Reading Notes #158

Suggestion of the week

• The Deploy to Azure Button - This post tells us about the evolution of an amazing idea to simplify the deployment to Azure.

Cloud

• Azure Private Cloud: Ship it - Interesting post that talks about how a private cloud could be a great option for your enterprise.

• Infonuagique et vie privée : je t’aime moi non plus! - Interesting post in French that talk about some security concerns related our personal information in the cloud.

• Available on AWSLabs - That's a great news for all Xamarin developers.

• Amazon DynamoDB now supports JSON document data structure and large items - Great new it's now event easier to use the DynamoDB.

• Introducing the Azure Automation Runbook Gallery (Beth Cooper) - Great post that introduces the Azure Runbook Gallery and explains how to use it and also how to add our Runbook to it.

• Designing for Big Scale in Azure (K. Dotchkoff) - Nice post that explains how we should change our design in the cloud and use logical container or scale units.

• Automating the tedious parts of open source on Azure (Scott Hanselman) - This post walks us through the new optimized process of GitHub CLA service account with Azure.

Programming

• Custom Login Scopes, Single Sign-On, new ASP.NET Web API – updates to the Azure Mobile Services .NET backend (Carlos Figueira) - Nice post that explains how to use some great feature of asp.net web API.

• Contributions to Azure documentation and SDK’s on GitHub just got simpler (Guy Burstein) - Because simpler is better. Nice update.

• Simple HTTP api for Executing PowerShell Scripts - Interesting alternative idea when you don't need any interaction with the user.

• Announcing Infragistics Xamarin.Forms! - Another good news for Xamrin developers, now your mockup could be closer to the final look.

• Challenges in handling date and time in REST API and distributed web applications (Saravana Kumar) - This post share with us the strategy they used to manage dates, and explained why they did it that way.

• Responding to Events with TypeScript and Backbone -- Visual Studio Magazine (Peter Vogel) - Nice tutorial, the third of a series, about building a single-page application. More to come.

• Building a Better NuGet (Edward Charbeneau) - Nice post that gives us the best practices when developing a NuGet package.

• Some challenges with Node.js on Windows - This post shares some workaround when developing in Node.js on a Windows environment.

• Exciting Things About ASP.NET vNext Series: MVC View Components - This post explores Asp.Net vNext and his View components.

Miscellaneous

• The Greenfield to Brownfield Transition -Interesting thoughts about how we should embrace different kinds of opportunity....

• Adding Custom Post Meta Data - Nice update to help with the ranking with Ghost blog.

• Plex for Xbox One is here and my life is complete - Plus Synology setup how-to (Scott Hanselman) - I'm a huge fan of Plex myself and just want to share this great news with everyone.

~Frank

Reading Notes #150

 

Suggestion of the week

• How I’ve started loving PowerShell (Fabien Dibot) - This nice post is a real pep-talk. It also gives references for more information about PowerShell.

Cloud

• Using Reserved IP Addresses with Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines - Nice PowerShell scripts and comments to help us with our Azure fixed IP.
  
• Getting Acquainted with #Azure Service Bus Event Hubs - This nice post describes the event bus of Azure, when more muscles are needed.
  
• Affinity Groups in Azure - Nice post that clarifies the purpose of the affinity group.
  
• Integrating Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services with Salesforce.com - Really nice tutorial that explains how to send a message to a SaaS in Microsoft Azure.
  
• Azure Databases - Restore Local Database To Azure - This post describes a quick and easy way to copy our database to the cloud when we have a simple database.
  
• AWS Wants to Attract Mobile Developers with New Services (Saroj Kar) - Nice new tools from Amazon.

Programming

• Why you need to use Bower - If you are hesitating about if you should or not try Bower, this post will pin down the nail.
  
• Image Sprites made easy with Web Essentials (Josh Eastburn) - If you thought that using sprite was too complicated for the benefit you could have, this post will show you how effortless it is today.
  
• New Compiler and Moving to GitHub - Interesting improvement about the compiler, looking forward to try those new features... And time to add GitHub followed projects to add Typescript.
  
• Git to TFS Migration Experiment: Part 1 - Get all the tools you need to move. Part 2, Part 3 - Last post of the series, focuses on the troubleshooting...
  
• Day 28: Doing More Interesting Things With Buttons (james.chambers) - Nice tricks to get an amazing dropdown control.
  
• Day 30: Loading Bootstrap Modal Content via AJAX (james.chambers) - "The season finally" of a great series about Asp.Net MVC bootstrap. If you didn't have read it already go for it.
  
• How to fake session object / HttpContext for integration tests - Useful tips to get better or more complete integration tests.
  
• Visual Studio Online updates include enabling Azure Active Directory support and self-service account deletion - Nice update.

Integration

• Troubleshooting the WCF-Custom adapter - Typed-Polling with dynamic SQL & empty result sets - Great post that gives a lot of little tips so next time we don't get stock.

Miscellaneous

• Don’t Let Your Head Attack Your Heart - Interesting thoughts about how leadership is closer to us and our feelings.
  
• Just Let Me Code! (Andrew Binstock) - Interesting share about the evolution of coding and the impact on the developers.

