Reading Notes #92

Suggestion of the week

• BizTalk Mapper Extensions UtilityPack v1.5 - New version available with 7 new functoids - Great utility Pack that will save us a lot of time, and it's free!

Cloud

• NoSQL Data in the Cloud with Windows Azure Tables - Really great article that explains all aspects the Azure Storage Table from the architecture to the querying.
  
• Cloud Cover Show - Episode 105 - General Availability of Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service - Great show. I really liked the code presentation; it gives a lot of details.
  
• How To Find a Certificate in the Certificate Store - Nice helper, be sure to save this somewhere close.
  
• New Preview Features for Windows Azure Active Directory (TheRockyH) - This post gives more details about the new capabilities of Active Directory.
  
• Publishing from Dropbox to Windows Azure Web Sites (Kaushal Kumar Panday) - It couldn't be more clearly explained. A screenshot by step you will learn how to deploy a website on Azure with Dropbox as the repository.
  
• Building Windows Azure Cloud Services App with Web Role, Worker Role, Table Storage and Service Bus - Great tutorial that shows how to build a multi-tier application. The code is also available.
• Improvements to Virtual Networks, Virtual Machines, Cloud Services and a new Ruby SDK (Scott Gu)- New features like Remote PowerShell, Linux SSH provisioning enhancements, and a new Ruby SDK to play with Azure Storage and Service Bus.

Programming

• 88% of spreadsheets have errors (Jeremy Olshan) - This post gives you suggestions to stay in the few spreadsheets that doesn't contains error.
  
• How to Write a Chrome App for your Website in 5 Minutes (Amit Agarwal) - Interesting post. Some testing or diagnostic tool could be useful for web developer team. It's 5 minutes wisely spent.
  
• Running Bash Commands From Ruby - Useful tips that all coder should now.
  
• Ruby Versions Demystified - Very interesting post that explains in one article all the differences between Ruby's components versions.
  
• Introducing: Practical JavaScript (Peter Vogel) - Nice post that describes quickly the evolution of JavaScript. This post could be the first of an interesting series about using JavaScript (and some framework) today in real projects.
  
• Penny Pinching in the Cloud: How to run a two day Virtual Conference for $10 - Wow interesting project that combines a lots of really good stuff.

• Metaprogramming Fibonacci (Eno Compton) - A fun exercise with recursively in Ruby.

UX

• Magic Numbers in CSS - If you are doing web development this reading is a must. For all the other read it, you will learn important css base.
  
• Stop Your Console App The Nice Way) (Mike Hadlow) - This post some best practice to do a better management of the console application. It's not because it's a console app that UX is not important.

Miscellaneous

• The Blog of Scott Hanselman - Interesting post for all bloggers, you are not alone...
  
• How to Make a Decision When Your Team Doesn't Agree (Margaret Heffernan) - Interesting post on well kwon situation.
  
• What to Do When You’ve Made Someone Angry - Nice and simple. This advice could have a big impact on your entourage.

~Frank

Reading Notes #91

Suggestion of the week

• Streaming Diagnostics Trace Logging from the Azure Command Line (plus Glimpse!) (Scott Hanselman)- Great post that shows us a lot of possibilities to trace our cloud application. I really like the stream log from Azure command line.
  
• Walkthrough to Configure System Center Management Pack for Windows Azure Fabric Preview for SCOM 2012 SP1 (Walter Myers) - As it says in this post: The wait is over. Don't miss the important news. Share it.
  
• Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service General Availability (Bart Vande Ghinste) - Hurray! The IaaS is now ready for production and got a significant price reduction!!!

Cloud

• Walkthrough #3: Developing Multi-Tenant Web Applications with Windows Azure AD (vibro) - This post summarize the third par of an unavoidable tutorial about Azure and Active Directory.
  
• Creating a Windows Azure Virtual Machine - the RIGHT Way (Buck Woody) - Creating a VM is easy, but it's important to know how to do it correctly to get what we expect.
  
• Windows Azure IaaS is Live and BizTalk Server 2013 Hourly Pricing Released(Stephen W. Thomas) - This post explains how to calculus, our fees when running Azure BizTalk VM.
  
