Archives For Community

Announcing That Conference Minneapolis Hackathon!

May 14, 2012

Can you build a web, mobile, or cloud app in 24 hours? Prove it!

Developers: caffeinate and get ready to dominate! Bring your laptops, phones, gadgets and dev tools to the That Conference Minneapolis Hackathon for the inaugural 24-hour coding challenge. Develop your own web, mobile and/or cloud app, present it and compete for your share of prizes. Winners will walk away with mad props and cool loot.

And to add even more fun, your city’s reputation is on the line. That Conference is running hackathons across multiple cities to find the best developers. The top two teams from each city will get to compete to win the audience’s vote during That Conference in August.

What to Expect

Competition

The Minneapolis event kicks off on Saturday, June 23rd at The Nerdery and runs through the night until Sunday afternoon. Developers are free to use any technology to build any kind of web, mobile and/or cloud applications they choose. There are no limits on team size, but where’s the fun in going it alone?

Any Technology, Any Platform

Participants do NOT have to be here the full 24 hours, though we certainly encourage it (it’ll be a lot of fun!). We do ask registrants to indicate which times they’ll be at the hackathon so we can plan food, etc.

Judges will be on hand on Sunday afternoon to pick the top 2 teams. Feel free to invite your friends to watch you present.

What to bring

Bring your laptop (and powercord), phones, gadgets and development tools and anything you need to be productive. And your A-game. You’re going to need that.

Space is limited, so RSVP soon!

Food, beverages and refreshments will be provided.

Brought to You By

That Conference | Hackatopia | RBA | The Nerdery

 

 

 

I hope to see you there!

ag

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TC Cloud is Back

September 6, 2011

Although summer is at an end, all is not lost. I’m pleased to announce that the Twin Cities Cloud Computing user group is gearing up for a great year. The first meeting will be Thursday, September 22, 2011 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM at the Microsoft Technology Center in Bloomington, MN. I’ll be kicking off the evening with a session on all the great things you can do in Azure that you may not have realized or thought of. Mike Benkovich from Microsoft will then talk about how you can make good Windows Phone applications great using Windows Azure. You can get more info about the event and register here. I hope to see you there.

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Announcing the Dallas Azure in the Cloud User Group

February 22, 2011

I’m pleased to announce that RBA, in partnership with Microsoft is kicking off the Azure in the Cloud User Group in Dallas on March 3, 2011. Here are the details:

Azure in the Cloud User Group – facilitated by RBA Consulting in partnership with Microsoft

Kick-off Lunch Event
Thursday, March 3, 2011
11:30am – 1:30pm
Location: Microsoft Office, Irving – Visual Basic 4060 Conf. Room  

Come for lunch and meet with others as we seek to:

  • Understand Windows Azure as it evolves
  • Share techniques, patterns, trends, and practices
  • Connect with people that have a cloud strategy

Kick-off Event Agenda

  • Lunch, Welcome and Introductions
  • Remarks by Microsoft Specialists
  • Vision of Azure in the Cloud User Group
  • Presentation: Azure Forming a Cloud: Ask Why, What, When, Where, and How
    By Greg Cowin, RBA Consulting

You can register for the event here: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=153957

If you’re in the Dallas area, I recommend you find time to attend this kick-off event. It promises to be a great one.

Enjoy!

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Advanced Roles in Azure

February 1, 2011

On February 10, 2011 I will be speaking at the Twin Cities Cloud Computing User Group on Advanced Roles in Windows Azure. During the course of the topic I’ll cover the following topics:

  • Service Model Enhancements
  • Administrative Access and Startup Tasks
  • Remote Desktop
  • Local Storage
  • Input & Internal Endpoints
  • Windows Azure Connect

You can get more information about the meeting and register to attend here.

I hope to see you there!

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Live @ MIX10

April 9, 2010

While I was at MIX10 last month, I was interviewed by some various Microsoft folks. In these interviews I discussed building community around Microsoft’s cloud platform, specifically Windows Azure and Project Thor. The first interview with Social Wendy is up. You can view it below or check it out on Vimeo.

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Upcoming Cloud Computing Events

March 10, 2010

I just wanted to make you aware of the meetings planned for the Twin Cities Cloud Computing User Group for the next 4 months. These are some great topics and speakers that you’re not going to want to miss.

April 8, 2010
Dynamics CRM Online
Presented by Shikhar Agarwal, Sogeti
Register here

May 13, 2010
Custom Applications and SharePoint Online
Presented by Frank Shink, Magenic
Register here

June 10, 2010
SQL Azure
Presented by Mike Benkovich, Microsoft
Register here

July 8, 2010
Azure Storage
Presented by Brent Stineman, Sogeti
Register here

Hope to see you there!

