Here’s a way to see your own Google Reader subscription on play. It wasn’t obvious to me how to do it, but there is a way.

1. open up Google Reader (not Google Reader Play, just the plain old reader)

2. go to a subscription

3. folder settings > view in reader play

If only someone got the whole session recorded! Alot of good points raised in the session by the 3 experts; Hanselman, Skonnard and Hammad Rajjoub.

As the title of my previous post might suggest, I’m posting more TechEd Middle East photos. More from the awesome Anton Delsink!

Check out other photos at Photos from TechEd Middle East part 1,  Microsoft Now, Microsoft Feed and Hammad’s TechEd photo album.

After TechEd Party:
At the Infusion Dubai office with Hanselman

I didn’t have my camera most of TechEd, but luckily my colleague and good friend Anton Delsink have his trusty camera with him most of the time capturing every second of TechEd. Here are a couple that has me in it, and more photos on Microsoft Feed and Hammad’s TechEd photo album.

Hopefully there’ll be more coming up!

MVP dinner

Testing out the Dubai Room C before TechEd

My Code Demo

Hammad’s trying to memorize the map of the venue

Left: Microsoft Shirt
Right: watching DJ Samer’s sound check on his Silerlight presentation

a nice surprise

TechEd Middle East 2010 just ended. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t attend the whole 3 days. Regardless, it was such good fun. Obviously I had a chance to meet and chat with the MVPs from the region and the veteran speakers like Scott Hanselman and Aaron Skonnard. Expect to see a few TechEd photos once I got them from Anton Delsink.

Did both of my sessions (EF4 and panel with Hanselman) today, and what a nice surprise; The current ladder says that I’m in the top 10 speakers ladder. Obviously the numbers of vote or somewhat low so probably skewed to an (…err..alot of) extent. But, I take what I can get

I want to share you a couple of the nice folks who left me with encouraging comments:

“Ronald was awesome. He did a very good job. He explained things in a very well manner. I look forward to attending his more sessions.”

The first comment was probably made by Andrew Mackay, I can so hear him saying that “ …. he did a very good job.” Definitely Andrew!

More comments below

“Great Knowledge outcomes. Thanks Ronald”

“Nice overview, would have liked longer or more sessions on subject”

“It’s very nice session”

“Was a wonderful session in terms of showcasing what I can do with Entity framework. And it motivated me to use the same in my next project.”

…

Thanks to Anton, Hammad Rajjoub and Julie Lerman (The Data Farm) for taking the time to review the slides, demos and giving valuable feedback!

The topic is discussing something that is close to my heart; the role of an Architect, especially an Agile Architect. What’s the difference between a senior developer and an architect?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Give Hanselman a piece of your mind on the day!

UPDATED 27/2/10 : added ‘being hyper productive’

I’ve just noticed that the session details is already up on the TechEd Middle east website.

I have to tell you that this is really exciting to be a part of the first Tech Ed in the middle east region. When you have a brand like Jumeirah, the umbrella company of the 7 star hotel, sponsoring the event, you know that you’re talking major business!

UPDATED 27/2/10 My talk (DEV303 – I’ll see you there!) will be talking about becoming even more productive with Entity Framework 4 and Domain Driven approach. One might ask, how can one be even more productive than with a DataGrid bounded with a DataSource? Is it even possible?

It sure is possible! To me, being productive doesn’t just mean starting fast, but keeping a sustainable pace as things get more complex. This is what true productivity is all about.

I’m expecting that most of the audience will be familiar with data access patterns, and new to Domain Driven Design.

We’ll look at the evolution of design from Smart UI type of architecture (Rapid Application Development), 3 tier (Transaction Scripts) to Domain Driven design with rich domain models with behaviors. I will introduce the first few examples using Linq to SQL, and will take it to the finish line using the upcoming Entity Framework 4 and the awesome POCO feature.

My fellow Indonesians would probably go ‘hah??’ (read: what??). The word that means ‘taking a bath’ in Bahasa have totally different meaning in the region. Here, Mandi is a traditional Yemen/Arabic dish, made from meat, rice and spices. It’s almost like an Arabic Biryani. Thanks to the well prepared folks who had their camera with them. This particular one is courtesy of my fellow geek, Rami.

Pooya covers the basic of what it takes to become an MVP and share a couple plans for TechEd Middle East next March. There is possibility that Hammad and I will be leading open panel session with the one and (not so) only Scott, …..drum roll, Hanselman. I know he’s not the gu, but better than nothing right .

2 Steves head to head: iPad vs Slate

It will be everywhere

With the ability to work on spreadsheets, read newspaper/books/papers, connectivity to projectors, connectivity to both wifi and 3gs network, Apple could really have a clear shot taking over Windows as the enterprise platform of choice.

Not only a one trick Pony, the same argument could be put in any verticals. Imagine iPad as medical record pad, music sheet, midi controllers, media remote control, smart house controller and more. The possibility is endless.

Apple successfully created a platform (both software/hardware) that is inspiring. Something that Microsoft have been trying to do with Surface. It won’t be long before everyone manage to find the need of getting an iPad.

Investment on old technology

Unfortunately, I don’t think Apple’s pushes any envelope in terms of technological innovation with this new product. Despite its impressive speed and responsiveness, I don’t see anything innovative out of this device.

What worries me even more as a developer is, it looks like Apple isn’t investing enough on its development platform (at least from my – the outsider’s- perspective). Many people seem to think Objective C is an archaic language, incomparable to the likes of Java or C#.

I sure hope products like Appcelerator Titanium, MonoTouch from Novell and support for Html5, Flash, Silverlight can change the trend here.

Cut throat pricing

I think the most impressive part of Apple iPad is not its responsiveness nor design, but its pricing. Starting USD$499, who wants to buy a Windows XP/7/Linux powered netbooks? Everyone will queue up for the iPad for sure, and instantly evangelized to the other side.

If people think they’ve seen the halo effect with the iPod, wait and see once iPad hits the market in a few weeks time.

What does it mean to Google, Microsoft and the rest?

Microsoft’s attempt on the Slate device sadly has been just adequate. I really wish Microsoft would have answers other than just Windows. I love Windows 7, but as we all know, we can’t solve all problems with a single tool.

Google’s attempt on Android has been awesome. But without multi touch, I don’t think it can seriously compete with Apple, especially looking at where the trend is going.

Innovate!

It’s the time to stop lodging for intellectual property and innovate.

Technology as broad as multi touch should not be exclusive to one vendor, ruthless Digital Rights Management as stopping from other players to enter the platform (Google Voice, Flash player) should not be allowed and losing these battles would mean say goodbye to innovation, even human rights.

Apple’s approach in controlling everything from hardware, software to 3rd party software will have adverse impact to the IT industry in general. I really hate to see when there will be only one processor, video card, power supply, OS, software to rule them all.

Stop the secrecy and dictatorship! Open and innovate! Even Microsoft have started opening up for goodness sakes.

Join iPad DRM endangers our rights at DefectiveByDesign.org

Nokia 3500 classic: at least I know where both iPad and slate got their design inspiration from

Do you think Apple is putting a brake on innovation with the iPad?