Get yourself PowerShell 5.0 February 2015 Preview

PowerShell 5.0 February preview is available to download from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=45883

 February 2015 includes the following:

• Updates to Windows PowerShell,
• Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)
• Windows PowerShell ISE

Plus new CMDLETS

• OneGet
• PowerShellGet
• Network Switch

Supported OSs:

• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows 8.1 Pro
• Windows 8.1 Enterprise
• Windows Server 2012

February 2015 preview updates the November 2014 preview with a few more new features detailed
here (only two of them stable):

• Develop DSC resources with classes in Windows PowerShell - Stable
• Remove DSC documents delivered to a system - Stable
• Support for inheritance with classes in Windows PowerShell - Experimental
• DSC resource script debugging - Experimental
• Support for new RefreshMode - Experimental
• Partial configurations support mixed RefreshModes - Experimental
• PSScriptAnalyzer: static code analysis of  Windows PowerShell artifacts - Experimental

Details to appear on my other blog:
http://hodentekMSSS.blogspot.com

 

Moving data to Azure DocumentDB

You may need to move data from various sources to DocumentDB and the Azure DocumentDB Migration Tool can be used if your source is in the following form:

• CSV file or files
• JSON file or files
• SQL
• MongoDB
• DocumentDB

The file details are as follows:
Version 1.0   4/7/2015
File name:
DocumentDB Data Migration Tool.docx (1.6MB)
dt-1.0.zip(2.1MB)

It does not appear to be supported on Windows 8.1 but supported on Window 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or SP2, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Vista SP2
The download contains both a GUI as well as a command line tool. The document contains valuable information of using the GUi with various databases.
For further details:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=46436

 

Azure App Service is ready to roll

No matter what type of App, no matter what platform, you can use Microsoft Azure App Service to develop.

Image Source: Visual Studio Magazine
Microsoft is known for its relentless pursuit of its chalked-out path, be it Windows, be it Office and be it Cloud services. With Azure App Service which debuted today you can build cross-platform/cross-device apps from Microsoft Azure.

Azure App Service draws upon all the best of breed Microsoft technologies, Azure Web Sites, Azure Mobile Services and Azure BizTalk Services and you can build apps for Web, Mobile, Logic and Apps.

You can build web apps now which are automatically scaled based on need and are fully managed. You can use prebuilt tools from an exhaustive gallery and use versioning, authentication, performance monitoring etc.

Read more here:
http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2015/03/25/azure-app-service-debuts.aspx

 

Would you pledge $50 to buy UDOO Neo?

Looks like an ideal hardware to have in your collection and used for developing IoT projects.

UDOO (sounds like voodoo) Neo seems to hold best of all stuff for IoT development. UDOO is in the Kickstarter stage and you could be an early well-wisher.
Their email shows that it has all of the following:
• Raspberry PI
• Arduino
• Wi-Fi
• BT 4.0
And Oh! Sensors.
Looks like they garnered $15k in under 11 minutes.
Coming to realities, it is credit-card sized, low-cost, low-power guzzler and Open source and can run both Android and Linux &&& Arduino-compatible.

It can be used 3 ways:

• As a Full-fledged computer
• As an Arduino compatible micro-controller
• As an embedded computer -IoT

It comes in flavors, UDOO Neo Basic and UDOO Neo with very little pledge range.
Even the features of the basic unit are attractive:
• 512 MB Ram
• One USDB Port
• One Micro-USB OTG Port
• HDMI Video Output  for LVDS
• Wi-Fi module
• Bluetooth 4.0  module
• Analog & Digital camera connection
• 54 GPIOs
• Micro SD card for OS
In addition to all of the above, the UDOO Neo also has fast Ethernet and 9-axis motion sensors embedded with 1GB RAM instead of 512 MB.
If all of this are present, I think I would pledge.
For specific details go the originators at these sites:
http://www.seco.com/en/welcome-seco
http://aidilab.com/, and of course,
http://www.udoo.org

Here is  UDOO Video n You Tube.

Google's Project Fi takes off

This has been in the works for long and now it is ready. Are you paying for set bulk rate for data from the likes of AT&T and Verizon? Well it worked but not for those who want to pay for what they use. Project Fi does it for you what AT&T and Verizon do not. It will even reimburse for data not used.

Right now you ask to be invited to join the program but later it is for all who wants it. The free software model starting with Android was a huge success and as Android is a global market leader for smart phones it will be easy to get them on to Project Fi.

The seamless transition from cellular to Wi-Fi is a very attractive feature, a feature that all smart phone manufacturers should emulate.

Read more here and here.