Microsoft appoints first female CFO  [08:19]

Microsoft and Barnes & Noble  [10:05]

Official Facebook App  [03:20]

I want to work at Microsoft!   [12:39]

Don't forget to chime in and answer the question of the week!

Hitting the mainstream phone market  [03:32]

Best ad ever?  [13:27]

Former MS exec making a difference  [07:20]

Facebook Beta App  [10:31]

This week Brady and Cory are joined by the ASP.NET team's Erik Porter. Erik explores the new Facebook Application Template—a new template for ASP.NET projects enabling rapid development of Facebook applications using ASP.NET.

During WebCampsTV On Location—a new segment on the show—Brady heads out to chat with Sayed and Mads to discuss some new projects that they have been working on, including the WebDevCheckList.

Show Links:

• Rowi for Windows Phone
• WebDevCheckList and WindowsAzureCheckList [Contribute to the OSS CheckList]
• MSBuild Book
• VS Web Essentials
• Facebook C# SDK
• Facebook Application Template Tutorial
• Windows Azure Web Sites Cheat Sheet [Contribute to the OSS Cheat Sheet]

Follow Erik Porter on Twitter

Follow Brady Gaster on Twitter

Follow Cory Fowler on Twitter

Follow Mads Kristensen on Twitter

Follow Sayed Hashimi on Twitter

Facebook Graph Search  [05:11]

Windows Phone nominated for Design Award  [14:43]

Nokia DRIVE  [11:25]

Microsoft loves the '90's  [16:28]

Thoughts on the MYTHLY site???

It's all about the cheevos...or is it?

Think it was kind of cool and something you'd like to look see the source for?

MY EVENTS - Sample Modern Application with Visual Studio 2012

The main goal of this sample modern application is to provide a sample app where you can see most of the new technologies related to Visual Studio 2012, in a practical way.

Sample application context and scenarios
This sample application shows most of the new technologies you can use with Visual Studio 2012 in order to build Modern Apps.

The context is about an events/conferences management system called “My Events”.
It is composed by:

• Central Web API Services:
• Global Web-App (ASP.NET MVC4):
• Organizers WPF App (WPF):
• Organizers Windows 8 Store App (XAML/C#):
• Attendees Windows 8 Store App (HTML5/WinJS):

Goals
This global system and the related client apps are highlighting the following points:

• Consumer end-user point of view with the latest UX technologies capabilities, typical of Modern-Apps.
• Enterprise and LOB (Line of Business) point of view, when using a desktop application.
• Cloud friendly. You can deploy very easily all the server assets (Web Api Services and Web app) into the Windows Azure cloud.
• Extensible and open to more complex scenarios. Even though our scenario’s main goal is to ‘keep it simple’, we wanted to be able to leave it open for future extensions and complexity that is usually required when implementing a real production application.
• Multiple technical approaches. We wanted to illustrate how multiple technical approaches can co-exist within the same solution (Web, mainstream-app, CRUD, etc.)
• Easily deployable. The RI is easily deployable so that you can install it and experiment with it.

The selected technologies and frameworks used are the following:

• Core
  • ASP.NET Web-API Services
  • Entity Framework 5 (Code First)
  • SQL Server LocalDB
• Web App
  • ASP.NET MVC 4
  • JavaScript & JQuery consuming Web Api Services
• Windows 8 Store Apps
  • Windows 8 Store App using HTML5/WinJS
  • Windows 8 Store Apps using XAML/C#
• Desktop App
  • WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) App

While this show's off allot...

What this sample application is NOT about
This is not a production application and it is not intended as a guidance for complex scenarios/applications, as it mostly covers CRUD and Data-Driven scenarios, only. If you need guidance for complex scenarios, we recommend to check guidance material from the Microsoft Patterns & Practices group like the ‘CQRS Journey guidance’, which shows a reference application with a related functional domain & scope (Events/Conferences platform) but from a different point of view based on design-patterns and best architectural practices for complex scenarios, covering approaches like CQRS (Command & Query Responsibility Segregation) & DDD (Domain Driven Design).

Ready to build it now?

Building the Sample

Software required:

Visual Studio 2012, Windows 8, BingMaps JavaScript SDK [GD: which you can find here Bing Maps SDK for Metro style apps (Beta)]

Check that you have the dependencies, open the solution and run it. The database will be generated for you using LocalDB and Entity Framework Initializers.

If when running the web client for the first time, you get a runtime error here;

...that it can't find a file in the FakeImages folder, what I did was just copy the folder into the path it thought to find the images. Easier than tweaking code.

So I coping the FakeImages folder from
...\MY EVENTS - Sample Modern Application with Visual Studio 2012\C#,JavaScript\MyEvents\MyEvents.Web\FakeImages
to
...\MY EVENTS - Sample Modern Application with Visual Studio 2012\FakeImages

Then the app ran fine. Once run the first time, you can delete that extra copy if you want, it's only need the first time the app runs, when its building its data store.

Also note: When creating an Event, also make sure to add at least one Session to it. Otherwise the event won't show up in the in a few of the Clients (This had me wondering if something was busted. I could see the event in the Web and Desktop apps, but in none of the Windows Store apps... Adding a Session fixed that. Doh!)

