AzureABILITY Podcast

Put the words "Azure DevOps" into any search engine and Abel Wang will certainly show up near the top (see Azure DevOps Updates; Pre-Build 2019 for one recent example).  Listen in as Abel shares his passion for Azure DevOps, delivering pitch-perfect insight into both the current and future state of his favorite Microsoft tech.

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Abel Wang is a Principal Cloud Advocate specializing in DevOps and Azure with a background in application development.  He is currently part of Donovan Brown's League of Extraordinary Cloud DevOps Advocates. Before joining Microsoft, Abel spent seven years as a Process Consultant and a Certified Scrum Master helping customers globally develop solutions using agile practices and Team Foundation Server.  Prior to that, Abel founded and sold his own software company.  When not working, Abel is either writing code (yes, that’s what he does for fun), playing his guitar or training for The Great Wall Marathon.  Recently diagnosed with cancer, Abel spits in the face of cancer and will never quit. 

• https://abelsquidhead.com
• https://twitter.com/abelsquidhead
• https://dev.azure.com
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/?view=azure-devops

The episode also features two PSAs from from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Be sure to give the CDC some love (they do a great job!)

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes. Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions either by the Podbean App (see links, below), email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Abel Wang (Guest); Meryl Streep (PSA); CDC Radio (PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/dd8dccd6a8/ (be sure to turn "Closed Captioning" to "English"; icon in lower right-hand corner of "video" window)

It was recently announced in the NY Times (When Sky & Telescope Had No Limit) that Sky & Telescope's parent company F+W Media filed for bankruptcy. F+W will go to the auction block on May 30th, with a winner announced on June 4th. We can only hope that S&T will land well; either individually or as part of a conglomerate sale.----more----

For those of you who have little if any familiarity with the magazine, its impending doom may not seem all that portentous, but as both an amateur astronomer and long-time S&T Subscriber I can assure you that the loss would come as a grievous blow. The irony of it all is that while the magazine, itself, is profitable, the auction will ultimately be about preserving F+W as a whole. As such, S&T's future is anything but assured.

To be clear, I have every hope that S&T will be purchased. What I'm concerned about is its ongoing relevance and viability; something at this point that's anybody's guess.

As I say in the podcast "...we haven't figured out what..." we, the self-styled Friends of Sky & Telescope (FOST) can do to be of service, but there are plans in the works. Listen in and if you're interested in joining our rag-tag group of S&T enthusiasts, do reach out. ([email protected]).

Infusing intelligence into apps, bots and websites used to be neigh on impossible but with Azure's Cognitive Services it's become dead simple; a revolution in the making that TechBash co-founder Andy Schwam and MTC Techology Architect Rich Ross explain.----more----

Andy Schwam is a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP (since 2010) and ASP Insider. He is an experienced speaker, trainer, blogger, and conference organizer. As AVP Enterprise Architecture, he is responsible for moving the IT department forward through the use of new technology, best practices, DevOps and the Cloud. Additionally, Andy is a founding board member and organizer of TechBash, an annual conference for developers. He has been creating software applications since 1999. 

Rich Ross is Technology Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) in Philadelphia. He spends much of his time talking to customers about their challenges, architecting Azure solutions and building innovative applications to showcase technologies. Rich has more than 25 years of business and IT experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. He is a contributor to many local user groups including Philly.net and TriState SharePoint. Rich also helps to organize and run Philly .net Code Camp, a bi-annual event for developers and businesses in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Once you're done listening to the episode be sure to check out the following links, too:

• http://www.schwammysays.net/
• https://techbash.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewschwam/
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwrHPf4oI1_UydigJQxuj3g
• https://www.youtube.com/phillydotnet 
• https://github.com/schwammy

The episode also features PSAs from three of our favorite kid-focused technology organizations MakeCode, Kodable and Code.org. Be sure to give 'em some love (they do a great job!)

