LinoTadrosBlogs

Sitefinity Lightning for 6.0 is released

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:36:33 Z

You can now head to Sitefinity Lightning page to download the latest Server and Client to enable working with Sitefinity 6.0

Lightning is extremely easy to install and configure and essential for any blogger. The tool is still in Beta (0.9.9.1) and keeps getting updated with great new features regularly.

Upgraded Site to Sitefinity 6.0

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:30:53 Z

This site is now running in the Windows Azure Cloud on Sitefinity 6.0
Be careful with some migration issues from 5.x to 6.0:
1- The Nuget NewtonJson package has to be refreshed other wise you will get a yellow screen of death about a security issue with the Json contract.
2- You need to disable your Lightning module in the SystemConfig.Config file, until Telerik releases a new Package for Lightning that is compatible with Sitefinity 6.0
3- If you use ECommerce and customized something, be very aware, several breaking changes occurred in 6.0. Quite annoying honestly :(

Other than that, the system is very fast (like 5.4) but most importantly, the Mobile App Builder is INCREDIBLE! Christmas came early this year! Well done and great technology. Telerik will add a lot of features over the next quarters but as a start, WOW!

So congratulations to the Telerik team all around the world and here is a Big Rakia in the air for all of you!

SeeTest Certified Professional

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:45:44 Z

I received today my certification for SeeTest, a great product for testing iOS an Android applications.

If you are in the market for testing applications natively on iOS, Android and many other platforms using object recognition, download the trial and see how powerful this tool is all about.

I will be speaking on the topic at FalafelCON 2013 on June 10th at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, CA. Hope you can join us.

ITCAMP 2013 in Romania

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:41:25 Z

Don't miss this wonderful conference next month (May 23rd & 24th) in Cluj, Romania if you are in Eastern Europe. Great speakers, great organizers and great all around people, incredibly hospitable and truly kind.

I regret not be able to join this year because of prior engagement but I will make sure to keep May open next year in 2014 to repeat my wonderful experience of last year.

Enjoy the sessions and say hi to all my friends in Romania speaking or organizing this year.

Sitefinity Lightning Binding Redirect

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:20:19 Z

I love using the Sitefinity Lightning tool to write my blogs in Sitefinity. The tools is easy to install, configure and is getting better and better in every release.

One of the annoying issues is that the Lightning assembly that needs to be included on your Sitefinity site, is not always compiled with the latest and greatest of Sitefinity patches and once the Telerik.Sitefinity.dll and its family of assemblies change the version number, it pretty much breaks Lightning when you deploy.

An easy way to fix this is to add a runtime section to you Sitefinity web.config file to bind the redirection. The following example is not limited to one version of the assemblies BUT to all previous versions of the assemblies.

<runtime>

<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Sitefinity" publicKeyToken="b28c218413bdf563" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.4.4010.0" newVersion="5.4.4020.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Sitefinity.Model" publicKeyToken="b28c218413bdf563" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.4.4010.0" newVersion="5.4.4020.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Sitefinity.Utilities" publicKeyToken="b28c218413bdf563" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.4.4010.0" newVersion="5.4.4020.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

</assemblyBinding>

</runtime>

I made it, thank you for your prayers

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:38:30 Z

For the last 4 years and 3 months, I have been enduring the stress and pain of surgically placing a Lap Band around my stomach in order to lose weight.

The operation on December 13^th 2008 almost cost me my life, but with a lot of prayers from friends and family all around the globe, I was able to survive it and get out of my 3.5 weeks of induced coma in the ICU at Good Samaritan hospital in Los Gatos, CA.

I lost 128 pounds in the last 4 years and 3 months because of the operation, so I am very grateful. The price was very high though, as I had to live with the fact that I had to endure throwing up DAILY for the last 2.5 years.

I accepted the fact that throwing up every day is part of my life going forward in order to live longer for my kids’ and wife’s sake.

Few months ago, after a routine check, I found out that the lap band is causing erosion on the outer stomach because of the excess vomiting and the doctor was concerned. He recommended removing the lap band within 3 months otherwise the consequences are far worth than being obese.

The decision was very hard. Do I trust myself never to go back to the old days of eating like Shrek or do I stick with the lap band?

Well, the decision was made that now with a personal trainer, exercising, already used to the smaller quantities, suffering for 4+ years, etc… I decided to remove the band and live a normal life while watching my food intake and working out regularly.

I have an excellent trainer, Tobin Schafer, whom trains Jessica, Justin, Cobi and I for the last 15 months and he is very committed to my well-being. I love how he works with my kids to change their life’s style as well.

This week, on Tuesday, I went into Stanford Hospital at 5:00 AM to have the operation by Dr. John Morton, excellent Doctor. I was very nervous, I remember what happened 4 years ago and I was praying that I will not have to go through that again. It was harder on my family than on myself.

Well, the start was not very promising, the Anesthesiologist decided to cancel the operation at 6:45 AM, reporting to my wife and I that he does not believe my heart will be able to take it and that the risk was very high as my blood pressure was at 201/127

I was depressed, as I was already focused and ready for this day. Dr. Morton was notified and at 7:15 AM, Dr. Morton overrode the Anesthesiologist and decided to move forward with the operation anyway.

You probably can guess how I felt at that point after a Doctor tells you “No way, it is too dangerous!” and now I am going for it anyway. Very scary and very concerning. I am sure that did not help the blood pressure much :)

The operation went smooth and I woke up within an hour with no complications. Thank you Lord!

I was released from the hospital at 12:00 noon and Jessica (my wife) drove me home to Capitola.

The first and second days were painful, out of the five incisions, two of them were big and the muscle was ripped so it was very painful to move in any direction. By the 3^rd day, I could move around with much less pain.

