Are you ready to gain access to the latest tools, turning your hobby into a source of revenue, or expand your network?

Stop dreaming. Start building. Join us for a new series of Windows Phone 7 Bootcamps where you can get an inside track on how to be part of the next step of Microsoft’s mobile strategy and get hands-on training for building Silverlight-based applications.  These free, live learning sessions explore the latest tools, discuss tips and technologies, and provide access to Windows Phone 7 experts.

ATTEND these special events and learn about:

• the Windows Phone 7 platform
• building Silverlight Applications for Windows Phone 7
• submitting your application to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

Take advantage of this opportunity to explore with a Hands-on Lab where you can leverage the Windows Phone 7 Experts and your peers as you build your Windows Phone 7 Application.

Events run from 8am–5pm

Seating for the live event is limited, so register today.

For those of you in the Oklahoma City area, I’ll be presenting the opening Keynote at the upcoming Visual Studio 2010 Community Launch put on by the Oklahoma City Developers Group on August 2nd.  More information can be found at their website:

Visual Studio 2010 Community Launch

Come join us for all the fun!

We’re only 2 weeks away from the 3rd annual Dallas TechFest!  The schedule is set, the bags are being packed and the speakers (including me!) are polishing up their talks.  Dallas TechFest has something to offer everyone, regardless of your particular chosen (or favorite) programming Languages:

This year’s schedule features well-known and local speakers from across 6 different communities including .NET, Java, PHP, Adobe, ColdFusion, Apple and IT Pro.  Registration is normally $50, but if you use the code “dotnet” you can get a $25 discount!  Make sure you sign up today as space is filling up quickly!

As an added bonus, everyone will receive a lunch, free Wi-Fi and a bag full of goodies from all of our sponsors!  I hope to see you there!

Jump start your development of Windows Phone 7 applications by attending Windows Phone 7 JumpStart. This free virtual live class, comprised of four instructor-led 3 hour sessions, will guide you in developing applications for the Windows Phone 7 platform using Silverlight and XNA.

Course sessions:

• July 20 – 10am: Session One: Getting Started with Microsoft Windows Phone and Silverlight
• July 20 – 3pm: Session Two: Programming Game Applications with XNA
• July 22 – 10am: Session Three:  Programming Applications with Silverlight
• July 22 – 3pm: Session Four:  Review and Wrap Up

Download the Windows Phone Developer tools beta to get started creating Windows Phone 7 applications today. This download includes: Visual Studio 2010 Expression For Windows Phone beta; Windows Phone Emulator beta; Silverlight for Windows Phone beta; Expression Blend for Windows beta; and XNA Game Studio 4.0 beta.

Go get them right now from http://developer.windowsphone.com or the Microsoft Windows Download site!  There are LOTS AND LOTS of improvements in the Beta bits, so make sure you give them a try.  Be prepared that there are also some breaking changes, but nothing that should take you very long to update.  Also, for those of you without Expression Studio 4 installed, the Beta release also includes a copy of Expression Blend for Windows Phone 7 included in the installation.

One single download for one simple installation!  Doesn’t get any better than this   Just make sure you uninstall your old tools before installing the new ones according to the installation instructions.

It looks like PDC10 will have an interesting twist, compared to previous PDCs:

• Held on the Microsoft Campus
• 2 days instead of 3
• Registration price reduced to $1,000

I also didn’t see anything about a schedule, so I don’t know if there will be pre-conference sessions this year. The site does say that the focus is going to be on “Cloud Services, Phone, Tools & Technologies, Internet Explorer and Gaming”.  I’ll provide more information once I learn more about it.  Make sure you keep an eye on http://microsoftpdc.com for more information as well!

I just received a note from the okcCoCo about an upcoming OpenBeta BarCamp in Oklahoma City.  Here’s the details from the email

BarCamp is back and will even bigger and better this year!

A BarCamp is an intensely participant-driven conference where attendees share and learn in an open environment. The primary goal of BarCamp is education of attendees. As compared to a traditional conference, the large majority of the talks, panels and other sessions are organized organically the day of the event. People propose presentations and it all gets sorted out at the beginning. Trust us, it just works. BarCamp is an event format that has been successfully applied across the country, including Oklahoma City.

We held the first BarCamp in Oklahoma City in July of 2009. We had approximately 60 attendees participate in 20 sessions divided into two simultaneous tracks. Session topics included HTML, Javascript, JQuery, Cloud computing, NoSQL, Python, PHP, Web 2.0 Business Models, Online Startups, and Growing Online Businesses. The theme of this year’s BarCamp is web development and entrepreneurship. The target audience is web development professionals and entrepreneurs.

Details
9am – 4pm (Main event), 5-8pm (Barbecue)
Date: Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Location: Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative
Cost: $15

More Details Online

We’re looking for a few volunteers to help organize the event! If you are interested, email derrick@okccoco.com. Volunteers receive free registration!

If you’re interested in participating, feel free to reach out to Derrick as I’m sure he’d love to have your help!  I’m planning on attending, and I hope you can too!

XNA Game Development for Windows Phone 7
Thursday, July 15, 10-11 AM Pacific Time
http://bit.ly/cCAIL8

Join us and discover a developer overview of how to build games for Windows Phone 7 with Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4. Learn about the developer tools, the XNA Framework, and the resources available to build interactive, compelling, games with Windows Phone 7. In this webcast you will learn how to create games for Windows Phone 7 using XNA Game Studio 4. This session will cover the programming model, how to work with content, game input, and available resources.

This webcast is hosted by the AT&T Developer Program. All actual attendees can enter to win an AT&T Smartphone. Winner will be notified via email after the Webcast.

Released in beta form today, Microsoft WebMatrix provides everything a developer needs to get started developing web applications on the Microsoft technology stack. Included in the package are a development web server called IIS Developer Express, SQL Server Compact for easily building databases that support your website, and a rich publishing tool that allows you to easily get your applications published to the web.

WebMatrix also include support for the new Razor inline markup syntax.  Intended to simplify your development, Razor requires much fewer keystrokes than ASP.NET and is well suited for inline markup.  Here’s a short example of Razor to whet your appetite:

@{
  var db = Database.OpenFile("SmallBakery.sdf");
  var selectQueryString = "SELECT * FROM Products ORDER BY Name";
}
<table>
@foreach (var row in db.Query(selectQueryString)) {
    <tr>
      <td>@row.Id</td>
      <td>@row.Name</td>
      <td>@row.Description</td>
      <td>@row.Price</td>
    </tr>
}
</table>

All of this, plus an outstanding Application Gallery, is available TODAY in Beta form.  Jump over right now to http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/ and get your copy today! I would also recommend that you download the WebMatrix PDF Book to help you learn the Razor syntax – pretty good introduction and it’s free to download!

In case you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that the Northwest Arkansas area hosts an AMAZING developer community that has become exceptionally active over the last 2-3 years. Along with this week’s NWA TechFest, This weekend will host their first (and hopefully frequent) CodeJam.  The CodeJam is designed to help the local developer community develop web applications for their upcoming events, which include NWA GiveCamp and the NWA CommunityCamp.  If you’re interested in helping them build out these applications to support their upcoming events, head over to Jay’s blog and get all the details as well as the link to register:

http://jaysmith.us/post/Code-Jam-1-July-11th-2010-1200-PM-to-.aspx