Thursday, November 15, 2012

Developing HTML 5 with JavaScript and CSS 3 applications - Jump Start videos and tutorials

Developing HTML 5 with JavaScript and CSS 3 applications - Jump Start videos and tutorials
 

Microsoft Virtual Academy is offering a free course and exam voucher that maps to Exam 70-480, This is a limited time offer and is on a first come first serve basis....


This course provides an accelerated introduction to HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript and helps students gain basic HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript programming skills. The course focuses on using HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript to implement programming logic, define and use variables, perform looping and branching, develop user interfaces, capture and validate user input, store data, and create well-structured applications. This course uses Visual Studio 2012, running on Windows 8.
 
 

 
(01) | HTML5 Semantic Structure 
Topics include Semantic tags, Forms, Audio and Video, Canvas and SVG. 

Click on the materials below. These materials are external documents and will be opened in a new window. Please come back to this track once you have reviewed it. 


(02) | CSS3 Selectors and Style Pro...  

 In this module, Jeremy Foster and Michael Palermo focus on CSS3 Selectors and Style Properties. Topics include Selectors, Combinators, Color properties, Text properties, and Box properties 


(03) | Advanced Layout and Animation...

 This module features Michael Palermo and Jeremy Foster covering the important areas of layout and animation. During the session, they cover Legacy layouts, Flexbox, Grid, Transforms, and Transitions and Animations. 


 (04) | JavaScript Core Capabilities 

 Jeremy Foster and Michael Palermo provide an overview of the core capabilities of JavaScript in this module. After an insightful overview of JavaScript, the session includes important information such as Variables, Functions, Function scope, Arrays, and Objects. 

 (05) | DOM Interactions
In this important module, Michael Palermo and Jeremy Foster focus on DOM interactions. This important module covers topics such as Querying the DOM, Manipulating the DOM, and Responding to events. 

 (06) | Advanced Topics
 After an effective discussion about Handling exceptions, they cover Promises, Web worker, Web sockets, Architecture patterns, and TypeScript. 

More on MS Virtual academy here ..http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/tracks/developing-html5-apps-jump-start?WT.mc_id=MSLS_HTML5OfferMVA


- DJ
 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Real time Social media sentiment analytics...

Free tools and APIs available to check social media sentiment analytics (real time) - http://www.sentiment140.com/search?hl=en&query=microsoft surface ...You can change the query to your product, org name or yourself.

Microsoft has also provided tool - "Analytics for Twitter" (would need Power Pivot add-in)
- http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26213

The excel file will create a full fledged dashboard that is powered by data that it pulls from Power Pivot - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29074
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Phone that charges by itself when in stanby…WIP?

Interesting ways by which a phone can charge by itself...Like it, when we will see this out in market is a matter of time I guess :)

Nokia's self phone charging prototype in works?...
  • New talked about prototype - self charging system from Nokia that is able to power itself on nothing more than ambient radiowaves – the weak TV, radio and mobile phone signals that permanently surround us. The power harvested is small but it is almost enough to power a mobile in standby mode indefinitely without ever needing to plug it into the mains, according to Markku Rouvala, one of the researchers who developed the device at the Nokia Research Centre in Cambridge, UK.
  • Nokia's device is somewhat less ambitious and is made possible thanks to a wide-band antenna and two very simple circuits. The antenna and the receiver circuit are designed to pick up a wide range of frequencies — from 500 megahertz to 10 gigahertz — and convert the electromagnetic waves into an electrical current, while the second circuit is designed to feed this current to the battery to recharge it.
  • The trick here is to ensure that these circuits use less power than is being received, said Rouvala. So far they have been able to harvest up to 5 milliwatts. Their short-term goal is to get in excess of 20 milliwatts, enough power to keep a phone in standby mode indefinitely without having to recharge it. But this would not be enough to actually use the phone to make or receive a call, he says. So ultimately the hope is to be able to get as much as 50 milliwatts which would be sufficient to slowly recharge the battery.
More... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/10/nokia-mobile-phone

Power through Solar cells under the screen -
Solar cells can fit just underneath the screen so that it take the source light and convert it into energy that can be consumed to charge the phone....
 
