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Previous Blog Posts
Neil's Blog

Eventful Week

Posted by Neil Simon on 29 Mar 2011

Neil's Blog

Terrace and Social Media Interview

Posted by Neil Simon on 19 Mar 2011

Neil's Blog

Recent Activity and Progress on Azure App

Posted by Neil Simon on 15 Mar 2011

Neil's Blog

Terrace and Social Media

Posted by Neil Simon on 1 Mar 2011

Neil's Blog

Winter Walk in Terrace

Posted by Neil Simon on 28 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

The Die is Cast*

Posted by Neil Simon on 23 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

First Video Blog Entry

Posted by Neil Simon on 18 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

More Appiness

Posted by Neil Simon on 17 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

Appiness is a ...

Posted by Neil Simon on 13 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

Happiness is like a Cloud

Posted by Neil Simon on 11 Feb 2011

Neil's Blog

I Can See Clearly Now

Posted by Neil Simon on 31 Jan 2011

Neil's Blog

The Fog is Lifting

Posted by Neil Simon on 28 Jan 2011

Neil's Blog

Welcome to Cloud Azure

Posted by Neil Simon on 25 Jan 2011

Neil
Eventful Week
Posted by Neil Simon on 29 Mar 2011
0

I had a rather eventful week, here's my video blog: We also took Rolo on a road trip and here we are stopped by a frozen lake (Seeley Lake): Unfortunately, this week I have to make a 3 day trip of 2600km to Vancouver to get some government details sorted. It's not something I'm looking forward to, but it'll give me a chance to see some...
1

I interviewed local entrepreneur, Vince Courtney, last week and here are his answers: Neil: You moved from website design into social media, what can you tell us about this? Vince: After selling my offline business, I was looking to learn how to market on the internet and got web design training as the first step toward that goal. As I developed sites...
0

Well, has been a while since I last wrote and this is largely due to a few pressing work matters and a bit of illness, but I am making progress and here is an update on it. I've been working on building up my Windows Azure skills. For one, I've found the inter-role communication to be a little more challenging than I had originally anticipated...
Terrace and Social Media
Posted by Neil Simon on 1 Mar 2011
1

Last week, I went to a breakfast presentation by Vince Courtney on "Effective Social Media Marketing For Local Business - An Action Plan". It was a very informative presentation and I'll interview Vince tomorrow. I hope to put the interview up sooner rather than later. Terrace, the place I now call home, is a small, remote, post-industrial...
Winter Walk in Terrace
Posted by Neil Simon on 28 Feb 2011
1

Yes, it's still very much Winter here still and here are a couple of videos I recorded earlier with a few more to come later on this week:
The Die is Cast*
Posted by Neil Simon on 23 Feb 2011
6

So, I've decided on the app I would like to make. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll flesh out its design. While I would love to develop all the apps I have posted about, I will stick to one for now and that is the 1st of the ideas I proposed, the predicting software. I have no doubts that this will be a demanding route and that the results...
First Video Blog Entry
Posted by Neil Simon on 18 Feb 2011
0

This is my first video blog entry. I meant to post a link a while ago, but forgot. Anyway, better late than never. I'll be posting up another video blog entry with my lovely puppy in a couple of days.
More Appiness
Posted by Neil Simon on 17 Feb 2011
2

Today's blog entry will again be on some ideas for apps. 4. Pet Social Network As a new pet owner, I've spent some time online trying to find out appropriate information about dogs, vets, etc. I think that a social network for pets could be a great solution to the problem. It would be a single place for vets, animal shelters, pet owners, and...
Appiness is a ...
Posted by Neil Simon on 13 Feb 2011
5

Today's blog entry will be about a topic on which I really want some feedback. I am trying to pick the Azure app I will develop and I'm not entirely certain as to which one would be best. 1: Clear Cloud An application which predicts the future. Yes, you read that correct, I'm interested in writing an app which attempts to make predictions...
Happiness is like a Cloud
Posted by Neil Simon on 11 Feb 2011
0

My family have been playing with Kinect a lot of late and it's great fun and exercise for all. But, the most amazing thing is that it's such a great way to interact with a computer. The possibilities are endless . My wife loves it so much that I think we'll have to get a family membership for Xbox Live. I've been playing a lot with Azure...
I Can See Clearly Now
Posted by Neil Simon on 31 Jan 2011
1

Many thanks to Luke for inspiring much of today's blog. He asked me about the focus I was taking and brought up the topic of cloud-hosted v. locally-hosted systems and it is an important discussion to have. Much of the buzz about cloud computing focuses on existing systems and how they can work so much better on the cloud. The cloud can do so many...
The Fog is Lifting
Posted by Neil Simon on 28 Jan 2011
3

The first week is over and now it is time to get the real work done. I've a busy time ahead of me, but what I'm also looking for you to do some work too. Please tell me what you want to see. This is crucial. Like most people, I have many roles in life. For me these include father, husband, brother, friend, mentor, educator and engineer. A key...
Welcome to Cloud Azure
Posted by Neil Simon on 25 Jan 2011
6

Hi, I'm happy to welcome you to my little corner where I'll be discussing my great experiences developing for Microsoft Azure. Over the next few months, I'm going to be partaking in Microsoft's Career Factor with the support of my employer iGEN Knowledge Solutions . I'm very proud that Microsoft chose me to partake in this programme...

March 28: Neil is again walking Rolo but it's a good place to give us an update on what's been going on

February 18: Neil walks his dog Rolo in the Canadian winter while discussing his experience at the Microsoft Certified Career Conference

 

January 31: Dana Calleja of the Microsoft Certified Career Conference invites Neil and the rest of the Career Factor participants to attend

 

My Blog

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Starting Introductions:

Completed to date:

 

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Neil Simon

Neil is a computer scientist and software engineer from Dublin, Ireland, who has used computers since he first laid hands on one in 1982. He started programming a few years later, and as a young adult earned his primary degree in Information Technology. Generally he is interested in supercomputing and solving very large computational problems, with a focus on making it all easier to do.

 

He spent 7 years working as part of an exceptionally competent team of engineers on supercomputers and, in the end, decided to continue advancing his work he needed to move on. Around the same time, he realized that many of the problems which face users of very large computers were remarkably similar to those that would soon face an increasingly network-dependent consumer. He then started tackling those common problems.

 

In 2007, he joined Trinity College Dublin's Computer Architecture Group and started working on his PhD. It became a quest to not only help users to get the most out of the resources that they already had, but to also enable new technologies. The solutions would help tackle aspects of technology that are advancing more slowly, and therefore better allow the use of those which were advancing at a more rapid pace.

 

He has completed most of this research, but his plans for graduation took a bit of a detour when he moved to remote Northern BC, Canada, with his wife. During one of his many trips from Ireland to Canada, he met with one of the board members of iGEN Knowledge Solutions and decided to join their team of skilled professionals.