Dream. Build. Play. 2007

Microsoft is holding a competition called "Dream. Build. Play." for aspiring game developers. The theme is artificial intelligence. Prizes includes the following:

• Invitation to show your entry at GDC 2008
• $3,000 (USD) stipend per team
• One-year subscription to the XNA Creators Club for each team member
• Interview for an internship at Microsoft Research, Lionhead Studios or Rare Ltd in the UK for each team member

The deadline is January 27, 2008.

XNA Game Studio 2.0

For anyone who hasn't heard, Microsoft has released XNA Game Studio 2.0, which provides a game development framework for Windows and Xbox 360 (through the Creator's Club).

Some useful links:

• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• XNA Blog
• XNA Tutorials
• XNA Samples
• XNA Starter Kits

Great Customer Service

Last Friday when I was leaving work I noticed the front left tire on my truck had picked up a screw and was almost flat so I mounted the spare tire and drove to Belle Tire to have the hole patched.

When I arrived, I expected a long wait given the number of vehicles in the parking lot, but to my surprise I was immediately greeted by one of the employees, who collected some basic information about my vehicle and my tire problem.

Within a matter of minutes they had my tire patched and remounted. When I went to pay for the service the guy said, "Merry Christmas, you're all set." What a nice surprise! How many companies do you know that are willing to provide top-notch service and waive the fee.

I have bought tires from Belle Tire in the past and the service was great, but Belle Tire definately went above-and-beyond this time. I can't say enough good things about Belle Tire, they were fast, friendly, and courteous. I will definately give them my business when it is time to purchase my next set of tires.

Install Multiple IEs in Parallel

Have you ever wanted to install multiple version of Internet Explorer in parallel for rapid Web development, testing, and debugging? If so, you will definately want to checkout Multiple IEs.

Multiple IEs is a free product from TredoSoft that installs old versions of Internet Explorer while retaining existing versions through IE7. Since the process involves several registry hacks and other tricks in order to get the Internet Explorers to play nice, I would advise a full system backup prior to installation.

I was able to successfully run the installer inside a Virtual PC image of Windows XP Professional SP2. This gave me the option to delete the Undo Disk incase something went wrong.

Multiple IEs installs the following versions of Internet Explorer:

• Internet Explorer 6.0
• Internet Explorer 5.5
• Internet Explorer 5.01
• Internet Explorer 4.01
• Internet Explorer 3.0

The documentation says you can use this with the standalone version of Internet Explorer 7.0, but I recommend upgrading to Internet Explorer 7.0 prior to installation of Multiple IEs.

The Open Directory Project is Dead

The Open Directory Project (ODP) is dead. The Open Directory Project website frequently breaks, large sections of the site are unavailable for days or weeks at a time, moderators no longer review or approve new listings, a substantial number of links are now broken (obsolete). This seems to be a common issue with Open Source projects, contributors and moderators lose interest and move on to new more active projects.

Change Remote Desktop Port

Warning: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Start Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber
   
   
3. On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Decimal.
4. Type the new port number, and then click OK.
5. Quit Registry Editor.

Note: When you try to connect to this computer by using the Remote Desktop connection, you must type the new port. The format is "IP Address:Port"

Jungle Disk

I've been watching the Amazon Web Services since their launch.

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) finally appears to be gaining some momentum as more and more application providers write compatible application. The most popular Amazon Web Service is definitely the S3 service.

Junge Disk, a company I recently stumbled across, provides an application which creates a mapped drive in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The mapped drive allows users to copy or backup files from their local computer directly to Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service). This is a great example of an easy to use consumer oriented service; however, the pricing model, which factors transfer, in addition to storage, may be complex for consumers to understand.

It will be interesting to see how successful Amazon is getting developers and consumers to adopt their new services.

Windows Live Writer

I highly recommend Windows Live Writer. It is a brand new product from Microsoft. Windows Live Writer is a powerful tool, which helps you quickly and easily compose Blog posts. Windows Live Writer includes real-time spell checking, as well as, a rich and easy to use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. Posts are composed using the actual style of your blog, which makes layout a breeze. Best of all Windows Live Writer is free!

Here are some of the key features according to Microsoft:

Compatible with your blog service
Writer can publish to Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Moveable Type, Community Server, and many other weblog services.

WYSIWYG editing
Writer knows your blog's visual theme. So you can see exactly what your posts will look like as you write them, before you publish. No more wasting time previewing your posts online.

Rich media publishing
Writer makes publishing rich media as easy as sending e-mail. Insert and customize photos, videos, maps, tags, and lots of other cool content—then click the “Publish” button. It’s that easy.

Powerful editing features
Creating compelling blog posts is much easier with the ability to insert and edit tables, check spelling as you type, and format and hyperlink content at your fingertips.

Offline editing
Now you can blog anytime, from anywhere. Writer synchronizes drafts on your blog with changes you make when you're offline, so you don't have to worry about reconciling different versions.

Microsoft Surface

For anyone who hasn't seen Microsoft Surface in action, I strongly recommend checking on the videos on the website. Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary new human-machine-interface. it allows people to directly interact with a computer through hand gestures and by placing objects on the computing "surface."

Blissful Diverions

If you get a chance, I strongly recommend checking out Blissful Diversions. There are a number of posts on a variety of different topics.

Over 100,000 products to choose from...

Emption now has over 100,000 products to choose from!

Here are a few of the best categories:

Consumer Electronics
Computer
Tools

Emption

If you haven't already been to Emption, I strongly suggest checking them out. They have over 40,000 items to choose from, including many cool technology products.

C# to VB.NET Conversion

I recently came across two useful online utilities for converting C# source code to VB.Net source code:

• http://www.kamalpatel.net/ConvertCSharp2VB.aspx
• http://www.aspalliance.com/aldotnet/examples/translate.aspx

Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages. I recommend trying both of them to see which one will provide a better conversion for your codebase.

Google's View of TiltedAxis.com

According to Google's Webmaster tools, the following words are important on www.tiltedaxis.com:

• news
• microsoft
• asp
• blog
• technology
• code
• radio
• visual
• active
• applications
• business
• communication
• google
• headlines
• hot
• msdn
• networking
• new
• press
• products
• recent
• security
• server
• step
• tiltedaxis

Apple Releases Long Awaited iPhone

Apple has release the long awaited, much anticipated iPhone, which is described by Apple as:

...revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching...

View product information

Windows Home Server

New.com recently posted an article on the new Windows Home Server:

The Windows Home Server is for households that want to share storage among multiple PCs or Xboxes game consoles. It will provide automatic backup, easier storage expansion and connectivity among different devices, including Zune media players, Gates said.

Read the full article

Internet Radio Station Guide

Looking for streaming audio Internet Radio Stations to listen to at work or at home? TiltedAxis now has an Internet Radio Station Guide. Enjoy!

Here are some of the categories of music that are available:

• 80s
• Adult Hits
• Alternative Rock
• Americana & Roots
• Big Band
• Blues
• Christian Hits
• Classic R&B
• Classic Rock
• Classical
• Country
• Dance
• Holiday
• Indie
• Jazz
• Latin
• Miscellaneous
• Modern Rock
• National
• New Age
• News & Talk
• Nostalgia
• Oldies
• Public Radio
• Rap & Hip Hop
• Religious
• Rock
• Smooth Jazz
• Soft Rock
• Soundtracks/Musicals
• Sports
• Top 40
• Urban/ Modern R&B
• World

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Be sure to checkout TiltedAxis.com in 2007 for exciting news and content.