Reading Notes #127

Suggestion of the week

• Source Control considered harmful - Excellent post! Don't stop at the first paragraphs, everything will be clear as you read through.

Cloud

• Stupid Azure Trick #3 – Create a Dev Virtual Machine in Windows Azure (Bill Wilder) - Very simple and efficient.
  
• Can I use Multiple Monitors with Remote Desktop (RDP)? Yes. Here’s how. (Bill Wilder) - How could I have missed that?!
  
• Gartner's 2014 MQ for PaaS: Organizing the Chaos - This post is sharing interesting though about the new PaaS Gardner's Quatran.
  
• Deploying TWO websites to Windows Azure from one Git Repository - This post explains a ninja trick with Azure Website and Git.
  
• Where’s Azure? Mapping Windows Azure 4 years after full General Availability. (Bill Wilder) - Interesting quick post that maps Azure today.
  
• WordPress 3.8 on Windows Azure Websites (Mark_BrownMS) - It's time to upgrade our blog on Azure website.
  
• Le Global Windows Azure Bootcamp à Montréal (Samedi 29 mars, 2014) - Time to reserved your place!
  
• Amazon is Still the Leader When it Comes to Cloud Pricing (Saroj Kar) - Good news for cloud user, the prices are going down...
  
• Brownfield Windows Azure Solutions & Hidden Treasures - Nice example of how a simple website could be optimized / become scalable in multi iteration so it doesn't affect negatively the user experience.
  
• Amazon Launches New Reporting Tools For EC2 (Frederic Lardinois) - Great new tools that help seeing stats of all kinds about resources and billing.

Programming

• For your convenience, please disable security warnings - This post explains why we soudln't turn-off security warning. It looks obvious, but ...
  
• Here’s how Bell was hacked – SQL injection blow-by-blow - About sql injection.
  
• Pro NuGet second edition is out - A book to add in your bookshelf (virtual or not)
  
• 10 Reasons Web Developers Should Learn Angular - Whatever it is because you need munitions to get Angular to be adopted at your work or because you what to know more about it, this excellent post is for you.
  
• Web Essentials 2013: Where is the TypeScript support? (Google+) - Important explanation for TypeScript user.

Databases

• Hadoop 2.0 – A Big Step For Big Data (Saroj Kar) - Nice post that introduces MapReduce v2 (MRv2) one the best new feature of Hadoop last release.

Integration

• Streaming Xml Transformations (Christos Karras) - Great tutorial that explains very clearly what are our solutions when we are in front of a complex XML transformation.

Miscellaneous

• Internet of Things or Thing on the Internet? - Interesting thoughts about today's and tomorrow's Internet.
  
• Fixed: The Synology NAS with Plex Server and mismatched version numbers - Nice catch. If you don't know Plex here to read about it.
  
• The Heart of Innovation: How to Prepare for Brainstorming - Nice post to help us to improve our meetingproductivity.

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 #125

Suggestion of the week

• Get Better Acquainted with Azure (Mark BrownMS) - Wow! All kinds of resources are coved here. A post to read to find your next book or blog to subscribe.
  
• With great Azure VM comes great responsibility(which is why you really want an Azure Web Site) - Great post that compares website and VW.

Cloud

• Announcing Reduced Pricing on Storage - How can we be not happy to pay less for a nice service?!
  
• 2013 Year in Review: New AWS Technical Whitepapers, Articles and Videos Published - Great recap of all the AWS resources published in 2013.
  
• Identity in your own apps with Windows Azure Active Directory (MVP Award Program) - Great tutorial that explains how to use Windows Azure Active Directory in a web project with the new VS2013.
  
• Measuring all the things with Azure Web Sites and friends - Great post, a lot of information on the tools available to help us tracking info in our Azure website.
  
• Introducing Windows Azure WebJobs – Wow, webjob is so simple to use compare to all the steps that we needed to with a worker role.
  
• Stupid Azure Trick #1 – Rename Your Windows Azure Subscription (Bill Wilder) - Nice tips to get a more structured subscription list in Azure.

Programming

• Roslyn performance (Matt Gertz) - Cool post that gives a good insight about how performance is treated in Microsoft team.
  
• Simple Git workflow is simple - Good post that explained the workflow. Now we just need to practice it.
  
• Why TDD Makes Me a Happy Developer - Interesting opinion about TDD. If you don't know what is TDD, this post is for you.
  
• NuGet Package Manager Console tip (Girish stuartle) - Nice tips, like the author I had never tried that before.

Architecture

• What makes models interesting (Nick Malik) - Interesting post about enterprise business model.
  
• Why is Software Architecture Important? - Very nice analogy.

Miscellaneous

• Why You Should Stop Pretending To Be So Important - Wisdom post that remembers us to give time, to be there for other.
  
• Yak Shaving Defined - I'll get that done, as soon as I shave this yak. - Ha ha ha. It explains also why retreated people have no free time...

~Frank

Reading Notes #122

Cloud

• Download the Windows Azure Training Kit (Rob Margel) - Good news, It had been long since the last update.
  
