V002 - Weekly Technology Vlog #2 (Show Updates, Azure Updates, CloudFamily.info)
This episode focuses on getting Cloud with Chris organised for 2021. Chris released a video exploring GitHub Codespaces and its potential as a cloud-hosted development environment, alongside a blog post on his journey contributing to open source Hugo themes. He previews an upcoming gaming and technology series, shares his Sessionize profile for receiving talk submissions, and notes that a regular content cadence is taking shape — vlogs on Mondays, blogs on Wednesdays, and technical videos on Fridays.
On the community side, Chris highlights John Lunn (JonnyChipz), a fellow Welsh content creator doing weekly vlogs and community talks, and Sarah Lean (TechieLass), a Microsoft Cloud Developer Advocate working toward 1,000 YouTube subscribers. He introduces CloudFamily.info, a community-driven GitHub repository listing Azure bloggers, podcasters, and community figures including Richard Hooper (PixelRobots). The Azure Updates RSS feed is flagged as an essential resource for staying current with Azure service announcements — covering rolling feature updates that rarely make the main Azure blog.
Links -
- GitHub Codespaces Video
- Call for Talks
- Azure Updates Page
- John Lunn’s (jonnychipz) Blog (@jonnychipz on Twitter)
- Sarah Lean’s (TechieLass) YouTube Channel (@TechieLass on Twitter)
- Cloud Family
- Richard Hooper’s (PixelRobots) (@pixelrobots on Twitter)
Related Content
7 - Creating Cloud with Chris
Ever wondered what goes into building a technical podcast from scratch? In this behind-the-scenes episode, the tables are turned as colleague Fletcher Kelly interviews Chris Reddington about the creation of Cloud with Chris. Topics include choosing a podcast theme, microphone selection, post-production with Audacity, using Azure Cognitive Services for automated transcription, designing for accessibility from day one, and automating the Hugo-based website with CI/CD pipelines. A candid look at the content creation journey behind a technical podcast.
V001 - Weekly Technology Vlog #1 (Blog, Hugo, Azure, GitHub & Azure DevOps)
Chris launches the weekly vlog format with a recap of December 2020, including open source contributions to the Hugo Castanet theme and the start of a new community-focused Hugo theme project. He reviews Azure updates covering Azure Synapse Analytics GA and Microsoft BGP routing security improvements, highlights GitHub's DevSecOps tooling with CodeQL and Dependabot, and explains the new Azure DevOps service tag for network security groups.
4 - Hackathons
Hackathons are a powerful accelerator for learning, innovation, and community building — but what does it actually take to participate in, organize, or mentor at one? In this episode, Chris is joined by Maria Vrabie, an experienced hackathon participant, organizer, and mentor with a background at Microsoft. They explore the full spectrum of hackathon formats: from university weekend events and charity hack days to corporate open hacks run with enterprise customers. Maria shares candid stories from both sides of the organizer table, practical advice for first-timers, and why hackathons are just as relevant for seasoned engineers as they are for students looking to break into tech.