Reading Notes #460

Cloud

• Let’s compare the cloud shells offered by AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (Richard Seroter) - It's always interesting to read those comparison posts...

• ARM Template deployment, the what-if option for your Azure Deployments (Olivier Miossec) - The what-if feature is awesome, this post explains why and shows how to use it.

• State of the Azure SDK 2021 (Azure SDK Team) - So much good news! A ton of updates already done (do you know all of them?) And a very promising roadmap.

• Use Postman with the Microsoft Graph API - Microsoft Graph - Very complete docs about how to do your rest query using a dev tool.

Programming

• How to Add a Serverless Database to your React Projects (Michael Bagley) - This is a nice tutorial with all the code snippets to get started and try this type of project.

• If You Code on Windows, You Deserve a Better Windows Terminal (Matthew MacDonald) - Lovely. A nice post about why the new Windows Terminal is awesome.

• The New .NET Multi-platform App UI (David Ortinau) - I'm more and more excited by Maoi. The simple experience that it promises is very appealing.

Podcast

• #188 – Fame, Focus, and Billions of Pageviews with Evan Britton of Famous Birthdays (Indie Hackers) - A nice story where people focus on the users, worked super hard (and continue to do it), and had amazing success.

• How to Stop Being Complacent (Influencer Entrepreneurs with Jenny Melrose) - A nice episode to "kick our butt" and get back on track. Yes, 2020 indeed brought tons of new challenges at all and every level. However. we must try to make this year better.

• Who Owns Open-Source Software? (Coding Blocks) - Great discussion. Most of us, at some point, have to ask ourselves those questions (at least I know I did). It was very interesting listening to this episode and follow their thoughts.

• 631 - How to Explain a Gap in Your Résumé (Modern Mentor) - I have gaps in my resumé and I always been very comfortable about it. When I saw the title of this episode I thought maybe I should be concerned... Happy to know I was right!

Miscellaneous

• Coaching sessions: here’s what I talk about with junior developers (Dominique St-Amand) - An interesting post for all more junior will found answers and more experienced will have ideas about how to help others.

Books

Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada's Arctic

Author: Adam Shoalts

Nice adventure. I wish I could see all those images, animals, and horizon. I had a good time reading this odyssey. And for the record, as a canoeist/ kayaker I was impressed by the upriver challenge.

~Frank

Reading Notes #415

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

Cloud

• Creating a RESTful Serverless API with Azure Functions and MongoDB (Will Velida) - This is a great tutorial that uses Azure function mongo and c# to build a project from scratch. It is simple enough to make sense and be easy to understand.

• Running Containers in Azure with Rancher (Tom Callway) - This post introduces Rancher, a tool thatt looks really interesting.

• Step-by-Step: Finding and Analyzing Microsoft Azure Cloud Usage Costs (Sonia Cuff ) - Great post that provides a few tips to better see or highlight some cost sending in Azure.

Programming

• Build your own Azure CLI Extensions (Michael Crump) - A very cool tutorial that explains how to do our own extension.

• How to set up Docker within Windows System for Linux (WSL2) on Windows 10 (Scott Hanselman) - Nice update; tons of info about wsl, docker, ssh and more.

• Pulling your DEV.TO Stats into a Google Sheet (Jeremy Morgan) - That's a cool little project, and I'm pretty sure it can be used by a lot of authors...on devto.

• Using Cognitive Services: Custom Vision Service with Azure IoT Edge - Cloud | Mobile | Edge (Jared Rhodes) - A nice tutorial that shows how to use Python and vscode to create an awesome app.

• What's New in Visual Studio Online | Visual Studio Blog (Allison Buchholtz-Au) - Wow, a turbo mode! But this time(remember the turbo on our old 486 beige pc), it makes totally sens...

Miscellaneous

• What are Azure CLI Extensions? (Michael Crump) - An interesting first article of a series. This one introduces us to the extension... Hmmm. I think I have an idea.

~

Reading Notes #403

Every week, I publish my reading notes. Those are the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I was looking for.

The suggestion of the week

• Azure Cost Management updates – November 2019 | Blog | Microsoft Azure (Michael Flanakin) - This is great news. Finally also available for CSPs learn more about it in this post and there also a link to the Ignite recorded session video.

Cloud

• Deploying Containerized Azure Functions with Terraform (Jason) - Nice quick tutorial to avoid deploying a "zip file".

