Category: Announcements

Authoring for Pluralsight

Featured

Coming soon I will be authoring a course for Pluralsight titled – “Identify Existing Products, Services and Technologies in Use For Microsoft Azure” . This course targets software developers who are looking to get started with Microsoft Azure services to build modern cloud-enabled solutions and want to further extend their knowledge of those services by learning how to use existing products, services, and technologies offered by Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Azure is a host for almost any application, but determining how to use it within existing workflows is paramount for success. In this course, Identify Existing Products, Services and Technologies in Use, you will learn how to integrate existing workflows, technologies, and processes with Microsoft Azure.

We explore Microsoft Azure with the following technologies:

  • Languages, Frameworks, and IDEs –
    • IntelliJ IDEA
    • WebStorm
    • Visual Studio Code
    • .NET Core
    • C#
    • Java
    • JavaScript
    • Spring
    • NodeJS
    • Docker
  • Microsoft Azure Products
    • Azure App Services
    • Azure Kubernetes
    • Azure Functions
    • Azure IoT Hub

Hopefully we can take a developer familiar with the languages, frameworks, and ides available and make have them up and running on Microsoft Azure after this short course.

Quicken Loans TechCon 2018

September 20th at Cobb Center in Detroit I will be presenting:

Alternative Device Interfaces and Machine Learning

Abstract

In this presentation, we will look at the how users interface with machines without the use of touch. These different types of interaction have their benefits and pitfalls. To showcase the power of these user interactions we will explore: Voice commands with mobile applications, Speech Recognition, and Computer Vision. After this presentation, attendees will have the knowledge to create applications that can utilize voice, video, and machine learning.

Description

Users use voice (Alexa, Cortana, Google Now) or video as a mode of interaction with applications. More than a fad, this is a natural interface for users and is becoming more and more common with the ever-decreasing size of hardware.

Different types of interaction have their benefits and pitfalls. To showcase the power of these user interactions we will explore: Voice commands with two app types: UWP and Xamarin Forms (iOS and Android). Speech Recognition with Cognitive Services: Verifying the speaker with Speaker Recognition API. Computer Vision with Cognitive Services: Verifying a user with Face API.

By utilizing UWP, Xamarin, and Cognitive services; a device with the ultimate in customization for user interactions will be created. Come and see how!

Atlanta Code Camp – Tickets for sale

Register Here

Code Camps are community focused events by and for the developer community. The Atlanta Code Camp draws upon the expertise of local and regional developers, architects, and experts who come together to share their real world experiences, lessons learned, best practices, and general knowledge with other interested individuals.

Date: Saturday, September 15th, 2018

Registration Time: 8:00 AM to 8:45 AM

Time: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Location: Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA (formerly Southern Polytechnic State University)

Address: 1100 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060

Ticket Price: $10 (Cover your lunch)

Update – Techbash

UPDATE:

Another one of my talks was selected for Techbash: Alternative Device Interfaces and Machine Learning.

In this presentation, we will look at the how users interface with machines without the use of touch. These different types of interaction have their benefits and pitfalls. To showcase the power of these user interactions we will explore: Voice commands with mobile applications, Speech Recognition, and Computer Vision. After this presentation, attendees will have the knowledge to create applications that can utilize voice, video, and machine learning.

Users use voice (Alexa, Cortana, Google Now) or video as a mode of interaction with applications. More than a fad, this is a natural interface for users and is becoming more and more common with the ever-decreasing size of hardware.

Different types of interaction have their benefits and pitfalls. To showcase the power of these user interactions we will explore: Voice commands with two app types: UWP and Xamarin Forms (iOS and Android). Speech Recognition with Cognitive Services: Verifying the speaker with Speaker Recognition API. Computer Vision with Cognitive Services: Verifying a user with Face API.

By utilizing UWP, Xamarin, and Cognitive services; a device with the ultimate in customization for user interactions will be created. Come and see how!

Original:

This year I will be presenting Enable IoT with Edge Computing and Machine Learning at TechBash. Here is the outline:

Being able to run compute cycles on local hardware is a practice predating silicon circuits. Mobile and Web technology has pushed computation away from local hardware and onto remote servers. As prices in the cloud have decreased, more and more of the remote servers have moved there. This technology cycle is coming full circle with pushing the computation that would be done in the cloud down to the client. The catalyst for the cycle completing is latency and cost. Running computations on local hardware softens the load in the cloud and reduces overall cost and architectural complexity.

The difference now is how the computational logic is sent to the device. As of now, we rely on app stores and browsers to deliver the logic the client will use. Delivery mechanisms are evolving into writing code once and having the ability to run that logic in the cloud and push that logic to the client through your application and have that logic run on the device. In this presentation, we will look at how to accomplish this with existing Azure technologies and how to prepare for upcoming technologies to run these workloads.

 

Atlanta Code Camp – Call for Speakers

The Atlanta Code Camp call for speakers is open and we are looking for speakers on the following topics:

  • Cloud Computing (Cloud architecture, Serverless)
  • Data Engineering (RDBMS, NOSQL, Analytics)
  • Data Science (Big Data, AI/ML, Functional Programming)
  • Mobile Computing (Native and/or Hybrid)
  • Modern Web Development, Languages and Tools
  • DevOps and ALM (Including Agile, TDD, and related topics)
  • VR and Game Development
  • Infrastructure (Security, Networking, Identity)
  • Professional Development (Soft Skills, Career Advancement)
  • Business Tools (Office, CRM)
  • Emerging Technologies (IoT, MR)

The event will be at the Marietta campus of Kennesaw State University and out keynote will be Jeremy Likeness.

