The “Jump Start – Administering Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 (Exam 70-496)” will be presented by Steven Borg, Co-Founder and Strategist of Northwest Cadence and Anthony Borton, ALM trainer and consultant for Enhance ALM.

Some of the topics to be covered during this jump start series includes how to install and configure Visual Studio 2012 Team Foundation Server and how to manage and customize TFS 2012 etc.

Know more about Jump Start – Administering Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 (Exam 70-496) and registration here

Converting text to speech with Speak Cells in Microsoft Excel 2013

To use the text to speech feature, the Speak buttons has to be enabled in Excel. This is by default not shown in excel. Follow the below steps to enable it.

1. Click the “Quick Access Toolbar” and select “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” and then click more commands.

2. In the Customize the Quick Access Toolbar, select “All Commands” in the “Choose commands from” DropDownList.

3. Scroll down and then select “Speak Cells” command and click “Add” button and then click “OK” button.

4. This will add the speech icon in the “Quick Access Toolbar”.

5. Now, type a text in a cell, select the cell and click the speech icon. You should hear the system speaking the content of the selected cell.

The Jump Start Series – Testing with Visual Studio 2012 will be presented by Anthony Borton, ALM MVP & Scrum Trainer and Steven Borg, Co-Founder and Strategist of Northwest Cadence.

If you are planning to take up the Microsoft Certification Exam (70-497), this jump start session will definitely help you in big ways

This jumpstart session will cover some of the topics related to the testing in Visual Studio 2012 that includes Creating and configuring Test Plans, Managing test cases and Managing test execution.

Know more about Jump Start Series – Testing with Visual Studio 2012 (Exam 70-497), timings and registration here.

Do you want to launch the calculator quickly when working in the excel worksheet? If yes, here’s few simple steps which lets you to launch / add calculator in Excel 2013.

How to Add Calculator in Excel 2013?

The option to launch calculator in excel 2013 is hidden by default. You can include it by following the simple steps as described below in excel 2013.

1. Navigate to “Customize Quick Access toolbar” and click “More commands”.

How to Add Calculator in Excel 2013?

Calculator in Excel 2013 1

2. This will display the “Excel Options Dialog“. Under the “Choose commands from” section, select “All commands” from the Dropdownlist.

3. Scroll down the Dropdownlist to identify “Calculator” and then select it and click “Add >>” button to display it in the quick access toolbar and click “OK” button to continue.

4. This will display the Calculator icon in the “Quick Access toolbar” which can be seen in the top of the excel sheet.

5. When you wanted to perform a quick calculator, just click the calculator icon/button to open the calculator.

BDotnet is hosting “ReLive TechEd @ BDotNet” where 4 sessions that was part of the TechEd 2013 will be taken by the same speakers on May 25, 2013 from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM (IST) at Microsoft Signature Building, Bangalore.

What is BDotnet (Bangalore .NET)?

BDotnet (Bangalore .NET) User Group is one of the premier and active .NET user group for technology enthusiasts targeting Microsoft Technologies.

Excellent Sessions / seminars are delivered by various community members that includes Microsoft MVP’s, Microsoft RD’s and also volunteers.

TechEd 2013 speakers like Nishanth Anil, Ujjwal Kumar, Tejasvi Kumar and Rajasekharan Vengalil will be presenting during this event.

Know more about ReLive TechEd at BDotNet, Bangalore and register here

If you are planning to take up the certification exam 70-687: Configuring Windows 8, this book will help you prepare for it.

The book “Exam Ref 70-687: Configuring Windows 8″ is written by Mike Halsey. Mike Halsey is a Microsoft MVP for Windows Expert – Consumer. He is also one of the author of few more books on Windows like Troubleshoot and Optimize Windows 8 Inside Out.

You can buy the book online from Amazon and various online stores.

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.de

• LG L7 II dual and L3 II dual smartphones
• LG Optimus L series (L3, L5, L7)
• LG Optimus 4X HD
• LG Optimus VU
• LG Optimus G

The QuickMemo features lets the users to capture any type of content that is displayed on the screen and then write on it using their fingers. The content type can be Web pages, graphical images, photos and videos etc.

The users can take notes on the screen and write a memo on the screen without the need of stylus or pen and later share it with others via SMS, chat or Email.

The users can also customize the start screen, icons and lock screen and also create custom icons from the photos.

Circling a number or any item helps the user to mark the invalid data so that it can corrected.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

Here is how you can do it,

• Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
• In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
• Let’s take the following for Eg.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Navigate to “Data” tab in menu bar and select “Data validation“.
  

  How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

   

• In “Data validation” navigate to “Settings” tab select “Text Length” from the list.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• When you select “Text length” in “Data” select “equal to” and in “Length” enter the value as “8″.

   

  

• Navigate “Data” tab in menu bar and select “Data validation” and select “Circle invalid data”.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Now you must be able to view the circle on “television” as its length is more than 8.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• To remove the circle you can follow the same steps and select “Clear Validation Circles”.

How to circle a number in Microsoft Excel 2007?

The Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications is a tool that allows the developers to add and run VSTA customizations in VSTA registered apps.

The Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2012 SDK on the other hand allows the .NET developers (C# , Visual Basic) to customize the existing applications.

