Attend one or both days of our FREE event for Windows Phone 7 Developers on Wed, Sept 29 and Thurs, Sept 30 in Costa Mesa, CA.

Windows Phone 7 Development Launch: Jump-Start Your Mobile Development (Day 1)

In the first of this two-day launch event, we’ll take you under the hood of Windows Phone 7 and the Windows Phone 7 platform with a progressive set of learning sessions. We’ll start with the basic tools and fundamentals of Windows Phone 7 application development, plus key design guidelines and our philosophy behind the all-new Metro interface paradigm. As the day unfolds, we’ll go deeper into Windows Phone 7 development scenarios using Silverlight, XNA and the Windows Phone 7 SDK. You’ll also see how to earn cash for your apps in the fully loaded Windows Phone 7 Marketplace.

Windows Phone 7 Developer Launch: Unleash Your Best App Workshop (Day 2)

The second day of this launch event is all about turning those napkin sketches and subway scribbles into real, sellable apps. This half-day will be a hands-on application development workshop. You’ll apply fundamental Windows Phone 7 design principles to build an app and upload it to the fully revamped Marketplace. These working sessions are designed to unleash your creativity and help you move from idea to reality, so go at your own pace or follow along with a proctored group lab. Either way, you’ll get step-by-step advice from Microsoft and community experts. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to stake your claim in the marketplace – using familiar tools and consistent specs.

Available workshop/lab topics will include:

4 Creating your First Windows Phone 7 Application

4 Windows Phone Navigation and Controls

4 Using Push Notifications

4 Launchers and Choosers

4 Application Lifecycle

4 Game Development with XNA Framework

4 And much more

APESMA 2009-10 Women in the Professions Survey Report has just been released and it contains some sobering reading about how women are still treated unfairly and inequitably in the workplace.

As noted on the APESMA site:

• Nearly 70% of respondents said that taking maternity/parental leave – including unpaid leave – was likely to be detrimental to their career, despite legally having access to these provisions.
• Disturbingly, nearly 40% of respondents stated that they had been bullied and 38% discriminated against in the course of their employment. Nearly 20% reported that they had been sexually harassed, although only one fifth of those had reported the incident through official channels. Reports of sexual harassment and discrimination were higher in male-dominated industries.
• 47.4% of respondents said that their career progression had been affected by workplace culture.
• And nearly one quarter of respondents expected that they would leave their profession within five years.

The real question is what we are going to do about this. So many women seem to believe that the fight for equal pay and fair treatment at work is over.

But is not over. And each of us needs to decide what action we will take to make the workplace a better, safer and fairer place for the women who come along after us.

Equal Pay Day is 4 September 2010 – why not start with that?

Three days of back-to-back meetings, lots of random conversations, planning, typing, working, running kids back and forth to places, and I am completely and utterly exhausted, but . . . I am just thrilled to be in this position.  I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to being a part of a real community.  In my former life, I did a lot of extras–went to campus wide meetings and lectures, volunteered for things–and it never seemed to make me part of the community.  Today, I was asked to chaperon an overnight trip.  I was thrilled to be asked and immediately said I’d go.  They were so excited and relieved I’d said yes, and I said, and I really meant, please, ask me any time, that’s what I’m here for.  Because it is.  I really want to make a contribution to the school, to individual girls’ lives, and by extension, to the world.  To do that takes commitment and a lot of hard work.  And I’m perfectly willing to do that work.  And I know that sounds a little pie in the sky, naive, or whatever, but I really truly mean it.  And I’ve learned over the years how to balance hard work with down time.

I sense that I’ll be just as exhausted after next week when the kids return, but in a weird way, I feel energized as well.

Related posts:

1. Exhausted but Energized
2. Meta-blogging about talking about blogging
3. Mommy blogging

Raising money for your soccer team? Hitting up your pals for a contribution to help pay the vet bill for a rescued dog?
Vancouver company ConnectionPoint Systems Inc. has teamed up with Pay Pal in the creation of FundRazr, a tool to give such personal projects a way to tap into the social networking power of Facebook to raise money.
And with the technology just rolled out this summer, already some 1,500 users have raised $100,000 through appeals for everything from help to pay medical bills, to cash to carry out a wedding.
"It makes it really, really simple for anyone on a personal level to run a fundraiser," said Daryl Hatton, ConnectionPoint's president and chief executive.  "It takes about three to five minutes to set up a fundraising campaign."

