WSCF - Schema-Based Contract-First Web Services

It is a free Visual Studio Add-In and Command Line Tool for ImprovedSchema-Based Contract-First Web Services Design and Programming .It offers a simple yet powerful WSDL Wizard that abstracts away all the nitty-gritty details of WSDL and therefore does not give room for making errors and wrong assumptions just by trying to use and applying everything that can be done stated by the original WSDL specification. Plus there are number of new items that primarily made it into the tool based on customer feedback.

For more details visit following URL.
http://www.thinktecture.com/WSCF

My Namespace:New feature in VB.NET 2005

The My namespace in Visual Basic 2005 provides a quick and easy method for accessing some of the deeper areas of functionality in the .NET Framework without preventing you from using the Framework directly in any way you choose.My exposes several distinct classes which organize a variety of functions into one of seven general areas: My.Application, My.Computer, My.Forms, My.Resources, My.Settings, My.User, and My.WebServices.In general, the classes within My provide easy access to information in one of two categories, either the underlying .NET Framework or elements of the current project. My.Application, My.Computer, and My.User are all focused on Framework functionality, while My.Forms, My.Resources, My.Settings, and My.WebServices all deal with the contents of your current project. As I walk through each of these classes, starting with those that are focused on the underlying Framework.

Example :

The My.Computer.FileSystem classes provide a very simple API for working with and inquiring about files; this should banish any lingering yearning for the FileSystemObject library. The following code uses the FileSystem class to copy all of the pictures from the current user's My Pictures folder to a new folder (C:\Desktop Wallpaper), displaying a progress bar if the file copy takes more than a few moments to complete:

Dim myPics As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyPictures
My.Computer.FileSystem .CopyDirectory( _
myPics, "C:\Desktop Wallpaper", _
FileIO.UIOption.AllDialogs, _
FileIO.UICancelOption.DoNothing)

Windows OneCare

This is a PC health service software released by Microsoft. It helps give you round-the-clock protection and maintenance—virus scanning, firewalls, tune ups, file backups, the whole nine yards. Delivered to you in a smooth, hassle-free package

Windows OneCare is being designed to address core safety concerns such as worms, viruses and spyware, but also to span broader PC health issues: helping protect electronic assets such as digital photos, music, financial data and software; and guarding against performance degradation and system clutter that can result from heavy use. Key capabilities and features of Windows OneCare will include the following:

• Defense against evolving threats. Windows OneCare will provide automatically updated anti-virus, anti-spyware and two-way firewall protection.

• Performance and reliability tools. PC owners will be able to choose to have Windows OneCare automatically carry out periodic maintenance tasks such as disk cleanup, hard-drive defragmentation and file repair. The service also will offer boot-time information and proactive support tools to help improve the customer experience.

• Backup and restore capabilities. Windows OneCare will enable automated backup of files by category on CD and DVD, along with the option to back up all files on the system or only those that have changed since the last time the action was performed. If files are accidentally deleted or corrupted on the PC hard drive, the service is designed to restore saved versions or map them on a new PC.

• Simple, integrated service experience. PC users will have one simple point of reference for checking the overall health of their system. Windows OneCare will automatically notify users of available updates or other recommended actions and enable users to easily act as needed. Otherwise, the service stays quiet and in the background.

Microsoft released Windows OneCare Beta which can be download from following URL
http://www.windowsonecare.com/Default.aspx

ASP.NET 2.0 New Feature: Use app_offline.htm file to make your ASP.NET Application offline

If you place a file with the name app_offline.htm in the root of a web application directory, ASP.NET 2.0 will shut-down the application, unload the application domain from the server, and stop processing any new incoming requests for that application. ASP.NET will also then respond to all requests for dynamic pages in the application by sending back the content of the app_offline.htm file (for example: you might want to have a “site under construction” or “down for maintenance” message).This provides a convenient way to take down your application while you are making big changes or copying in lots of new page functionality (and you want to avoid the annoying problem of people hitting and activating your site in the middle of a content update). It can also be a useful way to immediately unlock and unload a SQL Express or Access database whose .mdf or .mdb data files are residing in the /app_data directory. Once you remove the app_offline.htm file, the next request into the application will cause ASP.NET to load the application and app-domain again, and life will continue along as normal. Also

There are also some other ways to make you Application offline like setting httpruntime to false in web.config

ASP.NET Atlas: An Alternative to AJAX

ASP.NET “Atlas” is a package of new Web development technologies that integrates an extensive set of client script libraries with the rich, server-based development platform of ASP.NET 2.0. “Atlas” enables you to develop Web applications that can update data on a Web page by making direct calls to a Web server — without needing to round trip the page. With “Atlas”, you can take advantage of the best of ASP.NET and server-side code while doing much of the work in the browser, enabling a richer user experience. These "Atlas" applications are written in JavaScript "Atlas" adds a number of type system extensions to JavaScript to enable the usage of namespaces, inheritance, interfaces, enums and helpers for Strings and Arrays amongst others. These extensions enable "Atlas" applications to be written in a structured way that improve maintainability, easier to add features and layering of functionality.

ASP.NET 'Atlas' is Microsoft's answer for how you can harness the power of AJAX applications. ASP.NET 'Atlas' provides all the capabilities of AJAX, but extends the concept and significantly reduces the complexity of AJAX development.

To know about more details about Atlas please visit following URL

http://www.asp.net/default.aspx?tabindex=7&tabid=47