Reading Notes #255

Cloud

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

Programming

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

integration

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

Miscellaneous

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

Reading Notes #209

Cloud

• Microsoft and Red Hat partner to deliver more flexibility and choice (Scott Guthrie) - Great news.
  
• Using Redis as a Service in Azure to speed up ASP.NET applications - Nice post that shares some good reasons why we should use Redis cache (Azure SaaS).
  
• Azure Runbook – A complete (simple) example (Vincent-Philippe Lauzon) - This post is a great introduction to Azure automation (aka runbook).
  
• Azure Logic Apps Automation - Nice quick post to tease us about what we can do with Azure Logic App.
  
• Application Insights Content Pack for Power BI (Dale Koetke) - Really cool content pack that was announced.

Databases

• DocumentDB: The move towards NOSQL – Part 1 (Adarsha Datta) - Nice little post of a series to get us started about documentDB.

Programming

• Visual Studio Update 1 RC - It's already the time of an new release...
  
• Trace your Application Insights events inside Visual Studio Diagnostic tools (Abhijit Jana) - Wow! Application Insights alone is awesome, with the new VS2015 it's just turn it to eleven.

Reading Notes #154

 

Suggestion of the week

• New handy Visual Studio extensions - Three great extensions that add this little thing that simplify our life...

Cloud

• Azure Automation: Reliable, Fault-Tolerant Runbook Execution Using Checkpoints (Chris Sanders) - Really interesting and complete post about automation in Azure and how to follow the best practices.
  
• Mostly Cloudy – Sept 5th, 2014 - Really interesting post that resumes the last release of Azure. It also gives a reference for every feature to get more detail.
  
• How do You Like Your Pizzas Delivered? - #Azure #PaaS - A short and simple explanation of what is in the cloud.
  
• Cloud Cover 152: Azure Search with Liam Cavanagh (Channel 9) (Chris Haishi Bai) - A really excellent web episode and a great demo of the new Azure Search.
  
• Making Azure Blob Storage Searchable Using Azure Search Service (Gaurav) - Great tutorial about the new Azure Search with a lot of details. The code is available online.
  
• Writing a Site Extension for Azure Websites (Elliott Hamai) - Great tutorial that explains how to build and test our Site Extention. It also explains how to publish it privately or publicly.
  
• Azure DocumentDB: first use cases (Vincent-Philippe Lauzon) - Interesting post that places the new DocumentDb compares to the other solution in Azure.
  
• Azure DocumentDB: Working with Microsoft's NoSQL Database in the Cloud (Gastón Hillar) - This post is a great tutorial to get started with Azure DocumentDB in C#.
  
• IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS ? - Nice images to see the differences between each of them.

Programming

• #PowerShell Invoke-RestMethod - the underlying connection was closed - Useful tips to save some headache while developing.
  
• A chatroom for all! Part 1 - Introduction to Node.js - This post is the first tutorial of a series about developing a real application in Node.js and putting it to Azure. In this one, learns how to setup your Windows environment.
  
• Public Data Sources – finding them and using them - Useful post that lists different data sources.
  
• Introduction to Machine Learning Studio - Great article that introduces Machine Learning ML and shows us how to do a simple application in ML Studio...
  
• Two free video courses: Intro to ASP.NET MVC and Responsive UI with Bootstrap - Nice two courses (part of the Microsoft Virtual Academy) about an unavoidable tool these days: Bootsrap.
  
• Integrating OneDrive into Your Windows Store Apps - Excellent post that gets us started with the Live SDK, so we can add One Drive capabilities to all our applications.

Miscellaneous

• Can you hear me now? Unmute your microphone (Scott Hanselman) - This post published a useful tool that we should include in all our meeting description: HowToUnmute.com.
  
• Don't Check Your Email in the Morning (Scott Hanselman) - Who will raise this challenge?
  
• I can't hear you over the sound of how small your fonts are (Aaron Bertrand, JK Wood, lkh, Dandy Weyn BuckWoody) - Quick tips and indispensable tools for all speakers.

~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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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