Top 11 Tips for Technical Talks
By Nick Hodge | May 17, 2008
Scott Hanselman provides his Top 11 Tips for Technical Talks and Presenations.
After 11 years doing technical presentations, all I can do is reinforce the accuracy of his 11 Tips. They are tops.
Go read them NOW!
For other little personal nuances, read this blog post on from my presentation at BarcampSydney3
Topics: presentation | No Comments »
1968
By Nick Hodge | May 17, 2008
1968 is the year where the summer of love turned into the year of protest, riots and an escalation in world tension.
World events of 40 years ago seem obscure today. The fear of rising communism, increasing multiculturalism, and general chaos as a new younger generation struggled against older strictures and structures.
Some events seem similar, with names changed: US Presidents squeezed between domestic tension and international ego and guerrilla warfare stagnating into needlessly killing. The Tet Offensive, the pivotal point of the Vietnam war, was fought in 1968.
France during May of 1968 witnessed protests and riots as an authoritarian de Gaulle combated both the left wing movement, and a younger generation demanding radical change.
In the midst of this turbulent month, in this pivotal year, I was born.
Thanks Mum and Dad. I wouldn’t be dead for quids.
Topics: 1968, personal | 4 Comments »
Painting in Sand
By Nick Hodge | May 16, 2008
Recently experienced at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum
Topics: video | No Comments »
French Silverlight Page Flip Flickr Fun
By Nick Hodge | May 15, 2008
Silverlight/Flickr Fun
Topics: silverlight | No Comments »
T40T, 12 May 2008
By Nick Hodge | May 12, 2008
Install Windows Server 2008, SQLServer2005 into Virtual PC 2007
- My previous application development platform experience is LAMP, so this Windows Server 2008 stuff is going to be fun!
- Installation to a fresh VirtualPC took less than 15 minutes.
- Only 6 updates required post install of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
- Added Application Server, Web Server (IIS), File Services as installed applications
- FTP added because I understand that stuff
- Installed VirtualPC extensions
- Reconfigurated networking for home network
- Installing SQLServer2005 (as most external hosters are using this revision)
- Too many questions for a mere mortal. Its like recompiling MySQL!
- Going for a base level SQLServer as possible
- Apply SP update to SQLServer2005
- Launch SQLServer Management Studio
- All Seems Well
- Time to Backup the VM
Next sub-project: Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK
- Some of the Imagine Cup finalists use the Windows Mobile 6 SDK, so grabbing that and evaluating their entries
- Installed; have to wait for the .zip files so I can correctly unzip with directories. Oops
- (on hold)
- (restarted at 8:00pm)
- OK, submissions reviewed, including in-the Mobile emulator (w00tage!). Karo has my data
ASP.NET/Database. Exactly how easy is it? Can I do it without RTFM?
- Move VM over to separate machine
- Launched OK!
- Hmm, adding a user, setting up non-Windows authentication (ie: no ActiveDirectory) requires checking on super-special(tm) checkbox. Done and running. Can create a table, add columns and records.
- I declare a successful day
Topics: t40t | 2 Comments »
Transparent 40% Time
By Nick Hodge | May 12, 2008
As my Microsoft job subtlety changes at the beginning of July, it is self-development time!
Next year involves more cycles devoted to development ‘themes’. A change that I am
Following sage twitter advice from Christy Dena, the diary is locked and loaded. Every Monday and Friday are hard allocated to self-development.
Self-development relies on self-control.
To aid the tempation of twitter, email, rss feeds, weewar, TV, cats and general outside interruptions: I am a stickler for not misappropriating this 40% time. Secondly, there will be a blog/wiki post that will detail the daily activities. 40% time full transparency.
The general themes:
- Windows Server 2008 as Web Development/Web Host backend
- SQLServer 2005/8 as datastore
- C#
- ASP.NET
- HTML/Ajax/Silverlight
- DLR; IronPython and IronRuby
Topics: t40t | No Comments »
The Nuclear Option
By Nick Hodge | May 6, 2008
Mark Pesce, keynoting at the coming Australian ReMIX, presented his piece, The Nuclear Option, today.
Watch and listen here:
Topics: markpesce, technology | No Comments »
Duncan Riley: Officially a Web 2.0 Startup 2.0
By Nick Hodge | May 6, 2008
@DuncanRiley, formerly of Techcrunch, has left as a fulltime writer and has started another startup: Inquisitr.com
Described by Duncan as a “mix of tech, pop and fark type stories”, it promises a blog that captures the lighter side of this strange web world.
I, for one, welcome our new Duncan overlords.
Topics: technology, web2.0 | 3 Comments »
DG’s New Toy
By Nick Hodge | May 6, 2008
Every quokka loves a new laptop. Even when the laptop is twice your weight, height and width.
Topics: auremix08 | No Comments »
Movie: Kurt Cobain About a Son.
By Nick Hodge | May 1, 2008
Photo: Rod Yates, editor of Empire Magazine interviewing Michael Azerrad on his movie, Kurt Cobain About a Son.
Kurt Cobain looms out of the cinema screen like a melancholic Viking, ready to pillage our minds. Like the images of other dead celebrities, the image sets off thought patterns and we classify: drug addict, father, musican.
Like all narratives perpetuated by the one dimensional main stream media, he was also a son. A talented person with real problems, real skills and dreams.
A son of divorced parents, a common afliction of children of the late 20th century, this and the times haunted Kurt. The lyrics and music of Nirvana described the world of the US Pacific Northwest: dark with low hanging fog and cloud. This description also applies to his life, and the life of many of Generation-X. Cold war, AIDS, unemployment.
The movie, About a Son, is Kurt narrating his life in his own words. As captured by biographer, Michael Azerroth in 25 hours of taped interviews during 1992-3. The imagery paints a Washington state that Kurt lived in. A child of his parents, age and area.
Using Kurt’s own words, and showing the real life Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle one gets a sense of the angst of Nirvana. Kurt also talks about his addiction via self medication to opiates to escape pain; depression and scoliosis.
The movie is about an ordinary person; it humanises a driven person. An complex artistic soul that expressed the nihilism of my generation.
Most importantly, Kurt touches the ultimate poison that is the cult of celebrity that has only grown in the last 15 years. Especially fighting the negative narrative.
Any Nirvana fan or member of generation X should see this movie.
Thanks to PopcornTaxi for bring this movie to Australia.
Topics: movie, personal, popculture | No Comments »
