Download Attempt 1

Download Attempt 2

Hehe... I will keep hitting Ctrl + F5

BTW: Thanks to Jayson, it has been confirmed Mozilla is having some issues...

Today at 10:00 AM Pacific time, Mozilla will release Firefox 3.0!

We want to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. With the backing of our community and your help we know we can make it. What else can you do?

-- Quoted from SpreadFirefox.com

I have been using Firefox 3.0 (RC and Beta) for a while and really like what I see. The speed and stability have been impressive.
(It really snaps when loading Jayson Rowe's blog!)

I know a lot of you have already seen this and already know about Twitter... If that is you, please hang in there... there are a lot of subscribers and others that read my blog that do not have a clue what it is...

So, what is this twitter thing???

So, if this looks cool to you, go on over to Twitter.com and signup.

Then you can follow me.

If you are reading this and you created or have a twitter account, please leave a comment on this post so I will know about ya and be able to follow you!

Coming to Florence, SC; December 11th, 2007!!!

Pee Dee Area .NET User Groups Presents: Brian Hitney
Topic: Silverlight and AJAX Development with Visual Studio 2008 + Visual Studio 2008 Install-fest!!

We have a very special holiday event planned for December! Brian Hitney from Microsoft will be dropping in to give us an overview of Silverlight and AJAX development in Visual Studio 2008.

You don’t want to miss this event because Brian will be bringing with him a FREE COPY of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional for each attendee!

That’s right, a free copy to all attendees! However, there are some rules that you must follow:

• You must be present to receive a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional.
• It is highly recommended that each attendee bring their laptop/desktop to the event, after all, this is an install-fest. For those people with desktops, we may have a few extra LCD panels at the event for general use but they will be first-come first-serve.
• Quantities of Visual Studio 2008 Professional are limited and the people who bring their computers will be first in line. In other words, if you don’t bring your computer and we run out of copies to hand out, you simply won’t receive a copy.
• These copies of Visual Studio 2008 Professional are Not for Resale. (No E-bay!!!)

Please register here so we have an idea of how many people will be attending.

Tentative schedule:

6:00 PM - 6:20 PM Socializing / Free Dinner
6:20 PM - 6:30 PM Introduction, Sponsor Time, and News.
6:30 PM - 7:15 PM Presentation
7:15 PM - 8:00 PM VS 2008 Install-fest and Wrap Up

Hope to see you there!!!

I have noticed that twice in the past week FeedBurner has not reported any Google Reader subscribers. I have confirmed this on my other blog, Susanne's blog (wife), and Chris Craft's blog.

Yesterday... 47 Subscribers... 19 Subscribers on Google.

Today... 29 Subscribers... 0 Subscribers on Google.

The same thing happened on November 3rd too.

Anyone else have this going on? Any clue what is up?

Russ Fustino is coming to Florence, SC this Wednesday! Russ is a MSDN Developer Community Champion for Microsoft. (Register for the event here) Russ is stopping by on his way to Raleigh from Tallahassee!

FYI: A copy of Office Ultimate 2007 will be given away!

Did you ever feel inundated with developer tools? Did you ever feel you are missing something that could make your life easier as a developer and as a power user? There are so many tools available to choose from and it keeps getting tougher to  keep up with. Tool familiarity continues to be one of the top developers challenges. This series of seminars is all about tools for developers, by developers.

Welcome to this new, fresh and original ground breaking MSDN seminar series from Russ’ Tool Shed called … It’s All About The Tools.  This is the first installment of many more to come. This session is tech talk about tools for developers. Join Microsoft Florida Developer Evangelist Russ Fustino for his take on what's hot in the developer's toolbox. There's something here for everyone, from beginners to experts. Oh, by the way, you might want to put your hard hat on for this one!

In this session you will see demonstrations the following tools and a few more surprises…

Fiddler
Web Stress Tool
IE Developer Toolbar
Visual Studio IDE tools
   code convertors
   obfuscator
   snippit manager (and the snippet tool in vista as a bonus)
   toolbox scratch pad
   Refactor
   Visual Studio Express tool’s
   Visual Web Developer Express:
   Web Administrator
   Membership and personalization
Visual Express C#
   XNA Express
Live Services
   Spaces
   Live Writer
   MSDN article on search provider (2007.08)

Silverlight 1.0/1.1 XAML Designer (Expression Blend)
Community Tool Web Site Review 
Top downloaded SDK’s
GotDotNet: http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/ide/
MSDN Dev Center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/powertoys/
CodePlex home: http://www.codeplex.com/Default.aspx
Download center and more!

