Blog List

Got confirmation through that I'm shifting MVP expertise from Windows Live to Windows Live Platform.  See new profile here: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Bronwen.Zande

Are you in the UK and interested in learning how to develop with the Windows Live Platform?  Then there's a couple of event coming up that you might be interested in...

From UK ISV BlogThe Partner Readiness have just announced the release of the Windows Live Platform Services course. This 1.5 day deep dive covers the core technical aspects of Windows Live Platform Services including:

Overview  of Windows Live Silverlight Streaming Windows Live Controls Windows Live Tools for Visual Studio Windows Live Data (Authentication/Delegation model) Live ID Quick Apps Deep Dive (dev.live.com/quickapps) Messenger Presence Spaces APIs Dates currently scheduled are:

28–29 April (London) https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=242857&site=UK&lang=en-uk

14 -15 May (Altrincham) https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=242858&site=UK&lang=en-uk

9-10 June (London) https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=242859&site=UK&lang=en-uk

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Next week we're travelling to Sydney and Perth to deliver our presentation on SQL 2008 Spatial with Virtual Earth. If you're around in Sydney on the 13th we're going out to dinner and drinks with some of the ladies from GeekGirlBlogs.  If you want to join us check out the details and sign up http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=20904290649.

And if you're in Perth and want to have a drink after the talk..let us know..we need a tour guide :)

The session details for our talks are:

SQL 2008 Spatial with Virtual Earth

In this visually interactive talk we explore the new spatial data types, functions and indexes directly related to the real world using the interactive browser based Virtual Earth control. We focus on the new Geography data type providing an overview of the new functionality as directly applied to mapping. This includes the storage of points, polylines and polygons as well as real world tasks like effective rendering to the map, geofencing and proximity searches. We explore the power of union and buffering. Finally we examine the new index specifically built for fast spatial lookup.

The talk will inform, teach and demonstrate. You will understand what this new functionality is all about, what data types and functions are needed, how they operate and how to add an effective spatial index to your project.

Sydney event - Register HERE

Perth Event - Register HERE

So you heard about Live Services and not sure what they are or want to hear a bit more about about the different services?

There's a series of webcasts available that i first saw here.

Session 1 – Windows Live Platform Technical Overview (200 Level) . Get a broad look at the Windows Live development platform and discover the various ways you can integrate Windows Live APIs and controls into your applications and deliver rich web content in exciting and innovative ways. Session 2 - Windows Live Platform Technical Drilldown, Part 1 (300 Level). Session 3 - Windows Live Platform Technical Drilldown, Part 2 (300 Level). Session 4 - Windows Live Platform Technical Drilldown, Part 3 (300 Level). Session 5 - Windows Live Platform Technical Drilldown, Part 4 (300 Level). Technorati Tags: Live  Services

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2008 started well, with a nice email this morning informing me I've been made a Live Services MVP. What a great honor to be part of a pretty exclusive group. Have a look at my MVP profile here.

Back in December, John did a podcast with Craig Murphy about Windows Live, Virtual Earth and the community in Australia.

Check it out on Craig's site here:  http://www.craigmurphy.com/podcasts/041-John-OBrien.mp3

I blogged about a bit of a roadtrip of SQL User Groups for a presentation of SQL Spatial.  We've now added a second Hobart session to the list - Hobart .Net Usergroup. 

The blurb for our talk is:

SQL Spatial with Virtual Earth

In this visually interactive talk we explore the new spatial data types, functions and indexes directly related to the real world using the interactive browser based Virtual Earth control. We focus on the new Geography data type providing an overview of the new functionality as directly applied to mapping. This includes the storage of points, polylines and polygons as well as real world tasks like effective rendering to the map, geofencing and proximity searches. We explore the power of union and buffering. Finally we examine the new index specifically built for fast spatial lookup.

The talk will inform, teach and demonstrate. You will understand what this new functionality is all about, what data types and functions are needed, how they operate and how to add an effective spatial index to your project.

So the revised schedule is:

• 9 January - Canberra
• 10 January - Adelaide
• 15 January - Melbourne
• 29 January - Hobart
• 29 January - Hobart .Net UserGroup - Wrest Point Hotel Casino
• 12 February - Sydney
• 14 February - Perth 
• 20 March - Gold Coast .Net UserGroup  - Bond University, Theatre 3 (Building 6 Level 3 Room 29, BLD06_3_29).
• 27 March - Brisbane

Being the last day of 2007 and all, I thought I'd do a recap on the ViaWindowsLive community site.  Since we launched the BetaArticle Contributions

John O'Brien (7) Bronwen Zande (4) Derek Chan (3) Daniel Wissa (2) Vasudev Gurumurthy (2) Beth Massi (1) Robert McGrath(1) Gfw (1) Brian Peek (1) Darren Neimke (1) Marco Anastasi (1) Mike McDougall (1) Johannes Kebek (1) Scott Lovegrove (1) Top Content

www.viawindowslive.com www.viawindowslive.com/VirtualEarth.aspx www.viawindowslive.com/Articles/VirtualEarth.aspx www.viawindowslive.com/Messenger.aspx www.viawindowslive.com/Blog.aspx Top Articles

Getting Started with VE 6 What's new in VE 6 Messenger IM Control & Presence Clustering Virtual Earth 6 Setting up Custom Domains for your Email Top Traffic Sources

google.com viavirtualearth.com forums.microsoft.com live.com blogs.msdn.com Top Keyword searches

virtual earth live spaces live id silverlight streaming account via windows live Visitor Countries

United States United Kingdom Australia Canada India...

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Came across "Agent M" today on this blog.  "Agent M" is a Windows Live Agent to help it's banking customers with enquiries, faqs etc.  If you want to have a play with it just add m.m2u@maybank.com.my to you Live Messenger friends list and start asking questions etc.

I love seeing new examples of agets.  I've played with smarterchild and encarta for a few years now..they can be very addictive...and earlier this year wrote a Live Agent for a demo.  Improving and extending the words/phrases/questions etc. can be very addictive.

Bored this Christmas and looking for something cool to play with? How about playing with some very new code that combines Silverlight and Windows Live Services. If you haven't played with it you should:

http://tafiti.mslivelabs.com/

And the big announcment today is the source code is available for you sink your teeth into:

http://codeplex.com/WLQuickApps

So if you keen to see what Silverlight and Windows Live Services are all about and have a few spare hours over the break I highly recommend checking this out. I'm sure it will generate some ideas for you in 2008.