Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the SC-GMIS Developer Summit in Columbia, SC.

As promised here are my slides:

Several attendees also asked I share a list of resources for those just getting started in .NET and I thought I’d repost the list here so all may benefit.

• Getting started with C#
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a72418yk.aspx
• http://www.csharp-station.com/Tutorials/Lesson01.aspx
• http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/csharp/csharp_s1p1.html (screenshots are from VS 2008 era, but content still good
• http://ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/excerpt/learningcsharp_2/index1.html
• ASP.NET MVC 3 Intros
• http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/getting-started-with-aspnet-mvc3/getting-started-with-mvc3-part1-cs
• http://www.asp.net/mvc/videos
• Getting started with Silverlight
• http://www.silverlight.net/getting-started
• Columbia, SC .NET User Group
• http://columbiadevelopers.org/Home.aspx
• Podcasts
• http://www.dotnetrocks.com/
• http://www.communitymegaphonepodcast.com/
• http://hanselminutes.com/
• Subscription training
• http://tekpub.com/
• http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/
• Blogs:
•                 Rachel Appel http://rachelappel.com/
•                 Andrew Duthie  http://devhammer.net/
•                 Roberto Hernandez http://blog.overridethis.com/
•                 Scott Hanselman http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
•                 Pete Brown http://10rem.net/
•                

This list (especially the blog list) is by no means complete.  If you have some suggestions, please add them to the comments.

Thanks!

SOPA and PIPA may have been tabled for now, threats to our online freedoms are still out there.

Here’s an infographic on the two (currently) dead bills:

[found via AllTop]

It’s a set up for a Volkswagen commercial that will premiere during the Super Bowl and mighty darn cute if you like dogs or Star Wars.

Here’s a great example of how the Silicon Valley style of entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and opportunities has spread throughout the world.

social management blog

[found via AllTop]

Visit http://stopthewall.us for more information.

WikiPedia is shutting down today to protest the proposed SOPA/PIPA laws.

While every reasonable person agrees that piracy must be stopped, this legislation is not the answer.

The text of the law has some scary provisions.

This is my opinion and not necessarily that of my employer, its business partners, or even my dogs.

Mary Sue showcases the work of “paperbeatsscissors” where the droids of the Star Wars universe share their feelings.

As an added bonus: here’s Darth Vader if he were into hip-hop:

I just posted an update to my Texts From Last Night application that clears up an ugly text encoding issue.

Version 1.3 should be available in a few days.

Thanks!

My team at Microsoft is teaming up with ComponentOne to deliver a series of webcasts to demo how easy it is to build Public Sector mobile solutions on Windows Phone.

1. Session I: Fast Track Your First App
2. Session II: Give Your Apps Some POP

Be sure to register today.

[found via Joel Reyes]

This Thursday, Jan 19 at 7PM, the CapArea Silverlight SIG presents Franklin Balaquer on XNA on Windows Phone.

The XNA Framework and Windows Phone 7 - Franklin Balaguer

Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 7:00 PM

Abstract:

XNA Game Studio and the XNA Framework are designed for cross-platform gaming scenarios with support for Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, and Windows-based PCs. This allows you to target more platforms from the same code base. XNA Game Studio includes the XNA Framework, a set of managed libraries designed for game development based on the Microsoft .NET Framework.
In this workshop, I will go over some free resources available to help you create your own Windows Phone 7 game and then sell it on the WindowsPhone MarketPlace. I will also touch on the basics of XNA (drawing a sprite, handling of input touch, playing sounds, and game state management). Lastly, I will discuss the certification process for getting your game approved and placed on the MarketPlace.

Bio:

Franklin Balaguer is U.S. Air Force veteran. He spent 8 years in the Air Force managing vehicle fleets at various bases in the United States and while deployed overseas. Frank got his start with computers writing programs to automate tasks and processes everywhere he encountered them. While in the Air Force, he also acquired several certifications including the Microsoft Certified System Engineer, which help him land a job at Accenture. Frank has been with Accenture for the past 11 years helping to write and deliver software to thier clients.

Now that IHeartRadio has an app for the XBOX, I can listen to radio stations from around the US, 

 While browsing New York radio stations, I noticed an encoding error.

Zoomed in for detail.

Just goes to show you that everyone has encoding issues.

Carl and Richard have John Papa over to discuss XAML, Silverlight, and the landscap of Microsoft technologies. [download MP3]

Carl and Richard talk to John Papa about his views on the client development landscape. John has recently left Microsoft where he was a Silverlight and Windows 8 evangelist. The conversation starts off talking about the state of Silverlight now that Silverlight 5 has shipped and the ascent of HTML 5. John talks about his favorite HTML 5 libraries, including KnockoutJS and JS Render. Finally, the show wraps up with how Windows Phone 7 and Kinect will change the world.

John Papa is a former Evangelist for Microsoft on the Silverlight and Windows 8 teams where he hosted the popular Silverlight TV show. He has presented globally at keynotes and sessions for the Build, MIX, PDC, TechEd, VSLive and DevConnections events. John is also a columnist for VS Magazine (Papa’s Perspective) and author of training videos with Pluralsight. Follow John on Twitter at @john_papa

Microsoft’s got a large booth at CES, and by large, I mean gigantic.

The booth occupies nearly an acre of convention floor space and it’s filled with some of the hottest tech around. Full coverage on Microsoft’s Facebook page.

Another great animation by RSA to a talk by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert.

Microsoft’s 15 year history at CES, remixed and auto-tuned into a 2:27 minute video.

Watch the two weeks of construction in two minutes. Microsoft will have coverage of CES 2012 at http://facebook.com/microsoft

Although this is geared for educators, anyone who creates presentations can learn a thing or two (or 10) from this slide deck.

An interesting talk from Dan Pink and animated by RSA on what motivates people and how money isn’t the only factor.