Microsoft TechEd Conference Day 2: part 1

Last night was a blast. After all the sessions at TechEd were done for the day, I, and many others, attended a Windows Phone 7 hackathon. The goal of this was to give attendees who were new to developing for Windows Phone a "training session" on how to develop programs, starting with the basics, and upload them to the marketplace. Unfortunately, I think I broke Marketplace when I tried to upload my first program for submission. I hope Microsoft can fix this problem as soon as possible so I can submit my programs. At the end, there was a contest for best program (due to time constraints, the program didn't have to be a finished product). I entered my BSA Eagle Tracker program, which (when finished) gives a boy scout working towards Eagle Scout a portable way to track their progress toward achieving Eagle Scout. In the end, I came in third place, losing to a program that shows information from a website about beer (first place) and a program that tracks a pregnant women's path to childbirth (second place). It was after midnight when I finally got back to the hotel.

Because I got back late, I ended up sleeping in late and missing the first round of sessions. Luckily, I was able to make it in time for one of the sessions in the second round I really wanted to attend, "Monty WiFion and the Quest for the Holy Grail of Network Security". In this session, I learned about some of the (wireless) technologies that have come along in recent years, how they can be compromised and hacked, and how to prevent and avoid attacks that may happen with those wireless technologies.

More is coming later, so stay tuned for more. If you were at the hack-a-thon last night, I would like to hear about your experience there (via the comment box) or if you have some other thoughts about TechEd (in general), I would like to hear about that too (in the comment box). While you are at it, consider following me on Twitter as well (Twitter username is "rctechgeek", link is on the side of the page in the "About me" section).