TimRayburn.net

PDC 2008 - The Future of C#

2008-10-28T00:35:09Z

So I had a chance today to attend a session given Anders Hejlsberg on C# 4.0, and beyond. Honestly I walked out of the session going ... that's it? The feature list started with the dynamic keyword, which is cool but simply does not help the 80% of C# developers today. Most C# developers today are so bound to type safety that dynamic will give them even more heartburn than var did. Now in reality it will likely make scenarios like property movement from service contracts to domain objects easier...(read more)

GiveCamp Kiva Lending Team

2008-10-26T13:57:26Z

Just a quick update , that several of the micro-finance loans I made as part of the GiveCamp Kiva team have recently made their first payment back, which allowed me to begin to re-invest most of those funds in another loan. I'm backing the Yon Dial 2 Group, from Senegal. Here are their details: Palmarin (http://www.sem-fund.org/palmarinfr.php) is a village rich in fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, lack of structures specialized in transformation incite people to import fruit and vegetables...(read more)

Tulsa TechFest 2008

2008-10-13T21:48:17Z

Holy smokes, did I have a blast at Tulsa TechFest! It was a great couple of days hanging out with some great speakers, like Randy Walker, Caleb Jenkins, Zain, Chris, Phil and many more. I did presentations on three different topics. The first of these was called Building Services That Rock, the second was Intro to C# 3.0, and finally an intro to Parallelism in .NET. All were well received, I believe, and I thank David for having me out to speak again. This was my first time back since the original...(read more)

Simple Reflection Based Assignment Using Extension Methods

2008-10-08T17:04:20Z

Have you ever had two objects, of different types, and wished that C# could just be smart enough to realize that objA.FirstName should be assigned to objB.FirstName? For me this comes up quite a bit when working with WCF services. I don't want a service to directly expose my internal business object type, because that type might change on a different schedule than that of my data contract. So I often end up with objects that have identical property names, usually the service being a subset of...(read more)

BizTalk 2006 R2 Pre-requisites CAB Files

2008-09-25T15:45:52Z

With many thanks to Sanket for posting this information originally, I wanted to post these links here so that the next time I can save my self the Google search and just hit this post. These links are for the EN language, but there's a link at the bottom to the full list for all languages. Windows 2003 Server 32 bit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81468 Windows 2003 Server 64 bit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81459 Vista 64 bit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81423 Vista...(read more)

How To Create a Portable Office (Computing)

2008-09-24T21:24:56Z

Laptop What makes a great laptop for a mobile office? Well I can give some guidelines, and assume I'm talking to a group of developers, but in the end that is up to you. Some things you need to remember: Extensibility - Does your laptop have an expansion bay which can be used to swap in new hard disks, optical disks and/or batteries? USB Ports - I've yet to meet a laptop with "too many" USB ports. Mine has 4, and I run out quite regularly. Big screen - This is a desktop replacement...(read more)

How To Create a Portable Office (Content)

2008-09-22T20:43:53Z

Content is king! Just ask anyone who is serious about the web and they will tell you, unless they're in the midst of getting you to sign away your content at the moment. As a consultant or other person on the go, you should be ready to capture content at a moment's notice. Now, I do a ton of community work, so I probably take this to extremes, but you should consider these options. Video Capture Video Camera A picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is king. Be it user groups, scrums...(read more)

Give back with Kiva and GiveCamp

2008-09-22T13:00:35Z

So you need only flip back about a year ago on this blog to find that I am clearly a fan of pushing people to contribute to their community, and their world, in a positive way. I was a huge proponent of the We Are Microsoft event last January that has since morphed into the GiveCamp initiative nationwide. I've been thrilled to watch that effort franchise itself around the United States, and am sure that it will reach further will. GiveCamp's are based on the idea of using our skills, as developers...(read more)

How To Create a Portable Office (Network Connectivity)

2008-09-19T19:38:44Z

Phones AT&T Tilt I've carried an AT&T Tilt for nearly a year now as my primary personal phone. I truly love this phone, Windows Mobile 6, GPS, WiFi, full keyboard, 3 mega-pixel camera, and high speed networking is fabulous. I've been with AT&T for several years now. I was an AT&T Wireless customer, then I was a Cingular customer, now I'm an AT&T customer again so I've got a really good deal on a tethering plan for this unit as well which makes it Option 3 in my...(read more)

How To Create a Portable Office (Organization)

2008-09-19T19:34:29Z

Backpack For several years now I've used a Targus backpack to haul around my portable office. A good bag, one that you can trust and has space for what you want to carry is absolutely key. For me, as you will see below, this means I want a lot of space, with large cavernous storage areas. I find my use of other bags (see the next section) helps organize these large spaces without the waste of the designers trying to guess what I want to carry and what shape it will be. For instance, even my favorite...(read more)

How To Create a Portable Office (Overview)

2008-09-19T19:31:39Z

One of the things that I have had to do as a consultant is get used to moving from location to location. Even if I'm at a client for many months, I'll often be moved around their facility because I'm not permanently moving in. This has meant that I've developed quite the interesting bit of tooling to help me keep a portable office. So there are a few different areas of concern: Organization Network Connectivity Content Capture & Playback Computing Resources Fallback Plans Personal...(read more)

What is needed for Dallas TechFest 2009?

2008-09-18T20:00:20Z

So I assume many of those who read my blog are aware of Dallas TechFest and either attended, or thought about attending, last year. We're starting planning for this coming year, and so its time to find out what you, our patrons, would like to see more of at Dallas TechFest 2009? What went great? What needed more attention? What was a waste of time? Leave me a comment, and tell me what you would like to see....(read more)

Microsoft MVP again in 2008

2008-07-02T01:44:16Z

I'm thrilled to report that I've been awarded a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award once again in 2008, though this time I am a Connected Systems MVP, instead of a BizTalk MVP. The difference is nearly inconsequential, as I will still be working with the same team, but over the last year I've begun to focus more and more on things outside of purely BizTalk. I'd like to take a moment to thank Microsoft for the award, this program is absolutely fabulous and...(read more)

Let the upgrade begin

2008-07-01T21:00:27Z

So I know at least some of my friends will be pleased to hear that I've completed my upgrade to Graffiti CMS, migrating from dasBlog. I must say that dasBlog has served me very well, but as the blog has grown in popularity, I've done screencasts, and other things I've begun to realize that I truly needed a CMS, not just a blog. The blog will remain a major feature of TimRayburn.net and the existing feed url will continue to retrieve only my blog content, but I've now got room to grow...(read more)

Connecting Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth Headphones to a Computer or Cellphone

2008-04-13T21:28:04Z

I've just bought a set of Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth Headphones, these are very well reviewed Bluetooth 2.0 EDR headphones and so I was happy to grab a set as they solve another problem I've had which is that my Sprint Mobile Broadband ExpressCard blocks my headphone port. But darned if the default directions just want you to use their little headphone jack adapter. I knew there had to be a way to get these bound to my computer and/or cellphone, so I did some research. For those who come...(read more)