• Tip 236 - Deploy your web app in Windows Containers on Azure App Service | Azure Tips and Tricks (Michael Crump) - Great and easy way to get started with containers using Visual Studio

• Using Azure File Storage as Container Volume Mounts in App Services | (Michael Jolley) - A nice piece of information and so useful! Every one needs volumes...

Programming

• ASP.NET Core updates in .NET Core 3.1 (Sourabh Shirhatti) - I'm very excited about this 3.1 version.I'm not sure why maybe it's because it is the long-time support (LTS). Nevertheless, I will update all my projects.

• Working with Linux and Windows Containers simultaneously on Docker Desktop (Mark Heath) - A very and I mean VERY interesting post that proof that it is possible to run containers with mix OS from Win10 without any fancy or preview features.

Miscellaneous

• Use Google Sheets to translate faster (Robin Kretzschmar) - Woo! That's pretty cool. Automatic translation is never the best but this is very convenient.

• 7 Dangers of Micromanagement ( Jack Wallen) - Nice post to help you give the best version of yourself. (Note it's now 6, but it was 7 when I read it)

• Defragmenting your Calendar and your Outlook (Scott Hanselman) - Time management is hard...Timeboxing, Pomodoro, no meeting, short meetings... What's your thoughts?

Books

Build Your Dream Stream

Ashley

Great book with many very interesting ideas.Not the same things that we ear elsewhere, or if it is, it's in very different words.

~

Reading Notes #356

Suggestion of the week

• Security Headers (Tanya Janca) - Interesting post that shows the code/configuration we need to add, in order to get a more secure website.

Cloud

• Microsoft Azure portal December 2018 update (Peri Rocha) - Nice new update.. The last one of the year.
• Serverless Google App Engine Flex Custom Docker Runtime & Cloud SQL Backend with Swift & Vapor Web API (Alfian Losari) - Great tutorial that explains how to build a web backend.
• Créez vos Logic Apps via des templates ARM (Wilfried Woivré) - An excellent post in French that explains step by step how to build our ARM template to deploy an Azure Logic Apps.

Programming

• ASP.NET Core 2.2 Parameter Transformers for clean URL generation and slugs in Razor Pages or MVC (Scott Hanselman) - This post explains a new feature of the new core release.
• How to become a Git expert (Aditya Sridhar) - A very nice post that explains how to fix common mistake users does and also explains how to keep our history clean.
• Web Architecture 101 (Jonathan Fulton) - This is a very complete article that does a tour of every piece of a web solution.

Miscellaneous

• 6 Books That Will Help You Become a Better Writer (Glenn Leibowitz) - A nice little list of books for the holiday...
• Becoming a better supporter of women in tech (Tom) - Great post. Share it.
• Leadership Mode Activate (Allen Pike) - Don't be affray to move forward and smash!
• Write more compact SQL Server code using new features (Sergey Gigoyan) - This is a nice way to learn how to be more efficent with SQL.

Books

Fast Focus: A Quick-Start Guide To Mastering Your Attention, Ignoring Distractions, And Getting More Done In Less Time! (Damon Zahariades) - Great book well organized. Simple strike to the point. It is divided into three parts: understanding focus, creating an environment for focus, and employing tactics to focus. It lists the top 10 obstacles to staying focused and gives you a great idea on how to get start your journey.











~

Reading Notes #335

Suggestion of the week

• Comments for Jekyll Blogs (Phil Haack) - A pretty clever solution that leverage Azure Functions to generate static content on Jekyll.

Cloud

• ASP.NET Compilation Azure App Service, Web Project, Web Site (Benjamin Perkins) - Nice post that explores deeply the server side.
• An Introduction to Azure Functions (Matt Soucoup ) - If you are looking to get started on Azure function or looking for the Microsoft serverless offer, this post is definitely a good place to start.
• Getting started with App Maker: a detailed walkthrough (Christian Schalk) - At the first glimpse, it looks like PowerApp from MS but with a focus on GSuite... I'll put that on top of my todo list.
• Use serverless functions and CDN to speed up API data calls (Shayne Boyer) - Cool post to speed-up our services.
• We’re moving from Azure to Google Cloud Platform (Andrew Newdigate) - Interesting post about how to get prepared, how to test before a migration.