Download the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2012 and SDK from the below Microsoft Download Centre pages

• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2012 – Microsoft Download Centre
• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2012 SDK – Microsoft Download Centre

The Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# will be presented by Jerry Nixon ,Microsoft Technical Evangelist and Daren May ,co-founder of Crank211.

Some of the topics to be covered during this Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# jumpstart series includes topics like Animations and Transitions, Globalization and Localization, Advanced Data Scenarios, Windows Push Notification Service (WNS) etc.

Jump Start Series – Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# Schedule

The Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# is scheduled to be held on May 23, 2013 9:00am – 5:00pm (PDT).

Know more about Advanced Windows Store App Development using C# and register here

Text wrap is used to make the text fit in the margin. In printing detailed page from excel where you want the item and description to be in separate fields if you make use of text wrap text becomes neat and clear to read.

How to wrap text in Microsoft Excel 2007?
The following steps demonstrate how to wrap text in Microsoft excel.

Here is how you can do it,

• Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
• In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
• Add few information and copy the whole typed text, right click and navigate to “Format cells”.

How to wrap text in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• In “Format cells” dialog box select “Alignment” tab and select the “Wrap text” in the check box and click “ok”.

How to wrap text in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Now you can see the text been wrapped. If you drag the cell , the wrapped text will be aligned in the margin.
  

  How to wrap text in Microsoft Excel 2007?

There may be cases where you want to make the excel sheet more readable form with the headings on top as columns and other information as rows e.g. if you query a data into excel it might be in unformatted form you can simply change the rows into columns or vice versa.

How to turn columns into rows in Microsoft Excel 2007?

Take a look here,

1. Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
2. In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
3. Let’s add few information into the rows respectively.

1. One of the easiest method to turn this to columns is using “Transpose” here is how you can use it.

• Copy whole row items by clicking right click and “copy”.

How to turn columns into rows in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Select the cell where you want it to be column wise, Right click and select “paste special” and select “transpose” and “ok”.

How to turn columns into rows in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• You can now see the rows been converted into columns.
  

  How to turn columns into rows in Microsoft Excel 2007?

1. There is another method using formula which gives more value to the program.

   To use this method now let’s convert the above column into row, now in the formula field add the following formula and enter

   =index ($E$1:$J$1, ROW (C1))

   When you see the cell with the first row item in the excel just drag and scroll down, you can now see the column being turned to row again as following.

   

   How to turn columns into rows in Microsoft Excel 2007?

Freezing of columns or rows helps in managing large amount of information. Suppose, you have a huge list of records in the excel sheet and when scrolling to different records , you might still want to view the first row / column on the screen but still scroll through the end of the record. In these cases, freezing the first row/column (depending on which one is the column name) will allow you to view the first row/column always.

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

The following steps demonstrate how to freeze columns in Microsoft excel.

Here is how you can do it,

• Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
• In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
• Let’s take the following for demonstration.

   

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Navigate to “View “tab in menu bar select “Freeze panes” and click on “freeze first column”.
  

  How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

   

• Now the first column has been freeze. To view how it’s worked minimize the excel sheet and scroll down you must be able to view the column in all pages.
  

  How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

   

• To remove the freeze follow the same above steps and in “freeze panes” select “Unfreeze panes”.

Sometimes you may need to insert multiple record between the rows in excel sheet .Well , it’s a difficult work to enter single information at a time by inserting row one by one. what if you can just insert or add multiple rows  at once .

How to insert multiple rows at once in Microsoft Excel 2007?

The following steps demonstrate how to add Insert multiple rows at oncein Microsoft excel.

Here is how you can do it,

• Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
• In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
• Let’s add few information into the cells one by one.

• Select the number of rows from the cells where you want to add rows / columns.
  

  How to insert multiple rows at once in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Navigate to “Home” tab select “Insert” and click on “Insert sheet rows“.
  

  How to insert multiple rows at once in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• Now you must be able to see the extra rows been added in your excel sheet.
  

  How to insert multiple rows at once in Microsoft Excel 2007?

What is BDotnet (Bangalore .NET)?

BDotnet (Bangalore .NET) User Group is one of the premier and active .NET user group for technology enthusiasts targeting Microsoft Technologies.

Excellent Sessions / seminars are delivered by various community members that includes Microsoft MVP’s, Microsoft RD’s and also volunteers.

Designing a Dashboard using Reporting Services will be presented by Dhananjay Kumar Upadhyay who has 12+ years of experience and the session “ASP.NET WebForms 4.5 – New Shiny Thins – Part 2″ will be presented by Lohith G N, Developer Evangelist, Telerik.

Know more about the BDotnet UG Meet on May 4, 2013 and register here

The Windows Store App Essentials using C# will be hosted by Jerry Nixon, Microsoft Technical Evangelist and Daren May, co-founder of Crank211.

If you are one of those developers planning take up the Microsoft Certification Exam 70-484, this Jump Start Series might help in great way to prepare for it.

The Windows Store App Essentials using C# Jump Start Series will provide an overview of the Windows 8 platform and Windows Store Apps and helps you to get started with the development of the Windows Store Apps until the App deployment stage

Know more about Windows Store App Essentials using C# Jump Start Series and register here

Freezing of columns or rows helps in managing large amount of information. Suppose adding new employee to the organization you may need to enter his/her details into the existing excel sheet but if you scroll down you may not be able to see the heading in which you want to enter details for this purpose freezing the heading will allow you to keep the heading as it is in how many ever pages you scroll down.