To find out more and register for the event go here. This is going to be an awesome event!

Florence, Columbia, Charleston, Conway, Myrtle Beach, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Charlotte (anyone from anyplace)...

You are ALL WELCOME to attend this FREE event.

Microsoft now provides a way to get a hotfix without calling them...

(Will need the KB Article Number)

Simply use this submission form.

Thanks Chris!

Windows 2008 RC0 was released yesterday. I am really looking forward to using IIS7. I am anxious to setup a few web sites with SQL 2008 and see how it works and performs.

Get it Windows 2008 RC0 here
Get SQL 2008 CTP here

Cool Benefits of Windows 2008 (taken from here)

• Cross-site copy allows you to easily copy Web site settings across multiple Web servers without additional configuration.
• Built-in virtualization to virtualize multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux and others—on a single server. With virtualization built into the operating system and with simpler, more flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of all the benefits and cost savings of virtualization.
• Protection of your server with security innovations that reduce attack surface area of the kernel, resulting in a more robust and secure server environment.
• Protection against malicious software with User Account Control with a new authentication architecture. (NOOOOOOOOOOO)
• Simplified management of your IT infrastructure by using new tools that provide a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring, as well as the ability to automate routine tasks.
• Effectively pinpointing and resolving trouble spots with powerful diagnostic tools that give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual.

And the one I really want to see...

• Delegated administration of applications and sites so you can give control to different parts of the Web server to those who need it.

My understanding is that this will allow web hosting companies to give more control of IIS to clients hosting their web applications on your server. Pretty cool!!!

Thanks Somasegar for the announcement.

Brian... you must only have 5 people using this thing!!!

Incase you are clueless to what am writing about... WorldMap is a cool tool that Brian Hitney wrote to show a graphical representation of hits/ traffic on a web site. 

He recently updated his map to use MICROSOFT Virtual Earth... kinda cool Brain!!!

The tool also provides useful and not-so-useful facts about the site's traffic:

Unique IP's: 7,500
WorldMap Rank: #5
World Domination: 8.8%
IP Distribution for 5,000+ miles away: 18.18%

So, to that 18.18%...

Merci de la visite !
¡Gracias por la visita!
Für den Besuch danke!
방문을 당신을 감사하십시오!
Grazie per la chiamata!
謝謝你的訪問！
Спасибо за визит!
訪問をありがとう!

And for the English speakers:

Thank you for the visit!

Special thanks to Google for the Translations. (Sure hope those BETA translations work...)

Chris Craft, from ACS Technologies, will be presenting Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks - Part II.

Material from Part I will be recovered for any of those who may have missed it, and new tips and tricks will be presented.

Visual Studio .NET is filled with thousands of features and capabilities that make our lives as developers more efficient. The number of features that Visual Studio .NET contains is immense. The Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks presentation is a compilation of my favorite, and most popular, tips and tricks for this great IDE. Developers who are unaware of these timesaving features miss out on opportunities to increase their programming productivity and effectiveness. This Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks presentation is meant to explain how to use Visual Studio .NET more effectively.

Here is the tentative schedule:

6:00 PM - 6:20 PM Socializing / Dinner
6:20 PM - 6:30 PM Introduction, Sponsor Time, and News.
6:30 PM - 7:45 PM Presentation
7:45 PM - 8:00 PM Drawing and Wrap Up

Please subscribe to the PDANUG Upcoming Events and News Feed here ().

Get it while it is hot!!!

ftp://ftp.red-gate.com/sqlpromptbeta/SQLPrompt3.5.0.000323.exe

Information on the release here.

There was a RED package waiting on me when I got home from work today. 

I have been officially welcomed into the Friends of Red Gate program. The picture is my red box and it's contents.

• One Thank you letter from Rachel Hawley, Marketing Associate @ Red Gate
• Ink Pen
• 256 Jump Drive
• Drink Coaster
• Coffee mug that reads "You may look at my Red Gate mug.  You may not borrow it."
• Then one of the coolest marketing items I have seen recently. For the SQL Tool Belt, it is a miniature tool belt to hold pens that fits snugly around a coffee mug.
• And what an awesome t-shirt! "I didn't get where I am today by wearing the wrong t-shirt"
• Of course, the greatest of all is copies of their software to use personally (Not For Resale).

Red Gate makes great SQL Server products and has been great to work with. Thanks Red-Gate for the  package. I will be writing more about the Red Gate suite of products of the next couple of weeks. I may even present at a Pee Dee Area .NET User Group what Red-Gate can bring to the development process.

