I couldn't believe it, on Christmas Eve 2007 my XBox 360 came down with the "Red Ring of Death". I was a little worried at first, because I have had my XBox 360 for well over a year now and I didn't think it was still covered under warranty. I checked and repairs would cost around $150, but then I found out that I wouldn't be charged anything since Microsoft has extended the warranty for up to three years.

What was really cool is the return process can all be done online: http://www.xbox.com/support/contact.

I choose this option and received my free return shipping box today, in about a week even with the holidays, and the weekend. All in all, so far, it hasn't been a bad experience at all.

So tomorrow I'll mail my XBox 360 back to Microsoft and hopefully soon I shall see her again, safe and sound and ready for me to unlock the Dead Rising Zombie Genocider Achievement.

Zombie Genocider (20)- TYPE: 1 Play REQ: Defeat at least 53,594 zombies. [NOTE: The population of Willamette, Colorado before the zombie outbreak was 53,594.]

Another year and another 365 days, actually another 366 days since 2008 is a leap year.

Cool Fact:

February 2008 has five Fridays - it starts and ends on a Friday. Between 1904 and 2096, leap years with same day of week for each date repeat every 28 years which means that the last time February had 5 Fridays was in 1980 and next time will be in 2036.

Deck out your device with free winter wallpapers, and free seasonal ringtones at Microsoft's Windows Mobile Owners Circle.

It's nice to know if you ever want to find information about "The Princess Bride" all you have to do is simply search for the word inconceivable.

I couldn't resist it, even though I already have a copy of "The Princess Bride", I simply had to order the new "20th Anniversary Collector's Edition".

I have to admit I've come close to buying "The Princess Bride - Dread Pirate Edition" already. Honestly, I think the 180 degree symmetrical logo is what did me in. I mean who is that smart that they can come up with something like that? I don't know how many times I flipped the DVD case saying, "Wow, it still says The Princess Bride". That's just cool. (Okay, I guess it doesn't take too much to amuse me either then.)

I've played  a lot, and I do mean a lot of Star Wars games over the years, but Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks like it might be the Chosen One.

LucasArts is saying this will be the biggest and most intense Jedi game yet. Let's just saying say seeing Darth Vader's secret padewan pulling a star destroyer out of the sky and crashing it into the ground in front of him is - AWESOME!

Maybe you would expect Vader's pupil to use the force to dominate the weak minded pilots of the star destroyer, or maybe to manipulate the guidance system of of the ship through some unknown force technique, but no this dude is direct. He reaches up towards the sky and pulls the huge ship out of the clouds almost as simply as a child might take an apple from a tree.

Hehe, for a moment there, I thought I might actually get the scoop on this one. Right up until I read Neil Cowburn's blog.

Anyway, The Architecture Journal has put out a special edition on Mobile Architecture.

There's one article in particular that stands out as a definite must read:

Test-Driven Development and Continuous Integration for Mobile Applications

Learn how test-driven development and continuous integration can help increase the reliability of applications, and how both approaches work for mobile applications

Daniel Moth mentioned Chris William's post "my 21 thoughts on starting a user group".

Chris did an excellent job listing what it takes to start a user group.

I wish Page Brooks, Chris Reeder, and I had this list when we decided to start PDANUG. Fortunately, I think we were able to learn the ropes quickly.

Here are a few tips and tricks we have learned over the years that I think have made all the difference:

1. Check Lists:
   • There are a ton of things to track, remember, and jungle to make each and every user group event a success.
   • It's a good idea to have a To Bring Check List and a To Do Check List.
   • To Bring Check List covers things like plates, napkins, ice, cups, sign in sheets, evaluations, related SWAG, and so on...
   • To Do Check List handles the details like reminders, announcements, notifications, Web site updates, and so on...
   • Without the check list, inevitably when the user group event rolls around everyone will be busy and someone will forget something.
2. Online Community:
   • Have a Web site for the user group. I recommend keeping it simple and using something like DotNetNuke here. Sure, you could code it yourself, or you could "stand on the shoulders of giants".
   • Have a Blog for the user group, and take advantage of RSS feeds for group notification of events. We like DasBlog.
   • Send Email Notifications and Reminders. It is easy for members to lose track of when events are happening. We try to remind a week in advance and either the day before of the day of the event.
   • Event Registration. There are a lot of great sites that both promote local events and help manage them. We are big fans of Eventbrite.
3. Local Community:
   • Recruit: Get together with all your friends and invite them to your user group. Also make sure they invite all their friends as well.
   • Geek Lunches: Low commitment opportunities for people to have a "taste" of what the user group meetings will be like.
   • Colleges and Universities: Tons of possible members, but if events are held off campus it will really effect student turnout.
     • Build relationships with the professors and the university itself. Great opportunity for everyone to work together.
   • Local Media. Sometimes local newspapers will list events for non-profits, and local public access stations may as well.
   • Speakers Wanted: Make sure to encourage members to present. Also, consider having "Open Mic Nights" where anyone can speak on anything for 5-15 minutes. Lots of fun and low commitment.
4. Local User Groups:
   • Build relationships with all the local user groups and user group leaders in your area. We have bunch in our area and you probably do as well. They can help you, and I'm sure they will.
   • Inform local user groups of your user group's events and activities. If your user group is have the right event or a special speaker there is a good chance people want mind making a trip out to see you.
   • Also educate your members about local events from other user groups, but also include any MSDN events, developer conferences, and related opportunities to your group.
   • If you are creating flyers for your user group consider sharing them with other groups to help busy user group leaders to promote your group's events.
   • Speaker Exchange: Instead of speaking at your user group for the Nth time consider agreeing to speak at another user group's event in exchange for someone coming and speaking at your next event.
   • Code Camps: Attend code camps and present if possible great opportunity to spread the word and recruit speakers as well.
   • Speaker Awareness: We learned there were people traveling from south of us to present in user groups north of us, and vice versa. Once we knew this we knew we had found some potential speakers.
5. Sponsorship:
   • User groups do take some small amount of money to keep going. This is just a fact of life, and at least for a while there will be the times when you just have to "eat" the costs of the pizza and soda.
   • Contact local developer shops and companies and ask them to sponsor meetings. Pizza and soda are not expensive and it is a great way for companies to get their names in front of passionate developers.
   • Donation Jar: Donations will never cover all the costs of user group events, but they can help.
   • Paid Membership: Some groups have optional paid membership that includes extra benefits.
   • Book publishers, magazine publishers, and many software companies will donate books, magazines, and software to user groups. You just have to take a few minutes and let them know you exist.

At first starting a user group may appear a little intimidating but really it is a lot more fun than work. You get to meet a ton of great people and learn so much more than you would on your own.

What do you think? Did I leave anything off? Do you have an idea that might help someone start a user group? Please share it with us all. Feel free to post a comment or even better blog about it yourself.

If you have Windows Vista Ultimate, then maybe you have experienced Windows DreamScene.

If you want to learn more about Windows DreamScenes check out my earlier article, What is a Dream? Or watch the video I made below for a taste of the feature.

Many newer Windows Mobile devices have powerful graphics capabilities. Most now have some support for Mobile DirectX.

I think the Windows Mobile user interface and user experience would be greatly enhanced by the addition of a DreamScene for Windows Mobile feature.

Right now UI and UX is one of the key purchase decisions points. The hardware is there, the software is ready, and the market is here.

This is a great feature for Windows Mobile 7, or Windows Mobile 8.

If you agree you can vote or replay on my post on the Windows Mobile Owners Circle Suggestion Box.

We went and saw I am Legend last night. I think everyone enjoyed it and had fun watching it. It definitely had its "jump" moments. One of the more memorable ones was when the audience see how much gas cost before the infection spread throughout the population.

High Definition Trailer

Update:

Okay, okay. They're not zombies. They are more like zombified vampires, or some such hybrid-monster.

I was reading Wired's article: Review: I Am Legend Thrills, Then Chills, and it reminded me of something.

"... did anyone else notice during an opening shot, sandwiched between posters for Broadway shows, there was a billboard showing the Batman symbol with the Superman logo superimposed over it and the date, 6.15.2010, etched below both?"

I noticed that too.

I couldn't resist making the trip down to Columbia, SC to experience the Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild's Visual Studio 2008 Install Fest.

Glen Gordon and Chris Eargle did a great job hosting this event.

There were a little over 25 attend, and everyone walked away with a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional.

During the event everyone had an opportunity to experience Halo 3 and Rock Band for the XBox 360.

And there was a special appearance by Halo's Master Chief himself. I don't have any actual pictures, but the image below is close to the experience.