For a limited time, this 2 hours ASP.NET AJAX clinic is free:

Clinic 5230: Developing Enhanced Web Experiences with Microsoft® ASP.NET AJAX Extensions
https://www.microsoftelearning.com/eLearning/courseDetail.aspx?courseId=73568

I was looking for a replacement keyboard/mouse for my server recently.  I was looking for something small, no numeric keypad and with a built-in touchpad.  I went to see the good folks at MicroBytes LaSalle and saw the Adesso AKB-410US USB keyboard/touchpad.  I plugged the keyboard on my Windows 2003 Server 64bits box and it worked as is without installing any device drivers.

The keyboard being this small, there are a few drawbacks.  The Ctrl key is placed to the left of the Function key so I tend to hit the Function key when I want to hit Ctrl.  The Delete key is also placed right to the left of the Left Arrow and I tend to hit it often.

I also tried to disable the "tap" function of the touchpad by installing the drivers available from the Adesso Website but they fail to recognize the touchpad; maybe because I'm using a 64bits OS.

Beside that, this is a cool little device that doesn't take much real estate.

An update on my previous post on the Office 2007 VPC...

Hummm, downloaded the VPC and there's not much, only Exchange 2007.  That VPC must be part of a larger set of VPCs that must must run simultaneously but the download page is not clear on what else to download.  Anyone has more info?

Another VPC worth looking at...The 2007 Office System Demo and HOL Images (VPC).
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c5892ad8-86ec-4199-a38b-2a99985ea33b&DisplayLang=en

The download page doesn't tell much about the content so I guess I'll have to download it to take a look at it.

This virtual machine demonstration environment contains almost 50 Hands-On-Labs, ~25 demos, and more than 10 software packages

If you're interested in learning more about B.I., you should take a look at the B.I. VPC:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8f3d12ea-0dd1-4b22-b530-156e90a2616e&displaylang=en

We started posting the Groupe d'usagers Visual Studio's January-June 2008 schedule on the group's Website.
http://www.guvsm.net/Menu/Calendrier/Calendrier2008/tabid/77/Default.aspx

At my last presentation, many people showed interest in a WCF presentation so we added one.  We are still trying fot fit external speakers in the schedule, this is why so see many "holes" as we wait for confirmations.  Stay tuned and register for our mailing list:
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101507364024&p=oi

I recently bought an upgrade to Sage's Simply Accounting 2008 thru their Website.  When I received the package I was shocked to see that the software box was not inside a shipping box; Sage just placed the shipping labels directly onto the software box.  For a moment, I was shocked and not happy but thinking about it, it makes sense for the environnement.  Why put this box into another box (more dead trees) and fill it with styrofoam filling material?

I would have liked at least a brown paper wrapping so the content is not directly exposed to everyone but I guess Sage figured out that no one would be interested in stealing accounting software 

Last week, Microsoft announced the dates for the PDC 2008 conference.  This year scheduled PDC was postponed and will now take place on October 27-30 2008 in L.A.

Now that most of the new Web stuff is announced at Mix, I wonder what will be announced. New OS?  New Framework?

Last week, ScottGu announced the releasse of a set of extensions to ASP.NET 3.5:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/12/09/asp-net-3-5-extensions-ctp-preview-released.aspx

Oh man, VS 2008 just came out and here are a cool new set of features to take a look at!

The Office 2007 SP1 is now available thru Windows Update or from this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01F388F5&displaylang=en

Guy Barrette: Nouveautés de l'IDE de Visual Studio 2008

Pour cette émission, Guy prend le siège d'invité et Éric Moreau devient le temps d'une émission le co-animateur avec Mario. Nous discutons avec Guy des nouveautés de l'IDE de Visual Studio 2008. Quels sont les nouveautés intéressantes incluses avec la nouvelle version VS 2008? Compatibilité des projects avec VS 2005. Support pour les versions 2, 3 et 3.5 du Framework. Designers intégrés pour WF, WCF et WPF. Intégration de SQL Server Compact Edition. Cache locale de données. Support amélioré pour les CSS et le JavaScript.

