I preordered a book on Amazon a few weeks ago, and it finally shipped this week.  I went to check the delivery status, and was shocked to see that apparently delivery is going to take about two months!  I'm not quite sure how it can possibly take that long, but I guess if they just leave the package laying around, then every so often send it on to the next point they can do it.  Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get it before December!     Update: The order arrived on Monday (10/3).  So much for their estimate!

OK, so this is probably old, but I just came across it: Escape from Yesterworld It's an ad for SQL Server and Visual Studio 2005, but it's got to be one of the more creative efforts I've seen from MS. Bonus points for ripping on Microsoft Bob! Enjoy!

I mean it.  Well, at least I should say I love them when they just do what they should do.  That's just so rare though.  Buy a new device, enjoy it for awhile, then get ready for the downhill drop-off.  My Nikon CoolPix 5700 stop being able to sense when the flash was up so I had to sent it authorized repair.  Much more than I wanted to pay.  Now the lens it locked in the extended position.  Something happened on my trip to LA for the PDC.  No idea what it could be.  I took pictures that evening, and...

Well, if you read my previous WinFS post (http://ariankulp.com/archive/2005/09/20/561.aspx ), I've made some corrections to it.  I made a bad assumption about the WinFSData object which I've corrected.  Bottom line, treat it like a database connection.  Create/Destroy it as used and a connection pool will deal with keeping it efficient. Gotta read that documentation more!

So I've been playing with WinFS here and there since the PDC.  It's a neat model, with lots left for me to explore.  I took the WinFSThumbnailer app (C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\WinFS\Samples\WinFSThumbnailer) and added some enhancements. First of all, I added a thumbnail viewer in the app.  Seeing the filename in a listbox isn't all that useful if the names came straight from the camera (DSCN0923.JPG, anyone?).  Now as you change focus, I display a thumbnail below the list. Second, I added support for the EXIF Orientation tag.  This little-used/little-known tag allows you to specify the orientation of the image.  It's actually a way...

Well today I noticed that my MSDN Coding 4 Fun article went live!  It's a short article on how to create an alarm clock in the system tray.  It's a neat way of showcasing some of the easy-to-use features in Visual Studio 2005.  I should have another article showing up at least once a month and plan to write lots of neat little utilities (hopefully providing actual usefulness!).  I'd be glad to take a suggestion if anyone has one, or at least take an idea into account.  Otherwise I'll come up with ideas that make sense to me.  In general,...

Well, my plan was to blog on the sessions through the week but it didn't really happen that way.  For one thing, I was just really busy!  I was running, running all the time.  I don't know how many miles I put in.  I always wondered that with JavaOne too.  It would be interesting to count the miles.  Beyond the time constraint, I thought I could just blog from the sessions, but for whatever reason I couldn't always get a connection in the session rooms (though they seemed to always be available based on other attendees), and of course I...

The keynote this morning was something else!  I've never seen Bill Gates up close before (though 30 rows back isn't that close either!), and watching him talk was pretty exciting.  He had so much to say about Vista (formerly Longhorn), and given my interest in future technologies, I couldn't get enough. Later today I'll pick up my "goodies" bag which will contain a never release build than the Beta 1 build. I already have B1 installed, but I'm always glad to update. The search features are much needed, and the general UI eye-candy is a nice catchup with OS x too....

Today I'm off for the Microsoft PDC '05.  I plan on attending as many sessions as I can, and perhaps blogging about the goings on when I can.  As a veteran JavaOne attendee (five times anyway), it will be interesting to compare and contrast the two.  I have a feeling that this will be bigger.  I am really looking forward to sessions on Vista (Longhorn), including WinFS, XAML, presentation (Avalon), and messaging (Indigo).  I will also try to attend sessions on LINQ (something I already know a few things about...), and whatever else I can find time for. As a Coding...

Yet another late update! I installed Windows Media Center about a week and a half ago and I am just loving it. The machine is a 1.0 GHz Pentium III with 768 MB RAM, about 100GB HD space, a GeForce FX 5200 for primary display card, and Avermedia 1500 MCE TV tuner card. The setup works really slick. I think I can see the 1.0GHz in some of the visual effects, but the TV viewing/recording works like a charm. I plan on writing a plugin or two for it as soon as I have a...

I have done an awful job of updating things lately. I setup a machine with Windows Vista last week and haven't mentioned it yet. It's very nice looking and seems to perform fairly well on my hardware. Unfortunately it doesn't support my sound card, so multimedia is a bit stunted. I plan on using it for a few hours here and there for productivity (switching back to a real machine if necessary so I don't hinder my work!). I'll blog about experiences (hopefully with some pictures too) when I have a chance.