• Notification, New Dashboard, Another Check - Nice update in the AWS dashboard..
  
• Release unused space from your Windows Azure Virtual Hard Disks to reduce their billable size - A post to read. How you could save money really easily.

Programming

• Getting started with Node.js development in Visual Studio (Dhananjay kumar) - Excellent post to get started with the new node.js feature of Visual Studio.
  
• Entity Framework 6: The Ninja Edition (Julie Lerman) - Really great article about how Entity framework works and the plan about it's future.

Architecture

• SOLID Architecture principles using simple C# examples (Shivprasad koirala) - Nice post. The first time I eared about SOLID was at //Build 2013. 8nteresting concept.

Reading Notes #120

Suggestion of the week

• Working with 154 million records on Azure Table Storage – the story of “Have I been pwned?” - Truly one of the best posts a read about azure windows storage. Thanks to Tom Walker (@Tinytoot) for the suggestion.
  
• Windows Azure: New Scheduler Service, Read-Access Geo Redundant Storage, and Monitoring Updates (Scott Gu) - Great update from Windows Azure, I'm really happy about the scheduler release. It's a very useful feature.

Cloud

• The Truth About Windows Azure PowerShell (wordpress.com) - Your right.
  
• AWS Migration Patterns (Frank Kelly) - Really interesting post. And you, how do you prefer to do your migration the "big bang" way or bit by bit.
  
• Application settings in Azure Mobile Services (CarlosFigueira) - Nice tutorial with a real case and good code sample.
  
• ASP.NET MVC–Azure Websites and EF Model First Connection Strings when Deploying from Github - Useful tutorial about how to manage our code when deploying from source control directly in Azure.
  
• Le cloud, les nuages et puis quoi encore (Frank) - Quick French introduction about the cloud that a wrote on my new blog.
  
• Building a Windows 8.1 Developer Environment in Windows Azure - Great workaround to be able to build win8 or 8.1 application in an Azure VM.

Programming

• **Be a productive coder with Productivity Power Tools 2013 (Lori Lalonde, Tom Walker) - I'm a big fan of VisualStudio productivity power tools since vs2010. If you did try it yet it time more than ever.
  
• I Was Wrong About JavaScript and Responsive Design - Interesting post where the author share how he realizes that javascript and responsive UI was indeed important.

Databases

• [Video] The Secrets of TempDB - Wow, that an explication. You must see this video. It will probably change the way you write you're SQL queries.
  
• Colored Status Bar in SQL Server Management Studio - Nice tips to differentiate different environments, and who knows maybe saving you from a big mistake in prod...
  
• NoSQL Data Modeling Techniques - Good post to get started with NoSql. It could definitely help before starting designing your database.

Architecture

• Composite Pattern (Gunnar Peipman) - Good post that explains clearly a pattern with code sample.

Miscellaneous

• To Feedly readers - Really? What kind of things, ads? I must to some screen capture compare.
  
• Feedly WAS (is) Hijacking Shared Links And Cutting Out Original Publishers (Nate Hoffelder) - Interesting thoughts about Feedly new "feature" that you should know.
  
• Three all new Windows 8.1 video tutorials - what's new in 8.1, keyboard shortcuts, and managing windows (Scott Hanselman) - Great video, very clear and instructive for a super user or a complete newbie.
  
• 10 Ways to Switch Your Brain to Writing Mode When Working From Home (Stacey Roberts) - Nice useful tips that help to get you started.

Reading Notes #117

Suggestion of the week

• One ASP.NET – Welcome to the Web Development Buffet! - Great post that introduces quickly a really nice project Asp.net One and how it's integrated with the new Visual Studio 2013.

Cloud

• Migrating Database Workloads to the Cloud - Great source of information. This article describe all the scenarios with the pros and cons then helps you in the steps to do it.
  
• First look at Visual Studio Online “Monaco” - | Gunnar Peipman - Programming Blog - The idea is fantastic, let's see how all this will turn in few months.
  
• Amazon takes Virtual Desktop to the Cloud (Paul Thurrott) - That a incredibly cheap solution that a lot of people / companies will definitely appreciate.
  
• Introduction to WebSockets on Windows Azure Web Sites (Mark Brown) - Very nice tutorial to use websocket in an Azure website.
  
• SaaS’s Real Triumph (Geoffrey Moore) - Good post that explains why we should embrace the SaaS in our enterprise.
  
• How much data can you put on VSOnline? (Brian Harry) - Interesting numbers and calculus about estimating the quantity of code we can put before having issues.

Programming

• Using web.config transforms with App.config files - | Gunnar Peipman - Programming Blog - Nice post that explains the few steps you need to do, to have a different config file for different compile setup.
  
• LICEcap – best screen capture tool I’ve ever used - Definitely, a very convenient tool that generates animated GIF of your screen capture. A tool to add to our toolbox...
  
• Things to avoid when customizing TFS work items (Dan Hellem) - The best time to read this post is before going in with TFS. But still, it's never to late!
  
• Scott Hanselman - Nice update about portable class library and great news for Xamarin and mobile device developers.
  
