Author: azarc3

Tallahassee Code Camp 2016!

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I spoke with a great group today.

Special thanks to Microsoft for forcibly updating my Visual Studio installation LAST NIGHT with unpublicized breaking changes to the Package.manifest format! We got through it and made it happen though. 😉

Here’s the URL of the repository: https://github.com/azarc3/CortanaDeepDive

Here’s the presentation I rifled through at the beginning of the talk: http://bit.ly/tallycc2016
We didn’t go though all the slides since we pretty much covered it during our talk… and because the Voice Command Service Stuff isn’t in it.

— Happy Coding!

Tallahassee Code Camp 2016!

Orlando Code Camp 2016!

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(For what I feel is the first time in a long time…) My talk crashed and burned.

The projector setup in my assigned room had a VERY bad VGA cable that my Surface Book refused to work with… at all. So the participants at my talk sat and waited for nearly 25 minutes (out of a total of 50 allocated minutes!) until a couple of MacGyver-types figured out how to get things working again (thanks you two!). We raced though the content of the talk but I felt bad that they had to drink from the firehose on what was already a LOT to ingest in under an hour.

So, good people, I apologize that things weren’t right for you while we were there. Hopefully you’ll be able to easily figure things out based on the comments in the code. If you’re coming to the Tallahassee Code Camp on 4/16/2016 please consider giving me another chance.  🙂

Here’s the URL of the repository: https://github.com/azarc3/CortanaDeepDive

— Happy Coding!

Orlando Code Camp 2016!

All “healthy food” is not equal

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So I’ve been wondering why I’ve been getting fatter even though my food choices have gotten MUCH better. Other than the obvious lack of exercise, this article — if true — sheds a whole lot of light on the subject.

25 Salads That Have More Calories Than a Big Mac

My point? Just because it’s got green in it don’t mean you should eat it… and now I’ve got to start reading the labels on EVERYTHING. 😉

All “healthy food” is not equal

Today’s PSA: Understand the word “arrogant” before you use it

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I find that people are so quick to label someone “arrogant”.

Bing and Google both define arrogant as “having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities.”

Even Urban Dictionary (God forbid, and, NSFW) defines it as “When a person is led to believe that they are in some way more superior to everybody else.” [note: the rest of the definition wasn’t PG enough for me to quote it here.]

Arrogance is something that must be demonstrated over time. If the desire to label a person is a snap judgement then the most you can accurately call that person is “smug“. Don’t besmirch people just because you don’t agree on how things should be, or because they won’t accept your point of view. In that situation you should first agree to disagree and then ask yourself, “Who am I, anyway?”

And no, this isn’t me venting because someone calling me arrogant or implied that I am. It came up in my morning meditations and simply bothered me enough to say something about it.

 

Today’s PSA: Understand the word “arrogant” before you use it

Atlanta Code Camp 2015

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I had a great time sharing “my thing for Cortana” with the good folks in Atlanta. Great crowd, great participation. Hopefully I didn’t confuse the heck out of them.  😉

As promised, here’s the stuff I presented — minus the new “How many steps did I walk today” example. The link: http://1drv.ms/1MLpmH6

Now, it’s time to have some fun at the after party! 😀

 

— Happy Coding!

Atlanta Code Camp 2015

“Can you hear me now?”

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Verizon customers, your privacy just went out the window.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2990096/data-privacy/verizon-to-use-mobile-supercookie-to-target-aol-ads-to-customers.html

My suggestion? Switch to AT&T.

“Can you hear me now?”

Finally… the madness ends.

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I’m all for copyright and patent law, but some of the awarded copyrights (and patents!) are just simply RI-DICU-LOUS. In my opinion this has always been one of them.

Federal judge rules ‘Happy Birthday’ song in public domain
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/federal-judge-rules-happy-birthday-song-in-public-domain/ar-AAeExRs?ocid=ansmsnmoney11

Dear Judge: Thank you for your display of sanity.

Finally… the madness ends.

A bad day for Mobile…

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Today is turning into a really bad day for the majority of the mobile industry. First I noticed this #EpicFail…

To hack an Android phone, just type in a really long password
http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/16/technology/android-hack/index.html

… and right on it’s heels came this one:

Hundreds of legitimate iOS apps infected by malware; remove from App Store
http://lifehacker.com/hundreds-of-legitimate-ios-app-store-apps-infected-by-m-1732035828

I notice that Windows Phone hasn’t been mentioned yet; here to hoping it stays that way.

A bad day for Mobile…

Code Impact 2015

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I had a great time during my Dev’ing with Cortana for the Win(10)! presentation at Code Impact 2015  today. Hopefully the folks who attended my session got something out of it too.

The materials I presented today are available here: http://1drv.ms/1AKnuJ8.

PLEASE MAKE SURE that you pay attention to ReadMe.txt file located here:

Location of the ReadMe.txt file in the solution
Location of the ReadMe.txt file in the solution.

Happy Coding!

Code Impact 2015

Sarasota/Bradenton UG Presentation Materials

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I had the pleasure of speaking to a GREAT group this evening (8/18) about Cortana. As promised, here are the materials that we covered, as well as some source code.

The actual (shortened) link: http://1drv.ms/1TSOcsD

* IMPORTANT NOTE: You’ll need Visual Studio 2015 to run the code. (Don’t worry, it’s free!)

Happy Coding! 😀

Sarasota/Bradenton UG Presentation Materials