Imagine Cup North East

For the last couple of weeks I've been helping behind the scenes with Imagine Cup North East. If you've never heard of the Imagine Cup it's an annual student competition run by Microsoft to build technology solutions to address real-world problems, and this year two great local organisations promoting digital industries, Codeworks and Sunderland Software City, have teamed up to run a regional heat.

This week students from Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Durham and Teesside universities and local colleges will be attending taster and information events (in Newcastle and Middlesbrough), where Microsoft's Ben Nunney will be on hand to discuss the finer points of the competiton.

The competition is a great opportunity for students to work on a project outside of their studies (looks good on the CV, etc) and it should be good fun too, with a 36 hour hack event later in the month. Of course there's also the possibility of a trip to the global finals in Australia to aim for too!

If you're a current student (or graduated in the last year) there's still time to get involved, and if you aren't eligible to take part, you should still be able to support the teams at a future NEBytes event. Head to the Imagine Cup North East site, the Facebook page, and follow @ImagineCupNE on Twitter to keep up with all the goings-on.

What's New in PowerShell v3 - the slides

This is the deck that I used at my presentation to the NEBytes user group last night. The audience was mixed IT pro/developer; 1/4 people who have used PowerShell to some degree; 2/3 had at least some awareness. The aim of the presentation was to show existing PowerShell users some of the exciting new features/directions, and persuade the rest that PowerShell has come of age and is a technology that they should be exploring.

What’s New in PowerShell v3 and Introducing Script Explorer

At the end there was a discussion about books to help you get started with PowerShell. There are some really good books out there, but to reduce the cost of entry, I'd suggest you start with some free ebooks. You can check out this post which links to some resources, and you may also find PowerShell cheat sheets useful (I did when I was getting used to the syntax). Also, look out for announcements around the public availability of the Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell.

I also asked whether anyone would be interested in a North East (England) PowerShell Script Club? I want to discuss with those who might want to take part about how they'd like it to work for them, but one idea is to meet for half an hour before the normal NEBytes meetings so that we can share challenges we've faced or successes we've had, with the aim that we all get better through sharing our experiences. If that's of interest to you, drop me an email to jonathan at nebytes.net or @jonoble on Twitter.

IE6 Migration Roadshow touring England

Please stop using IE6.

If you haven't yet, then you might want to attend one of these events. This comes direct from Microsoft...

We are thrilled to extend the invitation to you to attend our series of Internet Explorer 6 Migration Roadshow events!

With support for Windows XP coming to an end on the 8^th April 2014 and IE6 standing in so many people’s way of migration, what better time to start taking the leap to a more modern browser? Problem applications are all too often the blocker, so Microsoft have teamed up with Camwood, Citrix Systems and Quest Software, all application compatibility experts, to help jump-start your move.

Join us at a date below for a packed agenda discussing the technical challenges faced by IT departments when migrating their users off of IE6. We will establish:

·         Why you should go through the trouble of migrating;

·         How you go about identifying those problem applications;

·         What you can do about them.

There are a range of dates to choose from, each offering a slightly different spin and all promising to be thoroughly informative! Take your pick and use the links below to register with our partners.

Who, Where & When?
Tues 21^st February
Microsoft & Quest Software 
Manchester United Football Ground (Old Trafford) 
09:30 – 14:00 (+Stadium Tour!)
More Information & Registration

Thurs 22^nd March 
Microsoft & Citrix Systems (Including newly acquired AppDNA)
Chalfont St. Peter (Easy access via the M40 & M25 as well as rail)
09:00 – 16:00
More Information & Registration

Tues 3^rd April 
Microsoft & Camwood 
London, Cardinal Place 
More Information & Registration TBC

Thurs 19^th April 
Microsoft & Quest Software 
Reading Football Ground (Madejski Stadium) 
09:30 – 14:00 (+Stadium Tour!)
More Information & Registration

On behalf of all the team at Microsoft, we hope to see you there!

In case you're wondering, I'm usually a Chrome user myself. I'm not one for adding multiple extensions to a browser, so I like the way that Chrome natively syncs my bookmarks, etc, and has Flash and PDF reading funtionality built right in. So that's IE6 and Adobe's Flash and Reader that I no longer use. Three birds, one stone.

PowerShell v3 at NEBytes' 2nd birthday

This month's event marks 2 years since we started the North East Bytes user group and the start of what is bound to be an exciting year with some major new Microsoft products on the horizon. I'm happy to be able to give a presentation on the 18th January to talk about the "glue" that's going to bind a lot of those things together.

My session, "What's New in PowerShell v3, and Introducing Script Explorer" aims to give some insight into what's coming in the Windows 8 timeframe for those who have already started their PowerShell journey, and also to help those who are yet to take the plunge by looking at the soon-to-be-released Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell.

We're fortunate enough to have another interesting presentation on the night from Gary Short, another MVP and an excellent speaker, about data mining the social web.

You can see all the details, and register for this free event at Eventbrite. I hope to see you there!

NEBytes November 16th: Virtualising SharePoint and Mobile BI

Due to an abundance of quality speakers, we are running two NEBytes events in Newcastle this month. The first features a pair of UK MVPs: John Timney, talking about Virtualising SharePoint, and Jen Stirrup, with a session on Mobile Business Intelligence Using Microsoft and Tableau.

The details in their own words are as follows...

John:

Sharepoint 2010 Virtualisation remains a hot topic and for many firms it is still as yet unexplored territory and the concepts surrounding virtualisation are pushing the knowledge boundaries for Sharepoint Infrastructure Architects, Administrators and Solution Architects into areas they thought they wouldn’t need to understand, away from the physical and into the conceptual. This presentation offers an introductory view of some of the important aspects to consider when thinking about utilizing virtualization in the Sharepoint 2010 world and considers reasons for virtualizing Sharepoint 2010, supported physical and virtual platform architectures, guidelines for choosing which aspects of farm to virtualize, support and the issues it brings, considers layered designs as an easy means of visualising virtual architecture and introduces conceptual Geo-DR.

Jen:

Mobile Business Intelligence allows end users to access data to support their decisions, irrespective of time and place. The Apple iPad is the definitive tablet of the decade, and is game-changer as a credible business tool. PowerPivot is a game-changer because it places data, and data structures, back in the hands of business users. Apple’s cutting edge usability, along with PowerPivot’s accessibility, can be combined to enhance productivity for mobile business users. Together, these technologies can support Mobile Business Intelligence as an essential tool for end users who need data 'on the go'.

What you will learn from this session:

• Capabilities of Microsoft PowerPivot in terms of scalability and empowering access to data
• Using PowerPivot as source for data, viewing the visualisation via an Apple iPad
• Specific considerations for visualising data to serve Mobile Business Intelligence, supported by Tableau

Come and see Mobile Business Intelligence in action using the Apple iPad, with Microsoft PowerPivot as a data source.

Two excellent topics for IT Pros, I'm sure you'd agree!

The event is free (as usual) and you can register at Eventbrite.