• Django now available on Windows Azure - Good news for Python developers.

Integration

• Service Bus Explorer 2.0 released (Paolo Salvatori) - Impressive tool that gives a lot of options to manage our Azure Service Bus.

Programming

• View your Kanban board - Nice post that gives more details on one of the new supported Visual Studio features. Really interesting and useful.
  
• jQuery 2.0 Released  - Good news. However, don't forget that the branch 2.x is met to support new browser. For IE 6, 7, 8 the branch 1.x will continue to be supported.

System Management

• Adding a Custom Domain to your Windows Azure AD (vibro) - Useful post that explains all steps of a common scenario when using AD.
  
• Why monitor Windows Azure with System Center? - Good question. And the answer is ev0en better... Thankfully.

Miscellaneous

• Rule No. 1: Get to the Point (Geoffrey James) - Quick and clear.
  
• Simple Trick to Finding Extraordinary Employees (Marla Tabaka) - Nice tips. Easy to use.
  
• Effectiveness and Efficiency - Nice post. It is, in fact, a good starting point to become better at what you do... or what you should be doing.

~Frank

Reading Notes #82

Suggestion of the week

• Chasing an active Social Engineering Fraud at Amazon Kindle (Scott Hanselman) - Scary story... If you own a Kindle, you must read this post.
• Choosing between SQL Server in Windows Azure VM & Windows Azure SQL Database (Madhan Arumugam Ramakrishnan) - Great post to make your mind of the differences between the various scenarios and the pros and cons of each of them.

Cloud

• Three New AWS Reference Architectures for E-Commerce - Quick access to three good architectures using different AWS components.
• Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Common Questions (Narahari Dogiparthi) - Significant source of information important to know before planning to use IaaS.

This blog post summarizes the best practices to be used to protect Windows Azure Virtual Machines.

• All Things Distributed (Werner Vogels) - Good references on AWS Elastic Transcoder in video, perfect to make you a better idea of the beast.
• Windows Azure Powershell 0.6.10 is out and check out $DebugPreference feature to get Request and Response on PS console (Avkash Chauhan) - Great news! It's fantastic to see how active the Azure / PowerShell teams are.
• Windows Azure Guest OS Updates (Abhishek Anand) - Reference to stay updated on guest OS.
• Episode 100 - Introduction to the Windows Azure Service Bus Notification Hubs (Channel 9) - A lot of fun in this 100th show. Of course, it's not only about jokes since they are also doing a demo of Azure Service Bus Notification Hubs.

Integration

• How to Create your First SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Package - Part 1 (Md. Marufuzzaman) - For people who don't know SSIS, this is the perfect get started tutorial.
• BizTalk360 Windows 8 application is available in the app store (Saravana Kumar) - This great post announces not only the release of version 2 of BizTalk360 and it presence in Windows Store, but also describes most of its features.

Programming

• Unfortunate Things with JSON, jQuery UI Datepicker, and Dates - Because we all one day or another play with date and DatePicker, it's good to read what other have done.
• TFS, Automated Testing and Continuous Integration (Hamada Shather) - Interesting tutorial that explains how to use TFS as a test framework.
• PowerShell Remoting – The Double Hop Problem And A Solution - This post explains a solution to a problem when running remote PowerShell script using Credds.
• Elegant Code » It’s Markdown, no, PowerShell. Wait its Markdown formatted PowerShell. (Jason Jarrett) - Nice mix of Markdown and PowerShell.
• Update to VS Git tooling - Stay updated on Visual Studio add-ons.
• Responsive web design – Convertir rapidement un site web en une version mobile (lorys pognon) - Simple tutorial that shows how to use "less" (the language) to produce a Responsive We Design.
• Gérer les dépendances de vos librairies JavaScript avec Bower (Thierry LAU) - Great node.js tool that can simplify the JavaScript library management.
• jQuery Object Quacks like an Array Duck (Elijah Manor) - Interesting sharing about jQuery "inner code."
• Working with SqlBulkCopy - Nice async functionality in C# 5 and other great features of SqlBulkCopy class.
• Behind the scenes of PowerShell and SQL (Rob Farley) - Very interesting post that shows how PowerShell use SQL.
• Is Big Data the New Black Gold? (Arvind Singh) - Interesting thoughts about the value of Big Data and its future.

