Knowledge Matters

LIDNUG Kinect for Windows Development.

Philip Wheat — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:37 +0000

Just a quick post to have a spot for any additional questions from today’s LIDNUG presentation. We had a lot of great Q&A, but I wanted to make sure we had a spot for anything that we couldn’t get to or that popped up after we wrapped up.

~~I’ll update here when the slides are up on Slideshare.~~

Recording is up at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0arzMSlqnHk and slides are up at http://www.slideshare.net/PhilWh/lidnug-phil-wheat-kinect-the-how-were-and-why-of-developing-with-it-12887102

"Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan"

Philip Wheat — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:16:51 +0000

I’ve gotten a number of questions through the blog about BizSpark and various other Microsoft programs. I’ve updated my info but haven’t called out explicitly until now – I’m unable to help with Microsoft programs these days as I’m no longer with Microsoft. As a Startup Evangelist, my challenge was always to balance my enthusiasm with startup ideas with my loyalty to Microsoft. As often happens, I found an idea that couldn’t be denied. I moved from Microsoft in December of 2011 to manage the Labs group at Chaotic Moon (a startup here in Austin that has been rocking the mobile world for the last two years.) If you’ve seen what we’ve done in the last 90 days (Board of Awesomeness, Board of Imagination, and the Smarter Cart ) you’ll see why I had to make the move.

If you have any BizSpark questions, go ahead and shoot them my way – I’ll be glad to try to help you connect to the right people in Microsoft, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to respond as quickly as when I was an employee or get you to the specific person you need to talk to these days.

Contemplations.

Philip Wheat — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:07:12 +0000

Watching an HBO series on DVD and just pondering this. HBO caught a generation with the “Dead Channel” intro (even spoken to by William Gibson) but it’s a lost meme. What would be the meme today? A 404 going to a webcast/web stream? Not sure if there is a translation to what they made a staple.

Mobility Startup Contest

Philip Wheat — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:48:50 +0000

Startups – are you focused on Mobility? Get your app on Windows Phone Marketplace for no cost to you!

The details: You meet the BizSpark conditions* and are looking to release an application on the Windows Phone platform. To enter, send your Windows Phone 7 application description to BizSpark@austinwheats.net with a contact email and certification of BizSpark Eligibility (“I meet BizSpark Requirements”.) All entries receive a fast track to the BizSpark program and the top 5 entries receive a new free registration to Create.MSDN.com*.

Contest ends June 27^th, all winners will be notified by July 5^th. Winners subject to Judge’s decisions, all judgments are final.

* Companies must be developing Software or Software services for customers, be less than 3 years old, have less than $1M in annual revenue, and be privately held.

*Cannot reimburse previous registrations. New registrations subject to program acceptance.

Startup? Don’t have legal council yet? BizSpark!

Philip Wheat — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:55:00 +0000

BizSpark has a lot of offers, but I actually was surprised myself when I saw what LawPivot is offering through the program. Until November 2011, BizSpark companies in the US get up to 3 free legal questions a month. Impressive. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of the offer. And if you’re not already in BizSpark, let me know at BizSpark@Austinwheats.net and let’s see if we can correct that!

Infochimps live on Azure DataMarket

Philip Wheat — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:07:36 +0000

If you’ve been following the BigData movement, one startup you can’t help but have heard about is Infochimps. I’m very happy to say that they have their first dataset live on the Azure DataMarket – TrstRank Need to find out if that follower is someone you should be listening to? Want to rate yourself on how others see (and trust) you? This is the dataset for you. Using the InfoChimps API’s, you don’t have to be a BI Architect to slice, dice, and puree the data to get the insights you need or to create the mashup you’ve always wanted.

Using Azure? You could get some marketing help.

Philip Wheat — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:09:41 +0000

Patrick Foley (one of my teammates) helps Software Vendors get the most out of our Microsoft programs. And he’s let me know of a program we have going right now to get some marketing funds for your company if you’re using Azure in your product or solution. Find the details at http://patrickfoley.com/2011/06/02/an-easy-way-to-get-250/.

Just a quick update.

Philip Wheat — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:30:00 +0000

I finally got around to updating some of my links and the Contact Me page. Hopefully, I’ll remember to keep things more up to date.

Startups and Incubators–are you leaving money on the table?

Philip Wheat — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:08:40 +0000

Coming out of South By SouthWest Interactive and bouncing between the community events and our Incubator program, one thing that struck me was how many Startups know about BizSpark, but aren’t taking full advantage of it. Many (most?) of the startups I talked with are loving the program, but generally only have their primary technologist registered. The thing to remember with BizSpark, is that the tools and platform benefits are for ALL your developers and designers! Not to mention the full company benefits like Azure hours or hosted online meetings, Exchange, and SharePoint. EACH of your developers and designers can have their own MSDN subscriptions – all you have to do is add them to your company’s BizSpark account. I’ve heard a couple of people question – why do I want to take the trouble? I’m covered with what I’ve got now! Two big reasons. First – we hope you’re using the software we give you. We hope you’re using it a LOT. So we want to make sure you get all the activations that are coming to you – I’ve had several startups come to me and ask “how do I get more keys?” Well, they had all their devs just using one account. After we got everyone set up on their BizSpark account, they were both thrilled with the additional options they could explore, and there were no more delays in finding additional keys – everyone had PLENTY! Second – Startups are fluid. People join and leave much more rapidly than with larger companies. So getting each person their own MSDN subscription means that if someone leaves and “leaks” their keys – well just those keys gets deactivated and no one else is bothered.

So take a second to review your BizSpark enrollment – don’t leave $20K+ of software per developer/designer sitting on the table. We WANT you to have it and I’ll bet your guys would be thrilled to get their personal access – I expect it’ll be worth the 10 minutes or so to get everyone their own account.

(And if you’re a startup and not signed up to BizSpark, jump on that right away, or just use “Contact Me” on this blog (or leave a comment here) and I’ll make sure we get you fast-tracked!)

BizSpark

Philip Wheat — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:38:20 +0000

With all the startups I talk with these days, I’m still running into some that aren’t aware of BizSpark. Most of the conversations start with “So why should I join?” The answer is simple – as a startup, you get the same level of access to our platforms and development tools as the largest companies – but you get them for free (as in beer.) The only requirements are that your startup be less than 3 years old, have less than $1M in annual revenue, and be privately held, though it helps a LOT if you’ve already registered your domain and sign up with an email on that domain. When you do that you get an MSDN subscription for each of your developers, production licenses for select servers, Azure hours to help develop your cloud based solution, BPOS (hosted Exchange, SharePoint, Communicator, and Live Meeting), support incidents, and the chance to be spotlighted on sites such as TechCrunch and Mashable.

After we go over that, the next question tends to be “OK, so what’s the catch? There’s got to be some fine print somewhere in that.” And the answer is nope. Zip. Nada. When you sign up, the software is yours. The only bill you would ever get is if you choose to buy additional resources on Azure. Your software doesn’t expire – and when you graduate from the BizSpark program, either through growth or time, we give you some great deals on keeping the benefits even then.

So why are we doing this? We want you to have no barriers to evaluate the platforms. When you’re running a startup, you’re always short on two things, time and money. We remove the time problem of finding the right licensing configuration and path and we remove the money problem by opening up the vault of software for you to ensure that you’ve got access to whatever components you need to get started.

To join BizSpark, you can sign up at http://bit.ly/BizSparkSignup or send me a message through the “Contact me” here on my blog.