Guy Barrette est un architecte de solutions basé à Montréal, Canada. Il est le directeur régional Microsoft pour la région de Montréal et un MVP ASP/ASP.NET. Il se spécialise dans les outils de développement Microsoft depuis la sortie de VB 3 en 1994. Guy aide les entreprises à bâtir de meilleures solutions avec Team System et les outils de Microsoft ainsi que l'architecture et le développement d'applications Web. Il a été conférencier lors d'événements MSDN et lors de conférences comme Microsoft DevDays et DevTeach. Parlant de DevTeach, Guy est " Tech Chair " de la piste Développement . Guy a obtenu les certifications Microsoft suivantes: Site Builder et Solution Developer. Guy est aussi président du Groupe d'usagers Visual Studio Montréal et à chaque année il organise le Code Camp de Montréal. Guy écrit une rubrique de critique de livres .NET mensuelle pour le Magazine Level Extreme. Vous pouvez lire sa biographie complète sur son blog http://guy.dotnet-expertise.com/. Éric Moreau est un consultant indépendant ayant plus de 16 années d’expériences diversifiées. Il développe principalement des applications de type client/serveur utilisant VB et MS SQL Server (et plusieurs autres technologies autour) principalement dans les industries bancaire, financière et de service. Il travaille avec VB depuis la version 4 et l'enseigne depuis la version 5. Il détient les certifications Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). Il a de plus obtenu le titre de MVP Visual Basic en 2004. Il est un membre du Groupe d'Utilisateurs Visual Studio Montréal ou il donne régulièrement des présentations. Il a aussi été présentateur aux conférences DevTeach depuis les tous débuts en 2003 et quelques autres conférences comme le CodeCamp. Finalement, il est l’auteur d’une colonne mensuelle dans le Level Extreme .Net magazine.

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Yep, that happened to me a couple of times: buying a CD or a DVD that I already have.  Maybe because I'm geeting older and my memory is not what it was.  Yikes!  Nah, I just have too many items, that must be the reason 

I started looking for a way to catalog all of this when I found the Collectorz.com Website.  They have software for CDs, DVDs, books and more.  I downloaded trial versions and liked the software especially how it retrieves information from Amzon and IMDB.  This means a lot less typing.  Still, you have to manually enter the movies names or barcode unless you use their barcode scanner so I decided to give it a try.  The scanner is very small and what's great, you can detach the cable, go scan your stuff where it is and come back to your computer later.  The barcodes are stored in the scanner's internal memory.  They say that the internal memory can store around 500 barcodes.

The only drawback is that the scanner comes with a serial cable and it's kinda hard to find serial ports in today's laptops.  The Collectorz Website state that you can connect the scanner to a USB port with the included cables but this is wrong.  I had to buy a serial to USB cable.  So be prepared to spend an additional $20.  I bought a Trendnet TU-S9 converter and I worked without problems.

[UPDATE: I did received the cable: http://guy.dotnet-expertise.com/PermaLink,guid,722ac58e-fbde-41cb-b5c2-c281e4ddeeaf.aspx]

Once you're done cataloging, you can export the list to HTML and display your collection on a Website or your mobile device.

If you don't want to spend a dime cataloging your movies, you can use Ant Movie Catalog, a free open source software.

Got this in my Inbox this morning.  This Webcast will take place on Friday, December 14, 2007, 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/490004761

For those interested, I uploaded my demo script for the presentation I did this Monday at the Montreal Visual Studio User Group about the new tools provided by the Visual Studio 2008 IDE.  You can download it from the documents section on the group's Website.

http://www.guvsm.net/PagePrincipale/Documents/tabid/58/Default.aspx

The last few weeks were kinda busy for me.  I've been prepping for teaching VS 2008 for the Microsoft Metro program here in Canada.  Taught the 3 days class in Vancouver, Mississauga and Montreal.  Went back to Vancouver for DevTeach then helped my parents because my 78 old father torn some ligaments in his right foot and got hospitalized.

Looks like I'll have lots of catching up in December.  Good thing that it's a quiet month for me.

DevTeach Vancouver: Le meilleur de Visual Studio 2008

Pendant la conférence DevTeach nous discutons avec les conférenciers sur le meilleur de Visual Studio 2008. Qu'est-ce qui fonctionne bien? Quel est la raison principale pourquoi on doit adopter cette nouvelle version du produit?

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We have to cancel today's Groupe d'usagers Visual Studio Montréal meeting due to a major snowstorm.

We will try to reschedule Stephen Forte's talk sometimes in the spring.

Here's the view from my porch right now:

Here are a few pictures I took at the .NET Rocks recording at DevTeach Vancouver 2007 last week.