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

The following steps demonstrate how to freeze columns  in Microsoft excel.

Here is how you can do it,

• Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
• In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
• Let’s take the following for demonstration.

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

• Navigate to “View “tab in menu bar select “Freeze panes” and click on “freeze first column”.

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

•  Now the first column has been freeze. To view how it’s worked minimize the excel sheet and scroll down you must be able to view the column in all pages.

How to freeze columns in Microsoft Excel 2007?

• To remove the freeze follow the same above steps and in “freeze panes” select “Unfreeze panes”.

The event is scheduled to be held at Moscone West convention centre.

The WWDC 2013 event page is already live and the tickets for the event will go on sale from April 25, 2013.

If you are an iOS developer, this is one of the big event to look forward to.

During year’s WWDC, Apple is expected to announce the next version of iOS (iOS 7) and Mac OS X 10.9.

The WWDC 2013 will include 100+ technical sessions, hands on lab on iOS.

Know more about Apple’s WWDC 2013 in San Francisco at WWDC 2013 event’s page

The following steps demonstrate how to insert page break in Microsoft excel.

How to insert page break in Microsoft Excel 2007?

Here is how you can do it,

1. Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
2. In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
3. Let’s add few information into the cells one by one.

   A1 – DBMS

   A2 - C++

   A3 –C

   A4- JAVA

4. Select the cell where you want the drop down list to be shown. Eg.A2
   
   

   How to insert page break in Microsoft Excel 2007?

    

5. Navigate to menu bar select “Page Layout” in the list given select ‘Breaks” and select “Insert Page Break”.
   
   

   How to insert page break in Microsoft Excel 2007?

6. Now you must be able to view page break in your excel sheet.

How to insert page break in Microsoft Excel 2007?

The v3.6 of DHTMLX has known bug fixes and improved stability and performance of the DHTMLX UI components. Additionally , the DHTMLX v3.6 brings in a new component dhtmlxPopup as well as adds some features to the dhtmlxForm and dhtmlxChart components.

What is DHTMLX Suite ?

DHTMLX Suite is a JavaScript Component Library that lets the developers build Rich Web Applications . The DHTMLX suite provides the developers with a complete set of Ajax powered UI components.

Know more about DHTMLX v3.6 and its features , visit DHTMLX product website

The new version of the JQuery (v2.0) has the reduced file size of 12 percent smaller than the previous version of JQuery. The JQuery 2.0 leaves behind the Internet Explorer 6/7/8 but the JQuery team still supports the JQuery 1.x version which supports Internet Explorer 6/7/8 .

Know more about jQuery 2.0 , feature and official release here

A Drop down list is a pre defined list, from which a user can choose a value. Drop down list can be usually seen in a web application forms. The best example may be selection of a city while filling the address in a registration form.

How to add Dropdown list in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

The following steps demonstrate how to add a drop down list in Microsoft excel.

Here is how you can do it,

1. Launch “Microsoft Excel 2007″.
2. In “Microsoft Excel 2007″ Navigate to Menu bar and click “new excel worksheet” and select “blank document”.
3. Let’s add few information into the cells one by one.

   A1 – Pallavi

   A2 -Pallavi D

   A3 -Pallavi P

   A4 -Pallavi Joshi

4. Select the cell where you want the drop down list to be shown. Eg. D5
   

   How to add Dropdown list in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

5. Go to menu bar again and in “Data Tab” select “Data Validation” and then select “Data Validation” from the list.
   

   How to add Dropdown list in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

6. In the “Data Validation” Dialog box from “Settings” tab select “List” in the given options and enter the following into the text box.

   =$A$1:$A$5

   

   How to add Dropdown list in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

   
   

7. Now you should be able to see the dropdown list in your selected cell.
   

   How to add Dropdown list in Microsoft Excel 2007 ?

Huawei Ascend G510 is powered by Android v4.1 Jelly Bean Operating System with 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor with 4.5 inch FWVGA LCD display.

Huawei Ascend G510 provides the file sharing feature with Wi-Fi Direct , Bluetooth and DLNA and includes the 5MP AF with LED Flashlight and .3 MP front facing camera. Huawei is priced at Rs 10,990.

Huawei’s Ascend G510 & Y300 Budget Android Smartphones launched in India

Huawei Ascend Y300 features a smaller screen with 4 inch WVGA LCD screen with 480×800 display and is powered by Android v4.1 Jelly Bean with dual-core processor with 1.2GHz CPU speed. Huawei Ascend Y300 is priced at Rs 7,980 and also features 5 mega pixel AF camera with .3 MP front facing camera.

