A Ring Tone That Only Teens Can Hear!

This is probably one of the coolest news stories that I've seen. There is a new ringtone that is used by teenagers but can not be heard by adults. There is a real science that is behind the ringtone. The range of human hearing shrinks with age about 2 decibels every 10 years. The ringtone is just outside the range of an average teenagers (just above 17-18 khz). The hearing of an adult end usually ends around 14-15 Khz and therefore ringtone is generally not heard by the adults. Check out more info here: Smartphone Thoughts :: View topic - Teen Buzz, A Ring Tone That Only Teens Can Hear!

A Ring Tone That Only Teens Can Hear!

Announcing msdnman

For all those Unix gurus, or just those who have a use for command line MSDN reader, here's msdnman

Announcing msdnman

Google Earth gets an upgrade

More coolness in the Web world. Google world gets an upgrade. Google Earth - Home

Google Earth gets an upgrade

ASP.NET Enterprise Manager on Steroids: Ajax, Multiple DB types, And open source!

This seems awsome. This is a great example of taking the web to the next level, and might be a perfect solution for DMZ environments. ASP.NET Enterprise Manager on Steroids: Ajax, Multiple DB types, And open source!

ASP.NET Enterprise Manager on Steroids: Ajax, Multiple DB types, And open source!

.NET Framework 3.0

WinFX is getting renamed to .NET Framework 3.0. And it will be shipped together with Vista. And it will be available to XP and 2003. And it should not delay Vista any more (should is the key :) Yeee haaaa.

.NET Framework 3.0

Minh T. Nguyen's Blog : Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks - Free PDF Download

There is a great book that now is available completely free in PDF format. Free PDF-download of my book �Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks� on InfoQ.com The book comes in a non-printable format, but if you like it you can get a cope from many retailers.

Minh T. Nguyen's Blog : Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks - Free PDF Download

Microsoft Jumps in the WIKI bandwagon

Microsoft just made a public a new site: msdnwiki.microsoft.com. There is quite a bit of press around it from the Microsoft bloggers. This is definetely something to keep a close look at.

Microsoft Jumps in the WIKI bandwagon

Port25

SMTP This New site from Microsoft focused on "Communications from the Open Source Software Lab @ Microsoft" Check out Port25 (http://port25.technet.com)

Port25

Technorati Profile

Still working on enhancing my blog. Next: Technorati Profile

Technorati Profile

Making Changes

Just making some changes to my blog. There will still be some tweaking (as I am not that great at Web UI). New items are my BlogRoll (hosted by bloglines.com) and my LinkRoll (hosted by del.icio.us)

Making Changes

Red-Gate software does it again

Finally, Intellicense for SQL Query Analizer - Free http://www.red-gate.com/products/SQL_Prompt/index.htm Get it now (free until September 1st)

Red-Gate software does it again

WEB 2.0 and other developments

I am extremely impressed with the latest developments of the web. It is definitely taking on a 2.0 format, where I clearly see the next level of usability and usage advances. First of all the use of AJAX is finally making the web pages usable without going trough the regular "Fill the form" -> Submit -> Wait -> "Correct the Form" -> Repeat procedure. I finally see interfaces that resemble usability of the rich UI that we are all used to in the think client applications. No, there is still room to grow, and SmartClient applications are still safe, however, Web 3.0 might change that completely. Second, I am VERY impressed with the competition that google is receiving. Don't get me wrong, google is great. Search is amazing, I love the pluggable homepage, I use GMail and think that it's a truly great thin email client. However, the competition is getting really close. Even though I like the pluggable webparts, I still like the design of my.yahoo.com better. I prefer to have a two or three section design. I love the site, the idea of tags is just amazing. GMail works, but it is still hard to file the emails, I'd love to be able to have return receipts, multiple tags for emails, etc... Desktop search from MSN Toolbar, has a cleaner interface with the outlook then Google deskbar does. Overall, competition created a lot of great software that can be utilized. Third, I am really, realy, really impressed with the online communities. del.icio.us, Blog explosion, Flicker, WIKIs, etc.... It is really amazing how the community is driving the advances in the technology, and it is no longer a vendor who is making application happen, but rather the people who are using the application. The application is no longer the software that a you as a user gets to use, it is the content that is provided and the way that the content is created and organized by others within the community. Each application is like a giant ant farm, that with the proper display ca become a living and breathing form of art. well, what Web 3.0 will be we can only dream of, Or is it that we can change the world to make it happen :)

WEB 2.0 and other developments

Agile Projects in the real world

It's been a while since I've written a post, but this topic has been on my mind for a while. I've always been in favor of Agile project delivery, the Simplicity and "you are not going to need it" principals. I've seen it time and time again, that projects are overarchitected, overdesigned and are overpromissed. Teams spend months upon months on design meetings, requirements gathering, architecture comeeties. Then before the project is even close to the stable beta stage, multiple things happen:

• A key developer leaves and developers who were not 100% sold on the design start picking parts of the projects to rearchitect
• A new technology is introduced in the market that makes a lot of work already done on the project absolute
• The customer (or business sponsor) changes his mind on the need for the project in the first place because the timeframe for the key deliverable was missed.

The article in the computerworld reflects on these issues, and I found it to be very comforting that I am not the only one thinking about this. http://www.computerworld.com/ managementtopics/management/story/ 0,10801,110951,00.html

Agile Projects in the real world

Technology-less solution

I've been reading some of the old saved blog entries on bloglines, and came to one very interseting entry by Chris Sells. http://www.pocketmod.com/ Provides a analog solution that is extremely simple and might (I've not tried it yet) be very good at orgonizing the simpe daily actions in your life.

Technology-less solution

Who ever said VB is dead?!?!?

It appears VB is not only alive, but is growing strong. It seems that the feature is all about data and merging the divide between application and data. Hmm.... So is the n-tear design supposed dying... doubt it http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/future/

Who ever said VB is dead?!?!?