Once the campaign is set up it can go out to all your Facebook friends or for more limited distribution, go out via email or messages. It shows up on your profile as a Facebook update. 
Hatton estimates that the campaigns set up using FundRazr could raise between $50 million and $100 million a year. For the personal fundraisers, PayPal's cut is 2.9 per cent plus 30 cents per transaction and ConnectionPoint gets 30 cents per transaction.
So far the service is focused on personal fundraising campaigns but Hatton said charitable organizations will be added soon. Non-profits that need to issue a tax receipt will pay more for the service.
"There is a lot of money that moves around for these kinds of fundraisers," Hatton said of personal fundraising projects undertaken by individuals and groups outside of regular charities and non-profit organizations. "Fifteen per cent of the population is involved in some sort of fundraising activity like this."
FundRazr makes the transactions secure and tapping into online social networks makes it convenient but it doesn't guarantee the veracity of the personal fundraising appeals.
I asked Hatton what's to prevent someone from putting an appeal for a worthy cause and then using the money for a holiday in Mexico. Nothing, actually but donors can confirm who it is they are contributing money to through their social networks.
"It's a way of helping use the social network connections that you have to prove who you are," said Hatton.
I guess it's then up to your friends and followers to decide whether or not they trust you enough to fund your cause. 

My experience of art has involved some element of giving.  Like this oil painting given to me by my mother.

Or, like the artwork I experience around me, everywhere, from street art, to digital art, art hung on walls and built into urban landscapes.

In ‘Linchpin” Seth Godin describes art as,

…“a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another” and also says “Art is a gift that changes the recipient.”

How about you? Do you think art is something which can give and even transform?

Perhaps the answer depends not just on your idea of art, but also on your preconceptions of giving.

Steve Jobs announced a new iPod Nano today and I think the new design is absolutely adorable! It’s 46% smaller than the previous generation, has a more square design, and has a multi-touch screen interface. There’s a built-in clip so you can easily wear it on your clothes while walking. jogging, or working out. You can rotate the Home screen as well and customize the icons on it. This new iPod Nano also has a built-in FM radio, which is nice if you need to catch the news on the go! Best of all, it comes in a variety of colors: (Red is available exclusively on Apple.com).

I would love to get one of these — in pink, blue, or green! — but I don’t really need one. I already have an older iPod Shuffle (that I got as a gift) and it works great when I’m working out. But these pretty colors and the cute multi-touch screen is quite tempting. Plus, it makes a great fashion statement, but that means you’ll need more than one to compliment your outfits!

The camera has been removed in this version, which I think is a good call on Apple. A camera on a tiny device like this wouldn’t make sense. It’s already hard to hold and the quality wouldn’t be that great.

The 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB model is $179. They’re available for purchase starting today. If you’re interested in getting one, I suggest heading down to your local Apple store to try it out. For more information about the new 6th generation iPod Nano, see the official website.

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I’ve been running Windows 7 since Beta stages and as soon as the product was finished most people in Microsoft moved from Vista. Are you interested in understanding how Microsoft deployed Windows 7 to around 100.000 people worldwide? On Microsoft IT Showcase you find many examples of how we internally are using our own technology. There are white papers, videos, web casts etc and one of the recent web casts (now available on demand) are Deploying Microsoft Windows 7.

"People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. " - Albert Einstein 

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“What we want art to do for us is to stay what is fleeting, and to enlighten what is incomprehensible, to incorporate the things that have no measure, and immortalise the things that have no duration.” John Ruskin (1819- 1900)

Image originally uploaded by Darwin Bell

Ever see a creative challenge which jumps out at you, waving *pick me! pick me!* ?

Today I discovered that it’s Art month over at NaBloPoMo – an ongoing daily post per month project. What better way to get me blogging again?  So, I thought I’d share the above quote for inspirational starters.

Now to create a post a day in September on the theme of Art. I’m thinking I might write about art and technology, expression, influences, imagination, conceptual art, playful art, and art with purpose. Maybe. And because it’s already the 2nd of September in Australia, I’ll need to write another post today. Stay tuned….

• Lots and lots of meetings, which are exhausting, but which, believe it or not, I’m enjoying.
• I enjoy the meetings because the tone of them is awesome.  Positive, grateful for everyone’s hard work, honest, open.  I haven’t been to a meeting like that in ages.
• Some of the same complications exist at my new place as existed at the old.  They’re minor.  They’re knowable, and they’re easily avoided or fixed.
• So far, I like the people I’ll be working with most closely.  They’re smart, insightful and pleasant to be around.
• I am struggling with names, but I’ve freely asked people who they are.  I’m starting to remember some of them.
• I am looking forward to working on curriculum for next year
• I have in my mind that I need to distinguish between computing and technology (something I know I’ve harped on here before).  So far, people seem to get that I’m not an expert in your day-to-day applications, that my specialty is finding appropriate technology for pedagogy and that what I teach to the kids veers more toward computing than technology.

Once the kids actually show up, I’ll have more, but that’s what’s in my head for now.

Related posts:

1. RBOC: Incomplete thoughts edition
2. Educause 2007: Some first thoughts
3. Random thoughts about learning and literacy

Steve Jobs took to the stage in San Francisco today to take the wraps off a long list of Apple launches, from a new iPod lineup, to Apple TV that comes with a new tiny box and pay-per-view TV shows and movies.