• A Better Syntax For Unit Tests (Andrew Binstock) - This post describes how nice is the syntax of some unit tests frameworks.
  
• Enterprise Library 6: Developer’s Guide Released (Grigori Melnik) - This book is a must in your bookshelf. And h0ey good news it's free!
  
• Linqpad – bring the power of LINQ to SQL Server development - Linqpad is a great wonderful tool. If you never have the chance to try it, now will be the time.;) And you won't recreate it.

Miscellaneous

• December Exam Preparation: Exam 70-487: Developing Windows Azure and Web Services (Sarah Arnold) - Nice initiative. Does this event happen in other cities?
  
• Personal branding, the recording of my presentation - Interesting presentation for all bloggers or people with a more public profile.
  
• 10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy (Belle Beth Cooper) - Interesting thoughts about how we can reach more people that we expect, using the good social media for the targeted public.

Reading Notes #113

 

Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure: Backup Services Release, Hyper-V Recovery Manager, VM Enhancements, Enhanced Enterprise Management Support - Wonderful! This news makes my week... Backup and Active Directory for the Azure Portal in the same release. I'm sincerely impressed by the quantity of features this week, and really happy to see the new Script Center.

Cloud

• Developing Windows Azure Mobile Services server-side - Very complete tutorial with a lot of details that cover also tests.
  
• WCF Worker Role Just Recycles on Windows Azure (Angshuman Nayak) - I really like this kind of post where the author shares with us how he investigated and found the solution for a problem.
  
• Run various Linux distributions with applications on Azure Cloud (gpillai) - Quick post that will show how we could, very easily, do SuSE CentOS or Ubuntu in Azure.
  
• Windows Azure: Announcing release of Windows Azure SDK 2.2 (with lots of goodies) - Good news. Learn all about the news virtual machine available in Windows Azure, the price drop and more in this post...
  
• Migration to AWS: part 1 - Very interesting story that shows how reel life considerations are taking in change, when moving to the cloud.
  
• Transient Fault Handling Application Block & Enterprise Library 6 - Nice post that summarizes all changes in Transient Fault Handleing Application Block of the last Enterprise Library release.
  
• Windows Azure Storage Queues VS Windows Azure Service Bus Queues - Nice and useful post that compares Azure Storage Queues and Azure Service Bus Queues.

Programming

• patterns & practices: Prism for the Windows Runtime - Home - Interesting patterns to develop on Windows 8.
  
• SCREENCASTS: What's New in Visual Studio 2013 - learn over lunch! (Scott Hanselman) - Great post that group many videos about the new Visual Studio 2013 features.
  
• How Do You Learn a New Framework? - Good post that introduces simplewebdev: a website that regroups information, blogs, articles about MVC pattern.
  
• How to become a better GIT - Very interesting post that provides details informations to pick your site and client, and explains how to act as a good Git contributor.

Database

• EF6 Connection Resiliency for SQL Azure* – When does it actually do it’s thing? : Don't Be Iffy - Nice post. Transient Fault exceptions are to be expected when developing in the cloud. Thanks to this post, we will save time trying to build Unit-tests.
  
• SQL Injection - Good sample that shows how easy it is to do SQL injection, and gives the final argument to protect your database.

Architecture

• Microsoft .NET: Architecting Applications for the Enterprise - This book looks very interesting.

Miscellaneous

• Make a Windows 8.1 Pinned Live Tile for YOUR website in minutes - Super! I'm just starting using Win8 on my personal machine. Now, I have plenty of idea on how to customize it... Or at lest, where I will to start.
  
• Ditch the Laptop: How to Work From a Tablet (Aaron Aders) - Nice post that gives good advices and accessories suggestions.
  
• Is OneNote the best ever App for Tablets? (Stu4rt) - I started using OneNote last year, and I never stop. It is a great application that works really smoothly on all devises.
  
• Working With Programmers: 3 Tips - This post make me smile....Ya, I know, I'm kind of a web developer....

~Frank

Reading Notes #108

Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure IaaS Deployment Methodology with PowerShell Part One (YungChou) - First of a very promising series, this post explains that basic of a good Azure deployment.

Cloud

• Don’t Budget for Cloud (Jason Bloomberg) - Nice post that helps to understand how to budget for the IT future of companies; It could be in the cloud, could be not, and it could be a mix...
  
• Connecting Clouds – Creating a site-to-site Network with Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure (mwasham) - Great post! A post to bookmark, that a nice tutorial to build a fail over solution cross cloud provider.
  
• Dell mantra: one cloud, not even Amazon’s, doesn’t fit all - This post explained how deferent Dell wants to be in his cloud services.
  
• Architecture, Agile and Cloud Challenges - Good post that explains how we should analyses changes in our project architecture when deploying in the cloud. (Here it's Azure but it could be all other providers).
  
• Inside Dropbox’s Quest to Bury the Hard Drive (Marcus Wohlsen) - Interesting post to know more about what's planning this big player.
  
• WordPress with SQL Azure on Windows Azure Websites (mksunitha) - What1? It's that easy? No more excuse.
  
