As I noted in my original post update, I am no longer on the agenda for the Cleveland Day of .NET 2008.  I had to withdraw due to personal and professional schedule conflicts. So it goes.

• Today's big news: HTC's announcement of the HTC Diamond
  
• Eqatec .NET CF Code Profiler  Free, and works with .NET CF 2.0.
  
• Engadget Mobile brings us a T-Mobile USA press release about their 3G (UMTS/HSPDA) service.
  
• Mobile Flash to be free. Michael Mace at Mobile Opportunity brings us the news about Adobe's future direction.
  

UPDATE (2008-05-12):  I had to withdraw from speaking at CDODN due to personal/professional conflicts. So it goes and such is life. 

It's official. I'll be giving my Windows PowerShell - An Introduction  (aka PowerShell for Devs) talk at the Cleveland Day of .NET 2008 on Saturday, May 17, 2008. I'm looking forward to seeing all my Heartland district friends, meeting new people, and having a great time.

The abstract goes something like:
Windows PowerShell is the new standard Windows command-line shell that includes a runtime engine, data providers, core commands, a new scripting language, and an interactive prompt. It is a tool that should be in every I.T. professional’s toolbox, be that a toolbox of a software developer or system administrator. This session will give an introduction to basic concepts and usage scenarios as well as examples of useful scripts and extending PowerShell.

As the DoDN site says:

The Day of .NET's are a one-day conference on all things .NET organized by developers for developers. These events are usually offered at no cost to anyone interested in .NET development.

These conferences are ran by local user groups and rely on volunteers to make them happen.

Come one, come all (be sure to register), learn something new, and vote with your feet.

• Strong rumors abound on the news of T-Mobile USA finally rolling out 3G (UMTS) on May 1 in NYC.  Here's the scoop at TmoNews and BGR.  Of course, Cincinnati is not in the top 25 markets (Birmingham ranks higher - really?), so I'll have to wait, but hopefully not too much longer.   Follow up questions: How much and will you screw us for tethering?
  
• Richard gives us a time saving tip about Label Vista and Zebra BT printers.
  
• Jim is going to be pretty busy in short order with webcasts, webcasts, and webcasts.  Did I mention Jim is going to do some webcasts?  The first one is Wednesday (April 30) on SQL Compact Tips and Tricks.
  
• From Loke (via Twitter, no less), a link to free Windows Mobile remote control software

Dropped the ball on posting last week; back on the wagon now.

• Is RIM gunning for Apple?  This post from Engadget gives the scoop.
  
• mocoNews notes that Skype has launched the beta of a mobile client.
  
• Lifehacker enlightens us to a SMS-based service from diet.com that delivers nutritional values at your request.
  
• Luca (the WURFL guy) is taking no prisoners in the mobile web transcoding issue.  (via mobhappy) Go, Luca!
  
• T-Mobile will have an Android device by year end, so says a piece on IntoMobile.
  
• Apple iPhone SDK beta 4 is out  OpenGL ES support, forced code signing, and more.
  
• MoDaCo brings us DupeDeDupe, an app to remove duplicate contacts on your WM device.
  

• Roshan Khan on the Windows Mobile team blogs about Faster C# and gives an example of fast bitmap manipulation
  
• The Mobile Messaging 2.0 blog links to MSNBC about the nationwide (U.S.A.) text messaging alert system that should be operational in 2010.
  
• Jason Langridge brings us news of the Best Practices Analyzer for [System Center] Mobile Device Manager
  
• Kevin from jkOnTheRun blogs about ceSnipURL
  
• Steven Pratschner gives us Part V of his CLRProfiler for .NET CF series.
  
• Hometown provider Cincinnati Bell Wireless launches an on-device portal.  (yeah, I'm with T-Mobile ..still...and no 3G..yet).

What is Live Mesh?  It is a new technology and platform that enables synchronization and storage "to the cloud" for desktops, devices, and more.

• Live Mesh: http://www.mesh.com
  
• Windows Live Dev blog intro: http://dev.live.com/blogs/devlive/archive/2008/04/22/279.aspx
  
• Ray Ozzie introducing Live Mesh: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=399578
  
• Abolade Gbadegesin - Live Mesh Architecture: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=399577
  
• Hands on with Live Mesh: http://www.on10.net/blogs/nic/Hands-on-with-Live-Mesh/  (currently not working, go to http://www.on10.net instead)
  
• (and, FWIW) Scoble on Mesh: http://scobleizer.com/2008/04/22/ray-ozzie-delivers-with-live-mesh/

No blogging last week on account of the MVP Summit, but we're back at it this week...

• Jon Box lists reasons for running WM 6 and WM 6.1
  
• Carlo Longino's well-written piece about the mobile web, in response to the Mowser situation.
  
• Dan blogs about an issue with CF 3.5
  
• Erik EJ gives us a sample of importing SQL Compact data into Excel
  
• Raffael gives us four gems: A three part series on GPS Programming Tips for WM, and a post on debugging Connection Manager code.
  
• Pavel gives us one way to simulate a Windows service on Windows Mobile using managed code
  

I've fully returned to Eastern Daylight Time and gotten caught up on sleep, so now I can write a blog post and actually make some sense.

MVP Summit

Although I have now received the MVP award three times (2006, 2007, 2008), this year is the first time I have made it out to Redmond for the MVP Summit. And wow, very glad that I did attend!   In sum, MVP Summit 2008 rocked!

Sure, being briefed by the product teams on future directions was great, but even better was the great conversations between MVPs and with the product teams. At times, the discussion was heated very passionate, but only because we care so very much about these products and technologies.

