ChrisPels

Women in technology worth following on Twitter

2011-08-29T21:24:00.002-04:00

Check out http://huff.to/pgRrJ2 as there are several individuals that might be of interest to follow on Twitter.

Good developer compensation post

2011-08-29T21:21:00.001-04:00

This post regarding developer compensation at Stack Overflow is a great read.

Social Media Tools and Crime

2011-08-16T19:33:00.002-04:00

It was inevitable that social media tools would be used for spurious activity http://goo.gl/R2F9g. It just shows h0w we are still in the infancy of technology based interaction for the masses. I'm sure we'll see more and more tools for the law enforcement perspective as well.

So which browser do you use?

2011-07-29T14:08:00.000-04:00

http://goo.gl/1LncD

Apple w/ more cash on-hand than US Government

2011-07-29T13:57:00.003-04:00

From @cnn http://goo.gl/nPtLO. This is actually very telling on both counts.

Glimpse of what technology will do when we move beyond the mouse/keyboard

2011-07-28T21:11:00.002-04:00

This interesting article http://goo.gl/7M1JK on utilization of Microsoft Kinect in healthcare provides a glimpse of the future. Once we move beyond the mouse and keyboard the possibilities are encouraging.

Microsoft Senior Marketing Manager-Digital Events

2011-07-28T21:09:00.003-04:00

Check out http://goo.gl/T8Wze for the details.

Would you use a webcam credit card reader, either as a consumer or a vendor?

2011-07-26T14:26:00.002-04:00

Jumio http://goo.gl/0Tmp5 has released Netswipe, a technology http://goo.gl/EUY8g that allows a standard webcam to be a secure credit card reader. Would you use it instead of typing in your credit card number for an online purchase?

How much has your snail mail dropped in the past 5 years?

2011-07-26T14:20:00.003-04:00

The post office closures http://goo.gl/rnp9L come as no surprise. I only get mail maybe 4 of 6 days now and most of it is junk mail.

Medical devices build into your car???

2011-07-26T12:11:00.002-04:00

While this is feasible, it somehow strikes me as strange that one would want to incorporate medical sensing devices into your car like the EKG monitor built into a steering wheel as discussed in this article http://mobihealthnews.com/12128/toyota-demos-ecg-sensing-steering-wheel/.

Good article on web and business tools startups use

2011-07-26T12:06:00.001-04:00

This article gives an interesting and informative perspective on what tools startups are using http://mashable.com/2011/07/26/startup-tools/.

Habitat for Humanity Project at TechEd 2010

2010-03-07T08:01:00.003-05:00

On Saturday 6/5 before TechEd 2010 there is an opportunity to volunteer with fellow techies to work on a local Habitat for Humanity project. Check out the details at http://bit.ly/bh71l0 on this worthwhile project.

Google Chrome OS, the "Cloud", and Ubiquitous Internet

2009-11-22T12:55:00.006-05:00

Google demonstrated their Chrome OS again this past week where they indicated the OS will be essentially a gateway to the "cloud". For example, your files would be stored remotely in the cloud, not on a local hard disk.

If you think in terms of our current world where access to the Internet is done through an application on our computers, i.e., the browser, the Google concept for Chrome OS is somewhat foreign. However, projecting forward to Internet access being ubiquitous through many devices independent of a separate application like a browser, the Google OS approach makes sense.

Apple's success with the iPhone stems in large part from it being a consumer focused device rather than something made by techies with an engineering bent. Currently, the PC is still a techie device not a consumer device. The inner workings are too exposed to the user of the device. The Apple Mac computers are a step closer to a consumer device, but still too techie.

If we no longer think about computers as necessary for Internet access, i.e., we just use the services, the Chrome OS starts to make more sense. Is it premature in relation to the current mindset? Maybe, but the thought process behind it is definitely in the right direction.

Boston Area Code Camp Sat 10/17

2009-10-01T09:58:00.002-04:00

The 12th edition of the Boston area Code Camp will be on Saturday 10/17/2009. Speaker abstract submission will end on Wed 10/7/2009 so submit an abstract if you want to do a presentation. Also, please register so we can get an accurate count for food. Details are at www.thedevcommunity.org.

Boston .NET User Group: MVC Discussion Group Wed 7/20 http://bit.ly/Bem5L #aspnetmvc #bostondotnet

2009-07-21T20:51:00.002-04:00

Join us for a discussion on ASP.NET MVC the next two Wednesday evening (7/20, 7/29) as well as prior to our August meeting on 8/12. Details on the Boston .NET User Group web site www.bostondotnet.org.