Miscellaneous

• Copy as path instead of a send to program - Cool tips. I didn't know that one.
• Markdown - I'm playing around for 2-3 weeks now with Markdown, and I thought of sharing this for those who like me, didn't know about it.

~Frank

Reading Notes # 72

Cloud

• Practical Azure #2: What About Blob? - Great video on everything you should know on Azure Blob.
• A phone call from the cloud: Windows Azure, SignalR & Twilio (Maarten Balliauw) - Great tutorial very complete on account validation process.
• Cloudy Thoughts by SyntaxC4 - Good new continuous development with website Azure now supported private repository with github and bitbucket.
• Microsoft announces Big Compute capabilities for Windows Azure (Kenneth van Surksum) - Windows Azure now have a lot bigger instance type available.
• Scaling cloud apps with the .NET Framework 4.5 - Really great post, that introduce some new features of the .Net framework 4.5 (now available in Azure web site) and how to use them in a scaling perspective using async.
• How does Windows Azure PowerShell import publishsettings using Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile command? (Avkash Chauhan) - Quick useful tips when playing around with Azure and PowerShell.
• Windows Server 2012 Now Available on AWS - A new series called Windows Wednesdays just kicked off with this nice post about the new availability of Windows Server 2012 on AWS.
• More Great Improvements to the Windows Azure Management Portal - Explain the new features in Windows Azure Portal such like new SQL Database Metrics, website enhancement, media services new options, custom CNAME for Azure storage, etc.
• Complete walkthrough: Setting up a ADFS 2.0 Server on Windows Azure IaaS and Configuring it as an Identity Provider in Windows Azure ACS (Haishi) - Great tutorial to setup and test a Azure IaaS website using Identity Provider.

Integration

• AppFabric - Frequently Asked Development Questions (Ed Price - MSFT Ed Price - MSFT Microsoft MSFT 122,146 Points 25 20 17 Recent Achievements Proposed Answerer III Gallery Contributor II Wiki Ninja View Profile) - Good questions... with their answers.

Programming

• Changes in ADFS 2.1 from ADFS 2.0 - Important things to know when migrating in addition to remember where you saved the artifacts creation scripts.
• Use Big Data to gain insight about small business customers (David Gitonga) - Interesting post that explain how Big Data could be you in your business... even if you are in a small company.

Miscellaneous

• How to set up CrashPlan Cloud Backup headless on a Synology NAS - Backup Strategies (Scott Hanselman) - Nice demonstration of how to setup a backup solution. It also give us alternative ideas.
• How to be a Consultant, Part 1: The Difference Between a Developer and a Consultant (David Pallmann) - First of a serie this post hi-light the difference between a developer and a consultant by explaining what more you need to be from a developer to be a consultant with a capital "c".
• How to be a Consultant, Part 2: Travel - One if By Land... (David Pallmann) - A lots of good advice and tips when traveling by land about schedule, rental cars, and equipment.
• How to be a Consultant, Part 3: How to Travel (Gonna Fly Now) (David Pallmann) - This post is all about sharing fly experience tips and giving advice of "rules" when traveling by air.
• Do More Faster: 10 Best Apps & Tools (Frank Addante) - Nice apps for different platform that make the day easier.

~Frank

Reading Notes #60

Cloud

• Windows Azure Cloud Services and Virtual Networks (Neil Mackenzie) - Good tips about how to manage your Windows Azure Network.
• Active in Cloud, Amazon Reshapes Computing (Quentin Hardy) - Nice post that recap how Amazon Web Service evolve in time and is changing today’s business.
• Autoscaling Azure with WASABi – Part 2 (Paul Bouwer) - Quick demo with Windows Azure Autoscaling Block - Wasabi.
• ScottGu's Blog - Great! This new service is awesome. Learn more in this post or follow the references to go dipper.

