Monday, August 27, 2007

[From Derek Hatchard]

I downloaded this cool utility from CodePlex after Derek blogged about it and yes, it's a must have!

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This tinny program will save up to 70% of your battery by disabling those nice, but greedy Vista features. Running in task bar with private workset of 5.5M and 0% CPU it will do all work for you, by enabling and disabling customizable features when power source changed or battery power fall under certain percent.
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http://www.codeplex.com/vistabattery/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=6063

Monday, August 27, 2007 9:03:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 

Accueil

Laurent Duveau: SilverLight

Nous discutons avec Laurent Duveau de SilverLight (anciennement WPF / e). Une solution navigateur cross-plateforme de Microsoft basée sur XAML qui améliore les présentations à base de contenu riches (2D, animation, dessin vectoriel, vidéo et audio) en complément du code HTML. Entre autres, nous discutons les différences entre la version 1.0 et 1.1 et en quoi le modèle de programmation avec SilverLight requiert la gamme de produit Microsoft Expression.

Laurent Duveau est un consultant/formateur dans les technologies .NET et se spécialise dans un domaine qu'il adore: les applications web avec ASP.NET, AJAX, Silverlight et la gamme Microsoft Expression. Grace à la firme Bewise (Microsoft Gold Partner du sud de la France) il a eu la chance d'acquérir rapidement de solides compétences .NET au contact de gens très talentueux. Il donne aussi des formations en tant que Microsoft Certified Trainer et a été speaker aux conférences DevDays en France et au CodeCamp de Montréal. Depuis l'été 2006, il a traversé la "grosse flaque" pour venir s'installer au Québec ou il travaille chez MGA Concept. Laurent est certifié MCSD.NET, MCTS, MCPD et MCT, il participe fréquemment aux activités de la communauté des développeurs .NET et les groupes d'usagers de Montréal. Il est également l'auteur d'articles techniques pour TechHeadBrothers et asp.net et contribue activement aux forums asp.net. Cerise sur la gateau il a obtenu de Microsoft en janvier 2007 le titre de MVP ASP.NET.

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Monday, August 27, 2007 8:54:34 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Sunday, August 19, 2007

While shopping for a new laptop, I wanted to compare the various graphic cards offered by the hardware manufacturers.  A quick search lead me to this site:
http://www.notebookcheck.net

They have a comprehensive benchmark chart with most (if not all) of the mobile graphic cards available.  Nice!

Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:12:27 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Monday, August 13, 2007

LiveLessons: Developing Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation

Author: Brian Noyes
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN-10: 0321503139
ISBN-13: 978-0321503138
Retail Price: $69.99 US, $86.99 CDN
Publication Date: June 2007
Softcover: 62 pages + 3 hours DVD-ROM
Online information: Table of contents
URL: http://www.mylivelessons.com/
Sample chapter: http://www.youtube.com/livelessons

Let’s face it, learning a new technology by reading a book is sometimes very hard. Not because the book is badly written but because paper might not be the ideal medium especially when the technology is highly visual. Workflows, as an example, are very visual. You drag and drop shapes onto a design surface. You connect them. You double-click them to add the VB or C# code. Sometimes you just want to watch someone showing you instead of reading how to do it.

Addison-Wesley just introduced LiveLessons, a new computer based training (CBT) series that combine video and book. “Developing Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation” is the first title in this series and the instructor/author is Brian Noyes, a very well known author, trainer and speaker.

The title combines a 62 pages booklet and approximately three hours of video instructions divided in 20 chapters ranging from 6 to 32 minutes in length. It is targeted at developers wanting to learn WF from scratch. The first two chapters introduce you to the concepts behind workflows and WF. The following ones introduce you to the various parts of WF and how to leverage workflows in your applications.

The LiveLessons format is ideal for learning WF and Brian Noyes is the perfect instructor. The pace is excellent and in just three hours, you’ll have a clear understanding of workflows and WF. The video quality is also very good. Basically, you won’t have any trouble reading the code that the instructor is typing. On the audio side, the sound level varies depending on when the instructor is on camera or typing code. It’s not bad but I guess that a little normalization would have helped.

My biggest complaint is not about the content, the instructor, the video and audio quality; it’s about the software itself. The good point is that it doesn’t require any installation at all. That bad point is that there are no skip, forward and backward buttons so you have to sit thru the entire chapter or guess where to click on the sliding bar to move to the next point. Since each chapter is somewhat short, it’s not a show stopper, it’s just annoying.

However, don’t let this you discourage from buying “Developing Applications with Windows Workflow Foundation”, an excellent way to introduce yourself to WF.

Monday, August 13, 2007 8:03:42 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Sunday, August 12, 2007

Microsoft released a couple of updates to Vista that fix some compatibility and performance issues.  Not noticable in my case is the anemic (pathetic is a better word) file copy that is now much faster.  If you can't wait for SP1, install these updates:
ttp://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938194
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=938979

The following chart is taken from this article:
http://www.aeroxp.org/index.php?categoryid=23&p2_articleid=114

Mucho more rapido!

 

Sunday, August 12, 2007 8:24:56 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 

I was trying to figure out why I couldn't send emails from DotNetNuke using Exchange 2007 when I found a post on the DNN forums pointing to this article from the Exchange team:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/12/28/432013.aspx

Basically, you need to enable Exchange to relay but it's not as simple as in Exchange 2003: you need to create a new SMTP receive connector and allow it to relay in a secure way.  The article explains how.

Sunday, August 12, 2007 7:44:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Tuesday, August 07, 2007

This year, the finals of the Imagine Cup are being held in Seoul and two of my good buddies are there.  Jean-Luc David is with the Canadian students and Etienne Tremblay is one of the judges.

Check Etienne and Jean-Luc blogs for some info and pictures:
http://blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs/
http://geekswithblogs.net/etiennetremblay

Tuesday, August 07, 2007 11:49:25 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Monday, August 06, 2007

Microsoft rebranded TeamPlain to Team System Web Access is it is now available for download for free to any Team System users.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2105C9EE-565E-47B9-A5AC-9A8FF8A07862&displaylang=en

This blog entry from Brian Harry describe the release:
http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2007/07/30/team-system-web-access-power-tool-available.aspx

and the product (with screen shots):
http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2007/08/01/vsts-web-access-overview.aspx

Monday, August 06, 2007 11:47:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 

Microsoft has changed the product names for the Team System 2008.  Here's the list:

Visual Studio 2005 Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio Team System Visual Studio Team System 2008
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects Visual Studio Team System 2008 Architecture Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition
Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server
Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Load Agent

Monday, August 06, 2007 11:32:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 

Microsoft has released a CTP of the next version of Team System.  No, not the 2008 one, the one after!

The official name is: Visual Studio Team System Code Name "Rosario" August CTP (that's a mouthfull!)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/teamsystem/bb725993.aspx

Monday, August 06, 2007 11:28:20 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 
Wednesday, August 01, 2007

In this month's MSN Live email, we are offered to install free emoticons by going to this site: www.freemessengeremoticons.ca

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I clicked on the link to see if they were offered by Microsoft.  Sure they are so install I go.

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OK, cool emoticons for free, what's the catch?  Here it is:

If you're a fast clicker, you'll likelly have missed these checkboxes.  Sorry Microsoft, I just think it's a bad idea that is very similar to the spyware installers.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007 7:45:40 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0]  | 

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