Vermont Code Camp: Speaker Requests Open http://bit.ly/U1Ut #codecamp #vtcodecamp

2009-07-21T20:25:00.002-04:00

The first Vermont Code Camp http://bit.ly/U1Ut will be held on Saturday 9/12/2009 at the University of Vermont Business School in Burlington, VT. Speaker abstract submission is now open through 8/15/2009. This is a great chance to share what you know w/ fellow developers. It's also a great time of year to visit Vermont and enjoy the beautiful City of Burlington.

loginUrl for Forms Authentication in ASP.NET MVC on a Hosted Site

2009-06-08T14:43:00.005-04:00

While implementing an ASP.NET MVC site which was hosted by an ISP I followed this information from MSFT since the server is running IIS6 and I could not access the web server to configure it for MVC.

This resulted in the following route maps in Global.asax.cs

//Hosted Configuration: Uses .aspx in IIS.
//If MVC installed can map directly.
routes.MapRoute(
"aspx",
"{controller}.aspx/{action}/{id}",
new { action = "Index", id = "" }
);

routes.MapRoute(
"Default",
"{controller}/{action}/{id}"
);

routes.MapRoute(
"Root",
"",
new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" }
);

I then implemented FormsAuthentication using the

[Authorize(Roles = "User")]

attribute on my actions.

However, when the user visited a "page" w/o sufficient permissions the standard loginUrl attribute of the element in web.config did not work.

loginUrl="~/Account/LogOn"

After some thought I realized the loginUrl value needed to follow the mapped routes and changed it to

loginUrl="/Account.aspx/LogOn"

which works nicely.

Miguel de Icaza on Mono 2.0 @ Boston .NET User Group Wed 4/8

2009-04-04T12:58:00.002-04:00

Miguel de Icaza will return to the featured speaker at the April 8th meeting of the Boston .NET User Group at the Microsoft Waltham MA Office. This will be a great evening for anyone working with the .NET Framework whether it's on Linux or Windows. Few people know more about the Framework than Miguel and he's a great speaker. So bring your ?s. Hope to see you Wednesday.

jQuery Presentation by John Resig

2009-03-01T17:32:00.003-05:00

Recently, we had the pleasure of having John Resig, the creator and lead developer for the jQuery library speak at the Boston .NET User Group meeting.

For those of you not familiar w/ jQuery, it is a JavaScript UI library that packs an incredible punch for it's very small size.

John's presentation showed the tremendous power and flexiblity of jQuery for enhancing the UI of a web page/site. I've been using it for about 8 months and never looked back. The jQuery library is one of those tools that comes along and changes the paradigm of a playing field. Combined w/ the jQueryUI collection of UI components this is a must have for web developers. Check it out!

John Resig: jQuery Creator at Boston .NET User Group this Wednesday 2/11

2009-02-09T10:18:00.002-05:00

John Resig, the creator and lead developer of jQuery will be the featured speaker at this Wednesday's 2/11 meeting of the Boston .NET User Group. Check out the details a www.bostondotnet.org.

New England Code Camp 11

2009-02-09T10:13:00.002-05:00

The next edition of the always popular New England Code Camp will be held on Saturday March 28th. We're holding a one-day mega event which should be packed with lots of great material. Submission of speaker abstracts and registration is now open at www.thedevcommunity.org. Chris Bowen has a detailed description of the event post on his blog.

Miguel de Icaza, Founder of the Mono Project to Speak at April 8th Boston .NET User Group Meeting

2009-01-28T19:02:00.002-05:00

Miguel de Icaza, founder of the Mono Project will be the featured speaker at the 4/8/2009 meeting of the Boston .NET User Group meeting in Waltham, MA at the Microsoft office from 6-8 pm. Miguel will be giving a tour of Mono 2.2. Previous visits to the group have been very informative and entertaining. If you are in the area, this is a meeting not to be missed!

Microsoft Virtual 24-hr TechDay 4/1/2009: Call for Speakers

2009-01-26T10:27:00.002-05:00

Microsoft is holding a virtual 24-hr TechDay on April 1st where any and all individuals are welcome to submit a proposal. For more information visit http://www.msfttechdays.com/modules/cft/default.aspx.

jQuery Creator John Resig to Speak at Februrary 11th Boston .NET User Group Meeting

2009-01-18T12:58:00.003-05:00

jQuery creator and lead developer John Resig will be the featured speaker at the Wed 2/11/2009 meeting of the Boston .NET User Group. This will be a great opportunity to hear from the source about this fantastic Ajax Javascript library.

TechEd 2009 Birds-of-a-Feather Topic Submission Now Open

2009-01-14T12:43:00.001-05:00

Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) sessions are open discussion topics of mutual interest to Tech·Ed attendees. They give developers and IT professionals the opportunity to meet with people who have similar interests and challenges in an open-forum environment that promotes discussion and interaction.

If you are going to TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles, 5/11-15/2009 you can propose a topic at https://www.msteched.com/modules/bof/submit.aspx.

Boston .NET User Group: 1/14/2009 Meeting: Parallel Extensions in .NET 4.0

2009-01-14T12:40:00.002-05:00

Richard Hale Shaw will be speaking on Parallel Extensions in the upcoming .NET 4.0 at the 1/14/2009 Boston .NET User Group meeting (6-8 pm) at the Microsoft Waltham, MA office. Details on www.bostondotnet.org.

