LearnVisualStudion.net Sale - Learn .Net for peanuts with the 48 Hours Sale at LearnVisualSudio.net

If you have followed my blog at all over the last couple of years you will have noticed I am a champion of LearnVisualStudio.net

They offer a great training program and it is where I started out Learning .Net and it helped me massively getting started all the way though to holding my own in a .Net role.

If you are looking to learn .Net - either C# or VB.Net then I highly recommend these guys. Everything is done through the use of video (now setup to be iPhone friendly) and its so much better than reading a book. I have always been a visual learner so its great for me. As they say a picture paints a thousand words.

For the next 48 Hours they are running a sale giving you 30% off. A lifetime membership costs the equivalent of a couple of good books!

As always they follow the times and have recently released a new set of videos teachine Windows Presentation Foundation. Go fill yer boots! :o)

To check out their site visit the following link:

Learn Visual Studio .Net Sale

Any questions please post a comment. Don't hang around though if you are interested - the sale will be pulled at the end of the 30th June 2009.

Make Blogger Title More SEO Friendly

I was looking at some of the results from my blog in the search engines and noticed that owing to the length of my title the title pf the posts were simply not being displayed - hence probably not getting as many click throughs as it could.

I therefore had a search around and found the variables for setting descriptions etc from within blogger. If you look at my blog now you will notice that on the main URL it gives you the title but when you are viewing a post it gives you the title of the post!

This should make things stand out much better in the search engine results.

So here is the code you need to edit:

1. Go to the Edit HTML page from the layout tab in Blogger.
2. Look for the following in the header (should be very close to the top):

<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

3. Now replace it with the following:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'><title><data:blog.pageName/></title><b:else/><title><data:blog.pageTitle/> </title></b:if>

Job Done! It will now be interesting to see if I get an increase in traffic and possible ranking. If I do I will post about it.

New iPhone 3GS Internet Tethering

I am finally going to bite the bullet and move from the Nokia N95 to the new iPhone 3GS. I have fancied one for a while but not plumped for one as i didnt want another lengthy contact. However i am fed up with 3 mobile and their crappy network which is always dropping calls so time to move on. It wont cost me any extra per month so i shouldn't really feel a financial hit.

One of the things that stood out as very handy was the new tethering feature to use the iPhone as a modem. This looked a very attractive new feature. I knew the N95 could do it but this was just another feature to finally win me over.

This was until I saw the extra charges for using it! Bloody extortinate! £15 per month just to use the iPhone as a modem! This really pisses me off to be honest. Why doesnt the tethering usage come under your existing data and wifi usage!?????????

Even though, i will still probably get the iPhone but i wont be going for the tethering! I can get a USB dongle for £5 per month (it think) from Virgin media. My home internet connection for 10MB is only £20 per month! Just how they can justify £15 per month for effectively 3G connectivity is beyond me.

Can anyone tell me why they cant let you use your existing internet when tethered??? Or is it just another way to extract cash - pure and simple!??

Streaming MP4 to XBOX360

I you want stream MP4 video to your XBOX360 via Windows Media Player sharing I discovered when you browse to the folder with your MP4 files they dont appear as playable formats.

I found if you change the extension to AVI and then play part of the file in Wondows Media Player (this checks you have the right codecs etc) the video will appear and be streamed to your XBOX360.

You will probably have to back out of the menus on your XBOX360 (go back to the videos menu) and go back in to the folder first. The file list is then refreshed.

You can now stream MP4 files to your XBOX360! :o)