[…]Read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “Todo List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services. Or watch this video of me showing how to do it step by step. […]

• Announcing BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP Availability in Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Himanshu Singh) - That a good news. Since BizTalk is not a two clicks install, having it in an image, will save a lot of time.
• Introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services for Windows 8 (David Pallmann) - Nice simple tutorial to build quickly an application with the brand new Windows Azure Mobile Services.
• What is Windows Azure Media Services (Ming Feiy) - Lear more about this unrecognized Windows Azure service that is the Azure Media Services
• Introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services: A Backend for Your Connected Client Apps (Kirill Gavrylyuk) - Another great quick tutorial to get started with the Windows Azure Mobile Services.
• Amazon AWS is the Cloud (for now anyway) - It is true that Amazon web services is a strong well establish cloud provider. And big players like Google and Microsoft will force them to always improve the quality of their services.
• IaaS provider comparison reveals market trends for the cloud (Thoran Rodrigues) - It' s not an easy task to compare so many IaaS providers, and this post provide a different angle that we are used to see.
• How to add custom MIME mappings to non .NET Windows Azure Websites (Marc) - Nice tips and good catch! Now go update your website...
• Cloud Cover Show  Episode 88 - Tips and Tricks for Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks – A lot of good tips in this web cast and also a nice demo about how to setup a web farm using Windows Azure vm and web deploy.

Programming

• 15 things we learned about interface design as developers - Nice post with great tips to improve your interface... yes even if it's only a demo.

[…] 9% of all men are color blind. Use vischeck.com to check how your site or web app looks to those people. […]

• Bullet-proof your web service with the right monitoring setup (Nick Hardiman) - In this post learn why monitoring correctly your web services is a must. A lot of references to tools that can help you to achieve this goal are also present.
• Azure Node.js developer center homepage redesign - This post explain all steps to get to the new design and the reason why some change were made.
• Pinning Useful and Obscure Stuff to the Windows 8 Start Menu (Scott Hanselman) - Nice quick tips to setup your Windows 8 environment the way you like it.

Miscellaneous

• PCPlus 312: Dynamic exposures - This nice effect is really easy to do but remember that a tripod is a must and a fix subject too.
• Why is Windows 8 “a catastrophe for anyone in the PC space”? (pcgamesn.com) - Euh, I'm very surprised of this virulent critic of Windows 8. I didn't spend a lot of time on it but, wow that the very opposite of everything I heard before.
• Intelligence vs. Effort | Arronsw - Nice quick post about the good mindset to have versus effort and unknown.
• How to become a great software developer - Great posts that suggest 10 good brain push-ups to become, or stay, a great software developer.
• How to Write Like Your Teacher Told You Not To (Karol K) - Interesting post about how you should write a blog post. Its kind the opposite of writing "the good way" at school.
• Should Your Company Just Say "No" To Dropbox? (Brian Proffitt) - Good question. Like any powerful tools files sharing in some un-informed hands could be problematic.
• The Power of Personal (Darren Rowse) - Interesting topics, it's true that all the post that I had found great was personal.

Reading Notes #59

Cloud

• Fault-tolerance in Windows Azure SQL Database (Himanshu Singh) - Really nice article that explain the fault-tolerance, why it is needed, how it is done (replication, redundancy, detection, etc.).
• Do you know your PaaS from your IaaS? (Marc Gagné) - Nice post that differences the PaaS, SaaS and IaaS of Windows and also talk about the Azure DevCamp that is coming to Montreal at beginning of September.
• Using a naked domain with a Windows Azure Web Site (David Ebbo) - Something it's good to go and to think differently, to understand how things work. This post is about one of those try.
• SQL Azure – Disaster Recovery (Iain Hunter) - This is a mandatory post to read. The solution expose in this post is so simple to do. Everyone who use Windows Azure database should do it.
• What is Cloud computing? – Public Cloud v Private Cloud - Nice post that explains what is cloud computing and highlight the difference between private and public cloud.
• Azure Howto: Programmatically modify web.config on WebRole Startup - Great tutorial that show very clearly how to modify web.config in a startup task and why it should be done only at time.
• Time for a Second Look at Windows Azure? | Cloudline - I agree it's definitely time to look again Azure. With all the new features that just arrived, Windows Azure is a very complete product.
• Windows Azure Cloud Cover Show Episode 86 - Windows Azure Active Directory with Vittorio Bertocci - Learn more about Windows Azure Active Directory, look the demonstration of  the Graph API and the new Windows Azure Authentication Library. [video]
• Windows Azure Table – Simple Approach (Wriju Ghosh) - Nice demo that show in few minutes what you can do with the Windows Azure table storage.[video]