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes. Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions either by the Podbean App (see links, below), email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Andy Schwam and Rich Ross (Guests); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Megan Hochstatter (Code.org PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/8d33c86f45/ (be sure to turn "Closed Captioning" to "English"; icon in lower right-hand corner of "video" window)

Microsoft's vast partner-ecosystem is a big part of the Azure value proposition. Listen in as Microsoft Enterprise Channel Manager Christine Schanne and I delve into the partner experience with Neudesic; a top Gold Microsoft Partner.

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Christine Schanne is an Enterprise Channel Manager driving Microsoft's Partner Co-Sell Strategy in the Northeast Region by developing and delivering Partner ecosystems to support our customer's Digital Transformation journey with a focus in the Retail/CPG industry.

Kunaal Kapoor (Director, Client Services – Northeast) leads Neudesic’s Northeast practice, making client and alliance partnerships successful. Kunaal has a solid tech consulting background and focuses on helping organizations successfully capture the business opportunities of Digital Transformation.

Steve Tetrault (Director, Solutions – Northeast) leads Neudesic’s technology leadership team in the Northeast region, supporting clients with technology strategy, architecture and implementation of disruptive solutions using Neudesic services. Steve's passion/mission is Digital Transformation.

To learn more about Neudesic, be sure to check out the following links:

• About Neudesic: https://www.neudesic.com/about/
• Microsoft Alliance: https://www.neudesic.com/about/alliance-partners/microsoft/
• Services and Offerings: https://www.neudesic.com/services/
• Customer Case Study: https://www.neudesic.com/all-insights/?case-study
• All Recipes: https://partner.microsoft.com/en-au/case-studies/neudesic
• Isagenix: https://www.neudesic.com/case-study/isagenix/
• Awards: https://www.neudesic.com/all-insights/?award
• Awards Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_VFT777Z9Q

The episode also features PSAs from three of our favorite kid-focused technology organizations MakeCode, Kodable and Code.org. Be sure to give 'em some love (they do a great job!)

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes. Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions either by the Podbean App (see links, below), email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Christine Schanne, Kunal Kapoor & Steve Tetrault (Guests); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Megan Hochstatter (Code.org PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/ffe9a26e4c/ (be sure to turn "Closed Captioning" to "English"; icon in lower right-hand corner of "video" window)

Doyenne of Data Science Laura Edell visits the pod with new-word-crafter / AI-expert Anthony Franklin to talk about how to use Azure AI to "game" March Madness.  Can you say Bwwaaahhh ha ha HA HA?

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Laura Edell's recent multi-year success at fantasy football play/bench models have spurred her on to attack other sports leagues like March Madness bracket predictions, PGA Player Fedex Points predictions and more. Laura is an avid lover of all things analytical and will respond to the moniker "Annielytics" in lieu of her name anytime. When it’s time to turn her brain off, she loves to travel off-the-beaten-track, especially to known "wind" rich destinations to appease her inner kite-boarding child.  When not traveling, Laura enjoys being with her family, gaming together & teaching her 8 year old how to spin EDM tracks into mashup magic.

Anthony Franklin is an accomplished analytics expert, consultant and trainer who has trained hundreds of students and professionals for various statistical and analytics concepts.  He worked as a student instructor for the Institute of Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University teaching R programming, SAS programming and advanced modeling techniques, while he finished his doctoral studies.  He spent 5 years as an employee at SAS Institute, training and enabling enterprise companies on major data intensive solutions.  He serves as a board member and partnered with Matrix TRC for over 5 years leading multiple big data, machine learning, and programming courses.  Anthony currently works at Microsoft as a Big Data and AI Architect. He is a cofounder of Fanalytical Inc., a data and analytics platform aimed at college athletic departments in the USA.  Anthony is an experienced public speaker and a former Division 1 college football player.  Most notably, Anthony coined his own genuine word on our show: incomprehensive.

During the episode we talk about all sorts of things related to Machine Learning and AI, including:

• A Very Extensive NCAA Exploratory Analysis
• Musings on ML, Deep Learning & AI
• Machine Learning Studio
• Azure Machine Learning Service
• Azure Bot Service
• LinkedIn: Laura Edell; Anthony Franklin

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions either by the Podbean App (see links, below), email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Laura Edell and Anthony Franklin (Guests); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Megan Hochstatter (Code.org PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/bce483e708. 

