News - MIX Online

Extend Your Site’s Reach with Social Networking

MIX09 News — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:20:53 GMT

On the latest episode of The Knowledge Chamber, Robert Hess (of .NET Show and Drinkboy fame) talks with Keiji Kanazawa, Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger, to discuss the new Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit. The toolkit allows you to very easily add flexible support for integrating social networking into your site, while at the same time leveraging the huge install base of Windows Live Messenger users.

View the full list of The Knowledge Chamber videos from Robert Hess.

Cross Platform Plug-in for Adobe Illustrator

MIX09 News — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:44:28 GMT

On the latest episode of The Knowledge Chamber, Robert Hess (of .NET Show and Drinkboy fame) talks with Mike Swanson about the plug-in he wrote which allows users of Adobe Illustrator to export their designs as XAML for either WPF or Silverlight. You can download the plug in from Mike's site here: http://www.mikeswanson.com/xamlexport/

View the full list of The Knowledge Chamber videos from Robert Hess.

Crew Gets Busy at MIX09

MIX09 News — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:21:14 GMT

Ever wondered what it takes to make an event like MIX come together? Check out the time-lapse video on Channel9 of the set-up and tear-down of the MIX09 general session hall. Special thanks to the FABULOUS MIX crew and all the staff at The Venetian that helped us pull off another great event!

Don’t forget to save the date for MIX10, March 15 – 17th, 2010 at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. We’re changing things up this year with a new venue, and as always, we’ll have a few tricks up our sleeve that will amaze you – don’t miss out! If you’d like to receive email communication about MIX10 registration and pricing, be sure to add yourself to the list.

ShowOff Winners Announced

MIX09 News — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:45:17 GMT

The MIX09 ShowOff competition attracted a record number of entries this year, and always, the competition was fierce! Congratulations to all the winners!

Winners

1^st Physics Helper using Silverlight - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/1st-place-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Physics-Helper-using-Silverlight/

2^nd –Creating the Ganassi Racing Sidebar Gadget http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/2nd-place-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Creating-the-Ganassi-Racing-Sidebar-Gadget/

3^rd – Stimulant Surface Applications 2009 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/3rd-place-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Stimulant-Surface-Applications-2009/

Honorable mentions

· Silverlight Commodore 64 Emulator - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Honorable-Mention-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Silverlight-Commodore-64-Emulator/

· WPF & The Emotiv Headset - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Honorable-Mention-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-WPF--The-Emotiv-Headset/

· Playing in an augmented world - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Honorable-Mention-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Playing-in-an-augmented-world/

· Magister 5, a large LOB app in Silverlight - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Honorable-Mention-MIX09-Show-Off-Contest-Magister-5-a-large-LOB-app-in-Silverlight/

And thank you to Brian Keller and Dan Fernandez for hosting another great ShowOff event. Also, be sure to check out the MIX08 ShowOff winners.

Cheat Sheet for Discovering Session Content

MIX09 News — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:30:44 GMT

The MIX team is busy organizing all the recorded keynotes, sessions and associated content to make it easier for you to browse and view. In the interim,you can view the session reference guide on Mike Swanson’s blog that includes all the MIX09 session content, and the available PowerPoint and video formats.

You’ll also find Mike’s batch file tool for associating session names with the files you download.

Bill Buxton Talks With Gary Hustwit, Creator of "Objectified" and "Helvetica"

MIX09 News — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:44:02 GMT

One of the highlights of MIX09 was the private screening of the new movie Objectified with MIX attendees, and Q&A with Gary Hustwit afterward. Just before the screening, we captured a fascinating conversation between Bill Buxton and Gary on-camera. They started with a discussion of the difference between companies who highly value designers, and those who don't, and then embarked on a wide-ranging discussion of trends in design. It was a real pleasure to be able to eavesdrop on two great design personalities, and we hope you enjoy!

SynapticMash @ MIX09

MIX09 News — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:26:21 GMT

SynapticMash is a startup providing services to educational institutions, built on Microsoft technologies. We interviewed Ramona Pierson of SynapticMash to find out more about SynapticMash, and to get her thoughts about MIX09 and working with Microsoft.