Huawei’s Ascend G510 & Y300 Budget Android Smartphones launched in India

Below is the quick summary if the features of Huawei Ascend G510 and Huawei Ascend Y300

Huawei Ascend G510

• Dual-core 1.2 GHz CPU Qualcomm Snapdraggon
• Android 4.1 JellyBean platform
• 1750mAh Li-Polymer battery
• 4.5-inch FWVGA display, 854 x 480 pixel resolution
• 5 MP AF camera + 0.3 MP front camera
• 9.9 mm slim design
• 512MB RAM + 4GB ROM
• Micro SD up to 32 GB

Huawei Ascend Y300

• Android 4.1 JellyBean
• 1 GHz Dual-core Qualcomm CPU
• 4″ WVGA IPS screen with 178° viewing angle
• 5 point touch to play more game
• 5 MP auto-focus camera + 0.3MP Front camera
• 360o Panorama
• 512MB RAM + 4GB ROM
• Pre-loaded Google Mobile Suite

There are couple of ways to enable this feature in Visual Studio . One such way is to enable the Edit and Continue within the project .

To enable Edit and Continue in Visual Studio 2012 within the ASP.NET MVC project , follow the below steps

1. Right click on the Visual Studio solution and click “Properties” from the context menu.

2. In the Project Properties , click “Web” from the left sidebar and navigate to the “Debugger” group and check or enable the option “Enable Edit and Continue” and save your changes.

How to enable Edit and Continue in Visual Studio 2012 within the ASP.NET MVC project?

Here comes the Microsoft TechNet’ E-Book Gallery for Microsoft Technologies . The E-Book Gallery for Microsoft Technologies provides the download content for some of the popular and free eBooks on ASP.NET, Office, SQL Server, Windows Azure, SharePoint Server and other Microsoft technologies .

The site also provides other informative contents like Reference Guides .

Know more about Microsoft TechNet’s E-Book Gallery for Microsoft Technologies here

The book “Training Guide: Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 (ISBN 9780735674387)” is written by Glenn Johnson who is a trainer , consultant and developer specializing in Microsoft .NET technologies with MCTS, MCPD, MCDBA, MCSE. Glenn Johnson has also written several other books which includes the popular Microsoft Training Kit for Exam 70-516.

The book is designed to help programmers create applications with HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 and provides in-depth and hands on training that the developers can take at their own pace.

The book also provides a good foundational skills which can help the developers prepare for the Microsoft Certification Exam 70-480.

Some of the topics covered in the book includes creating HTML5 documents , implementing styles with CSS3 , JavaScript in depth , location-aware apps etc.

The book is available at various stores like Amazon , Barnes & Noble etc.

The Cloud Developer Conference 2013 has the following tracks

• TRACK A: CLOUD APPS
• TRACK B: CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

The event covers more than fifteen technologies sessions that includes

• Open and flexible PaaS with Windows Azure
• OpenShift – The Best Java Platform as a Service
• Cloud Enable Mobile Apps with Windows Azure Mobile Services
• Building Cloud Native Applications
• Building SaaS Enabled Applications
• What Can PaaS Do For You?
• Design Considerations for Developing Cloud Apps
• Developing Scalable Apps for Deploying on IaaS Cloud
• Cloud Service and Technology Management
• IaaS – Transforming Dev & Test Environments
• Enterprise IT Governance Challenges in Hybrid Cloud
• Securing Cloud Deployments
• and more…

The cloud conference provides the developers an opportunity to learn more about the cloud technologies from the industry experts.

Know more about SiliconIndia and BDotnet’s Cloud Developer Conference in Bangalore here

In this blog post , I share my opinion on How Blogging can help in career development for a Software Engineer

How Blogging can help in career development for a Software Engineer ?

1. By Blogging , I try to keep track of the new things happening in the technologies that I work.

2. Learn new things , try out some samples and share it in my blog . This means i can improve my skills on explaining things to people via blog.

3. Post my opinion on specific topic.

4. Reach out to more people (Community) and get to network with technology experts via discussion , comments etc.

5. Some of the blog posts covers latest technologies in the areas that i work with and hence explains that i am active and updated with the latest trends .

6. The blog that I write helps me most of the time to document few things that do regularly.

What’s your take on this topic ? Does Blogging really help in career development for a Software Engineer ? Share your opinion in the comments section.

This May-June is going to be one of the busiest month with lots of big conferences lined up which includes Google I/O 2013 , Apple’s developer conference as well as Microsoft TechEd .

Microsoft Build is one of the popular Microsoft conference for developers and designers working on the Windows, Windows Phone and Windows Azure and other Microsoft technologies.

The Microsoft Build 2013 registrations will open on April 2 at Noon EDT with the early bird registration fee of $1,595 for first 5oo people . The normal registration price of build will be $2,095.

One of most expected news during the Microsoft Build 2013 could be the news about the Windows Blue . With the recent rumors of Windows Blue leaks and later an blog post from Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft about the Windows Blue story , it looks there is something in store for Microsoft Build 2013 about the Windows Blue or Windows 8 update.

Planning to register for Microsoft Build 2013 ? . Visit the event website to know more about Microsoft Build 2013 registrations.

• SQL Server Enterprise
• SQL Server Business Intelligence
• SQL Server Standard
• SQL Server Web
• SQL Server Express

I have been using SQL Server Express 2012 for quite some time . What are the limitations of SQL Server Express compared to the other versions of SQL Server ?

In this blog post , let’s find out few the limitations of SQL Server Express Edition.

What are the Limitations of SQL Server Express Edition ?

The Express Edition of the SQL Server works great for most of the scenarios like the higher version of SQL Server but some of the limitations include

• Maximum memory utilized by SQL Server Database Engine is 1GB .
• Maximum size of the each relational database is 10 GB.
• No SQL Profiler
• Dedicated admin connection under trace flag
• Single CPU (prior to 2008 R2 Express).
• Maximum number of SQL Server Express instances = 16 on a machine.

