Guernsey articles (32)

Visual Studio, Windows Server and SQL Server 2008 launch in Guernsey
The various Heroes Happen Here community events in the UK/USA to celebrate the launch of Visual Studio 2008 etc. made me envious that we don’t get such events and goodies here on the little island of Guernsey so I thought I’d so something about it!

Guernsey Deliveries
Many of the international delivery and courier companies subcontract to local Guernsey-based agents. If you are trying to find out where your package is (tracking sometimes stops in the UK), this list can be useful.

Hibernate presentation in Guernsey
My good friend Steve Streeting is giving a talk about the Hibernate object-relational mapper at the Guernsey Software Developer Forum tomorrow night. Hibernate is a very successful ORM for Java which has been ported to .NET under the moniker NHibernate.

Guernsey
Guernsey is where I have spent most of my life. Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man were added to the official ISO-1366 country list in 2006 but are still missing from many site country lists.

October workshop at Guernsey Software Developer Forum
At the last meeting we decided to try hold a workshop in October where people brought in their laptops and development tools and we’d work through some samples together. Once done we would talk about it and show some of our own code to illustrate approaches (and possibly help with debugging ;-)

List of Guernsey Estate Agents
I’ve posted my list of Guernsey Estate Agents as other on-line lists were not comprehensive and prevented bookmarking or copying the address to send to others thanks to the annoying framing they used (so 90’s).

Guernsey Estate Agents
A full list of estate agents to aid you in finding a new home in Guernsey.

Guernsey Software Developer Forum, September 27th
My good friend Steve ‘Sinbad’ Streeting (founder of the impressive and popular Ogre 3D engine) will be giving a talk on Thursday 27th September at 6pm at the Guernsey Training Agency above the Post Office in Smith Street. The talk will cover cross-platform development, provisionally:

Web Application Security presentation in Guernsey
This presentation is now available on-line.
I will be giving a talk about web application security tonight at the Guernsey Software Developers Forum.

Guernsey Software Developers Forum, June 28th
A number of changes are happening within the Guernsey Developer Users Group!
We have changed the name to the Guernsey Software Developers Forum to better reflect the nature of the events and moved the Guernsey Software Developers Forum web site over to a new location, host and software.

Guernsey mobile plans
Now that Sure and Wave/JT are operating in both islands competition is heating up unless you want 3G in Guernsey because the government awarded the licence to somebody who doesn’t operate whilst refusing a licence to the biggest operator. Way to go.

Subversion talk at Guernsey Developer User Group
This presentation is now available on-line.
I will be giving a talk entitled “Change management with Subversion” at the Guernsey Developer User Group later this month.

Where do the recycled things go?
We interrupt this blog of technical snippets and personal commentary to bring you an interesting look (courtesy of the BBC) at what happens to the various bottles, cans and plastics that are sent for recycling – at least in the UK. (Hit the "In pictures" link next to each person).

Guernsey Developers User Group, January 25
The recently-formed Guernsey Software Developers Forum are having a meeting on the 25th of January at the GTA University Centre above the post office at 6pm.

Guernsey considers ban on replica guns
A proposal is currently being considered within the States of Guernsey to ban all replica guns including the air-powered "Airsoft" ones used in the BB-war style sporting events.

C&W Guernsey 2MB broadband
Cable & Wireless Guernsey are offering 1MB and 2MB “Professional” broadband packages for £49.99 and £79.99 a month respectively as from June 17th.

Country codes for Jersey, Guernsey & Isle of Man added
It seems that the UK Department of Trade & Industry has convinced the ISO to add the codes for Guernsey (GE), Jersey (JE) and Isle of Man (IM) to the official ISO 3166-1 country database.

State of the broadband, March 2006
Time for an update on the state of broadband in the Channel Islands. Some interesting home tariff cuts on both islands. The Office of Utility Regulation is pushing for further wholesale ADSL cuts in Guernsey. More news as it happens.

Newtel Guernsey DSL price drop on Monday
Newtel are dropping the price of their Guernsey 1MB unlimited service to £21.99 a month as from this coming Monday.

Channel Islands to dump UK mail order hosting?
There exists a provision, some people mistakenly refer to as a “loophole”, in EU tax laws that allows goods under £18 to be imported tax-free from outside the EU.

Shopping for DVD’s
I’ve decided to fill in some gaps in my DVD collection and was quite interested to know what the current best deals were so filled up my baskets at various stores. All prices are quoted in £ sterling and were correct at time of writing.

Cable & Wireless Guernsey network failure
So the phone lines here have been out now for well over an hour. ADSL is still working as is Guernsey-to-Guernsey mobiles but everything else is giving dead tones, no tones or “Network failure” messages.

Shop smart from the Channel Islands
Shopping on-line from the Channel Islands isn’t always a pleasant experience. Many companies can’t be bothered with the making a VAT-exempt outside-EU sale and when they do they like to use expensive shipping options instead of the often reliable and cheap Special Delivery service.
Surfers Against Sewage
Surfers Against Sewage are holding a 60-hour vigil practically on my doorstep (no I’m not responsible for the Sewage) over at Charles Frossard House here in Guernsey at protest over Guernsey pumping raw sewage into the sea (Jersey has a proper plant so I’m told).
These guys travel around the UK and Europe meeting government representatives with an agenda to improving waste disposal procedures and methods including full treatment of sewage.

Apple to the Channel Islands – Get lost
Last week I was at the Apple Store UK ordering a universal dock connector for my iPod. Unexpectedly the the shipping address was not accepted – it claimed they were unable to accept orders from my post-code.

State of the broadband
A few changes from the various players so a quick run-down.

Battle of Britain, ADSL upgrades, Skype and EU VAT
Today sees the completion of Cable & Wireless Guernsey’s free ADSL upgrade from 512KB to 1MB.

Oakley Charity Motorcycle Spin 2005
Our small island roads today witnessed the Oakley Charity Motorcycle Spin, an event to help raise money for a caravan to be located at Church Farm Holiday Park where ill children from Guernsey can enjoy some time away.

C&W Guernsey 1MBit ADSL
Wondering what happened to Cable & Wireless’ planned 1MBit ADSL upgraded service? Their web site has been very quiet so I emailed and got this response I thought I’d share;

Guernsey news
I’m still feeling a little ill but I guess the worst of it is past, poor Clarissa is still very unwell :(

C&W Guernsey and short-code text messages
Living in Guernsey requires you develop a thick skin with regards to availability of goods and services.

Guernsey broadband services
I want faster DSL…. 512KB just isn’t cutting it, I used to enjoy 2MB in Jersey… Let’s examine the pricing shall we…