Karls Blog

Please help the 'poor' guy out ;)

http://www.helpwinthisbet.com/

UPDATE - I wonder what the prize for 20 MILLION hits is ;)

Catching up on some webinars (terrible name but great resource if you couldn't make the sessions like me and the recent security summit in Melbourne - http://www.microsoft.com/australia/eforum/TechNetSecurityWebSessions.aspx :) and and blogs when I saw this very, VERY interesting post by Dave L:

http://blogs.msdn.com/davidlem/archive/2006/04/13/575344.aspx

At WDG we are working on a training program to help our devs become certified. We have $$$ incetives for our guys, but depending on their work load, some find it difficult to secure the time. And training takes time and resources. These Virtual Labs (esp the Express ones) are unreal - they pop open a Remote Desktop window to some server (would love to know more about the technology!), have a guide that people print and follow and you are off and running in no time! An EXCELLENT resource for training / 'practicing' devs (and yes Dave, love the practice analogy too - we'll be implementing it :).

We recently went thru a security audit here at WDG and as a result, the Netops guys cut many liberal access rights on production machines. One of the services effected was our SQL boxes. It has always been a pain keeping our DEV / STAGING / LIVE SQL boxes in sync or update them for each upgrade / new version etc.

I stumbled across this VERY useful SQL tool from an old friend of mine, Tom Williams (whos now married with off spring - nice work mate :)

SQL Compare - Sales guff says "SQL Compare saves you astonishing amounts of time in development environments and in database administration. SQL Compare will help you push out database changes quickly, simply and with zero errors. SQL Compare will save you time at each and every step, from development to production.". And in reality it does. Been a great tool to view and migrate changes between SQL DBs!

Now this is an AWSOME use of AJAX / AJAX type interface:

http://www.google.com/calendar/

Try adding alerts, draging date ranges - inviting others. VERY kewl UI - who needs smart clients (hey Clarke ;p)! Thanks TJ for pointing it out!

Now this kind of bill has to scare you :)

http://techdirt.com/articles/20060410/1614206.shtml

Been a MAD few weeks, and got so much to write. Will try and spend some time this week getting the news, thoughts and cool ideas into the blog, but for now, I really enjoyed reading how Bill Gs office works. I've only got 2 screens, but could def do with a third :)

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/30/news/newsmakers/gates_howiwork_fortune/index.htm