So it’s been a really long time since I consistently blogged on my previous ASP.NET blog (and, let’s be honest, it wasn’t that consistent to begin with!) With the mainstream use of microblogging sites like Facebook and Twitter, I’ve been able to post more frequent updates (http://www.facebook.com/sc... & http://twitter.com/scottvan... ......

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First of all -- I'm a total liar. I was supposed to offer up some great insight from Tech•Ed. But alas, I had to leave early and fly to Seattle for a meeting. So, I wasn't able to share any fun stuff :( We'll, I actually have a tiny bit of time to write, and I thought I'd share the result of recent code review. I'm currently teaching .NET (Framework ......

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Hey everyone -- just got out of the Tech·Ed 2008 keynote and learned that this was Bill's last keynote as chairman of Microsoft... kind of cool to witness. Was a good session, outlining SQL Server Data Services and some other stuff -- but nothing "new", per se. But hopefully we'll see some good stuff in the sessions... I'm off to a WPF session, and ......

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Classic... try it yourself: http://search.live.com/cash... And I was all excited about getting some of that proverbial "fat cash". (And yes, I tried this on both PC and Mac -- IE, Firefox and Safari!) Update Working now -- must have been some last-minute host header redirect from msn.com to live.com (see the screenshot.) ......

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Not sure why this hasn’t been covered yet on the blogosphere, but yesterday at Microsoft 2008 Launch Event, Tom Brokaw gave a ~15 minute monologue about technology to introduce Steve Ballmer , the plight of our planet, and how technology (and those who deploy it) should be used for the greater good. Tom Brokaw! That’s right – TB; to introduce Visual ......

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Does working on projects for a movie studio sound exciting to you? Do you want to parlay your consulting job into an acting career? Do you have a garage band and want to drop your demo tape at your record label client's desk? If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, please read on! (All in jest, of course) We're currently looking for highly-skilled ......

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So I've boarded my flight to DFW (en route to Orlando.) Having been upgraded to First Class, (thank you elite status) I started getting comfortable in my bulk head isle seat (my favorite, of course.) Just as I'm about to buckle-up, a gentleman asks if I'm too attached to my seat to move so that he and his buddy can sit together. Now, I'm very cognizant ......

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If you've used hashing to store passwords for your application, you may want to double-check you code to ensure it works on Vista. Thanks to information found in Shawn Steele's post from almost a year ago, it seems Microsoft made changes in the .NET Framework for Vista to comply with the Unicode 5.0 specification, which requires invalid characters previously ......

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So I realize it seems like I'm posting a bunch of stuff on Oracle and little on .NET, but it's all related to a large Smart Client application we're developing for our client, using Oracle 10g; thus, it's relative J In a geographically-diverse team structure, it can be quite difficult to manage the development environment used by each team member (especially ......

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This is my first time visiting Japan, and it's already been an incredible experience. Dinner tonight was an interesting blend of Japanese fare, most of which tasted completely unfamiliar. And the long ride from Narita to the Westin Tokyo allowed me to view some of the city's multifaceted beauty. Tokyo is the start of my mini World Tour of client meetings; ......

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