Programming

• Adding Localization to the ASP.NET Core Identity Pages (damienbod) - Simple tutorial to get a clean localization of our app.
• Developing bots for Hangouts Chat (Wesley Chun) - If you are using GSuite and still not leveraging bots... This post is a nice starting point to get inspired.
• dotnet outdated helps you keep your projects up to date (Scott Hanselman) - This post presents a great tool that must of us need but didn't know. Awesome!

Data

• Creating table functions in DAX using DETAILROWS (Marco Russo) - I'm always learning something when I read about DAX... So powerful.

Miscellaneous

• Customizing Node.js Deployments for Azure App Services (K. Scott Allen) - Noce tutorial to customizes our deployment.

Reading Notes #323

Suggestion of the week

• Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB database and the SQL API (John Miner) - Great post to get started with CosmoDB.

Cloud

• Prepare data disks for stability & consistency in Azure throughout virtual machines and scale sets lifecycle (Stephane Lapointe) - Simple, efficient, and free! What else could we ask for a script that will fix our VM problem?

Programming

• Announcing Entity Framework Core 2.1 Preview 2 (Diego B Vega) - The nice features that are brought in this next release, EF continue to be a trending ORM.
• Create New Git Repository While Creating New Project in Visual Studio (Abhijit Jana) - If you are not creating a repo...it's because you plan to delete this code in the next 15 minutes ...right?
• Optimizing an ASP.NET Core site with Chrome's Lighthouse Auditor (Scott Hanselman) - Another day in the fantastic optimization journey. I'm definitely trying that tool today!
• Serverless vs. containers: How the two stand up next to each other (Christina Cardoza) - Very interesting post that compares and also not necessarily demystifies, but more clarifies those two great technologies.
• Updating jQuery-based Lazy Image Loading to IntersectionObserver (Scott Hanselman) - This post is part of an excellent series where Scott refresh his website done a few years ago with today tech.

Miscellaneous

• Announcing the Docs Markdown Extension for Visual Studio Code (Adam Kinney) - Nice new plugin that will help us to participate to the docs.

Databases

• Best practices for securing your Google Cloud databases (Ian Maddox) - Excellent post with a ton of best-practice advice.

Books

How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie) - 

This book doesn't age! 

This book may be old, but it's still incredibly true. I loved the way the reader was speaking and the rich vocabulary. It's definitely a must.

ASIN: B003WEAI4E

Reading Notes #321

Suggestion of the week

• Creating an ASP.NET Core Markdown TagHelper and Parser (Rick Strahl) - Amazing post that shares a cool taghelper for our projects, and explains all steps to build it.

Cloud

• Beyond The Obvious With API Vision On Cognitive Services (Víctor Moreno ) - This post is a nice and details overview of the cognitive services.
• Deployment Pipelines For Versioned Azure Resource Manager Template Deployments ( Peter Groenewegen) - Great post that explains all the best practices to manage healthy ARM template.
• Differences between Azure Functions v1 and v2 in C# (Damien Guard) - Nice overview showing the differences in the code.
• Secure your backups, not just your data! (Aruna Somendra) - I do most of that already...but yeah not all of it. What's YOUR backup plan?

Programming

• Azure vs GCP part 15: Microservices (Kenichiro Nakamura) - Interesting post that compares two microservice platforms... A must.
• Converting a Ghost blog to a Progressive Web App (Dean Hume) - Very interesting post that explains every step in its conversion journey.
• How to deploy Angular application to GitHub (Dhananjay Kumar) - Nice post to get started with Angular and Angular CLI.
• Demystifying Serverless with Cecil Phillip (Scott Hanselman) - Very interesting discussion about serverless or less server programming...

Databases

• The world of Automatic Tuning – SQL Server 2017 | All About SQL on WordPress.com (blobeater) - I was also surprised, but yes it's true the auto tunning really works.

Miscellaneous

• From Windows to the Cloud (Tim Sneath) - Wow! Well... Speechless, just read it.

Books

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Daniel H. Pink)

A really amazing book packed of very interesting advice. Things that you kind of already knew, or at least had a feeling you maybe knew are clearly explained to you.

After reading (or listening) this book, you will know why, and you can decide to fight it or change the when... improve your performance and use your time and energy on something else.