Programming

• Meilleures pratiques au niveau infrastructure pour une performance optimale de BizTalk Server (Marc-André Dufresne) - Interesting post from my colleague about how to fine tune the performance on a BizTalk server and about the tool BizTalk Benchmark a CodePlex project that could help you.
• How to get Windows 8 Pro from MSDN Subscriptions : Don't Be Iffy (Julie Leman) - Nice tips that will help more than one of us.
• Releasing Microsoft ASP.NET Universal Providers Core 1.2 - That a great news. A new version of a so useful tool!
• Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Refactor Your Code - Good post. Everyone should agree with those ideas of good code. More often, the problem come from determining how much effort and time to get it done that way.
• Announcing SonicAgile – An Agile Project Management Solution - Wow take a look to this great tool! I sure that SonicAgile is waited by the developers since long time.

Miscellaneous

• Three cool things to try with your old netbook - Good idea that I also try with my Asus EeePC 701. The Ubuntu Netbook is also a really good option, you will be able to watch all the movies you want, have access to your Wi-Fi network and browse Internet.
• Your words are wasted (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post that nails the idea where all developer should have a blog, blog more and doing it on their own controlled domain.
• Scrum in 5 Minutes - Really nice post that describe very clearly the basic concepts and roles involve in Agile. It also suggests a book for more detailed explanations and a tool AgileSonic that looks gorgeous. A post to read.

“The problem is that writing code is much more like Finding a Cure for Cancer than Building a Brick Wall.”

• 10 Steps to Creating Your Freelance Brand Personality - Interesting post not only for freelancer but also for more public people, I mean developer who have a blog.
• Be More Productive. Take Time Off. (JASON FRIED) - That a nice idea! This post is about a company that try uncommon thing to boost productivity, and it works more than expected!
• How Often Should You Blog? (Hint: The Answer Might Surprise You) (Ali Luke) - Since more and more developer a blogging now (and this is a good thing) founding your prefect sequence is important. For you and your readers.

Reading Notes #49

 

Cloud

• IaaS and PaaS Are Merging – Thoughts on CloudFoundry, Microsoft, Amazon (Xath Cruz) - Windows Azure, Amazon Web Services, VMWare Cloud Foudry are figthing to have the biggest part of the cake... good for us, but it is harder to keep track of all those new services/products.
• Using the Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket (and Codename “Data Hub”) Add-In for Excel (CTP3) - Nice tool and great idea. Take the well-known tool and extended it with that cloud.
• Managing session state in Windows Azure: What are the options? - This post is answering a very popular question about what is is best way to manage my sessions state... answer it' depends.
• Microsoft Silverlight 5 and Windows Azure Enterprise Integration (Neil Mackenzie) - I also read the preview of this book and I remember it was very promising. It is close to the top of my to-read stack and I will not let go "deeper". I'm happy to found someone else confirm my pre-evaluation.
• Update Your Windows Azure Website in Just Seconds by Syncing with Blob Storage - Great idea! By thinking outside of the box you can do nice things and here a good sample.
• Architectural Patterns for the Cloud (Channel 9) (Anthony de Bruyn) - I know 56 minutes is a bit long but this is a good one. Maarten is doing a nice recap of what is Azure, what working or not working in the cloud and how it's working. The slides are also available to download.
• Think You Know Windows Azure? Think Again (Jonathan Rozenblit) - A lot of new things are coming for Windows Azure in June. Learn all the dates and the details here. The spring is finish in beauty.

Programming

• Quick Status of Your Windows Azure Apps with PowerShell - Really nice script. Thanks Steve!
• Awesome use of AND operator - Be aware of the risk of brain melting. This post explains a clever JavaScript loop.
• OData soumis à l’OASIS pour standardisation (OGDI France Team) - The version 3 of oData will be release soon. This post is an invitation to participate to the standardisation of this great protocol.
• Goodbye Photoshop, Hello Cloudinary (techcrunch.com) - I like the API idea .You can have more functionality in your own application without having to code them.