PODCAST CLIENTS: You can find AzureABILITY on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify, or simply use our RSS Feed (http://www.azureability.com/feed.xml) and plug it into your podcast client of choice.

AI / Machine Learning pioneer Andre Magni visits the pod to talk computer intelligence; from Microsoft's AI mission (to amplify human ingenuity with intelligent technology) to data-curation gotchas and modelling pitfalls to identifying dead bodies using AI.  We even talks about our "AI Moms" and Andre's world-champion lure-coursing Pharaoh hounds. 

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Andre has been around Machine Learning and AI since 1994, on the early days of Artificial Neural Networks. He has developed and deployed an array of ML/AI solutions over the years, that range from cranio-facial identification to more normal ones as, speech and pattern recognition, anomaly detection, failure prediction and forecasts. Today, Andre leads a highly skilled team of Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft enabling customers to be successful on Azure.

• Lure-Coursing: https://www.akc.org/sports/coursing/lure-coursing/
• Azure: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/
• Get your Azure free account and start on AI today: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/
• AI: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai
• Bots: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/bot-service/
• Machine Learning: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/ai-platform/

The episode also features a pair of PSAs from two of our favorite kid-focused technology organizations MakeCode and Kodable.  Give 'em some love (they do a great job!)

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions either by the Podbean App (see links, below), email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Andre Magni (Guest); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/f26d8e3451.

PODCAST CLIENTS: You can find AzureABILITY on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify, or simply use our RSS Feed (http://www.azureability.com/feed.xml) and plug it into your podcast client of choice.

Philly.NET founder and coding-legend Bill Wolff visits the podcast to talk about both the forthcoming Philly Code Camp 2019.1 and the user-group experience in general.

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Bill is an independent consultant, trainer, and architect specializing in Microsoft development technologies under the name Agility Systems. He served as the SharePoint Practice Director at Capax Global, Solutions Architect in the Microsoft Practice at Unisys Corporation, and ran the Microsoft Alliance at LiquidHub. He ran the consulting firm Wolff Data Systems for 15 years and directed armies of consultants in the dot com world. Bill is founder and President of the Philly.NET user group, a previous INETA board member where he served as Vice President of the Speaker Bureau, and involved in several other user communities. Bill was a contributing author on several books. His certifications include trainer, systems engineer, developer, and Microsoft MVP. 

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions, or you can reach out to Louis directly  by email ([email protected]) or twitter (@azureability). 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Bill Wolff (Guest); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Megan Hochstatter (Code.org PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/9e7b44f29c/ 

PODCAST CLIENTS: You can find AzureABILITY on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify, or simply use our RSS Feed (http://www.azureability.com/feed.xml) and plug it into your podcast client of choice.

AzureABILITY host Louis Berman talks Azure with Bentley Systems' Kevin Boland—an Enterprise Cloud Architect who manages one of the largest and most complex set of Azure deployments on the planet.  The pair of friends talk a good deal of tech, but along the way they also ruminate on the joys of raising Boxers (no, not the underwear!) as well as the pleasures and perils of being a robotics dweeb. 

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Kevin is a Dad, Dog Rescuer, Technology Evangelist, Leader, Thinker, Mountain Biker, Security Nerd, Tinkerer, Maker, Enterprise Architect, DevOps Devotee, Azure Enthusiast, Mad Roboticist and more.  To learn more more about Kevin, be sure to visit his LinkedIn page or follow him on Twitter (@kmboland). 

During the course of the podcast, Kevin and Louis touch on a bunch of different topics, including:

• Fikon (3D-printed telecope; for Franklin Institute)
• ProjectWise (Bentley Systems)
• Azure Quickstart Templates (ARM)
• Windows Powershell Desired State Configuration
• Evil Mad Scientist
• Makey Makey
• [Public] Azure Roadmap
• Adopt a Boxer Rescue

The episode also features a pair of PSAs from two of our favorite kid-focused technology organizations Kodable and MakeCode.  Give 'em some love (they do a great job!)

