Up until now I have turned my metaphoric back on AJAX for 2 reasons. Firstly we use Peter Blum controls at work which cover, more than adequately, 90 % of the use cases we encounter with our clients. So JavaScript validation continues to be something we do not concentrate on or worry about. Secondly I thought that I would have to get more familiar with Java Script, which was absolutely incorrect. I will not rant here about why I hate JavaScript development, except to say if I had a IDE I would be more receptive.

I have been summarily ignoring a couple of training opportunities provided at work until recently and I have to say that I am completely on board with AJAX, in fact I am now wondering why we are using Peter Blum controls at all? but I digress...

I was given this list of wonderful "How do I?" videos that step you through how to get started, from the point of downloading and installation all the way to making your own AJAX control kit. 

These videos are a must see!

Found this interesting body battery calculator. I guess now we know what the machines were after in the Matrix ... maybe they should have just used hydro electric power?!?!

Completely Free Personals from JustSayHi

Having developed in C and VB6 at the start of my career there is a definite habit of creating utility modules that help with the manipulation of strings or processing arrays. I have noted from time to time that this has made me neglect some of the in built language features of my primary language, C#.

My first instinct when dealing with an array in C# is to loop through it to create and find strings. I am placing both of these string\array examples here to remind me to stop reinventing the wheel!

Example 1 - Creating a comma (or whatever) separated list of strings from an array.

string[] values = new string[5];
values[0] = "1";
values[1] = "2";
values[2] = "3";
values[3] = "4";
values[4] = "5";
string val = String.Join(",", values); //val = "1,2,3,4,5" - I believe Join had a VB6 equivalent

Example 1 - Search an array for a specific value

string stringvals = "1,2,3,4,5";
string [] values;
int searchresult;

values = stringvals.Split(','); // again a VB 6 equivalent was available
searchresult = Array.BinarySearch(values,"4"); //returns a negative number if it cannot find the value.

I spent some time yesterday installing the new Windows Live suite of products which primarily consists of Live Writer, Live Mail and Live Messenger. I have been completely confused with recent changes in Microsoft branding i.e. the change from MSN to Live. This latest release of products, however, is a great attempt to bring together products that help users take advantage of the Live experience.

What was fascinating for me was the integrated installation process, the idea of a single application pulling down the latest betas was something that I have not seen before. Each time the installation of a component was completed you were given a short cut to launch the application from within the installation screen ... nice!

The main change to Live Writer that I found was the integration with Live MSN SoapBox, you get automatically logged into SoapBox and any videos you uploaded become automatically available for insertion ... unfortunately I have none, and if I did they would probably be on YouTube (you can also use URLs for video insertions).

I spent a little time messing with Live Mail, but I have got so use to using Gmail and Hotmail (web) that I could not see the reason in pursuing this any further. There are few nice integration points with Messenger so I may set this up for my wife. I liked the RSS integration but could not find the OPML import function and I was not going to import my 50+ feeds manually!

Overall this marked attempt at integration is working for me, I will test it out for a few weeks and see if I am onboard!

P.S. Live Mail smells a little like Outlook Express ?!?! not sure how I feel about that!

I must admit after seeing the latest line up from iPod it really took the wind out of my Zune sails. As if the iPod Touch was not enough, the WiFi features contained there in are exactly what was missing from Social aspect of the Zune. You can walk into a participating Starbucks and download new music, you can also surf the web ... did I not mention this in a wish list several moons ago.

The Zune had WiFi features when it was released, and never capitalized on it. The down side of the touch is that I only see them in 8Gb and 16Gb version. The amount of music and videos that I want to watch makes this a real issue.

The iPod classic, I believe, remains the true flag ship and with the next versions at 80Gb and 160Gb it is clear that the bar has been raised significantly. They have also adopted the Cover Flow (display album covers) mechanism that made the iPhone look so cool on the TV commercials. Even more impressive is the proposed 40 hours of playback ... I am going to have to see that.

The iPod 80GB and 160GB classic versions retail at $249.99 and $349.99 respectively. I am sure the new Zune retail price of $200 is in direct response to iPod's highly competitive pricing. If the rumor mill is true then the next Zune update will allow music downloads wirelessly, the rumor came out of engadget.com and they are far from reliable. There is also supposed to be a new line of Zune toys but again rumors along with photo editing is cheap, especially on the Internet.

Still, I remain hopeful!

I hop on my wife's laptop every opportunity I get, I think the Vista UI is just super slick. I was adjusting the volume and noticed that I could adjust the relative volume of all the open applications that required sound.

This is just a better way to live! I hope Corillian\CheckFree\[Next take over company name here] lets us upgrade soon.