Miscellaneous

• 5 Ways To Prep For Your Next, Better Job (Alice Korngold) - Nice post, however I would change the title for 5 ways to prep your working life.
• Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously - Good comparison between workout and working. it is not because someone famous is doing something that doing this thing will make you famous.
• Programmers are optimists - Funny and completely thru... What do you think?
• She let me take the computer home. - How did you get started in computers and programming? (Scott Hanselman) - Amazing story about Scott techno-birth. The force was strong in this one.
• 8 Great Twitter Tools You Aren't Using - Great tools to maximize your twitter experience. And some that I didn't know about...
• How to Speak More Strategically (Peter) - Nice post and nice reflection too.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #43

Cloud

• Readers: What’s Your Cloud Strategy? - Learn more about some cloud services offered and that are or will be open source.
• Return Empty Set Instead of ResourceNotFound from Table Storage (Wade Wegner) - Great catch. This little thing is easy to forget, but if you don’t want throwing exception when querying Azure Storage you should read this post.
• The Rising Value of Cloud Computing - Nice post that talk about the future of the cloud provider and what those companies needs to stay in the race.
• Microsoft's answer to Amazon's CloudSearch - The fight continue and this is good for the users. Its mean more products for cheaper.
• Outside-the-Box Pizza, Part 4: Social Integration with Twitter (David Pallmann) - I never thought that a pizzeria could be on Twitter or any social network. This post proved me wrong by explaining the why and the very simple how.
• Comparing IAAS and PAAS: A Developer’s Perspective - Nice post very clear. It explains all the differences between the two more popular cloud «as a service» model.
• What's New? Introducing AWS Marketplace - Nice this 1-click deployment button in the brand new AWS Marketplace.
• Logging in Azure: Part 1 (Tyler Doerksen) - Very nice post that show how to implement, with a simple twist, how to log with Log4Net (or transform an application using it) in an Azure Blob storage. Part 1 of a series.
• Logging in Azure: Part 2–Table Storage (Tyler Doerksen) - Second post of a series that explain how to implement a solution so that Log4Net write in an Azure storage table. This leverage the search for a particular type of error.
• Scale Data Applications with Sql Azure - Short post that hi-light the advantage of using SQL Azure and Sharding to scale out your application.

Programming

• Need A Cloud Monkey? Netflix Unleashes Simian Army - Monkeys is the name of all those programmes or applications that are used by Netflix to watch their system. This post report that Netflix announce they will give the code as open source.
• Outside-the-Box Pizza, Part 3: Mobility & Responsive Web Design (David Pallmann) - In this post all the CSS tricks to support the Responsive web design will be explains. The goal is to support the army of different mobile devices.
• Why you need to learn async in .NET (weblogs.asp.net) - Nice post with a code sample that illustrate the advantage of using the async framework. Let’s the code represents “the what” of what you want to do not “the how”.
• WCF-SQL Adapter and permissions - Well explain. I got this once, and I remember spending few minutes trying to understand this error message... It's a shame that it's not the good one that is display first...
• Lowering the Barriers to Code Generation with T4 - If you are not already using T4 or if you think code generation is only for "big project", this post is for you. This very nice tutorial shows how to use T4 to improve the quality, the stability and the readability of your code. A must for all serious .Net developer.

Miscellaneous

• Defining Your Personal Brand as a Developer (Part 1 of 2) (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Interesting, let’s see what append in part 2.
• Most Valuable Professionals? Give Me A Break. (Davy Brion) - It couldn’t be that bad! I agree that like in any sphere some people are lazy or surf on some appearance but I hope that not reflecting the majority.
• What Microsoft MVP means to me « Inviting Epiphany - I don't know if this post is the answer to the other one, but in my head this is more likely what is a real MVP.
• Introducing Iris: A Big Leap Forward in Drawing Meaning from the Web (Chris Dary) - I'm using Readability for a long time now. I but tools using their API. I ask them a lot of questions. And one thing keeps coming back: improved. They always answer my questions. They are listening the developers, trying to make the API or their tools better. A big thumb up to Readability. Try it by yourself you'll see.
• How to Attend a Conference as Yourself (Peter) - Interesting point of view. When you are at a conference, who are you?

