Intent

Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warriors indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity.

Carlos Castaneda

Prepare for Someday

"I will prepare and someday my chance will come."

Abraham Lincoln

PowerShell for Beginners

@TechNet Wiki

Create a Lasting Morning Routine

Create a Lasting Morning Routine by Making Two Key Changes

Article on LifeHacker

Securing Email in Mac OS X and iOS

Good iOS Security tip...

SMIME Email Security in iOS

Stick N' Find! - Bluetooth Tracking Stickers

I SHOULD have thought of this, but was probably too busy watching Business Horse! Gotta love IFHT...

Stick N' Find Bluetooth Tracking Stickers!

JumpStart Course: HTML5 and CSS3

Microsoft JumpStart training for HTML5 and CSS3

CSS3 Selector Tutorials from Microsoft

Linq: Introduction (Guide)

Click here for article on Fjellsoft Blog

Another use for your iPad

Scott Hanselman's ASP.NET Interview Questions

ASP.NET Interview Questions - Scott Hanselman:

• From constructor to destructor (taking into consideration Dispose() and the concept of non-deterministic finalization), what the are events fired as part of the ASP.NET System.Web.UI.Page lifecycle.
• Why are they important?
• What interesting things can you do at each?
• What are ASHX files?
• What are HttpHandlers?
• Where can they be configured?
• What is needed to configure a new extension for use in ASP.NET?
• For example, what if I wanted my system to serve ASPX files with a *.jsp extension?
• What events fire when binding data to a data grid?
• What are they good for?
• Explain how PostBacks work, on both the client-side and server-side.
• How do I chain my own JavaScript into the client side without losing PostBack functionality?
• How does ViewState work and why is it either useful or evil?
• What is the OO relationship between an ASPX page and its CS/VB code behind file in ASP.NET 1.1? in 2.0?
• What happens from the point an HTTP request is received on a TCP/IP port up until the Page fires the On_Load event?
• How does IIS communicate at runtime with ASP.NET?
• Where is ASP.NET at runtime in IIS5? IIS6?
• What is an assembly binding redirect?
• Where are the places an administrator or developer can affect how assembly binding policy is applied?
• Compare and contrast LoadLibrary(), CoCreateInstance(), CreateObject() and Assembly.Load().

I AM...

I AM...

Where I End Up

Where I End Up

Learn Faster - Only Competitive Advantage

"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage."


