If you are interested in knowing a little more about the IIS SEO Toolkit (I give it the big thumbs up), I’ve written a little review over on my XEN SEO blog (note I originally wrote the review based on the beta version, but it has been updated based on the release in mid Jan). Plus, as mentioned in my previous post, I also discussed the SEO Toolkit with Andrew and Michael on Frankly Speaking...
A big thank you to Andrew Coates and Michael Kordahi for having me on their Frankly Speaking podcast to chat about SEO. You can listen to it here. Frankly Speaking (for those who aren’t yet familiar with it) is an Australian Tech podcast (or perhaps even an Australian Microsoft podcast) and listening to it should be on your weekly To-Do list. SEO is a big topic of course so we only scratched...
Apparently February is ‘put the boot into Microsoft’ month. I must have missed the memo. Or perhaps it only got sent to the ex-senior-management@microsoft.com mailing list. In any case it’s been good to see that some have taken the directive to heart. Oh hang on, cancel that – there actually hasn’t been much said by former softies at all. Instead it’s just all the noise of journalists...
It’s easy to think of search (ie searching on Google or Bing) as simply a (boring) research activity. And in turn, to think that all the innovation in search is about providing a ‘better’ result. But what does ‘better’ mean when it comes to search? Joseph Pine’s TED talk on what consumers want is a good insight into how the search game is changing (and hat tip to Michael Gray for the...
It should come as no surprise that search engine usage is increasing – but perhaps the rate of increase will (come as a surprise that is). comScore figures released this month show that search usage (note: includes search engines and related properties) increased by 46% in 2009. Google sites were in the order of 58% increase. That’s significant. How many industries do you know (or...
I loved Sara Ford’s thoughts about coding katas. Yes, most coding should really be referred to as coding kihon (as you practice daily), and coding kumite when you’re deep in a project. Nice one. I also enjoyed Steve Andrew’s post on Shotokan Development that Sara linked to.
Oh, and good luck in your new role Sara.
Some interesting resources noticed recently.
Richard Banks has a writeup about getting Git and TFS Working Together.
Meanwhile Paul Glavich has a nice 180 page free download about .net performance testing and optimisation. It’s part 1 of a new book he’s writing. Download available here.
Bing’s new Finance updates are nice. I guess. Here’s a search for ‘msft’ on Bing. Click on the Investor Data button and you’ll see this: Yep, that’s a charting error. But let’s assume that little issue will be resolved soon (and it may even be something on my machine – there’s a bit of beta stuff installed I have to admit). Clicking on OK gets us to the details: A nice...
I really liked Angus’ recent post on User Stories (Wikipedia link about User Stories here) and how he grapples with question of whether they are even needed. User Stories feature prominently in the upcoming Visual Studio 2010 releases, so you’re sure to hear more about them (in the Microsoft space that is). The value in Angus’ post is how he outlines the issues (and thoughts from a variety...
I’m looking forward to the upcoming Azure launch in Australia, if for no other reason than finally learning what the proper pronunciation is :-) Is it a-zue-er or is it azsh-or ? Tuesday Feb 23 in Sydney is the official launch. Mark your calendars! But for added goodness, get along to a user group and hear David Lemphers talk about it non-stop (that’s right he scales!). Andrew Coates has all...