Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 - Test Drive

Finally we got VS 2010 Beta! I have just installed it and had a test drive of it. Look and feel is relay cool, seems more productive with lot of built-in functionality.

·         Aims to become a tool for everyone involved in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) – from architects to developers, from project managers to testers. Not just for developers.

 

·         Unified Development and Database product editions.

Design & Architecture

·         Architecture Explorer – to discover and identify existing code assets and architecture in number of ways including graphs, stacked diagrams and dependency matrices.

 

·         Ability to create and share various types of diagrams like use case, activity and sequence diagrams.

 

·         Modeling tools that are tightly integrated with code and thus helps in keeping model and code in sync.

 

·         Architectural Validations - Ways to put constraints on code using models and doing validations at the time of check-ins and builds.

 

·         Architecture Layer Diagram – One of the most useful and simple tool getting introduced. It allows representing your application architecture in form of layers and showing dependencies between them. It also allows to map physical components like classes, namespaces etc. to map to these layers. After all mappings you can validate whether the code meets the expected mappings and constraints.

 

·         Microsoft joins OMG and UML gets introduced in Visual Studio 2010.

 

·         Support for UML 2.1.1 – 5 out of 13 diagrams – use case, component, activity, class and sequence diagrams.

 

·         Ability to keep all the UML diagrams in sync so that a change in one automatically reflects on others.

 

·         UML design tool is developed using DSL toolkit.

 

·         Will be interoperable with Visio 1.1 templates.

 

·         Supports Top to bottom design approach.

 

·         Supports Bottom to top design approach – reverse engineer. Filter based on namespaces, number of level deep.

 

·         Model Explorer – Similar to Solution Explorer, this allows you to explore all the models you have created which includes objects created as part of various UML diagrams – logical view.

 

·         Ability to create a Sequence Diagram from existing source, simply by right clicking in the VS code editor and selecting "Generate Sequence Diagram..."

 

·         Parallel Programming: To better utilize power of multi-processor and multi-core machines, .NET 4.0 will add support for parallel programming using PLINQ, Task Parallel Library and Coordination Data Structures. The debugger has been enhanced to identify concurrency issues. Two new features added are MultiStack and a Task List views. Introduction of concurrency analysis report for performance analysis of applications.

Quality/ Testing

·         Test Impact View - Identify and run only the tests impacted by a code.

 

·         Eliminating ‘no-repro’ bug  i.e. bugs that can’t be reproduced by providing tools for better collection of test data.

 

·         The Microsoft Test Runner Tool – a standalone tool that a tester uses to guide them through a series of steps to complete a test case. During the test run, this tool can take snapshot of test environment, application screenshots and even capture full video for assisting in reproducing bugs.

Source Code Management

·         Enhanced version control capabilities including gated check-in, branch visualization and build workflow.

 

·         Ability to perform constraints check on code during check-in based on Architecture Layer Diagram.

Project Management

·         Integration with Project Server for enterprise wide project management and new features for Agile project scheduling with Excel.

(from http://www.vikasgoyal.net)

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/10-4-Episode-20-Downloading-and-Installing-Visual-Studio-2010-Beta-1/

Firefly Cellphone in Ireland (from O2)

The new Firefly wireless phone is designed for kids. It is easy to use. Just press a couple of buttons to place a call. There is no need to remember numbers or dial. The special phone book makes this possible. It can hold up to 22 pre-programmed numbers. Use parental control options to limit incoming and outgoing call to the numbers in the phone book.

With just 5 (front) keys, it brings mobiles back to what they were originally designed to do - keep you connected. Firefly phones also keep it fun with lights, sounds, colours and animations.

Most importantly, it has PIN-protected features so you can control who the user receives calls from and, who they speak to.

Firefly Fireworks™ display flashes when making and receiving calls, during standby, and when charging.

The user also has:

12 ringtones

5 animations

7 LCD screen backlight colours

A huge range of accessories to choose from.

visit www.mrmubi.com for latest news.

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Shop/Phones/Firefly+for+kids/

Color Picker Pen

With color picker, all range of artists will be able to cerate a more sensorial and visual insight of their surrounding nature’s colors. This is amazing innovation by Jinsun Park. Color Picker is an great design of a concept pen that can scan colors from anything around and instantly use the color for drawing. After placing the pen in front of an object, the user just presses the scan button. The color is being detected by the color sensor and the RGB cartridge of the pen mixes the required inks to create the target color. This superb device will help people to observe the changing colors of nature. 

