This was going to be my next topic but when Scott Gu blogs on a topic it is difficult to find a new angle. So here it is ... All developers please heed the warning, be careful with our private information and review this blog!

"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes." - Edgard Varese

I was sent an email today that briefly described a job that I thought might be useful for a close friend. This email contained basic information on the job description, location, pay etc ... normal job listing kinda stuff. As I use Gmail email I was given a couple of ads suggesting that I also go for a job or two, and a Map this option.

At first I thought this was useful and harmless enough, until I started to look at the fact that Google was looking into my email and trying to take out information that was relevant to anything it owns. This might be fine as a long as it did not store that kind of information permanently?!

Wrong! Google is storing it ... in fact it stores every single query I have done in Google Search History. Imagine my surprise as I was able to review every query I have run in Google since January of this year. Which coincidentally was the time that I decided to sign up for more Google services. The definition of free email service has just changed for me.

They do provide you with the ability to pause and even switch off the service I am just wondering if they will still be collecting the data somewhere. I did not realize that I need to assume someone else is actually capable of reading my emails, searches, and spreadsheets. Google is still the darling of the press but I think, just one mistake with this kind of information could be quite bad on public relations. AOL is still reeling from its little information snafu.

I worked for a company, that shall remain unnamed, that had specific database naming standards. The standards were strict, as they should be, and I stayed with the company over four almost five years and the naming conventions are now immersed in my SQL conscience.

For example all tables in the database had to be prefixed with a 't' (Why? no one knew but we did it, and there was very little benefit in changing it), so I would begin every SQL select with: "select * from tWhatever"

This is wonderful and harmless until I came to my new place of work in which I do not have to worry about the 't' or the 'idb' or anything else like that. Unfortunately my fingers just cannot seem to break the habit and 'select * from' does not seem complete without the 't'.

The online video world appears to have room for one more player as Microsoft puts the new Soapbox up against YouTube. Currently this service is in beta and is by invite only. I suspect this service will eventually be integrated with the other Windows Live service offerings.

I find that the video service is even more difficult to navigate than the blog world (the cream does not always rise). With a blog all the search engines can look directly at the content and so my searches are easy and effective. With the video world you rely on tags and the comments of others, which are often misleading. I personally will not be signing up for this service. I find that the camera adds 10 pounds to you anyway, and I do not need that kind of help.

Two great posts that were passed to me from my manager. One for debugging issue with IIS app pool crashes the other goes over the fundamentals of MSMQ.

Enjoy!

Zune is out I am very excited about it, unfortunately I committed $100 to a 1 Gig Sandia c140 MP3 player just a few weeks ago. I knew I should have waited I just could not resist.

Zune allows you to share songs temporarily with friends so that they can try them out. Great concept! I would pay for every song on every CD that I have ever borrowed as long as it was easy to try and decide.

ps. The Sandia makes a strange clicking sound when you skip tracks, which is really noticeable. Apparently this is a known problem to which there is no solution.

pps. Microsoft took a really different approach to the marketing of Zune, no one knew what it was at first, but I think it paid off. I still think there is no chance of knocking iPods from the top spot, though, the potential to connect Xbox 360, Media Center and regular PCs is too much to bear.