It was great to see people I hadn't seen in a while, like Drew Robbins, Ginny Caughey, Bill Ryan, Rob Miles, Alex Feinman, Darren Shaffer, Amit Chopra, and, of course, my MVP Lead Mike Fosmire. It was also great to meet some people for the first time like Alberto Silva, CJ Craft, Loke Uei Tan, Rob Tiffany, Peter Nowak, Nick Randolph, Richard Jones, Jim Wilson, Steve Lasker, and Mike Saffitz.  (and I'm certain my aged memory has forgotten someone - apologies).

CODoDN

After spending the better part of the week under information overload at the MVP Summit, I hopped the red-eye home Thursday night.  Friday was a bit of a blur as I didn't get much sleep on the flight home. Saturday started bright and early as I headed up to Wilmington, OH for the Central Ohio Day of .NET 2008. Walking in the door, I ran into some friends from a past life (Keith, MikeL, Ben) and then I saw Joe Fiorini who was talking to Sarah and introduced me to her. 

Later, I ran into some folks I hadn't seen in a while like Jason, Josh, Joe, Justin, Jay, and Jim (ok, I ran into Jim and Jason at the MVP Summit, so it hadn't been that long).  I also got to meet a number of people from the region I have been Twittering with like Leon, Michael, Michael, James, Carey, Dan, Dan, and Amanda (F# it!).   I also got to meet two developer evangelists for Heartland district: Jennifer Marsman and Jeff Blankenburg.  And, of course, I couldn't forget to mention seeing Brian at both the MVP Summit and CODoDN.

Oh, and I gave two talks, too.  If you attended either my Microsoft Sync Framework or Windows Mobile development in VS2008 talk, I'd like to hear from you. Either click the contact link on my blog to email me or leave an anonymous comment (I won't publish it).  Was it good? Did it suck? Was the speaker bad but the content good?  Whatever your thoughts, let me know!  Thank you!

And last but not least, Mike deserves a lot of credit and praise for a well-organized and well-run event.

Check out Andy Erickson's video clip, too.

•  jiggy  Create native iPhone apps in your browser.
  
• Force Sensing/Mobile Device Interaction  ..and you thought twisting and bending a mobile device was a bad thing.
  
• Got a TyTN II?  Got Android?  Get some Android on your TyTN II. (running as an app, no less, not replacing WM).  Cool stuff from the crazy and inventive XDA-Dev crowd.  Although I'd prefer to get some peanut butter in my chocolate instead (and yes, I'm old enough that I remember these commercials on TV).
  
• Want Windows Mobile? Need dual-SIM? Check out what HKC just announced. Samsung also recently announced a dual-SIM, but without WM.
  
• Paul from MoDaCo, announces AppToDate, a generic updater for WM.
  
• Dale Vanderboom has a good post on .NET MF vs MRS  I would also suggest his post on Extension Methods for manipulating bitmaps in .NET CF.
• Jason Langridge tells us how to get clickable phone numbers on WM Professional.  Maddening issue, and sure, I figured this out a while ago, but why wasn't this fixed in for 6.1 ?
  
• Reed Robison has a great post on XML provisioning for WM devices. XML provisioning is very powerful stuff; I've used often to great effect. Also note that the latest issue MSDN Magazine (April 2008) has an article about this, too.

Registration Central Ohio Day of .NET 2008 is booked (and thus closed - the waitlist is now full, too), and the session schedule is now posted. Check it out!

• The U.S. military has a controversial hand-held lie detector, PCASS. that is Windows Mobile-based. Check the PDF/PPT that is available.  The concerns lie with the software (and algorithms it uses) not with WM.

• Mobility Metro is coming to a town near you. (thanks, Loke!) A three day hands-on lab about building apps for Windows Mobile.  MM comes to the Queen City on June 23.

• Neil Cowburn gives us guidance in using CodeDOM to generate .NET CF assemblies.
  

• Doing .NET MF?  The Tahoe.NET platform is down to US$299.  Thanks, CJ Craft (and congrats on the MVP!).

• PowerShell on Windows Mobile?  Crazy. Check out Pash.  (thanks to, um, one of my Tweeps).

• Christopher Fairbairn blogs a how to on detecting WM AKUs.  He also has a great interview with Raffaele Limosani

Still tweaking my presentations for CODoDN (hey, did you register?)

• Tablet PC Talk gives a thumbs down to the HTC Shift.




• iPhone user trivia, anyone?  Courtesy of the fine folks at Mobile Opportunity.




• Jason Langridge blogs about the very spiffy System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (SCMDM).




• Don't like threaded SMS in WM6.1? Disable it. Fellow MVP Peter Foot tells you how.




• Giorgio Sardo teases us with a video of Silverlight for Mobile Today Screen Plugin

Just squeaked this one in before the stroke of midnight.  It feels good to be TMM'ing again.

• SMSOfficer, a new Outlook Mobile Service hosting provider. OMS allows you to send/receive text messages in Outlook 2007.  But it ain't free. You get 10 credits to start with (credit==text message), and can buy more. Starting price is US$0.08/message.   Give it a whirl, at least.

• Doing mobile web?  The taptu blog has 20 Great Resources for Mobile Designers and Developers (and for Devigners, too, I suppose).

• Guitar Hero III Mobile  Thanks to Loke for the link.

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Emulators  Get 'em while they're hot!

• Phil blogs about some updates to the Live Search for Windows Mobile client.

• Windows Mobile Remote Controller   Written by fellow D.A.D. MVP Joao Paulo Figueira

• My friend Rabi Satter talks about Mobile LOB Accelerator 2008 architecture and Managed Stored Procedures in the MLOBA2008

I was thrilled to receive this email [snipped] today:

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2008 Microsoft® MVP Award! The MVP Award is our way to say thank you for promoting the spirit of community and improving people’s lives and the industry’s success every day. We appreciate your extraordinary efforts in Device Application Development technical communities during the past year.

w00t!  Thanks, Microsoft!