ISBN: 0525589333

Reading Notes #300

Cloud

• An introduction to Azure Web Apps on Linux (Christos Matskas) - Web App for all! Seriously, it's a really good news and it's already GA.
• Azure Logic Apps Monthly Update – September 2017 (Sriram Hariharan) - Get a good summary of all the new features in only one post. But of course, it's only an overview.
• Manage your Azure VM backups with Azure CLI 2.0 - Preview (Kartik P V R) - Azure CLI is so convenient, I know some will prefer graphical interfaces. However, CLIs are the only way for automation.
• Microsoft Integration (Azure and much more) Stencils Pack v2.6.1 for Visio (Sandro Pereira) - It's time (already..) to update our stencil to include the lastest and greatest. Thanks!

Programming

• Generating Google Slides from images using Apps Script (Wesley Chun) - Pretty neat features. Definitely worth the time to write a script when you need to edit tons of slides, or build a deck multiple times.
• 7 Hidden Gems in Visual Studio 2017 (Visual Studio Team) - This post shares not the usual tips. Seriously, how many you already knew before reading the article?
• Adding circuit breakers to your .NET applications | Richard Seroter's Architecture Musings on WordPress.com (Richard Seroter) - This post is a great introduction to Steeltoe and the circuit-breaker pattern. The code used in this sample is .net core but it also works with .Net framework. Perfect for all our micro-services.

Data

• Power BI Desktop October Feature Summary | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI (Amanda Cofsky) - Once again, this month release is packed with tons of great new features. I can't summarize thus the post, but the bookmarking capabilities alone worth your time reading this post or watching the video.

Miscellaneous

• #223: Mike Erwin—The Power of Solitude (Entreleadership - Mike Erwin) - Interesting reading suggests on leadership and the importance of solitude time.
• Microsoft announces next Azure OpenDev: October 25, 2017 (Ashley McNamara) - Awesome community event coming ... Save the date.
• Social Presentations with Mark Rendle (Carl and Richard) - That look like a very promising tool... except for the name that I continually forget... (but that's probably just me). I will definitely have a to the Github repo.
• The Simple Reason to Learn to Lead Yourself First (Joshua Spodek ) - Interesting thoughts about becoming a leader.
• What is a Cloud Developer Advocate? (Jeremy Likness) - Great article. A few of my friends joined that team, and even though I already had this talk with them, now I have a better picture.

Reading Notes #283

Suggestion of the week

• Docker for .NET Developers (Part 2) - Steve Gordon's Blog (Steve Gordon) - Fantastic second part of a series of tutorials. This one focus on the building phase.

Cloud

• Create an Intelligent App With Google Cloud Speech and Natural Language APIs (Ashraff Hathibelagal) - A very nice tutorial that will help us to get started with Google API.
• Using Azure Automation with Multiple Subscriptions (John Knightly) - This post explains how to overpass a challenging barrier: executing a script in multiple subscriptions.

Programming

• Azure CLI 2.0: Make Bash Output More Readable (Chris Pietschmann) - Useful post.It not because we are using prompt that it must be difficult to ready the information.
• Azure CLI 2.0: Reset / Change Azure VM Password (Chris Pietschmann) - So simple when you know it...
• Choice amongst cross-platform .NET IDEs - VS Code, Visual Studio for Mac, JetBrains Rider (Scott Hanselman) - What I like the most is that you can now stay productive on different OS, because you are still using the same tools.
• Docker for .NET Developers (Part 1) - Steve Gordon's Blog (Steve Gordon) - This post is perfect for those who know nothing about Docker, and would like to understand the vocabulary before getting deeper.
• How a 650MB Node.js Image for Docker Uses Less Space Than a 50MB Image (Derick) - As unusual, the devil is in the details, and this post does an excellent job at explaining those details.
• Testing PowerShell with Pester (Adam Bertram) - I use Pester a little while ago and loved it. It's definitely a framework that worth a try.

Databases

• Azure Cosmos DB: Build a .NET application using the Table API (Benjamin Xue) - This post shares few tips to fix common issue when working with Cosmo DB.

Miscellaneous

• How to Build a Personal Brand and Reputation as a Software Developer (John Sonmez) - Nice article (chapter) that explains how to improve your life.

Reading Notes #274

Suggestion of the week

• Web Scraping In Power BI And Excel Power Query (Gil Raviv) - Just recently I've learned about Power BI web scrapping capability, then this! I didn't think it could be that great! Great post.