Boston Area Geek Dinner-Wed 10/29/2008 5:30 p.m.

2008-10-24T16:04:00.002-04:00

Dave Spraigg is organinzing the next installment of the Boston area Geek Dinner on Wednesday, 10/29/2008 5:30 p.m. at the Boston Beerworks to toss down a pint or three, hit some munchies and perhaps event shoot some pool.

This is the Beerworks location across from the BankNorth Garden where Geek Diners have mostly been held since the inception:http://www.beerworks.net/

Code Camp: V10.0 Registration and Call for Speakers

2008-08-10T21:29:00.003-04:00

Registration and the call for speakers at Code Camp: V10.0 in Waltham, MA on the weekend of 9/20-21/2008 is now open at http://www.thedevcommunity.org/. This is the 10th Anniversary of the original Code Camp, right here in New England.

This is a great opportunity for anyone to share their work and ideas with fellow developers in a casual setting. There is everything from small conference rooms presentations to large lecture rooms. If you've never presented before this is a great place to start!

Dan Mezick to Speak on .NET Reflection at Wednesday, 8/14/2008 Boston .NET User Group Meeting

2008-08-10T21:26:00.002-04:00

Dan Mezick will be speaking on Reflection with Custom Attributes at this Wednesday's meeting of the Boston .NET User Group in Waltham, MA. Details can be found at http://www.bostondotnet.org/.

iDevTech Videos Featured on ASP.NET Web Site

2008-07-28T21:36:00.003-04:00

Several of my new ASP.NET videos are featured on the home page of the ASP.NET web site.

Check out the rest of the videos I've created for ASP.NET on the videos page of the iDevTech
web site.

Window Clippings: Nice Screen Capture Software

2008-07-28T21:21:00.002-04:00

I was talking with Scott Hanselman at TechEd about a presentation he did to a Microsoft group at Mix '08 where he mentioned a nice screen capture utility called "Window Clippings" by Kenny Kerr. I've been using Window Clippings for a while now and it is very useful.

Dan Mezick to Speak at August 13th Boston .NET User Group Meeting

2008-07-28T21:16:00.003-04:00

Dan Mezick will be giving a presentation on "Reflection with Custom Attributes" at the August 13, 2008 meeting of the Boston .NET User Group in Waltham, MA.

Call for Speakers: Hartford Code Camp, Saturday 8/16/2008

2008-07-22T08:55:00.003-04:00

Hartford area developers are holding their first Code Camp on Saturday, August 16th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the New Horizons Computer Learning Center (Bloomfield CT).

They are accepting abstracts for presentations from all .NET developers. Each session should be about 90mins in duration and the content should be on developer topics that would be of interest to attending developers. Just about anything in .NET and other Microsoft technologies.

Choose a .NET topic of interest and send a brief abstract or outline, your developer experience, expected audience level, etc or any other questions to ctdotnet@gmail.com

John Papa Speaking on LINQ, Entities and SilverLight at the NH .NET UG July 24, 2008

2008-07-17T16:14:00.003-04:00

The New Hampshire .NET User Group (www.nhdn.com) is hosting renowned speaker and author John Papa for LINQ, Entities and a touch of SilverLight on July 24th at Daniel Webster College, Nashua NH.

New England Code Camp 10: September 20-21, 2008

2008-07-09T15:02:00.003-04:00

Save the dates of September 20-21, 2008 for Code Camp 10 at the Microsoft Offices in Waltham, MA. It's hard to believe this will be the 10th Code Camp since Thom Robbins et. al. started the Code Camp concept in 2004.

This will be a special edition of Code Camp with a few new items in addition to the popular presentations by community members. Details on submitting speaker abstracts and registration available in the next few weeks. Check back.

Chris Bowen Speaking at July 9th Boston .NET User Group Meeting

2008-07-09T14:54:00.002-04:00

Chris Bowen, Developer Evangelist for the Microsoft Northeast District will be speaking on Introduction to Game Development with XNA at the Wednesday, July 9th meeting of the Boston .NET User Group in Waltham, MA. Details are available at http://www.bostondotnet.org/.

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions a Success at TechEd Developers 2008

2008-06-10T21:12:00.003-04:00

This year at TechEd Developers 2008 I helped organize the Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) community led discussions for INETA with my colleagues Bob Goodearl and Stuart Celarier. Each session has a volunteer moderator from the community to lead the discussion and a volunteer host for logistics. Session topics are submitted prior to the conference and voted on by the community at large as a basis for selection and scheduling.

There were 39 sessions throughout the 4-day conference including a BOF Event Night on Wed 6/4 with 18 sessions and a nice buffet dinner and open-bar sponsored by Microsoft. Throughout the seessions there was some great dicussions and the feedback has been postive.

Now back to "real" work after an enjoyable week in Orlando, and some recovery from the long days...