• Delivering push notifications to millions of devices with Windows Azure Notification Hubs - Create post that explains push notification and notification hubs in Windows Azure.

Programming

• Internal tools – cheap and tasteless? - DevOps definitively worth more of our attention.
  
• Top 10 ASP.NET MVC Interview Questions (Imran Abdul Ghani) - If you eared about asp.net mvc, and want to know more about it, here's the post for you.
  
• Book Review: Building Interactive Queries With LINQPad (Latish Sehgal) - Interesting book that introduces the very useful linqPad and the omnipresent LinQ.
  
• New Online Course: TDD and BDD in Ruby - 5 days to be up to speed with testing, mocking in Ruby... or get your money (35$) back.
  
• 30 Days of TDD: Day Three – Your First Test (James Bender) - Third post of a very promising series to learn from nothing how to build our tests (unit tests, integration tests, etc.) in a .Net environment. The tools used in the series are nunit, justmock, justcode and nuget of course.

Miscellaneous

• 10 Web apps to help you plan and promote a great event (Brinda Ayer) - Nice tools to know.
  
• Scott Hanselman - Interesting post, it's nice to see explication of what I though was happening.
  
• It’s not Scrum if… (Mark Levison) - Nice post that helps us to get back on the good path.
  
• Keeping Your Life Synced Up - Nice recap of the most popular tools to help us.
  
  

~ Frank

Reading Notes #106

Suggestion of the week

• Easily Copy Files from One Cloud Service to Another (Amit Agarwal) - Really useful tool and it looks so easy to use.
  
• Windows Azure: New Distributed, Dedicated, High Performance Cache Service + More Cool Improvements (Scott Guthrie)- A lot of brand-new features as just been release again. Learn more about the super easy to use cache services and all the new possibilities to scale and log and more in this post.

Cloud

• Opinari - Interesting point of view, where SLA match more with price than quality.
  
• Have You Met The Canadian Windows Azure Community Experts? - You may recognize some of them...
  
• Why is The New Windows Azure Cache Service Important? - This post explains why we should care about the new Azure cache services, and the difference between the old and the new version.
  
• Backup WordPress Site to Windows Azure Storage using “BackupToAzure” Plugin (Gaurav) - This post introduces a great free and open source to backup your WordPree.
  
• Public vs. Private Cloud: No Comparison - Interesting point of view about private cloud.

Databases

• Friends Don’t Let Friends use Lazy Loading on Windows Azure! - Very nice post that describes how to avoid big database issue on the cloud, but also in other situations.

Programming

• Are you missing an assembly reference? Why, yes I am. So kind of you to ask. (Bill Wilder) - Discover how NuGet could be so good that it will solve this problem for you.
  
• Jon Galloway - Interesting post that explains asp.net MVC routing. Most of the time MVC Routeing is just magic and easy, but it could be also a bit tricky.
  
• Claims-Based Authentication and Authorization (David Rogers Dev) - Really interesting tutorial on how to build a claims-based authentication and authorization for a website. All the code is available online.
  
• Coding for Domain-Driven Design: Tips for Data-Focused Devs - After reading this post, if you didn't know about Domain-Driven Design (DDD), good chance are that you want to know more...

Integration

• Collection of Visio 2013 Stencil for BizTalk Server updated with new stencils - Great, let's refresh our Visio's shapes.

Miscellaneous

• Scott Hanselman - It so easy and convenient that we sometimes forget how "dangerous" it could be...
  
• The Power of Habits (JD) - About the strength of habits versus knowledge.
  
• Four Areas Where Senior Leaders Should Focus Their Attention - Interesting post to help us on improving a meeting efficiency.

~Frank

Reading Notes #99

 Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure: Major Updates for Mobile Backend Development (Scott Gu) - Another big release for Windows Azure that boost the Mobile Services offers.

Cloud

• Azure VM Access Control with PowerShell (Tyler Doerksen) - Great with this post we now know all the new features that came up last week: PowerShell command.
• 10 Dos and Don'ts for Running Proof-of-Concept Projects in the Cloud - Nice post that highlights the pros and cons.
• Conflicts: Windows Azure Mobile Service to SQLite Data Sync for Windows Phone and WinRT with Portable Class Libraries - Nice post about possible sync conflicts.
• BASE Jumping in the Cloud (Jason Bloomberg) - Interesting post that explains why a re-architecture is more than often needed when moving our application in the cloud.

Programming

• Using Duck Typing to Avoid Conditionals in JavaScript - Good explication of Duck Typing method by refractory code step by step.
• Introduction to Unit Testing (Don’t Worry, Your Secret is Safe with Me) (Erik Dietrich) - Interesting post about unit testing. What is it, and what it isn't.
• Claim based Authentication and WIF : Part 1 - First of a series, this post describes what is a claim base process and who are the players involve in it.
• Stop Doing Internet Wrong (Scott Hanselman)- Interesting list of some simple things to do to get a better experience online.
• Using Azure Mobile Services in SharpDevelop - Nice alternative to Visual Studio. Check out the video here to see it developing with Azure.

