Simplify-ing

Recently, I have been playing around with Microsoft’s new mobile barcode technology, dubbed Microsoft Tag. Microsoft describes the technology as a High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) that’s designed for maximum performance using cameras on mobile phones. Although the name is new,  the technology has been around Microsoft Research for quite some time. I certainly remember reading about this more than a year ago and I am happy to report that it works very well!

Scalable and Colorful

Microsoft Tag is similar to other 2D barcodes like QR-Code, Semacode or DataMatrix 2D. Unlike other codes, Microsoft Tags uses a grid of colored triangles to encode data and depending of the intended use, the grid size and number of colors used may vary. Also, the scale of readable tags can vary from something that would fit on a business card to a roadside billboard.

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Microsoft Evangelist Glen Gordon, Chad Brooks, and Brian Hitney are cooking up some tasty treats with their southern fried show. This time around they headed to Huntsville on March 11th and Birmingham March 12th!

The topics will be Oslo and M, ASP.NET and jQuery, and a monster debugging talk!

Every attendee will receive a free MS Press book (while supplies last) as well as pointers to tons of resources for further learning.

It’s that time again!!! The date is set for Version 7 of the Alabama Code Camp. This time we are back in Montgomery at the Auburn Montgomery Campus (AUM). If you are up for another all day geek fest then join us for lots of developer-oriented tracks, code sessions, great give-a-ways, and all-around fun. As always, it’s absolutely 100% FREE with a money-back guarantee!!!

The continuing goal of the Code Camp series is to provide an intensive developer-to-developer learning experience that is fun and technically stimulating. The primary focus is on delivering programming information and sample code that can be used immediately. This is your chance to interact directly with local, regional, and Microsoft presenters. Got a programming topic that you are passionate about? Then I would like to hear from you.

In addition to great speakers and sessions, we will have a gaming area with Xbox consoles, Rock Band, Halo 3,  Project Gotham Racing and more!!!!

Please register at http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=134437 and visit http://www.alabamacodecamp.com for detail information. Don’t forget to register and I hope to see you there!

Attend the MSDN Developer Conference for a glimpse into the future of the Microsoft Application Platform. You will experience Microsoft’s vision for Cloud Computing and building applications that seamlessly bridge the gaps between PC, Web, and phone. Be among the first to see the full range of advances in Windows 7, the next major version of the Windows client operating system. Sessions include the latest developments in .NET, Silverlight, Surface, Parallel Programming, Live Mesh, and more. The date for the Atlanta event is December 16^th.

Register at http://www.msdndevcon.com/Pages/Atlanta.aspx See you in Atlanta!

Next Meeting: Lunch with .NET - August 25, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: Auburn Montgomery (AUM) Taylor Center, Room 214
Directions

Topic: Embrace Open Source on CodePlex
Presenter: Sara Ford, Program Manager for CodePlex.Com at Microsoft
Embrace Open Source on CodePlex - a look at the codeplex feature set, how codeplex operates, what projects we host, and why Microsoft is doing this open source thing. CodePlex is Microsoft’s open source project hosting web site. You can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback.

September 11, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM to 7:45 PM

Topic: LINQ in Action
Presenter: Jim Wooley, Microsoft MVP and author of the book "LINQ in Action"
LINQ, Language INtegrated Query, is a new extension to the Visual Basic and C# programming languages designed to simplify data queries and database interaction. It addresses O/R mapping issues by making query operations like SQL statements part of the programming language. Adding to its power, LINQ is extensible and can be used to query various data sources. It offers built-in support for querying in-memory collections like arrays or lists, XML, DataSets, and relational databases. Jim Wooley has been working with .Net since PDC 2000 and has been actively evangelizing LINQ since its announcement in 2005. He leads the Atlanta VB Study Group and serves as INETA Membership Manager for the Georgia region.

September 15, 2008
Time: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Topic: MSDN Roadshow
Presenter: Microsoft

More details to come…

Just a reminder…if you missed the Birmingham VS2008 launch you still have a chance to catch the event (even bigger) in Atlanta on April 29^th (Tuesday). The Birmingham event was sold out (as much as a free event could be) but there may still be some seat available in Atlanta. Unfortunately, I won’t be doing the VSTO and MOSS demos as I did in Birmingham due to another travel conflict. Hope you can make it!

I am speaking from 11am – 1pm today at the Montgomery Area .NET Developer Group (MADEV). The topic is “Sync Services for ADO.NET: Developing the Occasionally Connected Application. Hope to see you there!

Add this event to my calendar
http://www.simplifi.com/madev/downloads/madevmeeting.ics

Get there using Live Search Maps
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pcwcdq7t7jb5&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=8737170&encType=1

I was asked recently how to configure the Smartphone (excuse me Windows Mobile Standard) device in the emulator to access network resources. Since there doesn’t appear to be any clear step-by-step directions on this, I will outline the necessary steps here.

First, begin by launching Visual Studio and create or open a SmartClient (SmartPhone) project and set the target platform to Windows Mobile 5.0 SmartPhone SDK. In Visual Studio, select Tools | Connect to Device…

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