Jakub Jedryszek, a Software Engineer in the Azure Team, gives us the inside scoop about the Azure Mobile app currently available for iOS and Android and coming soon for Windows devices.

blog: jj09.net

twitter: @JakubJedryszek

User feedback: aka.ms/azuremobilefeedback

Under the hood of the Azure Mobile App: https://jj09.net/under-the-hood-of-the-azure-mobile-app/

Download iOS app: aka.ms/azureapp/ios

Download Android app: aka.ms/azureapp/droid

Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode186.mp3

Other updates:

Announcing new set of Azure Services in the UK
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-set-of-azure-services-in-the-uk/

Enhanced app usage monitoring and investigative features in Azure Application Insights
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/enhanced-app-usage-monitoring-and-investigative-features-in-azure-application-insights/ 

The guys talk to Piyush Joshi who is a Senior PM in the Azure Mobile Engagement Services team. He gives us the low-down on this new offering.

Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode107.mp3

Here are some useful links: 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/mobile-engagement/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/mobile-engagement-overview/

Recent blog post - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-mobile-engagement-december-2015-update/

Twitter handle - https://twitter.com/AzureMobileEng

Other recent updates:

Azure Data Lake now integrated with Azure Data Catalog
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-data-lake-now-integrated-with-azure-data-catalog/

DocumentDB paging support with TOP and more query improvements
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/documentdb-paging-support-with-top-and-more-query-improvements/

Announcing the StorSimple Virtual Array Preview
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-storsimple-virtual-array-preview/

Glimpse at Application Insights Telemetry
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/glimpse-application-insights/

Evan and Cale talk about Azure Mobile Services which allows app developers on any platform to spin up a quick 'n easy back-end for storing data ad do authentication.

Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode24.mp3

SQL Server 2014 and Windows Azure Blob Storage Service: Better Together

Summary: SQL Server 2014 introduces significant new features toward a deeper integration with Microsoft Azure, thus unlocking new scenarios and provide more flexibility in the database space for IaaS data models. This technical article will cover in depth SQL Server 2014 Data Files on Azure Blob storage service, starting from step-by-step configuration, then providing guidance on scenarios, benefits and limitations, best practices and lessons learned from early testing and adoption. Additionally, a fully featured example of a new (Windows Server Failover Clustering) - like feature will be introduced to demonstrate the power of Microsoft Azure and SQL Server 2014 when combined together. 

SQL Server 2014 and Windows Azure Blob Storage Service: Better Together

Script Browser for Windows PowerShell ISE

Script Browser for Windows PowerShell ISE enables you to search for over 9000 script samples in the TechNet Script Center from within the scripting environment.

Script Browser for Windows PowerShell ISE

Microsoft Analytics Platform System

The Microsoft Analytics Platform System is your turnkey big data analytics appliance combining a high performance MPP SQL Server data warehouse with Hadoop into a single solution that offers seamless integration for of all of your data.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/analytics-platform-system

Microsoft Azure Intelligent System Service

Built on Windows Azure, the Microsoft Azure Intelligent Systems Service (ISS) makes it easier for enterprises to securely connect, manage, capture and transform machine-generated data from Line of Business (LoB) assets, such as industry devices and sensors, regardless of OS platform.  When enterprises use ISS to harness machine-generated data, they can drive improvements in operations and unlock new business opportunities by leveraging Microsoft assets like Power Business Intelligence (BI) and HD Insight for analytics to produce meaningful insights.

Link to request preview