Cloud

• Azure Backup’s cloud-first approach and why it matters (Shreesh Dubey) - Nice post that explains the complete backup service in Azure.
• Azure functions - Just the CLI, hold the GUI, add some git (Shayne Boyer) - Nice tutorial that explains how to deploy an ARM template using Azure CLI simple commands.
• Interesting facts about Azure BizTalk Hybrid Connections! (Alexander Laysha) - Nice post that explains how works the hybrid connections.
• Trying ASP.NET Core on the Google Cloud Platform "App Engine Flexible Environment" (hanselman.com) - Interesting share that inspires to try .Net Core... outside of the happy path. Awesome.

Programming

• Model Binding in ASP.NET Core - Simple Talk (Dino Esposito) - Great tutorial that introduces the auto bindings and shows how to implement it.
• What’s New in Visual Basic 2017 (The Visual Basic Team) - It's been a while since I coded in VB but reading this post brought back all those souvenirs... Great work.
• 6 Reasons Why JavaScript’s Async/Await Blows Promises Away (Mostafa Gaafar) - Nice update. For a .Net developer, this is perfect!

Reading Notes #255

Cloud

• AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Platform - I personally value this kind o post where different cloud providers are compared. It helps to see if the solution available and find the best one for our needs.
  
• Announcing Azure Analysis Services preview (Bret Grinslade) - Impressive new service part o the SaaS Azure solution is now available (in preview) .
  
• Google releases .Net APIs for Google Cloud - Good news, now that Google embraced the .Net developers and our tooling, we have even more cloud opportunity.
  
• PowerShell cmdlets to manage Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Virtual Machines (Felipe Senso) - Nice little tips to know, and so much more in all these cmdlets.

Programming

• Debugging PowerShell Script with Visual Studio Code (rkeithhill) - Awesome tutorial full of tips that will bring you to the next level with VSCode.
  
• Exploring ServiceStack's simple and fast web services on .NET Core - This post is a really nice introduction to an interesting alternative when building services.
  
• Free ASP.NET Core 1.0 Training on Microsoft Virtual Academy - Wow! A full three days of training for free! Don't miss that opportunity.
  
• Why the Command Line? Why Now? - Interesting conclusion about the actual situation.

integration

• An important milestone in enterprise integration – launch of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2016 (Frank Weigel) - Great post about the Microsoft hybrid integration platform containing, of course, the new BizTalk 2016 Server, but also Azure Logic App.

Miscellaneous

• Download Microsoft Ignite 2016 Sessions Using PowerShell (Alexandre Brisebois) - Finally... The classic and useful script is out. Enjoy the shows from anywhere.
  
• Ten things we announced today at Microsoft’s Windows 10 Event (Mollie Ruiz-Hopper) - Interesting presentation this week from Microsoft. Not only, they announced new products that look fantastic, but it might stimulate other to push further their limits.
  
• VSTS Sync Migration Tools | naked Agility - Expert in DevOps & Agility with Visual Studio, Team Services, Azure, & Scrum - This post presents a very useful tool to migrate your source control environment to VSTS, easily. And don't forget that under 5 user, VSTS is completely free.

Reading Notes #247

Cloud

• AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Platform – Mobile Services - A very interesting comparison of the major cloud provider with mobile development perspective.
  
• Accelerate your insights with Application Insights Performance Counters (Mackenzie Frackleton) - Get always more with Application Insights...
  
• Fixing Azure Portal Errors - Errors are inevitable, this post explains how to workaround most of them and when nothing works how let the support team knows.
  
• What is Serverless Computing? Exploring Azure Functions (Scott Hanselman) - Great post that demos an Azure Function and also explains more about that new expression: severless.

Programming

• 9 Docker .NET App Templates: A Complete Guide - Fantastic post that shows many different ways to leverage container and also explains why containers are so useful.
  
• 9 Visual Studio Productivity Tools (Dustin Davis) - An incredible video, definitely a must. How could I didn't know so much?!
  
• Exploring HockeyApp data in Application Insights: introducing the Bridge App (Evgeny Ternovsky) - Nice post that explains how to use your metadata in HockeyApp.
  
• Pimp my report with Docker (Gabriel Schenker) - Cool example of how docker could help us.
  
• Publishing an ASP.NET Core website to a cheap Linux VM host (Scott Hanselman) - Great tutorial to learn quickly how to play with dotnetcore on linux VM and not busting our budget.
  
• Why Is .NET Core Important? - Interesting post that explains what been achieved by donet core.