Until now , SQL Server Express edition has been working well for me and i plan to try out the higher version of SQL Server in sometime

What is BDotnet (Bangalore .NET)?

BDotnet (Bangalore .NET) User Group is one of the premier and active .NET user group for technology enthusiasts targeting Microsoft Technologies.

Excellent Sessions / seminars are delivered by various community members that includes Microsoft MVP’s, Microsoft RD’s and also volunteers

2 exciting sessions are planned during the UG Meet which includes

• .NET 4.5 in a nutshell by Chaitra Nagaraj, Architect, Schneider Electric
• ASP.NET WebForms – New Shiny Things – Part 1 by Lohith G N, Developer Evangelist, Telerik

Know more about the BDotnet’s .NET 4.5 in a nutshell & ASP.NET WebForms – New Shiny Things UG Meet and register here

The webinar will explain how to generate entire .NET applications from scratch and how to decouple your business logic from technology .

Are you using CodeFluent Entities ? or do you want to know more about CodeFluent Entities ? You will get to know how to use CodeFluent Entities in this webinar as well.

Know more about the Webinar – Developing Well-Architected .NET Applications and register here

I have been using Google Reader for quite some time and this was a shocking news for most of the Google Reader users specially the webmasters.

What are the alternatives available to Google Reader ?. In this blog post , we will explore few Google Reader alternatives .

Google Reader Alternatives

The Old Reader

The Old Reader is one of the simple RSS reader and a excellent choice for the RSS reader specially for the users who want the similar look and feel of Google Reader. Some of the Google Reader keyboard shortcuts too work well in the Old Reader .

Download The Old Reader from the Old Reader page

NetVibes

NetVibes is another good Google Reader alternative which is available in different versions like NetVibes for Individuals(free) and NetVibes for Enterprise.

Know more about NetVibes here

Strymr

Strymr is an awesome web based RSS reader with intuitive user interface as well as support for excerpts and thumbnails.

Download Strymr here

Taptu

Are you looking for a RSS Reader App for various mobile devices and smartphone like BlackBerry , Apple iPhone and iPad , Android etc ? Taptu is one of the option for you .

Taptu works on most of the Mobile platforms and is one of the good alternatives for Google Reader.

Know more about Taptu and Download Taptu here

The above list is only few of Google Reader alternatives . There are plenty of other alternatives for Google Reader available . If you are using any interesting Google Reader alternatives , feel free to share it in the comments section.

Recently , I was in a discussion with one of my friend about the possible charting and reporting tools in Java . Well , I am from Microsoft .NET background and was able to quickly list out couple of .NET charting tools from DevExpress , Telerik and Infragistics etc but in this case I wanted to explore the tools available for Java developers as well and hence had compiled few list of Java Charting tools.

Collection of Free and Open Source Java Charting and Reporting tools

In this article, I have listed out some of the java charting and reporting tools.

JFreeChart

JFreeChart is a open source java chart library that lets the java developers to create professional charts that includes bar charts , line charts , pie charts , Gantt charts etc in their java applications.

Download JFreeChart from jFreeChart product website

JasperReports

JasperReports is one of the popular open source java reporting tool written in java and lets the developers generate web based and pixel-perfect reports with output in various formats like HTML, PDF, RTF, CSV, Excel etc.

Download JasperReports from JasperReports product page

Eclipse BIRT Chart Engine

BIRT stands for Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools . BIRT is an open source Eclipse based reporting system that provides reporting capabilities for the java based web applications.

Know more about Eclipse BIRT Chart Engine and download Eclipse BIRT Chart Engine here

JGraphT

JGraphT is another free java graph library which provides the mathematical graph-theory objects algorithms . Some of the graphs that it supports include weighted , unweighted , labeled graphs etc.

Know more about JGraphT here

DataVision

Looking for a reporting tool similar to Crystal Reports ? If yes , DataVision is one of them . DataVision is a open source reporting tool that allows the developers to design reports using the drag and drop GUI. The reports can later be exported to HTML, XML, PDF, Excel etc.

Know more about DataVision here

Are there any interesting java reporting and charting tools that you have worked with . Feel free to share it via the comments section.

What is ASP.NET and Frameworks 2012.2 ?

ASP.NET and Frameworks 2012.2 release updates ASP.NET and Visual Studio 2012.

Some of the updates include

• Support for OData endpoints that support both ATOM and JSON-light formats in ASP.NET Web API ASP.NET Web API as well as the new built-in tracing functionality to diagnose problems with Web API.
• ASP.NET SignalR library for ASP.NET developers
• Facebook Application template
• more…

  Know more about the Microsoft ASP.NET and Frameworks 2012.2 from Microsoft Download Center

By default , the Windows operating system comes with Notepad and WordPad which are basic text editors . There are plenty of free text editors that are available for Windows . These text editors provides some advanced functionalities when compared to notepad etc. In this article , we will explore 4 free text editors for Windows operating system.

Free Text Editors for Windows

Notepad2

If you are a frequent user of Notepad and at some point of time felt that you need some more features in your text editor , then Notepad2 is for you . Notepad2 is a fast as well as light weight which also includes syntaxt highlighting. You dont have to install anything to get started with Notepad . It is just a simple executable .

