Articles:

What's New in Windows Mobile 5.0?
Microsoft recently released the latest version of the Windows Mobile platform, Windows Mobile 5.0. What's cool and new? Wei-Meng Lee gives you the rundown of the best new features. Oct. 11, 2005

Enhancing Skype
If you're a Skype fan, you know it can be used to make Internet phone calls. But did you know about all the cool tools you can use to enhance it? Wei-Meng Lee gives you the rundown. Sep. 27, 2005

What Is ASP.NET
Part of the .NET Framework, ASP.NET allows developers to build dynamic web apps and web services using compiled languages like VB.NET and C#. Wei-Meng Lee provides a look under the ASP.NET hood, describing how it works, its improved support in areas like state management and tracing and debugging, and important new features in version 2.0. Wei-Meng is the author of ASP.NET: A Developer's Notebook. Sep. 19, 2005

Using Your Webcam for Surveillance
Webcams can be used for more than videoconferencing--they can be used for surveillance as well. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to do it in a few easy steps. Sep. 6, 2005

An In-Depth Look at Vista, Part 2
Wei-Meng Lee has had time to explore some of the cooler aspects of Vista, such as Aero Glass and Broadcast Presentations. He shows you how to troubleshoot them and get Vista up and running. Aug. 16, 2005

A First Look at IE 7
IE 7 is finally here, and Wei-Meng Lee has the goods for you, from tabbed browsing to RSS support and more.  Aug. 9, 2005

Localization in ASP.NET 2.0
The web is an international place. Why shouldn't your websites be ready for international visitors? With the introduction of ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft aims to make it easy to localize your website for individual users, no matter where they hail from. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how you can localize your ASP.NET 2.0 web applications. Wei-Meng is the author of ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook. Aug. 8, 2005

An In-Depth Look at Vista, Part 1
The long wait for the first beta of Microsoft's new Windows OS is finally over. Wei-Meng Lee took it for a spin and gives a detailed overview of Vista. Aug. 2, 2005

Understanding the BackgroundWorker Component
Multithreading is one of the most powerful concepts in programming. Using multithreading, you can break a complex task into multiple threads that execute independently of one another. By default, your Windows application uses a single thread of execution. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how multithreading has been simplified in VB2005 using the BackgroundWorker component.  Jul. 25, 2005

Making Internet Phone Calls Using Skype
Skype lets you use the internet to make phone calls to other Skype users and also to regular telephones. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to set it up and start talking. Jul. 19, 2005

Getting Your Bluetooth Headset to Work in XP
With Bluetooth support built into SP2, getting a Bluetooth headset to work should be a breeze. But it ain't necessarily so. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to do it. Jul. 5, 2005

Building Web Parts, Part 3
In this last installment of his Web Parts series, Wei-Meng Lee will show you how to let users dynamically add Web Parts to page and how to restore Web Parts that they have closed.  Jun. 27, 2005

Using Tabbed Browsing in Internet Explorer 6
You don't need to wait for Internet Explorer 7 for tabbed browsing--with the latest MSN Toolbar, you can use it in IE 6. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to use it. Jun. 14, 2005

A Guided Tour of the Newest Longhorn Build
What's the current state of Longhorn? Wei-Meng Lee takes a look at the latest build of Longhorn and gives you a guided tour. Jun. 7, 2005

Building Web Parts, Part 2
In part one of this series, Wei-Meng Lee discussed how to create Web Parts and configure them to look good. But he didn't touch on one of the most important feature of Web Parts; that is, how to let users move the Web Parts from one zone to another. In this article, he shows you how to move Web parts and how you can configure Web Parts to make use of SQL Server 2000.  Jun. 6, 2005

Refactoring Support for Visual Basic 2005
Microsoft recently announced that they have teamed up with Developer Express Inc. to release Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005 Beta 2, a free plugin for Visual Studio that enables Visual Basic developers to simplify and restructure source code inside of Visual Studio 2005. Wei-Meng Lee walks you through the new refactoring. May. 31, 2005

Building Web Parts, Part 1
Websites today contain a wealth of information; so much that a poorly designed site can easily overwhelm users. To better help users cope, portal websites today (such as MSN) often organize their data into discrete units that support a degree of personalization. In this first of three articles, Wei-Meng Lee discusses how to use Web Parts for user customization in your ASP.NET 2.0 websites. May. 23, 2005

Podcasting with Your iPod Photo
With Apple's release of the iPod photo, podcasting just got more fun. Using iPodderX, a podcast client for the Mac, you can download audio, movies, images, documents, and any other kind of files from the internet onto your Mac. Cool, huh? Wei-Meng Lee explains how. For more fun tips for your iPod photo, check out Wei-Meng's All About Your iPod Photo. Mar. 4, 2005

Display Your Favorite Album Artwork in iTunes
What good are a bazillion iTunes without the album art? Bring the two together again on your iPod photo. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how using two free programs: Clutter and art4iTunes.com. For more useful tips and tricks for using your iPod photo, check out Wei-Meng's latest eDoc, All About Your iPod Photo (PDF).  Feb. 22, 2005