Today is the 4^th day, it is now 4:30 AM and I am sitting on my comfortable chair with no pain thanking God for his blessings, for my family and for all my friends all around the world that called, emailed, faceobooked and cared.

Life is a very precious gift, take care of it and enjoy it with the people you love the most.

I promise to take care of my health, my weight, my exercising and my life style for a long time to come.

Love to all and Happy Easter!

This Azure Site is now running on Sitefinity 5.4 SP1

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:25:18 Z

I upgraded this site today to 5.4 SP1 (5.4.4010). It is running int he Azure Cloud as a Service.
The Site's backend is extremely fast based on the new changes and optimiaztions to the pre-compiled headers and templates in 5.4 SP1.
We are still waiting for the Lucene for Azure to be implemented for Search to work in the cloud by the Sitefinity team.
Over all, the performance is impressive and the Sitefinity product keeps getting better and better.
Go Sitefinity Team!

MVCS Applications Launched

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:13:19 Z

During the last month, we have been hard at work releasing multiple mobile applications for MVCS (Monte Vista Christian School) in Watsonville, CA. MVCS was the FIRST school in the USA to integrate iPAD into their curriculum a couple of years ago.

Sitefinity Ligthning 0.95 for Sitefinity 5.3 up and alive

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:52:01 Z

I am writing my first blog post fromt the great new Sitefinity Lightning 0.95 for Sitefinity 5.3 that was released an hour ago. It works great on my site hosted in the Azure Cloud and looks great as well.

Saint Nickolas or Saint Georgi?

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:20:45 Z

I wrote a letter to Santa this morning and placed it under the Christmas tree. First, I thanked Santa for bringing me Sitefinity 5.3 early this year, but as a demanding child I asked for more :). I asked for a new release for Sitefinity Lightning that will work with Sitefinity 5.3.

Windows Phone 8 Camp Slides and Code

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:30:43 Z

It was a pleasure to present at Microsoft in Mountain View on the topics of Live Tiles, Lockscreens, Portable Libraries between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 and finally on NFC communications.

Windows Phone 8 Dev at DevIntersection

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:30:45 Z

Join me at the MGM Grand Hotel in Vegas on Dec 12th for a full day workshop on Windows Phone 8 Development. Bring your laptop and let's get crancking!

A divided Country

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:09:42 Z

Congratulations to President Obama and all my Democratic friends in the USA. I pray for him and his cabinet and wish him well for our nation's sake.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Hackathon

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:40:29 Z

On Friday, November 9th, I will be at the Microsoft largest Hackathon in Sunnyvale speaking on Windows Phone 8 Development and also available in the back of the room to help attendees with their questions and app problems whether they are Windows 8 XAML o

Windows Phone 8 Development Workshop in Vegas

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:52:50 Z

What a week! Between the release of the Windows Phone 8 in San Francisco, the Build 2012 conference in Redmond and the first Windows Phone 8 Development workshop in Vegas, I had so much fun, too exhausted and very excited

Windows Phone 8 is here

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:03:06 Z

Microsoft just released the new Windows Phone 8 platform, Congratulations!

Optimizing Images in Sitefinity Sites

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 20:04:36 Z

There are tools out there that will optimize your images or entire folder of images by removing the EXIF information in the image and other optimization techniques in order to reduce the size of these images for best load time in browsers.

Sitefinity Conference Hawaiian Style

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:29:38 Z

The week of June 15th 2003 is going to be a very special week for Sitefinity Developers, Designers and Admins. Falafel Software is organizing a 2 day conference for Sitefinity at the Grand Wailea Resort on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Falafel Sitefinity Hub For Windows 8

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:10:02 Z

I am excited to share that while Windows 8 is being released in 2 days (October 26th 2012) and Falafel Software already has 4 applications certified and ready to go in the Windows Store, the Falafel Sitefinity Hub for Windows 8 got approved in the store

My First Blog Post from Lightning on Azure

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:00:48 Z

Sitefinity Lighning has been released and it looks awesome!

Performance Session at Sitefinity and Beyond in Boston

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 22:20:06 Z

Thank you to all the attendees of the Sitefinity & Beyond conference in Boston last week that attended my session on Performance and scalability.

It was a pleasure to speak there and sponsor the event as well.

The session consisted on 15+ ideas that Sitefinity teams should concentrate on when thinking performance and optimization, from DataRam to MVC to RequireJS and many more discussed during the session.
As promised, the PowerPoint presentation is here to download and it is using the new Sitefinity DropBox implementation to get it as well :)

Don't forget the slide with the code to strip unwanted axd resources from pages that don't need them. That really makes a difference in performance.

Finally, thank you to Steve McNiven-Scott for his Sitefinity Primer and to Jochem Bökkers for his great articles on performance.

Upgrading to Sitefinity 5.2 on Azure

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:43:26 Z

After the San Francisco Giants win in game 6 last night against the Cardinals, I thought it might be a good idea to stop by the office for an hour and update my blog site www.linotadros.com to Sitefinity 5.2 that is running on Azure. How bad could it be :)

Windows 8 Surface is about to be born

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 20:20:03 Z

Great ad on the Windows 8 Surface about to be release on October 26th. Go Surface!

Windows 8 Dev in HTML5 and JS

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:51:44 Z

Thanks to all the attendees of my session at DevReach in Sofia Bulgaria regarding Developing Windows 8 Style Applications with HTML5 and JavaScript. I hope you enjoyed the session.

Speaking on Windows Phone 8 at DevConnections

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:57:51 Z

Come join us in Las Vegas on November 2nd during a FULL DAY Workshop on Development of Windows Phone 8 applications.