Reading Notes #42

Cloud

• MCSE is Back–and Better Than Ever!! - Important new from Microsoft this week: certifications for the cloud. This post is a good summary of this new reality.
• An Up-Close Examination of the Microsoft RDP Vulnerability (Guest Author) - Important RDP vulnerability was fixed in the March patch. Since in Azure the remote is disabled by default and that some firewall rules protect some connections, if you use Azure you are now safe and probably you were never really in danger. But if you are using an image on AWS you probably should apply you Windows Updates...
• Announcing the Refresh of Service Bus EAI & EDI Labs (Harish Agarwal) - The Windows Azure team listened to our feedback and new features and a lot of performance improvements in the updated version of the EAI & EDI labs.

• Illustrating the CQRS Pattern with Windows Azure and MVC4 Web API (David Pallmann) - Nice sample to understand the advantage of the pattern CQRS over the more common CRUD.
• What The Cloud Doesn’t Do (Alexander Haislip) - Nice post explaining why on-premise computer are not obsolete since the cloud arrives. Nice comparison with the evolution of the radio and the TV.

• What is Azure Subscription and How to Setup a Windows Azure Subscription? (Arun Rakwal) - Nice post that gives a way to structures your Windows Azure subscription.
• Using the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network - This is the perfect post to get started with windows Azure CDN. It’s also providing some best practices when using Azure CDN.
• Let Power Users Create Their Own oData Feeds (Julie Lerman) - What a amazing tool! The Data Explorer is still in CTP but if you are like me go to Azure Labs and try it now.
• Azure Service Bus Pusher (Roman Kiss) - An amazing post from Roman. Everything is explained from the model to how to test your Azure Service Bus.

• Three cloud models; three very different risks - A different way to present the difference between SaaS, PaaS and IaaS: the security/ risk.
• Azure Deployment hangs with Status "Preparing to upload, please wait" (Arun Rakwal Arun Rakwal Microsoft MSFT 10 Points 2 0 0 Recent Achievements First Forums Reply New Blogger View Profile) - Good to know before we got this type of issue.
• There’s no need to be a one-cloud company (Switch Mark Thiele) - Nice post. Being in the cloud with one provider is easier but it's like putting all our eggs in the same basket. Do we have other options?

Programming

• Why NoSQL Equals NoSecurity - Great post with a lot of information about many different NoSQL databases. It also suggests some best practices to get a correct level of security on your NoSQL database.
• Dynamic Image Generation, ASP.NET Controllers, Routing, IHttpHandlers, and runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests (Scott Hanselman) - Nice tips about the dynamic element generation in web development.

• A geek with a hat » What Refactoring is, and what it isn’t - Nice quick post that explain perfectly the difference between refactoring and ... other things ;)
• Becoming A Better Developer - This is definitely a good question and the author of this post takes the time to give a good answer.

[…] Are people who speak at conferences speaking because they are the best, or are they the best because they are speaking…[…]

[…]The best way to learn is to teach.[…]

• The Big Glossary of Open Source JavaScript and Web Frameworks with Cool Names (Scott Hanselman) - Wow so many open source projects that look awesome... take a peek.
• Professional WCF 4: Windows Communication Foundation with .NET 4 – With a lot of code samples this great book explain all the facets of the Windows Communication Foundation WCF. The authors put all pieces together so block by block we are prepared to build a Service Oriented Application SOA.