Arie de Geus

Simple F# for Complex Problems; CQRS and Event Sourcing; Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Customize MSDN Flash | Unsubscribe Volume 16, Number 24 | October 8, 2012     Top Stories     Master Simple F# Code to Solve Complex Problems with Try F# Try the new Try F# Beta that makes F# 3.0 programming easy to learn, simple to use and share, all through the browser. Experience F# 3.0's unique information-rich programming features for Big Data analytics, and solve complex problems more efficiently. Try the new Try F# Beta today. Free Ebook: Exploring CQRS and Event Sourcing This guide from Microsoft patterns & practices is focused on building highly scalable, highly available, and maintainable applications with the Command & Query Responsibility Segregation and the Event Sourcing architectural patterns. It describes the experiences of a development team with no prior CQRS proficiency in building, deploying (to Windows Azure), and maintaining a sample real-world, complex, enterprise system to showcase various CQRS and ES concepts, challenges, and techniques. Jump Start October 10 - 11: Developing Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS and JavaScript This free Jump Start offers accelerated, engaging, demo-rich virtual learning. It also helps developers seeking the MCSD: Windows Store Apps certification prepare for Microsoft certification exams 70-480 and 70-481. Learn from two seasoned Microsoft Technical Evangelists with real-world experience developing applications using a wide array of platforms and languages. Your Featured Content patterns & practices Symposium 2013 Registration Open January 15 - 17, 2013, Redmond, WA Learn about practices, patterns, and technologies that will save you time and reduce risk when creating web, mobile, cloud and Windows solutions. The Symposium is also an opportunity to influence p&p and other product teams face-to-face to address the scenarios most important to you. Building an App for Both Windows Phone and iOS Find out how you can create an app from scratch that targets both Windows Phone and iPhone, while staying true to the design philosophy and UX features of each platform. MSDN Virtual Lab: Windows 8 Lab 5: Process Lifetime Management - JavaScript Process Lifetime Management is one of the most important concepts for a developer building modern UI style apps to understand. Unlike traditional Windows applications, modern UI style apps execute only when they are in the foreground. Get started - download Visual Studio Win8 Express. MSDN Virtual Lab: Introduction to Cloud Services Learn to create applications in Windows Azure using web roles and worker roles, use Storage services including blobs, queues, and tables, and publish an application to Windows Azure Cloud Services. Try Windows Azure free for 90 days. Bytes by MSDN: Windows 8 User Experience Do design principles hinder innovation? Bonny Lau explains the reasoning behind the Windows 8 user experience and urges developers to leverage design templates as a starting point (not an end point) for design, to push the envelope and build great looking apps. Learn how to make your app the best experience for your users at Generation App.   Free One-Day Windows Azure Developer Camp Join the free, one-day Windows Azure Developer Camp and leave with code running in the cloud. The camp starts with the basics and builds to more advanced topics throughout the day. Developers of all languages are welcome, so register now and then download the free trial. OData, the Entity Framework, and Windows Azure Access Control When Sean Iannuzzi was asked to secure a web service for an existing database and web application, he saw the benefits of using OData, but he didn't think it was secure enough. See how he developed his own custom implementation with extra security. MSDN Virtual Lab: Windows 8 Lab 6: Settings and Preferences - JavaScript Add About and Preferences commands to the settings pane in Contoso Cookbook. Expose a user preference that can be toggled, and use roaming settings to store that preference so it will follow users wherever they go. Get started - download Visual Studio Win8 Express. MSDN Virtual Lab: Introduction to Windows Azure Virtual Machines Learn how to deploy a simple ASP.NET MVC4 web application to a web server hosted in Windows Azure, using SQL Server and configuring load balancing. Try Windows Azure free for 90 days. Bytes by MSDN: Windows 8 User Interface Chris Anderson, long-time UI architect at Microsoft (Windows Forms, WPF), discusses the innovative new standards and features introduced in Windows 8 that enable web developers to build Windows 8 apps more easily. Chris has been focused on the Windows Libraries for JavaScript and urges developers to leverage resources at the Windows devcenter to build apps.     MSDN Flash Sponsors DevExpress, and Visual Studio 2012: •  Multi-Channel Experiences Made Easy: Discover DXTREME •  Visual Studio 2012 - Free Trial Software   What's Happening Near You Desert Mountain District Upcoming Local Events Get One Step Ahead with the Cloud OS Signature Event Series October 10, Denver, CO Southwest Fox and Southwest XBase++ October 18 - 21, Gilbert, AZ Desert Code Camp November 17, 8:00 A.M., Chandler, AZ   ADVERTISEMENT Delight Your Users - Create Apps Designed for the Device With DXTREME, multi-channel means building stunning applications that span devices and optimize the best parts of each platform, from Windows 8 to smartphones.     Events Attend a Windows 8 Event in Your Community Looking for a Windows 8 event in your community? Find Windows 8 Developer Camps, Hackathons, and other community-led events. Windows Azure Hands-on Labs Online Through October 31, 2012, Online As you work on your labs, Microsoft experts can assist and provide guidance by chatting with you one-on-one or by virtually taking control of your lab. Sign up soon, as seating is limited.     ADVERTISEMENT Visual Studio 2012 - Free Trial Software No matter the size of your team, or the complexity of your project, Visual Studio 2012 can help turn your ideas into modern, multi-platform apps.     Resources •  Web Resources •  Free Offers from Microsoft Partners   •  How Do I Videos •  Windows 8 Hands-on Labs Online •  Windows 8 Virtual Labs •  Windows Azure Hands-on Labs Online •  Windows Azure Virtual Labs   •  MSDN Magazine •  ASP.NET •  Silverlight •  ScriptJunkie (DHTML) •  TechNet Magazine •  TechNet Flash     This newsletter contains information based on your preferences. Customize which topics you receive (changes will be reflected from the next newsletter sent after your confirmation).   You can also see a version of the newsletter containing all topics.   MSDN | Sign up for other newsletters | Unsubscribe | Update your profile ©2012 Microsoft Corporation Terms of Use | Trademarks | Privacy Statement Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more please read our online Privacy Statement. If you would prefer to no longer receive this newsletter, please click here. To set your contact preferences for other Microsoft communications click here. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 USA

Success is not the key to happiness.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.


Albert Schweitzer

Microsoft Research: Worldwide Telescope HTML5 Script

Microsoft Research: Worldwide Telescope HTML5 Script - Link

Coders to Inherit the Earth? No!

Can we trust the code that increasingly runs our lives?

By Jane Wakefield - Technology Reporter

NASA Engineers weren't the only ones praying for a smooth landing when Curiosity landed on Mars.