MIXAPALOOZA WINNERS STAGE A SMACKDOWN

MIX09 News — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:53:18 GMT

It was pretty much a blowout last night…the high score was 864,104!! Congratulations to Marshall Evans, David Royce, Ben Reierson & Therese Perri, The Marsupials.

The Marsupials kicked some Rock Band butt singing “You Outta Know” by Alanis Morissette.

Did you see the performances last night? Bathrobe is the new rock-n-roll trend. Check out the pictures.

Thank You from the MIX09 Team

MIX09 News — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:34:12 GMT

Thank you from the MIX09 team to all the attendees who traveled from near and far to join us at MIX this year. Your interest, participation and feedback is a key part of what makes MIX so successful, year after year. Thank you!

A couple reminders:

MIX10 will be held in Las Vegas next year on March 15 – 17 at The Mandalay Bay. If you would like to receive a communication from the MIX10 team when registration opens, and information on special offers/discounts for attendees, please add yourself to the communication list.
The keynotes are available to view online: Day 1 and Day 2. Please provide your feedback via the survey at the bottom of the page. We want your feedback.
All sessions (and slides) will be made available online. Most of the Day 1 sessions are already available from the session browser – see the session descriptions (lower part of page) for the link to view the video and slides.
The MIX conversation continues on MIX Online: http://www.visitmix.com/ . Keep up with the community and get access to open source software online.

Don’t Forget - Get Your MIX09 USB Stick

MIX09 News — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:16:51 GMT

Stop by the Registration area (4th floor) by 3:15pm today to get your MIX09 USB Stick, a copy of Windows Web Server 2008 and the Internet Explorer 8 DVD.

MIX Bookstore Offers Attendee Discounts

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:17:59 GMT

Visit the MIX Bookstore in the corner of 3rd Place (4th Floor). They’ve got some great titles related to topics covered at MIX, and attendees receive 20% off their purchase.

The hours of operation for the bookstore are 9am to 9pm today (March 19) and 9am – 3:15pm tomorrow (March 20).

Picked Up Your Internet Explorer 8 DVD?

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:52:37 GMT

Get your free Windows Internet Explorer 8 DVD from the Registration area (4th Floor). Registration is open until 9pm tonight.

OneRiot On IE8

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:32:00 GMT

At today's IE8 launch, OneRiot demonstrated their innovative use of IE8 Web Slices and Accelerators, including a video Web Slice built with Silverlight. Giorgio Sardo interviews Tobias Peggs from OneRiot about their work with IE8.

Sessions Available Online

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:47:30 GMT

Too many sessions not enough time? Don’t fret. We’ve got you covered. You can watch the sessions on-demand from the session browser – look for the arrow icon next to the detailed session description (on the lower half of the page). Many of the sessions from Day 1 are available now; remaining sessions will be published within 24 hours of the scheduled session.

Get the Scoop on Out-of-Browser

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:33:42 GMT

This is groundbreaking for many of us and if you are craving for details here’s some:

InfoQ on security, updating and running Silverlight 3 in an Out-of-Browser applications.

The gory details at the Silverlight Developer Center on MSDN.

YouTube using Silverlight

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:16:21 GMT

Go to Steve Clayton’s blog, the Geek in Disguise to get the details.

320 Million Users Could Be Headed To Your Site

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:40:23 GMT

Well, it was a lot to digest yesterday and this may have gone unnoticed: you can now add Windows live Messenger chatting to your site.

Check out what people are saying about it at TechCrunch.

And head to the Live Services Blog for details: http://dev.live.com/blogs/devlive/archive/2009/03/18/481.aspx

Watch the MIX Keynotes Online

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:20:47 GMT

Keynote recordings are now available on-demand from the MIX09 site. What did YOU think about the MIX09 keynotes? Give us your feedback: Day 1 Survey and Day 2 Survey.

MIXAPALOOZA STARTS TODAY

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:00:31 GMT

The biggest Rockband 2 tournament EVAR! Form a band, choose a track and sign up for MIXAPALOOZA. Each member of the winning band goes home with an AWESOME limited edition MIX09 Fender Strat pack. Can’t break a million on “Wayward Son”? Don’t worry – we’ll have prizes for best costume, air guitar, crowd interaction and more! First heat is tomorrow (Thursday March 19^th) at 12PM, second heat at 5:30PM with the grand finale at 7:30PM. Don’t miss out! It’s going to be EPIC!