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Version 1.1 of Thor is Released

February 22, 2010

I’m pleased to announce that version 1.1 of Thor has been released. Here’s a summary of what’s new in this release:

  • Specify whether or not to display the subject of appointments on a calendar
  • Specify whether or not to use a booking agent on a calendar by calendar basis
  • Specify whether or not a calendar requires authentication to view and/or book appointments
  • Specify whether or not to display a given timeframe for a calendar
  • Highlight the current time in a calendar
  • Only passwords are encrypted when persisted to storage
  • The logo for the website was changed from a .png to a .jpg to accommodate Windows Mobile
  • The provider assembly dropdown only displays assemblies that contains type that implement ICalendarProvider
  • The provider type dropdown only displays types that implement ICalendarProvider

You can dowload all the goodness here.

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Version 1.0 of Thor Is Released

February 17, 2010

I’m pleased to announce that version 1.0 of Thor was released on February 15th, 2010. The release includes the following downloads:

  • thor.deploy
    • Contains the necessary deployment package and service configuration file required for deploying Thor to Windows Azure.
  • thor.exchange.interop.exchange2007
    • Contains the assemblies required for enabling Thor to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 via the Exchange Web Services Managed API.
  • thor.exchange.interop.exchange2010
    • Contains the assemblies required for enabling Thor to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 via the Exchange Web Services Managed API.
  • thor.exchange.webservices
    • Contains the assemblies required for enabling Thor to communicate with Microsoft Exchange Server via Exchange’s native web services.
  • thor.source
    • Contains the source code (Change Set 43071) for version 1.0 of Thor.

You can download the bits here.

Check out the screencast below (brought to you by Silverlight and the Simple Silverlight Media Player) on how to deploy, configure and run Thor in Azure:

Install Microsoft Silverlight

I’ve also stubbed out some documentation here. There’s no content, yet, but I promise it will be coming over the next couple of weeks.

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Hello Azure!

December 1, 2009

Tonight I gave a talk on Azure to the Dubuque Iowa .NET User Group. The talk was an overview of Microsoft’s cloud platform with an emphasis on Azure. The demos show how to start developing with Azure, using Web and Worker Roles along with various storage mechanisms (i.e. tables, blobs, and queues).

 To run this code you’ll need the following installed on your machine:

Optionally, you want to also install the Azure Storage Explorer to make working with Azure storage on your local machine a bit easier.

You can download the slide deck and code here.

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Jack Calhoun to Keynote Backstage Pass: A Day in the Microsoft CLOUD

November 13, 2009

Several days ago I announced a special day long event in December focusing on Microsoft’s cloud initiative. I now have the pleasure of announcing that Jack Calhoun has been confirmed as the keynote speaker for the day. Jack Jack is a business process reengineering pioneer, author, and the Founder and CEO of Accelare. Jackwill be delivering an address entitled Are You Ready to be a “Plug-and-Play” Enterprise. Here’s a little more info on Jack:

Jack Calhoun is a leading expert in the role of information technology in modern business design, with extensive experience in business strategy, large-scale business reengineering, mergers and acquisitions, integration and turnaround projects. Jack was a contributor to the landmark work of James Champy and Michael Hammer including best-seller, Reengineering the Corporation.  Recently, Jack co-authored the Harvard Business Review article, “The Next Revolution in Productivity”. With 20 years of practical experience in large project management, Jack has led a number of successful reengineering efforts.  Prior to founding Accelare, Jack was a group director of Perot Systems. Jack had sold his previous company, Business Architects, to Ross Perot in 1997.

I’ve also updated the day’s agenda to reflect the addition of Jack along with the addition of Matt Milner speaking on .NET Services:

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM
Registration/Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Keynote: Are You Ready to be a “Plug-and-Play” Enteprise

9:30 AM – 9:40 AM
Break

9:40 AM – 10:40 AM
Session 1: Architecting for the Cloud
Todd Van Nurden – Architect Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation

10:40 AM – 10:50 AM
Break

10:50 AM – 11:50 AM
Session 2: .NET Services
Matt Milner – Chief Architect, M3 Technology Partners

11:50 AM – 12:30 PM
Lunch

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Session 3: Windows Azure
Mike Benkovich – Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation

1:30 PM – 1:40 PM
Break

1:40 PM – 2:40 PM
Session 4: SharePoint Online
Phil Wicklund – Consultant, RBA Consulting

2:40 PM – 2:50 PM
Break

2:50 PM – 3:50 PM
Session 5: SQL Azure
Mike Jones – Practice Lead, RBA Consulting

3:50 PM – 4:00 PM
Closing Remarks and Raffle

Don’t forget, we’re giving away a Zune HD along with some other great prizes.

 Be sure to register for the event here.

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