Imagine how different the first pictures sent from the Mars Rover would have been if there had been a software failure.

Not to mention pretty hard to get someone along from the IT department to fix it.

One person breathing a sigh of relief when everything worked was Jack Chou, founder of software testing firm Coverity.

Software designed by his firm worked its way through two million lines of Mars Rover code, debugging and fixing problems as the software was being created.

"We were ecstatic that everything worked well," he told the BBC.

"One of the team did say that it found critical defects that could have caused problems if they hadn't been found," he said.

It seems pretty obvious that complex spacecraft would be hugely reliant on software but these days so are many of the more mundane things that we take for granted

...from our mobile phones to the cars we drive, from the sites we shop and bank with, to medical devices that keep us healthy.

And just as software designed for space obviously needs to be bug free so too does code that binds us ever more closely to the connected world.

But, with an estimated 50-70% of software projects ending in failure, how can we put our trust in code?

Making mistakes

Improving software's somewhat tarnished reputation was one of the driving forces behind setting up Coverity in 2003, Mr Chou admits.

"To me as a young computer science graduate I felt it was a shame software was seen as unreliable," he said.

One defect per 1,000 lines of code isn't a bad mistake rate

...says Jack Hughes. Along with three other PhD students and a professor at Stanford University, Mr Chou set out to create something different - software that could look for bugs as code was being written rather than wait until after the project was completed.

"Software ticks over a lot of different things. It is becoming autonomous and is controlling aspects of daily life that only a few years ago we couldn't imagine," he said.

On average the systems developed by Coverity detects one defect per 1,000 lines of code.

"If you think about 1,000 lines of code that is equivalent to 15 printed pages and if in an essay of that length you only had one error then that is pretty impressive."

But, he admits, there are always going to be below-average software developers.

"Even great developers make mistakes so the important thing is to make sure we put safety nets below so that the mistakes get caught," he added.

As we become ever more reliant on code, firms such as Coverity will become increasingly important.

Freelance Coders

But some believe a more radical overhaul of the way software is designed is also needed.

Topcoder is a growing community of more than 420,000 programmers, all of who compete in coding competitions to design software for both business and educational projects.

"Software projects become complex very quickly and they can go off the rails pretty quickly," said Topcoder founder Jack Hughes.

Jack Hughes hopes Topcoder can become an industry standard
"The software industry is a new one compared to say manufacturing. When you buy a product you expect it to work but software design just hasn't had that process behind it," he said.

By offering projects up to a community of programmers you get better results, much faster, he added.

"We do think that these models will become predominant in the industry."

With skilled programmers in great demand, tech firms are staring to follow what happens on sites such as Topcoder.

It ranks its programmers based on a range of criteria, gold-dust for potential employers.

"A Topcoder rating becomes an important element to people's CVs. Larger companies check this out," said Mr Hughes.

The community is starting to win some high-level clients, such as Medicare, the US government-run health programme. Topcoder recently won the contract to revamp its systems.

"They felt that they had to do something different and really wanted to try something that was a big departure from the usual way of doing things," said Mr Hughes.

Gone Golfing

Programmers also seems to love the Topcoder model, often because they can work when they want, ideal for a group of people not renowned for enjoying the nine to five routine.

"They can also work on multiple projects and spread their skills," said Mr Hughes.

Justin Gaspar runs a Topcoder team and says that it the most efficient place he has ever worked.

"With Topcoder you are basically paid to get something done rather than to sit somewhere for eight hours a day," he said.

It also results in far better code, he thinks.

"There is way more oversight and in terms of reviewing, code is looked at by two or three members. Peer review plays a big part."

Mr Gaspar admits that when he is heads down on a project it can mean a lot of late nights, but, on the flip side, when he isn't coding he has time off to play golf.

As the world becomes more connecting, so will our reliance on coders.

It has long been predicted that the geek will inherit the Earth.

Let's just hope that they have got enough sleep.

Original Article: BBC

Some Questions Cannot Be Answered

It occurred to me that the perceived importance of a question is in direct inverse proportion to the ability to answer it.

This troubles me at the most fundamental level; and yet I know somewhere in my mind that it simply must be that way...anything else would be all the more wrong.

I can only wonder (as I don't feel particularly comforted by this knowledge): Is this what is meant by "acceptance"?

If so, why do I feel shortchanged in some way?

I suppose acceptance was billed as something entirely different to me.

HTML5 Audio Player Code

HTML5 Custom Audio

I'm going to have to throw one of these HTML5 Custom Audio Players up on a site...nice.