Here's a snap of the Solution;

And some snaps of it running on my system.

Here's the Web app;

The WPF Desktop app;

As a Windows Store app;

Wrap up
Therefore and as previously mentioned, our main objective is to highlight and show most of the new capabilities and technical possibilities offered by Visual Studio 2012 and all its related technologies in order to build Modern Apps.

There's a bunch here to look in this source. From using a Solution wide version assembly file, to Portable Library projects, Windows Store apps, Facebook Integration, Twitter, Maps, MVC4, ASP.Net Web API, Json.Net, MVVM, unit testing the web backend and much, much more.

Full post here >>

Social media and career development educator Sue Varty offers advice on how to showcase yourself and your expertise to help getting ahead in your career.

D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE
In case you haven't heard about the show, Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE (D³) is a monthly show hosted by Jonathan Rozenblit. The show airs live every first Wednesday of the month at 12:00 PM ET and features the latest updates on what's new and exciting in the world of development; featured presentations; and guests. LIVE and INTERACTIVE means that you'll be part of the show – You're invited to interact with us; ask questions and get them answered; and share your thoughts and opinions.

Join the Canadian Developer Connection LinkedIn group 
Follow @devsdevdevs
Like D³ on Facebook
Subscribe to podcasts via iTunes, Zune, or RSS

More D³: LIVE & INTERACTIVE >>

Googlighting [02:14]

Lumia bundle hits stores  [09:22]

Facebook adds Bing tie in  [05:28]

Visual Studio 11 Beta   [12:32]

Facebook app for Windows Phone  [02:38]

Windows 8 app naming  [08:34]

Capacitive touch screen through your pants    [05:38]

Game Publisher rankings   [10:50]

Facebook and Skype

Baidu and Bing

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Bing Lasso

Skype & Office 365

Nuads on Kinect 

Mozaic

Love for Mozilla

Facebook all day long!

• Service API
• Facebook authentication
• AppHarbor deployment
• Client / Server Data Synchronization

Oh, and a basic version of the app is now up on the App Store! Look for the Who Is That app (under Jesse Liberty's name).

Links:

• FacebookSDK
• AppHarbor
• WCF API Key background

PhotoDNA & Facebook

Xbox dashboard update

Free Xbox for students!

Windows Phone and Verizon

Fashion update

Microsoft buys Skype!

Bill Gates makes a fashion statement

Phishing on Facebook

Don't text and drive!

Facebook & Office

Visual search for WP7 apps- COOOL!

Fastest growing apps...really?

Kinect ART

Lync is here

Back in 2007, XKCD created a fantastic map of some of those online dwelling places, including names that still shine bright, such as the Gulf of YouTube, Wikipedia Island, and Deviant Art plus other fading stars like Friendster, Second Life and AOL. 

Charting such perilous, changing seas requires constant vigilance, and as reported by TechCrunch, the XKCD cartographers have been busy updating their maps, releasing an all new view of the globe as it appears here in 2010. Dominated by the lands of Facebook, Twitter and yes, Farmville(!) the world is a very different place three years on, and is even more dangerous.

For the first time the Charred Wasteland of Abandoned Social Networks, the plains of People You Can’t Unfriend and the Great Firewall (near China) have been carefully mapped in full colour to ensure you know where you’re headed.

The only question, which lands will shrink, and which mountains will rise in the next three years?

Check out the map, (and order a poster) over at XKCD.

Check out the Phones!

Socializing Bing

New Windows Phone 7 ads- yay or nay?

Geek 2 Chic!

Boat for Kinect???

So are my printer and I best buddies? Well, we’re more acquaintances. It does its job, gives me know trouble, but you’ll agree with me, after losing it so many times in frustration, it’s tough to love your printer. You may drone on to friends and colleagues about your new phone, tablet or notebook, but you’re not likely to give them an impromptu demo of your printer any time soon.

That may well change with HP’s latest range of printers, and the HP PhotoSmart eStation in particular caught my eye.

Take a decent, All in One printer (with 802.11n Wi-Fi, scanner and fax) and whack a 7” detachable touchscreen tablet on the front, which serves as control panel and web browser, including news, weather, email , ebook reader and more. That in itself is cool convergence, but then add a dash of HP’s new ePrint feature, which lets you print Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, Images and web pages whilst on the road by email, and we’re starting to get into “bore your friends” territory. Add a library of web apps from social networks like Facebook and other providers and now we’re talking about a printer you can friend.

With all of these features, I’m not sure whether this printer is still a “printer”, or whether a new “More Than All In One” category needs to be invented – but I’m ready to forget the crimes of the past, and get to know this printer a little better.

Sign up with your state and license plate (US only for now) and you’ll be able to message other drivers via voice-activated commands on your phone (a mobile web app is currently available), or a photo snapshot of the license plate (taken whilst your both stationary, obviously). Voice messages, emails and texts can be swapped between users, and in the future the plan is for roadside discounts to be on offer to eligible drivers based on your location. With links to Twitter, Facebook and even Match.com, Bump clearly believe their service will put an end to angry driving and spread peace and love amongst American drivers. That is, as long as they’re all registered with Bump.

