Bob Borchers revealed that the reason a lot of iPhone adverts show the time as 9:42 am on the iPhone was because the iPhone was originally launched at that time.

For one of the commercial for the original iPhone, Borchers said the phone number used to demo the Google Map function was genuine and is the actual number number of the Pacific Catch Restaurant in San Franscisco and the last time he was there they still had the iPhone special, which is calamari.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/02/talk.to.students.emphasizes.innovation/

Workflow deployment can be a real pain, here's an error I came across the other day.

Error occurred in deployment step 'Activate Features': Unable to locate the workflow's association data. To restore the association data to the workflow, restart the workflow settings wizard by selecting the workflow node in Solution Explorer and then clicking the ellipsis button (…) on one of the properties in the Properties window that has an ellipsis button.

Even though Visual Studio suggests to reassociate the workflow with task and history lists, I found that the best way to fix this issue is to set Auto Associate to False.

This is a strangest error I have come across whilst working with SharePoint 2010, the full error is this.

[12/20/2011 5:29:10 PM] Warning: [WSS_Content] The operation did not proceed far enough to allow RESTART. Reissue the statement without the RESTART qualifier.

RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

The error message was written to the file restore.log found in the SharePoint backup folder, it seems that the following keyword in TSQL caused the error.

IF EXISTS ( SELECT * FROM master..sysdatabases WHERE has_dbaccess(name)=1 AND name=@db_name )
BEGIN
    SELECT 1 as ErrorCode
END
ELSE
BEGIN RESTORE DATABASE [WSS_Content] FROM DISK=@db_location WITH STATS=5, FILE=1, MOVE @db_OldName TO @db_NewFile, MOVE @db_OldLogName TO @db_NewLogFile, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, RESTART, RECOVERY
END

The combination of software I had installed was SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 with SQL Server 2008 R2

Resolution

To fix this error I took the drastic action of downgrading SQL Server to 2008 R1, the keyword RESTART no longer appears when I restore the SharePoint Farm. This problem could also be down to SP1 issues.

Nearly instant update from Apple event...

http://live.thisismynext.com/Event/Apple_iPhone_5_event_live_blog

Although Android tablets have been gaining increasing market share, they are still not as popular as the iPad, could Microsoft challenge the tablet market with their new OS Windows 8? It certainly looks very likely, Microsoft have always had success with successive operating systems after a major revamp, take Windows Vista and Windows 7 as an example, the latter builds on the success or rather the failure of the previous OS.

Windows 8 looks to establish itself as the OS of choice for tablets by building on the success and refined touch interface that was first introduced in Windows Phone, a successor to the Windows Mobile.

Just like the iPod and iPhone when they were first introduced, there were many that were skeptical about the user interface but nowadays it is not uncommon to see a Windows user with an iPad.

The Metro user interface seen in Windows Phone is now getting more coverage and establishing itself as an alternative touch interface to the likes of iOS used in iPhones and iPads.

Microsoft have partnered with Samsung to build their Windows tablet, this is a wise move as Samsung have shown to be capable of producing lightweight ultra portable laptops devices for the Windows OS in the past.

Let's look forward to the release of the Windows 8 tablet...

Just goes to show it doesn't matter where you are born...

First it was antenna defect in iPhone4 now it has been reported that some iPad 2 have display issues, Apple really needs to look at their manufacturing process. It doesn't help that workers are working like robots in their main supplier's factory Foxconn.

More info on reported display light bleeding
http://www.cultofmac.com/if-your-ipad-2-has-display-problems-do-not-return-it-heres-why/87197

How to check your iPad for dead pixel / light leak / bleed
http://www.theipadguide.com/content/ipad-dead-pixel-test-how/7171269

It's refreshing to hear Microsoft is branching out their OS to the ARM
platform, this could lead to new breeds of programming languages for
developing business applications which currently is dominated by the
.NET languages.

Considering that Windows Phone 7 already runs on ARM and have been
quite successful since its launch, I can see Windows OS following suit
and becoming more prevalent on portable devices such as tablets.

I'm expecting an early alpha or beta version of the Windows x86 port
to ARM being released around the second half of 2012.

It seems Kinect has more potential than any other consoles based motion detection device given the number of hacks that are out there in the wild.

http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/blog/article/19744/kinect-as-youve-never-seen-it-before.html

Direct links to youtube videos of Kinect hacks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-wLOfjVfVc?fs=1&hl=en_GB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWmVrfjDCyw?fs=1&hl=en_GB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3gfMXwQOGI?fs=1&hl=en_GB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qhXQ_1CQjg?fs=1&hl=en_GB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgLp-KyK5g8?fs=1&hl=en_GB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeQwhujiWVk?fs=1&hl=en_GB 

Ipad $500-$700

Samsung Galaxy Tab $600

Kindle $140-$190

Nook $200-$250

Sony Reader 5"-7" $99-$299

Kinect $215 + Xbox $360

With year end approaching fast, I thought I'd make a shortlist of upcoming technologies that will be popular in 2011.

Nintendo 3DS - Handheld gaming device with 3D effects without the need for 3D glasses.

Windows Phone 7 - Recently released WP7 will likely gain increasing mobile phone market share in 2011.

Internet enabled TV - TVs with integrated internet access, app store for apps built specifically to run on full sized screen TVs,