Microsoft SQL Azure CTP Available

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the first community technology preview of SQL Azure Database, a cloud-based relational database service built on Microsoft SQL Server technologies. With SQL Azure Database, you can easily provision and deploy relational database solutions to the cloud, and take advantage of globally distributed data centers that provides enterprise-class availability, scalability, and security with the benefits of built-in data protection, self-healing and disaster recovery.

To register for the free trial, visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/dataservices/default.aspx.

To learn more about SQL Azure, visit http://www.microsoft.com/azure/sql.mspx.

Additionally, see the updated SQL Azure content in the August release of the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit.

SQL Azure documentation on MSDN is also a great learning resource.

More information at the SQL Azure Team Blog here.

Architect Council | Innovation is the Name of the Game – Webcast

Adverse times are also best times for innovation! Choosing the right battles to fight, and reinventing ourselves with less resources are par for the course today.  However, not all innovation needs to be revolutionary or transformative. In fact, in the current economic crisis, opportunities for innovation can be found in aspects of our core competencies, and implemented as incremental and iterative changes.

For this series of Architect Council LIVE WEBCASTS on August 24 and 25, 2009, we will discuss two of the many ways architects can innovate by recognizing the impact to architects, and learning how to effectively leverage cloud computing beyond just another place to host existing assets.

DAY 1 – August 24, 2009 at Noon PST

Role of the Architect in Turbulent Times  –  Event ID:  1032423112

Miha Kralj – Architect, Microsoft

With faltering economies and the resulting shift of priorities – architects must be ready for change in their role. Innovative new technologies such as Cloud Based Computing, Software as a Service and Virtualization open up new and exciting opportunities for architects to show value in their organizations.   In this session we will discuss how the role of the architect has changed, introduce new architectural patterns, and show how to “do more with less”.

Link to Register:  ARCHITECT COUNCIL | Innovation is the Name of the Game Day 1 Live Meeting

   

DAY 2 – August 25, 2009 at Noon PST

A Closer Look at an Internet Service Bus  –  Event ID:  1032423113

Clemens Vasters – Program Manager .NET Online Services, Microsoft

Look under the hood of the Microsoft .NET Services service bus – the protocols we use- and how to use the services from non-Microsoft platforms and languages.  Learn which part of the messages and requests the Building Block service inspects, which parts are not inspected, and how you can verify this.  Also, learn how to work through NAT and Firewall limitations.   Lastly, hear about architecture on the Data Center side that enables “Internet scale”.

Link to Register:  ARCHITECT COUNCIL | Innovation is the Name of the Game Day 2 Live Meeting

SPEAKER BIOS

Miha Kralj

As a senior architect on the Microsoft Platform Architecture Team, Miha Kralj is responsible for leading architectural communities, helping the architectural profession to mature and grow, and coordinating activities within professional architectural organizations and bodies. Miha is a Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). He was also a founding member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) chapters in Slovenia and Yugoslavia.

Clemens Vasters

Clemens Vasters is a Principal Technical Lead in the .NET Services team, working in an architect role on the ‘Service Bus’ feature area and acting – more behind the scenes – as the architect for the Billing feature area and as the architect/lead developer for the internal Provisioning infrastructure of .NET Services. Before joining Microsoft some 3 years ago, Clemens spoke at many conferences, taught technology, and helped companies with software architecture in over 35 countries

Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service Available Via Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming

 

In less than 3 hrs the Michael Jackson memorial service will be underway and Microsoft will be broadcasting the Michael Jackson memorial, live in HD from the Staples Center in Los Angeles using Silverlight and IIS Smooth Streaming (the technologies used for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2009 NCAA March Madness, Netflix, etc.). And this event will be available worldwide to anyone who has an internet connection.

Visit the Sympatico / MSN inMusic website, at http://inmusic.ca/news_and_features/Michael_Jackson, for up-to-date content, and special tributes to the King of Pop. The Silverlight player providing the live streaming service will become available at the time of the event (2009.07.07 10AM Pacific Time / 1PM Eastern Time).

Also visit MSN for additional information and special coverage on Michael Jackson, at http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/michael-jackson.aspx. And visit a DeepZoom (also in Silverlight) collage of hundreds of Michael Jackson’s pictures, at http://www.msn.michaeljackson.shoothill.com/.

Deep Zoom – What a Cool Feature in Silverlight 2

 

Deep Zoom is a cool feature in Silverlight and was the subject of one of the coolest keynote demos Hard Rock Memorabilia 2.0 shown at the MIX08 conference held in March’08. The Memorabilia page presents 258 items — instruments, letters, wardrobe pieces, public records and more — which you can then zoom in for a look at the details, say, of Eric Clapton’s guitar (try it; the detail is incredible). The Deep Zoom (formerly known as SeaDragon) is a new way for people to interact with content.  It allows users to explore collections of super high resolution imagery, from a 2 or 3 megapixel shot from a digital camera to gigapixel scans of museum pieces, all without waiting for huge file downloads.

Here is a cool must see demo DeepzoomObama created by Donavon West of channel9 . This demo is a gigapixel (10000×10000) mosaic image which is created from over 12,000 thumbnails uploaded by Obama supporters on www.BarackObama.com.