Databases

• Amazon RDS Lowers On-Demand and Reserved Instance Prices Globally - And the battle for the lowest price continues (that's good for us) this time the databases are targeted.

User eXperience (UX)

• Bundling and Minification in ASP.NET MVC (Suprotim Agarwal) - Minification is a important process to have a nice UX. It's now easier than ever.

Miscellaneous

• Marketing 101 for developers (Phil Cross, saraallison Natasha Joseph) - Why a developer should care about marketing? Because we need it? This post answers the question.
• The Importance of Closed Captioning - How To and Why Subtitle (Scott Hanselman) - Really interesting post. Doing subtile look like a lot of effort, but it's worth it. This post contains sample, tutorial and tools references.
• 8+ Practical Tips for Avoiding Pickpockets - Simple tips that can save you a lot of problems when you are traveling.

~Frank

Reading Notes #95

Suggestion of the week

• The Unexpected Antidote to Procrastination (Peter Bregman)- A person a know also said: If you are not making mistakes, it means that you're not working hard enough.
  
• Lessons Learned: Taking the best out of Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Nuno Godinho) - This post is a must, it describes all the best practices to get the better of Windows Azure Virtual Machine (VM).

Reading Notes #94

Suggestion of the week

• 10 Tips for Learning a New Technology) - Nice post that gives simple suggestion to have a better kick start when learning new stuff. It gives a lot of online training website references.
  
• Creating a “Flat File” Shared Database with Amazon S3 and Node.js - Very interesting and inspiring tutorial.
  
  

Cloud

• How Do You Choose Your Cloud Provider? (Toddy Mladenov) - This post doesn't give an easy answer, because it's impossible. However, it explains how to find your answer.
  
• Penny Pinching in the Cloud: Enabling New Relic Performance Monitoring on Windows Azure Websites - Indeed, NewRelic is an incredible tool. Check-it out.
  
• Microsoft working on DaaS solution hosted on Azure (Kenneth van Surksum) - That could be interesting.
  
• Moving all a website's images and assets to the Azure CDN - This one was on me stack since few days now, but I shouldn't have waited; really nice. I liked the live thing also, it gives a real idea of the effort. Time, and difficulty of the project. Note:Watch until the end.
  
• Windows Azure SQL Data Sync - The Maximum Limit For Index or Statistics Key Column List is 16 - Nice workaround of an Azure Data Sync limitation.
  
• Using Existing Windows Azure SQL Databases with Azure Mobile Services - Nice short post answering one common question about the Azure Mobile Services.
  
• Paper: Infrastructure-as-a-Service Product Line Architecture Fabric Architecture Guide (Kenneth van Surksum) - Two papers about IaaS Fabric Architecture got public...
  
  

Programming

• Git Explained: For Beginners - If you don't know about Git, or you still not familiar with it? This is definitely the post for you. From vocabulary to code sample, this tutorial explains all you need to know.
  
• CDNs fail, but your scripts don't have to - fallback from CDN to local jQuery - Nice post that gives samples of CDN fallback, because we it will append, but we don't know when.
  
• Utilize Compilation as a Service to create the next level plugin capability (youtube.com) - Wow! This idea is fantastic. A nice video that explains how we could use Roslyn.
  
• Sublime Text (2) (Drew Barontini) - I discover Sublime Text 2 few months ago, and since then I'm installing it everywhere. Here is a nice post that presents important features and customizations.(To install using Chocolatey just type cinst sublimetext ).
  
• 10 Ways to Make Agile Design More Effective - Interesting post that gives nice tips to improve your journey in an Agile project.
  
• Merge Files with Git Merge Tool - Perfect tutorial for a beginner with Git (like me) , this post explains the basic of the merge process.
  
  

Databases

• SQL SERVER - Azure SQL Databases Backup Made Easy with SQLBackupAndFTP - Free and simple to use. That a nice tool.

Integration

• BizTalk 2013 Installation and Configuration – Important considerations before setup the server (Part 1) - Nice tutorial with some time-saver tips.

Miscellaneous

• 6 Things Exceptional Leaders Do Better (Peter Gasca) - Know what you need to improve.
  
• Are You Used to Delivering Working Software on a Daily Basis and Changing the Software in Response to Emerging Requirements? - A quiz for yourself to know how really responsive to change you are.`
  
  

~Frank

Reading Notes #86

picture from http://onsoftware.en.softonic.com/

Suggestion of the week

• Boxstarter - I really need to “box” my favourite applications, so each time I start working on a new VM all my stuff will be the way I like.
• Service Bus Messaging Deep-Dive (Clemens V) - If you must see only one video about Service bus is that one. Great job! Know more from A to Z in one shot.

Cloud

• Real-World Scenarios for Node.js in Windows Azure - This article the perfect get started to do not only your first Node.js website, but to do it in Azure.
• Using Windows Azure Virtual Machines to Publish and Synchronize a Web Farm(Wade) - Great tutorial that explains all the steps and scripts very clearly. Try It.
• 10 must-try cloud tools for business (Jack Wallen) - Great list of cloud solution available today.
• DevOps for Windows Azure (BuckWoody) - Great resources of references for all the devops needs. A post to bookmark.