PLEASE VISIT http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions (see Podbean App links, below), or you can email Louis directly at [email protected]. 

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Kevin Boland (Guest); Gretchen Huebner (Kodable PSA), Simon Hillvo (MakeCode PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Louis Berman (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/7548a4be2a/;  automatically generated by Microsoft's Video Indexer service (http://videoindexer.ai).

PODCAST CLIENTS: You can find AzureABILITY on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify, or simply use our RSS Feed (http://www.azureability.com/feed.xml) and plug it into your podcast client of choice.

AzureABILITY host Louis Berman discusses ExpressRoute, networking and hybridity with Microsoft's Bryan Woodworth—a Global Black Belt who can toss off words like "hybridity" with louche confidence.  Along the way Brian and Louis also explore such pithy topics as the effect of mullets on the college dating scene. 

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Bryan was born in Charlotte but raised in Boone, NC, went to grad school for music at UT Austin, and fell in love with networking while moonlighting as a university IT guy. At the time he was teaching History of Rock and playing in a number of rock bands. Bryan followed his wife to Seattle and continued his interest in networking at F5 Networks, stepping through several different roles there, ultimately joining Microsoft in early 2015 as their DC load balancing architect, and crossing over to his GBB role in late 2016. Azure has been his happy home for almost three years, and he swears he has no desire to ever look back.

To learn more more about ExpressRoute and/or Bryan, check out the following links [Editors Note: the first three links are a bit dry so you may want to start with a slightly out-of-date yet super-helpful resource: https://marckean.com/2018/09/03/azure-expressroute-demystified/ for a start.]

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-faqs
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-locations
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-prerequisites
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-woodworth-4a9aa39/

If you have kids, know kids, want to help kids--maybe even like kids!-- then be sure to check out http://makecode.com.  To quote MakeCode Program Manager Jaquelline Russell: "With MakeCode, students can build a cardboard air guitar, a magic wand, a Milk Carton Robot, or play with MakeCode Arcade—our retro 80’s game development platform—even make it rain chickens in Minecraft."  

One more (more!) thing. Visit http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions.

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Bryan Woodworth (Guest); Simon Hillvo (PSA); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Cameron Tomisser (Engineer); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/a50eb70e3a/;  automatically generated by Microsoft's Video Indexer service (http://videoindexer.ai).

AzureABILITY host Louis Berman discusses how to get started in Azure with his fellow Cloud Solutions Architect, Srini Ambati. Listen in as Louis and Srini give you a leg up into the cloud.----more----

Srini Ambati is a strategic and business focused Cloud Solution Architect providing best practices and deep technical guidance/thought leadership to ensure customers have a great experience when using Microsoft Azure.

To learn more about getting started with Azure, be sure to check out the following links, or simply use your favorite search engine to access an absurd amount of Azure content; more than any one human could ever consume in a single lifetime:

• Getting Started in Azure
• Getting Started in Azure - Live Demo and Q&A
• Getting Started Guide for Developers
• Azure Fundamentals Learning Path
• Azure Friday (Best Azure Video Series)
• AzureABILITY Podcast [Editor's Note: Gotta get a plug in there somehow]

Quick Heads Up: If you have kids, know kids, want to help kids--maybe even like kids!-- then be sure to check out http://code.org. Code.org provides the leading curriculum for K-12 computer science in the largest school districts in the United States.  They also recognize the annual hour of code campaign which has engaged 10% of all the students in the world.  10 friggin percent!!

Be sure to visit http://azureability.com for show notes and additional episodes.  Also, if you like (or even hate!) what we're doing, please take the time to share your comments and suggestions.

CREDITS: Louis Berman (Host); Srini Ambati (Guest); Megan Hochstatter (PSA); Heather Walsh (Intro/Outro); Vincent Tone / PremiumBeat (Music); East Coast Studio (Editing)

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.videoindexer.ai/accounts/1c5a0342-11e8-4e1d-b656-d0bf35b80614/videos/3ac26600ce/;  automatically generated by Microsoft's Video Indexer service (http://videoindexer.ai).