Encrypting Connection Strings in Web.config
One of the best practices in ASP.NET is to save your database connection strings in the Web.config file instead of hard-coding it in your code. It's not such a good idea to save your connection strings as plain text in Web.config – you should ideally encrypt the connection strings so it leaves no chance for a potential hacker to easily get more information about your database server. In ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft has taken this further by allowing you to encrypt the connection strings in Web.config, all without much plumbing on your part. In this new article by Wei-Meng Lee, he shows you how it works! Feb. 15, 2005

Gmail Hacks
Gmail is the best free email service on the planet. Whether you're one of the lucky ones who already has it, or you're waiting for it to throw its doors wide open, Wei-Meng Lee takes you inside and shows you how to get more out of it. Jan. 25, 2005

A Look at HP's iPaq 4150
HP's iPaq 4150 will go wireless anywhere with its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Get the lowdown in Wei-Meng Lee's test drive of the 4150. Jan. 24, 2005

Run Mac OS X on a PC
You can get the best of both worlds--you can run the real Mac OS X on your own PC. Wei-Meng Lee shows you how to run the Mac operating system on an emulator called PearPC. Jan. 18, 2005

A Review of PalmOne’s Zire 72 and 31
Wei-Meng Lee takes a look at a couple of PalmOne devices, and is pleased by what he finds. Jan. 17, 2005

Using SQL Cache Dependency
Caching has long been recognized as one of the more effective ways to improve your ASP.NET web applications. One particular caching feature missing in ASP.NET 1.x was SQL cache dependency: the ability to invalidate a database cache if data in a table is changed. In ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft has added the new SQL cache dependency feature. Wei-Meng Lee discusses the SQL cache dependency in ASP.NET 2.0, and how you can manually implement it in ASP.NET 1.x.  Jan. 17, 2005

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Books

Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart (O'Reilly) September 2005
Okay, VB6 developers--time's up. Microsoft no longer supports this version of Visual Basic, but VB 2005 offers several attractive reasons to upgrade. Our jumpstart guide lets you test-drive the beta version of VB 2005 with three hands-on projects that let you learn the new syntax quickly. It's the painless way to migrate, and the perfect training manual for moving to the world of .NET.

ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook (O'Reilly) June 2005
To bring you up to speed with ASP.NET 2.0, this practical book offers nearly 50 hands-on projects. Each one explores a new feature of the language, with emphasis on changes that can increase productivity, simplify programming tasks, and help you add new functionality to your applications. You get the goods straight from the masters in an informal, code-intensive style. Part of our new Developer's Notebook series.

All About Your iPod Photo (PDF) (O'Reilly) January 2005
Apple has recently released the iPod photo, a fourth generation (4G) iPod capable of displaying color photos. With its new enhanced color screen, you can now do more than ever with your iPod--it's no longer just a music player. If you are the proud owner of the new iPod photo you'll be eager to know all the cool things are that you can do with your new toy. This eDoc includes many useful tips and tricks for using your iPod photo.

.NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide (O'Reilly) May 2004
Looking to create applications for Pocket PC and Windows based Smartphones? The new .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide will teach you what you need to know. This handy reference provides a quick tour of the .NET Compact Framework and includes several working projects to get you productive straightaway. Whether you're new to mobile programming or new to Visual Studio .NET 2003, this pocket guide will get you started writing mobile applications.

Windows XP Unwired (O'Reilly) August 2003
Windows XP Unwired provides a complete introduction to all the wireless technologies supported by Windows XP, including Wi-Fi (802.11b, a, and g), infrared, Bluetooth, CDMA2000, and GPRS. It's a one-stop wireless information source for technically savvy Windows XP users. This book will show you the full-spectrum view of wireless capabilities of Windows XP, and how to take advantage of them.

.Net Mobile Web Developer's Guide (Syngress) February 2002
The .NET Mobile Web Developer's Guide provides a solid foundation for developing mobile applications using Microsoft technologies. With a focus on using ASP.NET and the .NET Mobile Internet Toolkit, .NET Mobile Web Developer's Guide will give you the insight to use Microsoft technologies for developing mobile applications. This book will also show how to avoid having to customize the output of your application.

C#.Net Web Developer's Guide with CDROM (Syngress) December 2001
The focus of C#.NET Web Developer's Guide is on providing you with code examples that will help you leverage the functionalities of the .NET Framework Class Libraries. Once you have read this book, you will have covered the key concepts, libraries, and APIs of the .NET Framework that we feel will help you easily create new applications using C#.

Webmaster's Guide to the Wireless Internet (Syngress) November 2001

VB.NET Developer's Guide with CDROM (Syngress) January 2001
The introduction of VB.NET has sent many Visual Basic gurus back to the drawing board! VB.NET introduces a new set of standards, protocols, and syntax that previous users of Visual Basic will need to learn to regain their guru status and be positioned to create enterprise-critical applicationsActive Directory (AD) is complex and invasive, and as a result many IT professionals struggle with comprehensive Windows 2000 deployments that are contingent upon AD. Configuring Windows 2000 WITHOUT Active Directory is about making the most of those Windows 2000 features and services that can be used independently of AD-whether in an existing NT4 domain environment, Novell's NDS, UNIX, or even in a standalone workgroup. VB.NET Developer's Guide will help you master VB.NET!