.NET Valley News

.NET Valley to take a Summer Break

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Since we are in the height of the vacation season, we've decided to take the summer off from our monthly meetings. We'll look to resume normal meetings on September 17th. From all of us at .NET Valley, have a safe and enjoyable summer and we look forward to seeing everyone again in September.

Job Posting for June 19th

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

We have received another job opportunity for the area.

This opportunity is a 3 month contract to hire opening in the Allentown area. The position requires Microsoft Access programming and the knowledge of Oracle SQL. If you or someone you know is interested, please forward a cover letter and resume to Janet Hand at jhand@microsolutions.com.

.NET Valley Now Has a Facebook Fan Page

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:00:00 GMT

.NET Valley is now a fan page on facebook.com. If you have a Facebook account, be sure to sign-up for the fan page which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/NET-Valley/23494336060.

Job Postings for March 23rd (4)

Fri, 23 May 2008 10:45:00 GMT

There are 4 job postings that we've received:

More information about these positions can be found on their respective websites.

Join our FriendFeed.com Room

Wed, 21 May 2008 21:00:00 GMT

We've greated a single location to aggregate the feeds and social networking sites for .NET Valley members. You can sign up for this FriendFeed.com room by visiting http://friendfeed.com/rooms/net-valley. In a future version of the .NET Valley website, we'll be taking this feed and displaying it on our website.

TECHbash 2008 A Success; Event Photos Online

Tue, 13 May 2008 07:00:00 GMT

The TECHbash 2008 event was a huge success! We'd like to thank everyone that participated as an attendee, sponsor, presenter, or organizer. If it wasn't for all parts, the event would never succeed. We're already looking forward to next year's event which will be held in April or May of 2009.

We've uploaded a bunch of pictures from the TECHbash 2008 event. They can be found under the TECHbash2008 tag at Flickr. We've also added a link to the photos on our Facebook account.

Grab Some Swag at TECHbash 2008

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:30:00 GMT

TECHbash 2008 will have swag - lots of it! Before we begin listing the endless amount of swag we have, we'd like to thank our sponsors again for their gracious donations. A lot of this swag has been built up over the past year. During the event we plan on raffling off 41 books. Some may be given out during sessions, others at the end of the day. This is what we have currently:

SWAGbags

.NET Valley bag containing official event T-Shirt, .NET Valley pen, and .NET Valley post-it notes
ASPAlliance Brochure
CoDe Magazine
Kentico CMS Offer
TechSmith Swag

Pick-A-Prize Auction (Winners Chosen From Raffle Tickets)

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Microsoft FrontPage 2003
Microsoft ISA 2000
Microsoft OneNote 2003
Microsoft Plus for XP
(2) Microsoft Project Server 2003
Microsoft SharePoint 2003
Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard CPU License
Microsoft Visio Pro 2003
(2) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 with 25 CALs
Microsoft Windows XP Pro

End of Show Raffle (Must have registered at TECHbash 2008 to Qualify)

Dialogic Media Center (Model DMG1008LSW)
(5) Infragistics NetAdvantage
Microsoft Expression Web
(5) Microsoft Heros Happen Here (VS 2008, SQL 2008, Windows Server 2008)
(4) Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
(6) Microsoft Vista Ultimate
Visual Studio 2008 Standard
(3) Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Pro
TechSmith Camtasia Studio
TechSmith SnagIt

All software listed above are "not for resale" licenses.

TimesLeader.com: TECHBash back bigger than ever at LCCC on Saturday

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Feel like the fast-moving information technology world is pulling away from you? If so, you can do some catching up on Saturday when TECHBash takes over the Educational Conference Center at Luzerne County Community College.

Version 3 of the annual technology gathering is bigger and better than last year’s event that drew about 120 attendees, said Jason Gaylord, president of event sponsor .NET Valley User Group.

“This year we’ve actually doubled the event,” he said, going from six presentations to 12 and from two tracks to three; IT Professional, Developer and Emerging Technology.

Gaylord counted about 130 registrations Monday morning. “We’re hoping for 200,” he said.

Michael Murphy, business development manager for Microsoft’s Mid-Atlantic region, said TECHBash is recognized beyond Northeastern Pennsylvania, drawing attendees from New Jersey, Philadelphia and upstate New York.

That’s a far cry from the first event, which drew about 30. “We considered that a great success our first year,” he said. The world’s largest software firm has been a premier sponsor all three years.

This year’s speaker lineup includes industry heavyweights from the likes of Microsoft, Nortel and Cisco, as well as local experts. “We’re trying to grab some more local technology companies,” Gaylord said.

The outreach has attracted speakers John Fallon of Solid Cactus and Raymond Steigerwalt, co-founder of Meezik. Internet retailer Babyage.com is one of the event co-sponsors. There’s enough sponsor funding to keep TECHBash free, including meals.

Murphy expects an insightful discussion from keynote speaker Joe Stagner, program manager on the Microsoft Web Tools and Platform team. His division is shaping the next generation of the Internet, which will affect commerce and communication for years to come.

Gaylord said TECHBash follows an accepted protocol with its Saturday scheduling. “Many similar events in other communities are held on Saturdays,” he said, which allows people to attend whose employers may not want them to take a day off.

Saturday also is more convenient for students, particularly at this time of year with finals looming. “We don’t want to miss out on that crowd,” he said.

TECHBash is geared toward IT professionals, developers and those involved in strategic technology decision making. While no one will be turned away, Gaylord said registration is helpful for arranging food and seating. For more information, visit www.techbash.com

5 Days Until TECHbash 2008 - Free Swag For Each Attendee!

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:30:00 GMT

In just under 5 days, TECHbash 2008 will be held at Luzerne County Community College. An estimated 150 IT Professionals and Developers will have the opportunity to learn about technologies from industry experts at Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Nortel, and more! Come out to the event to see what the hype is all about. To guarantee your spot for this event, be sure to register at http://techbash.com/registration today!