Scaling Applications Using Windows Azure Cloud Services Poster
here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id =36837
you should also read this complete manual in preparation here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx

• Does Your Data Really Belong in Your SQL Database? - Nice post that answers a really good question. When an application is moved into the cloud, most of the time a re-structuration is needed to enjoy the cloud capabilities.
• Integrate AWS with .NET applications by using a Visual Studio add-in (Tony Patton) - Perfect post for .Net developers to get started working with AWS in VisualStudio.
• All Things Distributed (Werner Vogels) - Nice post about Node.js, beanTalk and AWS.
• Guest Post: Getting started with Windows Azure Mobile Services - Really nice post. THE starting point to try Azure Mobile Services. Then you're done and will never want to stop...
• Cutting Costs on Windows Azure Isn't Always About Compromise - Interesting post that explains with reel numbers how you could save with Azure.
• Web Camp Session Video – Websites in the Cloud (Tyler Doerksen) - Great video that shows how to build, deploy and manage a Windows Azure Website and all the good tricks.

Databases

• Cassandra with a Hint of Azure (Neil Mackenzie) - Nicepost that introduces Cassandra. Its architecture, pros and cons. Reference to another post that compare Cassandra to other NoSql databases are also mentioned.
• SQL Server Data-Tier Application Framework (March 2013) Available - Describe the main features in the chagelog and how to upgrade your version.
• Introduction to the SQL BCP Utility - If you don't know this essential tool, the post is a must.
• AWS Scales Relational Database Service By Tripling Storage And IOPs (Alex Williams) - Wow triple the relational database maximum size?! That's huge!

Integration

• Using EDI Bridge to exchange B2B messages in Windows Azure Service Bus - Very nice tutorial (and rare) about EDI in Azure.

Programming

• Migrating ASP.NET Web Forms to the MVC Pattern with the ASP.NET Web API - Good tutorial explains how to integrate the MVC pattern in the asp.net web form.
• Introducing Google+ Sign-In for your Drive Apps - Nice new single sign-in addition.
• SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 (Jason Singh) - Great addition to Visual Studio.

Miscellaneous

• Majority of doctors opposed to full access to your own electronic records (Ken Fisher) - Interesting result, even if not that much surprise, I though the repartition was more even.
• Is It Possible to Have Too Many Ideas? (Chris Heivly) - Nice post that bust the myth by explaining that what's manner is what you do with that flow of ideas.
• 11 Simple Concepts to Become a Better Leader - Nice quick review of key concept to become better; period.
• 24 Ways to Save an Hour (Kevin Daum) - Good post to get started and have some optimization ideas... But I still missed one sleeping hour. ;)
• Tips for Google Reader users migrating to feedly - I'm trying Feedly as Google reader replacer, and I found those little tips interesting.
• Google Reader may very well rise again... as part of Google+ (Casey Johnston) - This resume the sadly news...
• Moving to Outlook from Google Reader (Abhinaba Basu) - Nice trick to continue reading your favorites RSS when Google Reader.
• 4 Myths About Open Source We Should Put to Rest (OX Rafael Laguna) - Very interesting post that bust myths about open source.

~Frank

Reading Notes #85

Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure Updates: Android Support, SQL Reporting Services, Active Directory, More… - Wow wow wow! So many new features, and in many spheres: mobile, reporting, service bus, etc.... A post to read!
• How To Train Your Robot: how I teach kids to program without computers - I really like the idea. An it could be sincerely funny... for the kids. ;)

Cloud

• Using nConf and Azure to avoid leaking secrets on GitHub » Encosia (Dave Ward) - Very clever utility. It will definitely find a place in my toolbox.
• 2 Cloud Computing Concerns And How To Deal With Them (business2community.com) - Yes going to the cloud mean that your expose to some risk, as not going to. Being well-informed and prepared is the key.
• AWS Free Usage Tier Now Includes Amazon ElastiCache - Good new for all AWS that gets more for the same 0$.
• Windows Azure Mobile Services adds Android support and extends availability to East Asia - Excellent overviews of the new Android capabilities of Windows Azure and nice reference to a tutorial on how to build your first app.
• Microsoft Acquires Cloud Performance Management Service MetricsHub, Makes It Available For Free On Azure (Frederic Lardinois) - MetricsHub a new free product to try!
• Windows Azure, now with more enterprise access management! (Alex Simons) - Nice introduction to the new Active Directory features available in the Azure portal.
• Moving Your Applications to Windows Azure - Very complete article about all aspects of what moving an application to Azure imply.

Databases

• Why am I Getting so Many Deadlocks From Windows Azure SQL Database?(Alexandre Brisebois) - Really great post that explains every detail of the problem and of its solution, even for EF.
• Do you know big data's top 9 challenges? -- Washington Technology (Mark Hoover) - Interinsting list, because it's true that challenge mean opportunity.
• Different ways to Backup your Windows Azure SQL database (Ki Yi) - Very complete list of eight solutions to take your SQL Azure database backup. The list also gives website references, pros and cons and for each solution.

