Archive for January, 2008
SBTUG: Links, contact details from last night
[UPDATE: Fixed the News file link]
We had an excellent start to the year, with Cecelia Haddad taking us through Public Relations (PR) and Peter Ward covering the new features in SQL Server 2008 with a focus on those giving the most business value.
Here’s some links and contact details.
Cecelia Haddad: Marketing Elements
Peter Ward: WardyIT
Here’s [...]
ELCOM: Career plans for Developers – Part I
Part of my brief at Elcom is to look after all the developers (ie people management). This is something I enjoy, especially when seeing developers grow and improve themselves.
During November and December I sat down with each of my staff and started preparing their career plans. It is their responsibility to work out their goals [...]
TIP: Compressing Virtual PC images
If you’ve got a stack of Virtual PC images clogging up your hard drive(and who doesn’t these days?), here’s how to compress (or compact) them.
1. With the Virtual PC image running, choose Capture ISO Image… from the CD Menu
2. When the dialog opens, find the Virtual Disk Precompactor.iso image (it’ll be in your [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )TIP: Selecting multiple items in Outlook
Outlook allows you to select multiple items with just your mouse.
The trick is to position your cursor in the very left part of the first column so that the cursor changes from pointing North-West to pointing N-E.
Here’s how it is normally:
Now position it a little more to the left and your cursor will change [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )TECHNOLOGY: Security, email and SPAM
Reading through Australia’s IT news roundup over the last few weeks has been illuminating.
Security
Take security exploits and spam for example. This reminder on SQL exploits welcomed us back to the new year, alongside this note about how 70K web pages were hacked in a single week. And a new take on the hijacking side [...]
TIP: Using GMail +
GMail (and some other email providers) supports the ‘+’ directive in email addresses.
Thus, if your GMail address is:
barackobama@gmail.com
Then, emails sent to the following address will reach you as well:
barackobama+temp@gmail.com
Based on the email address sent to, you can set automatic spam filtering or other rules.
This is handy for signing up on web sites, since you can [...]
ELCOM: More on Windows 2008, SQL 2008, VS 2008
Earlier this week I mentioned Elcom had moved everything over to 2008 (that is, our product – Community Manager.NET – is now targeting .NET 3.5 in Visual Studio 2008, and our site is running on Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 on the back end).
Initial thoughts were that the site was running a bit [...]
TIP: Vista performance tools
I can’t always remember where I learn my favourite tips, but I think this one came from Adam Cogan at a recent .Net User Group meeting. In any case, it is covered via my usual Disclaimer.
Here’s how to run a quick performance monitor check on your Vista machine.
Go to the orb, and type in perf [...]
SBTUG: Wed 30 Jan – Understanding PR, and SQL Server 2008
Only two weeks until The Sydney Business & Technology User Group (SBTUG) kicks off for 2008.
And what a great return meeting we have lined up.
Business
On the business side of things, Cecelia Haddad will be giving us an overview of PR. The whole public relations side of business is a mystery to many, so this session [...]
TIP: Using IE7 Quick Tabs
IE7 has a nice thumb view list of all your currently open tabs.
That’s it there, right next to the first tab. Click on it or type Ctrl + Q
to give you this – a thumbnail of each of the sites you have open. Simply click on the thumbnail you wish to switch to.
To obvious you [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )ELCOM: Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008
Elcom is all 2008.
The Elcom web site is now running on a Windows 2008 Server, with SQL Server 2008 as the back-end and Community Manager.NET completely recompiled under Visual Studio 2008 (targeting the 3.5 Framework) delivering the content.
Community Manager.NET is Elcom’s content management system (CMS), which we have now re-compiled, tested and released on the [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )TIP: Saving Tab Groups in IE7
A feature I like in IE7 and use all the time is the Save as Tab Group function.
If you have a bunch of sites open and want to save them for later review, simply Add the whole set of Tabs as a Group in your favourites.
Later when you want to open the sites [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )TIP: CTRL + TAB in VS2008
Another simple one you may already know.
When working in Visual Studio 2008 you can use CTRL + TAB to switch through your open windows (similar to how you use ALT + TAB to switch between applications).
It brings up a window as shown below. Simply keep Ctrl + Tabbing through them until you get the one [...]
COMMUNITY: User groups are starting up again
Is it half way through January already?
That must mean it’s time for user groups to start up again! And what a great bunch of sessions they’ve got coming up this month. Here’s a few to get you excited:
Tue 15 – Readify RDN: Agile programming, SQL Server Reporting Services
Tue 15 – SharePoint UG: Site Collections [...]
VSTO: How Do I videos by Steve Hansen
I’ve linked to these a bit over on my link blog last year, but I think they warrant a dedicated post here.
I’ve been spending a fair bit of time with VSTO lately, and I’ve found Steve Hansen’s How To videos to be one of the best resources in getting me started.
What I particularly like is [...]
TIP: Resetting Visual Studio environment
If you’ve installed Visual Studio with a specific environment (eg Visual C#, Web development) and want to change it something else, you can simply reset it from the Tools > Import and Export Settings menu option
Just choose the third option
You can save your current settings before the reset is enabled.
As usual, this tip [...]
CLARITY: Thin, Thick and Smart clients
The term Smart Client is probably the most often misused of the three, and there always seems to be a little bit of confusion as to where Thick stops and Smart begins.
But, yet again, The Architecture Journal (Issue 14, p10) guides us with a simple and helpful summary. Some will no doubt disagree (since the [...]
GOOGLE: Playing with Google AJAX Search API
I’ve been playing with the Google AJAX Search API for a few hours and it seems pretty easy. (The API isn’t new or anything, it’s just that I haven’t played with it until now.)
The advantage of the AJAX search is that results are presented in the page with no obvious refresh or having to open [...]
TIP: Sending free time details in Outlook
Here’s how to send someone a list of your available time slots from Outlook 2007.
Create a new email item as per below example, then click the Calendar button:
The following form will appear:
Choose the Calendar (if you have multiple) and Date (or range) you want. I usually tick the box to limit it to [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )2008: The Year of VSTO
There’s been a number of predictions made about technology for 2008, and of course a list of disappointments for the past year. Considering that no ones really takes any of them very seriously, then why not add my own
Here’s my prediction:2008 will be the year that Office Business Applications go mainstream*.
And by Office [...]
DISCLAIMER: Being as open as possible
This is a disclaimer post that I will refer back to from other posts.
Last updated: 06 January 2008
Opinion only
Anything you read on this site is my own opinion and not necessarily endorsed, agreed to, or even known about by friends, family, employers, etc.
If I ever represent the opinion of some one else, it’ll be clearly [...]
PERSONAL: Welcome to 2008
I’ve had a nice two week break over the Christmas and New Year period. The first week was spent on chores, family events and generally unwinding. The second was spent reading and thinking, and catching up with a few close friends.
Now, I just need another week to do all those technology related projects I intended [...]