Tahoe-II Development Board

Finnaly i got Tahoe-II Development Board today, thanks to my boss
Dr. Ahmed Javad, who has alway encouraged me to
welcome the new technology. Next couple of weekends will be very
interesting working on it.

The Tahoe-II development platform is the ideal place to start when developing small, smart, connected devices. Featuring the .NET Micro Framework, you have the hardware and software tools to get your project done faster than ever before.   Through its fully integrated Visual Studio experience, the .NET Micro Framework brings a reliable and productive development environment to the world of embedded development. Complex applications can be developed and debugged faster by leveraging the powerful emulator and Visual Studio’s debugging capabilities. The familiar development environment also enables .NET  desktop programmers to work easily on embedded projects. The Tahoe- features a 3.5” touch-screen LCD, wired and wireless networking, USB function for interfacing to PCs, an accelerometer for innovative sensing and user interface applications. When you need to prototype a new device, the Tahoe-II has easy access to an array of expansion options; including serial ports, I2C, SPI and plenty of GPIO.    The Tahoe-II is built around the Meridian CPU, while features a Freescale i.MXS ARM9 processor, 4Mbytes of Flash, 8Mbytes of RAM. Moving from prototype to production is simple with the Meridian CPU. The Meridian CPU and the .NET Micro Framework are ideal for applications such as; industrial automation, home automation, healthcare, consumer devices, retail point-of-sale, PC peripherals, and automotive applications.

Specifiaction of Tahoe-II

• Meridian CPU (ARM920 @ 100MHz, 4Mbytes Flash, 8Mbytes SDRAM)
• 3.5” Landscape TFT LCD with touch-screen
• 9 user input buttons
• RS232 serial (DB9)
• USB Function
• Ethernet
• Accelerometer, with support for event notification including free-fall detection
• SD Card interface
• Temperature sensor and 2x ADC channels
• Interface for XBee wireless module (and additional ADC channels if fitted)
• PWM output
• Expansion connectors that expose GPIO, I2C, SPI and UART signals

The Tahoe-II supports version 3.0 of the .NET Micro Framework.  A Board Support Package (BSP) for use with the Porting Kit is under develpment for advanced users.

You can find out more detials about it on ...  http://devicesolutions.net/Products/TahoeII.aspx

Meccano Spykee Wi-Fi Spy Robot

I heard of this robot few month earlier and it really attracted me.

You all know about good feature of skype and if those are plugged into robot you can imagine how 

interesting it would be. Many people have Wi-Fi network at home now a days, and this robot is connected to Internet using your home or office Wi-Fi, you can remotely operate this robot via internet and talk to you your family, kids especially.

The Spykee Robot is spy robot kit that stands at approximately 1 foot tall. 

Once built, this remarkable robot acts as your walking, talking spy, a wireless VOIP phone, 

a webcam, a digital music player for your MP3s, and personal video surveillance thanks 

to Spyke's motion detector. The Spykee comes with 210 parts and is compatible

 with other 

Meccano sets for customization.

Characteristics:

• Spy robot - Spyke moves, watches, speaks and listens 

• VOIP phone - Use your Spyke as a wireless VOIP phone (compatible with Skype 3.0 PC technology) 

• Digital Music Player - listen to your own music over Wi-Fi with Spyke 

• Video Surveillance - When a movement is detected, Spyke activates an alarm on your computer or sends you a picture by email

• Other play functions include snapshot, sound and video recording, light, voice and sound effects and video filters 

• Wi-Fi card included 

• Motion sensors activate automatically when something happens 

• Returns to recharging station automatically when battery is low 

• Control on local Wi-Fi connection or remotely via internet 

Run the comprehensive software and you have a Wi-Fi enabled robot that can be controlled on a 

local connection or remotely from the Internet on a well-crafted and easy-to-navigate MMI or 

Machine Man Interface. This page can be opened using the CD ROM provided.

See how it looks like before you purchase.



For further details and to purchase this item you can go to http://www.robotshop.ca/meccano-spyke-wifi-robot-1.html.