If this all sounds a little far fetched, Mashable report that the startup has recently received $1 million in a first round of funding and are seeking up to $8 million in round two. Your concerns on privacy, one handed license-plate photography and texting whilst driving are noted. But scarier still, Road Rage just went multi-channel.

The program also has a Twitter and Facebook-like social element involving the ability to follow other users, write on their walls, engage in conversations, and provide feedback or rate each others’ research.

The prototype will become available for download in December.

There’s a new puzzle available every day via the website. You can get started here by signing in with Facebook and inviting your Facebook friends to join.

(Thanks Steve Clayton for pointing this out!)

According to a post on the Docs blog, you can now tag your documents with keywords, which will allow you to better find your files in a large list. Also new is an improved search feature which lets you drill-down into your friends’ public document lists or see related files. While in these lists, you can sort by date, title, and file type. And finally, from anywhere on Docs.com, you can now search for files by people, places or tags.

These features for better organization and discovery will come in handy as September rolls around and kids, teens and college students head back to school. Since nearly everyone uses Facebook these days to communicate, having a central place to store, collaborate and share your files will be handy to students discussing homework assignments – especially those working on group projects, we’d imagine.

But keep in mind that  students aren’t the only ones who can benefit from Docs.com. On the app’s Facebook page, underneath the “upload a doc” section, there’s a separate section called “use Docs + Facebook.” It’s here that you’ll find some really interesting tools.

The first, “Create a Resume,” automatically accesses your Facebook profile for your work and education history and contact information, and instantly creates a formatted and editable resume you can share with your friends.

The “Chart Your Friends” application accesses your friends’ Facebook profile info to instantly create a chart of your friends’ details, including things like ages, gender mix, location, etc.

And the third app, “Make a Photo Slideshow,” instantly creates a PowerPoint from your Facebook photos. Like all Docs.com docs, you can view or edit the file online or download it to your computer.

All the docs created on Docs.com also offer a shortened URL perfect for tweeting, posting in a status update or sending via text message. If you’ve never used Docs.com yet, you can do so by adding the app here.

According to news from Chris Jones, the beta has proved quite popular so far, with 3 million unique users in Messenger alone, 3.5 million updates to display pictures, 6.2 million video calls, and 7.6 million updates to status messages, just to give you a taste of some of the beta-related stats.

So what’s new this go-round? A lot, actually. Here’s the list of service improvements:

• A quicker Messenger – The time it takes to sign in, and to refresh contacts and social feeds, as well as animation speed, are all faster than in previous versions of Messenger.
• More efficient video chat - Messenger video chat uses 30% fewer CPU resources by offloading work to the GPU.
• Better facial recognition - Photo Gallery facial recognition is improved significantly and works more quickly.
• Larger movie uploads - Movie Maker will upload higher resolution movies to SkyDrive (480x640 vs. the previous 320x480).
• Higher bit-rate movies - Movie Maker now supports higher quality (bit-rate) content.
• Better spell-checking - Writer has significantly improved the quality of its spell-checking.
• Better integration with Office - Writer is much better at retaining all formatting when you copy and paste from Word and other Microsoft Office programs.
• Better handling of Gmail – Mail now automatically handles Gmail’s spam and trash folders properly.
• Faster web filtering - Family Safety web filtering is 35% faster than in the previous version.

There are also new features being introduced as well, like “quick previews” and an improved tree view in Photo Gallery, Flickr video publishing and “Snapshot” in Movie Maker, Bing Maps integration in Photo Gallery & Movie Maker, 640x480 video upload resolution to SkyDrive, Jump List integration in WLW plus some other improvements to formatting features and spellcheck, better alerts and reporting in Family Safety, support for Russian and German languages in addition to English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, and even more minor upgrades too numerous to list here.

But perhaps the feature I’m most excited about is Facebook chat via Live Messenger. I may hang out in “invisible mode” a lot on IM, but it’s nice to know that when I want to chat over my preferred communication service – that’s Facebook, actually, sorry GChat, AOL, & Messenger – I can. And I can do it without having to go to Facebook.com itself, which, quite frankly, can be a huge time suck I don’t always need.

To try out the new beta yourself, just head over to its homepage here and hit the “download now” button. 

Thanks to the (optional) “full view” feature, Messenger users can check on social networking updates, photos, and status messages from Windows Live friends, Facebook friends and MySpace friends or reads news from MSN.com. If you click “connect more services,” you can also pick dozens of others to your dashboard, including popular social sites like flickr, Twitter, Pandora, Digg, Hulu, YouTube, Photobucket, Last.fm and many more.

Now, the new version of Messenger kicks up the social networking integration to the next level by allowing you to not only see and respond to social networking activity via the dashboard, but to directly chat with Facebook friends in real-time. Even if you don’t use Messenger IM itself, the app can now function as an always-on “people app” that alerts you when your friends come online in Facebook, explains Chris Jones on the Windows Live Team blog.

To get the new Messenger, just head over to the Windows Live Essentials beta homepage here and hit the “download now” button.