In announcements ranging from a Game Centre in Apple's new iOS update with multi-player games on mobile Apple devices, to a set top box that delivers Netflix and movie and TV show rentals, Apple's CEO delivered a range of entertainment options.

Taking heavy aim at the TV market, the new Apple TV comes with a price drop from $229 US to $99 with pre-orders starting today and shipping slated within four weeks.

Jobs lauded the new Apple TV as "a phenomenal way to watch Hollywood movies and TV shows wherever you want as well as being able to stream content from Netflix and many other places including your own computer to your TV."

However, Canadians aren't able to access a lot of the entertainment content, including many US TV shows and the popular Pandora online music service that was part of today's Apple demonstration.

Jobs said pre-orders are also starting today for the new iPod lineup that includes the much-anticipated iPod touch with a front-facing camera and the FaceTime feature of the new iPhone 4 as well as a rear-facing camera and new iPhone retina display.

"It is going to be the strongest lineup of iPods we have ever had going into the holiday season," said Jobs in the event that was live streamed, but only on Apple computers and devices.

The new iPod lineup is available for pre-order in Apple's Canadian online store starting today.

In Canada, the iPod touch prices are:

8 GB -- $249

32 GB -- $319

64 GB -- $429

Apple TV is $119 in the Canadian store, with shipping in September.

In the US television shows will be available for rental for 99 cents a pop, but Apple Canada promises only "the largest online selection of HD movies to rent," at $4.99 Cdn for the rental price. While Netflix is due to expand to Canada this fall, Canada wasn't on the agenda in Apple's announcement of Netflix on the new Apple TV. (Update: Apple Canada initially reported the movie rental price would be $4.99;  it later said that was a mistake, Canadians will pay $5.99 for movie rentals.)

Also announced was iTunes 10, with a new logo that dispenses with the CD of the old logo, with Jobs pointing out that iTunes sales are expected to surpass sales of CDs in the United States next spring.

Ping, a new social network for music was described by Jobs as Twitter and Facebook meet iTunes, giving users the same follow and sharing capabilities of social networks.
"I think it's going to be a real winner," said Jobs of the new music social network.

Working and watching the Apple Announcement on my iPad. :) Lots of new iPod models, iOS 4.2, iTunes 10 with PING, and Apple TV so far…

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Women In Engineering organization hosted a webinar last week featuring the Women in Engineering ProActive Network. The two organizations are similar in scope - both want to increase the number of women in technical fields - but IEEE WIE is clearly focused on engineers while WEPAN and its Knowledge Center have a broader reach touching many STEM-related disciplines in addition to engineering.

WEPAN started in 1990 and is a national (U.S.) not-for-profit organization with over  600 members across various industries and academia. Its stated goal is to “help members develop a more prepared and diverse engineering workforce,” which more clearly worded means that they’re working to facilitate the development of programs and activities that promote the entry and retention of women in engineering programs.

During the webinar, Diane Matt (WEPAN’s Executive Director) and Jenna Carpenter (IEEE Senior Member, Associate Dean at Louisiana Tech University and WEPAN’s Director of Professional Development) walked attendees through a tour of the WEPAN site and its associated Knowledge Center. Nearly forty percent of the webinar’s participants were academics.

The WEPAN Knowledge Center is an online resource for “research, best practices and professional communities dedicated to advancing all women in engineering.” It began with five hundred resources in June of 2009, and has since doubled its listings. Want statistics on the number of American college graduates with STEM-degrees who happen to be women? Curious about gender gaps and bias in various fields? Looking for organizations or institutions with diversity, outreach and research programs? All of that - and much, much more - can be found in the WEPAN Knowledge Center, and the information is completely open to the public; membership is not required for viewing, a deliberate action to make this information accessible to anyone. (Email registration is required if you want to add resource or access online community content.)

WEPAN also has a large professional community for members, which features a global calendar of events, as well as a the usual selection of social networking options – discussion groups, people and skills search, blogs, in-group email, etc. as well as the ability to track specific groups of professional interest. If you’re interested in mentoring or professional development, this community seems a great place to build your resources. Be sure to visit their main website as well as the Knowledge Center, and check out the FAQ.

Note that membership in the professional community and membership in WEPAN are different animals: only email registration is required to participate in the professional community, but individual membership in the organization is $100 (reduced rates available for student, etc.). WEPAN membership appears to be specifically aimed at academics of various levels, though it’s open to “anyone interested in promoting and achieving improved representation of women in engineering.” WEPAN also has an online store that boasts its own conference proceedings and presentation guides.

The WEPAN Annual Conference, aimed at addressing “recurring and emerging issues”, will be heald in June 2011 in Seattle, Washington. (This year’s conference included tracks on Diversity, Policy, How to Get Funding, Cultivating Tomorrow’s Talent and Effective Messaging.)

Look for announcements of future IEEE and IEEE WIE webinars on their website, or here on dotFiveOne.