MSDN Flash - Volume 15, Number 14: July 5, 2011

Top Stories

IE10 Platform Preview 2 Is Out with More HTML5 and CSS3 Goodness

Download IE10 PP2, get the scoop on updated HTML5 and CSS3 support from the Internet Explorer Platform Preview Guide for Developers, and play with the new demos while watching the new videos on Channel 9.

Introduction to Complex UIs Using jQuery UI

jQuery UI makes building a web application with a complex UI easier. With jQuery UI we have at our fingertips a collection of interactions, widgets, and a theme builder that allows us to make a cohesive UI.

Make Script Performance Automatic with Custom Templates in Visual Studio 2010

Microsoft Developer Evangelist G. Andrew Duthie shows you how you can improve script performance on all of your new web projects by taking advantage of Visual Studio 2010's built-in support for creating custom project templates. A screencast version of the tutorial is also available.

Your Featured Content

Announcing the Rock Paper Azure Challenge Grand Tournament
Have you ever played Rock, Paper, Scissors? Then you already know how to play the game. Now's your chance to code your own player bot and test your skills online against players from seven countries. The grand prize tournament winner will take home US$5,000 on July 13th! Will your bot have what it takes to crush the coding competition? Play and find out.

Mohsen Agsen: C++ Today and Tomorrow
Microsoft Technical Fellow Mohsen Agsen talks about the present and future of C++ on the Windows platform. Also, via Gus Class: The Biggest Changes in C++11 (and Why You Should Care).

Office Development Site Map - New
Are you lost in a sea of content? Check out a new user-friendly site map that provides links to developer content for Microsoft Office products, servers, services, and technologies, including SharePoint, Lync, Exchange, and Office for Mac.

What's New in SQL Server Code Name "Denali" (Part 1 of 3)
Program Manager Mouli Gopalakrishnan takes us through core features, including AlwaysON, high availability, disaster recovery capabilities, the Apollo column store, user-defined roles, and contained databases.

Bytes by MSDN Interview with Umbraco
Learn how Umbraco, a free, open-source web CMS built on ASP.NET is a great fit for developers who are building content-based websites; how Razor and WebMatrix have integrated with Umbraco; and how Umbraco uses web best practices.

Building Cross-Platform Apps Using jQuery Mobile
jQuery Mobile introduces a cross-platform and cross-device framework for developing mobile applications. It supports a wide variety of mobile browsers and delivers a unified user interface to the devices. It simplifies working with mobile browsers by abstracting away inconsistences between vendors.

Using SharePoint Data in your LightSwitch Applications
One of the great features of LightSwitch is that it lets you connect to and manipulate data inside SharePoint. Data can come from any of the built-in SharePoint lists like Tasks or Calendar or it can come from custom lists that you create in SharePoint.

Kinect for Windows SDK Beta
Microsoft Research has released a programming toolkit that enables easy access to a Microsoft Kinect device connected to Windows 7.

New Video Center for SharePoint 2010 Developers
Have just a few minutes to learn something new? Watch 101 short videos about creating custom solutions with SharePoint Online, SharePoint Server, and SharePoint Foundation.

Office Development with Visual Studio (VSTO) - New Resources
The Office Development with Visual Studio Developer Center has been migrated to the Office site. Check out our new pages.

Bytes by MSDN Interview: Windows Phone 7
Cliff Simpkins, Senior Product Manager, talks about the Windows Phone 7 developer experience. Cliff takes community feedback directly to the engineering team at Microsoft. The discussion covers the recent Nokia announcement and new features in store for the Windows Phone 7 platform, which Cliff promises will "really blow people away."

How to Build Asteroids with the Impact HTML5 Game Engine
Learn how to build a simple space-based asteroids game using the Impact game engine, one of the more robust engines currently available.

Extending Your jQuery Application with Amplify.js
appendTo has recently released a set of JavaScript components that can assist with common problems in front-end development. The library was developed to "Amplify" your current jQuery skills and provide some missing components that are important for developing scalable web applications.