After seeing the above demos I was amazed at the power of Silverlight and Deep Zoom. Additional information about the scenarios for Deep Zoom, internals and How To is available at the Microsoft Developer Network. A technology preview of Deep Zoom Composer tool which helps in preparation of images for use with Silverlight Deep Zoom feature is available at  Microsoft Download Center.

PDC2008

 

Experience the Future of the Microsoft Platform

Register early for PDC2008 which is set for Oct27-30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This is a premier event hosted by Microsoft for leading-edge developers and architects to understand the future of the Microsoft platform and technical strategy.

In past years, the PDC has unveiled Microsoft .NET, Windows^® XP, Windows Vista^®, and other significant milestones in the evolution of the Microsoft platform. This year, you’ll hear more details about our services platform, the future of Windows, mobility, and our next generation of developer tools. 

Ray Ozzie (Microsoft Chief Software Architect) will be the featured Keynote speaker on the first day of the PDC2008 conference and there will be over 160 technical sessions.

Participate in the online social communities for PDC2008 and make the connection with Microsoft and your peers. Take the opportunity to network, share information, get answers, and swap best practices with others.

Become a fan of Microsoft PDC on Facebook

Stay connected to PDC via Twitter

Post and explore PDC2008 images on Flickr

Windows Live Writer

 Windows Live Writer is developed by Microsoft, is a desktop blog-publishing application that is part of the Windows Live range of products.

It features WYSIWYG authoring (You can now author your post and know exactly what it will look like before you publish it), photo-publishing and map-publishing functionality, and is currently compatible with Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, Community_Server, the MetaWeblog API, the Moveable Type API, and all blogs that support RSD (Really Simple Discoverability).

Windows Live Writer introduces the Provider Customization API that enables both rich customization of Windows Live Writer’s behavior as well as the opportunity to add new functionality to the product. Currently Windows Live Spaces, WordPress, and TypePad have all taken advantage of this API to expose additional service-specific features within Windows Live Writer.

Windows Live Writer is currently available in 6 different languages

The latest technical pre-review download and latest features is available at the Live Writer team blog post

This blog is being written using Live Writer and my experience has been great and the tool is intuitive.

There are instructional videos available on  training available on how to use the tool at the Live team blog post

Silverlight Goes Mobile

Recently Microsoft released Silverlight for Windows Mobile (beta) enabling some great, rich experiences for mobile applications. My colleague Sam Chenaur, has a great post  about Silverlight for Windows Mobile and a rich complex application at John L Scott Real Estate.

There is an excellent video that Sam has produced with Channel 10  that demonstrates Silverlight on the mobile platform.  This should provide a peak into what is around the corner for mobile RIA and validates the user requirements for a RIA platform that I had written previously.

Microsoft Popfly Mashup

What are Mashup ?

Mashup as per the Wikipedia is a web application hybrid  that combines data and/or functionality from more than one source into a single view. A well constructed mashup creates a unified end-user experience where the user isn’t even aware that data and visual elements come from multiple sources. Some good examples of mashups are creates a list and supporting maps to all the hotels in Hollywood frequented by famous Hollywood celebrates and also being able to find local Wi-Fi cafes in your home town.

Are there different flavours of Mashup ?

Mashups come in three flavors: consumer mashups (http://maps.live.com), data mashups (combine multiple RSS feed into a single mashup) and business mashups solve business problems with a process driven framework (e.g. in a semi conductor company that requires to manage equipment efficiency across different geographies  can create a business and data mashup with a visual representation).

How do I build my first Mashup ?

To start learning the fun and easiest way is build your mashup using Microsoft Popfly. Popfly is a browser based tool based on Silverlight that will let us create, share mashups, gadgets, and web pages. It’s made up of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups and a social network where you can host, share, rate, comment and even re-mix creations from others.

Here is a simple Carousel mashup that I created using Popfly which I linked into my website as a Web Part in Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS).

http://rramabad.members.winisp.net/default.aspx?PageView=Shared

What are the best practices for a Enterprise Level Mashup ?

SharePoint: A Platform for Enterprise Mashups:   link

Silicon Valley Microsoft Incubation Week

 

Microsoft will be hosting a Incubation Week event at the Silicon Valley MTC. This event will provide students and startups to build next generation web solutions (e.g. Silverlight, Windows Live, and other Next Generation Web and Software + Services technologies)  proving the relevance and viability of Microsoft technology for entrepreneurs.

The event will consists of 1 day of training, 3 days of active prototype/development time, and a final day for packaging/finishing and reporting out to a panel of judges

Additional information about the event can be found at the MTC facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/6h9evv.

 

Surface Comes to Vegas

 

 The touch screen Microsoft Surface is the latest innovation from Microsoft which essentially turns table tops into touch-controlled computer displays. This represents a fundamental change in the way we interact with digital content. With Microsoft Surface we can actually grap data with our hands and more them between objects with natural gestures, touch and also allows for several people to work independently or simulatenously without using a mouse or keyboard. If you haven’t seen the online videos of it yet, I highly recommend watching them here. 

 In April AT&T announced it would introduce Surface in it’s retail store for enhancing the mobile experience. Last week Harah’s Entertainment announced it will be launching Microsoft Surface at the Rio iBar, providing guests with new “entertainment” experiences.

 One of the cool things about Microsoft Surface is that the UI experience is built entirely on using WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and the .Net 3.0 framework.

Here is an nice article and video from Popular Mechanics on how Microsoft Surface product works that you can read and watch online here.