Ok, so you're aware of the standard kinds of items that you can plug into your USB drive, such as:
- USB hard drives, floppy drives, etc.
- Flash memory drives
- Phone chargers
- Mice
But, here's a list of some rather interesting things that I've come across lately:
And if those weren't strange enough:
”Keep one of two things backed up -- your data or your resume.”
- Richard Hundhausen, MCDBA
I'll be adding to this list throughout my journey with the Beta 2
- XQuery Designer
- IntelliSense is not implemented for T-SQL Editors
- Database Diagrams / Visual DB Tools
- Date, Time, and UTCDateTime data types
- Service Manager icon in the System Tray
Dropped altogether
- ObjectSpaces (until Longhorn timeframe)
Any others you want to mention?
Now I know that XML Web Services have had a profound effect on other distributed programming models ...
(I snapped this photo last year, while teaching a Commerce Server class in Carnegie, PA.)
Think you've run across some funny, odd, and confusing user interfaces? Check these out.
Here's an example:
1 Beyond has just released a 64-bit laptop. So, for those of us who travel and present on the latest technology, such as 64-bit Windows-XP, 64-bit SQL Server, and 64-bit Whidbey, it makes it possible!
Yes, this was software that I wrote in 1993 - DOS-based, written in Clipper, to help players and collectors of Magic: The Gathering card game organize their collections, trade cards, and track their decks. It was a fun utility to build, and an eye-opening experience as far as how *not* to run a business.
Although it's 10 years old, a copy pops up on EBay now and then.
If you're interested, you can download the DOS version and check it out. No setup program to run, just unzip in a folder and double click the EXE.
Craigslist will launch its Boise site before the end of the year, according to San Francisco-based founder Craig Newmark. The site offers jobs, classifieds, personals, services, and (most interestingly) bartering!
Started in San Francisco in 1995, Craigslist now has Web site pages for numerous U.S. cities, plus London and several cities in Canada. Newmark, a self-proclaimed nerd, said the site initially was a way for him to find out about social events, and then share the information with others.
This is a nice indication that Boise is and continues to be a technology center, with a community of tech-minded professionals.
Using the OLEDB .NET Data Provider and Jet, I am able to select from the various worksheets inside an Excel spreadsheet. This is great, and has saved me from automating Excel many times. The catch is that you have to know the name of the first sheet in the XLS file, or use automation or DAO (yuck) to determine it. I found a posting on DonXML's blog that shows how to do this, using the OleDbConnection and it's GetSchemaTable method. Here's the goods:
conExcel.Open();
DataTable xlsSheets = conExcel.GetOleDbSchemaTable
(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables,new object[]
{null, null, null, "TABLE"});
string SheetName =
"["+xlsSheets.Rows[workSheetNumber]["TABLE_NAME"].ToString()+"]";
The last few links I've received from Microsoft have pointed back to this new Website, so I investigated further and found many interesting lab “projects” here.
This seems to be where Microsoft parks experimental projects and beta code for downloading, to garner feedback from developers. It looks like successful projects will be called up to the big league of MSDN proper.
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com
Accredited investors in Boise Idaho have recently formed an organization to provide a forum for entreprenuers and emerging companies to present investment opportunites. By presenting to the Boise Angel Alliance, entrepernuers and emerging companies may get connected with both money and potential mentors with business expertise.
Visit www.boiseangelalliance.com for more information.
Kristen and I got a rare treat Saturday night. We were able to snag two tickets to the premier of The Bourne Supremacy -- a full week before it's regular release. In addition to that, Frank Marshall and Matt Damon were both in Boise to kick it off!  
For tall people, laptop users, or anyone wanting to maintain their space! I saw this for sale in FHM magazine. I've already got a set on order. I love these guys. As an added bonus, here's a couirtesy card you can print out and give to the person sitting in front of you: 
www.kneedefender.com
Many of us has heard rumors about such a tool. Reading their business card on the SQL Reporting Services partners page, you'd think that their RDL Generator would be a hit; but, according to company representatives, they will only offer this as a service -- something about licensing issues with Business Objects. Hopefully, we'll see one pop up as open source or shareware.
Inacom in Madison, Wisconsin was just selected Microsoft's Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (CPLS) Partner of the year!
Congratulations to my friends Charley Eaton, Bryan Bechtoldt, John Cook, Dani Poppe, Bill Roddewald, Lauri Meixelsperger, Andi Rainey, and Sharon Rugge and everyone else at Team Inacom.
Sorry all. I took a week off and didn't think about technology ... only shelves. My garage is now defragged and all vehicles fit inside it!
Here's something light to get your started this week. Most of the articles found on this site are actual, only one or two paradies.
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