Know more about Notepad2 and Download Notepad2 here

jEdit

Jedit is another text editor for windows which offers additional features with the extensions or Plugins . The Jedit has the tabbed interface and supports syntax highlighting etc. jEdit has excellent features which is comparable to some of the commercial tools available , jEdit is also free and the complete sourecode is provided under GPL 2.0 license.

Know more about jEdit and download jEdit here

Notepad++

Notepad++ is another open source text editor . Some of the features of the Notepad++ is the Multi tab View and syntaxt highlighting for different programming languages.

Notepad++ also includes the drag and drop support to open documents and also additional features which can be installed using plugins.

Know more about Notepad++ and download Notepad++ here

NoteTab Lite

NoteTab is a free text editor which supports almost all the flavors of Windows and offers the standard features that one might expect in a text editor.

Know more about NoteTab Lite and download NoteTab Lite here

If you are using any other free text editors for Windows , feel free to add them to the comments section.

There are various tools and development environment available for developers to create amazing games . In this article , we will list out few of the tools available for the developers to create games.

Collection of Indie Game Development Tools

1. Game Maker

GameMaker offers the developers with the drag and drop interface for rapid design of the game , features and graphics . It also includes a fully features IDE(Integrated Development Environment) along with the built in scripting language like GML – GameMaker Language.

GameMaker currently support the Windows and Mac platforms . GameMaker comes in 2 versions GameMaker full version and GameMaker Lite.

Know more about GameMaker and Download GameMaker 8.2 full version trial here

2. Unity

Unity is another popular game development environment which supports the Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox360, Wii, PS3, iOS, Android platforms. The current version of Unity is Unity 4.1 .

Know more about Unity and download Unity 4.1 here

3. UnReal Development Kit (UDK)

UnReal Development Kit popularly known as UDK is the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 and lets the developers create games on the Windows and iOS platforms

Know more about UnReal Development Kit (UDK) and download UDL here

4. Craft Studio

CraftStudio is a platform to create games and interactive movies and real world simulations . Craft Studio currently supports Windows and Mac platforms.

Know more about Craft Studio and download Craft Studio here

5. Construct

Construct is a another game maker for Windows that lets everyone to create amazing games effortlessly. It lets the developers to publich to iOS , Android , Facebook , Chrome Web Store , Windows 8 Apps and HTML5.

Know more about Construct and try Construct here

6. Torque 3D

Torque 3D is a opensource engine built on top of the popular Torque Game Engine Advanced . Torque 3D comes with complete set of tools that allows the developers and game designers to create high quality games and simulations.

Know more about Torque 3D and download Torque 3D here

7. Stencyl

Want to build an amazing cross platform games without code ? If yes , here’s a tool for it . Stencyl adapts the Design Once , Play Anywhere concept where the app could be published to iOS, Android, Flash, HTML5, Windows and Mac.

Know more about Stencyl and download Stencyl here

Videos2Learn is a Windows 8 app developed by MPower which includes trainer led lessons and helps students to understand and assimilate various concepts that includes

• communication
• leadership
• interview skills
• and more…

The App is listed in the Education category of the Windows 8 store .

Currently , although only the subscribers can view the videos in the “MyVideos” section, there is also the “Free Videos” section which can be viewed by all the users.

When the user subscribes to the videos and download to Windows 8 device , he/she can view them during offline.

Videos2Learn App for Windows 8 in the Windows Store

The 3-month subscription is priced at Rs. 250 , 6 month subscription is priced at Rs 450 and one year subscription is priced at Rs. 900.

Know more about the Videos2Learn App for Windows 8 and download from Windows 8 Store.

If yes , head over to the Bangalore .NET User Group Community Facebook page and reach out to the BDotnet UG Leads to know more about the Microsoft TechEd 2013 discounts for the user group members .

You might get a discount of upto 50% if you are a BDotnet Member.

The active participation in the User Groups have so many advantages isn’t it ? It’s just not networking or knowledge sharing , you also get some goodies like these

M-Disc technology

The new LG Optical device technology uses M-DISC’s DVD-R discs which has the harder surface recording and is burned by one of the powerful laser which leaves the information unchanged.

The M-Disc uses the patented recording surface instead of organic eye to etch your records. The unique materials used in the M-Disc require a new disc drive technology to engrave data on the surface. The M-Disc and the LG Super Multi-drive has been designed and optimized to work as one to scratch data into the permanent synthetic stone layers within the M-Disc.

LG Electronics New Optical Storage M-Ready Drive with M-DISC

The M-Disc can be burned using LG’s Super Multi Drive and offers one of the best archival data storage solution

M-Disc Price

The M-Disc is currently priced at Rs. 2000/-

LG’s Optimus G Features

The LG Optimus G features 4.7 inch True HD IPS Plus Display with Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 GHz Quad-core processor and is powered by Android Jellybean(v4.1.2).

The phones includes a battery of 1,200 mAh as well as 13MP high resolution camera.

Apps in LG’s Optimus G

The LG Optimus G comes with lots of unique apps like

• QuickSlide
• QuickTranslator
• QuickMemo
• etc.

