July TFS Power Tools Released

My buddy Mickey Gousset blogged this afternoon about the July Release of the TFS Power Tools.

I am interested in the new UI for Alerts myself.

Check it out when you have a chance.

Happy Coding!

Flyers from DDD Ireland

 

 

These flyers from the DDD Ireland event that I spoke at back in May.  I thought they were pretty cool and wanted to share them with you all.
EPSON002
EPSON003
Happy Coding!

A Good Lesson in Marketing

 

Can anyone tell me who this sign is targeting?
 
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Marketing is just a hobby of mine, but I just don’t get it.  If you are a beauty advisor, shouldn’t you wear makeup?  I’m just saying.
Happy Coding!

Way too much time on their hands…

 

My buddy Mark has been creating these movie trailers and putting them out on YouTube.  Now they have spoofed Death Race.  It is a little blue, but funny none the less.
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Check it out when you have a chance.

Happy Coding!

I finally sold out

 

Not content to sit on the side lines as “Beatle Mania 2” took place last week, I finally went out and bought myself a used iPhone.  I am in love.  I, of course, had to unlock mine for T-Mobile which was difficult because the previous owner upgraded to the 2.0 firmware.  The device is truly amazing.  It has rekindled my love of Audible.com. 
As I went out to the web to learn about the iPhone, I have only one issue.  Can you guess what it is? Bueller?

If you guessed Apple users you win!!!  Reading the post of some of these pointy headed people makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Anyhow, no earth shattering news.  The iPhone rocks.  Apple bigots suck.  Windows Mobile needs some serious help.  (sorry guys)
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Here is my iPhone with a picture I took of Big Ben as the wallpaper.  Notice the brand of the head phones?  Take that Apple!

*sigh*
Happy Coding!

Happy Birthday America!

 

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence.  The founding fathers of this country were not perfect men. But they were the right men to bring freedom and liberty into the world.  Our revolution was not predestined as many believe.  When you look back and study at the poor army under the command of an experienced George Washington and a congress of colonies who often did not agree, you begin to understand that there was a higher power involved.
American Revolution - Signing of the Declaration of Independence, painting by John Trumbull in U.S. Capitol - In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.

With the U.S. elections coming up in November, it is time to remember what the men, all of whom where marked for death by this point, depicted in this painting from the imagination of John Turnbull  stood for. Now get out and get involved in your community and let freedom ring!
Happy Birthday America!

Turning off the annoying Shutdown Event Tracker

If you are like me and are using Windows 2008 or Windows 2003 as your primary OS, when you shutdown you get this annoying window:
  1. image

Honestly, this window annoys the heck out of me.

If you want to turn this off, do the following:

  1. From the Run menu type "gpedit.msc".
  2. In the tree view, navigate to Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System Folder.
  3. Double click on the Display Shutdown Event Tracker setting.
  4. Select the Disabled radio button and click Ok.
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Happy Coding!

Cool Agile Estimation Tool that is Free

If you have read Mike Cohn's book on Agile Estimation, one of the techniques he recommends is something called Planning Poker or Estimation Poker.  This is an interesting technique that helps team reach consensus on the estimate for each user story, scenario or requirement.   I was doing some research on this technique and I came across a web site that can be used facilitate the game of planning poker for your team.

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Happy Coding!

SQL Server Sample

I was looking for the AdventureWorks database and I discovered that the SQL Server samples have been moved to Codeplex.  Pretty nice!

Check it out when you have a chance.

 

Happy Coding!


Tools for Agility

Kent Beck (a signer of the Agile Manifesto) has written a white paper on the relationship between agile and tools.  It is an interesting read and may make some of you “true believers” think again about only using 3x5 note cards.

 

Thanks to Ajoy Krishnamoorthy from Microsoft for helping to facilitate this!

Happy Coding!

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