Reading Notes #107

Suggestion of the week

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

Cloud

• Losing the Remote Desktop (RDP) connectivity with Cloud Services targeting Window Azure SDK 1.7/ SDK 1.8 (Pradeep Kumar C[MSFT]) - Nice catch! Very simple to if when you know what to do.
  
• Windows Azure for Research (Microsoft Research Connections Team) - Learn more about new program Azure Research.

Programming

• How to Run Grid-based Web Applications and Databases at Scale in the Cloud (BrunoTerkaly) - Great tutorial, all you need to know to get started developping a grid apps.
  
• Announcing the Visual Studio 2013 Release Candidate (S.Somasegar) - Get a pick of what is waiting for you in the next Visual Studio 2013 and some news about Windows 8.1.

Miscellaneous

• Hate your job? Here’s how to fix it. - Interesting thoughts.
  
• 10 things you should NEVER say during presentations (Boris) - Good reminder of best practices for a speaker

~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 #105

 

Suggestion of the week

• Create Single Use URIs to Protect Your Resources! - Great tutorial. I like the idea of "real" scenario.

Cloud

• Keep Your Privates Private! - Nice post that shows an elegant way to solve a security topic.
  
• A Cloud and Azure Glossary for the Confused (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post that explains very well all the cloud buzz words.
  
• Windows Azure: General Availability of SQL Server Always On Support and Notification Hubs, AutoScale Improvements + More (Scott Guthrie) - Even during summer (read vacation period) the Windows Azure Team delivery a lot of new amazing features. Read more about it in this very complete post.
  
• Push Notifications made easy: Using Windows Azure Notification Hubs with Windows Phone (andywigley) - Great post to get started with Azure Push Notification. The article contains a sample before using the hub and after.

Programming

• Am I really a developer or just a good googler? (Scott  Hanselman) - Good question... and nice answer.
  
• Today's ideal developer - In this nice post, Jeff is giving his opinion to answer a post published earlier this week about developers vs. Googlers.
  
• AutoMapper 3.0 released (Jimmy Bogard) - Definitely a great tool, now that it's a PCL it will be even easier to use.
  
• The Magic of using Asynchronous Methods in ASP.NET 4.5 plus an important gotcha (Scott Hanselman) - Nice explication about where async could and should be use in web development.

Miscellaneous

• The Impact Of A New Developer - Often overlooked, these easy rules could lower the bad impact of a new member arriving in your dev team.
  
• Write the Story for Your Project (JD Meier) - Nice little "game" to get all team members in the spirit.
  
• Do Interruptions and Productivity Rhyme With Compatibility? (Alexandre Brisebois) - Ah ah! It's or it will append to each of us... It an important discovery to do and most important is the way we react...
  
• The 5 Must-Have Qualities Of The Modern Employee (Jacob Morgan) - I totally agree. Many times I read post about how a manager should change, but it's not only them who needs to adapt.
  
• **Saving and Retrieving Browser (and other) Passwords - It so easy and convenient that we sometimes forget how "dangerous" it could be...

~Frank

[Image from sxc.hu]