In my opinion it is really hard to get started with Windows Server AppFabric. There is good material, but it is shuffled around in different sources. A good intro can you find here: this all-in-one intro by Scott Hanslmann  this caching intro by Wade Wegener  Additional helpful resources are Microsoft's Introduction Part 1 and Microsoft's Introduction Part 2 by Jon Flanders  Pluralsight's Hosting Fundamentals   Pluralsight's Caching Introduction   Microsoft's Caching Documentation   Good books are Microsoft Windows Server AppFabric Cookbook   and Pro Windows Server: AppFabric Please also watch out for software updates, currently there is CU 4 . To keep yourself updated subscribe to Distributed Services News Feed . Updated my list on 11.03.2014 with one more Download the Windows Server AppFabric Samples

Windows Server AppFabric is a great enhancement for IIS and its caching capabilities are great for .NET applications. But currently there is a very annoying bug regarding its monitoring UI, so called “Dashboard”. Especially for me as a non WF guy (I am actually just working with WCF) it was really hard to figure it out. Hence, many thanks to Gianluca from Distributed Services at Microsoft! Windows Server AppFabric Dashboard does not work on Windows Server 2012 / Windows 8. You will receive this error message "Unable to cast object of type 'System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject' to type 'Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Management.Data.GroupByInfo'." This error will cause that you cannot see any request statistics neither WF nor for WCF: The reason is, I quote Microsoft here: "[...] the root cause is a powershell script embedded in AF code that returns different results when ran on Windows 2012. This script is about statistics for Idle & per...

My feeling is that two-step verification is still not very common, although a lot of services are listing this feature. Here you will find them: Facebook Google Microsoft Twitter Evernote Dropbox Apple (currently just available in U.S., UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand)  Helpful apps are e.g. Google Authenticator or Authy . Updated my list on 27.02.2014 with some more services Buffer Yahoo! Apple added, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain Updated my list on 10.03.2014 with one more Hootsuite Updated my list on 26.03.2014 tumblr Updated my list on 02.04.2014 APP.NET LinkedIn

Castro is still pretty fresh in the iOS App Store (currently version 1.0.6, first release came in late 2013) but has already beaten the competitors in my opinion. Here is why: Castro is winning by simplicity. Focusing on features and using using the fresh iOS 7 design. Great simple feed search engine (worked perfect for my favorite German podcasts). Push notification works. It is stable. Once again, I like the simple intuitive design.   Other settled podcast player in iOS market help Castro to succeed by not fixing their issues. I am coming from Instacast and this is why I think it does not fit anymore: When I open Instacast by sliding push messages on my lock screen it crashes nearly up to 50%. Up Next Feature does not work for me. Lists are useless, everything works just through Up Next. Sync feature with its OS X app is a mess, similar to Apple’s Podcast app. This is why Apple’s Podcast app does not work either: Sync with other iOS and OS X devices is a mes...

Why should I reconsider my iPhone security policy? I have my iPhone four digit pass code and Find my iPhone feature feature is activated. So how should abuse be possible? What could a thief be doing with my stolen iPhone? Well, possibly quite a lot. At least the bold print bullets in this article should be mandatory for everyone. Of course this is no guarantee for invulnerability but it will improve your security. After watching this video you should consider the following actions: Change your Apple ID rescue mail address and do not add this mail account to your iPhone. Consider to use a proper and usable password policy for your Apple ID like this or this (German article) . Consider a complex pass code for your iPhone. As you can see in the video four digit pass codes can be hacked in no time on iPhone 4. For newer iPhone a leak is not yet known but it is properly there. Definitely do not use these pass codes . Alternative to point three: activate delete iPhone after 10 wrong...