Miscellaneous

• Succeeding with Agile - Nice tip that look simple and efficient.
• My car ships with crapware (Scott Hanselman) - Hilarious and true, why we can have a super dual-core computer in our pocket but our car come with a so crap old "computer"?
• 5 Presentation Apps to Try - Quick list of nice tools helping us to pass through a presentation or after to share some files.
• 12 Ways to Attack Any Challenge - Facing difficulties is good. It's mean you are challenging yourself. That you try to become better. This nice post is refreshing your memories about ways to overcome those challenges.
• More of What You Came For (Michael Desmond) - The team of the MSDN Magazine are since ... forever trying to always offer more. This time is by giving more content (some exclusively) on their web site. Like the column Azure by Bruno Terkaly.
• 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done (Peter Bregman) – A great book that explain a lot of little think that we could do every day to help to focus on the thing we want to accomplish. Nothing magic but it help to take better decision. Peter use a lot of personal story to explain is thoughts and that improve a lot the comprehension. It was my first experience with audio book, and I really like it. It was done by Peter Bregme himself.

~Frank

Reading Notes #21

Cloud

• New Article: Managing and Testing Topics, Queues and Relay Services with the Service Bus Explorer Tool (PaoloSalvatoriMS) - Definitely a good tool to have. More details in here.
• Windows Azure Load Balancer Timeout Details (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Good links references and workarounds to avoid the fatal 60 sec timeout of the Azure load balancer.
• Hosting WCF Service in Windows Server AppFabric (DotNetCurry.com) - A quick and simple tutorial to host WCF service in Azure each step is well explain with screenshots.
• Moving Channel 9 to Azure (Rodrigo De Castro) - Quick review of the full article.
• Field Note: Using Windows Azure Connect to Integrate On-Premises Web Services (Microsoft.com) - Nice speed test comparing azure connect and port bridge to access a web service.
• How to encrypt passwords in Web.confg (MBenkov) - Very useful quick tips.
• Focused on Emerging Technologies for Microsoft (Neilhut) – Wow, a lot of really good improvement. We can now do mostly everything from VS2010.

The Windows Azure HPC Scheduler also allows for job scheduling and resource management, web-based job submission, parallel runtimes with support for MPI applications and WCF services and persistent state management of job queue and resource configuration.

• Ten Basic Troubleshooting Tips for Windows Azure - Good advices.

  Check the status of the service at Service Dashboard.

  Invest in a diagnostics data viewing tool, such as Cerebrata, or grab a free trail of ManageAxis by following the rabbit hole from the Cloud Cover Show.

• What the heck do IaaS, PaaS and SaaS companies do? (Sean Ludwig) - Info about ClouBeat 2011 (nov.30-dec.1), and excellent comparison between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
• New Article: Best Practices for Performance Improvements Using Service Bus Brokered Messaging (blogs.msdn.com) - Quick summary of MSDN article about best practices...

  Read the full article on MSDN. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2011/11/09/new-article-best-practices-for-performance-improvements-using-service-bus-brokered-messaging.aspx

• Wade Wegner - Some good tips about how to use some of the new feature in the azure SDK 1.6
• Cloud Cover Show: Episode 65: New Windows Azure SDK and Tools with Scott Guthrie (Wade Wegner) - Again a great show. new ways to create or deployed azure project are presented. those one are the new features of the recent release of the azure SDK 1.6
• Fleeting Thoughts - What is azure? How big and complete it is? This post try to pass-through all important knowledge that you should have before jumping... A good starting point.

  The elastic nature of Windows Azure makes it suitable for generating load for a stress test. One such test setup is proposed in a series of blog posts by Ricardo.

Programming

• Solving the Shakespeare Million Monkeys Problem in Real-time with Parallelism and SignalR (Scott Hanselman) - A nice demo from Handselman (code available here)
• Should I use HTML5 or Silverlight? One man's opinion. (Scott Hanselman) - A good way to start your reflection on this important topic.
• Free .NET Decompiler - A great tools. the new reflector, review and better... and also free.
• Five Absolutely Essential Utilities that make Windows better (Scott Hanselman) - A preview of the Handselman tools list...

Miscellaneous

• 5 Tips to Help You Get Up Earlier - I knew it was not that difficult. ;)
• D&D; Zombie Apocalypse, Part 2 (Chatty DM) - I like zombies in video game... what if they spread in other kind of game, hum?
• Free Tool: Easily Test ASP.NET Pages in Different Browsers - Still not perfect, because you cannot test with different version but very useful and it's free.
• Why do Programmers get paid less than PMs and BAs (Dodgy_Coder) - Good question... logic answer.

~Franky