Sitecore Tech Digest #1 - 2013-11-05

OK so this is the first post and it is a hybrid of ideas. The first part of the idea came from one of my co-workers at Next Digital, who was wondering if there was a good source of information around what the community and Sitecore are up to on a regular basis. The second part of the idea came from a blog that I follow, The Morning Brew, and as a result this blog has been created. I am going to try and keep it up to date  on a weekly basis, but don't shoot me if that doesn't happen, this is a love thing, I'm not getting paid for it.

So, I'm sure your not interested in my ramblings, so here is what is new:

CMS

• Inside Sitecore 7, Session 8 Indexing Strategies: The Sitecore team have put out there latest in a series of webinars/youtube videos on Sitecore 7, this time focusing around the new indexing approach for Sitecore 7. It's also worth checking out the rest of the videos in the series.
• Sitecore 7:Workflow with more than a Comment: A quick post showing a way that additional values can be stored alongside the normal comment inside of Sitecore workflow.
• Adding two useful Shortcuts to the Sitecore startmenu: At first I wasn't going to include this post in the list today, but the more I thought about it the more I realised how much time this could save. It's a neat little post about adding content editor shortcuts to the start menu that link you directly to the core/master/web content editors, meaning you don't have to use the database selector anymore.
• Sitecore Caching: A post demonstrating how you can create you own custom cache layer inside of Sitecore, complete with event based clearing/refreshing.

DMS / Personalisation

• Sitecore Analytics: Display content by relevance using profile cards: A neat little post with an idea on how to select related content based on profile cards.

Automation / Continuous Integration / Delivery

• Continuous Integration & Deployment With Sitecore: Jason Bert from LightMaker has posted about the continuous integration and deployment process and tooling that they use. 
• Sitecore Instance Manager 1.2 introduces export/import feature and passwordless login to Sitecore: The instance manager module has added some new functionlaity and a new version. You can now import and export solutions with one click, you can also setup and emergency login procedure just by selecting a plugin.

Other

• Sitecore Developer Tool for Chrome: Here is one idea that's thinking outside of the box, updating chrome to make your development life easier. Once installed in chrome you get access to a bunch of shortcuts relating to the Sitecore site you are browsing, I'm trialing this one myself right now.
• Hedgehog's No Shave November: The team at Hedgehog Dev  (big contributors in the Sitecore space) have decided to keep the chins dirty with the aim of raising money for cancer. Keep an eye on them on twitter for photos and I encourage you to donate.

So that's the first digest, I encourage you to let me know what you do and don't like, if people read this I will keep it going, if people don't I will probably get bored and move on. If you want to suggest and article for me to include, post it to the wider Sitecore community and make sure its on twitter with the hash-tag #Sitecore