We hope to see you there!

Schedule Released for TECHbash 2008

Thu, 01 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

The TECHbash 2008 session schedule has been released. Registration begins at 7:30am. During the registration period, a continental breakfast will be served in the dining room. The keynote presentation by Joe Stagner will begin at 8:30am with breakout sessions to follow. Lunch will take place at noon in the dining room and we may have some activities going on during that time. The final breakout sessions will take place after lunch with a presenter Q&A following that. To wrap up the event, we will be holding a raffle. Some raffle prizes will require that you are present to win. More details about the raffle prizes, our "Pick-A-Prize Auction", and our SWAGbags will be announced next week.

For a full session schedule, please visit http://techbash.com/sessions/.

TECHbash 2008 Only 10 Days Away - Register Today!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:30:00 GMT

TECHbash 2008 is only 10 days away. This year promises to be better than last year with presenters from Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, and Nortel. The first 150 registered attendees will receive a free swag bag filled with goodies from .NET Valley and the sponsors of TECHbash 2008. We'll be giving away an estimated $15k in prizes from books to software licenses. More swag details will be coming soon. A full schedule will be released this week with details. A complete list of the seeions can be found at http://techbash.com/sessions/.

Limited seating is still available so be sure that you sign-up, if you haven't already, at http://techbash.com/registration.

Microsoft Releases Products to Students For Free

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:45:00 GMT

Microsoft DreamSpark enables students to download Microsoft developer and design tools at no charge. Now, for the first time, Microsoft is giving its valuable software developer and design tools directly to students worldwide at no charge! This site enables students like you to download professional-level Microsoft developer and design tools to unlock your creative potential and set you on the path to academic and career success, by supporting and advancing your learning and skills through technical design, technology, math, science and engineering activities.

TECHbash 2008 Registration Opens

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The TECHbash 2008 registration is now open. We have limited seating available for the event. This year's event promises to be bigger and better than last year with twice the number of presentations and presenters. For more information and to register for the event, visit http://techbash.com.

Rachel Appel becomes 3rd Microsoft MVP in Northeastern Pennsylvania

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:15:00 GMT

Rachel Appel, a member of .NET Valley, became the third Microsoft MVP in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Rachel received the official word from Mike Fosmire, Microsoft's ASP.NET MVP Lead earlier today. She joins Chris Leeds and Jason Gaylord as MVPs in NEPA. We'd like to congratulate Rachel on her accomplishment.

TECHbash Website Update

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:15:00 GMT

The official TECHbash 2008 website will be live soon. Check back frequently for more updates.

Call for Speakers - TECHbash 2008

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

We're looking for individuals who'd be interested in presenting at TECHbash 2008. We have a bunch of slots open over 3 tracks: IT Professional, Application Developer, and Emerging Technologies. Below is an idea of the presentations we are looking for in each track:

IT Professional Track – Microsoft Technologies (Windows Server 2008, Vista SP1, Exchange 2007 SP1, etc.) and Hardware Solutions (CISCO, HP, IBM, etc.)
Application Developer Track – ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Emerging Technologies Track – AJAX, Microsoft Silverlight, LINQ, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and other emerging technologies.

If you are interested in presenting, please send your topic and a description of your talk to iwanttospeak [at] techbash.com.

Date is set for TECHbash 2008

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT

.NET Valley's annual IT Professional and Developer Conference will be held on May 10th, 2008 at Luzerne County Community College in Luzerne, Pennsylvania. At this time, we have no other information to announce. The full event announcement will be posted on this website on April 1st. The techbash.com website will also be active at that time with event registrations being accepted. Please continue to revisit dotnetvalley.com for more details.

DotNetVideos.net Released

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:00:00 GMT

From DotNetVideos.net: DotNetVideos.net is a unique multi media content web site dedicated to .net developer community around the world and was launched on January 18, 2008 and is created and maintained by Ravi Nangunoori. The site primarily focuses on C#, ASP.NET and SQL Server 2005 based Data Tutorials. Currently, the site has over 120+ FREE videos for registered users and all the videos are under 10 minutes in duration. There are over 200+ additional videos in the pipeline to be added to the website. All the upcoming technologies from Microsoft such as LINQ, ASP.NET 2.5, ASP.NET MVC, Visual Studio 2008, VSTS 2008, SQL Server 2008, Ajax, ADO.NET data services will also be visualized and added to the web site in the near future as bite size videos.

Download asp.netPRO's March Magazine for Free!

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:00:00 GMT

One of the sponsor's of our group, asp.netPro Magazine, now allows members to dowload a copy of their magazine from their website. Here's a listing of just some of what's available in the March issue:

Matthew Hess discusses some powerful WPF technologies, and demonstrates how to create a custom Spinner control.
Steve C. Orr shows us how to get our textboxes to do new tricks with useful extenders from the AJAX Control Toolkit.
Dino Esposito explores AJAX-enabled services.
Michele Leroux Bustamante demonstrates how to expose classic HTTP endpoints with WCF in .NET 3.5.
If you're a consultant and you have issues, Auri Rahimzadeh has answers in this new column, Consultant's Corner.
Jonathan Goodyear explains the virtues of telecommuting.
And more!

Microsoft Launch Event Help Needed

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:30:00 GMT

We will be at the Microsoft Launch Event in Harrisburg on March 6th and Philadelphia on April 3rd and can use your help. We're looking for a couple of individuals who would be interested in sitting at the User Group booth and talking to individuals about our user group. If you're interested, please provide us with your contact information and availability using the feedback form on our website.