More Info: http://live.visitmix.com/MIXtify/Pit.aspx

Join the Keynote Speakers in 3rd Place Today

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:09:36 GMT

Join the the of MIX09 keynote speakers today for Q&A in 3rd Place (near the DJ station). Scott Guthrie, Bill Buxton and Dean Hachamovitch will be there to answer your questions and challenge you to a game of Connect 4.

12:00pm – 1:00pm	Scott Guthrie
2:00pm – 3:00pm	Bill Buxton
3:30pm – 4:15pm	Dean Hachamovitch

Download link for IE8

TimHarris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:57:59 GMT

You can download IE8 at www.microsoft.com/ie8.

Commitment to Standards and Integrated Developer Tools

TimHarris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:56:17 GMT

Internet Explorer 8 is Microsoft’s most standards compliant browser to date, and benefits from work the company is doing with standards bodies to bring increased measurement and consistency.

New Opportunities for Developers with IE8

TimHarris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:55:37 GMT

Developers will benefit from performance features that enable Web sites to enable customers to engage more deeply with their site content. Accelerators and Web Slices make it easier for developers to reach beyond the page and provide new ways for people to stay connected to the content and services of their choice.

Deborah Adler on Human Implications of Design

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:45:46 GMT

Deborah Adler related the personal story behind her inspiration in creating the ClearRX system. In addition to her pioneering work with Target's ClearRX system, Deborah works with a variety of clients out of her multidisciplinary design company in New York. Thomas Lewis got her on camera to get her thoughts on the importance of design and to discuss her work.

Eduify @ MIX09

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:33:36 GMT

The folks from Eduify were in attendance at MIX09, and took some time to discuss their service for students, and the use of Microsoft technologies. Watch the full interview below!

MIX10 Dates Announced

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:33:07 GMT

It’s not too early to start thinking about MIX10 (March 15 – 17, 2010) in Vegas, baby! Add your email to the MIX10 mailing list and we’ll contact you when registration opens. And just like last year, you’ll get all the latest special offers and news from the MIX10 site.

Dean Hachamovitch Announces IE8

MIX09 News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:16:53 GMT

Dean Hachamovitch kicked off today's keynote by announcing the final build of IE8. You can download it here. Giorgio Sardo interviewed Dean to get some more in-depth insights about how the IE team approaches some of the trade-offs faced by a product used by hundreds of millions of people.

State of the Art Conference Experience - Online...

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:34:51 GMT

It was odd to see some people in the front rows of the hall today watching the keynote on their computers.

And then Oliver Markers of ZDNET explained the reason for that: “a seamless, single browser window, time efficient experience which allows us to focus on their presentation”.

And he finishes with: “The online experience enabled at Mix09 online is a terrific showcase for next generation thinking by Microsoft.”

Read on.

Experience was the word of the day

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:27:47 GMT

At eWeek.com you can do a recap on the slew of new Web development and design technologies announced today.

Fun, Informal, Flexible, Quick and Powerful

brunonowak — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:26:17 GMT

Check our Christian Schormann’s blog at Electric Beach for details on SketchFlow, the really cool way of prototyping rich experiences in Microsoft Expression Blend 3 that was announced today.

Don’t forget to look at the sessions that highlight SketchFlow and add them to your schedule.

Bondi Uses Silverlight for Online Magazine Archives

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:40:00 GMT

Bondi Discusses their use of Silverlight to create online archives of publications like Rolling Stone and Playboy. See the site live at playboyarchive.com.

MIX09 Chats with KEXP

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:21:10 GMT

Seattle radio station KEXP discusses their use of Silverlight to engender listener loyalty and support. The KEXP application allows you to interact with live media, as well as store media for playing on the bus or plane when disconnected. Check out the video here.

MIX09 Chats with Bondi Digital Publishing

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:19:39 GMT

Bondi Discusses their use of Silverlight to create online archives of publications like Rolling Stone and Playboy. Check out the video here.

MIX09 chats with Netflix

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:17:47 GMT

Netflix discusses the way that Silverlight has enabled them to grow profits and customer retention. Check out the video.

SuperPreview is Moist Delicious Cake

brunonowak — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:19:57 GMT

Both Long Zheng of istartedsomething and Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNET seem very excited about Microsoft’s SuperPreview.