Integration

• Data/Contract Coupling in Messaging (Channel 9) (Clemens V) - Excellent video that puts in simple words fundamental concepts.

Programming

• Chrome Dev Tools: JavaScript and Performance - And I though I knew my Chrome Dev Tools... very nice post.
• Polymorphism Part 2: Refactoring to Polymorphic Behavior (John Teague) - Going dipper this exellent post is the second in the series to explain the concept of polymorphism.
• Continuous integration using TFS on the Cloud (Stephen Ebichondo) - For many people continuous integration sound so complicated that they don't want to try it. Here is an excellent tutorial that will guides you through your first build.
• ASP.NET Web API Queryable with OData (Channel 9) (Brady Gaster Cory Fowler) - Nice show with a lot of info on new oData coming soon. Also, the first On Location interview Scott Hunter; tease of some new functionalities to come in VS.
• New Pluralsight Course: Building ASP.NET Web API OData Services - Overview of the new course available on the oData updated features.

Miscellaneous

• Want a More Productive Week? Clean Your Darn Desk! (Guest Blogger) - Because sometimes, its need it.
• 5 Things That I’ve Learned About Working Remotely (Richard Seroter) - Interesting post written in response to another post from Scott Hanselman.
• 10 Things Really Amazing Employees Do - As an employee, I'm looking forward to become one of those amazing people...
• Programming's not for you? How about thinking? Be empowered. (Scott Hanselman) - Very interesting thoughts on how to stimulate our kids or younger.
• Episode 101 - Real-World Windows Azure with Auth0 (Nick Harris, Nathan Totten) - Great show this demo was great.

~Frank

Reading Notes #84

Suggestion of the week

• Focus Your To-Do List - It's so true and the solution is so simple, but not that easy to do.

Cloud

• Working with Windows Azure SQL Database in PhpStorm (Maarten Balliauw) - Nice tool that provides a lots of useful features.
• Detecting Expired PKI Certificates (Wade) - Detail on the disruption of service for Windows Azure.
• Announcing AWS OpsWorks - Wow another release this week! This time it's some diagnostics beta tools.
• Developer Tools — Including Github, Zencoder, AWS (Natasha Lomas) - Great news for young start-ups companies: Starter Pack is back with a second edition.
• Glass Half Empty: Understanding Cloud Computing SLAs (David Pallmann) - This post demystifies the 9s in the SLA and attaches them to more real value.
• Windows Azure Store: The Services You Need, Where You Need Them (Himanshu Singh) - Nice list of Azure third party and data provider available right now on the Windows Azure Store.
• New Add-ons in the Windows Azure Store - 4 very promising new add-ons to Azure and I would suggest also New Relic.
• Practical Azure #13: Windows Azure Queue Storage - Nice overview video. All the features are well explained.

Programming

• DefinitelyTyped TypeScript definitions now on NuGet (Jason Jarrett) - Typescript is really powerful and easy to use. And these days it’s even easier to use with all those new DefinitelyTyped package for NuGet.
• Polymorphism: Part 1 (John Teague) - Great tutorial that explains an important concept in programmation.
• jQuery Tutorial – Getting Started: Basics & Selectors (James Bruce) - A lot of people are using jQuery this day, put do you use it efficiently? This post brings some 101 best practices and is quick to read...
• Survey: Most Developers Now Prefer HTML5 For Cross-Platform Development (Frederic Lardinois) - Nice post that shows who quick the HTML5 is adopted by developers.
• Ruby 2.0.0-p0 is released - Good news. Here is an overview of the new features in this new release.
• Learning Center - Wow, I just discover this web site, and I thought to share it because it's an incredible source of information well-structured and clear.
• jQuery Mobile 1.3.0 Released - New release of jQuery Mobile the library to use for a Responsive Web Design (RWD) or for a mobile first approach.

Integration

• What’s new in BizTalk360 v6.0? (Saravana Kumar) - Biztalk360 is holding his promises by releasing a new version after 4-5 month. This post list what the changes.

Database

• Is Access to Big Data Limited to Big Players? (Saroj Kar) - This post demystifies the idea of big data equal big application. Nice reading.
• Why am I Getting so Many Deadlocks From Windows Azure SQL Database? (alexandrebrisebois.wordpress.com) - Really great post that explains every detail of the problem and of its solution, even for EF.

Miscellaneous

• What Recruiters Want To See On Your LinkedIn Profile (Levo League Jaime Petkanics) - Nice post to help doing a quick check up of your LinkedIn profile.
• Being a Remote Worker Sucks - Long Live the Remote Worker (Scott Hanselman) - Interesting post that highlight the challenge of working remote and how to define them.
• Want To Be Taken Seriously? Become a Better Writer - Delete
• What does "Future Perfect English" mean? (Lynda Hurcomb) - Indeed! Learning another language is not as easy as saying hello, but much more rewarding.
• How to make files searchable in Google Drive - Ah! Simple AND useful.
• The Key to Being On Time - I don’t know for you but that his example look likes to have been taken from my life.
• Evernote resets user passwords after being hit by “coordinated” hack (Nathan Mattise) - Learn more about the Evernote attach and what are the "risk."

~Frank