By the Way, Red Gate wrote the greatest SQL Product to date: SQL Prompt (intenseness for SQL Server Management Studio & Query Analyzer)

Microsoft SharedView (Beta)
Connect. Show. Share.

Talk about collaboration!

This app allowed me, James (co-worker) and Page Brooks (across town) to all share my desktop. I allowed Page to take control of my computer. He opened applications, change documents, and modified queries. Meanwhile, James and I watched.

Then I changed the setting so they could only see one application (Visual Studio); not my entire desktop. I did not want them to see any of my top-secret applications I had open...

After a little playing, Page shared his Visual Studio session on his computer. When I connected, I noticed something... there was a method in his code called "ThisCodeSucks".

Fine Print: Page was quick to realize that I was the one that changed his code

This is a great tool to help your wife at home when she is having computer issues... or if a friend calls you because you are "Mr. Computer Club".

Download here: http://get.live.com/betas/sharedview_betas

I just found out today that Live Writer has a "ping server" feature. (I wrote about Live Writer initially here)

This option notifies servers on web when you post an entry on your blog.

This feature can be found under Tools, Preferences, Ping Servers.

Here is the list of known servers I ping: (Got this list from here)

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://api.feedster.com/pinghttp://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

If anyone knows more, I would love to know about them. (Please post in comments)

There is a cool feature with Google Reader that I recently started using.

They provide a way to share your favorite read items (in your massive blog roll) with others.

While reading blog entries in Reader, simply click the share link and Reader will add it to your shared list.

There are two ways to make this list visible to others.

• You can integrate into your very own blog (For an example, visit the site and look on the left at section titled: What's Chris Reading).
• There is also an RSS Feed.

I got Page hooked on Reader, how about you?

If you have Messenger, this may be for you. You can now help raise money for charity.

It is called "I'm", which is short for "I'm Making a Difference"

From the live.com website.
"Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes"

You simply have to add a special code to your display name in Messenger. That simple.

I am supporting the American Red Cross, but there are other options.

***Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is required

Bring a little sanity back in your life. If you are anything like me, you are wide open these days.

Between the kids, wife, and my schedules, we have actually had to schedule a family night. Every Thursday night is our family night. No one... NO ONE... is to schedule anything for that night.

What about the other days and nights? My wife and I are very involved with our church, each serving in different capacities. I do a few side projects from time to time. Susanne sells Mary Kay; she has her facial appointments, and meetings. Emilee has piano & gymnastics. Jacob has T-Ball. Sam has "mom time." Get the point??

So, how do we keep it all straight? I could install Exchange Server and setup a group calendar... but I think that would be over-kill. Plus, my boss has already called me a geek.

Yesterday I was reading Brad Abrams' blog and he mentioned Cozi.

Cozi... sounds relaxing.

This is a website that allows all of our schedules to merge into one. So, when Susanne goes to schedule a meeting for the second Tuesday night of the month, she will now see that I already have a Pee Dee Area .NET user group meeting.

It also has a grocery list for when I run out of shampoo, I can add it so Susanne can know to get it next time she goes out. There is also a neat little message sender that allows easy way to send emails or phone text messages.

Anyway, it is a very nice and fast application (and FREE). And for the techy audience; They have it setup as a website, Click-Once windows application, or even a mobile application (which would allow Susanne to pull the grocery list at the store).

We've already started using it, and I think it will be a big help to our family.

Get it here.

Includes SP2, Books Online, Feature Pack, etc...

For a list of what is in the Feature Pack, Click here.

I saw a presentation that showed Virtual Earth integration yesterday...

(Yes, I got my free copy of Office 2007 and Groove)

So...

I wanted to give maps.live.com another shot; so I pull up my house.

The RED line points to my house.

Now, let's look at Google Maps
(I tried to crop at same locations in the neighborhood)

Microsoft still has a way to go!!!

You can even make out my fence and see the swing set in the back yard.

Scott Guthrie posted a link to "How Do I?" AJAX Demos.

They appear to be very short and to the point. 

Here is the link to the complete set of training on asp.net.

There are also other "How Do I?" training videos on the site; ASP.NET, LINQ, BLINQ, etc..

Have you ever had a long web site link and wanted to share it with others?

Like:

http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

or

http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/

I hope you think someone will remember that.

What if you had to type that in on a Mobile device using that small keyboard.

Using this QurlyQ.com, you can share them like this:

http://qurlyq.com/1m

or

http://qurlyq.com/1n