Miscellaneous

• The Dropbox hack is real - It's time to change your password, and do not use the same everywhere...

Reading Notes #242

Cloud

• Amazon launches QuickSight, a cloud-based business intelligence tool (Jordan Novet) - This post announces a powerful tool in the BI world. It looks very nice.
  
• Azure Infographic: Cloud Design Patterns - Wow! A fantastic infographic that shows many different patterns that should be used when developing with Azure.
  
• Azure PowerShell support for Enterprise Integration pack features now available (Jon Fancey) - Quick tutorial that uses PowerShell to create LogicApp.
  
• Create the roadmap for your enterprise cloud strategy (James Staten) - A book based on the real-live situation and Microsoft best practices... Sounds really useful to me.
  
• Querying the VSTS Work Items API directly from Power BI - Very impressive work, I know few managers who will love that tool. And the good news is that it is entirely customizable.
  
• Release notes (Matt Farmer) - Easier than ever, no more need to dig to know what new in each release. Read what the Api Management team has cooked for us.
  
• Why Does My SQL Server Availability Group Need a Load Balancer in Azure? (Paul Burpo) - This post is the answer of a very common question and also explains how to do it correctly.

Programming

• Exploring dotnet new with .NET Core (Scott Hanselman) - I discover the different types in dotnet new command during Julie Lerman's talk at DevTeach and now this post shows a list of incredible opportunities.

Miscellaneous

• 3 Significant Flaws in the Concept of Googliness (Melissa Burns) - Interesting point of view about what look first as good idea that could turn out as bad ideas...
  
• The 3 Things Scrum Teams Get Wrong - Interesting post, how your team score?
  
• Why I Left Google Redux (James Whittaker) - Interesting article about Google's business model and few other things.

Reading Notes #126

Suggestion of the week

• Announcing Reduced Pricing on Storage - How can we be not happy to pay less for a nice service?!
  
• Stupid Azure Trick #2 – How do I create a new Organizational Account on Windows Azure Active Directory without any existing accounts or EA? (Bill Wilder) - Very useful post that could have saved me a lot of time few years back...

Books

• Cloud Architecture Patterns (Bill Wilder) - Very instructive books that explains many different patterns with clear and practical examples. All the patterns presented are also implemented in an application Page of Photos (or PoP for short). A great book that I strongly recommend.

 

Cloud

• Indexes are Crucial on Windows Azure SQL Database! - This post explains very clearly how we can (and should) plan our Azure database to get better performance.
  
• Enough PaaS vs. IaaS: The cloud is really about Services as a Platform (James Urquhart) - Interesting post that expresses opinions on the different cloud s0ervic0es and providers.
  
• Goodbye SkyDrive, Hello OneDrive (David Musgrave) - Time to re-brand for Microsoft... and I think I prefer that new name...
  
• New Poster: Windows Server 2012 R2 Private Cloud Storage and Virtualization (Benjamin Armstrong) - Another of those huge posters.
  
• Google Cloud Platform: Storing Data in Google Cloud Datastore (Ted Neward) - This 6th post of the series describing the Google is focusing on datastore everything is really well explained. All parts were very nice.
  
• New Financial Services Category in the AWS Marketplace - Interesting new product as a service, I know a few people that would be truly interested ;).

Programming

• Code Kata - I love it. I didn't know those kind of websides exists! I will make my visit.

Miscellaneous

• How to speak tech to non-tech people - Interesting tips to improve our talks.
  
• Internet of Things or Thing on the Internet? - Interesting thoughts about today's and tomorrow's the Internet.

~Frank

Reading Notes #111

Cloud

• Dev and Test in the Cloud: Explained (Jonathan Rozenblit) - For dev and tests environment, windows Azure is a must.
  
• Quick Script: Copy All Blobs to New Storage Account Using PowerShell (Tyler Doerksen) - Nice and useful script.

Programming

• jQuery UI Demystified: Part 1 - Since jquery and jqueryUI are so often used use these days, avoid just doing copy-paste. Take few minutes and read this nice tutorials that explains how to use the jqueryUI widget.
  
• Tools: SlowCheetah - XML Transforms (Igor Zalmanovich ) - Definitively, a tool to have.
  
• Sorting with LINQ, Dynamically -- Visual Studio Magazine (Peter Vogel) - Nice quick tips to sort a grid by any columns dynamically.
  
