Technology
Top 3 Aspire Features Every Developer Needs to Know | Aaron Powell & Matt Wicks | Slash NEW 2025
Join Matt Wicks as he chats with Microsoft’s Aaron Powell about the latest updates in Aspire. Discover the top three quality-of-life improvements that are transforming the dev loop experience—custom endpoints, resource graphing, and GitHub Copilot integration. Watch live demos, troubleshoot cascading failures, and explore how Aspire helps diagnose issues across any tech stack using OpenTelemetry. A must-watch for devs looking to boost productivity and insight into their apps.
Read MoreCreativity under Pressure | Anton Polkanov | SSW Rules
Learn about the Time Pressure / Creativity Matrix, pressure hangovers, and practical tips to create space for creative thinking in high-pressure environments. This is essential advice for developers, tech leads, and anyone working in fast-paced teams.
Read MoreThe End of Integration Hell: How MCP Is Changing Everything | Calum Simpson | SSW User Groups
Calum walks through the evolution from brittle, hard-coded API connections to plug-and-play AI-enabled integrations via MCP.
Read MoreI Asked 3 AIs to Build a Game – Here’s What Happened | TJ Gokken | SSW User Group
From prompt crafting to debugging strategies, this is a must-watch for developers exploring AI-assisted software development.
Read MoreWhy 2025 is the Year of the Agent (or Is It?) | Gert Marx & Ulysses Maclaren | NDC Melbourne 2025
In this discussion from NDC Melbourne, Ulysses Maclaren sits down with Gert Marx to unpack one of the hottest topics in AI: agents. Are we truly in the “Year of the Agent,” or is the tech world just riding another buzzword wave? Ulysses shares what makes a real agent, contrasting them with rule-based systems, AI workflows, and generative models. With concrete examples and industry insights, he explains when it’s best to use an agent, when a workflow will suffice, and why so many companies are marketing non-agents as agents. If you’re building AI-powered solutions and unsure what tools are best suited to your problem space, this talk is a must-watch.
Read MoreThe Hidden Cost of AI | Ulysses Maclaren & Richard Campbell | NDC Melbourne 2025
What does artificial intelligence have to do with nuclear reactors, brownouts, and humanity’s last exam? At NDC, SSW’s Ulysses Maclaren sits down with tech veteran Richard Campbell to explore the energy demands of AI, Microsoft’s nuclear strategy, and how our increasing data needs are impacting global infrastructure. They also examine whether artificial general intelligence is truly within reach or still a distant goal. From understanding the environmental cost of AI to dissecting the realities behind AGI, this conversation offers practical insights into where technology is heading and how it’s reshaping our world.
Read MoreHealth Check Infrastructure | Toby Churches | SSW Rules
One broken API can bring your entire application down — and you might not know until your users are already impacted. In this video, Tony Churches from SSW shows how to proactively monitor your application’s health using infrastructure health checks in ASP.NET Core. Learn why hope is not a strategy, and how you can build confidence in your system’s reliability.
Read MoreMCP : Ensuring our tools are ready for the Robot Overlords | Anton Polkanov | SSW User Groups
Learn everything you need to know about MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the new standard for integrating tools, resources, and prompts into AI applications. In this talk, Anton explores the architecture, SDKs, transports, server features, and the future of MCP, including real-world demos in GitHub Copilot and Cloud Desktop.
Whether you’re new to MCP or looking to go deeper, this session covers it all — with tips, pitfalls, and even how to debug with Inspector.
Read MoreChoosing the Right Messaging Solution for Your Architecture with Poornima Nayar
Discuss the most popular queuing systems – benefits, trade-offs and gotchas, with code samples.
Read MoreHigh-Performance Content Management | Matt Wicks | SSW User Groups
Dive into customizing a high-performance Next.js site to build a fully editable company landing page.
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