From the category archives:

Link

Camtasia Error Failed to resume recording:: Invalid Configuration State

March 23, 2009Camtasia

I have literally spent half a day getting to the bottom of this error, so I’m posting my findings here in the hope it saves someone else having to do the same.

Bottom line: it’s your microphone settings.

I’ve been using Camtasia for years now and never had a problem. Yet, all of sudden today it started [...]

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Microsoft location on Live Maps

March 15, 2009Link

Here’s something that would be good for Microsoft to update:
I’d like to put a Live Maps link on the SBTUG home page so that people can get directions to the meetings (they are held at Microsoft Sydney Office at 1 Epping Road North Ryde). Unfortunately Live Maps makes this difficult. Here’s what gets returned from [...]

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Virtual Earth Developer Contest

March 15, 2009Community

Over on the ViaWindowsLive site they’re running a Virtual Earth contest. Simply submit an article or video about something cool you’re doing with Virtual Earth and you’re in the running.
You get a T-shirt just for entering (assuming your entry is valid , and there are a bunch of other prizes if yours is up [...]

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The price of security

February 22, 2009Link

The announcement of a $250K bounty (a little while back) for the heads of those responsible for the Conficker worm is a good one. Let’s hope this kind of practice is extended to cover all kinds of virus/worm production. Especially in the current economic climate, the motivation for fame (one of the reasons hackers build [...]

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Install Windows 7 from a USB stick

January 25, 2009Link

I’m really enjoying Windows 7, it’s a little nicer to use, it’s pretty stable, and most importantly everything just works (well, except for Sleep mode on my Toshiba, but I suspect that’s a graphics driver issue and not necessarily a Windows 7 one – but hey, that’s what Beta versions are for right? To iron [...]

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SBTUG: Wed 28 Jan 2009 – SharePoint, Windows 7 and Touch

January 25, 2009Community

[Ooops! Forgot to post this on my own blog (but it’s over on the new SBTUG blog - and while you’re there let me know what you think of the revamped SBTUG site).]
Quick details: The Sydney Business & Technology User Group
When: Wed 28 January 2009

Time: 6pm (until approx 8:30pm)
Where: Microsoft, North Ryde
Contact: [...]

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LINK: Do and Don’ts of development

January 13, 2009Link

Mads Kristensen has a nice checklist of Do This items for high quality websites.
Jeff Atwood has a list of Don’t Do This items for general development (based on the Common Weakness Enumeration list)
Technorati Tags: Jeff Atwood,Mads Kristensen,Advice

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nsquared Microsoft Surface apps

January 13, 2009Link

I thought you might be interested in this video – in it Neil chats with Eric Havir and demonstrates some of the educational apps we’ve been building for Microsoft Surface. The chemistry one at the end of the video is my favourite.
It’s a little difficult to make out exactly what is on the screen at [...]

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Windows 7 Secrets

January 12, 2009Link

There’s been a few people linking to this excellent list of Windows 7 Secrets by Tim Sneath. And rightly so, it’s a great help. As @digory noted, there’s details of how to get IM back to the status bar (where it belongs!).
But there’s other gems as well, like how to open a second instance [...]

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Live Mesh gains credibility

January 11, 2009Link

You’ve hopefully seen the news about Live Mesh winning the Best Technology Innovation of 2008 at the Crunchies.
I think this is an important award for Microsoft, since it indicates that there is at least some mainstream acceptance that they’re doing something cool and innovative (note: by mainstream, I’m talking about people in tech as a [...]

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Bob’s server room

January 11, 2009Link

Yes, I think this is pretty cool. Bob Muglia, recently promoted to President of Server and Tools at Microsoft, shows the Channel 10 team around his house, and in the basement. And hiding away in the basement is his 9 server setup (soon to be virtualised down to 4), organized to cater for –in Bob’s [...]

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Microsoft patent push – 57,000 and counting

January 4, 2009Link

57,000 – That’s a lot of patents Microsoft are aiming for.
This is actually an interesting insight into the Microsoft mindset – they are actively pursuing research + development, and protecting their IP. The numbers from the Microsoft PressPass article put the totals at:

10,000 issued US patents
17,000 pending US patents
30,000 international and pending patents

I wonder how [...]

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New Generation workers and Email

January 4, 2009General

I had to shake my head when I read this Accenture survey on the demands of the Millennial Generation. The usual ‘demands’ of wanting to choose their technology, insisting on state-of-the-art technology, not wanting to seek corporate approval, requiring new communication channels, etc all came up.
It seemed odd that a survey like this would [...]

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Running multiple Messenger logins on the same machine

December 23, 2008Link

Thanks be to A-Patch!
The awesomeness that is A-Patch is now out with a version for Windows Live Messenger 9 (the Wave 3 RC version released last week). It’s actually a cut down list of options this time, in order to get it out quickly. But I’m not complaining. I’m really happy. Here’s why:
As well as [...]

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Adobe Infinite Images and Deep Earth

December 22, 2008General

Adobe has been experimenting with it’s own image navigation & stitching together technology, and Infinite Images is the latest demonstration of it (see here for the ReadWriteWeb article).
You, me and every other Microsoft watcher will immediately see shades of Deep Zoom and perhaps a little Photosynth in this.
What’s cool about the the Adobe system [...]

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Sara Ford’s tips come to an end

December 22, 2008Link

In a word: Thanks.
A shame that Sarah’s tips on Visual Studio finished up last Friday. But hey, great things can’t go on for ever (she says, deferring to the wisdom of Axl). I’m really interested to see how she applies all those spare cycles now to CodePlex. There’s going to be some cool [...]

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Live Mesh update on hold, Quality in focus

December 22, 2008Link

I think it’s interesting that the Live Mesh team decided to put their upcoming release on hold (as announced at the start of this month). Here’s their reasoning:
UPDATE: In the world of services, we have blackout periods where no updates are allowed. This is to ensure stability during, e.g., the holiday season when use of [...]

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Werner Vogels – Chief of the Year 2008

December 22, 2008General

Amazon’s CTO – Werner Vogels – has been awarded the Information Week Chief of the Year title. He’s quickly given the credit to his team of course, legend that he is.
Now, it’s easy to be cynical of awards – it seems that sometimes companies/twitter abusers/magazines/etc just create them as a marketing device – but [...]

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Live Sync is Live

December 17, 2008Link

You know, I think I read Sarah Perez’s blog before just about anyone’s these days. She’s even ahead of Mary-Jo, Long Zheng, Steve Clayton, and *gasp*, TechCrunch.
Why? Take today’s post on Live Sync for example. Informative (she explains that Windows Live Sync is the new FolderShare), clarifying (she explains the difference between Live Sync and [...]

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When the chips are down… people play games

December 17, 2008General

Should we be surprised by this Gartner report outlining the second year on year decline in PC chip sales (they’re predicting a 16.3% decline). Intel and AMD must be doing it hard, like, ahem, just about everyone in the IT industry.
Well, not quite. At least games are doing well, with sales of game hardware [...]

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