• HTML5 Sparkline chart for data-intense, small-scale Data Visualization - Evangelism - Great tool, it looks easy to use and powerful enough for many different situations. Looking forward to trying it.
  
• How to Get Started with the Ignite UI Layout Manager - Interesting "UI organizer" and look simple to use.

Database

• ASP.NET MVC: Configuring ASP.NET MVC 4 Membership with a SQL CE Database - Nice tutorial that shows how to configure SqlCe to be used as a database for membership.
  
• Creating NONCLUSTERED INDEXES on Massive Tables in Windows Azure SQL Database - Nice post that demystify the indexes and explains why we should use them.
  
• SQL Server Compact 4 desktop app with simple Private Deployment and LINQ to SQL (ErikEJ) - Very complete tutorial that explains an easy deployment with SQLCE.

Miscellaneous

• Why You Should Be Able to Work from Home - Interesting thoughts about working from home and how it would be good for you, and your work.
  
• Stop asking people what they think! (and start watching what they do) - I agree. How many times did I ear don't give what the clients asks but what they needs.
  
• Have you seen Google Trekker? (Baffin Paddler) - Wow! Google always found a new way to impress me.
  

~Frank

Reading Notes #97

Suggestion of the week

• Is the Windows user ready for apt-get? - I'm a big fan of Chocolatey since long time, and I found it extremely useful. Give it a try, and see by yourself!
  
• 12 Non-caffeinated Ways to Wake Up at Work - I know, by definition a developer is someone who transforms coffee into code... but having an alternative is good ... and healthier.
  
• Continuing the Windows 8 vision with Windows 8.1 - Wow! A huge number of really great improvement. It looks like little things but all together, it transforms the experience. Stay tune for more details...
  

Cloud

• Spelunking Azure, What does it Cost? - Quick post that gives the base about Azure prices.
  
• How To: Setup Windows Azure PowerShell - Quick post that explains how to get ready to play with Azure with PowerShell.

 Databases

• Entity Framework Power Tool Tips to View Model (A Feature I Depend On!) : Don't Be Iffy (Name) - Very promising tool. Thanks for the author of this post we will be able to enjoy avoiding these little issues.

Programming

• Making Passwords Obsolete (Minda Zetlin) - Interesting idea. Look forward to see how I could use/test it.
  
• Create location aware apps using geolocation and Bing Maps (Windows 8 Team) - Nice tutorial about using geolocation in our application.
  
• Intermediate RubyGem Development - Nice tutorial covering tests and naming convention when developing our Ruby Gem. Different libraries a referred as examples.
  
• Performance Considerations - Quick post about thinks to take into consideration about EF 5.0. The post also introduce many alternatives ORMs.

• Dojo for jQuery Developers - Incredibly clear tutorial here that compares Dojo with jQuery to explain how things are done with Dojo. The perfect post to get started. 

Miscellaneous

• Cool Tools – How to Be Invisible - The book looks interesting and this post, invent if it goes in the completely opposite direction is really interesting too.
  
• The Most Overlooked Leadership Skill - Interedting post about leadership.
  
• Delayed Gratification: Make It a Better Pill to Swallow - This post is a review/ summary of what looks like a very promising book about self-control. In this world of instant trophies and game achievements, learning how to control your needs is a great strength.
  
• 3 Games That Can Teach You Business Skills (Leigh Buchanan) - I'm happy to see that "educational" game don't only exists for kids...
  
• So You Think You Have ADD... (Marla Tabaka) - Some tips to stay productive and fight procrastination.
  
• 5 Mentor Archetypes I’ve Met – And How to Spot Them (Jennifer Dulski) - Nice post where the author share is vision of goods mentors and how to "spot them".
  
• Reviews of Super Weird Mice:The Microsoft Arc Touch and Wedge Mouse - Nice review, it feels really objective and practical.
  
• Deconstructing Google's Strategy: Will Google Eat Your Business Next? (Steve Faktor) - Interesting post about the strategy behind free Google's stuff.
  
• Facebook IPO & the Dark, Dirty Secrets of Facebook vs. Google Data (Steve Faktor) - I really like the comparison. I didn't though about it before, but it really make sense.
  
• Business Lessons from ‘Google Instant’, the Waifish Temptress of Search (Steve Faktor) - Interesting marketing "secrets" that Google uses to make always more money.

 
~Frank