The QuickSlide app in LG Optimus G allows the users to simultaneously run 2 apps at the same time which takes the multitasking to next level. The QuickTranslator is an app that translates any given language to any other language.

Other app includes QuickMemo which allows the users to take notes on the phone as well as take screenshots even during the active phone call.

LG’s Optimus G Launch in India

LG’s Optimus G Price and Availability

LG’s Optimus G is priced at Rs 34,500 and is currently available in various stores across India.

If you are using Windows 8 , then here’s an app that can help you improve your English easily.

The App name is called “English Club” that lets the users to learn English with better learning experience.

The English Club has excellent content from the British Council and is published by Avon mobility.

British Council’s English Club Windows 8‏ App for Improving your English

The app provides lots of fun filled language learning experience with humorous format via the animated videos . It includes basic words, advanced words, business terms, hangman, jumbled words, stories for kids etc.

You can download British Council’s English Club Windows 8‏ App for Improving your English from Windows Store.

In one of my previous blog post , I shared a preview of the Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 course .In this blog post , I will share some of my experiences of the Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4.

CampusMvp’s Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 Course Syllabus

This course covers 10 modules that are related to the ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Development .

• MODULE 1: Introduction to the MVC Pattern
• MODULE 2: Our First ASP.NET MVC Application
• MODULE 3: Adding Functionalities
• MODULE 4: The Model in Depth
• MODULE 5: The Controller in Depth
• MODULE 6: The View in Depth
• MODULE 7: Ajax & ASP.NET MVC
• MODULE 8: Web API
• MODULE 9: Organization into Areas
• MODULE 10: Other Topics

The course is designed and presenter by Jose M. Aguilar who is a ASP.NET/IIS MVP and one of the well known speaker / author in the .NET Community.

The Course provides 3 months complete access and also expert trainer (MVP/MCT) support during the course.

Coding examples , Lab , practice videos , self evaluation test adds great value to the course.

The UI and the navigation is very simple and easy to use and learn as well . The Home screen provides an overview of the current modules and the next steps in the course . The Notification area provides the users with a quick overview of the list of mails , communications , statistics etc.

Review of Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4

Not just the course , the Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 also includes excellent references to various links , documentation and Glossary.

The Exams section lets the candidates take up the assessment and later track it from the dashboard.

Review of Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4

Looking for additional links or references for learning ASP.NET MVC ? The Links sections is for you . This section has links to various popular blogs , ASP.NET developer center and other excellent resources which are grouped by topics for easy access.

Review of Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4

The documentation section includes various couple of documents and the sample code used in each chapters for Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 2012.

The Communication section can be utilized to interact with the trainer or post questions in the forums / Bulletin Board . The Private Messages sections allows the candidates to send and receive messages between the course viewers.

Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 Price and Availability

The Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 is currently priced at $470 . You could find the complete course details and the price from CampusMVP website.

Nice to have Features

• The Chapter 10 contains a Sample Application: MVC Music Store . It would be great to have more chapters on developing application from start to end.
• Although the course is in English , there are couple of screens with Spanish text on the header .(minor).
• Private Messages could include easier way to reply to messages.
• CampusMVP could extend the course with more months . This might be useful for slow learners like me

Looks like the Jump Start series in top gear … Lots of learning sessions on the Microsoft technologies via the Jumpstart series in last few months and here comes another one.

Microsoft Virtual Academy is hosting its next Jump Start session on the topic Programming in C# Jump Start” on March 13 , 2013 from 8 am – 5 pm (PST).

The Programming in C# Jump Start will be hosted by Jerry Nixon , Microsoft Developer Evangelist and Daren May , President & Co-founder, Crank211 and loosely follows the criteria for the Microsoft Certification Exam 70-483 and targets the intermediate to seasoned C# developers.

This series covers some of the topics like Object Oriented Programming, Managed Languages and C# , Features of C# (Basic and Advanced).

Know more about the Exam 70-483 – Programming in C# Jump Start and register here

On February 26, 2013, one such of the AppFest will be held at Delhi College of Engineering in Delhi and GL Balaji Institute of Technology in Greater Noida for developing apps for Windows platform.

During the AppFest , the students and developers will code their app with the guidance of Microsoft mentors , trainers , MSP and experts which will help the students to get their app to the store.

Microsoft will also be providing students with free softwares for developing Windows 8 store apps like

• Visual Studio Express for Windows 8
• Free Windows Store registration codes via Microsoft Dreamspark etc.

More details about the event can be found at Microsoft AppFest website

If you are a student residing in Bangalore , don’t miss out on attending the AppFest on 26th February , 2013 to be held at SJB Institute of Technology, #67, BGS Health and Education City, Uttarahalli Main Road, Kengeri, Bangalore South- 560060, Karnataka . To register for the Bangalore event , visit the event page

What is Telerik JustDecompile ?

Telerik JustDecompile is a .NET decompiler tool from Telerik and integrated easily with Visual Studio add-in.

Telerik JustDecompile Download and Installation

Telerik has released the new version of the JustDecompile(version 2013.1.218.1) few days back and you can download the Telerik JustDecompile from the Telerik Download page

One of the improvements in the Telerik JustDecompile is the startup time . I have used the earlier version of Telerik JustDecompile and see faster startup time with the new version .

If you are looking to load the complete assemblies of the framework , you can add it easily by clicking the Open Button and selecting the Load Framework menu.

