nice recap of the offer of Azure from PaaS to IaaS.
• Developing a Support Plan for Cloud Applications (Buck Woody) - Quick post about the importance of thinking about a good support plan of your cloud applications.
• Embrace the Cloud: Your Customers Are! (Clayton M) - 4 out of 10 of your customer are using the cloud. If you don't move, they will continue without you. This is the main premise of this post.
• Free online Windows AzureConf this Wednesday (Scott Gu) - Nice conference with some amazing presentations that you should really watch. When this post will be publish the video should be available on Channel9.
• Amazon S3 Now Supports Archiving Data to Amazon Glacier - AWS announce a very cheap archive solution for S3.
• Microsoft Acquires StorSimple (Michael_Park) - News from the acquisition of StorSimple, the great product to extend really easily your local storage.
• Upgrading to Azure SDK 1.8 (Tyler Doerksen) - Great post the pass through some migration issue that you can have when a VS2010 Azure project is open the first time in VS2012.
• Practical Azure #2: What About Blob? - Great video on everything you should know on Azure Blob.

Integration

• BizTalk Server 2013 BETA–Window 8 Configuration issues (Saravana Kumar) - This post expose some issue when installing BizTalk 2013 on a real computer and how to fix it.

Programming

• The Internet is not a black box. Look inside. (Scott Hanselman) - Nice demonstration of why we should use all our nice tools...
• Great Apps Are Inspired by Pure Imagination (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Good initiative to get a lot of ideas, tricks and contacts wild doing some nice code...

Miscellaneous

• LinkedIn Endorsements Changes Everything. Here's Why (Dave Kerpen) - A little change on Linkedin web site that could have a big effect on your profile.
• The Computer Backup Rule of Three (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post about the importance of doing backup. Be scare and do it!
• Tagging Comes to Readability (David Sleight) - Great add-on to a great tools. I'm a big fan of Readability and looking forward to upgrade my script using the API.
• 10 Leadership Practices to Stop Today (Paul Spiegelman) - What your score...? Is it time to change?
• 5 Ways to Use Images to Make Your Posts Irresistible (Darren Rowse) - Maybe it's my photographic background but I found that post to be absolutely true. The web is graphic so you must use image for all type of posts or articles.

~Frank