This may very well be the Web Developer’s new best friend. Check out the links bellow for both takes on that:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2310

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090318/expression-web-superpreview-cross-browser-testing/

MIX Bookstore Signing Schedule Announced

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:40:20 GMT

Stop by the MIX Bookstore in 3rd Place and get your books signed by the author.

WED, MARCH 18	Author	Book Title	Publisher
12:45pm – 1:15pm	Lou Carbone	Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again	FT Press
1:15pm – 2:00pm	Bill Buxton	Sketching User Experiences	Elsevier

THUR, MARCH 19
12:00pm - 12:30pm	Jeff Paries	Foundation Silverlight 2 Animation	Apress
3:45pm – 4:15pm	John Stockton	Silverlight 2 in Action
5:30pm – 6:00pm	John Papa	Data-Driven Services with Silverlight 2	O’Reilly

FRI, MARCH 20
10:30am – 11:00am	Laurent Bugnion	Silverlight 2 Unleashed	Pearson / Sams
12:00pm – 12:30pm	Dan Roam	The Back of a Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas With Pictures	Porfolio

More Bits Available Online

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:23:23 GMT

Eclipse Tools for Silverlight CTP for Macintosh
Eclipse tools for Silverlight CTP for Macintosh enable mac developers to develop RIAs using Silverlight technology. This builds on the Eclipse tools for Silverlight for Windows platform that is already available. For details on how to download and install the Eclipse Tools for Silverlight CTP for Macintosh visit www.eclipse4sl.org/download/mac/.

Live Framework and Tools
The Live Framework SDK provides developers with documentation, samples, tools and APIs needed to build rich, connected, data-sharing applications using Live services. The Live Framework Tools extend Visual Studio 2008 to enable the creation, building, debugging, running, and packaging of Mesh Applications that utilize the Live Framework. For information about how to download and install the Live Framework Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio and the Live Framework SDK visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=130779.

Microsoft^® Expression Blend™ 3 Preview
Microsoft Expression Blend 3 Preview was announced at MIX 09, and combined with Visual Studio and the Silverlight toolkit, Microsoft now boasts the most comprehensive end-to-end tooling development experience available, taking projects from conceptual ideas, to interactive prototypes, through to client delivery of the completed project.

In the MIX keynote we demonstrated a new capability of Expression Blend 3, SketchFlow, a radically innovative capability to effectively prototype the flow and composition of applications, receive in context annotated feedback from clients, and enable the rapid iteration of a project from concept to competition.

For more information on Microsoft Expression Blend 3 preview and how to download visit http://www.microsoft.com/expression/blendpreview

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio March 2009 CTP

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio extend Visual Studio to enable the creation, building, debugging, running, and packaging of scalable services on Windows Azure. For information on how to download the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Windows Azure March CTP visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=128752

Windows Azure SDK March 2009 CTP
Windows Azure SDK provides developers APIs, tools, documentation, and samples needed to develop applications for Internet scale on Windows Azure. For information on how to download the Microsoft Windows Azure SDK March CTP visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=130232

Get Your Loaded MIX09 USB Stick

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:23:04 GMT

Just announced – MIX attendees will receive a free MIX09 USB stick chocked full of bits goodness! Immediately after the keynote, USB sticks will be available at the registration desk on the 4th floor. On the MIX USB drive you’ll find all the software needed to get started building on the Microsoft Web Platform today:

The Azure™ Services Platform Training Kit (Feb 2009). The Azure Services Training Kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform.
Microsoft^® Expression^® Web SuperPreview for Internet Explorer^® (March Preview). SuperPreview for Internet Explorer allows you to see how your pages render in different versions of Internet Explorer and to quickly discover which elements on your page may be causing problems.
Microsoft^®Silverlight™ Tools for Visual Studio^® SP1. This package is an add-on for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 2
Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 with Tools. A lightweight, feature-rich, powerful database for Windows and Web data-enabled needs.
Microsoft^®Visual Web Developer™ 2008 with SP1. An easy to use environment for dynamic Web application development.
Microsoft^® Web Application Installer. The Web Application Installer Beta is designed to help get you up and running with the most widely used Web applications freely available for your Windows server. Web AI provides support for popular ASP.NET and PHP Web applications including Graffiti, DotNetNuke, WordPress, Drupal, OSCommerce, and more.
Microsoft^® Web Platform Installer. The Microsoft Web Platform Installer is a free tool that makes it simple to download and install the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including the IIS, SQL Server Express, the Microsoft^®.NET Framework, and Visual Web Developer.
PHP on Windows Training Kit. The PHP on Windows Training Kit includes demos and hands-on labs to help you understand how to build PHP applications using Windows^®, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 and Microsoft^®SQL Server^® 2008.

