While Visual Studio is quite a capable IDE it isn’t perfect – here is my personal top 10 list of things I hate about it. I’ve kept the gripes to the IDE itself – the issues I have with .NET Framework deserve a post of their own some time.

Sometimes your solution has to be a mixed language one – you know the odd VB.NET class library that nobody wants to rewrite in C#.

I’ve just finished reading Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start and I must say I’m quite impressed.

For the last two years I’ve been working for at a start-up on an interesting product. We’ve got the core of our ‘magic sauce’ working just great but now I’m relying on business people to make it happen and I should probably have some idea of what that involves and how I can help.

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.

The founder, Fillippo Borselli will be giving a presentation on FIT – a Framework for Integrated Test and it should be a good place to meet a few fellow developers.

So you like the iPhone and think you’ll buy one?

If you live in the USA then thanks to Cingular’s exclusive multi-year deal if you want an iPhone and go with their cheapest voice-only plan at $39.99 a month (which you have to pay for 24 months) you can expect your iPhone to cost you (assuming you can get out of your current contract without penalty):

So the Apple TV and iPhone are finally announced and visually impressive with a very refined user interface – but some of the technical specifications aren’t quite there.

First off the Apple TV tops out at 720p high-def – what!? For less than Apple TV’s $299 I can get an Xbox 360 that does video & audio streaming at 1080p. Sure the 360 is missing HDMI and the slick software but it does play state of the art 3D on-line games.

I’m a big fan of the Web Application type that was previously available as an add-on to Visual Studio 2005 but thankfully got promoted to a standard citizen with Service Pack 1.

So with a little more time on my hands lately I’ve been delving into the wonder that is LINQ – part of the forthcoming Orcas release of technologies.

I loved my trip to Japan and thought it would be fun to reflect on what I've learnt.

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The Xbox 360 enjoyed its second year and titles continue to impress although the count is still a little on the weak side. The addition of 1080p output was a great bonus but one many people (myself included) can’t take advantage of without a HDMI cable and nobody seems entirely sure if the 360 can pump out a digital video signal (I doubt it).

On-line support is blooming although can get very expensive if you want all the extras for games you’ve already paid for – come on guys we put £40 down gives a few freebies!

Envy Code R has been updated since this post.

Here is the Envy Code R programming font I’ve been working on as it currently stands:

I placed eleven items this year into my Amazon wish-list for my family and girlfriend to pick from and all were quickly purchased.

A few days later my mother asks if I can put some items to buy because after purchasing one or two the others have now gone.