The new version of the JustDecompile adds the WinRT support as well as the file formats that is used in the Windows 8 apps(Appx and WinMD).

One of the cool feature of the Telerik JustDecompile is the Plugins Manager. The Telerik JustDecompile has the Plugin Manager that lets the user to download and install Plugins . Currently , the Telerik JustDecompile has 2 Plugins called De4Dot Deobfuscator and Assembly Editor.

If you want to create a plugin , you can utilize the Open API to create Plugins

Telerik JustDecompile currently supports C# , VB and IL . I would like to see more languages to be added to the list to make it more attractive for developers of other languages.

There are still more features in the new version of the JustDecompile . You can find the complete list from the Telerik website.

In this blog post ,I will list some of the libraries used for reading and writing from/to Excel sheet using C#. Note that some of the libraries are free/open source and few are commercial one’s.

7 Libraries for Reading and Writing from Excel File in C#

1. TMS Flexcel Studio for .NET

TMS Flexcel Studio for .NET is a complete managed engine to manipulate Excel file and lets the developers to generate Excel file from various .NET applications like WinForms , ASP.NET , PocketPC etc.

The TMS Flexcel Studio for .NET also lets the developers to read , create and update Excel file without the need of Microsoft Office being installed on the PC.

Know more about TMS Flexcel Studio for .NET here

2. GemBox Spreadsheet

GemBox.Spreadsheet is a .NET component that allows the developers to read, write, convert and print spreadsheet files (XLSX, XLS, ODS, CSV, HTML, PDF or XPS) from the .NET Application quickly.

The GemBox Spreadsheet comes in 2 versions – Free version and Commercial Version.

Know more about GemBox Spreadsheet here

3. Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office

I have been using Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office for quite some time

Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office is built on top of System.IO.Packaging API and also includes strongly typed classes for manipulating the Open XML documents.

One of the cool features of the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office is that you can use the LINQ to access the XML content .

Know more about Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office and download from Microsoft Download Center

4. Aspose.Total for .NET (Aspose.Cells for .NET)

Aspose.Cells for .NET is a Excel spreadsheet component for .NET developers that allows to manipulate Excel sheet as well as convert it to other formats like Html , PDF , Image etc.

Know more about Aspose.Total for .NET (Aspose.Cells for .NET) here

5. Infragistics Excel

Infragistics Excel is a .NET component from Infragistics for manipulating Excel sheet from .NET Application. It is a 1005 Managed code .

Know more about Infragistics Excel here

6. OfficeWriter API for Word and Excel

The OfficeWriter API is a .NET library that allows the developers to create , read and write from Excel/Word document from the .NET Application.

Know more about OfficeWriter API for Word and Excel here

7. SpreadsheetGear

SpreadsheetGear is a powerful Microsoft Excel compatible spreadsheet component and support the ASP.NET, Windows Forms, WPF and Silverlight where the developers build some cool applications with the functionalities like Excel reporting , dashboards etc.

Know more about SpreadsheetGear here

If you are working on any the libraries which is not listed above and want to be included in the above list ,Feel free to add them in the comments section.

Embarcadero is hosting a webinar on the topic “Delphi and RAD Studio development for iOS Mobile Preview” on February 21 , 2013 from 6.00 AM (PST).

Embarcadero will soon be releasing the new Delphi and RAD Studio development solution for iOS . This webinar will provide the viewers with the information on the Mobile development Opportunities for Delphi and RAD Studio developers and also on how to develop iOS apps with Delphi IDE.

Know more about the Webinar – Delphi and RAD Studio development for iOS Mobile Preview and register here

The Microsoft TechEd 2013 Bangalore will be held on March 18-19 , 2013 and the Microsoft TechEd 2013 Pune will be held on March 25-26 , 2013.

Microsoft TechEd is one of the premier technology conference for developers and IT professionals specially working on the Microsoft Technologies.

The Microsoft TechEd 2013 India includes various tech tracks for developers , IT Professionals , Architects that includes

• Azure
• Windows Phone 8
• Modern Apps
• Windows 8
• Visual Studio and ALM
• SQL Developer
• Windows Infrastructure
• SQL Administration
• Private Cloud

The tentative Agenda is being put-up on the Microsoft TechEd India 2013 event page .

Note that Microsoft TechEd is an paid event.

Know more about the Microsoft TechEd 2013 India from the Microsoft TechEd India website

I have started using this course “Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4″ from last few weeks to learn ASP.NET MVC. Thanks to Vanesa Gallego for giving me access to try out this ASP.NET MVC tutorial.

The course is designed by Jose M. Aguilar who is a ASP.NET/IIS MVP and has over 15 years of experience.

Here’s a preview of the course which introduces the CampusMvp’s “Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4″ .

The Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 includes excellent articles , theory , videos , real world tips , code samples , labs etc that provides the developers more opportunity to learn the ASP.NET MVC framework better.

Some of the topics that the Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 covers include Introducing ASP.NET MVC , Our First ASP.NET MVC Application , Model in depth , Controller in depth , View in depth , Ajax and ASP.NET MVC , Developing Services with Web API , Organization into Areas and other interesting topics like Deployment etc.

Know more about the Expert Web Development with ASP.NET MVC 4 course from CampusMvp website