Some more stuff coming out of Microsoft Research labs. Here is a video on research in Natural User Interfaces (NUI) combining the Kinect sensor and the Samsung transparent OLED screen. This works by tracking our eye movements and gestures. Personally, it looks a little hard to use, but the video shows how we will be thinking differently about physical space and digital space in the future.
This Lego Project Deserves a Fist Pump!
This has nothing to do with hosting but more of a celebration of creativity, ingenuity and the art of making.
I loved legos when I was growing up but legos have become so much more sophisticated and cool from when I was a kid. Look what Max Shepherd made with legos – a model proshetic arm. Amazing.
Scott Hanselman at both the Dallas Day of .NET & Nebraska Code Camp
This weekend there are two kick ass developer events that DiscountASP.NET is proud to sponsor, but even better, the Microsoft-famous Scott Hanselman will be giving the keynote at both!
The first event is the Dallas Day of .NET. Don’t be fooled by the name, the Dallas Day of .NET is actually a TWO day event taking place on March 9, 2012 and March 10, 2012. Scott will be giving the opening day keynote and is also scheduled to present at a session titled “Making Your Blog Suck Less”. I can tell you that the first step to making your blog suck less is to host it at DiscountASP.NET (duh!). The Dallas Day of .NET was sold out; however, they have just re-opened registration so you can sign up now.
Further up the road, the Nebraska Code Camp 2.0 will be held on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the keynote speaker will be none other than…Scott Hanselman! Scott will be in Dallas on March 9 and on March 10 will be in Lincoln, Nebraska. In addition to the Hanselman led keynote, there will be tons of other sessions ranging from .NET development to developing phone apps. There will also be an after party at Lazlo’s in the Haymarket. Code Camps are always free but you do need to register.
Location, Location, Location…Relocation?
California’s Silicon Valley is the undisputed region in the world for high tech growth and innovation, with powerhouses that include Apple, Intel, Google, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, and many others located in the area. Many cities around the world are developing their own regional technology hubs and trying to replicate the Silicon Valley formula for success.
Some examples: To take leadership in future green industries and the training of new talent, Cornell University proposed the New York City Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island late last year. With the 2012 Olympics to be held in London, Britain’s Prime Minister has announced plans to expand the Olympic Park of East London to be the next Tech City to challenge Silicon Valley.
As other cities around the globe develop their own tech centers, we are also seeing the trend of Silicon Valley companies opening up branches in other locations to attract more engineers and human capital, drawn in part with incentives (including tax incentives) from different cities. For example, Google and Facebook recently announced their intentions to expand branches into New York City.
In this climate of increased investment by cities in the development of regional technology centers and the down economy with high unemployment rates, relocation to these areas may be attractive option for those seeking career opportunities and for those looking to expand their businesses.
In a February 2011 survey we explored the topic of relocation as we were curious how the economy was affecting our customers. We asked our customers whether they agreed with this statement: “To expand business or career opportunities, I will relocate to another city.”
Of the 730 respondents from the U.S., 11% of DiscountASP.NET customers agreed with the statement. 12% of our 185 respondents from Europe agreed with the statement.
We are planning to ask the question again in the future to see how things may change.
Although it is possible to telecommute from anywhere in the world, there is still a very strong regional clustering of technology companies, which concentrates wealth and talent and produces jobs. Being located in these technology hubs can also be beneficial when attempting to acquire funding for a startup. Different regions around the world are competing to attract the high-tech industries of today and tomorrow.
Have you relocated for your career or business prospects? Or are you seriously considering relocation? What areas did you or are you thinking of relocating to?
DiscountASP.NET Renews Microsoft Gold Hosting Competency Status
DiscountASP.NET is proud to announce that we have successfully renewed our Gold Hosting Competency.
Last year, Microsoft updated their Partner program, phased out their previous Microsoft Gold Certified program and tranistioned to a new Microsoft Partner Network program.
Under the new Partner Network program, Microsoft has introduced both Silver and Gold levels to each of 29 or so different competency areas. Hosting is one of the competency specialties and we’ve re-earned the Gold level in this competency.
Microsoft has raised the bar significantly to attain the new Gold level status. To earn a Microsoft Gold Competency, organizations must have the right number of Microsoft Certified Professionals having passed different certification exams related to the competency, submit customer references and demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction by participating in an annual survey.
Every year we invest in achieving the Gold level status because we believe that it shows our commitment to stay on top of Microsoft-related technologies, helps us maintain a strong relationship with Microsoft, and serves as a big differentiator.
You may have noticed that we have been switching out the old Microsoft Gold Partner logo on our site and collateral to use the new Microsoft Partner logo above.
If you want to check our status or anyone elses for that matter, you can do so at the Microsoft PinPoint site.
IllumiShare: Shared Space Demo from Microsoft Research
Some more reveals coming out of Microsoft Research. Here is something they are calling Illumishare. This type of possibility of shared space is very interesting and can have a lot of applications in play, education, brainstorming, and design. For certain types of activities, plain video conferencing is going to seem clunky.
Introducing: FREE ASP.NET 4.5 Hosting beta Sandbox
Mr. Ossou blogged yesterday about the new ASP.NET 4.5 beta and the features that he is excited about.
Well, I’m posting to announce a new ASP.NET 4.5 beta hosting sandbox program for the developer community. It’s completely FREE and open to the developer community at large! So you do not have to be a DiscountASP.NET hosting customer to play in the lab.
You can sign up for the program at http://labs.discountasp.net
This is part of our ongoing DiscountASP.NET Labs effort to help Microsoft developers get a head start on new technologies and get a taste of what is coming vNext.
We can only take a limited number of developers for this program, so don’t wait to sign up.
FREE WebMatrix v2 beta Hosting Program Extended
Under our DiscountASP.NET Labs Program, the FREE WebMatrix v2 beta hosting sandbox program we’ve been running has been extended to May 30, 2012.
This beta hosting program was originally announced at the Microsoft //BUILD Conference last year.
It’s completely FREE and open to all developers as long as there is space available – and there is still space available. You do not have to be a DiscountASP.NET hosting customer to take advantage of this program.
Check it out at http://labs.discountasp.net