What’s New in Windows Azure Tour Heading to WI

Last month, new and improved Windows Azure capabilities were announced and made available in a Windows Azure Preview. Following the announcement, many focused and deep technical Windows Azure sessions were presented at TechEd North America, TechEd Europe and I toured Chicago user groups presenting and overview of the new Windows Azure features. Tomorrow night, the “What’s New in Windows Azure” tour will cross the Illinois border and make it’s way into Wisconsin at the Wisconsin .NET Users Group.

If you’d like to know more about the new Windows Azure capabilities announced last month, register and come out tomorrow night to the Wisconsin .NET Users Group.

What’s New in Windows Azure

Windows Azure is continually innovating, getting new features, enhanced functionality, reduced pricing and just constantly getting better. Join Windows Azure MVP, Eric D. Boyd for an evening of getting to know what’s new in Windows Azure, walk through and explore the latest Windows Azure features, and get answers to your Cloud Computing and Windows Azure questions.

When
July 10th, 7pm

Where
SafeNet Consulting
10700 Research Drive
Wauwatosa, WI 53226

Register at http://www.wi-ineta.org.

Join the Visual Studio Live! Twitter Chat on June 20th

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 20th, from 1-2pm ET, Andrew Brust (@AndrewBrust) will be moderating an interactive chat with Visual Studio Live! Redmond speakers. Join tomorrow as Andrew asks questions for speakers to answer and participants to discuss. Each questions will get about 5 minutes and then Andrew will open it up to Q&A from chat participants.

Chat with myself (@EricDBoyd) and the following Visual Studio Live! Redmond speakers tomorrow at 1pm ET:

If that isn’t enough, a few lucky participants will win their choice of 3 ebooks from the shelf of Visual Studio Live! Redmond Social Media Premiere Partner, SilverlightShow!

To join and be entered to win, all you have to do is tweet the text below between now and the start of the chat on Wednesday, June 20th at 1pm ET.

Are you going to the #VSLive Redmond #VSLChat here on Twitter? 6/20 @ 1pm ET & moderated by @andrewbrust: http://bit.ly/VSLChat

Visual Studio Live! recommends following and participating using the #VSLChat room on TweetChat. Simply go to the TweetChat room at the time of the chat, sign in to TweetChat using your Twitter account, and start chatting!

Learn more about the Visual Studio Live! Twitter Chat and Visual Studio Live! Redmond.

What’s New in Windows Azure – Chicago Tour

On the evening of June 6th, Microsoft published the Meet Windows Azure Fact Sheet that provided a summary of new and improved Windows Azure capabilities. The following day, the new Windows Azure capabilities were made available at Meet Windows Azure led by Microsoft CVP, Scott Guthrie. And last week, many great Windows Azure technical sessions were delivered at TechEd North America 2012. If you missed all of those amazing opportunities to learn more about What’s New in Windows Azure, and you live in the Chicagoland area, you’re in luck.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin a tour of Chicago User Groups presenting “What’s New in Windows Azure”. In this “What’s New in Windows Azure” tour, I’ll present an overview of the improvements and new Windows Azure capabilities that were just announced. I will visit a number of Chicago groups both in the Western suburbs and in the Downtown Chicago Loop, so if you want to learn more about the new features and capabilities in Windows Azure, RSVP for one of the following Chicagoland events.

Chicago Windows Azure User Group
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 @ 5:30 PM
Microsoft Office – Downers Grove
3025 Highland Pkwy, Suite 300
Downers Grove, IL
http://www.meetup.com/Chicagoazure/events/65587882/

Chicago Cloud Computing Meetup
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 @ 5:30 PM
Pariveda Solutions
550 West Washington Blvd, #410
Chicago, IL
http://www.meetup.com/The-Chicago-Cloud-Computing-Meetup-Group/events/65708372/

Software Development Community
Sunday, July 1, 2012 @ 1:00 PM
Microsoft Store in Oakbrook Center
49 Oak Brook Center
Oak Brook, IL
http://www.meetup.com/SoftDev/events/43412202/

Win Big at That Confererence Midwest Hackathons

It’s June, and That Conference is just around the corner. Which conference, you ask? That Conference! That Conference is a 3 day developer conference taking place in the Wisconsin Dells, August 13th-15th. At That Conference you will learn and geek out on everything Mobile, Web and Cloud with over 1,000 fellow campers, including me. Leading up to That Conference, hackathons are taking place in multiple Midwestern cities where you can code and compete for street cred and great prizes . Not only can you win big, but your city’s reputation is on the line and needs you to be the next big deal. That Conference is searching the Midwest for the best developers and the top two teams from each city will compete at That Conference to win the audience’s vote. So your city’s reputation really is on the line. Developers, you should prepare, develop some great ideas, rest up, caffeinate and get ready to dominate the upcoming That Conference Hackathon’s. The first hackathon begins today in Chicago.

Chicago
200 S. Wacker, Suite 1500
Chicago, IL 60606
Start: Saturday June 9, 2012 at 1:00pm
End: Sunday June 10, 2012 at 5:00pm
http://thatconferencehackchicago.eventbrite.com/

Milwaukee
N27 W23957 Paul Road
Pewaukee, WI 53188
Start: Saturday June 23, 2012 at 1:00pm
End: Sunday June 24, 2012 at 5:00pm
http://thatconferencehackmke.eventbrite.com/

Minneapolis
9555 James Ave. South, Suite 245
Bloomington, MN 55431
Start: Saturday June 23, 2012 at 1:00pm
End: Sunday June 24, 2012 at 5:00pm
http://thatconferencehackmsp.eventbrite.com/

Meet Windows Azure – Unveiling the Latest Platform

You might have heard about Windows Azure, you might even have a FREE Trial or MSDN Windows Azure Subscription, maybe you’re like me and you build apps with Windows Azure every day. But do you really know Windows Azure? Tune-in to the Meet Windows Azure live event and be among the first to get your hands on the preview bits and start building the next great cloud app.

This Thursday, June 7th at 1pm PDT (UTC-7), you’re invited to preview the latest from Windows Azure at a special online event streaming live from San Francisco called Meet Windows Azure. Meet Windows Azure brings together developers, technology leaders, entrepreneurs and social media technologists to talk about how Windows Azure is enabling great consumer experiences and powering a wave of startups and social campaigns.

Scott Guthrie (“the Gu”), Corporate Vice President of the Windows Azure Application Platform will introduce the latest in platform and language support, as well as show the increased flexibility for how you architect, build and deploy applications to the cloud.

You’ll also hear from tech leaders like Twilio co-founder & CEO, Jeff Lawson, about building highly scalable web applications that enable great developer and end-user experiences.

If you have questions about Windows Azure, Windows Azure technical experts including the Windows Azure engineering team and Windows Azure MVP’s will be available both in the event and via a Social Meetup on Twitter organized by Windows Azure MVP Magnus Mårtensson. Join the Twitter Social Meetup on Lanyard and tweet the #MeetAzure hashtag to ask questions and get answers.

Sign up today at MeetWindowsAzure.com and add June 7th at 1pm PDT (UTC-7) to your calendar.

Helpful Meet Windows Azure Links:

MEET Windows Azure Blog Relay: