Kansas City User Groups: March 2012

April 6th: OpenKC - Open Source Hardware and Software: Two Great Techs That Go Great Together

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Friday, April 6, 2012, 6:00 PM Selected By: Tom Jenkins

On April 6th, at 6pm, we will meetup in the large conference room, on the 4th floor, at Bizperc in Downtown Kansas City.

Kou Srimoungchanh is a system administrator. Timothy Humphrey is a PHP web developer. Both of us have recently found a passion for the Arduino microprocessor, and will be pairing up to buildout something interesting the connects both 0pen source software (PHP) and open source hardware in some interesting manner. Come and find out what we brew up, and how to it is done.

We'll be doing a few give-a-ways, including an actual Arduino Mega microprocessor and a book of example Arduino projects.

Bizperc has graciously offered the meeting space, and we are grateful for their sponsorship of Open Source Kansas City. For the entrepreneurs in the group, BizPerc will also be hosting an Entrepreneur Corner that same night till 9pm.

April 26th: New Group - Mobile App Developers 1st Meeting - Designing for multiple screen sizes and aspect ratios on Android.

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Thursday, April 26, 2012, 6:30 PM JMA Information Technology

10551 Barkley, Suite 400, Overland Park, KS (map)

38.938714 -94.663191

For our first meetup on April 26, we present on:

Designing for multiple screen sizes and aspect ratios on Android.

- Number of Android devices out there with different resolutions and pixel densities, screen sizes, and aspect ratios.
- Understanding Android layouts
- Writing adaptive layouts to handle any resolution, future proofing it as much as possible.

Food and space provided by JMA-IT.

Coders4Charities.org - Call for volunteers - Developers needed for this weekend, March 23-25

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We're dangerously close to the event, and we're in need of volunteers.
Some of you may know, but we lost Centriq as our venue this year, and that seemed to be what started the ball rolling of bad news.
For a long time during planning, we had very few charities, very few sponsors, and very few volunteers. Thanks to Joe Loux and a whole lot of social networking, we managed to get to 6 charities (I have a 7th waiting in the wings), and enough sponsorship to cover meals and drinks.

We need volunteers. The event is tomorrow, and we only have 22 volunteers. We'd love to be at 40 or more so we can account for drop-off and varying skill sets. That's like, 18 people. Please, think about volunteering this weekend. Try to recruit some people too. Let them know about it.

Thank you.
Doug
http://coders4charities.org

March 22nd: OWASP - Round Table: Web Security for Mobile Security and Tablets - Brookside

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Date: Thursday March 22, 2012
7:00 PM
Location:Brooksider
6330 Brookside Plaza
Kansas City, Missouri 64113
816.363.4070
www.brooksiderbarandgrill.com
Meeting Topic:Round Table: Web Security for Mobile Security and Tablets

No speaker this month, we will be conducting a round table. You are encouraged to bring your own iPad, Android tablet, or other device, to show and tell what works and what doesn't for mobile web security.

Please note:

Attendance at an OWASP chapter meeting is free and open to anyone interested in web application security
No registration is required, although RSVPs to the chapter leader are appreciated
Professionals with CISSPs, or other certifications, can earn CPE credits by attending

We meet at least once a quarter to discuss application security.

March 28th: Web SIG - Building an Ecommerce site from scratch

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Hello All !
Our next meeting will be held:
6:30 PM, Wed, March 28, 2012
Centriq Training Center
8700 State Line Rd, Leawood, KS
(West side of State Line Rd, directly across from Ward Parkway Mall)
Sponsor: TBD
Food and door prizes will be provided by : TBD

In order to ensure that we have enough food for you, please let Ray Harris know if you will be attending. Thanks very much !

This month's topic is:
Developing an eCommerce Shopping Cart From Scratch (speaker: Robert Whitman)

This month’s presentation at KC Web Professionals shows the steps needed to
produce a simple, working e-commerce web site from scratch. The presentation will
lead off with a short discussion of what a person with something to sell needs to
take into consideration, such as design, domain name and hosting issues. Then we
will turn to nut! s and bolts of the web site including, design, the shopping cart,
payment issues and web site maintenance.

Robert Whitman's Mini-BIO:
Robert Whitman is a Kansas City area web developer and job seeker using .NET, C#, SQL Server, HTML and a wide range of development tools to bring the web presence vision of clients into a visually pleasing, easily functioning and content-rich web site.

Our website URL is: http://www.kcwebpros.com
See You There !!!

March 21st: HUG Access SIG Meeting 6:30 pm, at JCCC, Caren Grandgenett, Calculated Field Data Type; John Krzysztow

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HUG Access SIG Meeting 6:30 pm, March 21st, 2011 at JCCC, Regnier 2nd Floor RC252

Beginner Presentation:

Presenter: Caren Grandgenett

Topic: Calculated Field Data Type - New Data Type in Access 2010
Caren develops and maintains databases that allow clients to track their clients and competitors.

Advanced Presentation:

Presenter: John Krzysztow

Topic: Using Crystal Reports with MS-Access
John K is the owner and Crystal Developer of Cjk Software Consultants, Inc. Cjk has developed custom software solutions in KC metro since 1993. John K will demonstrate how easy it is to use Crystal Reports with MS-Access. He has replaced Excel spreadsheets with databases that link directly to Crystal. John also uses MS-Access as a crutch to help proto-type Report Solutions for several large databases( Oracle, SQL, etc)

John J Krzysztow

            (913) 432-1800 | O (913) 631-7493 | [email protected]
            "We finish what other companies start"
            Cjk Software Consultants
            www.cjk-consulting.com

Give-away:

Illustrated Course Guides Microsoft Access 2010 Basic by our own Lisa Friedrichsen
“Master computer skills easily with the full-color Illustrated Course Guides! Our unique design presents each skill on two facing pages, with steps on the left, and illustrations on the right.”
Please note: The give-away drawing for HUG members only.
Sponsored by: Heritage Computer Consulting & Services, Inc.

Arlene Watkins

President

Heritage Computer Consulting & Services, Inc.

7700 Wedd Suite 100

Overland Park, KS 66204

March 20th: HUG Windows Freeware SIG 3/20/2012 New Horizons - Windows 8 Consumer Preview

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In case you missed it Microsoft has released Windows 8 Consumer Preview. At this month's meeting we will take a look at this preview. This is more than a paradigm shift, traditional users as a whole feel Microsoft has abandoned them. Specific hardware requirements remain basically unchanged from XP/Vista/7. This means it should run on older equipment right up to the latest technology. The vital hardware seems to be the video card, that or proper drivers for the card. Minimum resolution is 1366x768, the same as many laptops. At the meeting will be an older desktop with the preview with an inadequate video look unless we can find a decent driver. If anyone else has loaded/worked with this preview could you attend the meeting to help with all of us to understand the wave of the future? If you have loaded it on a more modern piece of equipment, could you bring that also? For others who may want to try it, we can provide information on how to get the preview and installation options.

As usual there will be a question and answer session for general or specific questions.

Date: 3/20/2012 6:30 PM - 9 PM
Where: New Horizons Computer Learning Center
Metcalf South Shopping Center
96th& Metcalf, Overland Park, KS
(Please enter the door of Metcalf South on the lower level of the
shopping center on the West - You will find New Horizons inside the
center area.)
Room: 6 see a map at
www.newhorizonskc.com

Bill Diamond
Windows/Freeware SIG leader
[email protected]

March 20th: Lawrence Coders - Eat Drink and Be Merry - Eric Gruber

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 7:00 PM

Selected By: Eric J. Gruber

Wayne & Larry's Sports Bar & Grill

933 Iowa Street, Lawrence, KS (map)

38.966602 -95.262566

We're usually at the table to the south of the kitchen.

March 20th: KCVideoCore "Hands on filming with the Scarlet" Nick

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 6:00 PM

Selected By: Nick

JCCC 2nd floor of Reigner Center, lobby by the hall monitors (no room yet, but we are filming!)

12345 College Blvd, Overland Park, KS (map)

38.924362 -94.726463

Reigner Center is the east most building of Johnson County Community College

Selected By: Nick

We are meeting in the lobby of the 2nd floor at 6pm.
At 6:30 we will go outside (before the sun sets) and get our exterior shots! We have a lot to try and get through but should be a fun day of hands on with the new Scarlet camera.

We will be focusing on the visual effects for the elevator scene in the next meeting. But this day will be all about 'shooting' and a 'show and tell' with some ground breaking technology for video professionals!

http://www.meetup.com/KCVideoCore/events/55904292/

March 8th: Venture Fridays - This Friday Meet Lantern (Aaron Sloup) and 4 First Names (Nate Allen & Wes Mikel)

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Venture Friday happy hour as you know and love it is back for March. We’re looking to mix up the agenda in the foreseeable future, so be sure to come by this Friday if you like the two-presenter format, tasty finger-foods and cold beverages in the casual space of Red Nova Labs’ Discovery Lounge. (Conveniently scheduled before Big 12 games start at 6:30.)

Aaron Sloup from Lantern is back for a second presentation, and Venture Friday veteran Nate Allen, along with partner Wes Mikel, are showing off their newest venture called 4 First Names.

Part of the fun of Venture Friday is learning about startups and how they progress. Aaron was in full creation-mode when he first presented in November and we invited him back to show off what Lantern has become. Lantern is a way to find deals in your area (not just one to five per day, but dozens or hundreds at any time) and all deals are redeemable right away. Using an Andriod or iPhone app, users can save 50% to 100% without buying anything upfront. Merchants decide what deals to offer and control when they are available.

4 First Names was an idea born out of Startup Weekend last November (an event near-and-dear to the minds of many entrepreneurs). The concept sparked from the facts that most people are focused on collecting data, slightly fewer are focused on analyzing that data, and even fewer communicate that data. The 4 First Names fellas are focused on presenting data to an audience, using interactivity to engage people and 3D environments to make the data more intuitive. The Kauffman Foundation was their first client and the reason Nate and Wes have been able to move forward.

After the presentations, Venture Fridays group members might also want to prod Nate for details of what he has planned for Startup Weekend in April.

As always, doors open at 4 p.m., 10-minute presentations start around 5ish, and Red Nova Labs hosts get restless to clean up around 6:30 p.m. Be sure to RSVP.

Before I sign off, a quick update regarding April’s Venture Friday: The date has been moved from April 13th to April 20th to avoid a schedule conflict with Startup Weekend. That meetup will be the first Venture Friday hosted outside the Red Nova Labs building. We’re considering a “Speed Meeting” theme at Snow & Co, and space is limited. Be sure to RSVP early if you're interested.

March 10th: Nebraska Code Camp in Lincoln, NE

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Nebraska Code Camp is a free, community-driven developer conference. Our first event featured 25 sessions, and drew an attendance of over 180 people! Join us for the second annual Nebraska Code Camp at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on March 10, 2012 for another full day of first-rate developer content.

http://nebraskacodecamp.com/

March 20th: Computing Trends with Herb Sutter: Welcome to the Jungle by Perceptive Software

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“Computing Trends with Herb Sutter: Welcome to the Jungle”

1 to 3 p.m. | Tuesday, March 20 | Boulevard Brewery
2501 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City

Herb Sutter, an influential authority on software development and bestselling author, is coming to Kansas City for a free lecture hosted by Perceptive Software. Sutter is the author of four books and hundreds of technical articles on C++ and concurrency, including the widely cited essay “The Free Lunch Is Over” and its new sequel “Welcome to the Jungle”. Sutter serves as chair of the ISO C++ standards committee and chief native languages architect at Microsoft.

Free to attend. RSVP now to secure your spot!
http://www.perceptivesoftware.com/discover/herbsutter/index.html?elq=fdaaf29cd6d6404780be52f1439e4736

May 8th: IT Camp: Being What’s Next in IT, by Microsoft

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IT Camp: Being What’s Next in IT

Event ID: 1032506163

Doubletree Overland Park

Room: Houston10100 College BlvdOverland Park, Kansas 66210United States

Starts: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 9:00 AM
Ends: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 3:00 PM
Time zone: (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 8:30 AM

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Register by Phone: 1-877-MSEVENT (9AM-7PM EST M-F)

Meal:Yes

Language(s): English.

Product(s): Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

Audience(s): Architect, IT Decision Maker, IT Generalist, IT Implementer and IT Manager.

Being What’s Next in IT
2012 is an exciting year for I.T. because it’s an exciting year for Microsoft. Not only are there exciting new products and solutions on the near horizon such as System Center 2012 and Windows Server “8”, but also in the ways we can help you manage your infrastructure today.

Gearing up for the Future (Camp Part 1)
You may have heard Microsoft’s recent slogan: “Be What’s Next”. But sometimes in IT, for whatever the reason, it’s hard enough even just to be “what’s now” or “what’s current”. You’re running older versions of server operating systems and technologies you would like to replace, but maybe don’t know exactly how to make the move without causing one of the main things that keeps us up at night: service disruption.

In this camp session we are going to introduce you to, and give you a chance to play with, the migration technologies that will help you transition to the most current versions of our solutions, and help you to take full advantage of Windows Server 2008 R2. Making the transition to the most current products isn’t always easy, but we have ways to help you get there and to get you ready for the future of I.T. and business productivity.

The Future is Sooner Than You Think (Camp Part 2)
Now that you are ready for what’s next, don’t you want to know a little more about what that is? There is a new wave of transition happening among IT organizations and IT workers to embrace more and more the concept of Cloud Computing. Yet many of us are still wondering how it will really fit into our own environment, or how it will benefit our businesses.

In this camp session we are going to introduce to you to the future of the cloud. Together we’re going to walk through what our next System Center version - System Center 2012 - will bring to your IT organizations; both in overall manageability and in supporting private, public, and hybrid clouds. And we’ll introduce to you (and demonstrate for you) what is coming in the next version of Windows Server - currently known as codename “Windows Server 8”.

Preparation:
This is not just a presentation! We will try not to kill you with PowerPoint! Our IT Camp format requires interaction, participation, and fun! And in order for you to get the most out of our day, we ask that you do a few optional-but-highly-encouraged things before coming to camp:

1. We ask that you download the evaluation software - Windows Server 2008 R2 w/SP1 (click here to download) and System Center 2012 Release Candidate (click here to download).2. Bring a laptop. In venues where we can support it, we will provide networking and power so that you can follow along and perhaps even participate in labs and examples.3. And for the truly ambitious among you - Bring a Windows Server 2008 R2-capable machine. If you already have Server 2008 R2 installed, that’s great. But as long as you have a capable machine, we will provide you a .VHD file and instructions for how configure your computer to “dual-boot” into an already installed copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 – all without requiring you to remove your existing Windows installation. Here is the recommended minimum configuration:

4GB RAM
20 GB of free disk space
x64 compatible processor with Intel VT or AMD-V technology

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032506163&culture=en-US

April 10th: Windows Azure Kick Start sponsored by Microsoft

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Windows Azure Kick Start

Event ID: 1032508249

Microsoft - Overland Park Office

10801 Mastin Blvd - Suite 620Overland Park, Kansas 66210United States

Starts: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 9:00 AM
Ends: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 5:00 PM
Time zone: (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 8:30 AM

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Register by Phone: 1-877-MSEVENT 9AM-7PM EST M-F

Language(s): English.

Product(s): Windows Azure.

Audience(s): Pro Dev/Programmer.

Spend a day with some of the nation’s leading cloud experts in learning how to build a web application that runs in Windows Azure. We will show you how to sign up for free time in the cloud, and how to build a typical web application using the same ASP.NET tools and techniques you already use today. We will explore web roles, cloud storage, SQL Azure, and common scenarios. We will save time for open Q&A, and event cover what should not be moved to cloud. This will be a hands-on event where you will need a laptop configured with the required pieces. We will have help onsite to get the right bits installed as well. Lunch and prizes will be provided.

Session Requirements:

A computer or laptop:Operating Systems Supported: Windows 7 (Ultimate, Professional, and Enterprise Editions); Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Vista (Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise Editions) with either Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2
One click install of Windows Azure SDK and required software using Web Platform Installer:http://www.microsoft.com/click/services/Redirect2.ashx?CR_EAC=300027917
The sample code and handbook for the labs will be provided at the event.
Consider bringing a power strip or extension cord

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032508249&culture=en-US

March 13th: Web SIG - Dr. Rusty Meigs - "Transforming Web with WordPress"

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WordPress.

March 13, 2012
6:30 - 8:30 pm
2nd floor Regnier Center @ JCCC Room 221

Speaker Introduction:

Dr. Rusty Meigs is currently the senior web architect for the Olathe Public Schools where he oversees web services for the district. With over 15 years of public school teaching experience and a decade of higher education teaching experience at Rockhurst, MidAmerica Nazarene, and Baker Universities, he continues to serve as an adjunct professor at Baker University offering courses in the field of educational technology and at JCCC where he teaches web design and development for the Web Applications Department. Meigs has been published in ISTE's Journal of Computing Teachers, was inducted into the Baker University School of Education Wall of Honor, was published in the Advocate (a Kansas teacher education journal), serves on the Board of the Association of Teacher Educators in Kansas, was the 2010 winner of the Statewide Distinguished Dissertation in Teacher Education Award, and currently serves in the "At Large" position on the Louisburg School Board where he was elected in the spring of 2011.

Ed.D. in Education Leadership, May 2010, Baker University M.Ed. in Education (with an emphasis on technology), July 2001, MidAmerica Nazarene University B.A. in Elementary and Secondary Education, December 1996, MidAmerica Nazarene University A.S. in Computer Systems Technology, July 1992, Johnson County Community College

Topic: "Transforming Web with WordPress"

Meigs' experience with WordPress began while teaching for the 21st century e-Communication Program at Olathe Northwest High School. After accepting the position of senior web architect in 2009, he quickly started to expand the district's work with WordPress--moving beyond the typical pre-fabricated themes commonly available--to develop customized, professional-looking themes while automating the maintenance process for webmasters across the district. In addition to using other Open Source platforms, including Joomla! and Moodle, the incorporation of WordPress into the district's sites is saving taxpayers thousands of dollars annually. Meigs is now building each of the district's 34 elementary school websites using his latest WordPress template and expects to have all of these launched between March and May of 2012. In this presentation he will demonstrate the basics of using WordPress to create pages, posts, upload media, manage menus, and utilize widgets. He will also discuss the development of WordPress sites in terms of mobile readiness.

March 6th: Lawrence Coders - Eat Drink and Be Merry

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Bring a laptop if you want to show off some code.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 7:00 PM

Selected By: Eric J. Gruber

Johnny's Tavern

401 N 2cd St, Lawrence, KS (map)

http://www.meetup.com/Lawrence-Coders/events/55109872/?a=ea1_grp&rv=ea1

March 3rd: Kansas City Code Artisans Meet and Greet

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Meet and Greet
It would allow everyone that is really interested to meet each other and see what we are are all interested in and by that I mean what excites us. Because to be real that's what gets us to create these groups to support each other and to keep the excitement going and to be able to brag about your technical achievements to someone that can actually appreciate them.

http://www.meetup.com/Kansas-City-Code-Artisans

March 24th: Lawrence Coders User Group meeting - Gettin Paid.

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John suggested having people who are getting paid to do web development as freelancers, business owners, software-as-a-service providers, etc. to share their "insights on the struggles and strategies they've found success in to getting people to give them money." Tentatively scheduled for a Saturday meetup in March, basketball tournaments considered.

March 23rd through 25th: Coders 4 Charities returns to KC for its 5th straight year! At New Horizons!

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The 5th annual Coders 4 Charities weekend is scheduled for Friday, March 23 through Sunday, March 25, 2012 at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in Overland Park, KS. The weekend pairs up teams of web developers, designers and analysts with representatives of local charities who receive "extreme makeovers" of web sites or full online applications for their use in just 48 hours.
http://coders4charities.org