Charge your phone through your heat of the body -
Phones that can use an integrated thermogenerator that converts heat into energy. That means it could get a slight charge while sitting in your pocket against your leg and an even bigger charge when you have a temperature! :)

Dont believe, ALL three above can be "the" single alternate source for self charging phones, but why not all three? Could be a game changer next!

Cheers - DJ
 

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Microsoft Surface - tinker attitude?

Someone great sometime mentioned that you should NEVER buy version 1.0 of any NEW product unless you are super rich! :) Here's why it applies for Microsoft Surface reviews and unanswered questions -
  1. Several threads on Microsoft’s support forums detail issues relating to audio stuttering and random muting while the Surface is in use or on standby.
  2. Touch Cover and Type cover are as expensive as buying a new competitor's tablet :) now, hear that these can split open at the seam exposing wiring within.
  3. There still seems to be confusion with most of non IT consumers (well even IT :) on what is the difference between Windows RT v/s Windows PRO launch sometime in January 2013? Difference MSFT claims is that RT is for consumers and Pro is for business.. huh?
  4. Windows 8 Surface
  5. Not only that, which hardware to buy - Dell Surface or one from HP or Acer (if they make them happy :)) or the ones actually manufactured by Microsoft?



Technical sepcifications for Windows RT Surface and Windows Pro Surface on MSFT Site.
 
Help me Choose between Microsoft Windows RT vs Windows PRO Surface -

In addition, you cannot port existing Windows 7 or earlier OS applications to Win 8 RT because its not on Intel chips...doesn't the product become great by its applications? Office included is just home/school version ...very limited.Makes me think. Should wait for Windows PRO ...cost? $999?

All right, enough bashing of Microsoft...I LOVE Microsoft, but what are the answers that the company thinks to beat its competitor product?
  1. Why are there NO carrier plans (3G/4G) provided on Microsoft Surface? How do I get wifi enabled while on move?
  2. Why is there no 16 GB surface with low-cost option? Is that a Strategy to get a high permium product out make margins and then after 6 months reveal cheaper products with varied options.
  3. What is Microsoft's answer to Air? - Is it possible to print documents from Microsoft Surface?
  4. What is MSFT' answer to Voice search - be it on IE Bing or Surface?
  5. Cant' we make out difference between Vapor Mg (low resolution) v/s Apple's Retina?
  6. Where are the apps that WOW me? :)
Time will tell how Microsoft new Windows 8 ecosystem will change consumers bheaviour but as of now it seems Microsoft has put there billion dollar Windows business at test! Wish you good luck,

Cheers - DJ
 

Monday, November 05, 2012

FY13 plans for Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager, Forefront User Access Gateway, and Forefront Threat Management Gateway...

Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager, Forefront User Access Gateway, and Forefront Threat Management Gateway remains alive and Microsoft plans to grow them in FY13 and beyond. here is the article on technet that details more:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2012/09/12/important-changes-to-forefront-product-roadmaps.aspx

Discontinuing further releases of the following Forefront-branded solutions:
  • Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE)
  • Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint (FPSP)
  • Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS)
  • Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 (TMG)
  • Forefront Threat Management Gateway Web Protection Services (TMG WPS)
 

My Internet Explorer 9.0 User experience reivew

Here is my Internet Explorer 9.0 User experience reivew :)

LIKE IT -

Pinned Sites - Dragging the IE window over the Windows taskbar in the bottom. Once pinned, next time when you click on it, opens the same program or web site directly. Very much similar to iphone apps made as bookmark or pinned on wall.

Tab isolation - Dragging and taking open tab (window) into new completely window that can be undocked or pinned to your favorites.

Download status - you can pause, cancel and view multiple downloads at the same time,

Tracking Protection - block sites tracking or following you to taget ads or to protect kids.

Hardware accelerataion, security and others.

Support for HTML5, CSS3, Canvas, location services, and SVG has made its way into Microsoft's browser.

Here is the HTML5 Test Suite Conformance Results page -
http://w3c-test.org/html/tests/reporting/report.htm