MSDN Event Boca Raton Review: 10/17/2006

Today me and one of my co-workers (not my boss as I announced earlier) went to the MSDN Event in Boca Raton. This was my first time at one of these events so think of this post as a first-timer. There were three sessions discussed at ther Event that I’d like to go over with you.

Introduction

Because me and my colleague were at the Event a tad early, we were treated with a couple of tracks from Jethro Tull’s live album at the Isle of Wight. Always nice. These tracks were chosen by our presenter. We also watched some Microsoft propaganda from http://www.escapeyesterworld.com/ .. it was funny though. Our presenter was Mr. Russ Fustino, who introduced himself to the crowd in person wearing a yellow hard-hat and red suspenders while his theme-song (yes, a song bout Russ, not by Jethro) was playing in the background. Unconventional? Maybe. But it’s an attention-getter for sure.

500 Google IPs

Here’s a list of 500 IPs which belong to none other than Google, just add http:// in front of them and you’re all set for whatever you use them for.

List redacted.

Zune to be here on November 14th

Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPod will hit the U.S. market on November 14th as announced on the Microsoft.com website. The player will feature a 30GB hard drive, a full color display but annoyingly pre-loaded content such as music, short films and pictures. The music player will be sold for $249.99 a pop and will be available with many expensive addons and accessories. Below is an image of the music player courtesy of Microsoft’s press room.

Google's 8th birthday

Google is celebrating its 8th birthday today. For the occasion they’ve changed the logo:

Can you believe it’s been 8 years? Or do they count from the spawn of “Backrub”? Happy B-Day anyway, Google.

OT: Storm

Wow. I was just outside for lunch and I saw this humongous stormfront coming in. It was sunny on the way to work and literally where my job is located a big shadow struck the floor and pitch-black clouds came rolling in. Kinda reminded me of the scene in the new War of the Worlds movie where the first bolts of lightning strike the planet. I have a picture of it on my phone but I don’t have a USB-cord :|

Pirates 2 - Dead Man's Chest

Last night at 12:01 AM Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest premiered to the public throughout the country. So my wife and I went to see it since we were big fans of the original movie. I have to say that this movie is BIG, I mean huge in production. The special effects, the acting and the scenery are all incredible. Johnny Depp’s performance was incredible and Orlando Bloom topped himself on this one. I can’t go in to details about the movie here since I’d spoil it for everyone, but the end of the movie was strange. Not at all what you’d expect from a movie like this. Anyway, go see it. If you liked the first one, you won’t want to miss this part of the series.

WTF Sony?

Just.. Wow. The nerve of this company. To celebrate the coming of a white PSP, Sony has launched this Ad-Campaign in my home country of The Netherlands. The reason for this is that there is a much smaller population of black people than there than other European countries. What I don’t understand is that the Dutch government let this through their census. Certainly NL couldnt have changed that much since I’ve left? WTF Sony and Netherlands?!

Riemer's DirectX 9 Tutorials

I’ve always had a thing for 3D and CG. So when I started programming most of my findings were either graphics or web related. More recently I’ve been delving into C# making tiny applications to connect to MySQL, rename files and an entire CMS from the desktop. But the CG world keeps having a magnetic pull on me so the last couple of months I’ve been trying out Managed DirectX in the C# programming language. Anyway, what this post is about is that there’s a great place for tutorials on this matter (C# and C++) written by Riemer Grootjans of riemers.net. This website is a very complete collection of DirectX and D3D tutorials, so go check them out here:

Five that Fell

The good people at Next-Gen.biz released an article yesterday about five great companies that fell into the clutches of nothingness. If you’ve always wondered what happened with the companies that made classics such as the Wing Commander Saga, King’s Quest and Ultima Online, check this highly reccommended article out. :)

Next Generation - Culture: Five That Fell

PS, their server seems to be under a big load so there might be a little time-out before you reach the actual page.

Netherlands win against Ivory Coast

While listening to the 2nd half of the game on the radio I almost bit my fingers off in excitement. With 2-1 on the scoreboard one single goal by Ivory Coast could ruin my joy. I think the game could have been played better in terms of Goal-Count but we won nonetheless. Now I just wait until next wednesday when the Netherlands play Argentina, a game that I wouldn’t want to miss since my manager is from that country. It’s nice to have an immigrant-competative spirit at work, keeps me from falling asleep ;)