Sponsors Wanted – Atlanta Medical Hackathon

The Atlanta Medical Hackathon is looking for Sponsors. Sponsors can look forward to getting in front of soon to graduate, undergraduate and graduate students interested in a career in technology or medicine.

Hackathons are a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, often including subject-matter-experts, collaborate intensively on software projects. The Atlanta Medical Hackathon brings business, technology, and medical professionals together to solve problems within the medical industry by combining the knowledge base of different specialties in an innovative environment.

This event is unique in that it looks to bring together professionals from both worlds to solve business problems. Therefore, when you help to sponsor the Atlanta Medical Hackathon, you are seen by attendees as a supporter of local innovative initiatives and are recognized as a primary player within the Atlanta medical technology community. Additionally, this event is continually promoted by technology and medical professionals in the weeks and months preceding the event as they talk with their clients. This ensures that you are receiving qualified attendees that are currently engaged with medical technologies within their current organization.

This is the inaugural Atlanta Medical Hackathon. We hope that this event can be the start to a continued engagement of innovate excellence of medical technology. The qualified leads generated by Atlanta Medical Hackathon will be unequaled!

MVP Renewal

Proudly, I will be entering my second year as a Microsoft MVP. This will be under the Microsoft Azure category again. Moving forward, I look forward to doing a large amount of work and training with Azure Edge and Azure ML. Specifically, I look forward to working on the Scry Unlimited and West World of Warcraft projects. To contact me for for your project, please visit the contact page.

As a start, on 7/2/2018 I will be presenting AI on the Edge at the Atlanta Intelligent Devices user group. Following that up I will be speaking at events around the country and hopefully internationally. In addition to my normal speaking on Mobile, Cloud, and Edge; I will be adding Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence specifically focusing on the integration with Edge and Mobile computing. If you are looking for a speaker, check out my speaker page and fill out the form.

Finally, I am still putting together events in Atlanta. If you would like to participate in any of the following events, just follow their links or message me on Twitter:

TechBash 2018

This year I will be presenting Enable IoT with Edge Computing and Machine Learning at TechBash. Here is the outline:

Being able to run compute cycles on local hardware is a practice predating silicon circuits. Mobile and Web technology has pushed computation away from local hardware and onto remote servers. As prices in the cloud have decreased, more and more of the remote servers have moved there. This technology cycle is coming full circle with pushing the computation that would be done in the cloud down to the client. The catalyst for the cycle completing is latency and cost. Running computations on local hardware softens the load in the cloud and reduces overall cost and architectural complexity.

The difference now is how the computational logic is sent to the device. As of now, we rely on app stores and browsers to deliver the logic the client will use. Delivery mechanisms are evolving into writing code once and having the ability to run that logic in the cloud and push that logic to the client through your application and have that logic run on the device. In this presentation, we will look at how to accomplish this with existing Azure technologies and how to prepare for upcoming technologies to run these workloads.

 

Announcing – Atlanta Medical Hackathon

Finally, the Atlanta Medical Hackathon will have its inaugural hack October 19th-20th. It will be held at the Pediatric Technology Center at Georgia Tech. The hackathon is open to students and graduate students focusing on information technology or medicine.

Medicine and technology go hand in hand but professionals of each speak a different language. The professions have different workflows, different standards, and different needs. The Atlanta Medical Hackathon plans to bring students from those different professions together to learn how to work with one another and remove the current barriers that exist.

The challenges of the hackathon are as follows:

  • Navigating Healthcare – Patients have great difficulty knowing where to get the care they need at the right time. Part of the challenge comes with having an incredibly complex health care delivery system. To help patients, create new tools to improve patients navigate through the health care system and obtain access to community based care, wellness programs, and other ancillary services that support individuals improve their health.
  • Transparency in Healthcare – Transparency, whether cost, data, or anything else, has been a great issue in health care. Without information patients cannot make the right decisions on treatments, doctors, or labs/imaging amongst a long list of other things such as wait times. Tackle problems in data transparency to allow for patients to discover what medical information is around them (providers, insurance acceptance, pricing, wait times, etc.). Solutions should consider open access and HIPPA compliance.
  • Accessible Healthcare – Patients need to be supported by tools that will educate and empower them to make the right lifestyle choices and help them stick to their treatment plans. They get some information from their physicians or other sources but a single source would dispel a lot of mixed messages and help patients follow suit with decisions that support a health life. Create a solution that allow patients to make better health decisions allowing for self-management of disease and condition and to know when to contact their medical provider. Think creatively on how to change patients’ thinking from “The doctor will see you now” to “The patient will see you now”,
  • Medical Imaging – Create innovative solutions using imaging technologies and data analytics to provide better patient care.
  • Transitioning to Adult Healthcare – Changing doctors is never easy. When you’re a teenager new to advocating for your own health care, or one who has a chronic illness like diabetes or cystic fibrosis, it can be even more challenging to make the transition. Create new tools to assist pediatricians, family physicians, and internists to support all adolescents, including those with special health care needs, as they transition to an adult model of health care.