But wait…there’s more!

In addition to the MIX09 USB bits stick, attendees will also receive a free copy of Windows^® Web Server 2008 (estimated retail value $500). Windows Web Server 2008 is a robust and reliable foundation on which to develop, deliver, and manage rich user experiences and applications. Designed to be used as an Internet-facing Web server, Windows Web Server 2008 is a great choice for hosting the Microsoft Web Platform and you can be up and running in no time with the latest version of the Web Platform Installer.

KEXP Builds Listener Connections with Silverlight

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:42:32 GMT

Expression Blend 3 Preview

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:22:04 GMT

Microsoft also announced Expression Blend 3 Preview, designed to dramatically improve designer and developer workflow and productivity.

Deepening Cloud Investments With the Azure Services Platform

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:15:19 GMT

New capabilities in Windows Azure include support for full trust to increase the level of flexibility for developers through support of native code, non-.NET language support via FastCGI, and geolocation to provide developers with the capability to host data and code across two U.S.-based datacenters.

Microsoft Research Announces Tech Preview of Translator Widget

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:08:55 GMT

At MIX09, Microsoft Research announced a Technology Preview of the Microsoft Translator widget and APIs. The Microsoft Translator widget brings real-time, in-place language translations to web sites. Users can see web pages in their own language - without having to go to a separate translation web site - and share the pages with friends in multiple languages. The widget is freely available for limited download now for web developers looking to easily add language translation capabilities to their web sites. Learn more at http://www.microsofttranslator.com/mix09, and follow all the action with @vikman live on twitter from #mix09.

Netflix and Business Value of Silverlight

Joshua Allen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:08:45 GMT

Netflix discusses the way that Silverlight has enabled them to grow profits and customer retention.

Easier Access to Developer Tools, Platforms, and Applications

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:03:32 GMT

Microsoft released several components of the Microsoft Web Platform, an integrated set of tools, servers and frameworks that work seamlessly together and interoperate with popular open source applications and products that are used in the community.

Silverlight 3 Beta release

TimHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:02:55 GMT

Announced this morning,Silverlight 3 empowers Web developers and designers to build the best experiences for their customers through the creation of cutting-edge Web applications.

Tim Sneath is Live Blogging MIX09!

brunonowak — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:52:21 GMT

If you're following from home, or if you just want to get some of the local flavor from an insider who is live blogging the announcements, ambiance, and vibe, follow Tim's series of Live Blog posts!

Expression Web SuperPreview!

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:37:00 GMT

Expression Web SuperPreview is one of the coolest features for Web Developers featured in the Day 1 Keynote. Code your markup, and compare to Firefox, Safari, IE6 and even to your PhotoShop comps to make sure that your design is pixel-perfect! Here is an in-depth interview and demo. You can download the SuperPreview trial here.

Bill Buxton: Return on Experience

MIX09 News — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:16:23 GMT

You saw Bill Buxton in today's MIX09 keynote, now watch the in-depth interview with Bill, where he discusses design and how it relates to today's economic climate.

For some MIX09 is all about meeting cool people

brunonowak — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:54:00 GMT

And if the list of people you intend to meet is still empty you may get some inspiration from one of the UK MVPs.

Phil Winstanley is an ASP.Net MVP in the UK. On his latest blog post Preparing for MIX09 he highlights the folks we wants to meet and network with.

Get your networking list ready and enjoy MIX09 from all angles.

Fewer sheep, more business

brunonowak — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:42:52 GMT

Mary Jo Foley thinks MIX09 is a breath of fresh air from the regular Web 2.0 conference.

This is because there are more sessions focusing on the Business Applications scenarios.

Check her blog for the sessions that caught her attention: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2302